James 1

Jas 1:1-27.

INSCRIPTION:

EXHORTATION ON

HEARING,

SPEAKING, AND

WRATH.

The last subject is discussed in

Jas 3:13-4:17.

1. James--an apostle of the circumcision, with Peter and John,

James in Jerusalem, Palestine, and Syria; Peter in Babylon and the

East; John in Ephesus and Asia Minor. Peter addresses the dispersed

Jews of Pontus, Galatia, and Cappadocia; James, the

Israelites of the twelve tribes scattered abroad.

servant of God--not that he was not an apostle; for Paul,

an apostle, also calls himself so; but as addressing the Israelites

generally, including even indirectly the unbelieving, he in humility

omits the title "apostle"; so Paul in writing to the Hebrews; similarly

Jude, an apostle, in his General Epistle.

Jesus Christ--not mentioned again save in

Jas 2:1;

not at all in his speeches

(Ac 15:14, 15; 21:20, 21),

lest his introducing the name of Jesus oftener should seem to arise

from vanity, as being "the Lord's brother"

[BENGEL]. His teaching being practical, rather

than doctrinal, required less frequent mention of Christ's name.

scattered abroad--literally "which are in the dispersion." The

dispersion of the Israelites, and their connection with Jerusalem as a

center of religion, was a divinely ordered means of propagating

Christianity. The pilgrim troops of the law became caravans of the

Gospel [WORDSWORTH].

greeting--found in no other Christian letter, but in James and

the Jerusalem Synod's Epistle to the Gentile churches; an undesigned

coincidence and mark or genuineness. In the original Greek

(chairein) for "greeting," there is a connection with the "joy"

to which they are exhorted amidst their existing distresses from

poverty and consequent oppression. Compare

Ro 15:26,

which alludes to their poverty.

2. My brethren--a phrase often found in James, marking community

of nation and of faith.

all joy--cause for the highest joy

[GROTIUS]. Nothing but joy

[PISCATOR]. Count all "divers temptations"

to be each matter of joy [BENGEL].

fall into--unexpectedly, so as to be encompassed by them

(so the original Greek).

temptations--not in the limited sense of allurements to sin, but

trials or distresses of any kind which test and purify the

Christian character. Compare "tempt," that is, try,

Ge 22:1.

Some of those to whom James writes were "sick," or otherwise

"afflicted"

(Jas 5:13).

Every possible trial to the child of God is a masterpiece of strategy

of the Captain of his salvation for his good.

3. the trying--the testing or proving of your

faith, namely, by "divers temptations." Compare

Ro 5:3,

tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience (in

the original dokime, akin to dokimion, "trying," here;

there it is experience: here the "trying" or testing,

whence experience flows).

patience--The original implies more; persevering

endurance and continuance (compare

Lu 8:15).

4. Let endurance have a perfect work (taken out of the

previous "worketh patience" or endurance), that is, have its

full effect, by showing the most perfect degree of endurance,

namely, "joy in bearing the cross" [MENOCHIUS],

and enduring to the end

(Mt 10:22)

[CALVIN].

ye may be perfect--fully developed in all the attributes of a

Christian character. For this there is required "joy"

[BENGEL], as part of the "perfect work" of

probation. The work of God in a man is the man. If God's teachings by

patience have had a perfect work in you, you are perfect

[ALFORD].

entire--that which has all its parts complete, wanting no

integral part;

1Th 5:23,

"your whole (literally, 'entire') spirit, soul, and body"; as "perfect"

implies without a blemish in its parts.

5. English Version omits "But," which the Greek

has, and which is important. "But (as this perfect entireness

wanting nothing is no easy attainment) if any," &c.

lack--rather, as the Greek word is repeated after James's

manner, from

Jas 1:4,

"wanting nothing," translate, "If any of you want

wisdom," namely, the wisdom whereby ye may "count it all joy when ye

fall into divers temptations," and "let patience have her perfect

work." This "wisdom" is shown in its effects in detail,

Jas 3:7.

The highest wisdom, which governs patience alike in poverty and riches,

is described in

Jas 1:9, 10.

ask--

(Jas 4:2).

liberally--So the Greek is rendered by English

Version. It is rendered with simplicity,

Ro 12:8.

God gives without adding aught which may take off from the graciousness

of the gift [ALFORD]. God requires the same

"simplicity" in His children ("eye . . . single,"

Mt 6:22,

literally, "simple").

upbraideth not--an illustration of God's giving simply.

He gives to the humble suppliant without upbraiding him with his past

sin and ingratitude, or his future abuse of God's goodness. The Jews

pray, "Let me not have need of the gifts of men, whose gifts are few,

but their upbraidings manifold; but give me out of Thy large and full

hand." Compare Solomon's prayer for "wisdom," and God's gift above what

he asked, though God foresaw his future abuse of His goodness would

deserve very differently. James has before his eye the Sermon on the

Mount (see my

Introduction).

God hears every true prayer and grants either the thing asked, or else

something better than it; as a good physician consults for his

patient's good better by denying something which the latter asks not

for his good, than by conceding a temporary gratification to his

hurt.

6. ask in faith--that is, the persuasion that God can and will

give. James begins and ends with faith. In the middle of the

Epistle he removes the hindrances to faith and shows its true character

[BENGEL].

wavering--between belief and unbelief. Compare the case of the

Israelites, who seemed to partly believe in God's power, but leaned

more to unbelief by "limiting" it. On the other hand, compare

Ac 10:20;

Ro 4:20

("staggered not . . . through unbelief," literally, as

here, "wavered not");

1Ti 2:8.

like a wave of the sea--

Isa 57:20;

Eph 4:14,

where the same Greek word occurs for "tossed to and fro," as is

here translated, "driven with the wind."

driven with the wind--from without.

tossed--from within, by its own instability

[BENGEL]. At one time cast on the shore of faith

and hope, at another rolled back into the abyss of unbelief; at one

time raised to the height of worldly pride, at another tossed in the

sands of despair and affliction [WIESINGER].

7. For--resumed from "For" in

Jas 1:6.

that man--such a wavering self-deceiver.

think--Real faith is something more than a mere

thinking or surmise.

anything--namely, of the things that he prays for: he does

receive many things from God, food, raiment, &c., but these are the

general gifts of His providence: of the things specially granted in

answer to prayer, the waverer shall not receive "anything," much less

wisdom.

8. double-minded--literally, "double-souled," the one soul

directed towards God, the other to something else. The Greek

favors ALFORD'S translation, "He (the waverer,

Jas 1:6)

is a man double-minded, unstable," &c.; or better,

BEZA'S. The words in this

Jas 1:8

are in apposition with "that man,"

Jas 1:7;

thus the "us," which is not in the original, will not need to be

supplied, "A man double-minded, unstable in all his ways!" The word for

"double-minded" is found here and in

Jas 4:8,

for the first time in Greek literature. It is not a hypocrite

that is meant, but a fickle, "wavering" man, as the context

shows. It is opposed to the single eye

(Mt 6:22).

9, 10. Translate, "But let the brother," &c. that is, the

best remedy against double-mindedness is that Christian

simplicity of spirit whereby the "brother," low in outward

circumstances, may "rejoice" (answering to

Jas 1:2)

"in that he is exalted," namely, by being accounted a son and heir of

God, his very sufferings being a pledge of his coming glory and crown

(Jas 1:12),

and the rich may rejoice "in that he is made low," by being stripped of

his goods for Christ's sake [MENOCHIUS]; or in

that he is made, by sanctified trials, lowly in spirit, which is true

matter for rejoicing [GOMARUS]. The design of the

Epistle is to reduce all things to an equable footing

(Jas 2:1; 5:13).

The "low," rather than the "rich," is here called "the brother"

[BENGEL].

10. So far as one is merely "rich" in worldly goods, "he shall

pass away"; in so far as his predominant character is that of a

"brother," he "abideth for ever"

(1Jo 2:17).

This view meets all ALFORD'S objections to

regarding "the rich" here as a "brother" at all. To avoid making the

rich a brother, he translates, "But the rich glories in his

humiliation," namely, in that which is really his debasement (his rich

state,

Php 3:19),

just as the low is told to rejoice in what is really his exaltation

(his lowly state).

11. Taken from

Isa 40:6-8.

heat--rather, "the hot wind" from the (east or) south, which

scorches vegetation

(Lu 12:55).

The "burning heat" of the sun is not at its rising, but rather

at noon; whereas the scorching Kadim wind is often at sunrise

(Jon 4:8)

[MIDDLETON, The Doctrine of the Greek

Article].

Mt 20:12

uses the Greek word for "heat."

Isa 40:7,

"bloweth upon it," seems to answer to "the hot wind"

here.

grace of the fashion--that is of the external appearance.

in his ways--referring to the burdensome extent of the rich

man's devices [BENGEL]. Compare "his ways," that

is, his course of life,

Jas 1:8.

12. Blessed--Compare the beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount

(Mt 5:4, 10, 11).

endureth temptation--not the "falling into divers temptations"

(Jas 1:2)

is the matter for "joy," but the enduring of temptation "unto

the end." Compare

Job 5:17.

when he is tried--literally, "when he has become tested" or

"approved," when he has passed through the "trying"

(Jas 1:3),

his "faith" having finally gained the victory.

the crown--not in allusion to the crown or garland given to

winners in the games; for this, though a natural allusion for Paul in

writing to the heathen, among whom such games existed, would be less

appropriate for James in addressing the Jewish Christians, who regarded

Gentile usages with aversion.

of life--"life" constitutes the crown, literally, the

life, the only true life, the highest and eternal life. The crown

implies a kingdom

(Ps 21:3).

the Lord--not found in the best manuscripts and versions. The

believer's heart fills up the omission, without the name needing to be

mentioned. The "faithful One who promised"

(Heb 10:23).

to them that love him--In

2Ti 4:8,

"the crown of righteousness to them that love His appearing." Love

produces patient endurance: none attest their love more than

they who suffer for Him.

13. when . . . tempted--tried by solicitation to

evil. Heretofore the "temptation" meant was that of probation by

afflictions. Let no one fancy that God lays upon him an inevitable

necessity of sinning. God does not send trials on you in order to make

you worse, but to make you better

(Jas 1:16, 17).

Therefore do not sink under the pressure of evils

(1Co 10:13).

of God--by agency proceeding from God. The Greek

is not "tempted by," but, "from," implying indirect agency.

cannot be tempted with evil, &c.--"Neither do any of our sins

tempt God to entice us to worse things, nor does He tempt any of His

own accord" (literally, "of Himself"; compare the antithesis,

Jas 1:18,

"Of His own will He begat us" to holiness, so far is He from

tempting us of His own will) [BENGEL]. God

is said in

Ge 22:1

to have "tempted Abraham"; but there the tempting meant is that

of trying or proving, not that of seducement.

ALFORD translates according to the ordinary sense

of the Greek, "God is unversed in evil." But as this

gives a less likely sense, English Version probably gives the

true sense; for ecclesiastical Greek often uses words in new

senses, as the exigencies of the new truths to be taught required.

14. Every man, when tempted, is so through being drawn away of

(again here, as in

Jas 1:13,

the Greek for "of" expresses the actual source, rather

than the agent of temptation) his own lust. The cause of sin is in

ourselves. Even Satan's suggestions do not endanger us before they are

made our own. Each one has his own peculiar (so the

Greek) lust, arising from his own temperament and habit. Lust

flows from the original birth-sin in man, inherited from Adam.

drawn away--the beginning step in temptation: drawn away

from truth and virtue.

enticed--literally, "taken with a bait," as fish are. The

further progress: the man allowing himself (as the

Greek middle voice implies) to be enticed to evil

[BENGEL]. "Lust" is here personified as the harlot

that allures the man.

15. The guilty union is committed by the will embracing the

temptress. "Lust," the harlot, then, "brings forth sin," namely, of

that kind to which the temptation inclines. Then the particular

sin (so the Greek implies), "when it is completed, brings

forth death," with which it was all along pregnant

[ALFORD]. This "death" stands in striking contrast

to the "crown of life"

(Jas 1:12)

which "patience" or endurance ends in, when it has its "perfect

work"

(Jas 1:4).

He who will fight Satan with Satan's own weapons, must not wonder if he

finds himself overmatched. Nip sin in the bud of lust.

16. Do not err in attributing to God temptation to evil; nay (as

he proceeds to show), "every good," all that is good on earth, comes

from God.

17. gift . . . gift--not the same words in

Greek: the first, the act of giving, or the gift in its

initiatory stage; the second, the thing given, the boon, when

perfected. As the "good gift" stands in contrast to "sin" in its

initiatory stage

(Jas 1:15),

so the "perfect boon" is in contrast to "sin when it is finished,"

bringing forth death

(2Pe 1:3).

from above--(Compare

Jas 3:15).

Father of lights--Creator of the lights in heaven

(compare

Job 38:28

[ALFORD];

Ge 4:20, 21;

Heb 12:9).

This accords with the reference to the changes in the light of the

heavenly bodies alluded to in the end of the verse. Also, Father of the

spiritual lights in the kingdom of grace and glory

[BENGEL]. These were typified by the supernatural

lights on the breastplate of the high priest, the Urim. As "God is

light, and in Him is no darkness at all"

(1Jo 1:5),

He cannot in any way be the Author of sin

(Jas 1:13),

which is darkness

(Joh 3:19).

no variableness . . . shadow of turning--

(Mal 3:6).

None of the alternations of light and shadow which the physical

"lights" undergo, and which even the spiritual lights are liable to, as

compared with God. "Shadow of turning," literally, the dark

"shadow-mark" cast from one of the heavenly bodies, arising from

its "turning" or revolution, for example, when the moon is eclipsed by

the shadow of the earth, and the sun by the body of the moon. BENGEL makes a climax, "no variation--not even the shadow

of a turning"; the former denoting a change in the

understanding; the latter, in the will.

18.

(Joh 1:13).

The believer's regeneration is the highest example of nothing but good

proceeding from God.

Of his own will--Of his own good pleasure (which shows that it

is God's essential nature to do good, not evil), not induced by any

external cause.

begat he us--spiritually: a once-for-all accomplished act

(1Pe 1:3, 23).

In contrast to "lust when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin,

and sin . . . death"

(Jas 1:15).

Life follows naturally in connection with light

(Jas 1:17).

word of truth--the Gospel. The objective mean, as faith

is the appropriating mean of regeneration by the Holy Spirit as the

efficient agent.

a kind of first-fruits--Christ is, in respect to the

resurrection, "the first-fruits"

(1Co 15:20, 23):

believers, in respect to regeneration, are, as it were,

first-fruits (image from the consecration of the first-born of man,

cattle, and fruits to God; familiar to the Jews addressed), that is,

they are the first of God's regenerated creatures, and the pledge of

the ultimate regeneration of the creation,

Ro 8:19, 23,

where also the Spirit, the divine agent of the believer's regeneration,

is termed "the first-fruits," that is, the earnest that the

regeneration now begun in the soul, shall at last extend to the body

too, and to the lower parts of creation. Of all God's visible

creatures, believers are the noblest part, and like the legal

"first-fruits," sanctify the rest; for this reason they are much tried

now.

19. Wherefore--as your evil is of yourselves, but your good from

God. However, the oldest manuscripts and versions read thus:

"YE KNOW IT (so

Eph 5:5;

Heb 12:17),

my beloved brethren; BUT (consequently) let every

man be swift to hear," that is, docile in receiving "the word of truth"

(Jas 1:18, 21).

The true method of hearing is treated in

Jas 1:21-27,

and Jas 2:1-26.

slow to speak--

(Pr 10:19; 17:27, 28;

Ec 5:2).

A good way of escaping one kind of temptation arising from ourselves

(Jas 1:13).

Slow to speak authoritatively as a master or teacher of others (compare

Jas 3:1):

a common Jewish fault: slow also to speak such hasty things of God, as

in

Jas 1:13.

Two ears are given to us, the rabbis observe, but only one tongue: the

ears are open and exposed, whereas the tongue is walled in behind the

teeth.

slow to wrath--

(Jas 3:13, 14; 4:5).

Slow in becoming heated by debate: another Jewish fault

(Ro 2:8),

to which much speaking tends. TITTMANN

thinks not so much "wrath" is meant, as an indignant feeling of

fretfulness under the calamities to which the whole of human

life is exposed; this accords with the "divers temptations" in

Jas 1:2.

Hastiness of temper hinders hearing God's word; so Naaman,

2Ki 5:11;

Lu 4:28.

20. Man's angry zeal in debating, as if jealous for the honor of

God's righteousness, is far from working that which is really

righteousness in God's sight. True "righteousness is sown in peace,"

not in wrath

(Jas 3:18).

The oldest and best reading means "worketh," that is, practiceth

not: the received reading is "worketh," produceth not.

21. lay apart--"once for all" (so the Greek): as a filthy

garment. Compare Joshua's filthy garments,

Zec 3:3, 5;

Re 7:14.

"Filthiness" is cleansed away by hearing the word

(Joh 15:3).

superfluity of naughtiness--excess (for instance, the

intemperate spirit implied in "wrath,"

Jas 1:19, 20),

which arises from malice (our natural, evil disposition

towards one another).

1Pe 2:1

has the very same words in the Greek. So "malice" is the

translation,

Eph 4:31;

Col 3:8.

"Faulty excess" [BENGEL] is not strong

enough. Superfluous excess in speaking is also reprobated as

"coming of evil" (the Greek is akin to the word for

"naughtiness" here) in the Sermon on the Mount

(Mt 5:37),

with which James' Epistle is so connected.

with meekness--in mildness towards one another

[ALFORD], the opposite to "wrath"

(Jas 1:20):

answering to "as new-born babes"

(1Pe 2:2).

Meekness, I think, includes also a childlike, docile,

humble, as well as an uncontentious, spirit

(Ps 25:9; 45:4;

Isa 66:2;

Mt 5:5; 11:28-30; 18:3, 4;

contrast

Ro 2:8).

On "receive," applied to ground receiving seed, compare

Mr 4:20.

Contrast

Ac 17:11;

1Th 1:6

with 2Th 2:10.

engrafted word--the Gospel word, whose proper attribute

is to be engrafted by the Holy Spirit, so as to be livingly

incorporated with the believer, as the fruitful shoot is with the wild

natural stock on which it is engrafted. The law came to man only from

without, and admonished him of his duty. The Gospel is engrafted

inwardly, and so fulfils the ultimate design of the law

(De 6:6; 11:18;

Ps 119:11).

ALFORD translates, "The implanted word,"

referring to the parable of the sower

(Mt 13:1-23).

I prefer English Version.

able to save--a strong incentive to correct our dulness in

hearing the word: that word which we hear so carelessly, is able

(instrumentally) to save us [CALVIN].

souls--your true selves, for the "body" is now liable to

sickness and death: but the soul being now saved, both soul and body at

last shall be so

(Jas 5:15, 20).

22. Qualification of the precept, "Be swift to hear": "Be

ye doers . . . not hearers only"; not merely "Do the

word," but "Be doers" systematically and continually, as if this

was your regular business. James here again refers to the Sermon on the

Mount

(Mt 7:21-29).

deceiving your own selves--by the logical fallacy (the

Greek implies this) that the mere hearing is all that is

needed.

23. For--the logical self-deceit

(Jas 1:22)

illustrated.

not a doer--more literally, "a notdoer"

[ALFORD]. The true disciple, say the rabbis,

learns in order that he may do, not in order that he may merely know or

teach.

his natural face--literally, "the countenance of his birth": the

face he was born with. As a man may behold his natural face in a

mirror, so the hearer may perceive his moral visage in God's

Word. This faithful portraiture of man's soul in Scripture, is the

strongest proof of the truth of the latter. In it, too, we see mirrored

God's glory, as well as our natural vileness.

24. beholdeth--more literally, "he contemplated himself

and hath gone his way," that is, no sooner has he contemplated

his image than he is gone his way

(Jas 1:11).

"Contemplate" answers to hearing the word: "goeth his way," to relaxing

the attention after hearing--letting the mind go elsewhere, and the

interest of the thing heard pass away: then forgetfulness

follows [ALFORD] (Compare

Eze 33:31).

"Contemplate" here, and in

Jas 1:23,

implies that, though cursory, yet some knowledge of one's self, at

least for the time, is imparted in hearing the word

(1Co 14:24).

and . . . and--The repetition expresses hastiness

joined with levity [BENGEL].

forgetteth what manner of man he was--in the mirror.

Forgetfulness is no excuse

(Jas 1:25;

2Pe 1:9).

25. looketh into--literally, "stoopeth down to take a close look

into." Peers into: stronger than "beholdeth," or "contemplated,"

Jas 1:24.

A blessed curiosity if it be efficacious in bearing fruit

[BENGEL].

perfect law of liberty--the Gospel rule of life, perfect and

perfecting (as shown in the Sermon on the Mount,

Mt 5:48),

and making us truly walk at liberty

(Ps 119:32,

Church of England Prayer Book Version). Christians are to aim at

a higher standard of holiness than was generally understood under the

law. The principle of love takes the place of the letter of the

law, so that by the Spirit they are free from the yoke of sin, and free

to obey by spontaneous instinct

(Jas 2:8, 10, 12;

Joh 8:31-36; 15:14, 15;

compare

1Co 7:22;

Ga 5:1, 13;

1Pe 2:16).

The law is thus not made void, but fulfilled.

continueth therein--contrasted with "goeth his way,"

Jas 1:24,

continues both looking into the mirror of God's word, and doing

its precepts.

doer of the work--rather, "a doer of work"

[ALFORD], an actual worker.

blessed in his deed--rather, "in his doing"; in the very

doing there is blessedness

(Ps 19:11).

26, 27. An example of doing work.

religious . . . religion--The Greek expresses

the external service or exercise of religion, "godliness"

being the internal soul of it. "If any man think himself to be

(so the Greek) religious, that is, observant of the offices

of religion, let him know these consist not so much in outward

observances, as in such acts of mercy and humble piety

(Mic 6:7, 8)

as visiting the fatherless, &c., and keeping one's self

unspotted from the world"

(Mt 23:23).

James does not mean that these offices are the great essentials,

or sum total of religion; but that, whereas the law service was merely

ceremonial, the very services of the Gospel consist in acts of

mercy and holiness, and it has light for its garment, its very

robe being righteousness [TRENCH]. The

Greek word is only found in

Ac 26:5,

"after the straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee."

Col 2:18,

"worshipping of angels."

bridleth not . . . tongue--Discretion in speech is

better than fluency of speech (compare

Jas 3:2, 3).

Compare

Ps 39:1.

God alone can enable us to do so. James, in treating of the law,

naturally notices this sin. For they who are free from grosser sins,

and even bear the outward show of sanctity, will often exalt themselves

motive is love of evil-speaking [CALVIN].

heart--It and the tongue act and react on one another.

27. Pure . . . and undefiled--"Pure" is that love

which has in it no foreign admixture, as self-deceit and

hypocrisy. "Undefiled" is the means of its being "pure"

[TITTMANN]. "Pure" expresses the positive,

"undefiled" the negative side of religious service; just as

visiting the fatherless and widow is the active, keeping

himself unspotted from the world, the passive side of religious

duty. This is the nobler shape that our religious exercises take,

instead of the ceremonial offices of the law.

before God and the Father--literally, "before Him who is (our)

God and Father." God is so called to imply that if we would be like our

Father, it is not by fasting, &c., for He does none of these things,

but in being "merciful as our Father is merciful"

[CHRYSOSTOM].

visit--in sympathy and kind offices to alleviate their

distresses.

the fatherless--whose "Father" is God

(Ps 68:5);

peculiarly helpless.

and--not in the Greek; so close is the connection between

active works of mercy to others, and the maintenance of personal

unworldliness of spirit, word, and deed; no copula therefore is needed.

Religion in its rise interests us about ourselves in its

progress, about our fellow creatures: in its highest stage,

about the honor of God.

keep himself--with jealous watchfulness, at the same time

praying and depending on God as alone able to keep us

(Joh 17:15;

Jude 24).