Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
Lay apart - once for all х apothemenoi (G659): aorist] as a filthy garment (cf. Joshua's, Zechariah 3:3; Zechariah 3:5; Revelation 7:14). "Filthiness" is cleansed away by hearing the word (John 15:3).
Superfluity of naughtiness - excess (as the intemperate spirit of "wrath," James 1:19-20), arising from malice (evil disposition toward one another (1 Peter 2:1). So Ephesians 4:31; Colossians 3:8. Superfluous excess in speaking is reprobated as 'coming of evil,' in the sermon on the mount (Matthew 5:37), on which this letter comments.
With meekness - toward one another: the opposite to "wrath" (James 1:20): "as newborn babes" (1 Peter 2:2). Meekness includes also a childlike, humble, as well as uncontentious spirit (Psalms 25:9; Psalms 45:4; Isaiah 66:2; Matthew 5:5; Matthew 11:28-30; Matthew 18:3-4: contrast Romans 2:8). On "receive," cf. the ground receiving seed, Mark 4:20. Compare Acts 17:11; 1 Thessalonians 1:6, with 2 Thessalonians 2:13.
Engrafted word - the Gospel engrafted by the Holy Spirit into living incorporation with the believer, as the fruitful shoot is with the wild stock on which it is engrafted. The law came only from without, and admonished man of his duty. The Gospel is engrafted inwardly, and so fulfils the law's ultimate design (Deuteronomy 6:6; Deuteronomy 11:18; Psalms 119:11).
Able to save - a strong incentive to correct our dullness: that word which we hear so carelessly is able (instrumentally) to cave us (Calvin).
Souls - your true selves, for the "body" is liable to sickness and death; but the soul being now saved, both soul and body at last shall be so (James 5:15; James 5:20).