James 1:4 - Exposition

Patience alone is not sufficient. It must have scope given it for its exercise that it may have its "perfect work." That ye may be perfect ( ἵνα ἧτε τέλειοι ); cf. Matthew 5:48 , "Be ye therefore perfect." Both τέλειος and ὁλόκληρος were applied to the initiated , the fully instructed, as opposed to novices in the ancient mysteries; and as early as 1 Corinthians 2:6 , 1 Corinthians 2:7 we find τέλειος used for the Christian who is no longer in need of rudimentary teaching, and possibly this is the thought here. The figure, however, is probably rather that of the full-grown man. τέλειοι , equivalent to "grown men" as opposed to children; ὁλόκληροι , sound in every part and limb (cf. ὁλοκληρίαν in Acts 3:16 ). From this τέλειος assumes a moral-complexion , that which has attained its aim. Compare its use in Genesis 6:9 and Deuteronomy 18:13 , where it is equivalent to the Latin integer vitae , and the following passage from Stobaeus, which exactly serves to illustrate St. James's thought in verses 4 and 5, τὸν ἀγαθὸν ἄνδρα τέλειον εἶναι λέγουσιν, διὰ τὸ μηδεμίας ἀπολείπεσθαι ἀρετῆς The "perfection" which is to be attained in this life may be further illustrated from Hebrews 12:23 —a passage which is often misunderstood, but which undoubtedly means that the men were made perfect ( πνεύμασι δικαίων τετελειωμένων ), and that not in a future state, but here on earth, where alone they can be subject to those trials and conflicts by the patient endurance of which they are perfected for a higher state of being. The whole passage before us ( Hebrews 12:2-6 ) affords a most remarkable instance of the figure called by grammarians anadiplosis, the repetition of a marked word at the close of one clause and beginning of another. "The trial of your faith worketh patience ; but let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing. But if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of the giving God … and it shall be given him; but let him ask in faith, nothing doubting , for he that doubteth ," etc.