James 1

James 1 is the first of the five chapters of the Epistle of James. A brief greeting leads directly into exhortation, and nearly all the themes that recur throughout the book, including trials, wisdom, wealth and poverty, speech, and doing, first appear in this chapter.

Outline

• Verse 1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, greets the twelve tribes scattered abroad.
• Verses 2–4 Readers are told to count various trials as joy. The trying of faith produces patience, and patience makes a person perfect.
• Verses 5–8 Whoever lacks wisdom should ask in faith of God, who does not reproach. The one who doubts is like a wave driven by the wind and is a double-minded man.
• Verses 9–11 The brother of low degree is to rejoice in his exaltation, and the rich brother in his being made low. The rich man fades away like the flower of the grass.
• Verses 12–15 The one who endures temptation will receive the crown of life. God tempts no one. Lust gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death.
• Verses 16–18 Every good gift comes from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness. He begot us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits.
• Verses 19–21 Readers are to be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. They are urged to receive with meekness the engrafted word.
• Verses 22–25 One who only hears the word is like a man who looks at himself in a mirror and immediately forgets what he saw. The one who acts on the perfect law of liberty will be blessed.
• Verses 26–27 If a person does not bridle the tongue, his religion is vain. Pure religion is caring for orphans and widows and keeping oneself unspotted from the world.

Key Verses

• James 1:2 "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations": This verse presents suffering as a process through which faith grows. See James 1:2–4 for further discussion.
• James 1:22 "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves": This verse distills the theme of "doing" that runs through the entire book.
• James 1:27 "To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction": This verse defines religion in two dimensions: care for one's neighbor and personal purity.

People and Places

• James: The author of the letter. He is traditionally identified as James, the brother of the Lord, though scholars hold differing views.
• The twelve tribes scattered abroad: The recipients of the letter. Some interpret them as Jewish Christians dispersed outside Palestine; others take the phrase as borrowing the language of the twelve tribes of Israel to refer to the church as a whole.

Points for Reflection

• The two senses of "temptation": A single word in the original language means both "trial" and "temptation." The Korean Revised Version renders it with the same word throughout the chapter, but some translations use different terms in verses 2–4 and in verse 13 onward. The relationship between the statement in verse 13 that God "cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man" and God's testing of Abraham in the offering on Mount Moriah is often explained in connection with this distinction. See James 1:12–14 for further discussion.
• "Begat" in verse 18: Most interpreters take it to refer to regeneration and read it alongside 1 Peter 1:23. Others interpret it as referring to creation.
• Hearing and doing: Verses 22–25 are frequently read alongside the parable of the house built on the rock at the close of the Sermon on the Mount.
• Faith and works: This chapter's emphasis on "doing" leads into the discussion of faith and works in James 2. Martin Luther is known to have held a low view of this book. Most Protestants today hold that Paul and James were addressing different misunderstandings and read their teachings as complementary.

In the Korean Church

Verses 2–4 are often cited in sermons on suffering and trials. The phrase in verse 19, "swift to hear, slow to speak," is widely used in exhortations on daily conduct and as a Sunday school memory verse. Verse 27 is commonly used as a sermon text on charity and service.