James 1

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:2-4

James describes this process of testing by the word dokimion ( Greek #1383 ). It is an interesting word. It is the word for sterling coinage, for money which is genuine and unalloyed. The aim of testing is to purge us of all impurity. If we meet this testing in the right way, it will produce unswerving constancy (or steadfastness as the Revised Standard Version translates it). The word is hupomone ( Greek #5281 ), which the King James Version translates as patience; but patience is... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:5-8

1:5-8 If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask it from God, who gives generously to all men and never casts up the gift, and it will be given to him. Let him ask in faith, with no doubts in his mind; for he who oscillates between doubts is like a surge of the sea, wind-driven and blown hither and thither. Let not that man think that he will receive anything from the Lord, a man with a divided mind, inconstant in all his ways. There is a close connection between this passage and... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:9-11

1:9-11 Let the lowly brother be proud of his exaltation; and let the rich brother be proud of his humiliation; for he will pass away like a flower of the field. The sun rises with the scorching wind and withers the grass, and the flower wilts, and the beauty of its form is destroyed. So the rich will wither away in all his ways. As James saw it, Christianity brings to every man what he needs. As Mayor put it "As the despised poor learns self-respect, so the proud rich learns... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:12

1:12 Happy is the man who meets trial with steadfast constancy because, when he has shown himself of sterling worth, he will receive the crown of life which he has promised to those who love him. To the man who meets trials in the right way there is joy here and hereafter. (i) In this life he becomes a man of sterling worth. He is dokimos ( Greek #1384 ); he is like metal which is cleansed of all alloy. The weaknesses of his character are eradicated; and he emerges strong and pure. ... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:13-15

1:13-15 Let no man say when he is tempted, "My temptation comes from God." For God himself is untemptable by evil and tempts no man. But temptation comes to every man, because he is lured on and seduced by his own desire; then desire conceives and begets sin; and, when sin has reached its full development, it spawns death. At the back of this passage lies a Jewish way of belief to which all of us are to some extent prone. James is here rebuking the man who puts the blame for temptation on... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:13-15

From the beginning of time it has been man's first instinct to blame others for his own sin. The ancient writer who wrote the story of the first sin in the Garden of Eden was a first-rate psychologist with a deep knowledge of the human heart. When God challenged Adam with his sin, Adam's reply was, "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate." And when God challenged Eve with her action, her answer was, "The serpent beguiled me, and I ate." Adam said, "Don't... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:16-18

1:16-18 My dear brothers, do not he deceived. Every good gift and every perfect boon comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is none of that changeableness which comes from changing shadows. Of his own purpose he has begotten us by the word of truth so that we might be, as it were, the first-fruits of his created things. Once again James stresses the great truth that every gift that God sends is good. James 1:17 might well be translated: "All giving is good." That is to... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:19-20

1:19-20 All this, my dear brothers, you already know. Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness which God desires. There are few wise men who have not been impressed by the dangers of being too quick to speak and too unwilling to listen. A most interesting list could be compiled of the things in which it is well to be quick and the things in which it is well to be slow. In the Sayings of the Jewish Fathers we read:... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:21

1:21 So then strip yourself of all filthiness and of the excrescence of vice, and in gentleness receive the inborn word which is able to save your souls. James uses a series of vivid words and pictures. He tells his readers to strip themselves of all vice and filthiness. The word he uses for strip is the word used for stripping off one's clothes. He bids his hearers get rid of all defilement as a man strips off soiled garments or as a snake sloughs off its skin. Both the words he uses... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:22-24

1:22-24 Prove yourselves to be doers of the word, and not only hearers, for those who think that hearing is enough deceive themselves. For, if a man is a hearer of the word and not a doer of it, he is like a man who looks in a mirror at the face which nature gave him. A glance and he is gone; and he immediately forgets what kind of man he is. Again James presents us with two of the vivid pictures of which he is such a master. First of all, he speaks of the man who goes to the church... read more

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:2-4

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:5-8

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:9-11

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:12

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:13-15

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:13-15

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:16-18

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:19-20

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:21

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - James 1:22-24

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