James 1:12

ff. The section James 1:12-16 is wholly unconnected with what immediately precedes; it takes up the thread which was interrupted at James 1:4. In James 1:2-4 the brethren are bidden to rejoice when they fall into temptations because the purifying of their faith which this results in engenders ὑπομονήν, and if ὑπομονή holds sway unimpeded they will be lacking in nothing. But it is, of course, a prime condition here that those who are tempted should not succumb; the rejoicing is obviously only in place in so far as temptation, by being resisted, strengthens character; therefore the writer goes on to speak, (James 1:12) of the blessedness of the man who fulfils this first condition, who endures (ὃς ὑπομένει) temptation, for he shall receive the crown of life, the reward of those in whom ὑπομονή has had its perfect work. It is this intimate connection between James 1:2-4 and James 1:12 ff. which induces one to hazard the conjecture that they were not originally separated by the intervening verses, which deal with entirely different subjects, and which therefore interrupt the thought-connection clearly existing between the two passages just mentioned. In James 1:13 the occurrence of the words: “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God,” show that this view was actually held, indeed the belief was very widely prevalent and had been for long previously, e.g., in Sir 15:11 ff. it is said: “Say not thou, It is through the Lord that I fell away; for thou shalt not do the things that he hateth. Say not thou, It is he that caused me to err; for he hath no need of a sinful man.… He himself made man from the beginning, and left him in the hand of his own counsel …”; to say, with some commentators, that there is no reference here to any definite philosophical teaching, and that the words only express a natural human tendency to shift the blame for evil-doing in a man from himself to God, is an extraordinary position to take up; the tendency to shift blame is certainly natural and human, but it is not natural to shift it on to God; either on to fellowmen, or on to Satan, but not on to God! But besides this, nobody conversant with the teaching of Judaism during the centuries immediately preceding the commencement of the Christian era, and onwards, could for a moment fail to see what the writer of the Epistle is referring to; a writer who in a number of respects shows himself so thoroughly au fait with the thought-tendencies of his time (James 1:5; James 3:13-18; James 2:14-26; James 1:19-20 besides the passage before us) was not likely to have been ignorant of the fact that among all the thoughtful men of his day the great question of the origin of evil was being constantly speculated upon. The words with which this section concludes “Be not deceived, my beloved brethren” show that there was a danger of those to whom the Epistle was addressed being led astray by a false teaching, which was as incompatible with the true Jewish doctrine of God as it was with the Christian; indeed, on this point, Jewish and Christian teaching were identical. The subject referred to in this section, James 1:12-16, is dealt with more fully in the Introduction IV., § 1, which see.

James 1:12. Μακάριος ἀνήρ : this pleonastic use of ἀνήρ is Hebraic; cf. Psalms 1:1, where the expression אשׁרי האישׁ (“O, the blessedness of the man …”) is rendered μακάριος ἀνήρ by the Septuagint. ὑπομένει : carries on the thought of ὑπομονή in James 1:4; the absence of all reference to divine grace entirely accords with the Jewish doctrine of works, and is one of the many indications in this Epistle that the writer (or writers) had as yet only imperfectly assimilated Christian doctrine, see further Introduction IV., § 2 πειρασμόν : see note on James 1:2. δόκιμος γενόμενος : for δοκ. see note on James 1:2; cf. Luther's rendering: “nachdem er bewähret ist,” which contains the idea of something being preserved, i.e., the genuine part, after the dross (as it were) has been purged away. τὸν στέφανον τῆς ζωῆς : Wisdom and the Law (Torah) are said to be an ornament of grace to the head (Proverbs 1:9), and Wisdom “shall deliver unto thee a crown of glory” (Proverbs 4:9); in Pirqe Aboth vi. 7 this is said of the Torah, of which it is also said in the same section, “She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her” (Proverbs 3:18); in Sir 15:6 it is said that a wise man shall “inherit joy, and a crown of gladness (there is no mention of a crown in the Hebrew), and an everlasting name,” cf. 32 (35):2. In the Test. of the Twelve Patriarchs, Lev. iv. 1, we read “Be followers of his compassion, therefore, with a good mind, that ye also may wear crowns of glory”; cf. Asc. of Isaiah, vii. 22, viii. 26, ix. 10 13. The Hebrew עטרִה is used both in a literal and figurative sense (for the latter see, e.g., Job 19:9) it is probably in a figurative sense that the word is here used. ὅν ἐπηγγ. τοῖς ἀγαπ. αὐτόν : the insertion of ὁ Θεός or ὁ Κύριος is found only in authorities of secondary value. The words λήμψεται τὸν στέφανον τῆς ζωῆς ὅν …, introduced by ὅτι (cf. in next verse ὅτι ἀπὸ θεοῦ … refer perhaps to a saying of our Lord's which has not been preserved elsewhere; the thought seems to be present in such passages as 2 Timothy 2:5; 2 Timothy 4:8; 1 Peter 5:4; Revelation 2:10; Revelation 3:11; Revelation 4:4; Revelation 6:2; cf. 1 Corinthians 9:25, which makes it all the more probable that the words were based ultimately on some actual “Logion” of Christ (cf. Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:30; cf. too, the following words which occur in the Acta Philippi : … μακάριός ἐστιν ὁ ἔχων τὸ ἐαυτοῦ ἔνδυμα λαμπρόν · αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ λαμβάνων τὸν στέφανον τῆς χαρᾶς ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ, see Resch, Agrapha (2), p. 280). Against this it might be urged that mention would probably have been made of the fact if the words were actually those of our Lord, in the same way in which this is done in Acts 20:35, where St. Paul directly specifies his authority in quoting a saying of Christ. There is an interesting passage in the History of Barlaam and Josaphat, quoted by James in “The Revelation of Peter”, p. 59, which runs: “And as he was entering into the gate, others met him, all radiant with light, having crowns in their hands which shone with unspeakable beauty, and such as mortal eyes never beheld; and when Josaphat asked: ‘Whose are the exceeding bright crowns of glory which I see?' ‘One,' they said. ‘is thine' ”.