James 2:16

"and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?"and one of you says to them" -Let the reader be impressed that the early church also had inactive members. Hypocrites were found in their congregations also. "Go in peace" -Which was. common Jewish expression meaning "farewell" (Mark 5:34; Luke 7:50). "A formula of wishing well, blessing addressed by the Hebrews to departing friends" (Thayer p. 182). Also including the ideas of hope for your welfare and health."be warmed and be filled" -The tenses here are interesting. Literally the verse would read, "keep on going in peace, get yourselves warmed and filled." "Those with insufficient clothing are bidden to 'Warm yourselves!' Those in need of food to 'Fill yourselves!' And, with. wave of the hand and. dismissal of all responsibility, the poor are told 'Farewell!' Be off. Best wishes" (Woods p. 134).

Points To Note:

Be impressed that the Bible doesn't pull any punches. Note the integrity of the Scriptures, the short-comings of professed Christians are not hidden, but exposed in graphic detail. We might be shocked by such. callous attitude towards those in need---but we are at times guilty of the same thing. Maybe not so much concerning physical needs, as spiritual needs. We see someone who is manifesting spiritual weakness and yet we don't attempt to take the time to encourage them, build. friendship, and so on. And yet physical needs do pop up, maybe not with the Christians in this community, but there are many Christians in the Philippines and other countries who are truly in need of "daily food". But at times our attitude is, "Someone else will take care of that, someone else will give"."what use is that?" -Which clearly means, such warm words are completely useless and unprofitable. Warm wishes cannot take the place of warm clothes and food. But it is easier to talk than to help. We often think that we are really accomplishing something by just talking about the problem.