Comments on the Book of James

7/28/2019 Comments on the Book of James

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Comments on the Book of James



“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces

steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (1:1-4)

Their situation must have been such that they were suffering from poverty and mistreatment by the peoples

whose lands they were living in. If the Dispersion refers to the exiling of Israel over different times throughout history

then they must have retained their unique identities as Jews in order to continue to be referred to in this manner. Add

to this the acceptance of the Christian faith and these believing Jews would have been not only aliens living among

gentiles but also outcasts among their own people. We read of the persecution the Jews suffered in these landsin Paul’s

letters. I suggest poverty because of the repeated reference to the rich and the poor James makes in this letter. Jamesuses the rich and poor as examples for his teaching and later in the letter blasts the rich as selfish and greedy. James

seems to be encouraging the believers of the “Dispersion” to stand strong in the face of their poverty and to resist the

urge to seek after wealth in the way the world does; to do so would only bring the destruction that surely awaits the res

of the world.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But

let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the

wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable

in all his ways. (1:5-8)

I assume that the wisdom that James suggested they ask for so plainly was the wisdom to withstand the

pressures they were facing in their trials “of various kinds”. We can’t know for sure what they faced in these

communities and the forms the trials took but as I said above most likely they faced some sort of persecution from both

Jews and gentiles and the accompanying poverty that would follow such treatment. The issues surrounding poverty and

wealth make more than one appearance in this letter and they seem to be a focal point of James for these churches. He

writes of their preferential treatment of the rich and he blasts the rich later in the letter as greedy and selfish. To

withstand the trials of poverty and persecution these believers no doubt were tempted to pursue relief through

methods that were less than Christ like. They may have wanted to answer with an eye for an eye against their enemies.

They may have wanted to use the devices of the wealthy in order to procure wealth for themselves. And they may have

tried to combine these worldly measures with their faith in prayer.

James reminds them here that to do so would be to be false; he tells them that to ask in such a way is to have

false motive- they were asking for relief but only in order to take care of themselves; they were inherently selfish in theiprayers.

“You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” (4:3)

They were also asking with doubt in their minds- we don’t know what they doubted: the power of God, the

answer to their prayer, the ability to overcome their obstacles; but they doubted. James tells them that to doubt is to

negate the prayer. You will not receive anything if you doubt the one to whom you ask to give it. He compares them to a

ship being tossed in the wind. They are without a firm direction; they will go wherever their thinking takes them. They

will follow after the world or God, whichever comes first. But this cannot be the relationship we are to have with God. It

must be God first and His way as our direction and the focus of our prayers.

The problem with suffering is that it often takes our minds off of that focus and onto the situation at hand. Wesuccumb to only seeing the problem before us, our own pain, and the pain of our loved ones. We are tempted to despai

and we look to anything for relief. James tells these believers and us to remain focused on God alone who is able to

grant that which we desire. And what is it that we desire above all. Is it money and power? Is it position and attention?

No, I believe that what we desire above all else is simple security and a place in the world that is safe. If we knew that

we would be taken care of then all would be right and weathering the storm that tosses us around would be so much

simpler. But we often do not know for certain our place and our security so we doubt and we lose our focus.

Praise God that He does not lose sight of us. His word tells us that we are secure. We have a place firmly in His

hand that no one can ever remove us from. Our job is to remain sure of that fact- to trust in God, and to let the ship be

tossed but to remain surefooted and steadfast throughout.



“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never

perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,

and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:27 -30)

“Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will

pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also

will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. “ (1:9-11)

This is the reality behind the glitter of gold and the sheen of luxury. In truth all that glitters will one day fade

away. The rich man and his possessions will not always share the same address, for the rich man, like every other man,

must someday die and with him his hold on his belongings. The truth behind this is stark. James says in the midst of his

pursuits the rich man will fade away. He will never complete his task of acquisition for it can never be finished; one

reason being that he will die before he is done and the other reason is that that kind of pursuit can never be completed.

There is always one more dollar to be made and one more mountain left to climb. Compare that scenario to that of the

poor man who cannot achieve great wealth or status. He has little, if any, power. He has nothing of material value on

the earth: and yet, James says he has cause for exaltation. No, James says that man will boast in his exaltation. That kind

of man will be exalted while the man of wealth will be brought low.

It is a truth of scripture that the last will be first (Matthew 19:28-20:16) and the first will be last. Jesus taught his

disciples that those who seek after position and wealth in this life will have a more difficult time attaining to the

kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:16-24). He taught that those who seek the world will lose the kingdom (Luke 9:23-25).

Here, James seems to imply the same thing, that wealth on the earth stands in opposition to the kingdom of God. He is

telling the believers to resist the temptation to seek after wealth (possibly, as I conjectured, to get out of their

difficulties) and instead to remember the teaching. God will provide and God will reward all to whom reward is due. Do

not seek that reward while in the body for then what reward is left to give you in heaven? Remember the flowers, they

burn gloriously for a season and then are thrown away.

Be not a man who lives only for a season- be instead a man that lives for a lifetime.

“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life,

which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for

God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticedby his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”

(1:12-15)

This is encouragement to remain standing firm in your trust in God above- even through the trials of life.

Whatever they were facing, and I am sure that it is many-fold more than whatever I deal with daily, James wants for

them to stand strong. The temptation is to buckle under the weight of the strain of trials and to give in to the temptation

to fight back in one’s own strength with the weapons we see others using to get out from under, and to ‘enjoy’ life to

the fullest. But it is not to be that way for us because we are called to a higher standard than the wickedness the world

attains to. We who call ourselves Christian are to strive to maintain our purity, even in the face of trial and temptation.

We haven’t resisted to the point of shedding blood, have we (Hebrews 12:4)? So we can hold on for a little longer when

trouble comes before we fold and give in to our sin, can’t we? Once we give in to sin it is always a dead end run into death. There is no redeeming quality for sin. There is no

level of it that is acceptable and with each step down the wrong road we enter more and more firmly into its grasp.

James gives sin a name here- he calls it our own desire. These are the selfish motives spoken of in chapter 4. These are

the desires of the flesh that unless chained and mastered will always lead us into darkness. It occurs to me that my

language is so stereotypically Christian here. I wonder if this can be written in a way that would speak even to those who

do not know Christ. In language that would explain the sinfulness of their actions and the causes of their pain. But for

the Christian, for the man who loves God, words like darkness and flesh and desire ring true. They describe the

nothingness of the consequences of chasing that sin. We are to master it as God directed Cain to do after he killed his

brother. Who else will do it if it not be us? Who else will control our passions? It is up to us.



And we cannot blame God for our failures either. James makes it clear that it is not from God, the sins that so

easily entangle us. These sins arise out of our own sinful hearts. These are our desires and not God’s desires for us.

James reminds here that God is entirely good and pure and holy. He is not tempted as we are and HE does not tempt us

in this manner.

So what do we do? How do we overcome? How do we remain steadfast when the world beats us up, gives us

trial and tribulation, regardless of what we try to do to stop it? We can only do one thing- we can’t look to the world’s

devices like money and power and the machinations that bring those about. We can’t look to escaping our pain through

self-gratification of the flesh. We can only look to God and try our best to be found doing what He left for us to do which

is to love Him with all we’ve got and to show that by loving all of those He put in our midst.

“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life,

which God has promised to those who love him.” (1:12)

This crown is referred many times in the New Testament and it seems to draw an analogy to what the victor

received after winning in the games. In those days they ran to win the wreath- only one victor wore the wreath as an

honor for his victory. James teaches that we too have a chance to win such a ‘crown’. We are running a race, as Paul said

(1 Corinthians 9:25-27), and we should be running in such a way as to win that crown. It begins here with steadfastness

under trial. If we stand to the end and we will make it to the finish line. When we make it to the end we will be honored

for our victory- we will be given the crown of life. And if that weren’t enough, when we make it to our end we are

promised that that crown not only symbolizes victory but also ushers in our literal eternal life.

“And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory (1 Peter 5:4)

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the

Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the

word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. (1:16-18)

A reminder to focus on the truth in the face of the lies and temptations of the world. Our end is not to be found

in overcoming the world through the world’s means; and any perceived good that we might achieve through wicked

means is no good thing. For the only good that will come our way- the only true good, good that is a response to a lifelived in the pursuit of holiness, will come from above; it will come from God, for He is the “Father of l ights” and will

never change. We are His children, the first to bear His name, and the firstfruits of the redemptive work of His Son Jesus

It is this that we should focus on and respond to- we are to act as children of God are to act: in humility, love, and

perseverance.

“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man

does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with

meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” (1:19-21)

The first thing a believer must be able to do is to control himself. Self-discipline ought to be the priority of everyChristian. We are no longer allowed to say and do anything that we desire or that our passions lead us to do. Solomon

taught us the end of seeking only pleasure and gain in life- it is meaningless (Ecclesiastes). It always ends the same way,

in nothing truly gained. James wrote that seeking to fill desires ends only in sin and ultimately death. But if we truly are

brothers as James calls us here then we have a calling to live according to a higher standard, a standard found in the

word of God. In order to understand that standard and to hear the word in our hearts we have to first control our

thoughts and our actions. It begins by learning to listen. We have to hear more and speak less. Solomon also taught us to

do this. In Ecclesiastes he writes “Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God,

for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few” (Ecclesiastes 5:2)”. We must not be too

ready to answer back with our own opinions but must learn to consider what has been said and to be open to learning

from the experience of others. And we must learn to control our tempers and be slow to anger. A quick flash of anger, a



smart response, will make us feel better in a conflict but it does nothing to show our transformed lives in Christ; and it

does nothing to further a relationship with another person. And it demonstrates our own self-interest and arrogance.

Instead we must learn to respond with temperance and hold off anger; taming it and making it conform to our Christ-

like desires and be used for His will instead of our own.

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a

doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at

once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being nohearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” (1:22-25)

Man has an uncanny ability to overlook in himself the most glaring of faults. Be they physical, social, emotional,

or even spiritual, we are able to look at ourselves daily and brush them aside as unimportant. It’s not that we don’t

know of our faults, we do, because we live with the consequences of them every day. We deal with the difficult

relationship with a family member or co-worker or we experience conflict in social settings. We know all about our extra

pounds and addictive habits, but we have the ability to overlook them somehow- to justify them, rationalize them,

excuse them into the background as unimportant or better yet somebody else’s fault or problem. This tendency, that we

all share, makes it very difficult to gain any ground spiritually because it is inherently dishonest. We lie when we think

that we are okay the way we are. We deceive ourselves when we blame others for our faults and problems. We aren’t

malicious in this or utterly wicked; we are Christians after all. Sometimes we do this simply in order to cope- our

problems are too many and too difficult for us to handle so we don’t think on them all but merely try to keep our head

above water with the biggest of them. And sometimes we do this because we have fallen into our sins and are pursuing

the death that James warned of earlier.

The remedy for this is of course the word of God. We hear this word in our services and we read it ourselves in

our bibles. But James is telling us to make sure we are not simply hearing the words of God and putting them away

somewhere like we do with our sins and faults. God would like us to think on His word and to act on it. It is action that

marks the Christian life more than anything else. Is that too strong a statement? It is action that is the fruit of the change

in a believer. It is the actions based on the implanted word that prove our faith in Christ. So we must listen, we must

hear, we must control our base desires (anger), we must refuse to deceive ourselves into complacency at best and willfu

sin at worst. We must look intently into the word of God and then do what it says.

I remember one day feeling completely beat down by my own troubles and thanking God that He didn’t show

me every one of my faults at one time. What a shock that would be to see my entire sin riddled soul as it might appearto the One who can see me completely. Thank God He does not show us more than we can handle- what He does show

the man who is willing to look is enough. And remember, God does not see us as sin riddled anymore, not if we have

confessed faith in His Son! Now He sees us only as His beloved, our sin has been forgotten. Amen?!

“If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to

keep oneself unstained from the world.” (1:26-27)

James returns to the topic of our speech later in chapter three calling it an instrument of hell. Obviously

controlling our speech is important to James. What we say indicates what lies within us. The words that come out of ourmouths align with the thoughts in our minds and hearts. We tend to say what we really think and feel even if at times

the words seem to ring false. Harsh words, quick words, un-tempered words, coarse speech, vulgarity, lies, deceit,

gossip, and slander: these all come out of the mouths of believers and they show the evil that still wages its war inside o

our hearts. We must learn to control this if we are to truly set ourselves about the tasks of serving the Lord through

practice of our religion.

Verse 27 summarizes quite nicely the tenets of our religion. Forget about the doctrine for a moment and focus

simply on what it is that a Christian should DO. One word could sum up this summary- charity. We are to take care of

others- to love them, feed them, cloth them. Simply said and simply done. Jesus said as much Himself when He took all

the complexities of the Law and summed them up in two simple commands: To love God and then to love others. These



verses (19-27) teach us to discipline ourselves to hear more and talk less in order to do what the word of God says which

is to Love God by offering charity to His people.

“My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a

gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay

attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man,

“You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become

judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man.

Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme

t he honorable name by which you were called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love

your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the

law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he

who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have

become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For

judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. “ (2:1-13)

Another tendency of these believers seems to have been this issue of distinguishing between those in the

congregation when they met together. They would see the poor man and give him little thought except to make sure he

was out of the way and accessible if needed to run an errand for somebody. But when they saw the important man

enter their congregation they would rise up, gather around and make a place for him in the front, in the place of honor.

And yet James asks them, “Who is it that bestows honor among you anyway? Is it not the Lord?”

James gives them another truth about riches; in this case a general truth about those who have money. They are

the ones who do the oppressing in a community. They are the ones who use the law to win their gold. And they are

generally the ones who do not hold the name of the Most High in the highest regard. Turning that on its head James

looks at the poor among the believers and sees another truth, that the poor are usually the ones with the greatest faith.

It is the poor who Jesus said would be blessed- not because of their poverty but because of their absolute need for

something greater than themselves for salvation. It is the poor who tend to know God and honor Him because they have

nothing else that distracts them from Him. It is the poor that God Himself has raised up to a position of honor, who are

we to dishonor what God has honored?

James points this out to say, “Stop sinning!” It makes no sense to flock after the rich who may or may not evenrecognize the Lord. It is a symptom of materialism, this preferring to associate with the ‘highest’ among us rather than

take an interest in the ‘lowest’. Materialism is the world’s way off dealing with emptiness and loss but it is not the

Lord’s. We are to refuse the world’s ways in favor of God’s way.

We have this same tendency in our churches- we commit the same sin. When we look to the members of

standing in the community to be the leading men in our churches, we sin. When we look to the men whose houses are

large and their positions hold prominence, we sin. When we overlook the little guy, the guy with the bread and butter

job, as a candidate for leadership we sin. When we overlook the poor man to hold a place among us, we sin. James is

talking here again about money and its power to corrupt. Money is of the world and although in itself it is not evil it does

inspire evil in us. Jesus warned us of this when He said, “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one

and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money ” (Luke

16:13). James reminds us that it is faith that is the marker for attention and distinction in our churches. We ought to belooking at men to see the evidence of faith in their lives to bestow honor upon. We ought to use the same standard that

God uses when He judges us.

He judged us all transgressors of the Law and therefore damnable to the farthest reaches of hell. But He

bestowed upon us mercy in the Name of His Son, Jesus. That mercy saves us and by its confession we are indeed saved.

So how can we who have been forgiven so much turn and look with disdain on our brother who has stood at the foot of

the very same cross we have? God does not look at the outside when judging worth but looks inside to see what can be

made of a man. We too must use His standard and look past the glitter and the tarnish to see the man that God beholds

a beloved son whom He longs to see perfected.

And lastly, a warning- another reminder, we will be judged in the end. Jesus also warned us of this; by the

measure we use to judge others we too will be judged (Matthew 7). It is mercy we are to extend to all who gather with



us; grace offered freely to all men in recognition of their individual struggles, hurts and pain. This is the measure that

God uses with us; anything else from us is sin and a breaking of the law. If we seek to love God it begins with how we

love others.

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a

brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and

filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have

works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do

you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified

by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was

completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as

righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And

in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them

out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” (2:14-26)

This is the passage that has given so many theologians so much difficulty over the five hundred years since the

reformation. The question they struggle(d) with is if salvation is by faith alone (sola fide), a reformation construct built to

guard against the many and varied Catholic ‘works-based’ means of attaining salvation, then how do we interpret this

passage? For in this passage James makes the exact opposite argument; he says in verse 17 that it is NOT by faith alone,

he says that faith alone is useless, it is dead, unless it be accompanied by works. Thank God we have all of those years of

teaching on this topic to clear this up. I have entered the church at a time when I think this is understood correctly and

when we don’t have the full weight of the Catholic Church bearing down on us, and when our protests against their

abuses of religion are not so forefront in our minds that we struggle mightily to understand a better way of religion. I get

to read this passage in my own language, in my own home, from my own bible and I think that it makes pretty good

sense. This particular passage does not give me a whole lot of trouble because it seems plain and to the point.

James sets up his argument by illustrating a scenario where faith is offered to a hurting brother but is not backed

up with anything concrete. The religious offer comfort in words alone (Sola Worde? : ) but they leave the poor man cold

and shivering on the bench. James asks the obvious question- what good is that? They might as well have left him alone

for all the good they gave him. The argument continues with the statement that it is good to have faith, to believe in

God, but even the demons do that! God is real and all in creation recognize and bow down to Him; or at least they will inthe end. Even the fallen angels, those demons who have turned their back on God, recognize Him as Lord and master.

The difference is that they do not act on their knowledge of Him for good, but instead actively work against Him. So

what would distinguish our belief in God from theirs unless it is that our action on our faith in him show the fruit of our

salvation? The demons are not saved, not because they don’t believe in God but because they don’t confess Him as Lord

and submit all of their activity to Him. James teaches that it is through faith we are saved but through our works that we

demonstrate that salvation.

Two examples from scripture are used to make this point: Abraham and Rahab. Abraham believed in God and

acted on his belief by obeying mightily the command to offer Isaac up as a sacrifice to Him. Such an act of faith, of

believing that somehow God would make the incomprehensible comprehensible was rewarded with great words of

encouragement- Abraham was justified by his faith. James goes to the other extreme in his next example. True to his

teaching to not honor the great among us but also the low, James gives Rahab as his next example. She was a prostitutebut James uses her here next to Abraham, the father of us all, to conclude his argument for faith and works. She

believed in the God of Israel and when the men came to spy out her city for invasion she acted on her belief, even in the

face of great danger, by helping the men to hide and escape. She too was rewarded for her faith demonstrated by her

works. She has been memorialized in scripture along with those who were, by the world’s standards, greater than she.

The formula is simple: Faith + Works = Justification. James insists that each addend be present. You cannot have

only one but claim to have the other also. It is like the body without a spirit or the idea of a spirit without its body; it

cannot be. They have to exist together in time and in space. And so must our faith and our works. We who believe must

act on that belief. Faith is a verb.

Last thought- this is the great command to love others as ourselves. Love is a verb- Faith is a verb. If we truly

love God then we will work to love others.



“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater

strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able

also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as

well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small

rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How

great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set

among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every

kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being

can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things

ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my

brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.” (3:1-12)

James implies that because teachers must speak, and speak a lot, by nature of their vocation, and because “we

all stumble in many ways”, particularly through our words, we should take great care in presuming to teach. He warns

that most of the brethren should not become teachers. I assume teaching here to refer to the word of God and to the

spiritual development of the church primarily because of the company I find this letter in. In the church men ought to

take great care not only to discipline themselves in their humility and charity for others but also in their own self-regard.

Sometimes we have the tendency to puff ourselves up in our own minds, even sincerely out of a desire to serve the

Lord, and to speak our minds to others under the guise of teaching. If our minds are wrong, our opinions false, we run

the risk of being false teachers and spreading or creating doctrine in the church that will harm our brothers and sisters.

After forty plus years walking the earth, often in self-created delusions of grandeur, I am beginning to see the wisdom in

simply remaining silent and listening to others. In this way I can ponder the wisdom of others words, just as Mary did

(Luke 2:9, 51), and formulate a better and more informed viewpoint. I have begun to realize that a lot of my words are

spoken out of a desire to be heard and to be validated as wise, or clever, or humorous. That is an inherently selfish

desire and therefore a sinful one. James teaches here to presume to be silent and to learn something new and then you

will have gain. Begin with a recognition of your own inclination to sin and humble yourself before it; then you will gain

wisdom.

I am also learning to ask questions before making statements. All too often we presume to know the reasons

behind another’s actions and we respond in kind. However, what if we are wrong and a simple question asked in

sincerity would bring greater understanding? Often we assume we know; out of our arrogance we paint pictures of

reality that are too simple. Life is much more complex than the explanations we presume to understand. People aremuch more complex than the simple formulas we apply to them. Asking and seeking to understand others is a form that

love will take if we let it. Other people basically want the same thing as we do, they want to be understood, heard,

validated and thought well of. If we take the time to talk to them before judgment we might be surprised at how much

deeper our own understanding of the world will become.

James’ analogies of a bridle and a rudder to the tongue are very effective illustrations. Jesus said that what goes

into a man cannot make him unclean but that it is what comes out of the heart that will make a man unclean (Mark

7:14-23). With our mouths we present to the world what is contained in our hearts. It is a startling picture but one that

should be reflected upon if we are to call ourselves Christians. Our religion is built around the concept of love; for God

first through the loving of others. Yet we continue to war and fight amongst ourselves in the church and those in the

world. James says that this is not how it should be. We are Christians and our primary objective is to express that love to

the world.

And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness(3:6)

James declares the tongue the one untamable creation. Man has been able to conquer the world and yet he fail

miserably with a member of his own body. Out of our hearts and minds flow our desires, pain, suffering, selfishness, and

sorrow. Often they flow with little regulation and we cause others much pain.

James refers to the tongue’s boasting in this passage; boasting was also referred to in 1:9 referring to the lowly

man who boasts in his exaltation; it is again used in 3:14 in the conclusion of this passage to describe actions based on

jealousy and selfishness; it is used in 4:16 to describe actions based on arrogant presumption. To boast is to make claims

that may or may not be false but which are always designed to put self forward and to present a show of place to the



world. James calls such activity evil without apology (4:16). When we allow our tongue, here the personification of our

own selfishness, to run loose we are allowing evil to reign in our lives. James calls our tongues a “world of

unrighteousness”, “evil”, and “full of deadly poison”. It is not our tongues that are these things, it is our hearts. Residing

in us is the baseness of our sin; left unchecked it will escape and infect our world. But we who are Christian also have

residing in us the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9, 2 Timothy 1:14) and if we discipline ourselves to His leading through the

practice of self-control and restraint we can overcome the evil within us. We can learn to remain steadfast in our trials,

to resist sin and the devil, who will flee our power; and express to the world the love of God much more abundantly

than we do now.

“Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in t he meekness of wisdom. But

if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the

wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist,

there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to

reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who

make peace.” (3:13-18)

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above” (1:17) so let us not be deceived into thinking that our

ambitions, desires, and jealousies have any place in the Kingdom of God. It is their opposites that James calls the

brothers to. It is to humility before God and men, and charity to our brothers and sisters that we are to put our efforts

into. It is through the exercise of love that our faith is proven and expressed.

The polar opposites of selfishness and selflessness are extreme. It is the difference between love and hate, sin

and holiness, and pride and humility. It is boasting versus listening, giving versus taking, holding versus pushing away.

The Christian religion should be marked by the “meekness of wisdom” that James writes of here. The Christian should be

marked by this wisdom. The promise is that when it is and when we do we will receive back what we have sown (3:18).

“What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You

desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because

you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous

people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of

the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns

jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?” (4:1-5)

James calls the behavior he sees in these believers adultery! He describes God as yearning over them as a lover

might, jealous to keep them for himself; but they will not have only Him. They keep looking to these other things that

James lists: their desires and passions and the material things that they covet. They ask for these things but do not get

them because their motives are impure. They seek only to pleasure themselves and not to spend their gain on others in

love, as God would have them do.

Enough about them- what about us? Do we act in a similar way? Are we secretly craving that which we cannot

have and getting frustrated when it is not granted us? We fight in our churches and communities about our ministries

and programs; the object of our covetousness does not even have to be wicked in nature for our actions to be evil. As

stated before man has the incredible ability to overlook wickedness in himself but he has no problem seeing it very

clearly in others. Again, the solution is relatively simple, but one that might take some of us a lot longer to master than

others. James teaches us to resist these temptations and to submit ourselves to God in humility (verses 6-7).

But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves

therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse

your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter

be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” (4:6-10)

God gives men the grace to be and act in the way James is commanding here. With men it will be impossible

(Matthew 19:26) but with God it can be done, we can change. Grace here is the power of God working in our lives,

through the Spirit, to turn us away from these sinful inclinations of selfishness and toward the loving acts of charity and

humility that he so desires for us.



If we would only submit ourselves to this ideal, to God in humility, we would find victory over our base natures.

We have to actively turn from the devil and his whisperings, and our own flesh and its cravings and learn a new way. We

have to replace the old habits with new ones, and train our desires to be instead for healthy and holy things instead of

wicked things. Reflecting on our behavior and our thoughts will lead us to quit taking things so cavalierly and will break

our habits of justifying our actions and relativizing our behaviors. If we take this seriously, enough so to make us weep

before the Lord, He will respond with grace and love and help us to overcome.

“Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil

against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only onelawgiver and j udge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?” (4:11-12)

In contrast to the good deeds we ought to be doing is the backstabbing and vindictive behavior of men of the

world. James reminds the brothers of the golden rule, to love others as yourself and of Jesus’ teaching to first focus on

your own sin so that you will be in a position to help a brother take care of his (Luke 6:42). God alone will make the final

judgments about people and it is He who will provide what is needed for the changes to take place to bring a man to

perfection. Our job is not to position ourselves as judges over our brother’s behavior, our job is to get our own house in

order so we can then reach out in love to help others to do the same.

“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade

and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears

for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it i s,

you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it

is sin.” (4:13-17)

Boasting again, this time referring to making plans for oneself that do not take into account the Lord’s plans for

us; James calls this arrogance. We are reminded of the proverbs of Solomon that teach us to take into account our

limited number of days on the earth; it is “vanity” to plan for tomorrow and to seek after wealth without asking God first

or seeking His will in the matter.

We know how we ought to be thinking and behaving; it is up to us to work to make ourselves that way. Anything

else is sin.

“Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will

eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your

fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of

the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of

slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you. “ (5:1-6)

This passage speaks against those who think more about their money than they did about their people. Those

who used the poor for their own gain, and were willing to be dishonest in order to turn a profit; who made a habit of

spending their wealth on themselves and not in charity to others. It is unclear whether James is addressing this to the

believers in which case this would be a decisive judgment and warning against them, or whether this is an editorial of

sorts against the rich in the community that the believers lived in. If the latter then James is offering encouragement tothe believers that these sinners will not escape judgment, for God is aware of their sin and their judgment will come.

Money will not survive in the coming kingdom. Wealth will not transfer into eternity because position and

power hold no sway in God’s economy. So those who have built their lives around the amassing of money and status wil

be decisively stripped of their idols and placed among the least in the new kingdom, if they arrive at all. As we read over

and over again, it is for the humble and the charitable that heaven is built. In response to the humility displayed by Jesus

in His work for us and His generosity in freely bestowing salvation upon us we simply must turn the cheek to our

brothers and do the same. What we have freely been given we also can freely give (Matthew 10:8), completing the circle

and proving the genuineness of our faith.



“Be pati ent, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth,

being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the

coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the

Judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the

name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of

Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.” (5:7 -11)

A final reminder to steadfastness, to be rock solid and unwavering in faith and actions, to prove one’s faith, to

not look to the rich for help or the means of the world for overcoming difficulty. The Lord God is near at hand and will come. ‘Establishing our hearts’ means to firm up our resolve to remain standing until that day comes. It is the day of

trouble now and we count the days as they pass, numbering them one by one as we wait for our deliverance. While we

wait we can busy ourselves with the things of God, which are to take care of the poor, the orphan and the widow, to

build each other up with encouragement, and to remind ourselves of our ultimate salvation in God, and not man.

We are not alone in this, we have the prophets to look back upon to see their example. They stood and

delivered the word of the Lord against unbeatable opposition. They were sawn and quartered, dropped into wells,

outcast and ridiculed, and hunted like wild animals all for the sake of doing that which God gave them to do. We have

the example of Job, the poster child for steadfastness, who endured a day of misery as he received word after word of

his family’s demise. He did not waver in his resolve to remain true to God and he withstood the temptation to complain

or compromise before his friends. He did what James is telling us to do in our day of trouble; to remind ourselves of our

place in the kingdom, work to make the lives of others better, and to remain humble as we wait for our reward.

“But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes

and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.” (5:12)

This verse probably goes with the passage above but I pulled it out in order to isolate it for its simplicity. It is a

wonderful expression that sticks in the mind and reminds me to keep my word simple and true. Along with our habit of

justifying our actions and our temptation to seek the world over the kingdom, we also have this wicked ability to

elaborate our speech with conditions and exceptions. James teaches us to keep our words to a simple yes and no; that

is, we either will do a thing or we will not do a thing, we either meant what we said or we did not. Anything other than

this leads us into a gray area of rhetoric and minutia of the law. Anything other than this leads us into the condemnation

reserved for deal breakers, liars, and cheats. Anything other than this is not the religion of God.

“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let

him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the

prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be

forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a

righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that

it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave

rain, and the earth bore its fruit. My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him

back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a

multitude of sins.” (5:13-20)

Faith. Faith that in the time of trouble God will hear you when you call out to Him. Faith that your prayers will beheard and will be powerful to bring healing. Faith that there is a heaven beyond this life and that our place is destined to

be there with God forever. I read this passage and I immediately question the truth of the words written because I know

that prayers often do not bring about the kind of healing that we desire. Our loved ones do leave us and our sick do not

get healed of their illnesses. So I question whether what James wrote is true.

But if it is not true then what does that say about the rest of scripture? No, it has to be true because the entire

Word must be true or our faith is built on a foundation of sand, take away one piece and the rest surely crumbles. So if it

is true, that our prayers heal and that they are imbued with power to save and restore then how is it that experience

tells us something other?

It could be that we misunderstand- that we take literally James’ words ‘heal’ and ‘raise him up’. In the last verse

of this chapter, and the book, James writes of saving a soul from death- that sounds to me like a salvation or damnation



scenario and not a living body or dead body scenario. James is writing of saving souls here, not the temporal seed that

our flesh is. The flesh merely houses the soul until such time as we are called to go to our future and permanent home

with God. The prayer of a righteous man does indeed have great power, possibly meaning here to help a sinner repent

and turn back to God where he will indeed find life.

I still have reservations though- verses 14 and 15 speak of a physically sick person being anointed with oil and

prayed over by the elders of the church and it sounds to me as if this sort of prayer will heal the body. Sins will certainly

be forgiven through this prayer but will the body? I guess in the end it comes back to my original statement: Faith. We

must have faith in God who does not change (1:17), does not lie (Hebrews 6:18), has promised to provide us with all we

need to survive (Matthew 6:25-32), only gifts us with things that are good for us (1:17), and who in His own time and forHis own purposes is working for all things to come together for the good that He has planned (Romans 8:28). Prayer is

our part in that- we must learn to pray and to keep offering our prayers for ourselves, for others, for the orphan and the

widow, through the rain and in times of drought.

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