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JAMES - Be Doers of the Word, and not Hearers Only
Studies in the Letter of James (by Dr. Richard Thomas)
Chapter I
Faith and Wisdom (James 1:2-8)
JAMES 1:2-8
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. 5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed. 7 For let that man not think that he will receive anything from the Lord. 8 He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
James has an unusual way of linking thoughts, a device for which the Greeks had a name anadiplosis: The key word in one verse becomes the catchword in the next. So we have chairein and chara (joy) in verses 1 and 2, ‘patience’ verses 3 and 4, ‘lack’ verses 4 and 5, ‘ask’ verses 5 and 6. Further instances of anadiplosis are scattered throughout this epistle.
James greeted us and in doing so urged us to cheer up, he anticipated the reaction of many Christians. Our minds are preoccupied with problems; troubles distress us. How can we rejoice in such circumstances? James has the correct answer: Our very trials are the ground for rejoicing. Tenderly James calls us his brethren, before confronting us with this magnificent paradox. Whenever he has a hard saying or wise counsel to offer he will remind us of his brotherly concern for us.
“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations”. Modern versions render ‘temptations’ as ‘trials’, and no doubt James had this in mind. Greek has one word for the related concepts of trying und tempting. We are tempted by the devil as part of his wicked designs. We are tested by God through the changes and chances of life for a totally different purpose. Either way we wonder how testing can be a matter of rejoicing. Calvin declares that our natural reaction in trial is to break down and burst into tears.
Do we not pray to our Father in Heaven, “Lead us not into temptation”? Bear in mind that even temptation in the bad sense is not in itself a sin. Jesus, Himself, was tempted in the wilderness, yet without sin. On the other hand trial can lead to sins of bitterness and rebellion. However, such resentment is both thankless and short-sighted. In a broadcast talk someone put the matter thus: “We must accept trial when it comes. We have no right to ask when sorrow comes our way: ‘Why did this happen to me?’, unless we ask the same question whenever joy comes our way”. Every trial should be counted a blessing like every joy a blessing from God. A Jordanian doctor, friend of ours, was attempting a medical exam for the second time. Naturally he was keen on success, but also prepared to accept failure. On the day the results were to be announced we overheard him practising his reactions as a Christian on the telephone: “I have passed? Praise the Lord; I have failed? Halleluyah”. That’s the spirit that marks a child of God.
James speaks not only of trials but of all kinds and degrees of trial. Calvin points out that each trial is a peculiar remedy for a different failing, one for self-seeking, another for jealousy, a third for worldliness, still others for greed and gluttony. We can think of crude examples for the last of these, where senseless overeating has led to sleepless nausea. Graver offences than gluttony have remedies which can be still more painful.
Why rejoice when that comes? James gives us the answer in verse 3, an answer that covers not just the sins that Calvin has listed above but also experiences where the extent of trial bears no relationship to any obvious sins (John 9:2-3). The testing of our faith produces patience, or steadfastness. This steadfastness is not an end in itself; it has its full effect in higher Christian maturity. It is easy to rejoice in the pleasures of the present, faith and hope are needed to rejoice in the promised joys of the future. A mother can rejoice in the prospect of her baby’s birth, and bears every inconvenience on the path to that happy event.
Predictably, some might feel, James alters Paul’s order of the two key nouns in this verse. These are dokimion (dokimé in Romans 5:4) and hypomoné (patience or steadfastness). The text in James may be rendered ‘proving, produces patience’; its Pauline counterpart ‘patience produces approval’; or as the NEB has it ‘proof that you stood the test’.
The maturity we mentioned earlier is of course the abstract noun corresponding to the adjectives ‘perfect and entire’ in verse 4. Such maturity or completeness implies an absence of defect or lack. That should be our goal in the spiritual life. Materially God provides for our every need; so with the Psalmist we sing “nothing shall I lack”. Spiritually the Lord is even more willing to adorn us with the graces of godliness. Do you lack faith, love, WISDOM?
Well, says James, let us focus attention on one particular need, your need for wisdom. There is less written in the NT about this spiritual endowment than about faith, hope or love for instance. Paul dismisses worldly wisdom as profitless in man’s search for God and the Good (1 Corinthians 1:21; 3:19). Yet true wisdom is one of the doxological attributes of God. He is holy; He is Love, the only Wise God (Jude 25; 1 Corinthians 1:24; Revelation 7:12). His wisdom is available to all who fear Him; it adorns thouse who are filled with His Holy Spirit (Isaiah 11:2; Acts 6:3).
What then is this wisdom? It is not the knowledge of deeper mysteries available to a select few for decoding Biblical numerology or resolving the problem of determinism and freewill. No, wisdom is that discernment which enables us to weigh everything in the balance of eternity and of absolute values. Once gained it controls a person’s ordinary living in an extraordinary way. By it, according to Bengel, we understand how trial is to be borne and temptation resisted.
Since there can be no progress in spiritual experience apart from prayer, James introduces it with wisdom. For practical advice on any matter we normally turn to an expert. God’s Spirit can teach us how to ask, seek, knock, and here He does it through the Apostle whose calloused knees bore witness to the priority of prayer.
King Herod offered to grant Salome whatever she wished up to half his kingdom. She hesitated, then ran to her mother saying, “What shall I ask?” You know the gist of the horrifying answer. We too should make a similar request when in doubt, “What shall I ask?”. But go to the heavenly Father for the answer. God’s word in this context instructs us to ask God for wisdom. Out of the many gifts that we may obtain from Him this is singled out. All other gifts will become edifying, gratifying and glorifying when we ask in wisdom and exercise them with wisdom.
Our confidence in the worthwhileness of prayer rests on God’s boundless generosity: He gives liberally to all who ask, neither refusing nor reproaching them. Or as Bengel puts it, “He neither upbraids us with our past follies or the future abuse of His goodness. Pestered by a child for a costly item, an earthly father may give but only after chiding or scolding the youngster”.
How shall I ask? There is a second question which is answered in verse 6. Ask in faith. This alone should clear James of the charge of slighting faith. So vital is faith that without it prayer is futile and we receive nothing of enduring value from God. Doubting is halting between belief and unbelief with a bias towards the latter. It indicates that we are not sure we want what we are praying for, especially if it is a privilege or blessing that involves deeper commitment. James is recommending not just a genuine faith but an unwavering one. Such was the faith of the importunate widow in Luke 18, pleading constantly and not losing heart.
“Let him not suppose”: Taking verses 7 and 8 together, we note that faith does not rest on mere supposition but on certainties, on the solid Rock that is Christ’s person and work. In contrast to faith we have double-mindedness, the attitude of a two-souled man (as the Greek has it) serving two masters, erratic on his prayer life, in his Bible reading, neglecting his duties. Why should such a man expect to receive anything he asks for from the Lord, when he has failed to appreciate what he has already received?