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

(19) The fourth: the true service of God exists in charity towards our neighbours, especially those who need the help of others (fatherless and widows), and purity of life.

(z) To care for them and to help them as much as we can.

People's New Testament

1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God. Combining pure hearts and pure outward lives. This genuine religion has two elements:

To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction. First, kind and loving deeds, exemplified especially in helping the helpless, such as widows and orphans, and

And to keep himself unspotted from the world. Living pure, unsullied lives, unstained by the sins prevalent in this sinful world.

Wesley's Notes

1:27 The only true religion in the sight of God, is this, to visit - With counsel, comfort, and relief. The fatherless and widows - Those who need it most. In their affliction - In their most helpless and hopeless state. And to keep himself unspotted from the world - From the maxims, tempers, and customs of it. But this cannot be done, till we have given our hearts to God, and love our neighbour as ourselves.

Scofield Reference Notes

Margin world

"kosmos" = world-system. Jas 4:4 Jn 7:7 See Scofield Note: "Rev 13:8"

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

27. Pure . and undefiled-"Pure" is that love which has in it no foreign admixture, as self-deceit and hypocrisy. "Undefiled" is the means of its being "pure" [Tittmann]. "Pure" expresses the positive, "undefiled" the negative side of religious service; just as visiting the fatherless and widow is the active, keeping himself unspotted from the world, the passive side of religious duty. This is the nobler shape that our religious exercises take, instead of the ceremonial offices of the law.

before God and the Father-literally, "before Him who is (our) God and Father." God is so called to imply that if we would be like our Father, it is not by fasting, &c., for He does none of these things, but in being "merciful as our Father is merciful" [Chrysostom].

visit-in sympathy and kind offices to alleviate their distresses.

the fatherless-whose "Father" is God (Ps 68:5); peculiarly helpless.

and-not in the Greek; so close is the connection between active works of mercy to others, and the maintenance of personal unworldliness of spirit, word, and deed; no copula therefore is needed. Religion in its rise interests us about ourselves in its progress, about our fellow creatures: in its highest stage, about the honor of God.

keep himself-with jealous watchfulness, at the same time praying and depending on God as alone able to keep us (Joh 17:15; Jude 24).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:26,27 When men take more pains to seem religious than really to be so, it is a sign their religion is in vain. The not bridling the tongue, readiness to speak of the faults of others, or to lessen their wisdom and piety, are signs of a vain religion. The man who has a slandering tongue, cannot have a truly humble, gracious heart. False religious may be known by their impurity and uncharitableness. True religion teaches us to do every thing as in the presence of God. An unspotted life must go with unfeigned love and charity. Our true religion is equal to the measure in which these things have place in our hearts and conduct. And let us remember, that nothing avails in Christ Jesus, but faith that worketh by love, purifies the heart, subdues carnal lusts, and obeys God's commands.