James 1 King James Version (KJV)

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

² My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

³ Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

⁴ But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

⁵ If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

⁶ But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

⁷ For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

⁸ A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

⁹ Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:

¹⁰ But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.

¹¹ For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

¹² Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

¹³ Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

¹⁴ But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

¹⁵ Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

¹⁶ Do not err, my beloved brethren.

¹⁷ Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

¹⁸ Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

¹⁹ Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

²⁰ For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

²¹ Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

²² But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

²³ For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

²⁴ For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

²⁵ But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

²⁶ If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.

²⁷ Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Commentary

The letter of James was possibly the first New Testament letter to be written. It seems to have been addressed mainly to Jewish Christians – not those of a specific local church, but Jewish Christians in general. Like God’s people in later Old Testament times, these Christians were scattered throughout the region of the Bible’s story (James 1:1). Further indications of the Jewish background to the book are the writer’s reference to the Christian meeting as a synagogue (James 2:2), and his references to the law of Moses (James 1:18; 2:8-11; 5:4).

Author of the letter

From early Christian times it has been understood that the person named James who wrote this letter was James the brother of the Lord Jesus (James 1:1; cf. Mark 6:3). During Jesus’ earthly life, James and his brothers did not believe him to be the Messiah (John 7:3-5), but by the time of his ascension they had become believers (Acts 1:14). This suggests that Jesus’ special appearance to James after the resurrection may have helped turn him and his brothers from unbelief to faith (1 Cor 15:7).

James later became the most prominent leader in the Jerusalem church (Acts 12:17; 15:13; Gal 1:18- 19; 2:9,12). Although most of the Jews in the Jerusalem church still held to former beliefs and customs, James was not in bondage to the law. He constantly encouraged his fellow Jews to be more tolerant of others (Acts 15:13,19). The common people respected him for his sincere faith and called him James the Just.

Purpose of the letter

Jews who became Christians had the advantages of a long-established belief in God and a moral outlook moulded by the law of Moses. But these advantages could also become a hindrance. Some Christians were so devoted to the law that they became coldly legalistic and their Christianity lacked vitality. Others erred in the opposite direction. Now that they were released from the law’s restrictions, they thought they were free to join in whatever practices were common in the society around them. As a result their behaviour became unchristian.

James dealt with these problems by giving teaching on the nature of Christian faith. Faith is not obedience to a set of rules, nor is it mere intellectual belief. It is something that is living, and it expresses itself in right behaviour. It does not give people the right to do as they like, but directs them towards a greater love for God and for others. Christian faith changes people’s thinking and behaviour, and is relevant to the problems of daily life. It enables Christians to live positively for God in an ungodly society, without accepting the ungodly standards of that society. This applies not to Jewish Christians only, but to all God’s people.