Bible Strands

James 1:27

Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — James, writing to Jewish believers in the diaspora (1:1), closes a unit on the tongue (1:26) by defining what genuine religion actually is.

The words — θρησκεὺα (thrēskeia) is the standard Greek term for religious practice or cult, not mere belief; it is the subject of the sentence and the thing James says is either pure or worthless.

The thread — The call to care for the vulnerable echoes 1 John 3:17 and the persistence in doing good in Galatians 6:9; the call to separate from worldly corruption answers Isaiah 1:16's command to wash and remove evil deeds.

Why it lands — It reduces religion to two testable acts: feeding the orphan and the widow, and refusing to let the world's values settle on you. No ritual, no confession, no assembly is named—only these two.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

θρησκείαthrēskeiaReligionκαθαρὰkatharapureκαὶkaiandἀμίαντοςamiantosundefiledπαρὰparabeforeτῷtōtheθεῷtheōGodκαὶkaiandπατρὶpatriFatherαὕτηhautēthisἐστίν,estinis,ἐπισκέπτεσθαιepiskeptesthaito visitὀρφανοὺςorphanousorphansκαὶkaiandχήραςchēraswidowsἐνeninτῇtēatheθλίψειthlipseitribulationαὐτῶν,autōnof them,ἄσπιλονaspilonunstainedἑαυτὸνhe'autononeselfτηρεῖνtēreinto keepἀπὸapofromτοῦtoutheκόσμου.¶kosmouworld.

King James Version

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Cross-references