285 THE IMPLICATIONS GRACE THE ETHICS JAMES OF FOR OF rich (but proud) and the poor (but humble) correctly. The business people in 4,13-17 and the landowners in 5,1-6 show us models of people who, to varying degrees, have not yet had their vision transformed. Both, however, are shown to have tendencies to pride that could, left unchecked, lead to their destruction by God. Those who practice active endurance, however, will see “the coming of the Lord” (5,7-8). Identifying with the humble, acknowledging one’s own limitations, and consciously awaiting God’s justice are all ways to partake in God’s promised reversal. The reversal will come when the Judge comes; so from a pragmatic perspective if nothing else it is wise to follow James’ advice to “humble yourselves be- fore the Lord, and he will exalt you” (4,10). There is one more entity to the “pure religion” of 1,27, and that is the injunction “to keep oneself unstained by the world” (1,27b). This moral purity is not an isolationist policy, an idea that has been floated several times whereby one avoids all contact with “others” in case “they” taint one 38. Far from being isolationist, which clearly does not fit the con- text of being out helping the poor and oppressed, this moral purity con- tinues the idea of having the lenses one sees through be changed. Where being stained by the kosmov is to accept the values and priorities of the ¥ world, being “unstained” (aspilov) is to be shaped by God’s values of ¶ generosity and care for the helpless. The kosmov is the entire worldview ¥ that stands in opposition to God, one to which people all-too-readily as- cribe. It shows itself in preferring the “gold-ringed” wealthy people who come into the congregation. It shows itself in the worldly wisdom of 3,14-15 that battles for position, envies, and sows disorder. It shows itself in the preference for conflict, the pride, and the greedy requests of 4,1-4. All of these indicate a “worldly” worldview — those who have allowed themselves to be “stained by the world”, a state summed up by James’s unique term dıcyxov. These double-minded cannot quite let go of their ¥ attachment to the world order, and so prove themselves far from ac- cepting God’s. Ultimately there are two main passages that call for purity: 1,21 calls the audience to remove all the “moral filth and evil that is so prevalent among them” before they can “receive the implanted word.” James calls his audience to active participation, entering into the process of humbly Recently, P. TRUDINGER, “The Epistle of James: Down-to-Earth and 38 Otherworldly ? ”, Downside Review 122 (2004) 61-63, revived this claim. LOCKETT, Purity and Worldview, 187-88 , notes in contrast that “the composi- tion is not calling for sectarian separation from the surrounding culture, but rather . . . is a complex document demonstrating a degree of cultural accom- modation while at the same time calling forth specific socio-cultural bounda- ries between the reader and the world”.