Neal Pollard
As a young preacher, James 1:18-27 was one of the first sections of Scripture I memorized. James is a practical book, and I was using a Dickson study Bible given to me by Wendell Winkler and the Bible Department at Faulkner University upon my graduation. The study Bible was in the King James Version, the version I had grown up with. The Elizabethan English and archaic words made memorizing, to me, much easier than other versions.
James 1:21 reads, “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.” Disparagers of the version might admit that there is a certain poetry to the words and cadence in verses like this: “lay apart,” “engrafted,” and “superfluity of naughtiness.” Apologists might admit that people do not speak that way and stumble upon such unfamiliar words in personal study.
What is “superfluity of naughtiness”? How does it function in this verse and context? The NASB’s rendering is disappointingly inadequate, yielding “all that remains.” The ESV comes much closer with “rampant.” The NLT does not even translate it. The NKJ gives a pretty good idea with “overflow.” This word, found in its various forms in only four New Testament verses (Romans 5:17; 2 Corinthians 8:2 and 10:15, and here), means “Over and above, an overflowing, something above the ordinary” (Zodhiates). It refers to “extraordinary” or “more than usual” things (TDNT, Vol. 6, 61). It is “much greater” (Newman, 141). “Naughtiness” is simply the state of wickedness, evil, and depravity “with the implication of that which is harmful and damaging” (Louw-Nida, 753).
James has been talking about how to properly receive God’s Word. That word makes one spiritually reborn (18) and saves the soul (21). It will bless one’s actions (25). According to James 1:21 and the surrounding context, we must destroy all obstacles to that necessary result. Barriers include stubbornness (19), anger at the word (19-20), hearing without doing (22-24), forgetfulness (25), failing to bridle the tongue (26), deceiving the heart (26), and, in our verse, “rampant wickedness.”
You cannot allow the word to work on your heart so long as you hold on to mean-spirited, vicious attitudes and dispositions or depravity in your heart. But, when you lay it aside or put it away, and you open and humble your heart, you are in position to hear what God has to say and let it positively influence you.
What is your superfluity of naughtiness? Is it bitterness because of trials (1:2-4,12)? Is it double-mindedness (1:8)? Is it improper attitudes toward money (1:9-11)? Is it various lusts and enticements of the world (1:13-15)? It is whatever we hang onto that drowns out God’s word. Like a malignant tumor, rampant wickedness must be completely removed from our hearts and minds. Only then can we allow the power of the word to work on and transform us from the inside out!
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