James, after saluting his readers, commences his Epistle by adverting to those trials to which they were exposed: these, if patiently endured, would confirm and strengthen them in the faith; and, as they were placed in trying circumstances, he admonishes them to ask , without doubting, wisdom from G... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:1. JAMES: the same name as the Hebrew Jacob. The James who is the author of this Epistle is the Lord's brother, known in ecclesiastical history as the bishop of Jerusalem, and was either a son of Mary and Joseph, or a son of Joseph by a previous marriage (see Introduction, sec. 1). A SERVAN... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:2. MY BRETHREN: the constant form of address in this Epistle; his readers were his brethren, both on account of their nationality and of their Christian faith; both in the flesh and in the Lord. COUNT IT ALL joy, that is, complete or pure joy a joy which excludes trouble and sorrow. Some s... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:3. KNOWING THIS being well assured of the fact, the reason or ground of the joy. THAT THE TRYING. These temptations are regarded as the tests or proofs of faith, and in this consists their value. By them faith is being tested as gold in the furnace, and is thus recognised and purified. O... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:4. BUT LET PATIENCE, or endurance, HAVE HER PERFECT not only in the sense of enduring to the end, but of completeness WORK. Patience is not merely a passive but an active virtue; there is a work of patience, yea a perfect work. And this work consists in the purification of the soul in refi... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:5. IF. The connection of this verse with the preceding is not very obvious. It may be as follows: You may by your trials be thrown into a state of perplexity; you may want wisdom; if so, ask it of God. ANY OF YOU LACK WISDOM, perhaps suggested by the previous expression ‘wanting or lacking... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:6. BUT, as an essential prerequisite to our obtaining an answer to our prayers. LET HIM ASK IN FAITH; that is, not believing that God will give us the precise thing that we ask, for we may ask for what is pernicious to us, but believing that God hears prayer. The object of prayer is here p... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:7. FOR LET NOT THAT MAN, namely, the doubter, THINK. This warning supposes that the doubter fancies that he will receive an answer to his prayers; but it is a vain delusion: his expectations will be disappointed. THAT HE SHALL RECEIVE ANYTHING OF THE LORD. By the Lord is here meant not Chr... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:8. In this verse it is to be observed that the word ‘is' is in italics, and therefore is not in the original. The verse ought to be translated: ‘He,' that is, the doubter, ‘is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.' A DOUBLE-MINDED MAN literally, a two-souled man. Double-mindedness... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:9. The meaning of this and of the following verse has been much disputed. LET. The connection with the preceding is not obvious. It appears to be this: We must avoid all doubting of God in prayer, all double-mindedness; we must exercise confidence in Him, and realize His gracious dealings... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:10. BUT THE RICH. Some suppose that by the rich here is meant the unbeliever; not the rich brother, but the rich man; and accordingly they understand the words either as ironical, ‘Let the rich man rejoice in let him glory in what is in reality his shame, his humiliation;' or as a statement... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:11. FOR THE SUN IS NO SOONER RISEN. In the original the words are in the lively style of a narrative: ‘For the sun arose.' WITH A BURNING HEAT. The word here rendered ‘burning heat' is often used in the Septuagint to denote the hot east wind: and hence many suppose that the simoom or the s... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:12. BLESSED IS THE MAN THAT ENDURETH TEMPTATIONS: not merely falleth into divers temptations, but endureth them, cometh out of them unscathed, does not succumb under them. A man who has been tempted, and has come victorious out of the temptation, is a far nobler man than one who preserves a... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:13. LET NO MAN SAY WHEN HE IS TEMPTED. The connexion is: if, instead of enduring the temptation, we yield to it and are overcome by it, we must not lay the blame of our fall from virtue upon God. Hitherto the word ‘temptation' has been used chiefly in the sense of tests of character; here it... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:14. BUT EVERY MAN who is tempted IS TEMPTED, namely to evil, WHEN HE IS DRAWN AWAY OF HIS OWN LUST. By lust here is meant evil desires in general. The doctrine of human depravity is assumed rather than asserted. St. James is not speaking here of the original source of sin in the human race,... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:15. THEN. Now follows the genesis of sin. WHEN lust, evil desire, HATH CONCEIVED, IT BRINGETH FORTH SIN. Lust is here considered as a harlot who seduces the will, and sin is the consequence of this unhallowed alliance. Sin is the child of our corrupt passions; it has its origin in our evil... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:16. DO NOT ERR a common Pauline expression, elsewhere always translated, ‘Be not deceived.' Here it refers rather to what precedes than to what follows. Be not deceived in this matter, in supposing that temptation to evil comes from God. MY BELOVED BRETHREN, strengthening the exhortation.... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:17. EVERY GOOD GIFT. A positive proof of the assertion that God tempteth no man. Not only does evil not proceed from Him, but He is the source only of good. All good is from God. Our higher and spiritual good evidently arises from Him: all good works are the effects of Divine impulses. Our l... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:18. OF HIS OWN WILL ‘After the counsel of His own will,' as St. Paul expresses it(Ephesians 1:11). Regeneration is here alluded to as the highest instance of the Divine goodness. It is not a necessary act of God, but proceeds from His own free will. BEGAT HE US. It is evident from what fol... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:19. WHEREFORE. There is a diversity in the reading of this verse. The most important manuscripts, instead of ‘Wherefore,' read ‘Ye know,' or ‘Know ye,' according as the verb is understood as indicative or imperative, referring either to what precedes, ‘Ye know this,' [1] namely, that God out... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:19-27. In this passage St. James exhorts his readers to be not only hearers but doers of the word. They are to be swift to hear, and to receive the word implanted within them with freedom from malice and in mildness: but they are to hear it only with a view to practise its precepts; lest, be... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:20. FOR, the reason assigned for the above exhortation, and especially for the last portion of it ‘slow to wrath.' THE WRATH OF MAN, that is, carnal zeal, whose fruit is not peace, but contention. Those angry feelings which arise from religious controversy are here primarily alluded to. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:21. WHEREFORE, seeing that the wrath of man does not promote the righteousness of God, LAY APART, divest yourself of, ALL FILTHINESS, pollution. By some this word is taken by itself, but it is more in accordance with the context to connect it with ‘naughtiness, ‘indicating a particular kind... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:22. BUT BE YE DOERS OF THE WORD, AND NOT HEARERS ONLY. The implanted word, or the word of truth, must be so heard and received as to produce a corresponding course of action. Practice, and not opinion, is the desired effect of the reception of the word. The Jews have a proverb among themselv... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:23. FOR. The above exhortation is enforced by a comparison. A hearer of the word, who is not a doer, resembles a man seeing his face in a mirror, without its making any permanent impression upon him. IF ANY MAN BE A HEARER OF THE WORD AND NOT A DOER, HE IS LIKE UNTO A MAN BEHOLDING HIS NAT... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:24. FOR HE BEHOLDETH HIMSELF, AND GOETH HIS WAY, AND STRAIGHTWAY FORGETTETH. The words are in the lively style of narrative: literally translated they are: ‘For he contemplated himself, and has gone his way, and immediately forgot what manner of man he was.' A general statement, not necessar... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:25. Now follows the application of the metaphor. BUT. The doer of the word is now described. WHOSO LOOKETH INTO: literally, ‘stoopeth down to look into,' representing the earnest inspection: ‘whoso fixedly contemplatech' (comp. 1 Peter 1:12; John 20:5). THE PERFECT LAW OF LIBERTY: corre... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:26. IF ANY MAN AMONG YOU SEEM, that is, not seems to others, but thinketh himself, appears to himself to be religious. The words denote the false opinion which a man has of himself; the false estimate which he has formed of his religion. TO BE RELIGIOUS. ‘Religious' and ‘religion' are hardl... [ Continue Reading ]
James 1:27. PURE RELIGION AND UNDEFILED. Pure and undefiled may almost be regarded as synonymous terms, the one expressing the idea positively, and the other negatively. Not, as some arbitrarily think, ‘pure' referring to the inner, and ‘undefiled' to the external life. There may be a reference here... [ Continue Reading ]