God and the Father; rather, our God and Father. The article ( τῷ) binds together θεῷ and πατρί, so that they should not be separated, as in the A.V. To visit the fatherless … and to keep himself unspotted. Observe that our duty towards our fellow-men is placed first; then that towards ourselves. ἐπισκέπτεσθαι is the regular word for visiting the sick; cf. Ecclesiasticus 7:35, "Be not slow to visit the sick ( μὴ ὄκει ἐπισκέτεσπθαι ἀῤῥωστον)." The fatherless and widows ( ὀρφανοὺς καὶ χήρας). These stand here (as so often in the Old Testament) as types of persons in distress; the "personae miserabiles" of the Canon Law (see e.g. Deuteronomy 10:18; Psalms 68:5; Psalms 82:3; Isaiah 1:17; and cf. Ecclesiasticus 4:10). "Be as a father unto the fatherless, and instead of an husband unto their mother; so shalt thou be as the son of the Most High, and he shall love thee more than thy mother doth." To keep himself unspotted. Man's duty towards himself. (For ἄσπιλον, cf. 1 Timothy 6:14; 1 Peter 1:19; 2 Peter 3:14) From the world. This clause may be connected either with τηρεῖν or with ἄσπιλον, as in the phrase, καθαρὸς ἀπὸ in Acts 20:26.
HOMILETICS