Tiago 1:1-11

THE EPISTLE GENERAL OF JAMES 1

___________I. INTRODUCTION

THE SALUTATION OF THE SERVANT OF GOD AND OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST TO THE TWELVE TRIBES IN THE DISPERSION. REFERENCE TO THE VARIEGATED TEMPTATIONS TO WHICH THEY ARE EXPOSED, AND TO THE JOYFUL DESIGN OF THE SAME: THEIR CONSUMMATION

James 1:1-11

1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad,2 greeting.3 2My brethren, count4 it all joy when ye fall into 3divers temptations.5 Knowing this, that the trying6 of your faith7 worketh patience.8 4But let patience9 have her perfect work,10 that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting 5nothing.11 If any of you lack Wisdom , 12 let him ask of God that giveth to all menliberally,13 and upbraideth14 not; and it shall be given him.15 6But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering:16 for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the 7wind and tossed. 17 For18 let not that man think that he shall receive anything of 8the Lord. A doubleminded man19 is unstable in all his ways20 Let the brother of low 9degree21 rejoice22 in that he is exalted.23 But the rich,24 in that he is made low25: because10 as the26 flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen27 11with a burning heat28 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.29 30

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. Introduction. Analysis. The address and salutation; James 1:1.—Reference to temptation as a proof of endurance tending to joy: James 1:2-4.—The means of endurance, wisdom; hence deficiency in wisdom to be met by the prayer of undoubting faith; James 1:5-6.—Caution against instability; James 1:6-7.—Particular advice to the lowly and to the rich (in their own opinion); James 1:8-10.—The fate of the rich; James 1:11.

James 1:1. Address and Salutation. James, (on James, see Introduction above) servant of God, applied in the widest sense to Christians in general (1 Peter 2:16; Ephesians 6:6), denotes in the narrower sense, in the official use of the word, apostolical men (Philippians 1:1); but here the word in its fullest weight signifies not only the head of the church at Jerusalem, but also the Apostle whose special work lay among the Jewish Christian and the Jewish Dispersion (of which Jerusalem was the centre). Romans 1:1; Titus 1:1. [Oecumenius: ὑπἑρ πᾶν δὲ κοσμικὸν , τοῦτο γνώρισμα ἑαυτῶν βούλονται ποιεῖσθαι καὶ λέγοντεζ, καὶ ἐπιστέλλοντες καὶ διδάσκοντεςs.—M.].

Of God and of the Lord.—Of God not the attribute of Jesus Christ, as some expositors have rendered, but God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ represented as wielding one dominion (cf. John 17:3); thereby James also wisely takes together the old Testament and the New. The Apostolical and Christian office is one service; however not service rendered to man but service rendered to God and Jesus Christ with undivided consciousness, obedience and operation. [Oec. “θεοῦ μέν τοῦ πατρός. κυρίου δὲ τοῦ υἱοῦ.” Bengel: “videri potuisset, si Jesum sæpe appellaret, id ex ambitione facere, cum esset frater Domini. Atque eo minus novit Christum secundum carnem.” It is certainly remarkable that James mentions Christ only here and in James 2:1, while in his speeches (Acts 15:21) he does not name Him at all.—M.]

To the twelve tribes in the dispersion.—That is, in their Christian calling, and in being called to Christ. To Jewish Christians primarily (so Laurentius, Hottinger, Schneckenburger, Neander and others), but, secondarily also to the Jews, as far as their adoption of Christianity had not yet been given up (sofern sie noch nicht aufgegeben sind als werdende Christen). See Introduction. As yet all were treated as the theocratico-ideal unity of the people of Israel called to (the reception of) the faith. of course they are distinguished from the Gentile Christians (against Huther; see Wiesinger).

The twelve tribes (τὸ δωδεκάφυλον Acts 26:7) Matthew 19:28; Revelation 7:4-8, etc. The dispersion, see Deuteronomy 30:3; Nehemiah 1:9; Ps. 167:2; John 7:35, etc.

Greeting.—χαίρειν, the Greek form of salutation (χαίρειν sc. λέγει 1Ma 10:18; 2Ma 9:19); used also in the Apostolical decree Acts 15:23 (to which Huther, following Kern, rightly calls attention). The Hebrew שָׁלוֹס Isaiah 48:22 etc. Cf. the forms of salutation used by the other Apostles; as here, they always correspond with the fundamental ideas of the several Epistles. James desires to preserve to his brethren the true joy and to become instrumental in their securing it. Hence χαίρειν of James 5:1 relates to χαρά James 5:2, which we seek to express in the translation, “Salutation of joy (Freudegruss).” [See above in Appar. Crit. James 5:1.—M.].

James 1:4. Reference to the temptation and its design. All joy.—πᾶσα χαρά, not as some of the older expositors render “the highest joy,” but all joy, joy throughout (ὅλως Carpzov., Huther; entire joy) unless indeed the joy, as an all-sided one, is to correspond with the ποικίλοις πειρασμοῖς [“all sorts of joy,” “all conceivable joy,” Alford; “rem revera omnique ex parte Iætam,” Theile.—M.]. But this ςαρά is not mere gaudendi materia (Huther): rather, they are to convert the objective substance of joy into subjective riches of joy. ἡγήσασθε is therefore emphatic. [The repetition at the beginning of a Verse or sentence, of the last word in the one preceding, called by grammarians duadiplosis is characteristic of the style of James; e.g. χαίρειν χαράν James 1:1 and following; ὑπομονήν, James 1:3; λειπόμενοι, James 1:4; διακρινόμενος, James 1:6; compare also James 1:13; James 1:19; James 1:21-22; James 1:26.—M.].

My brethren.—Primarily used to denote community of faith, but here also community of theocratic nationality (see James 1:16; James 1:19; James 2:5; James 4:11; James 5:7; James 5:9; James 5:19). [Wordsworth remarks that “this address is very suitable in an Epistle like the present, characterized by the language of stern rebuke; inspired like the reproof of St. Stephen, by the Spirit of Love. James, ‘the Lord’s brother,’ having the Spirit of the Lord, addresses even them as ‘brothers.’ ”—M.].

When ye fall into divers temptations.—These πειρασμοί are the chief motive of the Epistle. And certainly they are not only in a general sense the θλίψεις which an unbelieving world prepares for believers (Luke 8:13; Matthew 13:21 (Huther); nor are they parallel to 1 Peter 1:6. Still less are they in essential antithesis to πειράζεσθαι James 5:13 (as Wiesinger thinks), the antithesis is at the most that of objective incitement and its corresponding subjective irritability. It is a very definite, concrete idea, the elements of which may be gathered in part from the circumstances of the time (see Introduction), and in part from the Epistle itself. The Jewish Christians were then tempted, on the one hand by the hatred of the pagans, on the other by the national fanaticism of the Jews (an alternate odium generis humani), and their ever-rising chiliastic desire of rebellion; they were tempted to participate in the antipathy to the pagans and to transfer it to the Gentile-Christians, to sympathize with the visionary Jewish national sentiment and thus to be again surprised by the old legal service. They were tempted to Ebionitism, which was already germinating (James 2:0), and beyond it to zealotry (James 3:0), to insurrection, (James 4:0), and to apostasy (James 5:0). The temptation came therefore from every side and took the most variegated shapes of alluring and threatening, while their hereditary Judaistic lust presented a counter-impulse (James 1:13). Thus the one great πειρασμός resolved itself into the πειρασμοὶ ποικίλοι. Now since the adjective ποικίλος denotes not only the diverse, but primarily the variegated, it probably contains an allusion to the manifold-dazzling glitter of colours in which the Jewish-Christian and Jewish temptations presented themselves and whereby they might even appear in the guise of Divine revelations and prophetical warnings urging them to be zealous for the honour of God. Into the midst of such temptations they had fallen; on all hands they were surrounded by them (on περιπίπιειν consult the Lexica and Huther), [περιπίπιειν to fall into the midst of anything, so as to be wholly surrounded by it. Luke 10:30; Acts 27:41. So ὅστις ἄν τοιαύταις ξυμφοραῖς περιπέσῃ Plato, Legg. 9, 877. c; μεγάλοις ’ Αἰτωλῶν, καὶ μεγάλαις συμφοραῖς περιπεσόντες Polyb. p. 402, James 1:5; πανικῷ περιπεσόντες, Ib. p. 670, l. 6; λῃστᾶις περιέπεσε Diog. Laert. 4, 50; κακοῖς, 2Ma 10:4, etc.—M.]. The design of every affliction of believers to turn by proof (δοκιμή) into spiritual joy (Acts 4:23; Romans 5:3, etc.) was consequently in an eminent degree peculiar to this great temptation. But this temptation did doubtless bring many an inconstant Jewish-Christian to ruin before the Jewish war, as did that under Bar Cochba.

James 1:3. Since ye know that the proof of your faith worketh endurance.—The Participle γινώσκοντες explains ἡγήσασθε and indicates by way of encouragement the manner how they might turn the heart-grief of the proof into joy (hence neither “and know” (Luther), nor “for you know” Pott). Τὸ δοκίμιον (found only here and 1 Peter 1:7) may mean the medium of proof (the proper signification of δοκιμεῖον, which occurs as a different reading of this passage, also as opposed to δόκιμον), but also proof (δοκιμή) as the result of the test. Huther following Oecumenius insists upon the latter sense, Wiesinger with Semler, Theile and others, the former. And rightly so, although in 1 Peter 1:7 the word signifies proof; for this δοκίμιον is designed to effect the endurance consequent upon δοκιμή. Wiesinger rightly cites Romans 5:3-4, where θλίψις effects ὑπομονή, etc. Huther says that then we ought to have τοῦτο τὸ δοκίμιον. But the temptation and the proof are not purely identical. The tempting element of the proof emanates from the evil one, while the proving element of the proof comes from God. Temptation is proof under the aggravating coöperation of evil incitement to evil. This settles also the objection that temptations may result in failure (of proof); for temptation as a test ever contemplates proof on condition of good behaviour, It explains also, how in the concrete manner of the Scriptures proof may be described as temptation (but with reference to existing difficulties in the proof, Genesis 22:0), and temptation as proof. On κατεργάζεσθαι, to work, effect, see Romans 5:3 and other passages; ὑπομονή manifestly denotes here endurance.—Baumgarten, Theile, Wiesinger, Huther: The μένειν ὑπό standing one’s ground in temptation. Schneckenburger remarks that if ὑπό be emphasized we get the idea of patientia ac tolerantia malorum, if μένειν, that of constantia, firmitas, perseverantia.

James 1:4. But let endurance have a perfect work.—Wiesinger: The emphasis is on τέλειον. The majority of commentators understand the perfect work as the perfecting of ὑπομονή itself. So Huther, Wiesinger: the proof of ὑπομονή (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:3). Huther: ὑπομονή is not only passive but also active. This active ὑπομονή is not only to persevere unto the end (Luther: Let patience abide firm unto the end: similarly Calvin, Jerome and many others); ὑπομονή is to be deficient in nothing, neither in joy (Bengel) nor in any essential point; especially, wisdom, confidence, etc.—But James evidently contemplates not only inward demeanour but also and chiefly the outward exhibition of the same, which he deplored to see manifoldly omitted. Hence that interpretation is right, which distinguishes the perfect work, viz., the accomplishing of endurance, as the proof of endurance from endurance itself. So Erasmus, de Wette and others; but these commentators err in limiting this outward proof of endurance to something general, viz.: the exhibition of morality, etc. (see Huther). But James in his Epistle looks at a definite object. The ἔργον τέλειον by which the Jewish Christians were to verify their endurance consisted according to James 2:0 in the unreserved acknowledgment of their Gentile Christian brethren, and according to James 3:4, James 3:5 in their open rupture with judaistic faith-pride and fanaticism. Yes, James cherished the hope of gaining the Jewish Christians and along with them even the Jews themselves, to a greater or less extent, for this perfect work of submitting to the practical results of the Christian life. But if the more general sense is preferred, we have the meaning that Christian endurance must evidence itself in the full carrying out of the practical consequences of the Christian faith. An ἔργον τέλειον of the ὑπομονή in our day would consist in the thorough acknowledgment of Christian humanism and the thorough renunciation of the spirit of sectarianism and fanaticism. ̓Εχέτω is decidedly emphatic. To this endurance must hold, this it must receive, acquire and this it must have to show. It is therefore at once=κρατείτω (Schulthess) and παρεχέτω (Pott).

That ye may be perfect and entire;—ἵνα decidedly expresses the word [used in the telic sense.—M.], and is explained by James 2:22. Τέλειοι and ὁλόκληροι are not altogether synonymous (Huther), although the LXX. use both for תָּמִים. The former expression denotes perfection in the sense of completed development or vitality, the latter perfection in its completed manifestation. [Alford defines ὁλόκληρος as “that in which every part is present in its place,” and cites Plato, Tim., p. 44, c. and Corp. Inscrip. 353, 26.—M.]. But it denotes here specifically: If you want to become entire Jews and close the entire Jewish development, you must become entire Christians; but if you want to sustain the character of entire Christians you cannot dispense with the mark of perfect fraternization with the Christians, also with Gentile-Christians, and that of being opposed to the world, and also to the judaistic world. For the τέλειος is one who has reached his τέλος, the ὁλόκληρος one, cui totum est, quod sorte obtigit (Wahl=nulla parte mancus). The Jew was by origin a symbolic κλῆρος; as a Christian he was to become a real κλῆρος and thus ὁλόκληρος. The primary reference here is manifestly neither to moral perfection in general (Huther), nor to perfection hereafter, but to the rudimental [German: principiell] perfection of the faith of Christians as Christians; but the expression of James involves also the rule of absolute Christian perfection.

In nothing deficient;—λείπεσθαι means primarily to stay behind, to be inferior to another, but also to be wanting, deficient in a thing (James 1:5). The latter sense is advocated by Theile, de Wette, Wiesinger, Huther with reference to James 1:5 and 1 Corinthians 1:7, the former by Storr, Augusti and others, whose view we consider correct notwithstanding the modified sense of the word in James 1:5. For the opposite of having reached the end, or of being τέλειος is just the having stayed behind. The decay consequent upon quiescence and retrogression, the very characteristics of Ebionitism developed at a later period, and of Nazarite-Christianity, is the primary idea which corresponds with the connection of the. whole Epistle. The Jewish people itself became most emphatically the λειπόμενοι of the world’s history. James with a prophet’s eye foresaw all this growing (werdend) decay. It springs indeed from a guilty deficiency in spiritual things or at least from a deficiency that might have been avoided, a point to which James refers immediately after. The sequel moreover shows that he sees in a perfect outward proof of life the full expression of character.

VJames James 1:5-6. Wisdom a condition of endurance; prayer for wisdom in undoubting faith.

But if any of you;—εἰ δὲ points hypothetically, and with reference to individuals, to a manifold probable or rather perceptible deficiency in general. Deficiency of wisdom has the form of the Judaistic and Ebionite element.

Deficient in wisdom.—Σοφίας without the Article acknowledges in a forbearing manner this lack of wisdom, supposing the deficiency to exist only in part. Oecumenius defines wisdom as τὸ αἴτιον τοῦ τελείου ἔργου, Huther as the insight of the problem of life as a whole as well as in its particular phases, which incites us to work. The reference here is not only to the Proverbs of Solomon, the Wisdom of Solomon and Jesus the Son of Sirach. The New Testament stadium of theocratical insight was objectively wisdom manifested in person (Matthew 11:19), and therefore subjectively the right perception of the signs of the time and the christological fulfilment of the theocracy in the Church as well as in the faith of individuals.31 The distinct relation of this want of wisdom to the temptations (Calvin) cannot be denied with Huther, although, wisdom, to be sure, must not be identified with endurance. As it is a fundamental condition of the same, so it is also one of the chief modes of its exhibition according to James 3:17.

Let him ask from the God.—See Matthew 20:20; Acts 3:2; 1 John 5:15. The further definition shows how important it is that real prayer must be free from the admixture of any conception which obscures the holiness and goodness of God. The Judaizer did also pray, but his conception of the Deity was a Jewish God, partial, legal and measuring His blessings according to merit. The position of the words τοῦ διδόντος θεοῦ (Cod. A. τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ διδόντος) gives prominence to the idea that God is a giving God (Huther). See James 1:17. Wiesinger: “Who is known to give.” The sense is: a giving comprehending every thing that is good, hence no object is indicated. (Gebser and al).

To all.—Huther with Calvin and others supply τοῖς αἰτοῦσιν; but God’s giving in the most general sense may not be measured by man’s asking, although He is wont according to the measure of asking and beyond asking to give good gifts and even the Holy Spirit. [Any and every qualification of πᾶσιν reflects on the graciousness of the Giver.—M.].

Sincerely.—ἁπλῶς occurs only here in the New Testament. Huther [and Alford—M.] renders simply and sees in it an exclusive reference to the gift (nothing else is added to it with reference to Wis 16:27), but the reference is not to the quality of the gift, but to the mode of giving; on this account the definition candide, sincere (Kerne, Theile and others), is preferable. Sincere (pure) giving is opposed to calculated giving which according to the view of the law, is at once suspicious and half compulsory. It refers indirectly to the source of benignitas (Bede and al.) and also to the liberality of giving (affluenter, Erasmus and al.) [Wordsworth explains: “who giveth ἁπλῶς, liberally, that is, sinu laxo, expanding the lap of his bounty and pouring forth its contents into your bosom. Cf. 2 Corinthians 8:2; 2 Corinthians 9:11 and the use of the word ἁπλοῦν, dilatare, by the LXX. in Isaiah 33:23; and therefore the word ἁπλῶς is rendered affluenter here by the Vulgate, and copiously by the Syriac version.”—M.].

And upbraideth not with it.—Negative explanation of the preceding or of that which is consequent upon God’s sincere giving. Wiesinger also explains μὴ ὀνειδίζοντος with Luther: “and upbraideth none with it” with reference to Sir. 41:28: μετὰ τὸ δοῦναι μὴ ονείδιζε; Sir 20:15; Sir 18:17 (see Huther’s note from Cicero). Huther disputes this exposition; Semler and al. interpret ὀνειδίζειν: qualemcunque reprehensionem. But then James would utter an untenable sentiment, because God notwithstanding those who ask, in various ways covers men with confusion. The expression also would be too brief in that sense; it is only intelligible if we take it with what goes before as one idea. But the exposition “to put those who ask to shame with a refusal” (Morus, Augusti and al.), is certainly unfounded; although it is less far-fetched than that of Huther; he who afterwards upbraids with his gifts is equally disposed to be hard beforehand and according to circumstances to send away the asker (without claims). “The side-look on the rich, James 1:10; James 5:9,” also, which Huther and Wiesinger detect here, cannot be sustained because it has first of all to be determined whom James means by the rich. The conception of a θεοῦ ὀνειδίζοντος would certainly agree with the religious views of said rich and then also indirectly with their behaviour.

And it (wisdom) shall be given to him.—There is not sufficient reason for taking δοθήσεται (with Huther and Wiesinger) impersonally: it will be given to him. See Matthew 7:7-11; Luke 11:13; 1 Kings 3:9-12.

James 1:6. But let him ask in faith.—James having objectively defined real prayer as the worship of the true God of revelation, now also defines it subjectively as prayer in faith. See James 5:15; Sir 7:10; John 16:23. It certainly follows (according to Wiesinger) from the appended negative definition that πίστις here designates first of all undivided confiding, full and firm heart-trust. Such trust is only possible as a looking up to the God of free grace according to revelation; Huther therefore rejects without reason the exposition of Calvin: “fides est quæ, del promissionibus freta, nos impetrandi, quod petimus, certos reddit,” as one which lacks sufficient intimations; even the still closer definition of some of the older expositors, “πίστις ̓Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ” would seem to be included implicite. That is, while Wiesinger rightly observes that πίστις both with James and Paul denotes the mind’s moral attitude to God, yet with James this very attitude presupposes a looking up to “the giving God” according to revelation. Hence the μηδὲν διακρινόμενος excludes at once subjective wavering and doubting the certainties of evangelical salvation, because the attempt of fixing the heart outside of the sphere of revelation (in the case of Christians outside of the name of Jesus) would be pure fanaticism. A similar conjoining of “faith and not doubting” also in an objective sense, occurs in Romans 4:20; cf. Romans 14:23; Matthew 21:21; Mark 11:24. James’ conception of faith as given here is consequently his full conception of faith; it is only in such an energy of praying and doing that faith is to him vital, but without it dead. Διακρίνεσθαι=being at discord with oneself, being divided in oneself, and hence doubting must be still further defined as inward false discriminating, judging and deciding, and in this root it is joined with false discriminating and judging, James 2:5. The hard and austere mind on the one hand produces a bard and austere conception of God, and on the other a hard and austere deportment. Huther: “While πίστις is ‘yes,’ and ἀπισττία ‘no,’ διακρίνεσθαι is the union of yes and no, yet so that the preponderance lies with ‘no.’ ” That is, where διακρίνεσθαι has become habitual, a governing trait of character; this is the force of the Participles. But Huther (after Calvin) also mentions the possibility of doubting alongside of honest, yet weak faith (see Note p. 48).

Caution against wavering. James 1:6-7.

James 1:6. For he that doubteth is like a wave of the sea.—̓́Εοικε occurs only here and James 1:24 in the New Testament. Huther sees in the γάρ of James 1:7 the repetition of the γάρ in James 1:6. That is, he thinks that James gives only one reason, not two and that the figurative description of him that doubteth James 1:6, is only intended to bring out a clearer exhibition of the fickle mental constitution of the doubter. But “this apparently helpless disunion” assumes another form if we take James 1:6 not only as a colouring but as a declaration that the doubter falls under foreign, anti-divine influences. The sea, according to the Old Testament, is the figure of the constrained (unfrei) life of nations, floating hither and thither in pathological sympathies (Ps. 46:93; Daniel 7:3; Isaiah 57:20; Revelation 13:1). James was doubtless conscious of this theocratic influence at a time, when “the waves of the sea” already began to roar. The symbolical figure of the wind (Ephesians 4:14; cf. James 2:2) however, must be put in the background, because it is only expressed in verbs. But even here we can hardly fail to recognize an allusion to a restless spiritual commotion (Geistesleben) tossing the sea of nations, especially because ἀνεμίζεσθαι is an ἅπαξ λεγ., not found elsewhere (in classical Greek we have ἀνεμοῦσθαι, to be moved by the wind), and ̔ριπίζεσθαι also occurs only here in the New Testament. On the different derivations of the word, see Huther, Note 2, p. 48; viz.: from ριπίς, a bellows or fan, or from ̔ριπή, rush (of the wind) or storm. The latter derivation seems to lie nearest. These expressions are therefore not altogether synonymous (Huther). Bengel makes the former to denote motion from without and the latter motion from within. But both, the wind and the storm come from without; the inner element is here expressed by the sea-nature of the wave. According to Theile, the former indicates the cause, the latter the effect. But the two denote two different relations of degree: the sea in waves, the sea in billows; the breeze, the storm, the excitement of spirits, the rebellious commotion (vide bellum Jud.). From these considerations it seems to follow that the first γάρ has a more limited signification; it pronounces the διακρινόμενος incompetent to pray aright, because he is governed by the evil influences of the world. The second γάρ, on the other hand, bears in a wider sense upon that man’s faithless relation to God. We cannot indeed conveniently render γάρ twice by for and repeat it therefore intensiter by ‘also.’ Calvin makes it=ergo, Huther=namely, that is to say (nämlich), Pott, a particle of transition. The lively figure is charged with prophetico-symbolical matter.

James 1:7. Also let not that man think [or as I should prefer to render “Nor let that man think.” Μὴ γάρ as an elliptic phrase denotes absolute denial and an Imper. or Optat. verb is then always supplied; here the context, on any interpretation that may be adopted, involves absolute denial and the nor has intensive force; the meaning is “let not that man by any means think” or “let that man by no means think.”—M.]. The second γάρ has particular reference to the doubter’s deficiency of faith in God, which is involved in his worldly dependence. Sure, he seeks to supply that deficiency of faith by superstitious or fanatical delusions, but he deceives himself with these delusions. He must become conscious of the nothingness of these delusions before matters can mend with him. The severe handling of false praying is a very ancient characteristic of exhortations to repentance according to Isaiah 1:15; Luke 18:11, this passage and the Reformation.

That man, the one who doubts and has fallen into human weakness. [Alford sees in these words a certain slight expression of contempt.—M.].

That he shall receive any thing.—He receives nothing; see James 4:3 where another reason is specified why he does not receive any thing. [The reference is to the things for which he prays; there are many things, temporal blessings, which he does receive.—M.].

From the Lord.—The reference is of course to God, as in James 1:12; James 4:10, etc., but there is a reason for the use of κύριος instead of θεός; James means Jehovah, the living covenant-God, who has now fully revealed himself in Christ. For details, see Wiesinger. [Alford quotes Hofmann, who remarks that where the Father is not expressly distinguished from the Son by the context, the Godhead in its unity is to be understood by ὁ θεός; and the same may be said of ὁ κύριος—M.].

James 1:8. A two-minded man.—The connection of this sentence with that which precedes it, is variously-explained. The expositions of Pott: “væ homini inconstanti,” and of Baumgarten who wants to join δίψυχος with λήμψεται may be passed over. Winer, Wiesinger and Huther [also Wordsworth—M.] take it in apposition with the former verse and as explanatory of the figure James 1:6, and render “he, a two-minded man.” But the explanation of a figure and especially of one so thoroughly self-explanatory would not suit the style of our Epistle. Although the necessity of the Article before ἀνήρ (Schnecken-burger), if the latter exposition is given, is unfounded, the exposition itself runs into a feeble tautology. Hence we agree with Luther and many expositors in taking ἀνὴρ δίψυχος as the subject and ἀκατάστατος as the predicate and the omission of the copula (is) as elevating the sententious weight of the proposition. Huther says that this would make the thought too abrupt. But in the masculine gender it is this formal abruptness which elevates the sentence, while in point of matter the connection is perfect. The doubter is delineated first as to how he stands to the world (a wave), then as to how he stands to God (a visionist, a man of conceits), and lastly as to how he stands to and by himself. And here it is noteworthy that James speaks of man in the masculine gender, probably not only on account of his proverbial character, but because the dangers against which James cautions his readers, are more especially dangers which threaten the Jewish male-world. The δίψυχος is not the same as the διακρινόμενος (so Luther and al.). According to Huther this word “characterizes the inward being of the doubter.” To be sure, the inward being, not however as the ground of doubting (Huther, Kern, Wiesinger), but as the result of doubting. For two-mindedness is forthwith mentioned as the ground in relation to the manner how the doubter proceeds. Two-mindedness indeed lies already germ-like in doubt itself, but it is doubtfulness which develops wavering and irresoluteness, wherein man has, as it were, two souls, the one touched by God, the other occupied by the world. He is false in both directions, false to God and false to the world by his double reservation, just as he is false to himself by the reservation of his egotism over against his piety and vice versa. But this makes him not forthwith a consummate liar and hypocrite; “he has not only, as it were, two souls in conflict with each other” (Huther), but as yet his enthusiasm glows psychically now for God and now for the world in two changing forms of the psychical life. The word δίψυχος is admirably formed after the analogy of δίγλεσσος and similar words; it appears to occur nowhere prior to this Epistle (see also James 4:8), but besides the analogies just mentioned, it has its type in the Hebrew בְּלֵב וָלֵב (see also Jesus Sir. I, 28), and has been adopted by Clemens Rom. and other church authors (see Huther p. 51). [Alford proposes to make the whole sentence predicate and all to apply to ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐκεῖνος. On the whole, however, we give the preference (with Wiesinger, Huther and Wordsworth) to the certainly most grammatical construction of taking ἀνὴρ δίψυχος in opposition with James 1:6; not as an explanation but as an expansion of the figure in James 1:6. This construction is by no means in conflict with the abrupt and predicative style of James, for the transition from the figure of the wave of the sea to the two-minded man is certainly bold, if not abrupt, there is indeed a transition from a physical to a psychical illustration; the word δίψυχος, itself, used here for the first time in Greek literature, by its novelty would arrest attention and thus in the language of Lange, “elevate the sententious weight of the proposition.”—M.].

An (excited) seditious disturber of peace.—The ordinary rendering ‘unstable’ [E. V.] or inconstant (Luther and al.) does justice neither to the original nor to the connection. For firstly, the expression is already half settled by what precedes it as well as by the words “in all his ways;” for although the latter phrase may bear a good sense, it seems to be used here in a bad sense (Sir. II. 13 ἐπιβαίνει ἐπὶ δύο τρίβους). Secondly, the expression, as the representative of סעַֹר (Isaiah 54:11, LXX.), is too feeble in point of degree. And although, lastly, it may passively denote one driven about by the storm as well as actively a storming seditionary, James 3:16 (ἀκαταστασία) recommends here the use of the active signification. The wavering man, indeed, is exciting and seditious because he is ruffled and driven by the storm (of public excitement). The wave of the sea, related passively to the winds, strikes actively against “the rock.”

Particular advice to the lowly [in station—M.] and particular advice to the rich. James 1:9-10.

James 1:9. But let the brother, who is low, glory in his exaltation.—Δὲ indicates a contrast of proper behaviour with what has just been described (Theile), [i.e. with διψυχία—M.]. It directs the brother to turn the particular temptations to wavering into instruments of constancy. Commentators are divided with regard to ἀδελφύς. De Wette and Wiesinger apply the term both to the more remote πλούσιος and to the nearer ταπεινός. Then ταπεινός must not be taken spiritually according to Matthew 11:29, but like πλούσιος with regard to outward circumstances, while the exaltation in which the lowly is to glory, would denote his heavenly dignity. But Huther, representing the opposite view, remarks that that exposition conflicts with the connection, which forbids such a distinction of Christians into poor and rich; that the reference is rather to the πειρασμοί; that a Christian, moreover, as a rich man would hardly have required so urgent a reminder of the transitory nature of things temporal. But three things are here overlooked. 1. That the πειρασμοί affect the rich in a higher degree than they do the poor; 2. That the Apostle, as we have seen in the Introduction, treats both of Jewish Christians (among whom were already rich men) and of Jews. Moreover he addresses, at the very beginning of the Epistle, the twelve tribes as his brethren. 3. The contrast between the poor and the rich had as yet not become prominent, but a contrast of those low in station [E. V. brethren of low degree—M.], and the rich. But that the low in station and the poor are, as brethren, nearer to James than the rich, becomes’ increasingly apparent as the Epistle runs on, especially in James 5:0. Primarily, the lowly and the rich are described as brothers, for James indicates also to the rich a means of deliverance. There is still a third view, represented by Morus and Theile, which comprises both ideas: those who are outwardly poor and persecuted for righteousness’ sake, Mat 5:19; 1 Peter 3:14. Huther contests this union (p. 52), but afterward reaches about the same conclusion. We have first to remember, that the brother of low station is not identical with the poor in James 2:0. Glancing at the characteristics of that time, we find that it designates the Jewish Christian and the Jew absolutely in their low, oppressed theocratic condition as contrasted with the heathen world and the seculiar power; and still more particularly the theocrat, inasmuch as he deeply feels this condition. He is to glory in the dignity of his heavenly and royally-glorious vocation, i.e., to derive from it consolation and joy and to strengthen himself with it. But the rich, i.e., again the Jew and the Jewish Christian, inasmuch as he sees the hopeless situation of the Jewish people in a very different and brilliant light, inasmuch as he is not only rich in the consciousness of his Jewish prerogatives, but also rich in the chiliastic and visionary expectation of the Messianic or pseudo-Messianic restoration of his Jewish theocracy,—he is exhorted to glory in his humiliation, that is, to become reconciled with Christian or pious humility to all his theocratical humiliation, the full development of which in all its fearful magnitude is as yet impending (James 1:11), in order that he may find in this Divine judgment turned into deliverance, the source of rejoicing and exaltation and of real glorying.

And here a general explanation must suffice for our passing on to the general import of the double antithesis: the low–in–station and the rich; the poor and the rich. For we hold the opinion that, after the type of the Old Testament and the Gospels, these expressions are throughout prophetico-symbolical, and that the common literal acceptation of this antithesis has unspeakably flattened the Epistle, weakened its purport and obscured its interpretation. Is it possible to suppose that in the time of James, in all the Jewish Christian congregations among all the twelve tribes the rich were in the habit of slighting the poor and that the unbelieving Jews were everywhere the rich? And that James was so reliably informed on that point, as to feel constrained to call all the twelve tribes to account for it? Such conduct, I should think, could not be generally charged on the Jews proper. The rich among the Jews, as a rule have at all times exhibited much sympathy with and regard for their poor. And this very regard is supposed to have been wanting in such fearful generality in the Apostolic age, at a time where even in Gentile-Christian congregations collections were made for their Jewish Christian brethren! Nor was this the only point on which James felt bound to reprimand, but it is still further supposed that he had to denounce the sexton-rudeness of assigning good seats to the rich and of allowing the poor either to stand or to sit on the bare floor, which rudeness had become prevalent throughout all the twelve tribes! If James, “the good, pious man” had only received a little more credit [for capacity—M.], i.e., the Apostolical spirit united with prophetico–symbolical style, doubtless more would have been found in his Epistle.

The brother must therefore be taken in a general sense, like James 1:2. The low (in station) is the Jewish Christian or the Jew who as such (not primarily as a private individual) felt his theocratic humiliation; this intimates, of course, that he was the more humble just as a being pinched in private affairs might also further such consciousness; this is quite analogous to the Old Testament and the Gospels. (Psalms 74:21; 1 Corinthians 1:27).

Glory.—The stronger rendering for Peter’s (1 Peter 1:6) ἀγαλλιᾶσθαι, analogous to Paul’s expression in 2 Corinthians 12:9. A real glorying or a rendering prominent by glorying, inasmuch as such glorying is in contrast with egotistic selfglorying; or also the condition of Divine grace and assistance.

In his exaltation; ἐν denotes the object in which they shall glory, as a foundation of their well-being. It is the glory, given now already in the form and inwardly manifest (see 1 Peter 1:0), the process of its development being diametrically opposite to the rich man’s flower. ̔́Υψοςis therefore not=steadfast courage (Augusti), or only future exaltation (de Wette), but=sublimitas jam præsens, sed etiam adhuc futura (Theile, Huther).

James 1:10. But the rich in his humiliation. Here we must evidently repeat καυχάσθω. As to the irony contained in this clause (Thomas, Beza and al.), it is not much greater than that in the preceding sentence: let the lowly glory in his exaltation; for 1. such glorying emancipates from vain-glorying, 2. the rich also finds a source of comfort and praise in the full knowledge of his humiliation and its blessed import (see Matthew 5:3).

Because as a flower of the grass.—An Old Testament figure applied to man in general, Job 14:2; Psalms 103:15, to the ungodly with particular emphasis, Psalms 37:2 (Psalms 92:8). But here it is not to be explained with reference to the ungodly (so Huther), but as a historical figure with reference to the decay of the Old Testament glory, which in a surprising manner exhibits the realization of the law of the universal decay of human glory, even as foretold by Isaiah 40:6 etc. to which this passage doubtless has special reference. But in this decay there lay really concealed a consolation (just as in the universal decay of man), at which the thoughtful theocrat might well rejoice. The flower of the Old Testament glory was decaying, but the fruit-time of the Gospel of the New Testament had set in; “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people!” Hottinger has erroneously referred ἄνθος to Isaiah 11:1, where the LXX. render נֵצֶר by ἄνθος. The words “flower of the field” (Isaiah 40:6) are changed into “flower of the grass” with reference to James 1:7 “the grass withereth and the flower fadeth.” So in the parallel-passage 1 Peter 1:23-24.—

The fate of the rich. James 1:11.

James 1:11. For the sun rose (already).—This again is not only the colouring of the preceding, but considering the reference to Isaiah 40:6 etc., this passage contains an application to Jewish history perfectly intelligible to an Israelite. What Isaiah had represented as having been done in the Spirit, was now fulfilled in reality; the old theocratic glory of Israel had passed away with the crucifixion of Christ. Hence the Aorists ἀνέτειλε. etc., as symbolical expressions, must retain their literal force and neither be construed as used for the Present (Grotius and al.), nor as the mere representation of whatever repeats itself in one past fact (Huther). This historical style serves, of course, the purpose furnishing us with a lively picture in the rapid succession of the separate stages of the process of decay (Winer).

The sun with the burning heat (wind).—Grotius, Pott and al. distinguish ὁ καύσων, the hot, burning wind which accompanies the rising sun (or the arid East wind, קָדִים which coming from the desert of Arabia scorches the plains of Palestine) from the sun itself, referring to Ezekiel 17:10; Ezekiel 19:12; Hosea 13:15 etc. Huther, however, applies the expression to the scorching heat of the sun and cites Isaiah 49:10, Matthew 20:12; Luke 12:55. But in Isaiah 49:10 the heat of the sun is expressly distinguished from the sun, as a higher degree of the ordinary sunshine which oppresses Orientals, and the reference is to the relation of this incumbrance to men, so also in Matthew 20:12, while in Luke 12:55 the sun is not mentioned at all. The supposition that sunrise and the development of the sun’s heat are forthwith imperilling vegetation, would be almost too strong even to an Oriental imagination. To this must be added the presence of the Article before καύσων. But the view, that the sun with the development of its power frequently wakens the hot wind, as a kind of supplemental counterpart of its beneficent operation, is current in Holy Writ. So according to Malachi 4:0. the day of the Lord comes hot as a burning oven on all the proud, while the Sun of Righteousness rises with healing in His wings on all that fear the Lord. So Matthew 13:6, the scorching heat is distinguished from the rising sun; in the interpretation of the parable James 1:21 it is called tribulation or persecution because of the word. Now, as we Occidentals make use of the well-known symbolical language, “the rising sun calls up vapor, fog, and thunder gusts,” so the Oriental is wont to say, “it wakens the hot wind.” Hence the application of this passage to Christ (Laurentius), was not far from its real meaning, but we do not press it; at all events the hot wind of the law, which scorched the glory of Israel, was developing with the sun of the finished revelation. And indirectly it was also the effect of the sun itself (“a stone of stumbling etc.”).

And the beauty of its appearance.—Huther connects the second αὐτοῦ not with τὸν χόρτον but with τὸ ἄνθος. But we cannot imagine that a fallen flower is still to lose its beauty; the flower is gone with the falling; the flower itself and not only its beauty. And thereby (by the falling of the flower) the grass or the plant itself lost all its beauty, the dress of its appearance, without, however, having wholly perished. And this was then precisely the case of Israel. Its flower had fallen away in the most significant manner; like grass, low on the ground, it continued vegetating in its cumbersome existence. The word εὐπρέπεια occurs only here in the New Testament: πρόσωπον often denotes outward appearance. Psalms 104:30; Matthew 16:3 etc.

Thus also shall the rich man, that is: the fate of the withered, stunted plant, or the general fate of the Jewish people will also be the fate of each individual Jew or Jewish Christian if he persists in the conceit of his riches, or refuses to learn to glory in his humiliation. οὕτως=so quickly, so thoroughly.” Wiesinger. “Μαραίνεσθαι, α ἅπαξ λεγ in the New Testament occurs in the LXX. as the translation of יָבֵשׁ Job 15:30, in the same sense, Wisd. of Song of Solomon 2:8.” Huther.

In his journeyings.—Luther has “in his possession,” which rendering rests on the false reading πορία (=εὐπορία, good way, favour of fortune, wealth). Herder, following Laurentius and Piscator, “in his journeyings,” with reference to James 4:13. Huther, “in his ways” (=ὁδοῖς, James 1:8; cf. Proverbs 2:8). Wiesinger, “in his walk,” with reference to de Wette, “in his luxurious enjoyment of life.” The word denotes in classical language 1, a going, a journey; 2, walking along, course. In LXX, way, Nahum 2:5; Jeremiah 18:15; Jonah 3:3-4; but also a journey, Malachi 3:8; Malachi 3:8; cf. Luke 13:22. From these passages it is evident, that πορεία is not used as much as ὁδός in a metaphorical sense. We avoid therefore this expression and render: in his journeyings (of fortune). Huther: “The prominent idea is, that the rich man, overtaken by judgment, perishes in the midst of his doings and pursuits as the flower in the midst of its blossoming falleth a victim to the scorching heat of the sun.”

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. If the purely evangelical character of the Epistle of James has ever been impugned, its opening words may be referred to as furnishing proof that we are moving not on the ground of the Old Testament, but on that of the New. Joy as the burden of salutation is the watchword given to the first readers of the Epistle, who, however, were troubled by manifold temptations. Luke 2:10. The beginning of the Epistle of James sounds like an echo of Christ’s first sermon at Nazareth, which the Author had probably heard, Luke 4:18-19. This χαίρειν makes him homogeneous with Paul (Philippians 4:4) and Peter (1 Peter 1:6), the beginning of whose Epistle exhibits a remarkable agreement with the beginning of that of James. James, like Elihu, knows a God “who giveth songs in the night.” Job 35:10.

2. The very beginning of the Epistle testifies of the truly Christian as well as of the morally exalted character of its Author. The demand “to count it all joy if one has fallen into manifold temptations,” has so lofty and bold a sound as to prompt the question whether such a demand is not beyond the reach of man’s ability. Cf. Hebrews 12:11. Such a demand must severely strike the natural man as a piece of consummate folly and scandalize him. For counting temptation all joy is infinitely more than to be silent in it and to pray, even more than to be grateful for it; it is not sufficient that we readily submit to temptation, but we must glory in it that it is so and not otherwise, and this not only in isolated temptations but in the many temptations which spring from the sufferings of earth. Cf. Romans 5:3. Such a demand makes the Festuses exclaim “James, thou art beside thyself.” Acts 26:24. But the Christian, hearing this first word, feels and is conscious of the spirit of him who addresses him in that word. For how could flesh and blood have been able to reveal what is here so clearly and explicitly put on record, viz. the Christian’s deepest grief at once the source of his highest joy? No other religion, beside the Christian, had raised the suffering of earth to a new ground of gratitude. Bacon’s saying is well known: “Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament, adversity that of the New.” Compare the treatise, still worth reading, of F. V. Reinhard, de præstantia religionis Christianæ in consolandis miseris etc., and on the other hand the Diatribe de consolatione apud græcos, auctore A. C. van Heusde, Traj. ad Rhen. 1840.

3. Since ye know.—In order to make a joy like that which he had just recommended to them possible to their πίστις, James now points to the fruit of their γνῶσις. Faith also had a science of its own, but a science, different in kind although not inferior in value and reliability to the knowledge whose province is purely natural. On the one hand even Christians are constrained to acknowledge “we are but of yesterday and know nothing,” Job 8:9, but on the other, the things which were hidden from the wise and prudent are revealed to them, Matthew 11:25-26. And this science is fully competent to enable him to secure the joy here recommended; he knows from whom the temptation comes, he knows the purpose temptation serves, viz. the proof of faith. This view alone is calculated to reconcile him to the sufferings he has to endure. It is not chance if the Christian, more than many others, falls into manifold temptations, as little chance as if the smelter, in order to refine gold or silver, heats the furnace to a certain degree. Still less is it a just punishment but rather a means of purification, improvement and education, without which it is impossible for us to attain any degree of greatness in the kingdom of God. Thus we have here also a confirmation of the words of Seneca: “Opus est ad notitiam sui experimento. Quod quisque possit, nisi tentando haud didicit.

4. Christian endurance is infinitely diverse from stoical indifference with its motto: “res mihi, non me rebus subjungere conor.” It has a more sublime origin, a milder character, a greater duration, a more glorious fruit.

5. It is remarkable that James insists in the very beginning of the Epistle upon Christian perfection, so that in James 1:4 the same word is twice used. So also the perfect law, James 1:25, the perfect man, James 3:2, etc. Cf. the beautiful essay of Ad. Monod in his Adieux, James 1856: “Tout dans l’ Ecriture est idéal.”

6. The exhortation in James 1:4 contains the profound hint that where endurance has its perfect work, the Christian, as to principle, is perfect and in nothing deficient. For where Christian endurance holds sway, there the power of sinful selfishness is broken, of selfishness which perchance would love to take a position either independent of God or higher than God, but in no event under God. For the heroism of faith is evinced in two ways, it is suffering or militant. The former is higher than the latter, because it demands the greatest self-denial, and he who really attains to it, by so doing carries also within himself the principle of Christian perfection.

7. The short Epistle of James treats relatively much of prayer, see James 1:5; James 4:2-3; James 4:8; James 5:13-18. Herein also the Apostle appears as the true servant of Him who not only did conduct His disciples to the school of prayer, but was to them in this respect also a pure and perfect pattern Luke 11:1. The manner in which James speaks of prayer shows clearly that he recognizes a direct connection between prayer and its answer, not only in the sense of modern unbelief that prayer can only psychologically exert a beneficial influence on the heart of the person praying, but also that prayer is the Divinely appointed means for the direct obtaining of our wants, which also without such prayer we should certainly not receive. If prayer were only psychologically operative on the person praying, it would be altogether inexplicable why James also so earnestly and emphatically enjoins prayer for others (intercession, James 5:13-18), as in the former case prayer could not possibly be of any use to them. Cf. this commentary on 1 Timothy 2:1-7.

8. The Christian never needs more wisdom than when in temptation everything depends upon his enduring it in the right manner and according to the will of God. We often speak of the wisdom which men need in prosperity lest they become ungrateful, haughty or arrogant and this assertion is correct. But in adversity also we need the Divine light not less if we would truly understand the lesson God is teaching us thereby and not be driven by our own excited feelings into lamentable error. This was duly understood and appreciated by the sacred bard, Psalms 94:12. There never was a sinner converted by the highly praised benefit of tribulation alone, as long as the Lord Himself did not render the wholesome chastisement efficacious with the rod of His Word and the light of His Spirit. In the day of tribulation we probably need Divine wisdom even more than in the days of joy; wisdom in order that we really choose the true way without turning to the right or to the left; wisdom, in order that we may understand what God wants us to do when He denies us the realization of some cherished desire, or when He lays on us a heavy burden, etc.

9. What James says of the indispensable necessity of faith in prayer, is also taken from our Lord’s own teaching, Matthew 21:21-22. His charming figure of the waves of the sea originated probably in his own recollection of the lake of Gennesareth. The striking truth of this figure is best understood, if we apply it to our inward experience of life. The soul is like the sea, but doubt blows over it like a tempest which upheaves the waters from their lowest depth; in such a condition, the heart of the δίψυχος is not susceptible of the enjoyment of answer to prayer. Cf. 1 Kings 18:21, where the expression “to halt between two opinions” [German: “to halt on both sides.”—M.], indicates a similar inward breach, with a probable allusion to a bird limping from twig to twig without finding rest any where.

10. James seems to present us with a new paradox in the exhortation (James 1:9) “Let the brother, who is low, glory in his exaltation.” There is however an exaltation seen by God and the Lord, which does not depend upon earthly honour and perishable riches and is mostly to be found where superficiality would last and least look for it. To be humiliated can only be irritating and disagreeable to flesh and blood; but if it happens for the sake of Christ’s name, if the humiliation is borne with the eye turned to Christ and united to Christian nobility of soul, then it is not counted a disgrace, but borne as the highest honour. Cf. Matthew 5:11-12; Acts 5:41-42. Here we are involuntary reminded of Pascal’s beautiful saying concerning man: “Gloire et rebut de l’univers, s’il se vante, je l’abaisse; s’il s’abaisse‚ je le vante.”

11. The number of the rich who were able to glory in their humiliation has always been small. Cf. Matthew 19:23-26. Still history here and there shows us individuals in the fire of the fiercest assault and temptation. Hear only e.g. the splendid language of Chrysostom in his speech after the fall of Eutropius, Opera, vol. 3, p. 586, ed. Montf. “Why did we not tremble? Because we do not fear any of the adversities of this life. What could inspire us with terror? Death? We run so much the sooner into the haven of repose. The loss of earthly riches? Naked I came out of my mother’s womb and naked I shall return into the mother-womb of the earth. Exile? The earth is the Lord’s and what therein is. False accusations? Rejoice and be exceeding glad when men shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for great shall be your reward in heaven. I saw the swords above me and looked up to heaven. I expected death and thought of the resurrection. I looked at earthly adversities and counted up the blessings at the right hand of God. I looked upon the perils and my eye beheld in spirit the crown of glory. What I am constantly preaching in my sermons, was constantly preached by the deed in the market-place. The wind blows and scatters the leaves, the grass withers and the flower fades.” (The last sentence probably contains an indirect allusion to James 1:11.)

12. The crown of life, of which James here speaks, presents not only a contrast to the perishable laurel-crowns for which the Greeks contended in the games, but also to that fading flower to which James referred in the preceding verse (James 1:11). In the doctrine of the reward of grace accorded to persevering faith, James is in prefect agreement with our Lord and His other Apostles. Cf. Mat 19:28; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; 1 Peter 5:4; Revelation 2:10; Revelation 3:21. His mentioning the crown of life which is ready for all who love the Lord, affords a not indistinct view of “the election of grace.”

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

James 1:2-8. Epistle for 3d Sund. in Lent, James 1:9-12 Epistle for 22d Sund. after Trinity in the Grand Duchy of Hesse and elsewhere. [James 1:1-12 Epistle for St. Philip and St. James’s Day in the Church of England and the Prot. Epis. Church in the U. S.—M.].

How the vocation of being servants of Jesus Christ was especially committed to the authors of the New Testament and how it still is the prerogative of all believers.—The servant of Jesus Christ can do nothing better than to strengthen his brethren.—In Christ is joy for all people.—How Christianity renders possible what seems to be impossible.—The sufferings of this time the Christian’s proof of faith. It is this very fireproof [noun, to give the full force of German “Feuerprobe”] which establishes 1, the genuiness 2, the standard and 3, the intrinsic value of this gold of faith. Cf. 1 Peter 1:7.—Endurance under all temptations the daughter of faith, the mother of all other virtues.—The Christian life a God-consecrated sacrifice which must be without spot or blemish. “Ask, what I shall give thee,” 1 Kings 3:5.—The difference between Divine and human benevolence, cf. Sir 18:18. The great value of believing prayer and its indispensable necessity in times of great temptation. The curse of wavering; the value of Christian decision of character.—Riches and poverty viewed in the light of faith.—Abasement the way to exaltation, want the way to enjoyment, fighting the way to the crown.—The beatitude of the servant of Christ (James 1:12) compared with the beatitudes of the Master, Matthew 5:3-12.

On the whole section James 1:1-12.—The Christian’s threefold duty in temptation: 1. Suffering (James 1:2-4), a. with grateful joy: b. with enduring patience; 2. Prayer (James 1:5-8), a. for a precious gift at the hands of a magnanimous giver; b. in simple faith without any doubt; 3. Glorying (James 1:9-12), a. in the present conflict; b. in the expectation of the future crown.

Tholuck (Sermons I. 5, 340) on James 1:2. “Why the Christian counts his temptation all joy.” 1. He knows whence it comes; 2. He knows whither it leads.

Staag:—The Christian’s behaviour in crosses and temptations: 1. The bliss of the cross; 2. the prayer of the cross; 3. the disposition of the cross; 4. the promise of the cross.

Beck: (James 1:5)—The true wisdom.

Klemm:—The prize in the arena of life.

Dräseke:—Humility the condition of all true moral greatness, for it Isaiah , 1. its beginning, 2. its food, 3. its support and 4. its crown.

Arndt:—Happy is the man who endures temptation.

Porubszky: (James 1:1-4).—The temptations of faith: 1. How they are occasioned. 2. How they effect endurance. 3. How they excite believing activity.—(James 1:5). Prayer the first act of faith.—(James 1:6-8). The doubter’s torment and deliverance.—(James 1:9-12). Through abasement to exaltation. I. The end: exaltation, 2. the means: abasement.

Starke:—To be the servant of God is to a believer a precious title of honour, in which he may always glory.

Cramer:—The Church of the New Testament is not confined to one locality as in the time of the Old Testament, “but in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him” Acts 10:35.

Quesnel:—One of the chief cares of conscientious teachers is to comfort those who suffer for the Lord’s sake, 1 Corinthians 14:3.

Hedinger:—Great art! To laugh in weeping, to be glad in sadness. But there is still time to learn it; our strength is nothing, it is altogether God’s work and doing, Philippians 4:11-13.

Cramer:—Different medicines are required for different maladies, different chastisements for different sins, Titus 3:3.

Starke:—Sincere faith is not dead but alive and works all manner of good, 2 Peter 1:5-6.—Crosses and suffering promote patience just as the wind strengthens the roots of the tree, James 5:2.—He that has begun well must persevere unto the end or all former labour is lost.—Patience in the first hour is not sufficient. The end brings the crown.—It is great wisdom to bear suffering aright, and that wisdom is of God’s supplying.

Hedinger:—A rich man who is charitable is a rare spectacle; to be giving and never tire of beggars is more than human; but to give above all that we can ask is Divine (Ephesians 3:20).

Osiander:—Because God does not angrily upbraid us with His benefits, therefore we should still less reproach our neighbour with the good we show him.

Langii Op.:—The highest honour which a creature can confer upon God is to trust Him in every thing by faith and to rely in the full assurance upon His promises, which is also the purest worship, Romans 4:20-21.

Quesnel.:—Faith is the fountain of Christian prayer; the stream does not flow, if the fountain is dried up, Romans 10:14.—True believers are not fickle and changeable, but constant and steadfast, Colossians 2:5.—Would you serve God, then let it be your serious endeavour not to tempt God.—A divided heart longs not for God, Matthew 22:37.—A poor believer is as much a brother in Christ as a rich, Philemon 1:16.—Humility and abasement have been made by Christ true exaltation, Job 22:29.

Hedinger:—Riches are not culpable in themselves, but they may easily make men haughty.

Cramer:—God willeth that the rich and the poor should dwell together.

Langii Op.:—The transitoriness of life and instability of outward prosperity are to be well considered.

Hedinger:—Rich and ungodly—a double hellrope. Take care that avarice put it not round your neck, 1 Timothy 6:9-10.

Langii Op.:—Believing Christians are not only the subjects but the sharers of Christ’s reign, as those who rule and govern with Him, 1 Corinthians 6:2-3.

Cramer:—What is marred by the crown of thorns, which we have to wear here on earth, will be amply compensated by the crown of life in heaven, 2 Corinthians 4:17-18.

Stier:—In order to do justice to the deep, rich meaning of every word and sentence of this Epistle, we have ever to begin with the beginning without ever exhausting its fulness. What a sermon might be preached on the single joy (χαίρειν) which sounds into our tribulation.—What a lofty saying is the verse connected with it—“Count it all joy if you fall into manifold temptations,” etc.

Heubner:—Proofs (trials) a Divine blessing.—To have a good beginning and to omit the prosecution is disgraceful.—Wisdom, that is not from God, is no wisdom.—Faith and prayer are mutual conditions.—Where the will is still wavering, there is no trust.—1 Samuel 2:30 holds good of belief and unbelief.—Christianity exalts a Christian above his station.—It is a touching spectacle, that commands respect, to see a Christian, whose position in the world is commanding, clothed with humility.

[James 1:1. It is the duty of the Church to send greetings of joy to the dispersed children of God and to use every means for turning the wilderness of the dispersion into the garden of the Lord. (Missionary Sermon)—James 1:2. The true Christian sees in temptation of every kind and of every degree cause for unmingled joy. Cf. Romans 5:3; 2 Timothy 2:12.—James 1:3. The Christian in the furnace: 1. Experiencing the heat of temptation, 2. Rejoicing in the watchful care of his superintending Master, 3. Jubilant at the result of the fiery process. Mal 3:3; 1 Peter 1:7.

James 1:4-5. γοῶσις may be acquired in the schools, σοφία is the gift of God. Cf. Lactantius, “on true and false wisdom.”—True wisdom the gift of God to prayerful believers.—The characteristic of true wisdom—it makes wise unto salvation.—James 1:6. The doubter like a wave. a, in his conduct—driven hither and thither, by contrary winds or lashed into a billow by the tempest; b, in his end—touching the shores of safety but dissolving into spray and returning to the treacherous sea.—James 1:7. Instability the characteristic of schism.—James 1:8. The mountain is reached from the valley.—James 1:9. The riches of wealth—the riches of learning—the riches of station—the riches of earthly honour no grounds for glorying.—True riches are riches toward God.

James 1:10-11. The fate of earthly greatness symbolized in the fate of the flower. James 1:12. Earthly afflictions and trials destined to become amaranths in the crown of life.—On the whole section James 1:1-12 compare John 14:1-14.—M.].

[Bp. Conybeare: James 1:4.—Our very joys are broken and interrupted, and our distresses are so frequent and sharp, that we scarce know how to support ourselves under them: and yet borne that must be which cannot be avoided by us. The will of God must be submitted to by His creatures, both in the ordinary dispensations of Providence and in the more eminent exercise of its powers. Patience will then come in as a necessary duty in common life. We need it almost every day on some occasion or other; and therefore should arm ourselves with such principles as may enable us to go through with innocence.—M.].

[That ye may be perfect and entire. Probable allusion to the sacrificial victims which must be without blemish. The sacrifice of body, soul and spirit with all we have and hold, as a reasonable service rendered unto God by His faithful servants.—M.].

[James 1:5. Dr. Jortin:—The wisdom of resisting any sort of temptation may very well be extended so as to mean pious wisdom in general, or a practical knowledge of our duty and true interest, by which we shall overcome every thing that opposes and endangers our salvation.—M.].

[Bede:—This text contains a warning against the erroneous notion of Pelagianism, that men may obtain wisdom by their own free will, without Divine grace. Cf. James 5:16-17.—M.].

[Wordsworth:—The description of the Divine bounty is like a summary of our Lord’s words, exhorting to prayer. Matthew 7:7-12.—M.].

[Bp. Andrewes:—This text presents the strongest motives to genuine liberality. See Wordsworth.—M. ].

[James 1:6. Bp. Sanderson:—A large and liberal promise; but yet a promise most certain and full of comfortable assurance, provided it be understood aright, viz., with these two necessary limitations: if God shall see it expedient, and if man pray for it as he ought. … To make all sure then here is our course. Wrestle with God by your fervent prayers: and wrestle with Him too by your faithful endeavours; and He will not for His goodness’ sake, and for His promise’ sake He cannot, dismiss you without a blessing. But omit either, and the other is lost labour. Prayer without study is presumption, and study without prayer is Atheism. James 1:8. Hermas says of the double-minded man: “Cast away from thyself double-mindedness; be not anywise two-minded in asking of God; say not, how can I ask of God and obtain it, when I have sinned so much against Him? Nay, but rather turn with thy whole heart to the Lord and ask of Him without hesitation and thou shalt feel the abundance of His mercy, for He is not like men, who remember injuries; but if thou doubtest in thy heart, thou wilt receive nothing from Him, for they who doubt concerning God, are the double-minded men and receive none of their requests.” Hermas, Pastor, Mandat. 9, p. 596 ed. Dressel. See also Wordsworth and Whitby, who produce other passages.—M.].

Footnotes:

[1] Title. Eusebius ends his account of James the Just thus: τοιαῦτα καὶ τὰ κατὰ Ἰάκωβον οὖ ἡ πρώτη τῶν ὀνομαζομένων καθολικῶν ἐπιστολῶν εἶναι λέγεται. Hist. Eccl. ii. 23. A. C. Sin. omit the title.—M.]

James 1:1; James 1:1. ἐν τῇ διασπορᾷ. In the dispersion.—M.]

James 1:1; James 1:1. χαίρειν. Lange “Freudengruss,” freude zum Gruss=Salutation of joy, joy the burden of his salutation; the English “greeting” is sometimes used in the same sense; so de Wette, van Ess etc.—M.]

[4][James 1:2. The Codex Colbertinus has ἡγεῖσθε. ποικίλοις, literally, versicoloured.—M.]

[5][James 1:2. The whole verse in Lange’s version, “Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into divers (variegated) temptations.”—M.]

[6][James 1:3. γινώσκοντες=since ye know. δοκίμιον=proof.—M.]

James 1:3; James 1:3. The omission of τῆς πίστεως according to Cod. B. has been dropped on good grounds by Tischendorf, according to the decided majority of MSS. A. C. G. etc. [It is inserted in A. B. C. K. L. Cod. Colb. Cod. Sin. Vulg. Syr. Copt. Aeth. Arm. etc.—M].

[8][James 1:3. ὑπομονήν=endurance. Lange’s version. “Since ye know that the proof of your faith worketh endurance.”—M.]

[9][James 1:4. ὑπομονή=endurance.—M.]

[10][James 1:4. ἔργον τέλειον=a perfect work.—M.]

[11][James 1:4. Lange’s version: “But let endurance have a perfect work (the perfect operation of Christliness) that ye may be perfect and entire people (Christians), in nothing deficient (verkuemmert, stunted).—M.]

[12][James 1:5. λείπεται σοφίας=falls short of wisdom.—M.]

[13][James 1:5. ἁπλῶς=a, liberally, b, sincerely.—M.]

[14][James 1:5. μὴ ὀνειδίζοντος=upbraideth not, i.e., who gives without exprobration.—M.]

[15][James 1:5. Lange’s version: “But if any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask it from the God who giveth to all men (also to the pagans) sincerely (without reservation and delusion) and upbraideth not with it (turns it not into the disgrace of the recipients, according to the notion of work-righteousness), and it shall be given to him.—M.]

[16][James 1:6. μηδὲν διακρινόμενος=nothing doubting, not in the least (Lange) doubting.—M.]

[17][James 1:6. Lange’s version: “But let him ask in faith, not in the least (faltering) doubting, for he that doubteth is like a wave of the sea, agitated by the wind and tossed hither and thither.”—M.]

[18][James 1:7. Lange renders γὰρ=also, but we prefer “nor let that man etc.”—M.]

[19][James 1:8. Lange’s version: “A double-minded (faltering) man: a seditious (excited) disturber of peace in all his ways.” But this rendering is too fanciful; we prefer therefore the strictly grammatical rendering: “A two-minded man, unstable in all his ways,” taking the verse in apposition with James 1:7.—M.]

[20][James 1:8. Lange’s version: “A double-minded (faltering) man: a seditious (excited) disturber of peace in all his ways.” But this rendering is too fanciful; we prefer therefore the strictly grammatical rendering: “A two-minded man, unstable in all his ways,” taking the verse in apposition with James 1:7.—M.]

[21][James 1:9. ὁ =the brother who is low.—M.]

[22][James 1:9. καυχάσθω=glory.—M.]

[23][James 1:9. ἐν τῷ ὕψει αὐτοῦ=in his exaltation. “But let the brother who is low glory in his exaltation.”—M.]

[24][James 1:10. ό πλούσιος=the rich man.—M.]

[25][James 1:10. Lange understands a second “glory,” mates the passage ironical, and renders “but the rich in his humiliation.”—M.]

[26][James 1:10. ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου=as a flower of the grass.—M.]

[27][James 1:11. The Aorist with its narrative force should be retained.—M.]

[28][James 1:11. καύσων may mean the dry parching East wind, Kadim, but “the burning heat” of E. V. is very felicitous.—M.]

[29][James 1:11. πορείαις. A. and several lesser MSS. read πορίαις, an orthographical blunder, according to Schneckenburger, because there is no noun πορία with a fixed meaning, [πορείαις is stronger than ways; it denotes the eager pursuit of some business or pleasure.—M.]

[30][James 1:11. Render the whole verse, “For no sooner rose the sun with the burning heat (wind) and dried up the grass and the flower thereof fell away and the beauty of its appearance perished; thus also shall the rich man wither in his ways” (journeyings something like Lange’s “Glücksfahrten”).—M.]

[31]The Jews indeed had already before that time been deficient in the right comprehension of the Solomonic doctrine of wisdom, that is, of the universalism of the old Testament, and for this very reason they had misunderstood and misinterpreted the Davidic Messianism from a particularistic point of view; just as Evangelical theology for the same reason has fallen short of its task in consequence of not sufficiently appreciating Christian humanism.