James 1: 1 – 27
Be a doer, not just a hearer
1 James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings. 2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. 9 Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, 10 but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. 11 For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits. 12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. 19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. 26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
I have just noticed something. For my entire life I have loved to read. I value books. In fact, maybe I am cheap, but I keep all the books I have ever read. Needless to say, this habit does not go over well with my wife. So, to be a nice guy I agreed, reluctantly, to start getting rid of the books. The thought reminded me of losing your best friend. So, I began my purge of books beginning from my least favorite. I packed up a large box of books and marked the box ‘free books for good summer time reading.’ Guess how many of these 20 literary best popular books were taken? If you said ‘not one’ you win a cookie.
I couldn’t believe it. No one wanted a best seller to read while sitting on the beach? I had to investigate this amazing occurrence. You will be amazed at my findings.
I found that there is a long, steady decline of literary reading in our country.
According to a new report from the National Endowment for the Arts, the percentage of American adults who read literature — any novels, short stories, poetry or plays — fell to at least a three-decade low last year.
In 2015, 43 percent of adults read at least one work of literature in the previous year. That's the lowest percentage in any year since NEA surveys began tracking reading and arts participation in 1982, when the literature reading rate was 57 percent.
The NEA’s numbers are meant to capture reading for pleasure. They explicitly exclude required readings for work or school. The survey also makes no differentiation between physical books and works read on e-readers, to capture the broadest possible range of leisure reading.
But the biggest driver of literary reading appears to be education. About 68 percent of people with a graduate degree engaged in literary reading in 2015, compared to 59 percent with a bachelor's degree and 30 percent of those with only a high school education.
Since the share of American adults with a bachelor's degree or more has nearly doubled since 1982, you might expect to see a concomitant rise in literary reading. But that hasn't happened. Indeed, previous research by the NEA has found that drops in the literary reading rate have happened across the board, among all ages, races and educational levels.
But that analysis did point to some other possible drivers of the decline in literary reading. There are a lot more products and platforms competing for your attention today than there were 30 years ago — video games have exploded in popularity and movies have transformed from something you did at the theater to something you do at home. Perhaps most important, the Internet, with its infinite distractions, did not exist 30 years ago.
Does it even matter if people are reading fewer works of great literature? I thought about Christianity and how this fact is a good report on why faith is falling in our country. Another poll I read reported that there are less than 8% of believers today. People are filling the void with the internet will all its trappings.
A number of recent studies have demonstrated that reading— seems to boost the quality of empathy in the people who read good literature, their ability to see the world from another person's eyes. And good works of literature, particularly novels, can grant you direct access to another person's mind — whether it be the mind of the author, or of one of their imagined characters — in a way that few other works of art can.
How much more can we be transformed if we made a commitment to read and study God’s Holy Word. We, like the study of worldly literature, can also find the mind of the author, none other than our Great and Mighty God El Shaddai.
So, if we're reading less literature, it stands to reason that we may be becoming a less empathetic country. If changing reading habits are indeed making us less able to see things from other people's points of view, that could have drastic consequences across the board.
There are many words of wisdom as well as prophecy and good teachings that we have at our disposal in any hour we choose to spend some time. The Holy Spirit is being poured out like never upon many who would receive it. We have scripture in many different translations, audio books and the like, in which we can receive God’s word. But all of this in its many forms won’t do us any good unless we put it into practice.
Otherwise, these words and truths become like seeds that are blown in the wind. They then have no anchor in them to be established in us. We go about our lives not having these truths of God anchored in our lives. We live as those with no structure or foundation to base our lives upon. Those words from God are echoed in our minds and hearts just as words, and not as something that could be real in our daily lives to give us direction, peace, forgiveness, or solutions to the many problems that we face.
Those words are then seen as through a window or a reflection in a mirror; but we don’t see the real image of how it might be seen in us.
“For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does” James 1:23-25.
Otherwise if one doesn’t put into practice what one reads or hears, then these things are just philosophies or ideas. They become like a book that is just a book and you might be shocked to find out like I did that no one wants them. The pages and the truths found there as well as the Holy Spirit-inspired truths spoken by others, then fall to the ground. It’s like reading a good book by an author that we enjoy reading. We get caught-up in the story line and the characters, but after the book is finished then we go on reading or doing something else.
The question arises and asks us, “Why wouldn’t we put into practice those very things that we know to be true?”
Perhaps some doubt that these words could effect change in their lives. Maybe some are afraid to do this because of what others might think. If that is the case remember that we are to please God rather than man. We aren’t living our lives for someone else, but rather we have given up everything for the sake of knowing Him and following Him.
We are thankful for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ’s half-brother who instructs us in his book to be a doer of the word and not just a hearer. The Kingdom of God involves action, and not just mere words.
Before looking at the letter, which is very much an exhortation to godly living and has a number of parallels with the Sermon on the Mount, we should perhaps consider its Biblical foundations. For it is important to see that this was not just moral exhortation. Like the Sermon on the Mount it was firmly grounded in theology. Among the Godward doctrines which are basic to its teaching are the following:
1). That Jesus is ‘the Lord, Jesus Christ’ (1.1; 2.1). This is a phrase which in 1.1 is either to be in close parallel with ‘God’ translating as, ‘of God, even of the Lord Jesus Christ’ or even ‘of God and Lord, Jesus Christ’. This paralleling of ‘the Lord, Jesus’ with God is so much so that James can use the title ‘the Lord’ freely without distinction of both the Father and of Jesus.
2). That God is ‘the God and Father’ (1.27) and ‘the Lord and Father’ (3.9) is the giver of every good and perfect gift given by the Creator (1.17), is wholly unchangeable (1.17), and carries out everything in accordance with His will (1.18) so that the will of God is paramount (4.15).
3). That one-day Jesus will come again as ‘the Lord’ to judge the world (5.7-9), while there is in fact but One Lawgiver and Judge (4.12).
4). That in accordance with the Father’s will those who are Christians have been begotten from above by means of (hearing) the word of truth as an initial, but that hearing must then be followed by doing (1.22).
5). That those who are His must look to God in confident faith in full expectation of His response (1.2-8).
6). That for being put in the right with God faith precedes works but must then later be evidenced by works (2.22-23). Nevertheless, while works are the essential fruit of faith, faith is pre-eminent (1.3) although it must be a genuine faith (2.14).
7). That men must choose between serving God and serving the world (1.9-11).
8). That there is a Devil who seeks to turn us from God’s path (4.7; that there are powers of evil is assumed.
9). That all are accountable to God’s Law, which is the law of liberty and is expressed in terms of loving all equally in terms of Leviticus 19.18 (1.25). We will all have to give account for this Law because the Lawgiver is also our Judge (2.11-13).
In this chapter James introduces the main facets that he intends to deal with:
. The need for patient endurance and the maintenance of unwavering trust in God (verses 2-8) and by keeping an eye on the goal (verse 12)
. The dichotomy between rich and poor and its inherent dangers (verses 9-11).
. The dangers of temptation (13-15).
. God’s remedy for temptation in the provision of His word through which He begets us based on His own will and purpose (verses 16-18), a word which grows within us and brings about our salvation (verse 21).
. The need therefore to be quick to hear and slow to speak and to avoid the angry mind (verses 19-20).
. The importance of not only hearing but doing (verses 22-27).
1 James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.
The majority evidence points to this as being James, the Lord’s half-brother. While having this background in mind, it is the humbling emphasis of the title that he was mainly thinking of. He was not by it seeking to exalt himself as some great one. He was seeking to express his heartfelt gratitude to God and the Lord Jesus Christ for ‘His’ goodness towards him as his Master, aiming to indicate the seriousness of his purpose. He was writing as the Lord’s servant and indicating what his attitude of mind was to his readers. He was the slave of His God and Lord, Jesus Christ, and all that he wrote had in mind pleasing Him and accomplishing His will among His people.
We should also note the significance of the other names. ‘Jesus’ means YHWH is salvation’ and was given because He would ‘save His people from their sins’ (Matthew 1.21). The story of His naming was presumably regularly told in the household of Joseph and Mary, something which would have gained new significance after His death and resurrection. ‘Christ’ means literally ‘Messiah’. James is also stressing His Messiahship. These inflections would be obvious to all his readers.
This was Israel as God had always intended it to be, an Israel throbbing with spirituality and life.
The letter commences by outlining the basic themes that will be dealt with later It is also interesting that the opening verses of the letter after the greeting may commences with the overwhelming joy that they should have as they face up to trials for His sake, trials which will strengthen them and enable them to endure, while verse 12 speaks of the blessedness of those who face up to those trials because it will result in their receiving the crown of life which God has prepared for those who love Him.
We should note that there is no suggestion here that Christians should seek to experience trials and tests. Our Lord Jesus taught us to pray, ‘Do not lead me into testing’. What James is rather dealing with is the fact that during life the Christian can expect to be tested in various ways, for it is by such testing that he can be weaned away from the world and can become strong.
Certainly, such testing was true in the early days. The Jews were beginning to hate the Christians, seeing them as heretics and blasphemers. Gentiles were beginning to be suspicious of them. The net result was that they often had to face up to persistent persecution and ridicule, with it sometimes even growing more severe. James knows that that is what God’s people must expect.
2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
James begins by calling on all Christians (‘my brothers’) to rejoice in trials and temptations whenever they are faced up with them, seeing all testing as a means for exercising faith and confidence in the Lord, Jesus Christ, and in His promises, whether those trials be in terms of persecution, problems of life, or inward temptations. They should thus rejoice in them, as they rise above them hand in hand with Him, with their eyes fixed on things above where Christ is seated on the right hand of God (Colossians 3.1-3), looking not at the things that are seen, but at the things which are unseen (2 Corinthians 4.18). For in the light of what is unseen, the things that are seen are unimportant, and can be seen in their proper perspective. And in the process of experiencing these tests and trials they should continually rejoice because they know that their successful enduring of their trials is accomplishing much good in them.
To ‘Count it all joy’ is to know that it as the most delightful and joyous thing in the world. ‘Reckon it as a thing of unreserved joy’, almost hilarity, because of the blessing that is going to result. We can compare Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount, ‘blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and speak all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account, rejoice and be exceeding glad’ (Matthew 5.12). And why are we to rejoice? Because it is the evidence that we are acceptable to God, and that God is treating us as His children who need to learn the lessons of life (Hebrews 12.3-11). And it is evidence that through our Lord Jesus Christ we have been reconciled to God and have been made at one with Him (Romans 5.11), which has resulted in men turning against us.
The word ‘Temptations’ indicates trials of any kind whether through the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches or the desire for other things (Mark 4.19), or through physical persecution and harassment because they are Christians. The point behind such temptations and trials is the activity of God in ‘proving’ His people.
It was the response of Christians to trials and persecution in the early church that often resulted in many becoming Christians. They knew that men who had such joy during suffering must have something worth having. And the early church saw it as a privilege, a favor granted by God, which is why Paul could say, “it has been granted to you … to suffer for the sake of Christ” (Philippians 1.29). Thus far from being a matter for discouragement, it was seen as a ground for thanksgiving. Peter indicated the same thing, ‘if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but under that name let him glorify God’ (1 Peter 4.16). That is why the early Christians went away “rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name” (Acts 5.41). They were honored to be dishonored for His sake.
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
For this ‘testing’ will prove the genuineness of their faith and confidence in Christ and make it strong and sure, and once they are confident that they can truly trust Christ in all circumstances, it will result in continuing patient endurance in the face of all that the future will hold. We learn to trust Him as we go along, and the more we trust Him the more He can ‘try’ us so that we may grow more and more. The child who is protected from all that life deals out will never grow into an adult.
‘Knowing’ is ‘coming to the knowledge of’ the fact that once their faith is ‘proved’ they will find rest and be able to continue in further patient endurance (compare Hebrews 3-4).
The use of the word ‘Proving’ is only found here in the New Testament and in 1 Peter 1.7. The idea is of something tested in the fire and coming out refined.
4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
And the result of enduring these testing’s and trials with patient endurance, and of rejoicing in the privilege of suffering for Him, will be the sanctification (making holy, setting apart to God) and building up of their lives that will result in their coming to maturity of faith and love. It will accomplish a ‘perfect work’. They will become ‘perfect even as their Father in Heaven is perfect’ (Matthew 5.48), loving their enemies (5.44) and behaving towards them in ways that are right and good (Matthew 5.44-48).
In view of the close connection with riches (verse 9) James may well have in mind the rich young man who was called on to be ‘perfect’ by yielding up all his worldly goods and following Christ (Matthew 19.21). It is a ‘perfection’ that is the result of being released from the grip of the world and from the grip of riches.
The words ‘Patient endurance.’ expresses the active courage and firm resolution that is to be found in Christians, as they are indwelt by Christ and go forward with Him (Galatians 2.20).
The word ‘Entire’ came to mean ‘total and complete, without defect’. They will become whole and without blemish, so that their lights will shine in the world bringing glory to God (Matthew 5.16).
Believers are taught that they will not ‘lose the race’ through lack of training. They will be undefeated in whatever they face. They will triumph. For it is God Who will give them the victory. And though those who are like this may lack physical riches which will eventually fade away (verses 9-11), they will enjoy the riches of faith and will be heirs of the Kingly Rule of God (2.5). They will not lack anything that is worthwhile, both in the quality of their lives and regarding what is truly important. They will not fall short in any way. If they wait patiently they will have everything that is truly worthwhile, all that they have waited for, and will have it in abundance when their Lord comes.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
In the face of many trials and temptations they may often be brought to a standstill. They may wonder what they should do in the light of them and may need wisdom and guidance along the way. God therefore tells them that if they need wisdom in the light of trials they should ask it of Him and He promises that He will give it to them, for He is the One Who gives to all men liberally.
Nor will He will upbraid them for asking for what is good for them. No one is so unimportant that God will begrudge enlightening his heart and life. In matters like needing spiritual wisdom He declares, ‘ask and it will be given you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you -- how much more will your Father in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him’ (Matthew 7.7-11). And His promise is that He will bring home to them the truths that will enable them to overcome. ‘For the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of testings’ (2 Peter 2.9). And He does it by giving spiritual discernment in the things of God (1 Corinthians 2.5-16).
James is often accused of not mentioning the Holy Spirit, but it is the Holy Spirit, the giver of wisdom (1 Corinthians 2.8-10), the Spirit of truth (John 14.17), Whom he has in mind here. Wisdom is thus found in the word of God illuminated and applied by the Holy Spirit which has to be lived out in life (1.22) and is revealed in true goodness of life (3.13).
‘Lack wisdom’ has little to do with gaining worldly knowledge. To the Jews wisdom was found in knowing the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 1.7; 3.7). The man who thus finds wisdom and gets understanding will truly be able to rejoice, for it will be better for him than a multitude of riches (Proverbs 3.13-18). That is why the wise man builds his house on a rock by hearing Jesus’ words and doing them, then he knows that the storms and tempests cannot move him (Matthew 7.24-25). He responds to the Spirit and His wisdom.
There have been many times in history when religious leaders have sought to prevent common people from seeking wisdom claiming any wisdom must be seen as coming through them. Perhaps James knew of some Rabbis and Pharisees who were doing precisely that, men such as the Judaizes who were travelling around trying to imprison men’s minds in rites and ceremonies and bringing them into subjection to their own ideas and ultimately to themselves. But he wants God’s people to know that God will freely give His true wisdom to those who ask Him and will enlighten them with spiritual truth (1 Corinthians 2.11-18) so that they will be delivered from such perversions. This wisdom is found through ‘the implanted word which is able to save your souls’ (1.21). It is ‘from above’ (3.17), and is real and genuine, resulting in hearts that are at peace (3.18).
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
But those who would receive God’s wisdom must come to God with full confidence in His willingness to respond. They must ‘ask in faith, nothing doubting’. And as the writer in Proverbs tells us, they must do it by ‘choosing the fear of the Lord’ (Proverbs 1.29). In other words, it requires a single eye (Matthew 6.22). For ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and of true knowledge’ (Proverbs 1.7). They must thus set their minds to experience this wisdom with hearts full of faith. For if they doubt (revealing it by the course they choose in their thinking and in their lives) they will be tossed around like the waves in the wind, swirling this way and that, never at rest (Isaiah 57.20). They must therefore rather look to God with a single eye and a full assurance of faith, and not with one that turns this way and that, for they cannot serve God and Mammon (Matthew 6.22-24).
7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
And this constancy of heart and mind is required for any who would receive God’s wisdom, and indeed anything from God. The one who is tossed this way and that by doubt and inconstancy will receive nothing from the Lord. Such things come only to those whose eyes are set on God. Let them then go into their inner chamber and pray to the Lord in secret, and the Lord Who sees in secret will reward them openly (Matthew 6.6).
8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
For the man who is looking both ways at once will be prone to accidents. He will not know whether to do this or that. He will be ‘unstable (disordered) in all his ways’, first moving one way and then another, never quite sure what to do next. And the only way in which to avoid such double-mindedness is to draw near to God, to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts, and to mourn over our sin, humbling ourselves before God (4.8-10). It is as we do this that we will learn true wisdom and become fixed in our minds.
9 Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, 10 but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. 11 For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.
James now first introduces what is to be one of his themes, the contrast between rich and poor. Most Christians were poor, often made even poorer by becoming Christians, but there were inevitably rich people among them. And James could see that these people both often had a wrong attitude which was unhelpful and were also in most danger of wandering from the truth, because their eyes and thoughts were fixed on other things which were in danger of taking possession of their lives. He thus makes it apparent that he is especially concerned about the way that the wealthy see life because they do not recognise how temporary life and its riches are. This foolish attitude of men towards wealth was a constant theme of Jesus (Matthew 6.19-21), and James clearly saw it as affecting many in the churches. It was an ever-present danger and had been so from the beginning (Acts 5.1-11), for the problem is that possessions possess men, and if not controlled can absorb their whole attention. Later his concern will expand to treating the question of their attitude towards the poor. But here his concern is that if they are not wary they will fade away and die without having had proper regard for God’s ways because they are so tied up in their wealth. So his hope is that by such people being brought low by testing and trials they will be made aware of their transience.
The Christian brother who is poor, he says, can glory in his happy position. He is in a state which should be envied. For it is the poor in spirit who will receive the Kingdom of God (Matthew 5.3). He is thus in line to receive the crown of life, that is, to inherit eternal life (verse 12). For the believing poor all is gain. His way can only be upwards. James does not feel that the danger of backsliding is quite as great for him. All he must do is keep his eye on the goal.
But how different it is for the rich, for they can so easily be dragged down by their riches. They have so many things that may attract them away from Christ. They should indeed rejoice therefore when trials bring them low, for it will make them aware of the transience of riches and remind them not to allow their riches to control their lives. For if they do not beware their riches will take over their souls, and will induce them to live accordingly, only for them to discover in the end that those riches are perishing and that they themselves will ‘fade away’ in their pursuit of them, rather than like the believing poor entering in triumph into the everlasting glory. So, the rich who are wise will glory in their being made humble and being brought low, for in that lies their hope of escaping from the control and snare of their riches into the arms of Christ, and as a consequence receiving the crown of life. The detail provided demonstrates the fears that James has about the rich. He is fearful that their faith might not prove to be genuine and able to stand up to the snares of wealth. It is they whom he sees as in the greatest danger of being insincere.
The rich man rejoices in being brought low because it reminds him of his transience. It reminds him that like ‘the flower of the grass’ he will pass away. For the sun arises with the scorching wind, and withers the grass, and its flower falls, and ‘the grace of the fashion of it’ (its blooming beauty) perishes. Instead of continuing to bloom, it withers and dies. ‘So also, will the rich man fade away in his goings.’ He too will ‘fade away and wither and die as he goes about his business’, that is he will if he fails to heed the message brought to him by his trials. His riches will not enable him to prevent it.
12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
The passage then ends with a description of the blessedness of the one who endures temptation, whether rich or poor, and who as a result of it is ‘approved’ because he has allowed it to be effective in his life. Such a man or woman will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. That is in the end why they face testing with such joy. It is because they know what its result will be. And that is why the believing poor will be able to boast in their anticipated exaltation, while the rich are to ensure that they prove ‘worthy’ of it by their responsiveness to God.
‘Approved’ means to be found to be pure after testing. Revealed as pure gold with the dross removed.
In Proverbs 4.9 it is said of wisdom that ‘she will place on your head a fair crown, she will bestow on you a beautiful crown’. For true wisdom brings men to God. In the same way here, the reception of the crown results from having received wisdom (verse 5) and having responded to it. And this wisdom has produced in them true life which is eternal (verse 18) so that they receive the crown ‘of life’. They are to inherit eternal life through the resurrection, and that is to be their crown. They are ‘crowned with eternal life’. In Revelation 2.10 ‘the crown of life’ is the martyr’s crown, which guarantees to him resurrection life following death. In both cases it is their ‘reward’ for faithfulness. So all who have endured trials for His sake, and have thereby been shown to be approved, will receive from Him the crown of eternal life.
YHWH preserves all who love Him.’ God will never fail those who love Him but will preserve them to the end.
James now moves from the trials of life to the idea of a trial, that of temptation to sin. Some were blaming their temptations to sin, and even their sinfulness, on God, so he assures them that it is not God Who tempts men to sin, but men who are tempted because of what they are. They are led astray by their own sinful desires. And they are to be aware that this kind of testing does not lead to the crown of life, but to the dust of death (verse 15).
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
There is a play on the meaning of temptation here. James has been speaking about testing and trials, and he may well have heard some blame them on God. And he has indeed made clear that that is partly true, for God allows His people to be tested for their good. But Now he wants to make clear that while God may test men He does not subject them to temptation to sin. Where temptation to sin occurs it is not God Who is doing it.
One reason why that is so is because sin is foreign to God as He is by nature. Thus, He cannot be tempted with evil. He is above and beyond it as ‘the Holy One’. Temptation to sin would be outside the sphere of His holiness. It is something which He could not conceivably do. But that then brings out another remarkable fact, and that is that in becoming man in Jesus God did subject Himself to temptation. ‘He was tempted in all points as we are, and yet without sin’ (Hebrews 4.15). But that does not apply to God as Creator and Sustainer of the Universe.
James categorically denies that God tempts men. It would be foreign to what He is. We can never seek to blame our sinfulness on God. It is all of man. Jewish tradition concurs with this conclusion, ‘Do not say, “it is through the Lord that I fell away -- it is He Who caused me to err” (Ecclesiasticus 15.11, 12). For if someone did they would be putting the blame in the wrong place.
14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
What then is it that causes men to be tempted? And the answer is that it is because of his own fallen desires. It is the result of his lustful nature. He is tempted, he is drawn by the temptation, he is then enticed into sin. He sees something or hears something or becomes aware of something and then his desires take over and he seeks to make it his own, especially if it is something forbidden. This was what happened in Eden. The woman saw and desired. She wanted the fruit with all her heart and was tempted. And as she continued to gaze at it she was enticed. She saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food, was a delight to the eyes, and was to be desired to give her greater wisdom (Genesis 3.6). And that is why she fell. In the end her failure was due simply to her failure to resist temptation by running away, followed by a period when she allowed enticement. Had her heart been filled with love for God she would have turned away immediately, but as it was she lingered, considering the temptation and weighing it up, and as a result she was enticed and fell.
There are three main types of sin, the sin of the flesh (Ephesians 2.3; 1 John 2.16), the sin of the mind (Ephesians 2.3; 1 John 2.16), and the sin of seeking worldly status (‘the pride of life’, 1 John 2.16). The first is to be fought by running (2 Timothy 2.22), the second by setting the mind on things above (Colossians 3.2), and the third by humble submission to God (James 4.7).
15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
But sin does not stop there. Once lust has conceived and produced sin, that sin will grow within men and produce death. For once we have let sin in, it remains within and produces its own effect and we are never rid of it. So, while response to testing and trials might lead to receiving the crown of life, yielding to temptation to sin can only produce death. This is the story of sin. And it is one that can be laid at no other door than our own. Whatever the interference of others, even of Satan, man is thus ultimately responsible for his own sin.
But while temptation may not come from God (verse 13), all good giving and every perfect gift certainly do so, something which they must not be deceived about. And this in context includes the gift of wisdom (verse 5). And it also includes the gift of His word through which He has begotten us (verse 18), and the gift of the sun which causes the flower of the grass to wither (verse 11), and shines on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5.45), for He is the Father of lights. In the light of this we should be silent before Him, listening rather than speaking, and swear off anger which is not consonant with His working, receiving meekly His implanted word which is able to save our souls.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
He is concerned that his readers as ‘my beloved brothers’ are not ‘deceived’. The expression of deep affection stresses the importance of what he is saying. It is something that he really wants them to appreciate. He wants them to recognize that while riches are but temporary and fleeting (verse 11), God’s gifts are what are truly true and permanent. And apart from wisdom as described in verse 5, and the crown of life in verse 12, this includes His begetting of His own people through the word of truth, which is a personal ‘begetting’ by the Father of the glorious created lights.
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
For the source of all truly beneficial giving is God, and the source of every gift which is perfect in its entirety, is God. And these are gifts that come ‘from above’. (verse 18 that follows with John 3.3, ‘You must be born from above’). They are heavenly in origin, and therefore outweigh all else. And the Giver of all such good and perfect gifts is no unreliable and ever changing man, but is the Creator, the Father of lights, the One Who created the great and the lesser lights and created the stars also (Genesis 1.14-16), the One Who is so unchanging that unlike sun and moon He does not vary in form and shape, nor does He cast an everchanging shadow as a result of His movement, but rather He remains constant and ever the same. He is totally dependable and His spiritual provision ever sure. The sun and the rain produce the harvests and bring life to the earth (Matthew 5.45), but far, far better are the giving and gifts from above which are totally reliable, and this especially includes the word of truth which produces a spiritual harvest in the hearts of men for this is to truly to receive the true wisdom of God (verse 5), that will result in their endowment with the crown of life (verse 12). Thus, the gift that he is about to describe must be the gift beyond all gifts.
We must not undervalue the phrase ‘the Father of lights.’ The sun was the most glorious and splendid thing known to man, and the moon brought light to earth at times of darkness such that men rejoiced at the new moon (Job 31.26). And thus, the Father of lights was to be seen as both glorious in splendor and a bringer of light in the darkness. He is the One Who is better than sun and moon and Whose light outshines them both (Isaiah 60.19-20). He is the One Who ‘alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, Whom no man has ever seen or can see’ (1 Timothy 6.16). And nothing was more splendid and more enlightening than His word of truth brought by the Sun of Righteousness Who has come from above with His healing and restoring power (Malachi 4.2).
18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of His creatures.
For while the sustaining of Creation was left to the glorious heavenly lights and the sustaining seasons, the begetting of His own people occurred directly through His own determined will and purpose, a begetting which took place through the word of truth. And He brought it about by His own divine action at the time of His own planning (Galatians 4.4-7). Behind this statement is the thought of the One Who has recently walked the earth and brought God’s truth to men. Here was God’s will very much in action, manifesting His glory (John 1.14), a glory greater far than that of sun or moon, and producing His new creation (Galatians 6.15; 2 Corinthians 5.17).
Here is the essence of what James is telling us. The Almighty, the great Creator, has acted in the world of His own will and has given His sustaining and divine life (2 Peter 1.4) to all who have received the word of truth through His Son. That is why these people that he is writing to are as they are. It is because He has chosen to beget them by planting His word in them (verse 21).
And this begetting was in order that they might be the first fruits of His creatures. This may indicate that then the full harvest of His creatures will also be redeemed (Isaiah 11.6-9), so that full restoration has taken place, or simply that His people are ‘the first fruits’ out of all creation, as those who are especially set aside for Him. Or it may indicate that His people stand out from all men (His creatures) as those who are separated to God and belong to Him, just as was true of the first fruits. We thus have here an emphasis on His sovereign act of redemption and salvation resulting in the new birth for His own.
19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;
And his beloved brothers are aware of this or are told to be aware of it and therefore they should be silent in awe before Him, listening and taking heed to His word. For ‘God is in Heaven and you are on the earth, therefore let your words be few’ (Ecclesiastes 5.2). This is no time for self-opinionating and humanly expressed anger, but a time for hearing and teaching and putting into practice the righteousness of God. Proverbs 13.3, ‘he who guards his mouth preserves his life. He who opens wide his lips comes to ruin’.
God is at work and so they should be swift to hear. God is at work and so they should think before they speak. God is at work and so they should put aside human anger. Who are they so to express God? Here all this is seen in the light of God at work. For by their words they will be justified, and by their words they will be condemned (Matthew 12.37).
20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
‘The anger of man.’ is of course different with God. But the point is that His anger is always rightly directed and has behind it a continuing underlying compassion. In His case it is always a just anger against sin coming from One Who is without sin. But man is to be warier, ‘be you angry and sin not, do not let the sun go down on your wrath’ (Ephesians 4.26). In man’s case it is to be both righteous and brief.
21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
‘For which reason’ may apply to the previous verse, with the emphasis being on the fact that rather than behaving angrily they are to receive the implanted word with a meek and gentle spirit, or it may look back to the whole passage and the fact that they are dealing with heavenly and glorious Creator. In this case the emphasis is on the need to do away with sin and all that offends God.
It is important that filthiness and overflowing of wickedness should be ‘put away’. It is a call to repentance in the light of the new revelation. They are to ‘take off, as they would a garment, all that is wrong and impure, all that defiles, including their false words, responding rather to the implanted word of truth, and putting it on in the way that they live their lives. Paul’s ‘put off the old man -- which is corrupt through deceitful lusts -- and put on the new which is created after the likeness of God in righteousness and true holiness’ (Ephesians 4.22-24).
‘Overflowing (excess) of wickedness’ refers to the wickedness that still remains even after their first reception of the word of truth which has now also to be put off or it may refer to the way in which wickedness can flow up from our lives, something which must be fully dealt with.
Instead of these things they are to delight in God’s word, the powerful word that He has implanted within them (verse 18), receiving it and responding to it, for it is able to save their souls. It is like a seed planted in their hearts which grows and flourishes (Matthew 13.18-23). It will bring them to eternal life (verse 12), to the eternal Kingdom (Matthew 13.43). This ‘saving of souls’ is important to James, for he will close off his letter with the idea (5.20). It is what all their trials are intended to achieve. The idea here of ‘saving’ is not of once for all salvation, that occurred when they were begotten of God by the word of truth, but of the constant need to experience God’s saving power so that His end might be achieved. They are undergoing a process of spiritual healing, of ‘sanctification’. They are being made like Him because of the carrying out of His will (Romans 8.29). They are being changed from glory into glory (2 Corinthians 3.18). God is at work in them to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2.13). And they are to take heed and receive the implanted word, which, like healing medicine, will restore them and make them whole.
‘Receive with meekness (that is, with ‘a teachable spirit’).’ The word here is describing the quality of the man whose feelings and emotions are under perfect control and who is ready to learn. There will be no harsh words.
Having laid a careful foundation in demonstrating that God’s People are those whom He has sovereignly begotten, in whose hearts his word of truth has been received and implanted, and is to grow, James now emphasises that that truth must be carried out into practice. It was very necessary that they hear His word and receive it with due dignity (verse 19), but now they must also ensure that they carry it through into action.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
James is very conscious of the danger of hearing and not doing. He had previously been like this himself, and he had seen among the Jews how easy it was to be a hearer in the synagogues every Sabbath and yet not be a doer. He had seen it also among the Pharisees. He does not want this repeated among the new Israel. So he calls on them not only to be hearers of the word which is proclaimed to them, as those who have received the truth, but also to be doers of it. For they must recognize that if they hear but do not do they are deluding themselves about being a Christian. The message is a very important one. The New Testament has no place for those who hear but do not do. As Jesus Himself said, ‘Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do the things which I say?’ (Luke 6.46).
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
He then illustrates his argument by the picture of a man who goes and glances in a mirror. He sees himself, but does not weigh himself up, and he then goes away and forgets what little he has observed and what he is supposed to be and does nothing about what he has seen. It has not affected his actions. And this is like a man who hears the word, and then conveniently forgets what he is supposed to be and does not do it. It does not affect his actions. It is supreme folly.
25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
But then in contrast James describes the one who is true at heart. He investigates the perfect Law, which is the Law of liberty and then goes on his way. He does not forget what he has ‘heard’ in the perfect law of liberty. He does not forget what he is supposed to be. But he does what the law of liberty requires. And he will be blessed in his doing.
The perfect law of liberty is the Law of God (Psalm 19.7) as released from its unnecessary restraints by Jesus and expanded in the new covenant (Hebrews 8.8-13). It is the Sermon on the Mount and its equivalents, properly interpreted, being worked in their hearts by God. It has given men freedom from the restrictions of the Law laid down by the Elders, which have bound men with burdens grievous to be borne and has brought out the deeper significance of that Law, bringing them into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Romans 8.21). Thus, their righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees because they hear His words and do them. As Paul regularly does in the second half of his letters, James is insisting that faith and response to God must result in love and response to man. Faith must result in works. Their light is to so shine before men that they see their good works and glorify their Father Who is in Heaven (Matthew 5.16).
It was always the insistence of the Torah that the man who did what was required in it would live a full life because of it (Leviticus 18.5). And it is not just a coincidence that the Law ends in blessings on those who obey it (Deuteronomy 28.1-14). In Christ the religious ordinance of the Law has been fulfilled and no longer apply, but the heart of the Law continues to throb and be valid. That was why Paul was concerned that men fulfil the Law (Galatians 5.13-14) as Jesus Himself had taught.
26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.
It again becomes clear that there was much distress in the churches because of the way that people were speaking to each other or of each other for James now declares that those who do not bridle their tongues (backbiters, boasters, slanderers, tale-tellers, liars, gossips) and all who misuse their tongues must recognize that it is an indication that their religious practice is not genuine. He is saying that what we say demonstrates what we really are.
By ‘religious’ James means practicing their faith with its binding stipulations. But a man who does not bridle his tongue is not practising the Christian faith in any genuine way. Thus he is deceiving himself about his true spiritual position, and if he is not careful he will discover that his religion and his profession is vain. His whole emphasis is on the failure of the tongue, reminding us again of Jesus’ similar words, ‘for every idle word that a man will speak he will give account of it in the Day of Judgment, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned’ (Matthew 12.36-37). It was clearly a major problem in the churches known to James. Perhaps the initial differences between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians were partly responsible for it which would suggest a fairly early date for James’ letter.
27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
In other words our main concern in what we do should not be the observance of religious ceremonial but the caring for those who are close to the Father’s heart, the fatherless who have no other father and the widows who are their mothers. Psalm 68.5 - ‘Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in His holy habitation’.
There is a dig here against those who considered that they could keep themselves pure and undefiled through religious rites. But the problem there is that they are concerned with external purity. But God’s people are to be concerned with the purity of the heart as revealed by Godlikeness in their behavior. That is how they will keep pure and undefiled.
There is only one way to keep ourselves unspotted from the world, and that is to set our minds on things above and look to the Lord of glory (2.1). But it is not recommending withdrawal from the world, only from its aims. For we are to go out into the world to help the widows and fatherless. This is thus simply turning us again to the perfect Law of liberty, and to the One Who can enable us to fulfil it. It is calling on us to be perfect as our Father in Heaven in perfect (Matthew 5.48) by showing love to the unlovely, by loving God with all our hearts, and by loving our neighbor as ourselves. It is to avoid the attitudes and aims of the world.
