Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

James 1:4

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 refining and ennobling our moral character. Patience under trials has preeminently a sanctifying tendency. The most perfect Christians are not the most active, but the most enduring; not so much in the bustle of the world is the work of grace carried on, as in the quietness of the sick-chamber. God proves His people in the furnace of affliction. He purges the fruitful branches that they may bear more fruit (John 15:2).

that ye may be perfect. ‘The work of God in a man,' as Dean Alford observes, ‘is the man. If God's teaching by patience have had a perfect work in you, you are perfect.' Of course by this cannot be meant absolute perfection; the word denotes maturity in grace, not absolute but relative holiness.

and entire. Perfect and entire are almost synonymous terms; perfect denotes that which has attained to its maturity, entire that which is complete in all its parts. Compare Acts 3:16.

wanting nothing or ‘in nothing lacking,' a negative expression for the sake of strengthening these two positive attributes perfect and entire.

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

James 1:4

Old Testament

New Testament