James 1

1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:
Greetings.
Trials and Temptations
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double minded man, unstable in all he does.
9The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. 10But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. 11For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.
12Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

Explanation:
James' Greeting

James introduces himself first as one such servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. His letter will be about this servant-Lord relationship in which all Christians are to persevere. Along the way, true servants of the Lord will have to put their servanthood into practice in the midst of suffering, in choosing their relationship with material wealth, in controlling how they speak and in other life issues James will address.

At the very start of this letter, James is identifying himself as one who is self-consciously accepting this way of life for himself. His purpose in this letter does not require that he assert his apostleship (as Paul and Peter do in their letters) or his eldership (as John does in his letters). James's identity is already known to the church at large. It is only his servanthood to the Lord Jesus Christ that matters to him here, for this is the theme of his letter: How shall we live as servants of the Lord Jesus Christ?

His readers' life setting is equally pertinent to the content of the letter. He is writing to Christian Jews (the twelve tribes) who are scattered among the nations. The reference speaks of a literal diaspora, a scattering of these Christians mainly through persecution. Acts 8:1-3 gives the likely background. By addressing them as ones scattered among the nations, he is telling them at once: "I know you are persecuted; I know you face various trials; I know you are suffering." All that James will have to say to his readers is said with this knowledge of their life setting. All that he will have to say to his readers is applicable even in their life setting of suffering.

Imagine the implications, drawing from the actual phrases of Acts 8:13. Young Christians of Jewish upbringing had become the objects of "a great persecution" by the very ones who had been their leaders in Judaism. Stephen, a loved and respected leader of this Christian movement, had been stoned to death for his faith in Christ. The church "mourned deeply for him." Meanwhile, Saul was determined to destroy the church and so was "going from house to house" forcibly taking men and women to prison. With "all except the apostles" being driven from Jerusalem, James now writes from there to believers scattered among the nations. Certainly among James's readers are people experiencing confusion, fear, sorrow, injustice, loneliness, poverty, sickness, loss of home and family members and livelihood--in fact, "trials of many kinds," as he acknowledges right away in 1:2.

Look squarely now at the issue those Christians were facing as they received James's letter. Would these times of suffering and uncertainty be an interruption in their servant-Lord relationship with Jesus Christ? For example, is any trial a reason not to be joyful (1:2)? Are the differences in poverty and wealth to cause favoritism (2:1-13)? Even in trials, shall we be cursing other people (3:9) or grumbling against each other (5:9)? Is loss of anything a reason to fight with each other (4:1-2)? Is sickness or other trouble a cause to cease praying or trusting in God (5:13-14)? Even in these "trials of many kinds," the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ is to continue living the life that James will describe. His burden in writing is this: "Don't put off your life of faith until times get better. Right now, in the midst of your suffering, is the very time to be putting your servanthood toward Christ into practice."
The message is clearly applicable for Christians today. When we encounter trials, what do we experience? In most of us there is probably a mixture or succession of reactions: fear ("what will become of me?"), anger ("how can they do that to me?"), self-pity ("won't somebody feel sorry for me?"), envy of others ("why aren't they suffering like I am?") and confusion ("why is this happening?"). With these reactions, we often fall into precisely the problems James addresses for his original readers: a jealous focus on material wealth, a selfish neglect of others' needs, a judgmental spirit and hurtful speech, and a bitter fighting with one another.

The church needs a sound theology of suffering. Philip Yancey points out that Helmut Thielicke was asked once what he saw as the greatest defect among American Christians (1977:15). Thielicke's surprising reply was "They have an inadequate view of suffering." We would be helped by a more adequate study of James. His message is this: Your trial is not the time to rejoice less. Your sickness is not the time to pray less. Your loss is not the time to love others less. Rather, now is the very time to practice the joy, peace and love that we know theoretically to be the Christian life. For the Christian life is not mere theory; it is the life of the servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore it must have been of more than perfunctory significance to James when he told his readers, Greetings. The word is chairein: "Joy be to you." Yes, joy! Even though you are scattered among the nations and facing trials of many kinds, do not be robbed of your joy. This joy in the midst of trial becomes the first major topic of James's letter.

Trials

When I was a non-Christian college student, the loving acceptance of Christian students in an InterVarsity chapter helped me to begin a serious investigation into the Christian faith. I was asking questions and discussing issues: Does God exist? How could a good and holy God allow evil? Is the Bible a reliable historical record? Are the claims of Christ true? How can I know? I was reading every book I could find on such questions. One of my non-Christian friends, whom I liked very much and whose esteem I valued, offered this commentary on my search for God: "I admire your open-mindedness." His comment made me glad.

Eventually God in his grace brought me to some answers. I accepted Christ as my Savior and gave my life to him as my Lord. Since discussions of religious issues had become a part of my relationship with my non-Christian friends, it was not long before some of my remarks exposed my new stance of belief. The friend who had admired my open-mindedness confronted me with a stare and then a question: "Are you starting to believe that Christianity?"

I testified that I had become a believer, but I was naively unprepared for his disgusted response: "I'm sorry you have become so narrow-minded."

I was perceived to have changed from "open-minded" to "narrow-minded" because I believed my investigation had yielded some answers! That was my first experience with being rejected for my faith in Christ. It was a small matter compared to the persecution many Christians have suffered. But it illustrates the promptness of the separation which comes between Christian and non-Christian, manifesting itself in diverse magnitudes of rejection.

It illustrates as well the primary focus of "trials" in James's epistle. It is not that Christians are the only ones who have ever been persecuted. Nor is the letter intended to give comfort to Christians who suffer as a consequence of their own sin. For example, people who suffer conflicts with other people because of their own malicious talk are not told to consider it pure joy; James tells them to control their tongues. When he writes about "trials," he means hardships and sufferings that Christians encounter even as they are following the Lord. This would include tragedies unrelated to their public stance as Christians, such as young Jim's death in the automobile accident. James will explicitly include poverty as one of the trials of many kinds. But he most particularly has in mind the trials of being persecuted, the trials that come as a consequence of one's faith in Christ. Pure Joy (1:2)

You who follow Christ have experienced this: your painful surprise at realizing you are misunderstood, criticized or held at a distance by people to whom you had hoped to draw near. You must understand this separation that divides you from non-Christians so that you can be prepared to consider it pure joy when you encounter the rejection.

The course of the separation was traced by Jesus in the Beatitudes. It begins so promptly after your conversion because it is rooted in the very starting point of faith--your honest acceptance of your spiritual need as one who is "poor in spirit." That starting point sets you on a path that diverges more and more radically from the path of those who continue to rely on their own sufficiency. The difference between you and ones who do not seek after God widens when you "mourn" over your sin, for this seems mentally and emotionally unhealthy to them.

Your repentance for sin makes you "meek," but this humility is foolishness to people who are driving to get ahead by their self-sufficiency. For you, the outgrowth is that you begin to "hunger and thirst for righteousness" to replace your sin, but this hunger is not shared or welcomed by many others. This direction for your life, traced in the Beatitudes, brings you increasingly into conflict with people who are on a different course, because your course entails a thorough reversal of your values.

Jesus lovingly warned you to be prepared for it: "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven" (Mt 5:11-12). James now, with his mind saturated with these teachings of Jesus, will tell his readers about the rejoicing and about the reward.

James picks up the root idea of joy from his "greetings" (chairein) and makes it emphatic with his phrase pasan charan--"all joy" (RSV) or "pure joy" (NIV)--as if to say, "Yes, I really meant joy." "Happiness" would be a weak term to use in place of joy; moreover, it would be misleading. The translation "be happy" (LB) is only slightly improved as "supremely happy" (NEB) or as "a happy privilege" (JB). "Fortunate" (TEV) avoids the misleading impression that one should expect to feel happy in the midst of the trial. But James's phrase pasan charan is better translated "all joy" (RSV) or "pure joy" (NIV). Happiness is a subjective state, whereas James is instructing us to make a more objective judgment when he says consider it pure joy. "Happiness" might encourage readers to expect a carefree life or a constantly cheerful mood. Neither of these is what James has in mind. He acknowledges the presence of extremely unhappy experiences in his readers' lives. At the same time, and with no perception of any contradiction, James counsels these readers to rejoice during those very experiences of hardship.

My friend Jim, having lost son and job and income, had not had a happy year. Though he was sincere in expressing his new stance in Christ with the term "happy," it would have been more accurate to say "joyful." This joy is what we must grasp if we are going to teach the redemptive message of James accurately. James now goes on to explain why his readers may rejoice, and in his explanation we will discover the content of biblical joy. The Spiritual Dynamics of Trials (1:2-4)

To view our lives biblically (which is to view our lives accurately), we must perceive the spiritual realities. Circumstances and events are only the surface; James tells his readers to look for the deeper meaning. This is especially important in facing the trials of many kinds. James wants his readers to see a progression of events in the following pattern.

TRIAL => TESTING => PERSEVERANCE => MATURITY

1. The trials. The term peirasmos can refer to internal temptations, but here James probably has in mind the other primary meaning for the word: the external trials of adversity which his readers are experiencing. With this meaning, the term is used especially to refer to trials of persecution, as in 1 Peter 4:12.

Do not think that joy is appropriate only within a narrow range of circumstances. James calls them trials of many kinds to encompass the range of his readers' hardships. Shall we consider it joy when we receive unjust treatment? Is there any realistic reason for joy when I am seriously ill? In the midst of a financial crisis, or even a life of poverty without hope of improvement, does James mean for people to rejoice? If pressures in my job weigh upon me day after day, is this trial as well to be considered a time for joy? Or the huge sorrow of a family burden, perhaps a bleak marriage or a child in trouble--is even this trial included? Some of these examples will be specifically mentioned by James; all of them and more are indeed the circumstances in which to perceive the spiritual realities that give reason for pure joy.

Do not be robbed of your joy by supposing that your trial is not a suitable context for applying this passage. Instead, look for the spiritual dynamics of trials. In particular, look for the testing in the trial.

2. The testing. The trial is to become a testing (dokimion). This term in adjective form means "genuine" or "without alloy"; so the noun refers to a "test to prove genuine." The object of this testing is specifically the Christian's faith. But the biblical concept of a testing goes beyond what we have come to expect from our school experiences. Most of our school tests are designed primarily to reveal what knowledge the students already have in them. The biblical concept of a testing, as James uses it here, is one that does reveal the genuineness of the person's faith; but James says the test is also designed to develop something that is not yet present in full measure in the person.

This is why, for the one who wants to live by faith, the trial can be a time for rejoicing. How many people today suffer in trials of many kinds, thinking that the issue is whether they have the faith to pass the test? The spiritual reality is that God will use the trial to develop something that they admittedly do not yet possess. James says, "Rejoice in that prospect!"

3. The perseverance. What specific quality of faith will be developed through the trial that becomes a testing? James's answer is perseverance. This means, first, that God will give the ability to endure patiently. The Christian with this quality of faith does not give up trusting and praying even when the need continues for a long time.

Second, the term carries the idea of discipline. The Christian with this quality of faith continues in a disciplined obedience to Christ as Lord even when it requires "a long obedience in the same direction" (Peterson 1980). Third, the term means steadfast faithfulness. The Christian with this quality of faith is not a part-time servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Making the same point, in fact using the same terms, Paul wrote, "We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance" (Rom 5:3).

That the testing develops, or "produces," perseverance is emphatic. It may be compared to 1:20, where human anger does not "bring about" the righteous life that God desires. The root verb ergazomai is the same in 1:3 and 1:20, but in 1:3 it carries the prefix kata, making it emphatic with the image of producing or creating. Human anger will not bring about righteousness, but the testing of genuine faith will certainly produce perseverance.

James's earnestness needs to be heard, with the very direct questions this raises. Don't you desire this quality of faith in yourself? Isn't it the desire of your heart to learn to live by faith and to be "a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" in a patient, disciplined, steadfast, faithful way? Now you have the reason to rejoice in the midst of trials! These trials provide the opportunity for the testing that will develop this quality of faith. To stop trusting and start worrying, to cease ministering and start withdrawing, to interrupt godliness and start selfishness, just because of one's anxiety over the current trials, would be precisely the wrong course to take. The spiritual realities call for joy in the opportunity to learn perseverance.

4. The maturity. Why would perseverance be so valuable? It is because there is a fourth stage in the spiritual progression: "that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." Perseverance turns out to be not the end in itself, but rather the lifestyle by which the servant of Jesus Christ attains maturity.

The terms James uses in this last clause of 1:4 give a picture of wholeness and completeness. Moo's good paraphrase of James's term teleios is "perfection and wholeness of Christian character" (1985:61). Laws describes it as being "a complete person, having integrity, unlike the divided man of vv. 6-8" (1980:54). In other words, James is holding before his readers a vision for becoming everything the Lord desires them to become.
James invites you to envision yourself in the state of spiritual maturity, rid of the jealousy or laziness or impulsiveness or impatience or bitterness or self-pity or selfishness that now mars the wholeness of your fellowship with God and the completeness of your spirituality. Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness? Do you long to be fully the person God desires you to be? If so, then you now have the full reason for considering it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds. The trials can be opportunities for testing to develop in you the perseverance which, when it finishes its work, will leave you mature in Christ! For those who have set their hearts on becoming Christlike, this is wonderful reason for pure joy. Called to Joy (1:2 Reconsidered)

In the light of this spiritual goal we can now return to the beginning of 1:2 and have an idea of what James means by consider it pure joy. Contrast it to some unworthy substitutes:

1. Denial. It is clear from James's own recognition of the suffering that he is not prescribing a mind-game to keep oneself feeling happy by denying the reality of the trials.

2. Complaint. Praying for deliverance from a trial is appropriate, but doing so with a complaining spirit is far from what James envisions for the Christian. The goal of becoming complete is too valuable to be approached with grumbling.

3. Self-pity. Continuing in obedience to the Lord's commands would certainly be part of perseverance, but doing so in self-pity is not worthy of the goal James has in mind. Obeying while thinking "Poor me!" is different from obeying with pure joy.

James's vision for spiritual victory may be faced clearly and courageously. He honestly believes that in the very midst of painful trials in the Christian's life, there is definite basis for joy. If one's goal is to become mature in Christ, and if that is a goal far higher and more valuable than merely avoiding hardships, then indeed consider it joy when you meet the trials by which you attain that treasured goal. We are called to joy!

James is at this point entirely consistent with the rest of the New Testament. Jesus taught that the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure so valuable that a man would rightfully sell everything else to obtain it, and that the man would do so "in his joy" (Mt 13:44). Paul announced that we "rejoice in our sufferings" because "suffering produces perseverance" (Rom 5:3). Peter understood the Christian experience of rejoicing even in the midst of "all kinds of trials" (1 Pet 1:6).The First Example: Lacking Wisdom (1:5-8)

Two examples come to mind for James, by which to illustrate the spiritual dynamics of trials. First, what if you lack wisdom? This is an important example to James, for he will return to the theme of wisdom in 3:13-18. It is also fitting as a first example, because it is of such urgent importance for Christians in trials. Isn't this the cry in the heart of ones who are suffering? "I don't know what to do!" 2 Chronicles 20:12 in its context illustrates well this cry for wisdom from people facing trials. James's pastoral concern takes him directly to this pressing need in his readers' lives.

It is worth taking time to identify with that need ourselves, so that we catch the significance of James's answer, for we experience the same disabling effects that James's original readers must have been experiencing.

1. Guilt. I remember an agonizing time of division in our church. I struggled with self-blame. "If only I had said this . . . or done that . . . or acted differently." I kept wondering what to do. I needed wisdom desperately.

2. Confusion. Suffering easily pushes us into the confusion of self-doubt, in which we question our actions, motives and capabilities. Such self-doubt can be devastating, for example, for parents who lose a child in a tragedy or find their child alienated in rebellion. "Why did this happen to me? Where did I go wrong? Is God punishing me? Does God love me?" We don't know what to do in the midst of that intense internal questioning, and our need for wisdom is urgent.

3. Fear. Suffering awakens the fear that things are out of control and that whatever we hold dear might be lost. As a result, people commonly withdraw to protect what they still have. This is, in part, why a wife or child may keep submitting to an abusive home situation; there is the fear that the abuse will get worse. "Maybe, if I submit, my abuser will stop." In the midst of a trial, the fear can be absolutely crippling, so that you do not know what to do. You need wisdom.

4. Anger. Trials can produce a great deal of anger, but intense anger often receives insufficient satisfaction. Yet the intensity of anger cannot be sustained. When the anger subsides without being resolved, it is replaced by hopelessness. That is why counselors often regard depression as the other side of anger. The result is a loss of motivation and, again, an inability to know what to do. If you are angry or depressed because of trials, you need wisdom to get your life going again as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

James is concerned to address one central need from which the other needs in these complex situations can be unraveled. In the face of such trials, what shall the "servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" do? He should ask God for the wisdom that is lacking. This is not to dismiss the problems with a simplistic solution, but it is to face the problems with the root solution. Again the Sermon on the Mount appears as a possible basis for James's message: "Ask and it will be given to you" (Mt 7:7).

Stop and take note of what James prescribes here; it is foundational for an accurate grasp of the whole letter. For those who would portray James as simply a teacher of law, it is important to see this: by instructing his readers to ask for wisdom, James is pointing them to God's grace. This is one example of what underlies the whole epistle--James's confidence in the grace of God and his intense desire for his readers to place their own reliance there. Overlooking this, and taking 2:14-26 out of this context, some have failed to teach James redemptively.

James then leads his readers into God's grace by calling attention to four facets. As they come in the Greek word order, first God is one who "is giving." The word is didontos, a present active participle; it is God's constant nature to be gracious and giving. Second, God gives to all (pasin). The call to live by faith is extended to everyone, and no one is left without an invitation to trust in God. Third, God gives generously (haplos), emphasizing that God gives freely and without reserve. Fourth, God gives without finding fault, or without reproaching.

You may ask God for the wisdom you need without fear, for God gives without holding your failures or lack of wisdom against you. This is the assurance with which the Christian approaches God, that God is not a harsh Father who responds to our needs by reminding us of our faults. Christ has made atonement for our sin; we receive justification by responding with faith, not by trying with good deeds to become righteous enough to deserve God's favor. This salvation by grace, the very heart of the gospel of Christ, will certainly not be contradicted by God when we come to him for wisdom. God responds to his own people with grace--his undivided, unwavering intent always to give good gifts.

Believe this love from God, James continues in 1:6, and do not doubt it, for the doubt is instability. There are certain distortions of this teaching common today which should be recognized. The first distortion occurs within what is popularly known as the "name it and claim it" philosophy, when Christians are taught that they should name whatever they need in faith and so claim it as given to them. The dangers are the misplacing of faith and the raising of unbiblical expectations. Christians are sometimes led, in effect, to place their faith in the force of their own believing, and then to expect freedom from hardship or deprivation. What James is prescribing is something quite different: faith in the grace of God, which enables faith to be exercised even within hardship and deprivation.
A further distortion of the biblical teaching occurs when Christians treat James's warning against doubt (and the similar teaching by Jesus in Mt 21:21) superficially, taking it to require a willful suppression of mental doubts. This can become an unrecognized attempt to manipulate God by one's own power of positive thinking. The error has left many in bondage to fear, afraid of their own thoughts and afraid of the God who might hold their doubts against them and therefore not grant the wisdom needed. The result is a crippling of people's faith and a perversion of the very truth James is teaching: that God gives freely, without finding fault.

James certainly does place doubt in immediate contrast to believe (or, literally, in contrast to the noun faith) in 1:6. But James is writing about something much deeper than surface thoughts. The actual point of his warning about doubt is to expose a basic soul-condition of unbelief. That basic soul-condition is described with the term double-minded in 1:8. It means a double-souled person, a person whose heart's loyalties are divided, a person who has not decided to give his or her love to God. The doubt then is a vacillation between self-reliance and God-reliance. This person is not looking to God from a stance of faith, and for this person there is no promise that God will give wisdom. The instability of this vacillating person is captured in the vivid imagery of the unstable sea wave, and this image stands in contrast to the perseverance in 1:3 (cf. Is 57:20). The testing of faith develops perseverance, but doubt (as a root unbelief) makes a person unstable.

Now we can summarize James's use of the first illustration. If you encounter a trial and lack wisdom to know what to do, stand the test of faith by asking God for the wisdom you need. As you ask God for wisdom, do not be unbelieving toward God or frightened about your lack of wisdom. Instead, trust God to give wisdom generously. He will do so. Therefore consider it pure joy that you face the trial, for that very trial will be used by God to develop your perseverance toward maturity. The Second Example: Lacking Money (1:9-12)

James's second illustration introduces another major theme to be developed later in the epistle: one's relationship with material wealth. There are indications in the New Testament that humble circumstances were a common trial among Christians. In the first place, the explicit appeal to the poor in Christ's preaching likely attracted numerous poor people among the earliest converts (Lk 4:18). In addition, some Christians became poor because of deliberate persecution against them. Some may have been living in a self-imposed poverty for ethical reasons, as they refused to participate in corrupt economic enterprises. We have examples in Acts 16:19 and 19:23-29 of the gospel's economic effects, forcing a separation of Christians from immoral financial pursuits and resulting in a backlash of persecution. Christians suffered economically for their faith.

James evidently understood this trial to be a common circumstance among his readers. If this is a deliberate point of application by James, and not just another topic in a loose train of thought, then the spiritual dynamics of trials should be evident in this illustration. Exposition should bring out how this trial would become a testing to develop perseverance toward maturity.

To understand this, it is valuable first to consider how, even today, money is the context for some of our most common and spiritually significant trials. Because of money we are beset with fears--troubling anxieties about how financial needs will be met. Because of money we are attacked with a sense of guilt and failure. We struggle to make ends meet, and we feel internal accusations about inability to manage finances and about mistakes we must have made in financial choices. Because of money we fall into crippling self-pity, chronic complaining and envy of others who can buy and do things which we lack. These can produce a terrible bitterness of spirit that makes a desert of our personal fellowship with God. Because of money we become trapped in attitudes of greed, practices of injustice and a lifestyle of materialism. No wonder Scripture says that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil!

Look still more deeply into the matter. Why does money evoke such destructive reactions in us? Don't we fall into these reactions especially because of the particular functions money plays in our lives? First, money functions as verification of personal worth. When we are conscious of lacking wealth (which is relative--lacking in comparison to anyone who has more, or in comparison to anything we cannot afford), the implication is that we are worth less than others and that we are less worthy for God to bless. On the other hand, if we are conscious of having wealth (again, relative to anyone else or relative to anything we want), the prideful comparisons come easily to us. The implication is that we are more successful because we are worth more. Second, money functions as security. That is why a loss of job or a financial setback is so frightening. It is also why some choices can be so attractive when they are financially helpful even though they will harm our well-being. A friend admitted to me that he hates going to work because of the evil atmosphere there, but that he took the job because of the financial security it offered. Third, money functions as power or advantage over other people. It gives power for people to perform injustices against others; when we lack wealth compared to others, we feel our vulnerability.
The effect of these dynamics is to focus our lives on the pursuit of money. Financial gain becomes the increasingly decisive factor in our attention, choices and lifestyle. It becomes urgent to recognize, therefore, that these three functions of money are worldly functions--violations of the ways of Christ's kingdom. Jesus called his followers to choose between treasures on earth and treasures in heaven, for he said, "You cannot serve both God and Money" (Mt 6:19-24). He warned that material wealth is dangerous to spiritual health; in fact, "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" (Mt 19:24). James's purpose here is to encourage Christians in material hardship not to become caught in the pursuit of wealth. What he has to say will be in radical opposition to the three worldly functions of money.

1. Against the notion that money means personal worth. First, James addresses 1:9 specifically to the brother as a reminder that the Christian reader is already specially accepted and loved. Second, the brother is reminded of a high position that has nothing to do with amount of money. (Nor does the low position have anything to do with the rich person's level of wealth.) Third, the brother is to take pride (NIV) or to "glory" (NASB) in that high position. Therefore, whatever is worth such glorying must also have nothing to do with money. Fourth, the high position is assumed as a fact, not proposed as a conditional possibility. It must refer to a high position that occurs by virtue of being a brother: being one for whom Christ died and being claimed by God as his own. Contrary to the claim that our humble circumstances mean inferior worth, it turns out that we are declared worthy of extravagant blessing by God! We can tell ourselves now with certainty that our money does not determine our personal worth and that the first worldly function of money is a lie.

The trial of financial hardship presents the opportunity for a testing, or an exercising, of faith. Christians will engage in the testing by exulting in what they believe: the more important reality of their high position with God. This very act is a rejection of the culture's materialistic values and therefore a growth toward maturity. It will lead the Christian to renounce any anxious outlook about the future, any self-accusing attitude in financial struggles, and any complaining or jealous view toward others' comparative wealth. Instead of adopting anxiety, guilt, complaint or jealousy, the Christian will consider it pure joy . . . because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance . . . so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. Further, this proper pride in their high position means that Christians' treatment of others will no longer be affected by others' wealth. Christians will repent of favoritism, an application that James will explore in 2:1-13. Thus the test of living in humble circumstances will develop perseverance to continue a life of faith, manifest in both outlook and behavior

.
2. Against the notion that money means security. James reminds his readers that the rich will fade away as easily and certainly as a wild flower. The one who is rich is not called a "brother," for James is not addressing rich Christians. My appendix on the identity of the rich will provide a larger treatment of the conclusion that the rich man is a non-Christian. For now it may be noted that this exegetical decision will affect interpretation of James's other references to the rich in chapters 2 and 5. Most scholars (Adamson, Mayor, Moo and Ropes, among others) have treated plousios (rich) as governed by adelphos (brother) from 1:9 and therefore as referring to a Christian brother who is rich. At first glance, this does seem to be the most natural reading of the syntax, with the verb kauchaomai from 1:9 also understood in 1:10. In that case, James would be telling the rich brother to take pride in his humiliation in Christ. A major problem with this view is James's complete silence about meaning humiliation "in Christ." James was familiar with Jeremiah 9:24, and he could have elaborated on kauchaomai as Paul did in 1 Corinthians 1:31. Instead, his elaboration dwells entirely on the destruction of the rich person. The extent to which James emphasizes this in 1:10-11 indicates that he is speaking of rich people who will likely continue in their materialism only to find themselves brought low in the end. In general, though, he understands his Christian readers to be poor people suffering in the trial of deprivation. This fits perfectly with the line of thought already traced from 1:2, as encouragement for the poor to consider their trial pure joy because they know their perseverance in faith will leave them not lacking anything, whereas the path of materialism will lead to destruction. The syntax easily allows for this understanding, with plousios and adelphos standing as contrasting subjects of the one verb kauchaomai.

The later passages in James 2 and 5 confirm this view. For example, 5:1-6 will thoroughly condemn rich people, without acknowledging any saving faith in them or hope for them. Though that passage is written in the second person, it makes sense as a rhetorical addressing of persons not actually receiving the letter, written for the benefit of the ones who are reading it. The actual readers will then be addressed in 5:7, "Be patient, then, brothers . . ." Laws (1980:62-64) and Davids (1982:76-77) should be read as examples of this view that the one who is rich in 1:10 is a non-Christian.

Therefore James is encouraging Christians in humble circumstances not to be deceived by the apparent security of the rich. Three factors would especially encourage them in this regard. First, the rich person has only a low position to look forward to; his wealth cannot shield him from being humbled. Second, the rich person will pass away like a wild flower. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount would have been known to the believers; James's own familiarity with the Sermon is certainly evident in his letter. Jesus used similar imagery to illustrate the care with which the Father clothes his own children, who are of greater value than the wild flowers which are tomorrow "thrown into the fire" (Mt 6:25-34). James's imagery is a reminder of this promise of God's providence. Third, the rich person will pass away even while he goes about his business. This not only parallels Jesus' own emphasis in the parable of the rich fool (Lk 12:20), it also emphasizes the vulnerability of the rich at the very time they are trying to make their wealth secure. Again we can now speak with certainty: the second worldly function of money is a lie; money does not mean security.

This is a huge and liberating truth for Christians who are pressed on all sides by a materialistic society. Armed with this truth, Christians who want seriously to uproot the sin of materialism from their hearts can embark on deliberate disciplines to confront money's lie about security. Two such disciplines will be emphasized by James later in his letter. One is giving. The Christian who has repudiated money as security will be free to give to others in need, as James will require in 2:14-17. John Wesley was conscious of the value of giving for his own spiritual health when he said, "When I have any money I get rid of it as quickly as possible, lest it find a way into my heart." Though he later formulated his more comprehensive dictum "Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can," Wesley's earlier sentiment was at least founded on an honest insight that material wealth had power to put down deep roots into his heart with a false security. The other discipline is prayer, especially with thanksgiving. The Christian who has repudiated money as security will be free to refrain from grumbling and instead look patiently to God in prayer for all needs, as James will teach in 5:7-18. Together the disciplines of generous giving and thankful prayer can help today's church stand against the lie that money is security.
3. Against the notion that money means power or advantage. James now directs our attention to what is the real advantage or blessedness in life: the crown of life. James does not define this phrase, but some careful observations can lead us to a safe idea of its meaning. It is not something complete at the point one becomes a Christian. Rather, it is something the Christian will receive. It is a "crown" stephanos, which is a term used among the leaders of the New Testament church to refer to the Christians' ultimate goal or reward. (Cf. Paul in 1 Cor 9:25, Peter in 1 Pet 5:4 and John in Rev 2:10.) We know that one ultimate goal on James's mind is that of becoming mature and complete, not lacking anything. The crown must include fulfillment of that goal of true life.

This crown is assured; it is promised to them. James wants his readers to be certain of this as they endure deprivation now. The crown is promised specifically to those who love him. (The NIV appropriately derives from the pronoun him that God is the one who has promised.) We know that this idea of loving God carried a strong emphasis on faithfully obeying him (as Jesus said in John 14:15, and as James is teaching all through his epistle). Finally, James has begun the sentence with "blessed" makarios, like a new beatitude recalling Matthew 5:3-10 and especially 5:11-12, where Jesus encouraged perseverance in trials "because great is your reward in heaven." Putting these observations together, the crown of life would be the ultimate reward, the fulfillment of eternal life and the exaltation with Christ which will be enjoyed by those who, because of faith in Christ, have loved God enough to live faithfully, obeying him even through trials.

James calls us to believe this: the crown of eternal life is worth more than any advantage to be gained by money in this life. Truly blessed is the one whose heart is set on this goal. We can now say with final conviction that the worldly functions of money are all evil lies. It remains for the church in every age to put this into practice by renouncing all worldly uses of money. We must not settle for the comparatively worthless goal of merely avoiding trials in a life of wealth and ease and comfort. We must repent of all use of wealth for unjust power over others. And we have to make deliberate economic choices according to what is morally right rather than what is financially advantageous. James will say more about this in 4:13--5:6. I have seen an example, however, in a young business executive in our congregation who was on a track to climb up the corporate and economic ladder. His job required him to be away from home so much that he was not able to see his children. He therefore made a choice of values; he changed jobs. The change hurt him financially, but it gave him the opportunity to be present with his children as they grow up. Summary (1:12)

The return to the original pair of themes (trial and test) makes 1:12 not only a conclusion to the example of lacking wealth but also a summary principle, drawing together the major elements James has been presenting since 1:2. Though I see these as unifying themes in 1:2-12, teachers should examine in their own study the issue of the unity of James's writing. Adamson is one who finds a "sustained unity" in the thought and structure of the entire letter (1976:20). Laws, representing a contrasting view, sees 1:2-12 as "a loose train of thought" (1980:62). As a result, she sees 1:9-11 as introducing a new theme rather than illustrating a continuing theme as I have presented it. She understands James to offer in 1:4 the "achieving of personal integrity" as "apparently an end in itself" (1980:52). She regards 1:12, then, as introducing a new motivation for enduring trials--a future reward instead of a present perfecting of character. I would agree that James envisions a future reward as well as a present perfecting. In my view, however, Laws's handling of the passage as only loosely related thoughts may lead the reader to miss one of the strongest motivations for perseverance in New Testament thinking: the continuity between present perfecting of character and future reward. The New Testament idea is that present growth in holiness culminates in a future sharing of glory with Christ. The teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount again provide the basis (Mt 5:48; 7:15-23). Peter lends parallel explanation of the early Christian leaders' teaching (1 Pet 1:7, 13, 15; 4:13-14; 5:1, 10). And John points to the same reward for Christians in persecution--the crown of life (Rev 2:10). This ultimate sharing of glory with Christ is the vision high enough with which to call people to joy in the midst of terrible trials.

Recall the complete picture now, reviewed in this one verse phrase by phrase.

1. Blessed is the man: This is the reason for the pure joy in 1:2. Believe that you are blessed, truly blessed in reality, in spite of any suffering or trial.
2. who perseveres: James repeats the theme of perseverance in 1:3-4. You are blessed if you continue trusting and obeying as "a servant of God" in spite of trials.
3. under trial: This includes the trials of many kinds recognized in 1:2 and illustrated in 1:5-11.
4. because when he has stood the test: The phrase is hoti dokimos genomenos ("when he has become approved as by a test"). This recalls the use of the noun dokimion in 1:3--the testing of your faith. The diverse trials will make various demands on you, but do not be frightened or deceived. Trust the loving and sovereign God to use the trials as faith-growing tests for you.
5. he will receive the crown of life: Later the Lord would affirm to the church in Smyrna, "I know your afflictions and your poverty," but this would not be his entire message to them. He would also encourage that persecuted church by adding, "Yet you are rich!" In what way could they possibly be called "rich" while knowing poverty, slander, imprisonment and other persecution "even to the point of death"? The Lord's answer would be his promise, "I will give you the crown of life." That promise of the Lord in Revelation 2:9-10 is the kind of encouragement James gives the suffering Christian here, promising with the same phrase that God will give the crown of life.
6. that God has promised to those who love him: The crown of life is not a reward you are gambling for when you choose to persevere in faith. This is no wheel of fortune, in which you will have to wait until later to find out whether perseverance turns out to have been the right way of life. The crown of life is assured by God himself.

James the Just, with his deep moral earnestness, wants to help suffering Christians find the strength to make tough moral choices. He therefore calls us to face the issue of worth. Persevering is worth doing, because the crown of life is worth more than avoiding the trial. James calls for courageous applications of this principle. Giving up on a difficult ministry, retaliating against people who are mistreating you, withdrawing from active participation in worship and fellowship, compromising moral standards, interrupting your life of obedience, turning away from a walk of fellowship with the Lord--all these responses to adversity assume that escaping the trial is of more value than gaining the crown of life. The Christian is called to place greater value on the goal of becoming mature and complete in Christ. With such applications, the Christian life is taken out of the realm of sentimentality and placed in the realm of significant moral choice.

When a Christian's spouse is unfaithful and abandons the marriage, is Christ still worth obeying? When a Christian's financial security is threatened or wrecked, is Christ still worth trusting? When a Christian's physical health is crippled, is Christ still worth adoring? When a Christian's family member is killed, is Christ still worth serving? When a Christian's actions are misunderstood or slandered, is Christ still worth devotion? Even if the Christian loses everything else, is Christ still worth honoring, and is the crown of life still worth the perseverance in faith? The answer is decisively yes!

"Afflictions are but as a dark entry into our Father's house," wrote Thomas Brooks. Christians through the generations of the church have borne testimony to this experience. In the midst of the suffering we are able to see little or no point to it all. So we cry to God, "Why?" Afterward, whether very soon or much later, we find such good resulting from the suffering that we reach the point of being able to say sincerely, "The good I have seen coming out of the trial, especially the benefit of my knowing God far better now, is worth the suffering it took to get me here." Because we value the Lord and his kingdom and the crown of life more than we value ease or comfort, it becomes the choice of realism and wisdom to consider it pure joy whenever we face trials of many kinds. "However reluctant we may be to embrace it, we know that suffering rightly received is one of the Christian's supreme means of grace" (Wenham 1974:79).

13-18

13When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
16Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. 17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

Explanation:
Temptations and Good Gifts

In the very midst of a trial, when I am feeling fear and sorrow and pain, if I am asked by a friend, "What danger or threat is there in your life now, that I may pray for you?" I would probably answer, "Pray for the deadly disease to be healed, or for my financial needs to be met, or for the people to stop doing the things that are injuring me." In other words, I would think of the chief injury being inflicted by the trial, and my foremost concern would be for the trial to be stopped. Now, in 1:13-18, comes a word of God that requires a radical change in our thinking. The Bible says that the trial itself is not the most seriously life-threatening factor. The greatest danger to me is not the wrong being done to me, but the wrong that may be done by me. The real threat is that when wrong is done to me, I may be tempted to fall into sin myself.

This central emphasis by James sometimes is obscured in the debate over the meaning of James's terms and the relationship between 1:12 and 1:13. Some accentuate a distinction between James's terms for "trial" and "temptation." Dibelius would separate them to such extreme that "the seduction by lusts in vv 13-15 has nothing whatsoever to do with the afflictions in v 12" (1976:90). Moo is more moderate in language but still puts the emphasis on a transition in subject: "Thus, despite the fact that the same Greek root (peira-) is used for both the outer trial and the inner temptation, it is crucial to distinguish them" (1985:72). Yet in the next sentence Moo admits that James makes so little mention of such a distinction that Moo is left guessing: "It is probably within verse 13 that James makes the transition from one to the other." Others make the opposite emphasis on the commonality of the two terms and verses. Davids, for example, proposes that "both verses refer to testing" and translates the middle of 1:13 "God ought not to be tested by evil persons" (1982:81-82). Moo is right to reject this as "a very poorly attested meaning" (1985:72), but Davids is driven to this by his failure to observe fully enough the flow of James's thought in logic and vocabulary.

The noun trial (peirasmos) in 1:12 and the participial verb tempted (peirazo) in 1:13 share a common root, and the primary contrast is not between these two terms. This does not mean that trials and temptations are identical and interchangeable concepts. But it does have two implications for our understanding of the text. First, James is continuing the line of thought about the spiritual dynamics of trials. The temptations he has in mind now are especially those that come in the context of his readers' trials--for example, the temptation to harbor hatred or to take revenge toward those who have persecuted them, or the temptation to be covetous and jealous in their economic hardship. This focuses our understanding of the passage so that we will be able to apply it honestly. Societal values might lead us to think of temptation in terms of our appetite for food or sexual pleasure. James wants us to apply the text to our temptations toward hatred and greed and envy.

Second, the really decisive point of contrast to the idea of temptation in 1:13 is the completely different term (dokimion) for "test" or "testing" in 1:12 and 1:3. By using 1:12 so firmly as the start of a new segment united to 1:13-15 (instead of a reference back to 1:2-4 by way of summary as I have suggested), Davids interprets James as dissociating God from the test and "denying that God actively tests anyone" (1982:79-81). There is no debate over the fact that James is warning Christians not to blame God for temptation and sin. However, James does want us to see the testing as a divinely used and positive alternative that stands in direct contrast to the temptation.

James has told us already that God desires the trial to become a test for the development of perseverance leading to maturity. The alternative possibility is now considered: that the trial may become a temptation for sin leading to death. That alternative is emphatically not God's will for the Christian, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. James is describing another dimension to the spiritual dynamic, one that stands in contrast to the one already presented in 1:2-4. We can compare the two parallel patterns now in the following way.

TRIAL => TESTING => PERSEVERANCE => MATURITY
TRIAL => TEMPTATION => SIN => DEATH

James will now warn against this second pattern (in 1:13-15) and then encourage a following of the first pattern (in 1:16-18). That these two paragraphs should be so compared will be evident in the parallelism in the outline of their content. Temptations (1:13-15)

James would remember the Lord's teaching that it is not God's desire to tempt a person to live in any way displeasing to him, and that temptation should be resisted (Mt 6:13; 26:41). The flow of James's thought now is to assert facts of God's nature and God's will and then to answer questions these facts raise about the dynamics of temptation.

1. God's nature and will. God's nature is that he cannot be tempted by evil. This is a reminder of the holiness of God, whose moral purity is absolute, unassailable, undefiled. He is high and exalted, the Holy One of Israel, whose holiness is so pure that it is described in terms of its wondrous beauty, splendor and utter awesomeness (Ps 27:4; 29:2; 99:3). There is not the smallest trace of evil in God's nature (1 Jn 1:5), and evil cannot have any closeness to God. That is why God's holiness put despair into Isaiah's heart: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. . . . `Woe to me!' I cried. `I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips . . . and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty' " (Is 6:3-5). This sense of God's awesome purity is so strong in both Old and New Testaments that it would have to be the background for James when he assures us that God will not be tempted by evil.

This particular character of God leads to a particular will of God--nor does he tempt anyone. Not only is he holy; he requires holiness of us. His will for us is always toward holiness, never toward evil. If this is so, it raises the question about human experience that James wants to address. We all experience the temptation to do evil. What then is the origin of temptations, and how do they operate?

2. The dynamics of temptation. First, the origin of the temptation is emphatically the person's own evil desire. James's term is epithymia, a "desire" or "longing" especially with evil meaning. This is a call for us to take responsibility for our own lives and to deal with our sinful motives. Have you ever blamed your parents or other people for what you have become? Have you ever blamed circumstances for what you have done? Of course people and circumstances do affect us. However, one of the most significant ways we resist the work of God for our growth toward becoming "mature and complete" is that we blame factors outside of ourselves for our sin.
I recall a young man I was counseling who was beginning to deal very productively with certain relational problems and an addiction. He said, "I've been angry at my parents for years for my problems, but I see that has been a way for me to be irresponsible about my own behavior." I rejoiced when he said that, for it was a very large and courageous step of faith toward healing. James is doing us a great good by forthrightly confronting this issue--that we are tempted to sin by our own evil desires.

Second, the action of the temptation is to drag away and to entice. This is a hunting and fishing metaphor (dragged away as by a predator; enticed as by a lure). With both terms James is warning his readers concerning who is really in danger in the temptation. When they are tempted, they are thinking about taking some pleasure--such as the pleasure of revenge on their persecutors. But who is really being captured? Who is really in danger?

The Christians themselves are the prey!

Third, the effect of the temptation is sin leading to death. Here James adopts a childbearing image. The person's desire does the conceiving (syllambano) and the giving birth (tikto) to sin; then sin's full growth culminates naturally in its own act of producing (apokyeo); what it ultimately produces is death. It is vivid imagery, emphasizing how natural the progression is. This attention-getting imagery is designed to stop sinners in their tracks, seeing that death is the natural and terrible end of a life of sin, not just an occasional result for some sinners. Paul stated the same truth with an image of compensation: "the wages of sin is death" (Rom 6:23). God gave Adam the same assurance about the forbidden fruit: "when you eat of it you will surely die" (Gen 2:17).

James is warning Christians to see the danger, and so to abhor sin, and therefore to deny the evil desire from which sin comes.

Seeing this impact, we can conclude that we would be applying the verse in a way not intended by James if we derived a doctrinal statement that Christians can lose their salvation. James's concern is not for such a point of doctrine but for a life of genuine faith. He is not telling genuine Christians that they may lose their salvation; he is warning that genuine salvation comes by repentance and faith. The extremity of the warning simply shows how seriously James takes the Lordship of Christ. He expects that true believers will not go on giving themselves to sin. To accept Christ as Savior is to accept him as Savior from sin and so to turn from sin and follow him as Lord. James's intention is that we should take the holiness of God seriously, realize the extremity of danger in a life of sin and turn from sin to follow Christ.

This is why the greatest danger to James's persecuted readers is not the wrong being done to them but the wrong they may do. Now James is ready to explain the basis for the alternative pattern: a trial becomes the good gift of a testing to develop perseverance leading to maturity and completeness. Good Gifts (1:16-18)
The admonition not to be deceived should be seen as a transition, a "hinge verse" (Davids 1982:86), directed both to the preceding ideas and to the next verses. Don't be deceived about the origin of temptation, and don't be deceived about the origin of every good gift either. It should also be seen as a verse of deep concern addressed to my dear [or "beloved"] brothers. James earnestly wants to help his readers in their suffering and to save them from the greatest danger to their lives: sin. Notice in this paragraph an outline parallel to the one in 1:13-15.
1. God's nature and will. He is the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. The association of God with heavenly lights is an image of his exalted glory and power. The dissociation of God from shifting shadows is a declaration of his immutability. Both images are designed to give us assurance that we may rely upon him confidently. James wants his readers to cling to the certainty of God's unchanging love in their suffering. Furthermore, this guaranteed nature of God has led to this will of God: He chose to give . . . What James emphasizes is that God gives by his own will (participle bouletheis), not someone else's; he gives good and perfect gifts, not evil ones; in fact, every good gift is from him, not just some of them.

James intends the force of these truths to accumulate with impact on our actual beliefs about God. Especially in times of trial, is your image of God one of exalted authority, trustworthy constancy and unfailing generosity? Do you believe that God gives you good gifts? The same young man who faced his error of blaming his parents also said to me, "I've been a Christian five years, but it's been only in the last few months that I have taken God seriously. I have talked a good God-game, but I have not taken seriously his power and authority to change my life." Again I rejoiced over his humility and honesty; I have every confidence that God will deliver him from his addiction and make him someday "mature and complete, not lacking anything."

2. The dynamics of good gifts. First, the origin of the good gifts is emphatically God himself. Whether one acknowledges God as the provider of blessings is an issue of major consequence. Failure in this was, for example, a step in Israel's spiritual adultery, according to Hosea 2:5, 8, 12. James is passionate about this because he wants his suffering readers to be able to apply it in their trials. They need to believe this fundamental truth: in the midst of the trials, God has good gifts for them.

Second, the action of the good gifts is one of coming down. The implied application of this fact is that we are to look up! With the allusion to far-off heavenly bodies James evokes an image of looking up to receive something wondrous, in order that we may anticipate God's good gifts instead of looking only at the hardship of our circumstances. John Bunyan said, "Temptation provokes me to look upward to God."

Third, the effect of the good gifts comes in two stages. The initial effect is to give us birth. It refers not merely to physical birth but to regeneration, since it comes through the word of truth which becomes the theme of 1:19-27, where it is not God's creative word but his saving and freeing word. The contrast is to sin in 1:15, which gives birth to death (the same verb apokyeo). The further effect of God's good gifts is to make us "a kind of firstfruits of all he created"--that we become not only alive but also changed. The image of firstfruits connotes an expectation of the ultimate fruit-bearing goal of God's work in us. It is the image with which James concludes this section; its meaning will be apparent as we review the passage.

The implication of what James teaches is to encourage the application of God's own nature and will in Christians' practice. We call certain attributes of God "incommunicable" because finite beings do not possess them. God's immutability is one such attribute. But James is persistent in wanting Christians to practice God's ways and to live identifiably as the firstfruits of God's redemptive work through Christ. James is encouraging Christians to imitate God's ways, which are in contrast to their own evil desire.

The first aspect of God's character emphasized in the text was his holiness, which is so absolute that he cannot be tempted by evil. Our high calling as firstfruits of his creation is to have that character of holiness more and more clearly reflected in us. We imitate God in his holiness when we resist temptation because we abhor sin.

The second fact of God's character was his grace. He gives good gifts. We imitate God in this trait by graciously giving good gifts to others--even to those who are causing the trials in our lives, for we will give "generously to all without finding fault" (1:5). When we are treated unjustly and hurtfully, we will take our stand here: to rely on God to provide good gifts for us while we persevere in loving our enemies, doing good to those who hate us, blessing those who curse us and praying for those who mistreat us (Lk 6:27-28).

The third fact emphasized about God was his immutability. Even this can be reproduced in a finite form. The trait by which we participate in this attribute of God is none other than perseverance--the very trait which God will develop in us through the testing of trials.

This is where the topic of perseverance in trials, begun in 1:2-3, has led us. It is James's earnest desire that Christians facing trials of many kinds should see the special privilege set before them in the circumstance of a trial. We have a goal higher than merely escaping the trial or avoiding the pain. God is at work through the trial to make us "mature and complete"--in fact, like God in character and ways. This is James's message: Christian, be astounded at your high calling to reflect and even participate in God's divine nature, and let your astonishment be your motivation then to "consider it pure joy . . . whenever you face trials of many kinds." Our Response to Trials: A Theology of Suffering

With the climax of the passage reached in 1:16-18, Christians can see how crucial is their response to trials. When servants of God meet trials (a loss, a setback, an attack, an injustice, a suffering), they can respond in either of two ways presented by James. They can respond out of evil desires, making the trial an occasion for temptation, leading to sin. Or they can respond out of faith, with joy that they are truly blessed. This response makes the trial an opportunity for testing instead of temptation, and this testing develops perseverance that causes the Christian to become more like God, mature and complete in Christ.

The purpose of reducing the passage to these simple terms is not to oversimplify the awful crises many Christians face, as if the response were easy or mechanical. The purpose is rather to illuminate the pivotal step in facing suffering. When you encounter a trial, such as unjust treatment from another, you may experience a temptation to retaliate by criticizing, gossiping, withholding love or inflicting injury. Instead, in the light of James's teaching, you can ask God to help you take several steps.

1. Deal with the evil desire in yourself. Repent of it, confessing that the temptation comes from your own evil desire.

2. Consider the trial pure joy. Thank God--not for the temptation, for that came from evil desire, but for the good gifts God will bring in the testing.

3. You may still go on to oppose the injustice and try to change the circumstances of the trial. Some Christians, when they encounter evil, regard it as sent by God and call it "the cross I must bear." From such a mistaken perspective, passive endurance is the only proper response, because resisting the trial would be resisting God. This is a misunderstanding of Jesus' use of the cross image. When Jesus said his followers must take up their cross, he was describing the discipline they would need to persevere in the face of expected persecution. From James's teaching, the Christian does not have to leave circumstances untouched as "the cross" to be carried. God is not pleased by injustice; so the Christian will work to oppose injustice. At the same time, servants of God may consider it pure joy that they have opportunities to be tested for the development of perseverance.

The response of pure joy is, then, neither a passive acceptance of injustice (that would be unholy) nor an unrealistic escapism (that would be untruthful). James has shown joy to be an honest, realistic response to trials because of the truth of God's nature.

I recall again my dear friends Jim and Marie. It has been sixteen years since their son died. They did persevere then, but new trials have come. Marie was diagnosed with cancer. Months of chemotherapy followed; their financial burden was heavy with no insurance; Marie was confined to her home much of the time; loneliness and depression were frequent; pain was constant. Marie told me that at times it was difficult to feel confident about God's love for her. But she found her faith in God growing. She believed God's love for her through Christ to be real and sufficient to save her, deliver her and accomplish the blessing of her life in spite of the suffering. Marie set her heart on the crown of life.

Jim and Marie were not exuberant during those days; but they were persevering by faith. I prayed for the full blessing unfolded in James 1:1-18 to be fulfilled in them. For they are dearly loved by God, who unchangeably gives good gifts and who calls Jim and Marie to joy.

And now I have received news that Marie has died, and I have just talked with Jim. He said, "I tell people Marie is now in the best place she could possibly be, and that I will see her again. Some of them ask me, `How do you know?' I tell them, `I've staked my life on it.' " While that may not exactly answer their question, Jim's testimony is very proper. He has taken the stand of faith in Christ of which James the Just was writing. I weep for my friend, but I can rejoice for him as well.


Listening and Doing
19My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. 21Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

Explanation:
Be Quick to Listen

Typically for James's literary style, he presents his instructions through pairs of complementary or contrasting ideas. Quick to Listen and Slow to Speak (1:19)

This is James's first assault on a major theme in his epistle: the immorality and destructiveness of an uncontrolled tongue. His first command regarding one's tongue is to silence it. Instead of talking, listen. His emphasis is not just on the quantity of listening (listen a lot) but on the promptness of listening (listen first): be quick to do it. The complementary command is to be slow to speak.

There is an important reason in the context of trials for making this the first instruction: trials make us do the opposite of what James says to do. The pressures of trials make us slow to listen and quick to speak--especially quick to speak in anger. The proverbial man who kicks the dog when he comes home from work does so not because the pet has wronged him but because he has suffered trials at work. It becomes even more serious when we "kick" other people. A married couple struggling financially is more likely to experience marital conflict. They may fight over the money or over other issues, but the financial trial has become the occasion for sinning against each other. With sensitive pastoral awareness of people's needs, James recognizes that their circumstances must present daily possibilities for relational conflicts.

James's instruction to them could apply to their conflicts with unbelieving persecutors; he would want Christians to maintain purity toward enemies as well as friends. However, there are indications later in the letter that he wanted especially to warn against impurity in relationships with fellow Christians (4:1, 11; 5:9).

The particular danger that James sees in these frequent relational conflicts should be defined from the preceding material in 1:2-18. James's argument does not appeal to a Pauline image of the body of Christ, in which he might have said everyone should be quick to listen because we are all members of one body (as in Ephesians 4), or later that we should look after orphans and widows because, if one part of the body suffers, every part suffers with it (as in 1 Corinthians 12). Nor does James write exactly with Paul's missionary argument of being light to a world in darkness (as in Ephesians 5). It is not that James would disagree with what Paul would later write, but that his context is the theology he has already written in 1:2-18. There he has explained that conflicts can be occasions for testing, which develops perseverance and leads to maturity; or they can be occasions for temptation, which promotes sin and leads to death. James is calling for purity in relationships because he sees the life-threatening danger of sin and the life-giving value of faith. The danger in being slow to listen and quick to speak is in the sin aroused. As in 1:13-15, the trial becomes an occasion for death-dealing sin.

Almost daily as a pastor I see the value that good listening has for the church's purity within and the church's mission without. When disagreements occur in the church, over and over I have seen what great damage is done to people, to relationships and to the effectiveness of our ministries when we are quick to argue our positions, defend our views and push our opinions. I have also seen what great good is done when we discipline ourselves to postpone defending our own views and judging others' views while we concentrate on listening and giving a full hearing in order to understand the other side of the conflict. We usually find the conflict more easily resolved. Good listening is a protection against dissension.

It is not only the avoidance of conflict that James has in mind. This verse, when extended into verse 20, implies a ministry God wants us to have toward each other to promote the righteous life he desires. Good listening helps to administer God's love for others' healing and strengthening. The result is their greater ability to live the life of righteousness.

James expects people who have been given birth in Christ to begin changing habits and behavior. He tells us to become slow to speak. We have a problem, though. Listening is most difficult when we are angry. In fact, the underlying anger is a primary and root cause for our slowness to listen and quickness to speak. It is clear that James perceives a close connection between the speaking and the anger, for his instruction to be slow to speak (bradys eis to lalesai) is followed by a further application in identical terms and structure: slow to become angry (bradys eis orgen). A major part of James's letter will be spent elaborating on this connection between sinful speech and selfish anger (in chapters 3 and 4), so that 1:19 is really a theme verse for the letter. James recognizes what trials do to us, that they stir our fear, self-pity, envy, confusion and especially anger. These result in behaviors of fighting, judging and attacking. He warns against these sins, and he writes about the ministry God wants us to have toward each other to bring about the righteous life that God desires. Human Anger and Divine Righteousness (1:20)

The righteous life that God desires is the NIV's lengthy translation of James's two words dikaiosynen theou. This translation is an attempt to describe the active obedience desired by God rather than a static standard of righteousness, which is certainly in keeping with James's concern. The RSV stays closer to James stylistically, retaining his blunt grammatical contrast: "the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God." The Living Bible takes more interpretive freedom, but its terms convey too many questionable connotations: "anger doesn't make us good, as God demands that we must be." The TEV manages to include the idea of God's active purpose without diluting the concise and forceful contrast: "Man's anger does not achieve God's righteous purpose."

The contrast in this verse is made clear grammatically. The anger of man (orge andros) as subject is positioned next to the righteousness of God (dikaiosynen theou) as object, with the negated verb does not accomplish (ouk ergazetai) concluding the blunt sentence. Human anger and divine righteousness are typically at odds with each other. A person acting by the former does not carry out or produce the latter.

In spite of some commentators' depiction of James's epistle as a series of loosely connected thoughts, it should not be difficult to see the connection between 1:20 and the theological view of life that James has established in 1:2-18. The persecuted Christians have plenty of opportunity for anger in their trials. The one who desperately needs wisdom in his difficult circumstances (1:5) and the brother who needs help in his deprived economic conditions (1:9) are both urged by James to hold steady focus on the goal of real value: becoming mature and complete. Therefore they are to see their anger as tempting them to do evil and to recognize that such temptation is neither originating from God's will (1:13) nor (James now adds) achieving anything for God's will.

Again, we do not have to search long in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount to find likely background to what James is thinking. The ones who are blessed are "those who hunger and thirst for righteousness" (dikaiosyne), "the merciful," "the pure in heart," "the peacemakers" and "those who are persecuted because of righteousness" (Mt 5:6-10). Further, Jesus applied God's commandment against murder as a commandment also against hating, cursing or insulting--specifically being angry (orgizomenos): "anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment" (Mt 5:21-22).

In fact, the follower of Christ is commanded to carry out actions that are the opposite of anger: turning the other cheek to the one who strikes you, giving even more to the one who would take from you and loving the one who is your enemy (Mt 5:39-44). These are the kinds of application to be made from James's instruction.
The righteous life that God desires is the contrasting alternative. God has always stipulated holiness as the terms of being in covenantal relationship with the Holy One. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless" (Gen 17:1). James is writing from an awareness of this continuing command, made even more emphatic by the now fulfilled work of Christ.
The ministry to welcome from James is his unrelenting moral focus; he takes Go

d's commands seriously, and he makes our unholiness clear and inexcusable. If one's goal is to "receive the crown of life," one will make moral choices accordingly. If I act in resentment toward the person who has greater comforts of wealth, I am not acting according to the righteous life that God desires. If I act in hatred toward the person who has injured me with spiteful attitudes or slanderous words or damaging actions, I am not carrying out the righteous life God desires. James is honest enough to face the choice clearly: Do I want revenge and comfort and avoidance of hardship, or do I want God's righteousness in my life?

If 1:19 pointed to the ministry that God wants us to have toward each other, now 1:20 points out our need for release from anger so that we can carry out that ministry and together learn the life of righteousness. That evokes the question "How can this happen in me?" The answer comes in the next verse.

That evokes the question "How can this happen in me?" The answer comes in the next verse. The Prevalent Evil and the Saving Word (1:21)

There are multiple contrasts in this verse. First, the sole imperative is dexasthe ("accept" the word), an act that stands in contrast to that of the modifying participle apothemenoi ("taking off" or "getting rid of" all moral filth and evil). Both are to be intentional acts for Christians: accepting the word while rejecting evil. Second, the evil to be put away is prevalent (perisseian, describing a surrounding presence in abundance), whereas the word to be accepted is planted (emphyton, depicting an internal presence of the word that has already been placed like a seed inside the Christian). Third, the implanted word is able to save you (sosai tas psychas hymon, "to save your souls"), implying a contrasting threat to your souls from the preceding moral filth and prevalent evil. This one verse is thus a marvelous window into the worldview from which James is writing. It is a worldview of complementary moral imperatives made urgent by their corresponding results.

get rid of IS IN CONTRAST TO humbly accept
the evil prevalent around you IS IN CONTRAST TO the word planted in you
which threatens you (implied) IS IN CONTRAST TO which can save you

By comparing other texts, James's worldview is found to be not an isolated thought but a genuinely biblical worldview. First, the prevalence of evil is a notion James would have found in Jesus' sermons. Jesus taught that the quantity of trouble (kakia) is enough in each day (Mt 6:34), so James can warn about the evil (kakia) with the quantitative term of perisseian (surplus, abundance). Jesus taught that one can store up either good or evil in one's heart and that the abundance (perisseuma) in one's heart will direct how one speaks (Lk 6:45). James could be recalling that teaching now, both in the quantitative image of evil and in the application to one's speech.
Second, the need to put off this evil drives other New Testament writers. The force of the participle apothemenoi is properly translated as an imperative: Get rid of . . . This urgency is similarly reflected in 1 Peter 2:1, "Rid yourselves [apothemenoi] of all malice [kakian]." With the same verb, Paul will urge the Ephesians to put off the old self and to get rid of falsehood (Eph 4:22, 25).

Third, the emphasis on the ability of the word to save is also part of the fabric of New Testament thought. Again the origin is in Jesus' teaching--in Matthew 7:24. "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock." Christ's parable depicted a house surrounded by prevalent and threatening dangers--falling rains, rising streams, blowing winds. The inhabitants were saved through "words"--the words of Christ put into practice. Then James's theology in the first part of chapter 1 (specifically 1:18, concerning "the word of truth") provides the immediate context for his application here in 1:21. Finally, Peter again presents confirming parallel instruction in 1 Peter 2:2. The "pure spiritual milk" Peter has in mind is most likely the word of God, which he has just emphasized in 1:23-25. Thus Peter's line of thought runs parallel to James's:

1. God has given us birth through his word (Jas 1:18; 1 Pet 1:23).

2. Therefore it is imperative that we get rid of all evil (Jas 1:21; 1 Pet 2:1).

3. In place of the evil, it is the word of God that we must now accept and crave (Jas 1:21; 1 Pet 2:2).

Application is to be made based upon what we have seen of the meaning. First we found in this verse a worldview, seeing evil as both pervasive and life-threatening for us. This calls us to evaluate our own worldview by comparison. Do we see the world in the same terms? Minimizing the danger of doing evil is, in light of this verse, recklessly unrealistic. It is somewhat comparable to persisting in a heavy smoking habit while saying, "It's not as bad as they make it out to be" (that is, it's not really life-threatening) or "The cancer won't get me" (that is, the danger is not really prevalent). Unrealistic thinking leaves us insulated against the urgency for moral reform. This is one reason that our praying in crises is not like King David's: "Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil." We pray for safety instead of purity because we do not see impurity as dangerous.

Second, this verse calls for us to repent of all moral filth in our lives. It includes not only sensational crimes but also everyday evils like a complaining attitude, a jealous spirit, a deceitful or gossipy way of speaking, or a rebelliousness against authority. Like numerous other biblical statements, this one makes clear that repentance is not merely a sorrow for one's sin but, more fully, a sorrow that moves one to make changes in one's life. Biblical repentance is a change of direction, a turning around, a choice to repudiate immorality and cry out to God, "I don't want to be like this anymore!"

The third area of necessary application is in the humble acceptance of God's word. It should not be confusing that James would tell us to accept what is already planted in us. The term emphyton (planted in you) indicates that the focus of the word's work is on changing the Christian rather than changing the circumstances of the trial. Humbly accept would then mean not only to believe teachably but to act upon that word--for example, to accept that being quick to listen and slow to speak really is the best course in the midst of the conflict. Anger is a stance of telling and demanding; James commands a stance of learning and receiving. It is the stance he has already prescribed and illustrated in 1:2-18 concerning trials. It requires a humble teachability to consider it pure joy when one meets trials because one knows, from God's word, that the trials will be used by God as tests to develop perseverance.

When I was directing an InterVarsity conference in Colorado one year, something the speaker said prompted a student to ask with evident intensity, "But what do you do when things are going wrong, and other people are hurting you, and you are hurt and angry?" The speaker answered, "Have your daily quiet time."
At first this made me angry; it seemed to be a simplistic answer that ignored the struggle expressed in the question. As I thought about it, though, the wisdom of the speaker's words came into focus. We need the word of God--we need to humbly accept it into our minds and hearts--because it really is able to save us from the destructive power of our own sinfulness. With this conviction, James goes on to explain how to use that lifesaving word of God.

22-25

22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it–he will be blessed in what he does.

Explanation:
Do What the Word Says

It would be natural for James, as a Jew, to refer to the Old Testament Scriptures as "the word," since this is a designation found within the Old Testament itself. We also find him using some distinct phrases (royal law and the perfect law that gives freedom) to express a new meaning which the word of God has assumed for him as a Christian. Add to this the fact that we find his letter permeated with references to the teachings of Jesus, and it becomes likely that when James refers to God's word he has in mind not only the Old Testament but also (in fact, especially) the teachings of Jesus which form the heart of the New Testament. It is appropriate, then, for us as Christians to take this as teaching about the proper use of Scripture, both Old and New Testaments.

For some people, reading the Bible is an unpleasant chore because their perception of the Bible's message is "Do this; do that; do this other. And do more of this and more of that and more of the other." The effect is only a building of stress and guilt. On the other hand, some people find Scripture to be indeed the perfect law that gives freedom. I recall a young man who was, by God's grace, taking some very large steps to walk more thoroughly according to Scripture. His humble acceptance of God's word was admirable to me; his resulting spiritual growth was exhilarating to him. One day in my office he said in amazement, "I am internalizing God's word so much more now; it makes me wonder how I could have called myself a Christian before. It's like it was all just head knowledge before."

It is that "internalizing" of Scripture that James describes now. As before, his style is to present two complementary images: do not be only hearers of the word; instead be doers of the word. To guide our inquiry here, we can ask three parallel questions of each image.

1. What is the pattern of the deception/blessedness?

2. What then is the nature of the word?

3. How would one be a hearer/doer of the word today? Hearers of the Word: Deceived (1:22-24)

The one fact James emphasizes about "hearers only" is that hearing the word without doing the word is an act of self-deception. The nature of the self-deception has received different interpretations that will make a large difference in personal or homiletical application about salvation. Martin's view illustrates one tradition, which says James is defining "the nature of true piety" (1988:49). Davids represents the other major tradition, which says the term means here "to deceive oneself as to one's salvation" (1982:97). In the former alternative, the passage is applicable as a warning to genuine Christians who are nevertheless not putting Scripture into practice seriously enough. The latter alternative makes this passage a warning against a false presumption of salvation in the first place.

The actual term for "deceive," paralogizomai, does not offer much help in this debate, as it is used only one other time in the New Testament (by Paul writing later in Col 2:4). However, James's own choice of analogy in 1:23-24 does provide material by which to interpret his intention. Here the text supports Davids's view that the passage is a warning against a false presumption of salvation.

1. What is the pattern of the deception? The hearer of the word is self-deceiving, like a person who looks in a mirror and then goes away without thinking further about his or her appearance. At this point the NIV's rendering is misleading by connecting 1:23 to 1:24 as a continuing clause with a compound predicate: "a man who looks . . . and . . . goes away," leaving the impression that the man's error is in going away while neglecting to change something that he ought to have changed about his appearance. If this were the case, then the analogy would be saying that the primary function of Scripture is to expose our faults and to tell us, "Do this; change that." While the word of God certainly does expose our sins so that we may repent, this is not the whole picture of Scripture's function.

The NASB more accurately captures James's grammatical stop at the end of 1:23 with a semicolon. This conveys that the analogy is complete at the end of 1:23. What James explains in 1:24 is additional, but not essential, information. The point is that the man does not need to keep thinking about his appearance; he can forget his appearance, because it is useless to