An Exposition of the Epistle of James - James Chapter 1 – Thomas Manton

Commentary on Verse 1

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.

James. There were two people of this name—the son of Zebedee, and the son of Alphaeus (James the Less); the latter is the author of this letter. Many of the ancients thought that there was a third person called James—James the brother of the Lord, also called Chobliham, or Oblias, or James the Just, who they thought was not an apostle but Bishop of Jerusalem. Jerome calls him the thirteenth apostle. But there were only two Jameses, this latter James being the same as the son of Alphaeus; for plainly the brother of the Lord is reckoned among the apostles in Galatians 1:19 and is called a pillar in Galatians 2:9; and he is called the brother of the Lord because he was in the family of which Christ was a member. Well, then, there being two, to which of these is the letter to be ascribed? The whole stream of antiquity carries it for the brother of the Lord, who, as I said, is the same as James the son of Alphaeus; and with good reason, the son of Zebedee being beheaded long before by Herod, from the very beginning of the preaching of the Gospel (Acts 12:2). But this letter must be of a later date, as it alludes to some passages already written and notes the degeneration of the church, which was not the condition of the church at the beginning.

         James the Less is the person whom we have found to be the instrument whom the Spirit of God made use of to convey this treasure to the church. He was by his private calling a husbandman, by public office in the church an apostle, and was especially called to visit the church in and around Jerusalem, either because of his eminency and being a close relation of Christ, or for the great esteem he had gained among the Jews. And therefore, when the other apostles were going to and fro disseminating the Word of life, James was often found at Jerusalem. (See Galatians 1:18-19; Acts 1:14, 21; 15; etc.) By disposition he was very strict and exceedingly just, and so was called James the Just. He drank neither wine nor strong drink and ate no meat. His knees were like a camel’s hoof through frequent prayer. He died a martyr.

A servant of God. The word servant is sometimes used to imply an abject and vile condition, as that of a slave; thus the apostle Paul says, “neither … slave nor free … for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28); for “slave” he uses the word James uses for servant. This great apostle, James, thinks it an honor to be the servant of God. The lowest ministry and office for God is honorable. But why not “apostle”? He does not mention his apostleship, first, because there was no need, as he was eminent in the opinion and reputation of the churches; therefore Paul says he was reputed to be a pillar of the Christian faith (Galatians 2:9). Paul, whose apostleship was openly questioned, often asserted it. Secondly, Paul himself does not call himself an apostle in every letter. Sometimes his style is, “Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus” (Philemon 1); sometimes “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:1); sometimes nothing but his name Paul is prefixed, as in 1 Thessalonians 1:1 and 2 Thessalonians 1:1.

        And of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some people take both these clauses to apply to the same person and read it thus: “A servant of Jesus Christ who is God and Lord”; indeed this was one of the verses that the Greek fathers used when arguing, against the Arians, for the Godhead of Christ. But our reading, which separates the clauses, is to be preferred as less forced and more suitable to the apostolic inscriptions. Neither is the dignity of Christ impaired hereby, as he is the object of equal honor with the Father; as the Father is Lord, as well as Jesus Christ, so Jesus Christ is God, as well as the Father. Well, then, James is not only God’s servant by the right of creation and providence, but Christ’s servant by the right of redemption; yes, especially appointed by Christ as Lord—that is, as mediator and head of the church—to do him service as an apostle. I suppose there is some special reason for this distinction, a servant of God and of … Christ, to show his countrymen that in serving Christ he served the God of his fathers, as Paul pleaded in Acts 26:6-7.

        To the twelve tribes. That is, to the Jews and people of Israel, chiefly those converted to the faith of Christ; to these James writes as the minister of the “circumcised” (Galatians 2:9) [see NIV footnote on Galatians 2:7—Ed. note]. And he writes not in Hebrew, their own language, but in Greek, as the language then most in use, just as the apostle Paul writes to the Romans in the same language, and not in Latin Scattered among the nations. In the original Greek, the word “dispersion” is used. But what scattering, or dispersion, is intended here?

I answer:

(1) Either what happened in their ancient captivities and the frequent changes of nations; there were some Jews who still lived abroad, as John 7:35 shows.

(2) Or, more recently, by the persecution spoken of in Acts 8.

(3) Or by the hatred of Claudius, who commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome (Acts 18:2). And it is probable that the same was done in other great cities. The Jews, and among them the Christians, were thrown out everywhere, just as John was thrown out of Ephesus and others out of Alexandria.

(4) Or some voluntary dispersion, the Hebrews living here and there among the Gentiles a little before the decline and ruin of their state, some in Cilicia, some in Pontus, etc. Thus the apostle Peter writes “to … strangers … scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia” (1 Peter 1:1).

Greetings. A usual salutation, but not so frequent in Scripture. Cajetan thinks it profane and pagan, and therefore questions the letter, but unworthily. We find the same salutation sometimes used in holy Scripture, for example to the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:28); see also Acts 15:23. Usually it is “grace, mercy, and peace,” but sometimes it is “greetings.”

Notes on Verse 1

Note 1. James, a servant of God. He was Christ’s close relative and, therefore, in a Hebraism, is called “the Lord’s brother” (Galatians 1:19)—not properly and strictly, as Joseph’s son (though some of the ancients thought he was, by a former marriage), but his cousin. So James, the Lord’s kinsman, calls himself the Lord’s servant. Note that inward privileges are the best and most honorable, and spiritual relationship is preferred to physical. Mary was happier having Christ in her heart than in her womb, and James in being Christ’s servant rather than his brother. Christ himself speaks about this in Matthew 12:47-50. The truest relationship to Christ is founded on grace, and we are far happier receiving him by faith than touching him by blood. Whoever endeavors to do his will may be as sure of Christ’s love and esteem as if he were linked to him by the closest outward relationship.

Note 2. It is no dishonor for the highest to be Christ’s servant. James, whom Paul calls “a pillar”, calls himself a servant of … Christ; and David, a king, says, “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked” (Psalm 84:10). The office of the Nethinim, or doorkeepers in the temple, was the lowest; and therefore when the question was proposed what they should do with the Levites who had moved away from God to idols, God says, “They must bear the shame”; that is, they shall be degraded and employed in the lowest offices and ministries of the temple, as porters and doorkeepers (see Ezekiel 44:10-13). Yet David says, “I would rather be a doorkeeper”; human honor and greatness is nothing compared with this. Paul was “a Hebrew of Hebrews” (Philippians 3:5)—that is, from an ancient Hebrew race and extraction, there being, to the memory of man, no proselyte in his family or among his ancestors, which was seen as a very great honor by that nation. Yet Paul says he counts everything dung and dogs’ meat in comparison with an interest in Christ Jesus (see Philippians 3:8).

Note 3. The highest ranks in the church are still only servants: James, a servant. See 2 Corinthians 4:1. The sin of Corinth was man-worship, giving excessive honor and respect to those teachers whom they admired, setting them up as heads of factions and giving up their faith to their dictates. The apostle seeks to reclaim them from that error, by showing that they are not masters but ministers: give them the honor of a minister and steward, but not that dependence which is due only to the Master. See 2 Corinthians 1:24. We are not to prescribe articles of faith but explain them. So the apostle Peter bids the elders not to lord it over God’s heritage (see 1 Peter 5:3), not to have mastery over their consciences. Our work is mere service, and we can but persuade; Christ must impose himself upon the conscience. This is Christ’s own advice to his disciples in Matthew 23:10: “Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ.” All the authority and success of our teaching is from our Lord. We can prescribe nothing as necessary to be believed or done that is not according to his will or word. In short, we come not in our own name and must not act with respect to our own ends; we are servants.

Note 4. A servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. In everything we do we must honor the Father, and also the Son: “all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father” (John 5:23); that is, God will be honored and worshiped only in Christ. “Trust in God; trust also in me” (John 14:1). Believing is the highest worship and respect of the creature; you must give it to the Son, to the second person as mediator, as well as to the Father. Do duties so as to honor Christ in them; and so:

First, look for their acceptance in Christ. It would be sad if we were only to look to God the Father in our work. Adam hid himself and did not dare to come into God’s presence until the promise of Christ. The hypocrites cried, “Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire?” (Isaiah 33:14). Guilt can form no other thought about God when looking upon him apart from Christ; we can see nothing but majesty armed with wrath and power. But now it is said that “in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence” (Ephesians 3:12); for in Christ those attributes that are in themselves terrible become sweet and comforting, just as water, which is salt in the ocean, once strained through the earth, becomes sweet in the rivers.

Second, look for your assistance from him. You serve God in Christ:

a. When you serve God through Christ: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13). When your own hands are in God’s work, your eyes must look to Christ’s hands for support in it: see Psalm 123:2; you must go about God’s work with his own tools.

b. When you have an eye for the concerns of Jesus Christ— in all your service of God (2 Corinthians 5:15). We must “live … for him who died for [us]”; not only for God in general, but for him, for God who died for us. You must see how you advance his kingdom, propagate his truth, further the glory of Christ as mediator.

c. When all is done for Christ’s sake. In Christ God has a new claim on you, and you are bought with his blood, that you may be his servants. Under the law the great argument for obedience was God’s sovereignty: do so-and-so, “I am the Lord”— as in Leviticus 19:37. Now the argument is gratitude, God’s love in Christ: “For Christ’s love compels us” (2 Corinthians 5:14). The apostle often persuades with that motive: be God’s servants for Christ’s sake.

Note 5. To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations. God looks after his afflicted servants; he moved James to write to the scattered tribes. Heaven’s care flourishes toward you when you wither. One would have thought that people might have been driven away from God’s care when they had been driven away from the sanctuary. “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Although I have sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone” (Ezekiel 11:16). Though they lacked the temple, yet God would be a sanctuary. He looks after them, to watch their spirits, that he may comfort them, and to watch their adversaries, to go before them with his care. He looks after them to deliver them, that he may “assemble the exiles” (Micah 4:6) and make up his “treasured possession” (Malachi 3:17), those that seemed to be carelessly scattered and lost.

Note 6. God’s own people may be dispersed and driven from their countries and habitations. God has his outcasts. He says to Moab, “be their shelter” (Isaiah 16:4). And the church complains, “Our inheritance has been turned over to aliens” (Lamentations 5:2). Christ himself had nowhere to lay his head; and the apostle tells us about some of whom “the world was not worthy.… They wandered in deserts and in mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground” (Hebrews 11:38). In Acts 8:4 we read of the first believers, who “had been scattered.” Many of the children of God in these times have been driven from their homes; but you see we have no reason to think the case strange.

Note 7. To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations. There was something more in their scattering than usual: they were a people whom God for a long time had kept together under the wings of providence. What is notable in their scattering is:

(1) The severity of God’s justice. The twelve tribes are scattered —his own people. It cuts out any privileges when God’s Israel are made strangers. Israel is all for liberty; therefore God says he will “pasture them like lambs in a meadow” (Hosea 4:16). God would give them liberty and room enough. As a lamb out of the fold goes up and down bleating in the forest or wilderness, without comfort and companion, in the middle of wolves and the beasts of the desert —liberty enough, but danger enough!—so God would cast them out of the fold, and they should live a Jew here and a Jew there, thinly scattered and dispersed throughout the countries, among a people whose language they did not understand, and as a lamb in the middle of the beasts of prey. Consider the severity of God’s justice; certainly it is a great sin that makes a loving father throw a child out of doors. Sin is always driving away and casting out; it drove the angels out of heaven, Adam out of paradise, Cain out of the church (see Genesis 4:12, 16), and the children of God out of their homes (“We must leave our land,” Jeremiah 9:19).

       Your houses will be tired of you when you dishonor God in them; and you will be driven from those comforts that you abuse to excess. You see in Amos 6:5 that when they were at ease in Zion, they would ruin David’s music by using it for their banquets. For this, God threatened to scatter them and to remove them from their houses of luxury and pleasure. And when they were driven into a strange land they received the same treatment. The Babylonians wanted temple-music: see Psalm 137:3; nothing but a holy song would serve their unholy pleasure. Honor God in your houses, lest you become their burdens and they spew you out. The twelve tribes were scattered.

(2) The infallibility of his truth. In judicial dispensations, it is good to observe not only God’s justice but God’s truth. No calamity befell Israel except what was foretold to the letter in the books of Moses; one might have written their history out of the threatenings of the law. See Leviticus 26:33; God says, in effect, “if you do not listen to me, ‘I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you.’” The same is threatened in Deuteronomy 28:64—“The Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other.” See how the event fitted the prophecy; and therefore I conceive that James uses this expression the twelve tribes to show that they who were once twelve flourishing tribes were now, by the accompaniment of that prophecy, sadly scattered among the nations.

(3) The tenderness of his love to the believers among them. He has a James for the Christians of the scattered tribes. In the severest ways of his justice he does not forget his own, and he has special consolations for them when they lie under the common judgment. When other Jews were banished, John, among the rest, was banished from Ephesus to Patmos, a barren, miserable island; but there he had those revelations (Revelation 1:9 ff.). Well, then, wherever you are, you are near to God; he is a God close to hand, and a God afar off. When you lose your dwelling, you do not lose your interest in Christ.

Commentary on Verse 2

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.

My brothers. A normal name in the Scriptures, and very frequent in this letter, partly because the Jews called all of their nation brothers, and partly because ancient Christians in courtesy used to call the men and women of their society and communion brothers and sisters, and partly from apostolical kindness, that the exhortation might be seasoned with more love and goodwill.

Consider it. That is, though sense will not find it so, yet in spiritual judgment you must so esteem it. Pure joy. That is, a matter of chief joy. See 1 Timothy 1:5.

Whenever you face. This signifies such troubles as come upon us unawares, as sudden things upset the mind most. But, says the apostle, when you are suddenly attacked, you must look upon it as a trial and a matter of great joy; for though it seems to be chance to us, it is under God’s control.

Many kinds. The Jewish nation was infamous and generally hated, especially the Christian Jews, who, besides the scorn of the pagans, were exercised with various injuries and attacks from their own people. This is clear from Peter’s letter, where he speaks of suffering “grief in all kinds of trials” (1 Peter 1:6), and again from the letter to the Hebrews, written also to these dispersed tribes: “You … joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property” (Hebrews 10:34)—that is, by the fury of a crowd of base people, against whom the Christians could have no right.

Trials. This is what he calls afflictions that believers become used to.

Notes on Verse 2

Note 1. My brothers. Christians are linked to one another in the bond of brotherhood. It was an ancient use for Christians of the same communion to call one another brothers and sisters, which gave occasion of scorn to the pagans then. This is Christ’s own argument: “You are all brothers” (Matthew 23:8). It also suggests love and mutual friendship. Who should love more than those who are united in the same head and hope? As Augustine said of himself and his friend Alipius, “We are cemented with the same blood of Christ.” We are all traveling home and expect to meet in the same heaven; it would be sad that brothers should fall out by the way (see Genesis 45:24). It was once said, “See how the Christians love one another!” But alas, now we may say, “See how they hate one another!”

Note 2. Consider it. Miseries are sweet or bitter depending on how we view them. Seneca said, “Our grief lies in our own opinion and apprehension of miseries.” Spiritual things are worthy in themselves; other things depend upon our opinion and valuation of them. So we must make a right judgment. In this lies our misery or comfort; things are as you consider them. Accept these rules so that your judgment in affliction may be rectified.

(1) Do not judge by sense. “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful” (Hebrews 12:11). Christians live above the world because they do not judge according to the world. “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” ((Romans 8:18). Sense that is altogether for present things would judge quite otherwise; but the apostle says, “I consider (i.e., reason) in another way.” See Hebrews 11:26.

(2) Judge by a supernatural light. Christ’s eye-ointment must clear your sight, or else you cannot make a right judgment: there is no correct understanding of things until you get within the veil and see by the light of a sanctuary lamp: “No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:11). It is by God’s Spirit that we come to discern and esteem the things that are of God, which is the main drift of the apostle in that chapter. See Psalm 36:9.

(3) Judge on supernatural grounds. Often common grounds help us discern the lightness of our grief—yes, human grounds; but your counting must be a holy counting. In Isaiah 9:10 the people say, “The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone”; it is a misery, but we know how to remedy it. So many despise their troubles. We can repair and make up this loss again; we know how to deal with this misery. God’s corrections are sharp, but we have strong corruptions to be mortified; we are called to great trials, but we may count on great hopes.

Note 3. Pure joy. Afflictions to God’s people do not only produce patience but great joy. The world has no reason to think that religion is a black and gloomy way. As the apostle says, “The weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength” (1 Corinthians 1:25). So grace’s worst is better than the world’s best. A Christian is a bird that can sing in winter as well as in spring; he can live in the fire like Moses’ bush—burn and not be consumed, even leap in the fire. The apostle writes, “In all our troubles my joy knows no bounds” (2 Corinthians 7:4). Paul in his worst state felt an exuberance of joy. In another passage he goes further still: “We also rejoice in our sufferings” (Romans 5:3). Certainly a Christian is not understood by the world; his whole life is a riddle. “Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10)—this is Paul’s riddle, and it may be every Christian’s motto.

Objection 1. But you may object, does not the Scripture allow us a sense of our condition? How can we rejoice in what is evil? Christ’s soul was “overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” (Matthew 26:38).

Solution.I answer:

(1) Do not rejoice in evil: that is so far from being a fruit of grace that it is against nature. There is a natural abhorrence of what is painful, as we see in Christ himself: “My heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’?” (John 12:27). As a private person, Christ would show the same affections that are in us, though as mediator he freely chose death and sufferings. In Christ’s sufferings there was a concurrence of our guilt taken into his own person and of God’s wrath. It is a known rule that no adversary except God can make us miserable; and it is his wrath that puts vinegar and gall into our sufferings, not man’s wrath.

(2) Their joy is from the happy consequences of their sufferings. I will name some.

a. The honor done to us. We are singled out to bear witness to the truths of Christ: “it has been granted to you … to suffer for him” (Philippians 1:29). It is a gift and an act of free-grace. To be called to such special service is an act of God’s special favor. Far from being a matter of discouragement, it is a ground for thanksgiving: “If you suffer as a Christian … praise God” (1 Peter 4:16). Do not accuse God with murmuring thoughts but glorify him. This influenced the first saints and martyrs. It is said that they went away “rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name” (Acts 5:41); the Greek means that they were honored to be dishonored for Christ.

b. The benefit the church receives. Resolute defenses impress the world. The church is like an oak, which lives by its own wounds; and the more limbs that are cut off, the more new ones sprout. Tertullian says, “The heathen’s cruelty was the great bait and motive by which men were drawn into the Christian religion.” And Augustine writes, “They were bound, butchered, racked, stoned, burned, but still they were multiplied. The church was founded in blood, and it thrives best when it is moistened with blood; founded in the blood of Christ, and moistened or watered, as it were, with the blood of the martyrs.”

c. Their own personal comforts. God has consolations for martyrs, and for his children under trials. Let me name a few. Sometimes it is a greater presence of the Word: see 1 Thessalonians 1:6. The sun shines many times when it rains. And they have sweet glimpses of God’s favor when their outward condition is most gloomy and sad: see Matthew 5:10. Martyrs, in the act of suffering and troubles, not only have sight of their interest, but a sight of the glory of their interest. There are some thoughts stirred up in them that come close to ecstasy; a happy preview makes them almost insensible of their trials and sufferings. Their minds are so wholly swallowed up with the things that are not seen that they have little thought or sense of the things that are seen. The apostle seems to intimate this in 2 Corinthians 4:18.

Again, they rejoice because they pass into glory more swiftly. The enemies do them a favor by removing them from a troublesome world. This made the early Christians rejoice more when they were condemned than when they were absolved. They kissed the stake and thanked the executioner because of their earnest desires to be with Christ. So Justin Martyr writes, “We thank you for delivering us from hard taskmasters, that we may more sweetly enjoy the presence of Jesus Christ.”

Objection 2. But some will say, “My sufferings are not like martyrdom; they do not come from the hand of men, but from providence, and result from my own sins.”

Solution. I answer: it is true there is a difference between afflictions from the hand of God and persecutions from the violence of men. God’s hand is just, and guilt will make the soul less cheerful. But remember the apostle’s word is, trials of many kinds; and sickness, death of friends, and such things that come from providence are also trials to God’s children. These afflictions require not only mourning and humbling, but a holy courage and confidence: “You will laugh at destruction and famine” (Job 5:22). Faith should be above everything that happens to us; it is its work to make a believer triumph over every temporary setback. In ordinary crosses there are many reasons for laughing and joy—such as Christ’s companionship; if you do not suffer for Christ, Christ suffers in you, and with you. He is afflicted and touched with a sense of your afflictions. It is wrong for believers to think that Christ is altogether unconcerned by their sorrows unless they are endured for his name’s sake, and that the comforts of the Gospel are only applicable to martyrdom.

Again, another ground for joy in ordinary crosses is that in them we may have much experience of grace, of the love of God, and of our own sincerity and patience; and this is a ground for rejoicing: “We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance” (Romans 5:3). This rule holds good in all kinds of tribulations or sufferings; they bring sweet discoveries of God, and so are matters for joy. See also 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. They are happy occasions to discover more of God. They give us a greater sense and feeling of the power of grace, and so we may take pleasure in them.

Lastly, all evils are the same to faith. You should walk so that the world may know you can live above every condition, and that all evils are much beneath your hopes. So, from all that has been said, we see that we should suffer the will of Christ with the same cheerfulness as we should suffer for the name of Christ.

Note 4. Whenever you face. Evils are borne better when they are undeserved and involuntary; that is, when we fall into them rather than draw them upon ourselves. It was Tertullian’s error to say that afflictions were to be sought and desired. The creature never knows when it is well; sometimes we question God’s love because we have no afflictions, and at other times because we have nothing but afflictions. In all these things we must refer ourselves to God’s pleasure—not desiring troubles, but bearing them when he lays them on us. Christ has taught us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation”; it is only foolish pride to cast ourselves upon it. Philastrius speaks of some who would compel men to kill them out of an affectation of martyrdom; so does Theodoret. This was a mad ambition, not a true zeal: see 1 Peter 4:15. We derive no strength from our sufferings when there is guilt in them.

Note 5. Many kinds. God has several ways of exercising his people. Various miseries come on top of one another; thus God changes the dispensation, sometimes in this trouble, sometimes in that. Paul gives a catalog of his dangers and sufferings in 2 Corinthians 11:24-28. Crosses seldom come singly. Once God begins to test, he uses various methods of trial; and there is good reason for this. Different diseases must have different remedies. Pride, envy, covetousness, worldliness, wantonness, ambition are not all cured by the same remedy. One affliction pricks the bladder of pride, while another checks our desires. Do not murmur, then, if miseries come upon you like waves. Job’s messengers came thick and fast one after another, telling of oxen, house, camels, sons, daughters, and all destroyed (see Job 1); messenger upon messenger, each with a sadder story. We have “all kinds of passions” (Titus 3:3), and therefore have many kinds of trials. In Revelation 6 one horse comes after another—the white, the red, the black, the pale. Once the floodgates are opened, several judgments follow in succession (see also Matthew 24:7). Learn also that God has several types of trial—confiscation, banishment, poverty, infamy, reproach; some trials test us more than others. We must leave it to his wisdom to make the choice.

Note 6. Trials. James does not call them afflictions or persecutions but trials, because of God’s purpose in sending them. The same word is used in 2 Peter 2:9—“The Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials.” The afflictions of the saints are not judgments but corrections or trials—God’s discipline to mortify sin, or his means to discover grace, to prove our faith, love, patience, sincerity, constancy, etc. Watch over yourselves with great care so that no impatience, vanity, murmuring, or worldliness of spirit may appear in you.

Commentary on Verse 3

Because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

Here is the first argument to encourage them to be joyful in afflictions, taken partly from the trials’ nature, partly from their effect. Their nature: they are a testing of your faith; their effect or fruit: they create or develop perseverance. Let us examine the words a little.

You know. This may imply that they ought to know, as Paul says elsewhere: “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep …” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). So some suppose that James is exhorting, Because you know—that is, I would have you know. Or else it is a report: Because you know; that is, you do know, being taught by the Spirit and experience. Or rather, lastly, it is a direction, in which the apostle tells them how the Spirit brings a joy into the hearts of persecuted Christians by a living knowledge or spiritual discourse, by acting their thoughts upon the nature and quality of their troubles.

That the testing of your faith. Here is a new word used for afflictions; before it was trials, which is more general. Here is a seeming contradiction between Paul and James. Paul says that patience produces perseverance or experience (Romans 5:4, KJV); James seems to invert the order, saying that trial or experience produces perseverance. But I answer: (1) There is a difference between the words; they are correctly translated testing and “perseverance.” (2) Paul is speaking about the effect of suffering, the experience of God’s help, and the comforts of his Spirit, which produces perseverance. James is speaking about the suffering itself, which he calls testing because by it our faith and other graces are approved and tried.

Of your faith. That is, either of your constancy in the profession of the faith, or else the grace of faith, which is the chief thing exercised and approved in affliction.

Develops perseverance. The original Greek word means “perfecting patience.” But this is a new paradox. How can affliction or trial, which is the cause of all murmuring or impatience, develop patience?

I answer:

(1) Some explain this as natural patience, which indeed is caused by mere afflictions. When we become used to them, they are less of a weight. Passions are blunted by continual exercise, and grief becomes a delight. But this is not in the apostle’s mind. This is stupidity, not patience.

(2) So the meaning is that our trials are an opportunity for perseverance.

(3) God’s blessing must not be excluded. Through trials God sanctifies affliction in us, and then they are a means to develop perseverance.

(4) We must not forget the distinction between punishment and testing. The fruit of punishment is despair and murmuring, but of testing patience and sweet submission.

        To the wicked every condition is a snare. They are corrupted by prosperity and dejected by adversity; but to the godly every situation is a blessing. Their prosperity produces thanksgiving, their adversity patience. Pharaoh and Joram became more angry from their afflictions, but God’s people become more patient. See Psalm 11:5. To sum up, afflictions serve to examine and prove our faith and, by the blessing of God, to bring forth the fruit of patience, just as the quiet fruit of righteousness is ascribed to the rod (Hebrews 12:11), which is indeed the true work of the Spirit. “Discipline … produces a harvest of righteousness,” and our apostle here says that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

          Notes on Verse 3

Note 1. You know. Ignorance is the cause of sorrow. When we do not rightly discern evils, we grieve because of them. Our strength, as humans, lies in reason; as Christians, it lies in spiritual discourse. See Proverbs 24:5, 10. Children are scared of every trifle. If we knew God and his dealings, we would not faint. So, labor for a right discerning. To help you, consider:

(1) General knowledge will not suffice. The heathen had excellent ideas concerning God (Romans 1:19); but “their thinking became futile” (Romans 1:21) when they applied their knowledge to particular things. They had a great deal of knowledge about general truths, but no wisdom to apply them to particular matters. Many people can talk well in general. Seneca, when he had rich gardens, could be patient, but fainted when he suffered. Eliphaz accused Job of being able to instruct and strengthen others; “but now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are dismayed” (Job 4:5). Therefore, you not only need knowledge but the wisdom to apply general truths to particular cases.

(2) Our knowledge must be drawn from spiritual principles. This brings relief to the soul, and this is where our strength lies. You will always find that the Spirit works through right thinking. Christ had taught the apostles many comforting things, and then he promised, “The Counselor … will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26). That is the true work of the Counselor, to come in with powerful thinking that relieves the soul. In many other places in the Bible we find that the Spirit helps us by waking us up and stirring up correct thinking in the mind.

(3) Those thoughts that usually create perseverance are these:

First, evils do not come by chance but are from God. So holy Job says: “The arrows of the Almighty are in me” (Job 6:4). Note that it is “the arrows of the Almighty,” even though Satan had a great hand in them, as you may see from Job 2:7—God’s arrows, though shot out of Satan’s bow.

Second, where we see anything of God, we owe nothing but reverence and submission; he is too strong to be resisted, too just to be questioned, and too good to be suspected.

Note 2. Testing. Persecution is testing to God’s people. God makes use of the worst instruments, just as fine gold is cast in the fire, the most consuming element. Innocence is tried best by iniquity. But why does God test us? Not for his own sake, for he is omniscient; rather, perhaps

(1) for our sakes, that we may know ourselves. In trials we discern the sincerity of grace, and the liveliness of it; and so we know our weak hearts better. In times of trial God heats the furnace so hot that dross is totally removed. So that we may know ourselves, God uses severe trials. Sometimes we discover our own weakness: see Matthew 13:5, 20-21. We find that faith is weak in danger that out of danger we thought was strong. Peter thought his faith impregnable, until the sad trial in the high priest’s hall (Matthew 26:69 ff.). Trials help us to know either the sincerity or the weakness or the liveliness of the grace that is wrought in us.

(2) Or for the world’s sake. And so, firstly, in our present lives we can convince others by our constancy, that they may be confirmed in the faith if weak and staggering, or converted if altogether uncalled. Note Luther’s saying: “The church converts the whole world by blood and power.” We are tested, and religion is tested, when we are called to suffer. Paul’s chains led to the furtherance of the Gospel: see Philippians 1:12-13. In prosperous times religion is usually stained with the scandals of those who profess it; and then God brings great trials. Justin Martyr was converted by the constancy of the Christians. When he saw them willingly choose death, he reasoned thus within himself: surely these men must be honest, and there is something eminent in their principles.

Secondly, we are tried in connection with the day of judgment: see 1 Peter 1:7. God will justify faith before all the world, and the crown of patience is set on a believer’s head on that solemn day of Christ. You see the reasons why God tries us.

Use. So, then, testing teaches us to bear afflictions with constancy and perseverance; God tries us through these things. For your comfort consider four things:

(1) God’s aim in your afflictions is not destruction but testing, just as gold is put into the furnace to be purified, not consumed. Wicked men’s misery is a “disaster” (Ezekiel 7:5). But to godly men, miseries have another purpose: see Daniel 11:35.

(2) The time of trial is appointed: “at the appointed time” (Daniel 11:35). You are not in the furnace by chance or because of the will of your enemies; the time is appointed, set by God.

(3) God sits by the furnace looking after his metal: “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver” (Malachi 3:3). That the fire is not too hot, and that nothing is spilled and lost, notes his constant and assiduous care.

(4) Consider: this trial is not only to approve but to improve; we are tried as gold, and refined when tried; see 1 Peter 1:7, or, more clearly, Job 23:10, “When he has tried me, I will come forth as gold.” The dross is burned away, and the sins that cling to us are purged away.

Note 3. Your faith. The chief grace that is tried in persecution is faith (1 Peter 1:7). Out of all graces, Satan especially hates faith; and out of all the graces God delights in, faith is the perfection. Faith is tried partly because it is the radical grace in the life of a Christian: “the righteous will live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4). We work by love but live by faith. Faith is also tested because it is the grace most exercised, sometimes in keeping the soul from evil actions. Believing makes the soul withstand a trial: see Hebrews 11:24 ff. Sometimes faith is exercised to bring the soul to live on Gospel comforts in the absence of worldly comforts. There are many occasions to exercise faith.

Use 1. You who have faith, or profess to have faith, must expect trials. Graces are not crowned until they are exercised; nobody ever went to heaven without conflicts. Note that wherever God bestows the assurance of his favor, trials follow. See Hebrews 10:32. Some people are thrown into trials soon after their conversion. When Christ himself had received a testimony from heaven, Satan immediately tempted him. The Father proclaimed, “This is my Son … with him I am well pleased,” and immediately Satan comes with an “If you are the Son of God …” (Matthew 3:17 and 4:3). See also Genesis 22:1. When the castle is well stocked with supplies, then look for a siege.

Use 2. You who are under trials, look to your faith. Christ knew what was most likely to be attacked and therefore told Peter, “I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:32). When faith fails, we faint; therefore we should make it our main aim to maintain faith. Look after two things:

(1) Hold on to your assurance in the middle of the saddest trials. In the furnace call God Father: “I will bring [them] into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold … and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God’” (Zechariah 13:9). Do not let any hard trial make you doubt your Father’s affection. Christ had a bitter cup, but he said in effect, “My Father put it into my hands” (see John 18:11).

(2) Next, faith keeps your hopes fresh and lively. Let faith put your hopes in one balance when the devil has put the world in the other balance. Say with Paul, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).

Note 4. Develops. Many trials bring perseverance through God’s blessing on them. Habits are strengthened by frequent acts; the more you act from grace, the stronger you become. The apostle says that discipline “produces a harvest of righteousness … for those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11). Perseverance is not found after one or two afflictions, but after we are exercised and acquainted with them. Trees often shaken are deeply rooted.

So, firstly, this shows how carefully you should exercise yourselves under every cross; in this way you acquire habits of grace and patience. Neglect causes decay, and God withdraws his hand from the idle. In spiritual matters as well as temporal matters, “diligent hands bring wealth” (Proverbs 10:4).

Secondly, this shows that if we complain about any providence, the fault is in our own hearts, not in our circumstances. Many blame providence and say they cannot do otherwise, as their troubles are so great and painful. But remember, many trials, where sanctified, work patience. There is no condition in the world that is not an opportunity for the exercise of grace.

Note 5. Perseverance. The apostle comforts them with this argument: fiery trials are nothing if you gain perseverance. Sickness, with perseverance, is better than health; loss, with perseverance, is better than gain. See 2 Corinthians 12:9. Certainly nothing makes afflictions a burden for us except our own human desires.

Note 6. Perseverance. We may observe more particularly that perseverance is a most valuable grace. We cannot be Christians without it; how else can we persevere in doing good when we meet burdensome crosses? Therefore the apostle Peter tells us, “add to your faith, goodness; and t o goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance …” (2 Peter 1:5-6). See also Luke 21:19.

Commentary on Verse 4

Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Here James shows what perseverance is, by way of exhortation, encouraging them to move on to maturity. I start with a difficulty in the verse.

Finish its work [KJV, have her perfect work—Ed. note]. Remember that in the apostle’s time there were various people who had a great deal of zeal and who bore the first attacks. But they tired, either because of the variety or the length of evils, and they yielded and fainted. Therefore, James wanted his readers to persevere and be complete. The best grace is maturity. We say of Abraham’s faith that it was a perfect faith; so when perseverance is thoroughly tried by various lengthy afflictions, we say there is a perfect perseverance. Perfect perseverance is a resolute perseverance, holding no regard for the length, the acuteness, or the continual succession of various afflictions. One trial revealed Job’s perseverance; but when evil upon evil came, and he bore everything with a humble and quiet spirit, that revealed a mature perseverance.

So that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. The apostle’s purpose is not to assert a possibility of perfection in Christians: We all stumble in many ways (3:2). All that we have here in this life is incomplete: “We know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears” (1 Corinthians 13:9-10). Here grace is imperfect, because the means are imperfect. So James means either that we should be sincere, for sincerity is called perfection in Scripture (“Walk before me, and be thou perfect,” as Genesis 17:1 reads in the original; the NIV has, “be blameless”); or else it means the perfection of perseverance; or, lastly, the intended perfection is “the perfection of parts”—that we might be so perfect, or complete, that no necessary grace might be lacking—that, having other gifts, we might also have the gift of perseverance and the whole image of Christ might be completed in us—that nothing might be lacking that a Christian needs. Indeed, some make this a legal sentence, implying what God may justly require and what we should aim for —exact perfection, both in parts and degrees. It is true that this is beyond our power; but though we have lost our power, there is no reason why God should lose his right. God’s right humbles us with the sense of our own weakness. God might require so much that we had power to perform, though we have lost it through our own fault. This is true, but the former interpretations are more simple and genuine.

Notes on Verse 4

Note 1. Our graces are not perfected until we go through many great trials. As a pilot’s skill is discerned in a storm, so is a Christian’s grace in many and great troubles. So in everything that happens to you say, “Patience has not yet been perfected.” The apostle says, “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood” (Hebrews 12:4). Should we collapse in a lesser trial, before the perfect work is revealed? Job was in a sad state, yet said, “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him” (Job 13:15); in a higher trial, I should not faint or murmur.

Note 2. Exercise grace until it is full and perfect—that you may be mature. The apostle chides the Galatians because their first enthusiasm quickly evaporated: “Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?” (Galatians 3:3). It is not enough to start. To falter shows that we are not “fit for service in the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). While you are in the world, go on to finish the work of patience; follow those who “through faith and patience inherit what has been promised” (Hebrews 6:12).

Note 3. Christians must aim at, and press on to, perfection. The apostle says, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

(1) Christians aspire to absolute perfection. First, they go to God for justification, so that the damning power of sin may be taken away; then for sanctification, that the reigning power of sin may be destroyed; then for glorification, that its very being may be abolished. Those who have true grace will not be content with little grace. “I want … somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead,” says Paul (Philippians 3:10-11)—that is, such a state of grace as we enjoy after the resurrection. Free grace makes a Christian press on and be earnest in his endeavors: see Hebrews 6:1.

(2) Christians must be perfect in all aspects of their Christian faith. Every part of life must be seasoned with grace (see 1 Peter 1:15 and 2 Corinthians 8:7). Hypocrites always lack something. The Corinthians had much knowledge but little charity. As Basil says, “I know many who fast, pray, sigh … but withhold from God and the poor.” One negligence may be fatal. A Christian should not lack anything.

(3) They aim at a perfection that lasts. Subsequent acts of apostasy make our former crown wither (see 2 John 8 and Ezekiel 18:24). If a Nazirite defiled himself, he had to begin all over again (see Numbers 6:12). We have separated ourselves to Christ, and if we do not endure to the end, all the righteousness, zeal, and patience of our former profession is forgotten.

Commentary on Verse 5

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

The apostle says that to bear afflictions requires a great deal of spiritual skill and wisdom, but that God will help you if you ask him. In this verse James encourages us with God’s nature and promise.

If any of you. This if does not imply doubt; it is only a supposition. But why does the apostle use a supposition? Who does not lack wisdom? May we not ask, in the prophet’s question, “Who is wise? … Who is discerning?” (Hosea 14:9).

In answer:

(1) Such expressions strongly support the argument under discussion. See Malachi 1:6, Romans 13:9, 2 Thessalonians 1:6, and James 5:15.

(2) Different people lack different things, so if any of you lacks includes everybody.

Wisdom. This is to be restricted to the text and not taken in a general way. This wisdom is for bearing afflictions. In the original the beginning of this verse clearly links on to the end of the previous verse—lacking anything, and then immediately if any of you lacks.

He should ask. That is, by serious and earnest prayer.

God—to whom our addresses must be directed.

Who gives generously to all. Some think this implies the natural bounty of God, which indeed is an argument in prayer; God, who gives to all, will not deny his saints. The psalmist takes God’s common bounty to the creatures as a ground of hope and confidence for his people (see Psalm 145:16, 19). He who provides for every living creature will certainly provide for his own servants. But the context will not sustain this sense. All refers to all kinds of people—Jew, Greek, or barbarian; rich or poor. God gives to all people. Everyone who asks—all who seek him with earnestness and trust—will receive this wisdom.

Generously. In the original the word means “simply,” but it is usually translated “bountifully.” See Acts 2:46 and 2 Corinthians 8:2 and 9:11. This word “simplicity” is so often used for “bounty” to show (1) that it must come from the free desire of our hearts, for those who give sparingly give with a hand half closed; (2) that we must not give deceitfully, as serving our own ends. So God gives simply—that is, as David puts it, according to his will (2 Samuel 7:21).

Without finding fault. Here James reproves another common blemish on man’s bounty, which is finding fault with what others have done for them. Courtesy requires that the receiver should remember and the giver forget. God does not find fault. But you will say, what is the meaning then of Matthew 11:20—“Then Jesus began to denounce the cities, in which most of his miracles had been performed”? Because of this objection, some expound this clause one way, some another. Some suppose it implies he does not give in a proud way, as men do, denouncing those who receive with their words or looks. God does not disdainfully reject anyone who asks, or confront him with his unworthiness, or reject him because of his present failings or former weaknesses. Rather, I think it shows God’s indefatigability in doing good; ask as often as you wish, God will not tell you off for the frequency of your requests. God denounces us only to make us see our ingratitude. And it will be given to him. In addition to the nature of God, here James emphasizes a promise: “Let him ask God,

and it will be given to him.” Descriptions of God help us think correctly about him. Promises help us hold on to him in trust.

Notes on Verse 5

Note 1. Everyone is needy: If any of you. This supposition is universal. God’s wisdom allows creatures to lack, because dependence brings awareness. If we were not forced to live in continued dependence on God, we would not bother with him. We see this—the less people are aware of their condition, the less religious they are. Promises usually appeal to those who are in need, because they are most likely to take note of them: see Isaiah 55:1, Matthew 11:28, and Matthew 5:3 and 6. Those who are humbled by their own needs are most open to God’s offers. Only God is self-sufficient; creatures have needs, so that their eyes are fixed on God. Certainly they lack most who lack nothing.

Note 2. Lacks. We pray about our own needs. The father would not have heard from the prodigal if he had not been “in need” (Luke 15:14). Note that the creature goes to God initially out of self-love. But remember, it is better to begin in the flesh and end in the spirit than to begin in the spirit and end in the flesh. The first motive is need.

Note 3. Wisdom. In this context, note the need for great wisdom to cope with afflictions. Cheerful patience is a holy skill that we learn from God: see Philippians 4:10. Such a difficult lesson needs much learning. Wisdom is needed in several respects: (1) to discern what God’s purpose is in this; (2) to know the nature of the affliction, whether it is to build up or destroy; (3) to know what to do in every situation; (4) to check the desires of our own passions. So:

(1) Become wise if you want to become patient. People of understanding have the greatest control over their affections: see Proverbs 14:29.

(2) Become wise to confute the world’s censure; they count patience as simplicity and meekness as folly.

(3) Become wise by patience and calmness of spirit. A person who has no command of his passions has no understanding.

Note 4. Ask God. In all our needs we must immediately turn to God. The Scriptures do not direct us to the shrines of saints but to the throne of grace. You need not use the saints’ intercession; Christ has opened a way for you into the presence of the Father.

Note 5. More particularly, note that wisdom must be found in God. He is wise, the fountain of wisdom, an inexhaustible fountain. Men have the faculty, but God gives the light, just as the dial is capable of showing the time of the day when the sun shines on it. It is spiritual idolatry to lean on your own understanding (see Proverbs 3:5). The best way to proceed is not to go to nature but to Christ, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3).

Note 6. He should ask. God gives nothing without our asking. This is one of the laws by which heaven’s bounty is dispensed (see Ezekiel 36:37). Every audience with God increases love, thanks, and trust: see Psalm 116:1-2. Who does not want to be one of those whom God calls his worshipers (see Zephaniah 3:10)?

Note 7. Asking remedies our greatest needs. People sit down groaning under their discouragements because they do not look further than themselves. God humbles us with great weakness, that he may turn us to prayer. That is as easy for the Spirit as it is hard for nature. If God commands anything beyond our nature, it is to bring you to your knees for grace.

Note 8. Who gives. God’s dispensations to his creatures are gifts. Usually God gives most to those who, in the eyes of the world, least deserve it and are last able to requite him. Does he not freely invite the worst? See Isaiah 55:1.

Note 9. To all. God’s grace is universal. It is a great encouragement that none are excluded from the offer. Why should we, then, exclude ourselves? “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened” (Matthew 11:28 , italics added). Note, poor soul: Jesus Christ makes no exceptions.

Note 10. Generously. God’s gifts are free. Often God gives more than we ask, and our prayers come far short of what his grace gives: see Ephesians 3:20. Examples of this are Solomon (1 Kings 3:13), Jacob (Genesis 28:20 with Genesis 32:10), Abraham (Genesis 15 with Genesis 22), and the prodigal (Luke 15:11-32). Certainly God’s bounty is too large for our thoughts. So:

(1) Do not restrict God in your thinking: “Open wide your mouth and I will fill it” (Psalm 81:10). God’s hand is open, but our hearts are not open. Note the expression of the virgin in Luke 1:46, “My soul praises the Lord”—that is, I make more room for God in my thoughts.

(2) Let us imitate our Heavenly Father and give generously. Some people give grudgingly, with a divided mind; this is not like God. Give like your Heavenly Father.

Note 11. Without finding fault. I am certain that nothing harms us as much as believing that God is “altogether like” us (Psalm 50:21). Therefore God says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.… As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). See also Hosea 11:9. So when God gives, he will give according to his nature.

Note 12. Without finding fault. God never tires of doing his people good. It was Solomon’s advice in Proverbs 25:17 to “Seldom set foot in your neighbor’s house—too much of you, and he will hate you.” But how different it is with our heavenly friend! The more frequently we come to God, the more welcome we are.

Well, then: (1) Whenever you receive mercy upon mercy, give the Lord the praise for his tireless love. (2) Since God is not tired of blessing you, do not become tired of serving him. See Galatians 6:9.

Note 13. And it will be given to him. God always answers prayer, though he does not always answer human desires: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). If we do not receive through asking, let us go on to seeking; if we do not receive through seeking, let us go on to knocking. Prayers, when they come from a holy heart, in a holy manner, for a holy purpose, will be successful.

These are the limitations on prayer: (1) Concerning the person: God looks after not only the purpose of the prayer but the interest of the person. Prayer must come from a righteous person (see 5:16). (2) What we ask for must be good: see 1 John 5:14. It must be according to God’s revealed will, not our own fancies. To ask according to our desires is blasphemous. But we must remember that God must judge what is good, not we ourselves. (3) We must ask in a right way, with faith. See Psalm 40:1. (4) You must pray with reference to the Lord’s glory. There is a difference between an ungodly desire and a gracious supplication: see 4:3. Never let your requests terminate in self. “Give us water to drink” was a brutish request (Exodus 17:2).

Note 14. It will be given. James draws encouragement not only from God’s nature but from God’s promise. From God’s promise we may reason thus: “You are good, and you will do good.” This is God in covenant, God as ours.

Let the world think what it will about prayer. You have promises about prayer. Therefore when you pray for a promised blessing, God will answer you. “Ask and it will be given.”

Commentary on Verse 6

But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

Here James suggests caution, in order to avoid mistakes about what he has said. Every request will not be answered; you must ask in faith.

But when he asks, he must believe. Faith may be understood as follows: (1) As confidence in God, or an act of particular trust, as in Ephesians 3:12. (2) It may include confidence about the lawfulness of the things that we ask for; that is one accepted meaning of “faith” in Scripture (see Romans 14:23). (3) Faith is a state of believing. God only hears his own, those who have an interest in Jesus Christ. Here faith is contrasted with doubting and wavering, and so means a particular act of trust.

Not doubt. What is this doubt? The word does not mean disputing a matter but having doubtful thoughts. The same phrase is used in Acts 10:20, “Do not hesitate.” The word is often used in connection with believing, as in Romans 4:20, “he did not waver through unbelief”; in the Greek this is, “he did not dispute,” he did not debate the matter but settled his heart on God’s power and promise. See Matthew 21:21: if they could remove the uncertainty of their thoughts, they would do miracles.

He who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. This simile is also used by the prophet Isaiah (see 57:20). James says here that the doubter is like a wave of the sea; and the prophet says about all wicked men that they are like “the tossing sea.”

Notes on Verse 6

Note 1. The test of true prayer is its faith. Cursory requests are made out of habit, not in faith; so examine your prayers. Pray with hope and trust. See Matthew 15:28 and Mark 11:24; note the words “believe … and it will be yours.” Through our trust God’s power is engaged. But you will say, how do we pray in faith? I answer, this is what is required in every prayer:

(1) A reliance on the grace and merits of Jesus Christ: see Ephesians 2:18. We cannot have any trust in God except through him. You must realize that such worthless creatures as you are may be accepted in him: see Hebrews 4:16. Through Christ we may freely approach God. I am a sinner, but Jesus Christ, my intercessor, is righteous. Some people do not doubt God, but they doubt themselves. They ask, “I am a wretched sinner; will the Lord hear me?” I answer: this is Satan’s strategy, for in effect it is doubting God and his mercy, as if he were unable to pardon and save. We must come humbly, for we are sinners: but we must come in faith also. Christ is a Saviour; it is folly, under color of humbling ourselves, to have low thoughts of God. We may come humbly yet boldly in Christ.

(2) We must not pray except in faith. The apostle’s words are relevant here: “This is the assurance we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” (1 John 5:14). Everything is to be asked in faith. Let prayer be according to the Word, and the success will be according to the prayer.

(3) The soul must magnify God’s attributes in every prayer. To pray in faith, to have right thoughts about God in prayer, as we see in this verse, is enough to combat a particular doubt. See Matthew 9:28-29. Christ asked the two blind men if they had a correct estimate of his power, which he then called faith, and gave them the blessing. People who come to God need to view him correctly.

You may say, tell us what faith is required in every prayer. I answer: the question has already been answered for the most part.

Take these rules:

a. Where we have a definite promise, we must not doubt God’s will. For the doubt can arise from a suspicion that this is not the word or will of God, which is atheism; or from thinking that God will not make good his word, which is blasphemy; or from fear that he is not able to accomplish his will, which is unbelief. So, where we have a clear view of his will in the promise, we may be confident toward him (1 John 5:14).

b. Where we have no certainty about his will, the work of faith is to glorify and apply his power. Difficulties terrify us so that we cannot pray out of faith in God’s power. Search and you will find that God’s power is the first ground for faith. Abraham believed because “God had power” (Romans 4:21). Unbelief shows itself in plain distrust of God’s power: see Psalm 78:19 and 2 Kings 7:2. People deceive themselves when they think they doubt because they do not know God’s will; they are mainly hesitating over God’s power. Therefore the main work of your faith is to give God the glory of his power, leaving his will to himself.

In these cases, it is not only his power that is to be glorified but also his love. But you will say in an uncertain way, how must we glorify his love? I answer, in two ways. Faith has a double work:

First, to compose the soul to submit to God’s pleasure. He is so good that you may give yourself to his goodness. He is a wise God and a loving Father and will do what is best; we must never dispute this: see Proverbs 16:3.

Second, to lift the soul to hope for the mercy prayed for. Hope is the fountain of endeavors, and we should neither pray nor wait on God unless we look up to him in hope.

Some people who have come close to God may have faith in some particular occurrence. By some special understanding in prayer from the Spirit of God they have said with David, “I will be confident” (Psalm 27:3). I do not say this is normal, but it sometimes happens. But remember, privileges do not make rules.

I have given you my thoughts about praying in faith.

Note 2. Not doubt or “dispute,” as it is in the original. Man is given to doubting God’s grace.

Pride will not stoop to revelation. Ungodly reason is faith’s worst enemy.

Note 3. Not doubt. The less we doubt, the more we show true faith. Grace settles the heart on God. So set aside your doubts, especially in prayer; strong belief in God’s attributes, as revealed in Christ, removes all perplexities of spirit. So have a clear understanding of God’s attributes. Ignorance perplexes us, but faith settles the soul and gives it a greater constancy.

Note 4. Like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. Doubts are perplexing and torment the mind. An unbeliever is like the waves of the sea, always rolling; but a believer is like a tree, shaken but firm in its roots. We are in slavery so long as we are tossed by the waves of our own affections. There is no rest and peace in the soul until faith is strong: see Psalm 116:7. Go to God, and have your spirit settled.

Commentary on Verse 7

That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord.

That man should not think. James does not say, “He shall receive nothing,” but That man should not think he will receive. Whatever God’s overflowing bounty may give them, they can expect nothing. Or else, That man should not think, in order to check his vain hopes. Man deceives himself and seduces his soul with ungodly hope. Therefore, the apostle says, That man should not think—that is, deceive himself with a vain hope.

He will receive anything. This kind of doubting does not spring from faith and only frustrates praying. God’s people do have doubts but are victorious over them. Therefore, it should not be thought that any doubt makes us incapable of receiving any blessing. This only happens when doubt is allowed to persist.

From the Lord. That is, from Christ. In the New Testament, Lord most often applies to Christ, the mediator; and Christ the mediator commends our prayers to God and conveys all blessings from God. Therefore, the apostle says, “Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live” (1 Corinthians 8:6). The heathen had many gods, many intermediate powers who were agents between the gods and men. “Yet for us,” says the apostle, “there is but one God,” one sovereign God, “the Father,” the first spring and fountain of blessings, and “one Lord”—that is, one mediator, “Jesus Christ, through whom all things came.”

Notes on Verse 7

Note 1. Although unbelievers may receive something, they can expect nothing from God. That man should not think. They are under a double misery:

(1) They can have no thoughts of hope and comfort, as they have no assurance of a promise. Oh, how miserable this is, to toil and still to be left in uncertainty—to pray, and to have no sure hope! When the task is over, they cannot look for acceptance or a blessing. The children of God have a more certain hope: see 1 Corinthians 9:26. So Solomon says, “The truly righteous man attains life” (Proverbs 11:19). The righteous have God’s infallible promise and may expect a blessing. But the wicked, whether they run or sit, have no hope. Whether they run or sit still, they are in the same condition; if they run, they run uncertainly; if they pray, they pray uncertainly. They are like a slave who does his work not knowing whether he will give satisfaction; so, when they have done everything, they are still left in uncertainty. They pray and do not look for success in prayer; they perform duties but do not see the blessing of duties.

(2) If they receive anything, they cannot expect it to come as a promise or as a return for prayers. When the children are fed, the dogs may have the crumbs: all their comforts are just the crumbs of God’s bounty. It is a great misery when blessings are given to us by chance rather than covenant. A person may be ashamed to ask of God, who is so slow to honor him.

Note 2. That man should not think. Men usually deceive themselves with vain hopes and thoughts: see Matthew 3:9. Ungodly confidence is rooted in some vain principle and thought; so men think God is not just, hell is not so hot, the devil is not so evil, nor the Scriptures so strict. T h e apostles meet with these ungodly thoughts everywhere: see 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. Men are persuaded that if they can offer any excuse, all will be well. But God is not deceived. So consider your private thoughts. All corrupt actions are based on some vain thought, and this vain thought is strengthened with some vain word. Therefore the apostle says, “Let no one deceive you with empty words” (Ephesians 5:6). In spiritual things we are happy when we have seduced our souls with a vain hope.

Note 3. He will receive. The reason we do not receive what we ask for lies in ourselves, not in God. He gives generously, but we doubt as we pray. He wants to give, but we cannot receive. Men are discouraged when they are distrusted; and certainly when we distrust God it is not reasonable we should expect anything from him. Christ said to Martha, “… if you believed, you would see the glory of God” (John 11:40)—that is, power, love, truth in their glory. Omnipotence knows no restraint but is discouraged by man’s unbelief. Therefore Mark 6:5-6 says, “he could not do any miracles … he was amazed at their lack of faith”; he could not because he would not, not because of any lack of power in him, but because of the disposition of the people. When the father comes for a possessed child and says, “Teacher … if you can do anything … help us,” Christ answers, “If you can? Everything is possible for him who believes” (Mark 9:17-23). The distressed father says, “If you can do anything”; our holy Lord says, “If you can?” as if he had said, do not doubt my power, but look to your own faith; I can if you can. If we were prepared to receive what God wants to give, we would not be long without an answer. God can do all things for the comfort of believers; faith is his immutable ordinance. So if we receive not, it is not because of any lack of God’s power, but because we lack faith ourselves.

Note 4. Anything. God thinks the least mercy too good for unbelievers. In the days of Christ’s life on earth he offered everything you could wish for: “You have great faith! Your request is granted” (Matthew 15:28). Ask what you will, and he will give it. But mercy shrinks at the sight of unbelief!

Note 5. From the Lord. The fruit of our prayers is given to us from the hands of Christ. He is the person through whom God blesses us: “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father” (John 14:13). Note, “I will do it.” Christ receives the power to convey the blessing; we must ask the Father, but it comes to us through Christ. We are unworthy to converse with the Father; therefore, Christ is the true mediator. God is glorified when we come to him through Christ. You must come to the Father in the Son’s name and look for everything through the Spirit; and as the Spirit works as Christ’s Spirit, to glorify the Son (John 16:14), so the Son gives glory to the Father. What an excellent ground of hope we have when we reflect on these three things in prayer—the Father’s love, the Son’s merit, and the Spirit’s power! No one comes to the Son but by the Father (John 6:65); no one comes to the Father but by the Son (John 14:6); no one is united to the Son but by the Holy Spirit: therefore we read of “the unity of the Spirit” (Ephesians 4:3).

Commentary on Verse 8

He is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

James goes on to consider the unhappiness of unbelievers, and he says two things about them—that they are double-minded and unstable.

He is a double-minded man. The word signifies a person who has two souls, and so it may imply:

(1) A hypocrite, since the same word is used with that meaning in 4:8: “Purify your hearts, you double-minded.” As he speaks to open sinners to cleanse their hands, so he speaks to secret hypocrites (whom he calls double-minded since they pretend one thing but mean another) to purify their hearts—that is, to grow more inwardly sincere. This word is similar to the Hebrew word for “deceive.” “Their flattering lips speak with deception” (Psalm 12:2); in the Hebrew this is “with a heart and a heart,” which is their way of expressing something that is double or deceitful (deceitful weights are “a weight and a weight” in the Hebrew of Proverbs 20:23). As Theophrastus says of the partridges of Paphlagonia that they had two hearts, so every hypocrite has two hearts or two souls.

(2) It implies a person who is distracted and divided in his thoughts, floating between two different opinions, as if he had two minds or two souls. In the apostle’s time there were some Judaizing brethren who sometimes sided with the Jews, sometimes with the Christians. They were not settled in the truth. See also 2 Kings 17:33, “They worshiped the LORD, but they also served their own gods”; they were divided between God and idols. The prophet says this shows a double or divided heart: “Their heart is deceitful, and now they must bear their guilt” (Hosea 10:2). Thus Athanasius applied this description to the Eusebians, who sometimes held one thing and then another.

(3) In the context of James this may refer to those whose minds were tossed to and fro with various ideas: now lifted up with a wave of presumption, then cast down in a gulf of despair, being torn between hopes and fears concerning their acceptance with God. I prefer this latter sense, as it conveys the apostle’s purpose best.

Unstable. An unstable man has no constancy of soul. He is sometimes ready to depart from God and sometimes to be close to him; he is not settled in his religious profession.

In all he does. Some apply this chiefly to prayer because those who are doubtful about its success often practice it intermittently; but I think it is a general maxim, and that prayer is only intended as a consequence, for the apostle says in all he does. Note the Hebraism (in all his ways, KJV), standing for any counsel, action, thought, or purpose.

Notes on Verse 8

Note 1. Unbelieving hypocrites have a double mind. They lack the Spirit and are led by their own affections and therefore cannot be settled; fear, love for the world, and ungodly hopes draw them here and there, for they have no certain guide and rule. It is said of the godly man that “He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD” (Psalm 112:7). Such people walk by a sure rule and look to sure promises; and therefore, though their circumstances change, their hearts do not change, for the ground of their hopes is still the same. Ungodly men’s hearts rise and fall with their news; and when affairs are doubtful, their hopes are uncertain, for they are fixed on uncertain objects.

(1) In their hopes they are distracted between expectation and jealousy, doubts and fears. One moment they are full of confidence in their prayers, and then later have nothing but sorrow and despair. Possibly this may be one reason why the psalmist compares the wicked to chaff (Psalm 1:4), because they are driven here and there, leading their lives by guesswork rather than any sure aim.

(2) In their opinions hypocrites usually waver, being distracted between conscience and ungodly desires. Their desires lead them to Baal, their consciences to God. As the prophet Elijah says about such people, “How long will you waver between two opinions?” (1 Kings 18:21). They are usually guilty of a promiscuous compliance that, though used by them in ungodly policy, yet often tends to their hurt; for this indifference is hateful to God and men. God hates this: “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm … I am about to spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:15-16). Lukewarmness causes vomiting; so lukewarm Christians are spat out of God’s mouth. His ways are not honored except by zealous earnestness.

Note 2. A doubting mind causes uncertainty in our lives and conversations. Their minds are double, and therefore their ways are unstable. A definite expectation of the hopes of the Gospel produces obedience, and a definite belief in the doctrines of the Gospel produces perseverance.

(1) Nobody walks so closely with God as those who are assured of the love of God. Faith is the mother of obedience. When people are apart from Christ, they are slack over their duties. We do not cheerfully engage in anything we have doubts over; therefore, when we do not know whether God will accept us or not, we serve God in fits and starts. It is the slander of the world to think assurance is an unimportant doctrine. Never is the soul so quickened as it is by “the joy of the Lord” (Nehemiah 8:10). Faith, filling the heart with spiritual joy, gives a strength for all our duties and labors.

(2) No one is so constant in any truth as he who is convinced of its grounds. When we are only half convinced, we are usually unstable: see 2 Peter 3:17. Every believer should have some solid, rational grounds to support him. Believers are told to give “the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15)—that is, those inner motives that make them assent to the truth. See also 1 Thessalonians 5:21. So, work to understand the grounds of your religion. If you love a truth in ignorance, you cannot love it constantly.

Commentary on Verse 9

The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position.

The apostle, having finished the digression about prayer, returns to the main matter in hand, which is bearing afflictions with joy. He gives another reason in this verse, because to be depressed by the world for righteousness’ sake is to be exalted toward God. Let us look at the force of the words.

The brother. That is, a Christian. The people of God are called “brothers” because the truest friendship is among the good and godly. Groups of wicked men are more of a conspiracy than a brotherhood. Therefore, when you find in Scripture the words “a brother,” you should understand “a saint.” In the same way here James does not say “a Christian” but the brother. See also Paul in 1 Corinthians 16:20 and 1 Thessalonians 5:27.

In humble circumstances. The Greek word used here for humble signifies the condition, not the grace, and therefore we correctly translate it in humble circumstances, for it is contrasted with rich in the next verse. It is the same in Proverbs 16:19, “Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud.” “Lowly” refers to the lowly in condition, not in heart, for it is contrasted with “share plunder.” So also in Luke 1:48, “He has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.” The grace and the condition are expressed by the same word, because a humble state appeals to a humble heart. But remember, in humble circumstances does not just mean “poor,” but being poor for Christ, as persecutions and afflictions are often expressed by the words “humility” and “humiliation.” Thus in Psalm 9:12 we read, “He does not ignore the cry of the afflicted”; and in verse 13, “O Lord, see how my enemies persecute me!” The original has, “my humiliation.” So here the brother in humble circumstances is one who is humbled or made low on account of opposition for being religious.

Take pride. The original is “boast” or “glory.” It refers to the highest act of joy, even when joy begins to pass the limits of reason. I say it is the first step in the degeneration of joy and suggests that the soul is taken by surprise with excessive affection, for the next step beyond this is truly wicked. Joy begins to exceed when it exults over other people; but when it comes to insult them, it is nothing. Therefore, how should we boast or glory? I answer:

(1) It may be understood as a concession of the lesser evil. Rather than grumble under afflictions or faint under them or try to escape them through evil ways, you may boast about them. This is the lesser evil. Such concessions are frequent in Scripture, just as Proverbs 5:19 (“May you ever be captivated by her love”) certainly implies excessive ecstasies. How then is this to be understood? Does Scripture allow any excess of affection? No; it is only the idea of the lesser evil. Rather than lose yourself in the embraces of a harlot, “May her breasts satisfy you.”

(2) This may only imply our Christian privileges: let this brother view his privileges as something to boast about. However lowly your condition seems to the world, suffering for Christ is a thing you may boast in rather than be ashamed of.

(3) It may be that the word should be softened and be translated, “let him boast.” But this is unnecessary, for the apostle Paul speaks in the same way in Romans 5:3: “We also rejoice in our sufferings.”

In his high position. That is, in his sublimity. This may be understood in two ways: (1) More generally, that he is a brother or a member of Christ, and the honor of the spiritual state is often contrasted with the misery and obscurity of afflictions. Thus Revelation 2:9 says, “I know your afflictions and your poverty— yet you are rich!”—poor outwardly, but rich spiritually. (2) More particularly, it may refer to the honor of afflictions, that we are thought worthy to suffer for anything where Christ is concerned, which is certainly a privilege.

Notes on Verse 9

Note 1. The people of God are brothers. They are born by the same Spirit, by the same immortal seed of the Word. So, consider your relationship to each other. You are brothers, a relationship of the greatest endearment because it is natural—not founded on choice, as with friendship, but on nature [the natural working of God— Ed. note], and because it is between equals. So live and love as brothers.

Note 2. The brother in humble circumstances. He says in humble circumstances and yet still says brother. Despising the poor is called despising the church of God: see 1 Corinthians 11:22, “Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing?” At their love-feasts they slighted the poor, and it is as if the apostle had said, “In your houses you have liberty to invite whom you please, but when you meet in a public assembly you must not exclude a considerable part of the church, which the poor are.”

Note 3. The brother. Not a man in humble circumstances, but a brother. It is not poverty but being poor and a Christian that brings joy and comfort. Matthew 5:3 says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit”; note it is “in spirit,” not “in purse.”

Note 4. In humble circumstances. The poor have the greatest reason to be humble. A poor proud man is inexplicable; he has less temptation to be proud, and he has more reason to be humble. People often live in a way that is inappropriate to their circumstances, as if they can supply in pride what is lacking in their circumstances; whereas others who excel in abilities are most lowly in mind, just as the sun at its highest casts the least shadows.

Note 5. God may place his people among the lowest in society. A brother may be in humble circumstances in regard to his outward condition. The Captain of salvation, the Son of God himself, was “despised and rejected by men” (Isaiah 53:3); that is, he appeared in such a form and rank that he could hardly be said to be a man. So, in your greatest misery say, “I am not yet beneath the condition of a saint—a brother may be in very humble circumstances.”

Note 6. The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride. The most abject condition does not justify grumbling; you may yet rejoice and glory in the Lord. A man cannot sink so low as to be beyond the help of spiritual comforts. Do not blame your condition when you should blame yourself. It is not your misery but your passions that cause sin; wormwood is not poison. But, alas, the old Adam is found in us: “The woman you put here with me—she gave me … and I ate it” (Genesis 3:12). We blame providence when we should blame ourselves. Remember, humble circumstances have their comforts.

Note 7. Take pride. A Christian may glory in his privileges. To illustrate this, I shall show you:

(1) How he should not boast.

a.     Do not boast about self, self-worth, self-merits. The apostle’s reproof is justified: “And if you did receive it, why do you boast [the same word that is used here] as though you did not?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). That is a wrong way to boast—to glory in ourselves, as if our gifts and graces are bought by us. All such boasting is opposed to grace, as the apostle says in Romans 3:27, “Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded.”

b. Do not boast over others; the Scripture never allows you to feel pride. It is the language of hypocrites to say, “Keep away; don’t come near me, for I am too sacred for you” (Isaiah 65:5). To despise others, as men of the world, is a sign that we have forgotten who made the difference. The apostle rebukes such people: “Why do you judge your brother?” (Romans 14:10). Tertullian translates this as, “Why do you nothing him?” He who makes others nothing forgets that God is all in all to himself. Grace is totally different: “Show true humility toward all men. At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures” (Titus 3:2-3). Think of what you are in such a way that you do not forget what you were before grace made the difference.

(2) How he may boast.

a. If it is for the glory of God, to exalt God, not yourselves. “My soul will boast in the Lord” (Psalm 34:2)—of his goodness, mercy, power. It is good when we see we have nothing to boast of but our God—not wealth or riches or wisdom, but the Lord alone: see Jeremiah 9:23-24, “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength … but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me.”

b. Recall the value of your privileges. The world thinks you have a bad deal to have a crucified Christ; glory in it. Remember Romans 5:3, “We also rejoice in our sufferings.” The apostle does not say, “We must glory or boast of our sufferings,” but glory in sufferings. This glorying lets the world know the honor we give to Christ, so that they may know we are not ashamed of our profession when we are persecuted. The apostle Paul is explained by the apostle Peter: “if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name” (1 Peter 4:16). They think it is a disgrace, and you think it glorious to suffer for Christ. Look forward to the reward. Christ scorned the shame in comparison with “the joy set before him” (Hebrews 12:2). For Moses, the treasures of Egypt were nothing in comparison with his reward (Hebrews 11:26). So here you may glory, counterbalancing the shame of the world with the dignity of your hopes. So then, you see how you may take pride in God and his ways.

Note 8. In his high position. Grace exalts a person; even people in humble circumstances may be exalted by it. All the comforts of Christianity are like riddles to a worldly outlook: poverty is promotion; servants are freedmen, the Lord’s freedmen (1 Corinthians 7:22). The privileges of Christianity exceed all the ignominy of the world. Christian slaves are delivered from the tyranny of Satan and the slavery of sin; therefore they are “the Lord’s freedmen.” So James says, Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith? (2:5). Spiritual treasure and inward riches are the best. A Christian’s life is full of mysteries: poor and yet rich; humbled and yet exalted; shut out of the world and yet admitted into the company of saints and angels; slighted, yet dear to God; the world’s dirt but God’s jewels. In one place it says, “We have become the scum of the earth” (1 Corinthians 4:13), and in another we are called God’s “treasured possession” (Malachi 3:17). So then:

(1) Never quarrel with providence. Though you have nothing else, rejoice in this, that you have the best things. Never envy the world’s pleasures. To complain like this is only disguised envy. Remember, God has called you to other privileges. You sin against the bounty of God if you do not value them above all the pomp and glory of the world. First Timothy 6:6 says, “Godliness with contentment is great gain”; or it may be read, “Godliness is great gain with contentment,” in contrast with worldly gain. Men may gain much, but they are not satisfied; but godliness brings contentment with it. The apostle is saying the same as Solomon: “The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it” (Proverbs 10:22).

(2) Refresh your hearts with the sense of your privileges. As the people of God you are exalted in your greatest sufferings. Are you naked? You will be dressed in “fine linen,” which is “the righteous acts of the saints” (Revelation 19:8).

Note 9. Observe more particularly that the greatest sufferings for Christ are an honor for us: see Acts 5:41. It was an act of God’s grace to put this honor on them. So then, do not view as a judgment what is a favor. Reproaches for Christ are a matter for thanksgiving, not complaint. Oh, how happy are the people of God who can suffer nothing from God or men that does not bring comfort!

Commentary on Verse 10

But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower.

Following on from the previous exhortation, James speaks about prosperity.

But the one who is rich. This includes the noble, the honorable, those who have outward excellence, and especially those who remain untouched by persecution. Some observe that James does not say “the rich brother,” as before, the brother in humble circumstances, but only generally the one who is rich. Few of that rank give their names to Christ. But this may be too fanciful an interpretation.

In his low position. In the original a verb is lacking to make complete sense. What is to be understood? Oecumenius says, “Let him be ashamed,” considering the uncertainty of his state; others understand it as, “Let him be humbled,” in that he is made low. So it would be a similar manner of speech to 1 Timothy 4:3 or 1 Timothy 2:12, where the opposite word is understood. But this seems somewhat to disturb the order of the words. I rather like the opinion of those who repeat the word used in the previous verse and read it as, “Let him rejoice, the poor man, in that he is spiritually exalted; the rich in that he is spiritually humbled.” So grace makes them both alike to God. The poor who is too low is exalted, and the rich who is too high is humbled, which is a matter for glory or joy to both of them.

His low position. Some say outwardly and in providence, when his crown is laid in the dust and he is stripped of everything and brought to the state of the brother of low degree. But this is not accurate, for the apostle is speaking about a low position that goes with his being rich—made low while rich and high in rank and esteem. Some more particularly say the low position is because, being a Christian, he is no more esteemed than if he were poor. But this is inconsistent with the reason given at the end of the verse, because he will pass away like a wild flower. More correctly, then, it is to be understood of the disposition of the heart, a lowly mind; so it denotes either humility that arises from considering our own sinfulness or from considering the uncertainty of all worldly enjoyment. When we live in constant expectation of the cross, we may be said to be made low, however high we may be. This is consistent with the reason given and is parallel with 1 Timothy 6:17.

Because he will pass away like a wild flower. James gives a reason why they should have a lowly mind in the midst of their flourishing and plenty. The pomp of their situation is only like that of a wild flower. This simile is often used in Scripture: see Psalm 37:2 and Job 14:2 and Isaiah 40:6-7. Notice that the apostle does not say that his riches will pass away like a flower, but that he will pass away—he as well as his riches. Even if we had security over our possessions, we would not have security over our lives. We pass away and they pass away with a turn of providence as the flower of the field fades.

Notes on Verse 10

Note 1. But the one who is rich—that is, the rich brother. Riches are not altogether inconsistent with Christianity. But usually riches are a great snare. It is difficult to enjoy the world without being entangled in its pleasures. The moon is never eclipsed except when it is full, and it is usually in our fullness that we go wrong. That is why our Saviour says, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24). This is a Jewish proverb indicating an impossibility. Rich men should often think of this. A camel can go through a needle’s eye just as easily as you can enter into the kingdom of God. It would be a rare miracle of nature for a camel or an elephant to pass through a needle’s eye; and it is as rare a miracle of grace for a rich man to find Christ. They least of all perceive spiritual excellences. The heathen Plato says almost the same as Christ, that it is impossible for someone to be eminently rich and eminently good. The way of grace is usually so narrow that there is no room for those who want to enter with their great burdens of riches and honor.

But you will say, what do you want Christians to do then? Throw away their estates? I answer, no. There are two passages that qualify our Lord’s saying. One is: “With God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). Difficulties on the way to heaven bring us to despair of ourselves, not of God. God can so loosen the heart from the world that riches are no impediment. The other passage is Mark 10:23-24: “Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!’ The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, ‘Children, how hard it is [for those who trust riches—NIV footnote] to enter the kingdom of God!’” It is not having riches but trusting in them that poses the danger. Riches are not a hindrance to Christianity, but our abuse of them is. To sum up, it is impossible to trust in riches and enter into the kingdom of God; and it is nearly impossible for us to have riches and not to trust in them.

Note 2. A rich person’s humility is his glory. Humility is not only clothing but an ornament (see Colossians 3:12; 1 Peter 5:5). Augustine said, “He is a great man who is not lifted up because of his greatness.” You are not better than others because of your possessions but because of your meekness. The apostles possessed all things though they had nothing. Others have more than you if they have a humble heart.

Note 3. The way to be humble is to ignore the world’s advantages. The poor man must glory in that he is exalted, but the rich in that he is made low. Honors and riches put us beneath other men rather than above them. Riches will be your downfall if you do not watch out for them.

Note 4. If we want to be made low in the middle of worldly enjoyments, we should think how uncertain they are. We are worldly if we forget the world’s vanity and our own transitoriness: see Psalm 49:11. Either we think that we shall live forever or we leave our riches to those who will continue our memory forever— that is, to our children, who are but the parents multiplied and continued. But this is all in vain, for we will perish, as do our possessions. It is mad to be proud about what may perish before we perish, just as it is the worst of miseries to outlive our own happiness. The apostle says, “Commend those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain” (1 Timothy 6:17). Riches are far from being the best things. Rather, they are not anything at all. Solomon calls them “that which is not” (Proverbs 23:5 , KJV); and who ever loved nothing and would be proud of “that which is not”?

Note 5. The uncertainty of worldly enjoyment resembles a flower— beautiful but fading. This simile is used elsewhere: see Psalm 103:15-16 and 1 Peter 1:24. From this you may learn two things:

(1) The things of the world should not allure us, because they are fading. Flowers attract the eye, but their beauty is soon burned up; the soul lasts for eternity. An immortal soul cannot have total contentment in anything that fades. When you are tempted, say, here is a flower—glorious but fading; glass that is bright but brittle.

(2) The fairest things fade most. When plants flower, they begin to wither; compare Psalm 39:5. Be suspicious of outward things when you have them most. It is good to think of famine and want in the midst of plenty. The Lord knows how quickly your situation may change; when it seems to flourish most, it may be near to withering.

Commentary on Verse 11

For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.

James continues the simile and at the end of the verse applies it. Nothing needs explaining except the latter clause.

Will fade. That is, may fade, for the passage is not absolutely definite about what always will be, but simply declares what may be; and therefore the future tense is used. We see many times that “the wicked live on, growing old” (see Job 21:7-10). So the apostle does not say what always happens but what may be, what usually happens, and what will eventually happen.

The rich man. This may either be taken generally to mean the rich, whether godly or ungodly, or more specifically for the ungodly person who trusts in riches.

Fade away. The word is used of plants when they lose their beauty.

While he goes about his business. Some read, as do Erasmus and Gagneus, “with his abundance,” which Calvin also approves as fitting the context: “So shall the rich and all his abundance fade away.” However, we follow the general and more commonly received meaning, “in his ways or journeys.” The word is emphatic and refers to that earnest industry by which people travel on sea and land, running here and there in pursuit of wealth; and yet, when all is done, it fades like the flower of the field.

Notes on Verse 11

Note 1. From the continuation of the simile, note that the vanity of flowers should make us think about the vanity of our own comforts. We delight in pictures, for through them the soul, with the help of the imagination, has a double view of the object—a picture of it, and then the thing itself. This was God’s former way of teaching his people through types; he still teaches us through similes taken from ordinary objects. When we think of them, spiritual thoughts may awake; every ordinary object is, as it were, hallowed and consecrated for a heavenly purpose. So let this be your field or garden meditation: when you see the plants full of splendor, remember that all this disappears in an instant when the sun rises. The text says, the sun rises with scorching heat. The Greek word used here is usually translated “scorching wind,” which in the hot eastern countries came with the rising sun; see Jonah 4:8. It was a hot, piercing wind that blasted all things and was the usual symbol of God’s judgments. When you walk in a garden or field to meditate, as Isaac did (see Genesis 24:63), think, “What a picture! But alas, these things last only for a season; they would fade away of their own accord, but more, the east wind will soon dry them up.” In the same way, all worldly comforts are like spring flowers, good in their season but perishable.

Note 2. Our comforts fade away, especially when the hand of providence is stretched out against them. The flower fades by itself, but especially when it is scorched by the burning east wind. Our hearts should be detached from outward things. Do not make providence your enemy, for your comforts will perish more quickly. You cannot then expect a comfortable warmth from God but a burning heat. There are three sins in which you make providence your enemy:

(1) When you use your comforts to serve your lusts. Where there is pride and wantonness, you may expect a burning; certainly your flowers will be scorched and dried up. Salvian has said, “God will rain hell out of heaven rather than not visit for such sins.”

(2) When you trust in those comforts. God can brook no rivals. If you make idols of creatures, God will destroy them. When you trust in your wealth, as if it will supply your family’s needs, God will show that riches are useless when they are preferred to the living God (see 1 Timothy 6:17).

(3) When you obtain comforts in wrong ways. James 5:3 says, Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. The fire of God’s wrath falls on your family.

Note 3. While he goes about his business. Worldly men pursue wealth with great care and industry. The rich have several ways of accomplishing their ends. What pains people take for things that perish! Observe their incessant care, earnest labor, and unwearied industry, and see how appropriate this would be for heavenly treasure! Secondly, observe such persons’ work and care, and ask, shall an evil desire have more power over them than God’s love does over me? I have loftier motives and a more certain reward (Proverbs 11:18); they are more earnest for an earthly purchase and to heap up treasure for themselves than I am to enrich my soul with spiritual and heavenly excellences. Pambus, in ecclesiastical history, wept when he saw a harlot dressed with great care and expense, partly because she took such pains for her own undoing, and partly because he had not been so keen to please God as she had been to please a wanton lover. We should be ashamed that we do so little for Christ while others do so much for wealth.

Note 4. While he goes about his business. All our endeavors will be fruitless if God’s hand is against us. As the flower is to burning heat, so is the rich man in his ways; that is, despite all his industry and care, God may quickly destroy him. “You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it” (Haggai 1:6); that is, they did not benefit from their gains. Peter “worked hard a l l night” but caught nothing until he took Christ into the boat (see Luke 5:5). So you will catch nothing until you take God along with you (see Psalm 127:1). So, acknowledge providence in order to come under its blessing. Labor without God cannot prosper; labor against God, and against his will, will end in disaster.

Commentary on Verse 12

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

Here the apostle concludes the previous teaching with a general sentence. I will deal with it very briefly.

Blessed. That is, already blessed. They are not miserable, as the world views them. It is in contrast with the world’s judgment that the apostle says Blessed.

Is the man. The word used here usually only applies to males. Some people, including Aquinas, have misinterpreted this Scripture. Throughout the letter we will observe that our apostle delights to use this word for both sexes. In verse 23, A man who looks at his face … means a man or a woman, for it corresponds to the Hebrew word, which includes women as well as men.

Who perseveres under trial. That is, a person who patiently and constantly endures. The wicked suffer but do not endure; they suffer unwillingly, with complaints and blasphemies. But the godly man perseveres; that is, he bears the affliction with patience and constancy—without complaining, fainting, or blaspheming. Enduring is meant in a good sense—as in Hebrews 12:7, “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons.”

Trial. Affliction is called a trial, as before. In itself it is a punishment for sin, but to the godly it is but a trial—just as death, the king of terrors, is in itself the payment for sin, but for those who endure it death is the gate to eternal life.

When he has stood the test. This word is often translated “approved”: “approved by men” (Romans 14:18); “to show which of you have God’s approval” (1 Corinthians 11:19). So here, he is made or found approved—that is, sound in the faith; this is a metaphor taken from the proving of metals by fire.

He will receive. That is, freely, for though no one is crowned without striving (see 2 Timothy 2:5), yet we are not crowned as a result of striving. In many places Scripture says that God will give every man according to his work, yet not as a reward for this work; for such passages only imply that as evil works will not remain unpunished, so neither will good works be unrewarded.

The crown of life. Often in Scripture the gifts of God are pictured as crowns, sometimes to show the honor that God puts on creatures (e.g., “You … crowned him with glory and honor,” Psalm 8:5) and sometimes to show the all-sufficiency of God’s love. His love is like a crown; so Psalm 103:4 says, “He … crowns me with love and compassion.” However, usually this applies to the heavenly state.

(1) This shows partly its honor, as a crown is an emblem of majesty; and so it shows that regal dignity which we have in Christ: “I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me” (Luke 22:29). Christ, who left us the cross, also left us his crown. One of Christ’s legacies to the church is his own cross; therefore Luther says, “The church is heir of the cross.” So Christ says here, “I confer on you a kingdom.” This is one reason why heavenly glory is expressed as a crown.

(2) This shows its complete fullness. A circular crown is an emblem of plenty and infinity. There is something on every side, and it has no end. So, Psalm 16:11 says, “You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”

(3) This shows that it is given after striving. It was a reward for conquest. There was a crown given to those who ran a race. The apostle alludes to this in 1 Corinthians 9:24-25, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.… They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” In the races and games near Corinth, the reward was only a wreath made of flowers and plants that soon faded; but we run for a crown of glory that lasts. Or as another apostle states it, “the crown of glory that will never fade away” (1 Peter 5:4).

Now you see why heaven is pictured as a crown; sometimes it is called “a crown of glory,” to show its splendor, and sometimes “the crown of righteousness” (2 Timothy 4:8); sometimes it is called “the crown of life,” as in Revelation 2:10 (“Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life”), because it is a living crown that will flourish for all eternity.

That God has promised. This is added partly to show its certainty —we have the assurance of a promise—and partly to show the reasons for the expectation—not by virtue of our own merits, but God’s promise. There is no particular promise mentioned, because it is the general drift of the whole Word of God. Even in the law, mercy is promised: see Exodus 20:6.

To those who love him. This is a usual description of the people of God. But why those who love him rather than those who serve or obey him or some other description?

(1) Because love is the sum of the whole law and the hinge on which all the commandments turn. The Decalogue is abridged into this one word. Therefore Paul says that “love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10).

(2) Because love is the basis for our interest in Christ. Faith gives us a right to possess the promises, and love demonstrates this. Therefore love is often specified as the condition for the promises, as in 2:5—the kingdom he promised those who love him. He does not say, “fear him” or “trust in him,” though these graces also are implied, but chiefly to those who love him. Similarly, Romans 8:28 says, “In all thing God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Here the love of God is made the consequence both of the effectual calling and of election.

(3) Because patience is the fruit of love. He who loves much will suffer much. Therefore, when the apostle speaks about enduring temptations, he encourages them with the crown of life, promised to those who love God; a man would not suffer for him unless he loved him.

Notes on Verse 12

Note 1. Afflictions do not make the people of God miserable. There is a great deal of difference between a Christian and a man of the world. The latter’s best state is vanity (see Psalm 39:5); and a Christian’s worst state is happiness. He who loves God is like a die; throw him high or low, he still lands on a solid square. Sometimes he may be afflicted, but he is always happy. There is a double reason for this:

(1) Outward misery cannot diminish his happiness. A man is never miserable until he has lost his happiness. Our comfort lies to a great extent in the choice of our main happiness. Those who say in effect, “Happy are the people who are in such a case” (see Psalm 144:12-15)—that is, where there is no complaining in their streets, sheep bringing forth thousands, barns full, oxen strong for labor, etc. —may soon be miserable. All these things may disappear at a change of providence, just as Job lost everything in an instant. But those who say, “Blessed [happy] is the people whose God is the Lord”—that is, who count enjoying God as their happiness—when they lose everything, they can still be happy because they have not lost God. Our afflictions reveal our state of mind; when we see outward crosses as the greatest evil, God is not our main happiness. There are great evils that are soon felt by an ungodly heart; yet the prophet, like all believers, says, “I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior” (Habakkuk 3:18). In the greatest lack of earthly things there is happiness, and comfort enough in God’s covenant.

(2) Sometimes afflictions increase as they bring more comfort and a further experience of grace. God seldom afflicts for no reason. Such dispensations leave us either better or worse. The children of God profit from them, for God recompenses outward losses with inner enjoyments: “For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows” (2 Corinthians 1:5). That is, inner comforts can increase with outward sufferings. Learn, then, that people may be happy whom men count miserable. The world judges according to outward appearances and therefore is often mistaken. Salvian says, “A godly man’s happiness, or misery, is not to be judged by the world’s sense, but by his own; his happiness and yours differ.” The apostle Paul says, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men” (1 Corinthians 15:19).

Note 2. The sweetest afflictions are those that we endure for Christ’s sake. James says, Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial— that is, persecution for religion’s sake. There is comfort in corrections: “Blessed is the man you discipline, O Lord, the man you teach from your law” (Psalm 94:12). Note that when the discipline is from the Lord, there is comfort in it. Corrections aim at the mortifying of sin, and so are more humbling; but trials aim at the discovery of grace, and so are more comfortable. Corrections imply guilt; either we have sinned or are likely to sin, and then God takes up the rod. But trials come to us so that the world may know our willingness to choose the greatest affliction instead of the least sin; and so they bring us more joy. So then, when you are called to suffer for Christ, take comfort; it is a blessed thing to endure evil for that cause. Only be sure that your hearts are upright—that your suffering really is for Christ and that your hearts are right with Christ.

(1) That it is for Christ. It is not the blood and suffering that makes the martyr, but the cause. The glory of our sufferings is marred when there is evil in them (see 1 Peter 4:15).

(2) That your heart is right with Christ. There is no blessedness in sufferings that are born when our hearts are far from Christ. But you may suffer cheerfully when you appeal to God’s omniscience for your uprightness, as in the Psalms: “God … knows the secrets of the heart.… Yet for your sake we face death all day long” (44:21- 22). Can you appeal to God who knows our secrets and say, “For your sake we are exposed to such hazards in the world”?

Note 3. When he has stood the test. Note that before a crowning, there must be a trial. We derive no profit at all from the affliction —neither grace nor glory—until there is wrestling and exercise. For the sake of grace, the apostle teaches clearly, “discipline … produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11). Trials do not earn us heaven, but they always precede it. Before we are brought to glory, God will first wean us from sin and the world: see Colossians 1:12.

Note 4. It is good to contrast the glory of our hopes with our sufferings. Here we have trials, but we look for a crown of glory. Paul says the inner man is strengthened when “we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). A straight comparison of our hopes with our sufferings makes them seem light and easy. So our Saviour tells us, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10). So then, make use of this heavenly wisdom; consider your hopes—the glory of them, the truth of them.

(1) Their glory. Two things trouble men in their sufferings— disgrace and death. See what provision God has made against these fears: he has promised a crown against the ignominy of your sufferings, and against temporal death a crown of life. A man can lose nothing for God that is not abundantly recompensed; the crown of thorns is turned into a crown of glory, and losing a life is the way to save it (Matthew 10:39). Thus, it is good to contrast our hopes with our sorrows, and not to look only to the present dangers and sufferings, but to the crown—the crown of life that is laid up for us.

(2) Their truth. It is not only a crown of glory that you expect but “the crown of righteousness” (2 Timothy 4:8), which the righteous God will definitely bestow upon you. Although God makes the promise in grace, his truth, which is often called his righteousness in Scripture, makes him carry it out. Every promise is built upon four pillars: God’s justice or holiness, which will not let him deceive; his grace or goodness, which will not let him forget; his truth, which will not let him change; his power, which makes him able to accomplish.

Note 5. Lastly, no enduring is acceptable to God that does not arise from love. The crown that God has promised, he does not say is “for those who suffer” but for those who love him. A man may suffer for Christ—that is, in his cause—without any love for him, but it is worth nothing (1 Corinthians 13:3). Vicious people who die in a good cause are like a dog’s head cut off for sacrifice. So then, do not think that suffering will excuse a wicked life. Note that Christ says last of all, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness” (Matthew 5:10), intimating that a martyr must have all the preceding graces. First, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” “blessed are the pure in heart,” etc. and then “Blessed are those who are persecuted.” First, grace is required, and then martyrdom. See also the notes on James 2:5.

Commentary on Verse 13

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone.

James comes now to another kind of temptation. Having spoken about outward trials, he now speaks about inner temptations, so that he might correct a blasphemous error about their origin. Clearly, those outer trials are from God; but these inner trials, or temptations to sin, are altogether inconsistent with the purity and holiness of God’s nature, as the apostle shows here and in the following verses.

When tempted, no one should say. That is, when tempted to sin, for this is how the word is used in Scripture. The Greek word used here means temptations to sin, just as the Greek word used in verse 2 means trials. Thus the devil is called “the tempter” in Matthew 4:3; and in the Lord’s Prayer we pray that we may not be led “into temptation.” So this verse means when one is tempted— that is, so enticed to sin that he is overcome by it.

Say. That is, either in word or thought, for a thought is the saying of the heart. Some who dare not whisper such a blasphemy certainly imagine it. The apostle implies that the creature is apt to say, to have some excuse or other.

“God is tempting me.” That is, it was he who enticed or forced me into evil.

For God cannot be tempted by evil. The reason here is drawn from the unchangeable holiness of God; he cannot in any way be tempted into evil. Some read it actively—“he is not the tempter of evil”; but this would be a repetition of the last clause. Some translate it as, “God is not the tempter of evil people but only of the good, through afflictions”; but this does not agree with the original phrase, for it does not refer to evil people, but simply, without an article, to evil things. To sum up, God cannot by any thing external or internal be drawn into any evil.

Nor does he tempt anyone. That is, God does not seduce anyone. God wants everyone to conform to his holy nature.

Notes on Verse 13

Note 1. No one should say. Man is inclined to blame others for his own wrongs. Thus Aaron blamed the people for his evil action (see Exodus 32:23-24).

(1) Beware of these vain deceptions. Silence and owning up to being guilty is far better. God is glorified when people stop being deceitful. It is best to have nothing to say, nothing but confession of sin.

(2) Learn that excuses cut no ice with God. Ignorance is not excused by wrong teaching. When “a blind man leads a blind man,” not one, but “both fall into a pit” (Matthew 15:14)—the blind guide and the blind follower. Saul was rejected as king for obeying the voice of the people rather than the Lord (see 1 Samuel 15:23).

Note 2. People, rather than admitting their guilt, blame God. They think, “It is foolish to blame Satan—to say, I was tempted by Satan.” If there were no Satan to tempt us, we would tempt ourselves. It is useless to blame others—“I was tempted by others.” But it is blasphemous to blame God and say, “I am tempted by God.” People would do anything rather than think badly of themselves, for it is man’s disposition to be “clean in his own eyes” (Proverbs 16:2, KJV). So beware of this wickedness of putting sin upon God. The more natural this is for us, the more we should heed James’s exhortation. We blame God for our evils and sins in various ways:

(1) We do this when we blame his providence, the state of things, the times, and the people around us. Adam said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it” (Genesis 3:12). Note that this obliquely reflects on God: “The women you put here with me.” So many plead their distractions. But God sends us miseries not to make us worse, but to make us better, as Paul seems to argue in 1 Corinthians 10:13-14.

(2) We blame God for our own evils when we ascribe sin to the defect in divine grace. People say they could do nothing else; God gave them no more grace (see Proverbs 19:3).

(3) People blame God for their own sins when they blame all their misfortunes on fate and their birth stars; these are mindless attacks on God himself, under the guise of reflections on his creation.

(4) People blame God for their own sins when they are angry without knowing why. Their conscience pricks them, and they fret and fume without knowing why. They want to blame God but dare not, as was the case with David himself: “David was angry because the Lord’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah” (2 Samuel 6:8). He was angry but could not tell who he was angry with. He should have been angry with his own folly. Wicked men display anger: “they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God” (Isaiah 8:21).

(5) People blame God for their own sins most of all when they think he makes any suggestion to the soul to persuade it and incline it to evil. Satan may come and give evil counsel to the soul, but God does not.

(6) People blame God for their own sins when they misunderstand his decrees, as if they forced you to sin. Men will say, “Who can help it? God wanted it to be like this.” God does not give you an evil nature or evil habits; these are from yourself.

Note 3. For God cannot be tempted by evil. God is so immutably good and holy that he is above the power of temptation. Men soon warp and vary, but he cannot be tempted. People foolishly compare God with the creature; because we can be tempted, they think God can also. But Habakkuk 1:13 says, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil.” We should tremble, as we are so easily tempted! How can you stand before the God who cannot be tempted? There are two applications of this note:

(1) It is an incentive for closer communion with God. A believer participates in the divine nature (see 2 Peter 1:4). The more of the divine nature you have, the more you can withstand temptations. We easily fall because we have more of man in us than of God. If all memory of sin and Satan were abolished, man himself would become his own devil.

(2) Use this thought in your temptations. When natural thoughts rise in us, thoughts against God’s purity, say this: surely God cannot be the author of sin.

Note 4. Nor does he tempt anyone. The Lord is no tempter; the author of everything good cannot be the author of sin. God tempts no one; people tempt each other in many ways:

(1) When you add your authority to countenancing sin. Jeroboam made Israel sin (1 Kings 16:26); the guilt of a whole nation lay on his shoulders. Israel ruined him, and he ruined Israel. So also “Manasseh led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites” (2 Chronicles 33:9). Note that he “led” them.

(2) Through persuasion people pander to others’ lusts: “With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk” (Proverbs 7:21). Note that she led him astray and then seduced him; first he began to waver, and then he could no longer resist.

(3) People who encourage others in their evil ways, calling evil good and good evil, are like Ahab’s prophets. They cry “Peace, peace!” to a soul utterly sunk in a pit of perdition. How far these are from the nature of God. God tempts no one; but these people are devils in the shape of men.

Their work is to seduce and tempt. They are murderers of souls. So the apostle Peter says, “They mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error” (2 Peter 2:18).

Application. If God tempts no one, then God cannot be the author of sin. First I shall deal with those places that seem to imply this, then, secondly, show you God’s dealing with sin.

(1) The teaching in Scripture. There are different levels; some places seem to say that God does tempt, as in Genesis 22:1, “God did tempt Abraham” [KJV; NIV, “God tested Abraham”—Ed. note]. But that was only a trial of his faith, not an inducement to sin. God tries our obedience but does not rouse us to sin.

But you will say, there are other places that seem to hint that God does incite to sin: “So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria … who took [Israel] into exile” (1 Chronicles 5:26). But his punishing a hypocritical nation was not evil but just and holy, part of his corrective discipline. God does not tempt the good that they may become evil, but only most justly punishes the evil with evil. The hardening and blinding of Psalm 105:25, Romans 1:24, and other places is not withdrawing good from men, but punishing them according to their wickedness.

(2) God’s dealings with sin. All that God does here may be stated in these propositions:

a. Without God sin would never exist; without his prohibition, an action would not be sinful. The apostle says, “where there is no law there is no transgression” (Romans 4:15). But I mean without his permission and foreknowledge and, I may add, without his will and concurrence, without which nothing can happen. It cannot be outside the will of God, for then he would not be omniscient; and it cannot be against his will, for then he would not be omnipotent. Every action of ours needs the continued concurrence of God’s providence; and if he did not uphold us, we could do nothing.

b. Yet God cannot be looked upon as the direct author of sin. In his providence he knows about sin without sin, as a sunbeam lights on a dunghill without being stained by it. This is best explained by a summary of all those actions in which providence is concerned in man’s sin. Briefly, they are as follows:

Foreknowledge and preordination. God intended and appointed that it should be. Many people who allow prescience deny preordination, for fear of making God the author of sin; but these people fear where no fear is. The Scripture ascribes both to God: “This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge” (Acts 2:23). Note that Peter says not only “foreknowledge” but “God’s set purpose,” which implies a positive decree. Now, that cannot infer any guilt or evil in God, for God appointed it, as he intended to bring good out of it. Wicked people have quite contrary intentions. Thus Joseph asked his brothers, when they feared his revenge, “Am I in the place of God?” (Genesis 50:19); that is, was it my design to bring these things to pass, or God’s decree? Who am I that I should resist the will of God? And again in verse 20, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” That is, God decreed it otherwise than you intended; your aim was wholly evil, but God’s was good.

Permission. God’s decrees imply that sin will exist, but they do not cause it. God leaves us the freedom of our own hearts and our own free choice; he is resolved not to hinder us (see Acts 14:16). Were grace a debt, it would be unjust to withhold it; but God is free and may do with his own as he pleases.

Concurrence in the action, though not in its sinfulness. It says in Acts 17:28, “In him we live and move and have our being.” When God created mankind, he did not make them independent; we not only had our being from him, we still have it in him; we are in him, we live in him, and we move in him. Every action needs the support and concurrence of God. Desertion of a sinner, and leaving him to himself. God may suspend or even withdraw grace in his sovereignty; that is, because he wills it. But he always does this either out of justice or wisdom. And when out of wisdom, it is for the trial of his children: “God left [Hezekiah] to test him and to know everything that was in his heart” (2 Chronicles 32:31). Sometimes God withdraws for the sake of justice, to punish the wicked, as in Psalm 81:12, “So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.” When grace is withdrawn, which should moderate and govern the affections, man is left to the impulses of his own lusts. God cannot be blamed for any of this.

Concession. Wicked instruments such as evil acquaintances and false prophets are allowed to stir men up to evil: “The Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets” (1 Kings 22:23). In God’s providence, the evil spirit is brought in and uses wicked instruments. But the Lord is sovereign over all the instruments of deceit, so that they are restrained within limits.

Sometimes God’s providence appears to be a trap. But this reflects no dishonor on God, because these events are good in themselves and are not temptations to sin. Wicked men abuse even the best things. God’s Word irritates their corruption; sin draws strength from God’s commandment: “Make the hearts of this people calloused”—that is, dull and heavy (Isaiah 6:10). The preaching of the Word, which should instruct them, makes them even more dull of hearing. Yet in all this God promises the glory of his justice.

A  judicial handing over to the power of Satan and their own vile affections. “God gave them over to shameful lusts” (Romans 1:26). The truth is, we give ourselves over to evil. It is only because this serves God’s ends that it is said, “God gave them over.”

A limitation of sin. As God sets the bounds of grace according to his own good pleasure, so he sets the limits of sin. “Surely your wrath against men brings you praise, and the survivors of your wrath are restrained” (Psalm 76:10).

God turns it to his glory. God is so good that he would not allow evil if he could not bring good out of it. In the event of sin, it may be termed (as Gregory said of Adam’s fall) “a happy fall,” because it makes way for the glory of God. Note how many good attributes advance because of sin—mercy in pardoning, justice in punishing, wisdom in ordering, power in overruling it. The picture of providence would not be half so fair were it not for these black lines and darker shadows. So I must never blame God for allowing sin, as he offers so much mercy as he forgives sin.

Commentary on Verse 14

But each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.

James now shows the true cause of sin, having dealt with the false cause—namely, God’s providence. The true cause of sin is in every man’s soul; it is his evil desire.

But each one is tempted. James speaks universally, because no one is free except Christ.

When, by his own evil desire. He says his own because although we all have a corrupt nature, every one has a particular inclination to this or that sin rooted in his nature. Own excludes all attacks from outside. There is no greater enemy than our own nature. His own evil desire. In order to show you what is meant by evil desire, I must make the following premises: (1) The human soul is mainly made up of desires. It is like a sponge, always thirsty and seeking something with which to fill itself. (2) This bias of the soul inclines toward desire. (3) Since the fall, people concentrate on their desires more than on anything else; so they are so corrupt that they influence all the rest. These reasons show why all sin is expressed by evil desire.

Lust may be considered in two ways:

(1) As a power, it is disposed towards evil, in all the faculties. “For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit” (Galatians 5:17).

(2) As an act, the actual evil desire is nothing other than the first stirring of our human nature.

He is dragged away and enticed. Some think that in these two words the apostle gives two reasons for sin—one internal, which is lust, hinted at in the first word, dragged; the other external, a bait to entice the soul. As Plato said, “Pleasure is the bait of sin.” Piscator and our translators seem to favor this and translate the words thus: when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed, intimating that he is dragged away by his own evil desire and enticed by the object. However, the position of the words in the original shows that both refer to evil desire: “when he is dragged away and enticed by his own evil desire.”

Notes on Verse 14

Note 1. The origin of evil is in man’s own evil desires, the Adam and Eve in our own hearts. A man is never truly humble until he expresses indignation against himself. Do not say it was God’s fault. He gave a pure soul. Suggestion can do nothing without evil desire. Nazianzen says, “The fire is in our wood, though it is the devil’s flame.” You cannot blame the world; there are allurements about, but it is your fault if you swallow the bait. Do not put all the blame on the sin of the times; good men are best in worst times, stars that shine brightest in the darkest nights. It is your venomous nature that turns everything to poison.

Note 2. Above everything else, a man should watch out for his desires. All sin is called evil desire. God requires the heart: “My son, give me your heart,” which is the center of desires. The first thing through which sin makes itself known is evil desire. Before there is any consultation in the soul, there is a general tendency or bias in the soul. So look out for your evil desires; the whole person is swayed by them.

Note 3. Evil desire ensnares the soul by force and flattery. You are either dragged away or enticed.

First, dragged away. One way of knowing if desires are wrong is if they give too much pleasure. When affections are impetuous, you have good reason to be suspicious of them. Do not satisfy them. Greediness is an indication of uncleanness (Ephesians 4:19). When the heart burns or pants, it is not love but evil desire. When you cry out to God, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me … ?” (Romans 7:24) you discern this power over your souls. This comes about:

(1) When your desires are irrational, but you are overtaken by brutish rage. “They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for another man’s wife” (Jeremiah 5:8). They had no more control over themselves than a well-fed horse. This they proved with unbridled license against all reason and restraints.

(2) When your desires become uncontrollable. This is what the apostle calls “passionate lust” (1 Thessalonians 4:5). This violence is clearly seen in sensual appetite, as well as in other sins. “[They] were inflamed with lust for one another” (Romans 1:27).

(3) When evil desire troubles the soul so much that the person becomes ill. Thus Amnon was sick for Tamar (2 Samuel 13:2); that was a sickness of lust and uncleanness. Ahab was sick with covetousness (1 Kings 21:4), and Haman for honor (Esther 5).

The power of these evil desires tells us:

(1) Why wicked men are so set on sin and give themselves over to it and harm themselves. They “draw sin … as with cart ropes” (Isaiah 5:18). As beasts that are under the yoke put out all their strength to draw the load that is behind them, so these draw on wickedness to their disadvantage; they commit it even if it is difficult and inconvenient. So Jeremiah 9:5 says that they “weary themselves with sinning.” Why is this? There is a power in sin that they cannot withstand.

(2) Why the children of God cannot do as they want in order to resolutely withstand temptation or perform duties acceptably. Evil desire may overpower them. Note that James said, Each one is tempted, which includes the godly. A wicked man does nothing but sin—his works are merely evil; but a godly man’s deeds are not wholly good: “For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing” (Romans 7:19). Although they do not plan to indulge in sin, they may become discouraged in the way of grace. “You do not do what you want” (Galatians 5:17). Resolutions are broken by this potent opposition.

Second, note that the next ploy of lust is flattery—enticed. That is one of the stumbling-blocks to conversion—evil desire promises delight and pleasure. Job 20:12 says, “though evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue.” They are enticed by mischievous pleasure. So then:

(1) Learn to be suspicious about things that give you too much pleasure. Pleasures are only enticements, baits that have hooks under them.

(2) There is need for great care. Pleasure is one of the baits of evil desires. The truth is, all sins are rooted in a love of pleasure. Therefore, be watchful.

Commentary on Verse 15

Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

Then, after desire. James goes on to describe the progress of sin: after birth comes death.

Has conceived—that is, as soon as sin begins to stimulate desires. Sin, or the corrupt nature, having inclined the soul to an ungodly object, works to set the soul in an evil frame of mind.

It gives birth to. That is, it completes sin and brings it to effect in us.

Sin. That is, actual sin. Our Saviour says that our first inclinations are sinful: see Matthew 5:28.

And sin, when it is full-grown. That is, settled into a habit. But why does the apostle say, when it is full-grown? (1) The apostle does not distinguish between sins. Every sin is mortal in its own nature and hands over the sinner to death and punishment. (2) Death is the result of all sin. Death may be laid not only at sin’s door, but also at the door of evil desires.

Gives birth to. That is, hands the soul over to death. Evil desire is the mother of sin, but sin deserves death.

Death. This is but a euphemism for damnation; the first and second death are both implied.

The apostle shows that the supreme cause of sin is lust, and its result is death.

Notes on Verse 15

Note 1. Sin takes over the spirit gradually. Evil desire leads to delightful thoughts, which lead the mind astray; then sin is born, disclosed, and strengthened; and then the person is destroyed. Sin is progressive, as David noted: “Blessed is the main who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers” (Psalm 1:1). Sin is never stationary: first, it is wicked, then sinners, then mockers; first counsel, then way, then seat.

Application 1. Oh, that we were wise enough to resist sin! A Christian’s life should be spent watching out for evil desire. It is dangerous to give way to Satan (see Ephesians 4:27).

Application 2. This warns us about the danger of “small” sins. Consider how dangerous they are. It is not only great faults that ruin the soul, but small ones as well; dallying with temptations has serious consequences.

Note 2. Evil desires are fully conceived and formed in the soul when the will is drawn and gives its consent. So then, if evil desires have penetrated your thoughts, keep them from controlling your will.

Note 3. What is conceived in the heart usually comes out in life and conversation. That is the reason why the apostle Peter tells Christians to take care about the heart: “Abstain from sinful desires” (1 Peter 2:11).

(1) Learn that the hypocrite cannot always be hidden. God says that “his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly” (Proverbs 26:26).

(2) Learn the danger of neglecting evil desires and evil thoughts. If they are not suppressed, they will flower into sins. Permitted thoughts bring the mind and temptation together. David thought about Bathsheba’s beauty, and so was all on fire. It is wrong to toy with thoughts.

(3) Learn what a mercy it is when sinful conceptions are stillborn. Restraints are a blessing. We are not as evil as we would have been otherwise. Take note of when your sinful ways are hedged around by providence (see Hosea 2:6).

Note 4. The result of sin is death; the apostle Paul says, “Those things result in death” (Romans 6:21). Sin comes with a pleasing and delightful sweetness, promising nothing but satisfaction and contentment; but the end is death. “The soul who sins is the one who will die” (Ezekiel 18:4). This is a principle stamped on nature. The godless were aware of it (Romans 1:32).

Application 1. This teaches us to halt the progress of evil desires that end in death and damnation. Place a flaming sword in the path of your ungodly delights (see Genesis 3:24). Wake up your soul; consider what Wisdom says: “All who hate me love death” (Proverbs 8:36).

Application 2. This shows us why we have to kill sin before it kills us. Either sin dies or the sinner dies. The life of sin and the life of a sinner are like two buckets in a well—if the one goes up, the other must come down. When sin lives, the sinner must die. There is an evil in sin and evil after sin. The evil in sin is breaking God’s law, and the evil after sin is its just punishment. People who are not aware of the evil in sin will become aware of the evil after sin. For the regenerate, all God’s dispensations save the person and destroy the sin: “You were to Israel a forgiving God, though you punished their misdeeds” (Psalm 99:8). God spared the sinner but punished the sin. The apostle Paul, speaking of himself when the power of the Word first came on him, says, “Sin sprang to life and I died” (Romans 7:9). So it is better that sin should be condemned than that you should be condemned. It is better that sin should die than that I should die; therefore, I should destroy my sin so that my soul escapes.

Application 3. Bless God who has delivered you from a state of sin; your soul has escaped a death-trap. Never look back on Sodom except with loathing; thank God that you have escaped. “I will praise the Lord, who counsels me” (Psalm 16:7). I might have been Satan’s slave, and I deserved the reward of my own death; but God has called me to life and peace. In one place conversion is described as being called out of darkness into marvelous light; that is a great deal. But elsewhere it is described as being translated from death to life. I might have wasted my days in pleasure and vanity, and then gone to hell. Oh, blessed be the name of God forevermore, who has delivered me from so great a death!

Commentary on Verse 16

Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers.

The apostle has argued with them about God being the author of sin; now he warns them against this blasphemy. There is no difficulty in this verse.

Don’t be deceived. Do not wander. This metaphor is taken from straying sheep. Sometimes it indicates deviating from the Word as the yardstick of truth, which we most often express by the term “error.”

My dear brothers. Speaking to them about an error, he is very meek with them, and therefore his request is loving and sweet.

Notes on Verse 16

Note 1. It is not good to brand things as errors until we have proved them to be so. After he had argued the matter with them, he said, Don’t be deceived. (1) Loose slings do no good. Only fools are afraid of hot words. Facts do far better than invective. Our Saviour never denounced anyone without giving a reason for it. (2) This is an easy way to soil the holy truths of God. How often the Papists call us heretics. “These men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand” (Jude 10). If disputes were settled by argument rather than prejudice, there would be fewer differences.

Application. So we should be less passionate and more thoughtful. We should condemn things through reason rather than through abusive language. General invectives only make superficial impressions. Identify and name the error.

Note 2. We should be as careful to avoid errors as to avoid vices. A blind eye is worse than a lame foot. Indeed, a blind eye may cause lameness; without light, you are apt to stumble. Some opinions seem remote and theoretical, and yet they influence us; they make the heart foolish, and then life will not be right. There is a link between truth and truth, just as there is between grace and grace. So speculative errors do influence us. Some false teaching seems to encourage discipline; but when it is correctly evaluated, it greatly discourages discipline. So then, beware of false teachings in case your spirit is engulfed by them. People think nothing is to be avoided that is not an evil action and clearly wrong. But remember, there is contamination of the spirit as well as contamination of the body (2 Corinthians 7:1); a vain mind is as repugnant to God as an evil life. Error and idolatry are as dangerous as drunkenness and prostitution; therefore, you should carefully avoid everything that entices you into error, as well as those things that draw you into sin. Because error is the more plausible of the two, it is more deceptive. I am sure that many people toy with ideas because they do not know their danger. All false principles have a secret but pestilent influence on life.

Note 3. Don’t be deceived. That is, do not be mistaken in this matter. It is a hard thing to see how God condones the act and not the evil motivation behind the act; however difficult this is to understand, Don’t be deceived. Where truths are not plain to see, people tend to deviate from them. Many truths suffer a great deal because of their intricacy. False teachings may be so similar that it is hard to distinguish them. Human nature is prone to error; and, therefore, when truth is hard to discover, we content ourselves with our own prejudices. All truths are surrounded with such difficulties, so that those who want to doubt easily stumble: “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” (that is, understand it) (John 6:60); and then (verse 66), “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” When there is something to justify our prejudices, we think we are safe enough. God leaves such difficulties as a stumbling-block for those who want to be offended.

Truth is presented in such a way that though it is clear enough for those who want to know, it is obscure enough to harden other people in their own unbelief. People want to be spared the trouble of prayer, study, and discussion. They are loath to “cry aloud for understanding” (Proverbs 2:3); they love an easy, short route to truth, and therefore run with those mistakes that come to hand, vainly imagining that God does not require belief about those things that are difficult to understand. They do not look for what is sound and solid but what is plausible and at first sight coincides with their thoughts and understanding.

Application 1. You see, then, how necessary it is to pray for gifts of interpretation for your ministers and an understanding heart for yourselves, that you may not be discouraged by the difficulties that surround the path of truth. Pray that God will give ministers a clear spirit and a plain expression and yourselves a right understanding. This is better than to grumble at the dispensation of God, that he should leave the world in such doubt and suspense. Chrysostom observes that saints do not pray, “Lord, make a plainer law,” but, “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law,” as David does (see Psalm 119:18). It is an unreasonable demand for blind people to desire God to make a sun so they can see. It is better to desire gifts of the Spirit for the minister, that the Scriptures might be opened; and the grace of the Spirit for ourselves, that our understanding might be opened, so that we may come to discern the mind of God.

Application 2. This shows how much people who make the things of God obscure are to blame. Many people have the ability to raise a cloud of dust with their own feet, and so darken the brightness and glory of the Scriptures.

Note 4. Note the importance of the matter. The mistake is so dangerous that James is all the more earnest. Don’t be deceived. Note that errors about the nature of God are very dangerous. There is nothing more natural to us than to have wrong thoughts about God, and nothing is more dangerous. All behavior depends on keeping the glory of God unstained in your understanding. You see in Romans 1:23-24 that they “exchanged the glory of … God” and then “God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts.” Idolatry is often expressed by prostitution; bodily and spiritual uncleanness usually go together. Wrong thoughts about God harm the spirit and make people lose their sense and their desire for piety. Do not let the glory of God be tarnished in your thoughts; abhor whatever comes into your mind or may be suggested by other people if it tends to eclipse the divine glory in your thinking.

Note 5. My dear brothers. A gentle approach best shows people their errors. It is said that we must speak to kings with silk words. Certainly we need to be very tender toward people who differ from us, speaking to them with silk words. Where the matter is likely to cause displeasure, the manner should not be harsh; pills should be sugared, so that they may be easily swallowed. Many people have been lost through harshness because you make them go over to the other party. Tertullian, when he had spoken favorably of the Montanists, was forced to join their fellowship through the harshness of the priests of Rome. Meekness may win over those who are not committed. Men from another party will think everything is spoken out of rage and anger against them. Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. I would to God we could learn this wisdom today: “Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 2:25).

Commentary on Verse 17

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

James follows on from the former matter, which showed you that God was not the author of sin, to show you that God is the author of everything good, especially the spiritual gifts and graces bestowed on us. Here is a hidden argument: the author of everything good cannot be the author of evil. Every good and perfect gift is strengthened by an allusion to the sun as James represents God, in the latter part of the verse, as essentially and immutably good.

Every good … gift. The Vulgate has “the best gift,” which fits the sense but not the original words. The gift is called good either (1) to exclude Satan’s gifts, which are harmful: “blinded … minds” (2 Corinthians 4:4); these gifts from below are not good; or (2) to show the kind of gifts that he is speaking about—not common mercies but good gifts, which the apostle elsewhere calls “every spiritual blessing” (Ephesians 1:3). It is true that all common gifts come from God’s bounty; but the apostle here intends special blessings, as is partly indicated by the attributes good and perfect. It is true that some people distinguish between the two words, making good imply earthly blessings and perfect imply heavenly or spiritual blessings. I think this is too fanciful. The two words indicate the same mercies.

And perfect gift. These gifts lead to our perfection. This includes initial grace, all progress in the spiritual life, and perfection and eternal life itself. All are the gift of God. Though eternal death is a reward, eternal life is a gift; and therefore the apostle varies the phrase when he compares them in Romans 6:23. So not only the start but all the gradual steps from grace to glory are gifts and from God’s free mercy.

Is from above. That is, from heaven. Heaven stands for God, as in Luke 15:21—“I have sinned against heaven and against you”; that is, against God and his earthly father. I suppose there is some special reason why our blessings are said to be from above, because they were designed there, and heaven is their goal where they are perfectly enjoyed. Therefore, in Ephesians 1:3 we are said to be “blessed … in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing”; therefore James says, from above because blessings originate and are fulfilled there.

Coming down. Not “falling down”; this shows (says Aquinas) that we do not have blessings by chance, but through the normal channels.

From the Father of the heavenly lights. That is, from God. The word “father” is often used for the author or first cause, as in Genesis 4:20-21: “the father of those who live in tents,” “the father of all who play the harp and flute”—that is, the author and founder. God is elsewhere called “the Father of our spirits” (Hebrews 12:9), because they are not from human descent but are created directly by God. So what is meant by Father of the heavenly lights? Some conceive that it means no more than “glorious Father,” as it is usual in Hebrew to put the genitive for an epithet and the genitive plural for the superlative. But I think that God is likened to the sun, which gives out its light to all the planets; and so God, being the author of everything that is signified by light, is called here the Father of the heavenly lights. It is normal in the Scriptures to attribute light to God and darkness to the devil—as in Luke 22:53 —“This is your [that is, Satan’s] hour—when darkness reigns.”

Who does not change. This is an astronomical term, taken from the heavenly bodies, which have many revolutions. The heavenly lights have their vicissitudes, eclipses, and decreases; but our sun always shines with the same brightness and glory.

Like shifting shadows. The allusion continues. Stars, according to their different light and position, have various shadowings. The nearer the sun is to us, the less shadow it casts; the farther off, the greater the shadow. So we know the sun’s movements by its different shadows. But with the Father of spiritual lights there is no shadow of turning; that is, he does not change but always remains the same. This is a sun that does not set or rise and cannot be overcast or eclipsed.

Notes on Verse 17

Note 1. All good things are from above; they come to us from God. Evils do not come from God, because he is good. God delights in being the sole author of all our good, and therefore cannot endure that we should give that honor to another. When God was about to work miracles by Moses’ hand, he first made it leprous (Exodus 4:6). Noting that God is the author of all the good that is in us prevents many corruptions, such as:

(1) Glorying in ourselves. Who would glorify himself in what is from above? We think it wrong for a person to take credit for another person’s work; the apostle says in 2 Corinthians 10:16 that he would not boast about work already done in another man’s territory. So all the good your hand accomplishes is heaven’s bounty to you. It is not your work but God’s.

(2) Lording it over others. Ungodly and weak spirits feed their evil desires with their enjoyments. The more you place on top of a straight pillar, the straighter it is; but a pillar that is bent bows under the weight it supports. So the more God puts on ungodly people, the more their spirit is perverted.

(3) Envying those who have received most. Our eye is evil when God’s hand is good. Envy is a rebellion against God himself and the liberty and pleasure of his dispensations. God distributes gifts and blessings as he wills, not as we will. Out duty is to be content and to beg grace to make use of what we have received.

Note 2. Whatever we have from above, we have as a gift. We have nothing but what we have received, and what we have received we have received freely. There is nothing in us that could oblige God to bestow it; the favors of heaven are not for sale. When God invites us to his mercy, he does not invite us as a host but as a king—not to buy, but to take; the most welcome are those who have no money (Isaiah 55:1)—that is, no confidence in their own merits. Merit and desert are improper ideas to express the relationship between the work of a creature and the reward of a Creator; and they are even more incongruous since the fall. Sin, which indicates how undeserving we are, makes mercy even more of a gift, so that now in every giving there is some forgiving. Grace gives us even more, because in every blessing there is not only bounty but a pardon. Oh, that we were aware of this, that in all our actions we might have a sense of love and have God’s glory as our goal.

Note 3. Out of all the gifts of God, spiritual blessings are the best. These are called here good and perfect because these make us good and perfect. “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11). The parallel passage in Luke 11:13 says, “give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” That is giving good gifts—to give the Holy Spirit. “There can be nothing good where there is not the Spirit of God” (Augustine). One may become tired of other gifts. An estate may be a trap; life itself may become a burden. But you have never heard of spiritual blessings being a burden. Ungodly spirits prefer soup to a birthright, vain delights before the good and perfect gifts. David makes a wiser choice in his prayer: “Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor t o your people” (Psalm 106:4). Not every mercy satisfies David—only the mercy of God’s own people; not every gift satisfies us—only the good and perfect gift. A similar prayer is in Psalm 119:132, “Turn to me and have mercy on me, as you always do to those who love your name.” Note that these are not the mercies that he bestowed on the world, but the mercies he bestowed on his people. Nothing but the best mercy will satisfy the best hearts.

Note 4. God is the Father of the heavenly lights. Light is often used to indicate the essences and perfections of creatures as they come from God. The essence of God comes in 1 John 1:5, “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” There light indicates the simplicity of the divine essence. It also shows the glory of God: “He lives in unapproachable light” (1 Timothy 6:16)—that is, in inconceivable glory. So Jesus Christ, in that he received his personality and subsistence from the Father, is called, in the Nicene Creed, “Light of light, and very God of very God.” The creatures also, since they derive their perfection from God, are called lights. An angel is called an “angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14); the saints are called “the people of the light” (Luke 16:8). Rational creatures, as they have wisdom and understanding, are said to be lights; Christ is “the true light that gives light to every man” (John 1:9), and all the candles in the world are lighted from this torch. In short, reason, wisdom, holiness, and happiness are often expressed by light, and they are all from God.

As the stars shine with a borrowed luster, so do all the creatures; where you meet any brightness and excellency in them, remember it is only a ray of the divine glory. As the star brought the wise men to Christ, so should all the stars in the world bring your thoughts to God, who is “the Fountain and Father of lights.” “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise” not you but “your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). If you see a candle burn brightly and purely, remember it was set alight by God. If there is any light in others, a sense of the mysteries of the Gospel, if they are burning and shining lights, if they give out the flame of godly conversation, remember that they are only revealing that luster and glory that they received from above.

If God is the Father of the heavenly lights:

(1) You must apply yourself to God. If you want the light of grace or knowledge or comfort, you must be set alight by his flame. We are dark bodies until the Lord fills us with his own glory.

How devoid of comfort we would be without God! In the night there is nothing but terror and error; and so it is in the soul without the light of the divine presence. When the sun is gone, the plants wither; and when God, who is the sun of spirits, is withdrawn, there is nothing but discomfort and a sad languishing in the soul. Oh, pray then that God will shine on your soul not in flashes but with constant light. It is often like this with us in comfort and grace. Holy thoughts arise and, like a flash of lightning, make the room bright; but then the lightning is gone, and we are as dark as ever. But when God shines with a constant light, then shall we give out a holy luster: “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you” (Isaiah 60:1). We, like the moon, are dark bodies and have no light rooted within ourselves; the Lord must dawn on us before we can shine. It is the same with comfort: “Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame” (Psalm 34:5).

(2) This shows why wicked people hate God: “Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light” (John 3:19). Again, they “will not come into the light for fear that [their] deeds will be exposed” (verse 20). Those who delight in darkness cannot endure God, nor anything that represents God. Rachel could not endure Laban’s search, nor can the wicked endure God’s eye. He is the Father of the heavenly lights; he has a discerning eye and a searching beam.

(3) Children of God should walk in purity and innocence. “You are light in the Lord. Live as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8). Walk so that you reflect the glory of your Father; faults in you, like spots in the moon, soon show up. You who are the lights of the world should shine brightly; indeed, in the worst times you should shine brightest, like stars in the blackest night. Therefore the apostle says, “Shine like stars in the universe” (Philippians 2:15).

Note 5. The Lord is unchangeable in holiness and glory; he is a sun that always shines with the same brightness. God, and all that is in God, in unchangeable. This is an attribute that, like a silk thread in a chain of pearls, runs through them all. His mercy does not change —“his love endures forever” (Psalm 100:5). The same is true of his strength, and so he is called “the Rock eternal” (Isaiah 26:4). So his love is immutable. His heart is the same to us in all situations; we change, but God does not change. So then:

(1) The more changeable you are, the less you are like God. You should hate yourselves when you are so fickle! God is immutably holy, but you have a heart that loves to wander. God is always the same, but you quickly change (see Galatians 1:6). The more you “continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of” (2 Timothy 3:14), the more you resemble divine perfection.

(2) Go to him to establish and settle your spirits. God, who is unchangeable in himself, can bring you into an unchanging state of grace, against which all the gates of hell cannot prevail. Therefore, do not rest until you have received gifts from him that never alter—the fruits of eternal grace and the pledges of eternal glory.

(3) Go to God as one who is good and unchanging. In the midst of the greatest changes, see him as the same always; when there is little in the creature, there is as much in God as ever: “They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment.… But you remain the same, and your years will never end” (Psalm 102:26- 27). All creatures vanish not only like a piece of cloth, but like a garment. Cloth would decay by itself or be eaten by moths; but a garment is worn every day. But God does not change. There is no wrinkle on the brow of eternity; the arm of mercy is not dried up, nor does his compassionate love ever end. This is the church’s comfort in the saddest situation. No matter how the face of the creature changes, God will still be the same. It is said somewhere that “the name of God is as an ointment poured out.” Certainly this matter of God’s unchangingness is like an ointment poured out, the best cordial to refresh a fainting soul. When the Israelites were in distress, all the letters of recommendation that God would give Moses were those in Exodus 3:14, “‘I am who I am. … “I AM has sent me to you.”’” That was comfort enough for the Israelites; God could say, “I am.” With God there is no change—no past or present; he remains in the same indivisible point of eternity and therefore says, “I am.” So the prophet Malachi says, “I the Lord do not change [or am not changed]; so you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed” (Malachi 3:6). Our safety lies in God’s immutability; we cannot perish totally because God cannot change.

Commentary on Verse 18

He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

The apostle shows that his main aim is to reveal God as the author of spiritual gifts, and therefore he mentions regeneration.

He chose. Because he wanted to, or being willing. The word is given here (1) to deny compulsion or necessity—God did not need to save anyone; and (2) to exclude merit—we could not force God to do it— it was merely his good pleasure. This he chose is equivalent to what Paul calls the natural inclination of God’s heart to do his creatures good.

To give us birth. This word means natural birth, and sometimes it is used for creation. So we are said to be “his offspring” (Acts 17:28). Some people apply these words to God’s creation of us, making people his firstfruits, or the most special part of the whole creation. But this is beside the point, for James speaks of this as birth that is through the word of truth. In the next verse he uses this to argue that we should be more aware of the duty of listening; therefore this birth implies the work of grace on our souls. The same metaphor is used elsewhere: “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). “He has given us new birth into a living hope” (1 Peter 1:3). These two quotations show you the two parts of the work of grace; in one we are begotten, in the other we are born again. In the one it is purely God’s act; the other implies the manifestation of life in ourselves. This distinction clears up some controversies in religion.

Through the word of truth. Here the instrument is noted. Those who refer this verse to the creation apply it to Jesus Christ, who is the eternal, uncreated Word of the Father, through whom all things were made (see John 1:1-3; Hebrews 1:2). But clearly it means the Gospel, which is often called “the word of truth” and is the usual way in which God brings us to himself in birth.

That we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. Those who apply the verse to the creation say the apostle means that man was the chief part of it, for all things were subjected to him and put under his feet (Psalm 8). But I think it rather indicates the dignity and prerogative of the regenerate; for as it was the privilege of the firstfruits of all the sheaves to be consecrated, so believers and converts among all men were set aside for the purposes of God. The firstfruits of all things were the Lord’s (1) partly to testify to his right in that people; (2) partly for a witness of their thankfulness— they had received everything from him and were to thank him for this (“Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops,” Proverbs 3:9). This was the honor and homage they were to give to God.

Everywhere this is attributed to the people of God—to Israel— because they were God’s special people, called out from all the nations. “Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest” (Jeremiah 2:3); that is, of all people, they were dedicated to God. So holy worshipers, represented by the virgins in Revelation 14:4, are said to be “purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb”; these were the most honored, Christ’s own portion. So the church is called “the church of the firstborn” (Hebrews 12:23). The people in the world are ordinary people; the church is the Lord’s.

Notes on Verse 18

Note 1. God engaged in the work of regeneration through his own will and good pleasure: He chose to give us birth; “God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden” (Romans 9:18). God’s will is the reason for all his actions, motivated by love and mercy. God can have no higher motive. “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16); he begins with us first. When Moses speaks about the origin of God’s love for Israel, he says, “The Lord … [chose] you … because the LORD loved you” (Deuteronomy 7:7-8); he had no other motive. “He rescued me because he delighted in me” (Psalm 18:19); that was the only reason he did it, because he wanted to. “I will … love them freely” (Hosea 14:4); there is the beginning of it all.

This is applicable in various ways:

(1) To stir us up to admire the mercy of God, that nothing should incline his heart except his own will. The same will gave us life and passed others by; whom he will he saves, and whom he will he hardens. Human thoughts are very unbalanced in the inquiry about why God should choose some and leave others. When all is said, you must rest in this supreme cause, God’s will and pleasure: “Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure” (Matthew 11:26). Christ himself could give no other reason, and there is the final answer to all disputes. Praise God, all his saints, for his mercy to you. This gives the purest understanding of the freeness of God’s love, when you see that it was God’s own will that brought you mercy and made the difference between you and others. In some ways it makes a difference between you and Christ. The goodwill of the Father kills one and saves others; he willed Christ’s death and your salvation. In the same verse, Christ’s bruises and our salvation are called God’s pleasure: “It was the Lord’s will to crush him,” and “the will of the Lord [in the salvation of the elect] will prosper in his hand” (Isaiah 53:10).

(2) This tells us why, in the work of regeneration, God acts with such freedom. God works according to his will; the Holy One of Israel must not be limited and confined to our thinking: “The wind blows wherever it pleases” (John 3:8). All is according to the will of the free Spirit; there are mighty deeds in Chorazin and Bethsaida when there are none in Tyre and Sidon. Israel had statutes and ordinances when all the world had nothing except the flickering candle of their own reason. It is the same with the work of the Spirit with the means; some have only the means, others the work of the Spirit with the means: “Why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” (John 14:22). Note Acts 9:7, where it is said of Paul’s companions that “they heard the sound,” and yet in Acts 22:9 it is said that “they did not understand the voice.” Solomon Glassius comments that they heard a sound, but they did not hear it distinctly as Christ’s voice. Some only hear the outward sound, the voice of man, but not of the Spirit in the Word.

It is the same with the amount of grace; to some more is given, to some less. “It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). The manner is also very varied. God starts with some through love, with others through fear, snatching them from the fire (see Jude 22-23). Some are won through a cross and affliction, others through mercy. Therefore, we should not limit God to any one method, but must wait on him in the use of means for his good pleasure to our souls.

Note 2. The calling of a soul to God is, as it were, a new birth and regeneration. He gave us birth; there must be a new frame, for all is out of order. Therefore, grace is called “a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17); all was chaos and emptiness before. Elsewhere this is expressed as being “born again” (John 3:3); and so believers are called Christ’s “offspring” (Isaiah 53:10).

This is useful:

(1) To show us the horrible defilement and depravation of our nature. Mending and repairing would not be enough; God must recreate us and give us birth again. Like the house infected with leprosy, scraping is not enough; it must be pulled down and rebuilt.

(2) This shows us that we are merely passive in our conversion. It is a begetting, and we (as the infant in the womb) contribute nothing to our own forming. “It is he who made us, and we are his” (Psalm 100:3); we had no hand in it.

(3) This shows us two aspects of conversion. First, there will be life; the effect of generation is life. Natural men are said to be “separated from the life of God” (Ephesians 4:18); they are complete strangers to the work of the Spirit. But when the soul is given life, there is spiritual feeling, and the soul is not dead toward God. Paul says, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). A man cannot be in Christ without receiving life from him. Second, there will be a change. God brings all the seeds of grace, and therefore there will be a change. Profane, godless hearts are made spiritual, heavenly, holy: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord” (Ephesians 5:8). You see, there is a vast difference. If men remain the same, how can they be said to be born again? They are still ungodly and still worldly. There should be at least a desolation of the old frames of spirit.

Note 3. It is God’s own work to give us birth. This is sometimes ascribed to God the Father, as here, and in other places to God the Son. Believers are “his offspring” (Isaiah 53:10). Sometimes it is ascribed to the Spirit, as in John 3:6, “the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” We see God the Father’s will: He chose to give us birth; God the Son’s merit: through his obedience we have “the full rights of sons” (Galatians 4:5); God the Spirit’s efficacy: he overshadows the soul, and the new creature is born. This is ascribed to all three persons of the Godhead together in one place: “He saved us … because of his mercy … through the washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ” (Titus 3:5-6). In another place you have two persons of the Godhead mentioned: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). It is true that the ministers of the Gospel are said to give birth, but it is as instruments in God’s hands. So Paul says, “I became your father” (1 Corinthians 4:15); and about Onesimus he says, “who became my son while I was in chains” (Philemon 10). God loves to attribute his own honor to the instruments.

So then:

(1) Remove false reasoning. You cannot give birth to yourself— that would be monstrous; you must look beyond yourself, and beyond the means, to God who forms you after his own image. John 1:13 says that we were “born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

(2) This shows the wonderful relationship we have through the new birth. God is our Father; that brings his love and compassion and care and everything that can be dear and refreshing to the creature: “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them” (Matthew 6:32). This relationship is often called on by the children of God: “But you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us” (Isaiah 63:16). There is comfort in a father, and much more in a Heavenly Father. Evil men may be good fathers (see Matthew 7:11); they must follow their natural fatherly instincts. How much more will a good God be a good Father? As Tertullian said, “None can be so good and so much a father as he.”

Note 4. The ordinary means whereby God gives birth is the Gospel. He gave us birth through the word of truth: “in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel” (1 Corinthians 4:15). There is the instrument, the author, the means: the instrument, Paul (“I became your father”); the means, “through the gospel”; the author, “in Christ Jesus.” So 1 Peter 1:23 says, “born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” The Word is, as it were, the seed that is grafted into the heart and produces obedience. This is through the Word, and that part of the Word which is correctly called the Gospel. Moses may bring us to the borders, but Joshua leads us into the land of Canaan; the law may prepare the way, but the Gospel gives the grace of conversion.

Well, then, let us wait on God in the use of the Word; it is not good to balk the known and normal ways of grace. Wisdom is given at Wisdom’s gates: “Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway” (Proverbs 8:34). Remind your souls about the necessity of the means. “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). Without grace I cannot be saved; without the Word I cannot have grace. Reason like this with yourselves, so that you may alert your soul to a greater sense of waiting on God in the Word. It is true that divine grace does everything; but remember, it is through the Word of truth. The influences of the heavens give fruitful seasons; yet plowing is necessary. It is one of the sophisms of this age to urge the Spirit’s efficacy as a plea for the neglect of the means.

Note 5. The Gospel is a word of truth; it is called this not only here but in various other passages: see Ephesians 1:13; Colossians 1:5; 2 Timothy 2:15. The same expression is used in all these passages. You may constantly observe that in matters of the Gospel the Scriptures speak with the greatest certainty; their comfort is so rich, and their way so wonderful, that we are apt to doubt such matters the most, and so the Scriptures give us a more solemn assurance about them—as in 1 Timothy 1:15, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” We tend to look on this as a doubtful thing, or at best as just a possibility; therefore Paul prefaces it with, “Here is a trustworthy saying.” Similarly in Isaiah 53:4, “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows.” You say, surely I am a sinner. But it is just as certain that Christ is a Saviour; naturally we are more aware of our sin than of the comforts of Christ. The apostle Paul says about the heathen that they “know God’s righteous decree” and that “those who do such things deserve death” (Romans 1:32).

Natural conscience will give us a sense of sin, but usually we look on Gospel comforts with a loose heart and doubtful mind; and therefore Scripture speaks in such a certain way. Is it certain that you are a sinner? It is just as certain that he “took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows.” Similarly in Revelation 19:9, “‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’ … ‘These are the true words of God.’” Similarly, in Revelation 22:6, after he had spoken about the glory of heaven, the apostle says, “These words are trustworthy and true.”

Application. This makes us put our heart into these truths. How strange it is that our hearts should be so weak about those points that have a special note of truth and faithfulness linked to them! It may well be said, “Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar” (1 John 5:10). God has told you that these are trustworthy and true sayings; therefore you implicitly make God a liar when you think these things are too good to be true. This is to set your own sense and experience against God’s oaths, which are everywhere in the Gospel. Assent to the greatest certainty there is; check those evil thoughts that secretly lurk in all our hearts, that the Gospel is some clever device that cheats the world.

Assents are of different kinds; some are very imperfect. There is conjecture, which is only a lighter inclination of the mind to what is only probable; it may or may not be true. Better than this is opinion, when the mind is strongly swayed to think something is true. However, there is a fear of the contrary, which is opposed to believing with all the heart. The next stage is “weak faith,” where people look upon Christianity as true and good but cling to it feebly. Above this there is assurance. Here I mean the truths of the Gospel, not of our interest in its comforts. This is meant by the apostle when he says the Thessalonians received the Gospel “with deep conviction” (1 Thessalonians 1:5); they were persuaded of the truths of the Gospel. The same apostle, in Colossians 2:2, calls it “the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God”—that is, an understanding and experience of the truths of the Gospel and a resolution to live and die in this faith.

Question. You will say, how shall we attain such perfection? How is the soul assured that the Gospel is a word of truth?

Answer. This question is worthy of a reasoned answer, because atheism is so natural to us. In these times especially, the reigning sin is atheism and skepticism in matters of religion, brought about partly by corrupt and blasphemous doctrines, which agree with our thoughts, and partly by the sad divisions among the people of God. Everyone thinks he is in the right and suspects everyone else; therefore Christ prayed for unity in the church: “Let the world know that you sent me” (John 17:23). When there are divisions in the church, there is usually atheism in the world—partly through the scandals committed under a pretense of religion, through which Christ is, as it were, denied (see Titus 1:16, and also Hebrews 6:6, “they are crucifying the Son of God all over again”—that is, he is exposed to the derision and scorn of his enemies and portrayed as a criminal). Now more than ever, then, it is necessary to support the mind with solid arguments and to establish you in the holy faith. Many arguments are given by the Fathers and the schoolmen on behalf of the Gospel, but I have always preferred the arguments of the Fathers, such as Lactantius, Tertullian, Justin Martyr, Cyril, etc., rather than those of the schoolmen, as they are more practical and natural. The arguments of the schoolmen are more subtle and speculative, and so less easy to understand. Briefly, then, you may know that the Gospel is a word of truth because whatever is excellent in a religion is in an unparalleled manner found in our religion, or in the doctrine of the Gospel. The glory of a religion lies in three things—the excellency of rewards, the purity of precepts, and the sureness of principles of trust. Now examine the Gospel by these things and see if it can be matched elsewhere.

(1) The excellency of rewards. This is one of the most important aspects of a religion. Therefore the apostle proposes it as a principle and foundation of religion and worship to “believe that he [God] exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). Whoever comes to God—that is, to engage in his worship— must also believe in his bounty, because a man in all his endeavors is poised for some happiness and reward. Since the fall there are “many schemes” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). As the Sodomites, when they were struck with blindness, groped around Lot’s door, so we grope here and there for a reward that may be adequate for our desires. The heathen were at a sad loss.

Augustine, following Varro, counted two hundred and eighty-eight opinions about the chief good. Some placed it in pleasures and such things as gratified sense. But this would make brutes of men, for it is the beast’s happiness to enjoy pleasures without remorse. Cicero said, “He is not worthy of the name of a man who would spend one whole day in pleasures.” “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men” (1 Corinthians 15:19). But the Gospel gives eternal and happy enjoyment of God in Christ in the life to come, “eternal pleasures at your right hand” (Psalm 16:11), complete knowledge, perfect love, the soul filled with God. The Gospel outdoes all religions, propounding a most excellent reward for the holy life.

(2) Purity of precepts. In the Christian religion all moral duties are heightened to their greatest perfection. “Your commands are boundless” (Psalm 119:96), comprising every motion, thought, and circumstance. The precepts are exact, commanding love not only for friends but for enemies. The law is spiritual and good in all points: “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul” (Psalm 19:7)— that is, not only guiding the actions of the exterior man, but piercing his thoughts. We have a perfect law.

(3) The sureness of principles of trust. One of the most wonderful aspects of the creature’s relationship to the Godhead is trust and dependence. And trust, being the rest and quiet of the soul, must have a sure foundation. Survey all the religions in the world, and you will find no basis for trust except in the Gospel—trusting in God for a common mercy, trusting in God for a saving mercy.

a. For a common mercy. There are no representations of God to the soul like those in the Gospel. The Gentiles had only vague and dark thoughts about God and therefore are generally described as “men, who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). I remember that when our Saviour spoke against anxiety about outward needs he said: “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or, ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things” (Matthew 6:31-32), implying that such a way of life was only excusable in heathen who had no sure principles. But you who know providence and the care of a Heavenly Father should not be anxious in this way. It is true that the heathen had some sense of a deity; they had some understanding about the nature of God (see Romans 1:20). But the apostle says in the next verse that “their thinking became futile.” When they came to represent God as an object of trust, they were vain and foolish. But now in the Gospel God is represented as a fit object of trust, and therefore the solemn and purest part of Christian worship is faith. Luther observed that “it is the design of the whole Scripture to bring the soul to a steady belief and trust.” Therefore the psalmist, speaking about God’s work in the world and in the church, when he comes to his work in the church says, “Your statutes stand firm” (Psalm 93:5). God deals with us according to sure principles.

b. For saving mercies. This is the test of all religions. The best is the one that gives the soul a sure hope of salvation. In Jeremiah 6:16 God says, “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you shall find rest for your souls.” There are three things that trouble the soul: our distance from God, our fear of angry justice, and a despair of retaining comfort with a sense of duty. Therefore, before the conscience can have any rest and quiet, three couples must be brought together—God and man, justice and mercy, comfort and duty; all of them must embrace and kiss each other.

First, God and man must be brought together. Homer said that people would never be happy until the gods and mortal men came to live together. Certainly instinct makes us feel after an eternal good. “Men would seek him [God]” (Acts 17:27). Now, how can we have any link with God since there is such a distance between us and him? How can guilty creatures think of God without trembling, or approach him without being devoured and swallowed up by his glory? The heathen realized this to a certain extent and therefore held that the supreme gods were defiled by the unhallowed approaches of sinful and mortal men. Therefore they invented heroes and half-gods, a kind of middle powers, to be mediators, to convey their prayers to the gods and the blessings of the gods back again to them. So Plutarch said, “By these intermediate powers there was communion between the gods and men.” To this teaching of the heathen the apostle alludes in 1 Corinthians 8:5; the heathens had “many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords.’” They had many gods, many ultimate objects of worship; and many lords—that is, mediators. “Yet for us there is but one God, the Father” (1 Corinthians 8:6). There is one supreme essence and one mediator.

In this sure way the Scriptures lay down how we can have communion with God. The Godhead and manhood meet in one nature. The Son of God was made the Son of man, that the sons of men might become the sons of God. Therefore the apostle Peter explains that the great work of Christ was “to bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18), to bring God and man together. So the apostle says in Hebrews 10:19-20 that we may “enter the Most Holy Place by … a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body.” This is an allusion to the Temple, where the curtain hid God’s glory. Christ is the true Jacob’s ladder (see John 1:51), the bottom of which touches the earth—there is his humanity, and the top of which reaches heaven—there is his divinity. So we may climb this ladder and have communion with God. As a Father said, “Climbing up in hope by the manhood of Christ, we have access to the Godhead.”

Second, justice and mercy must be brought together. We want mercy and fear justice; guilt makes the spirit tremble, because we do not know how to redeem our souls out of the hands of angry justice. The heathen were under this bondage of the divine justice: “those who do such things deserve death” (Romans 1:32). So how can we appease angry justice and redeem our souls from this fear? You know the question in Micah 6:6-7, “With what shall I come before the Lord?” The heathen, in their blindness, tried to placate the Godhead by meritorious acts, either by costly sacrifices (“ten thousand rivers of oil”) or by torturing themselves as Baal’s priests who gashed themselves. In the Gospel, “love and faithfulness meet together, righteousness and peace kiss each other,” as it says in Psalm 85:10. Justice, which terrifies the world, in Christ is made our friend and the chief ground of our hope and support; as 1 John 1:9 says, the Lord “is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins.” One would have thought “faithful and gracious” a more proper term than “faithful and just,” since pardon is an act of free grace. But justice is satisfied in Christ; so it does not detract from his righteousness to dispense a pardon. So the crown of glory is called “the crown of righteousness” (2 Timothy 4:8).

Many Scriptures teach that all the comfort and hope of a Christian hangs on God’s righteousness. If you believe the apostle Paul, you will see that God’s great purpose in appointing Christ, rather than any other Redeemer, was to show himself just in pardoning, so that he might be kind to sinners without damaging his righteousness. In short, justice is satisfied and mercy has the freer course. Listen to what the apostle says in Romans 3:25-26, “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice.” And in case we should miss the emphatic word, he repeats it: “to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies the man who has faith in Jesus.” So in justification, where grace is most free, God makes his righteousness shine, having received satisfaction from Christ.

Third, comfort and duty are brought together. The end of all religion is that the soul may be quiet in itself and obedient to that which is supposed to be God. How shall we combine duty with comfort? Conscience cannot be stifled with loose principles. The heathen could not be quiet, and therefore when their reason was disturbed with sensual desires that they could not bridle they became violent. They plucked out their eyes because they could not look at a woman without lusting after her. And we who have the light of Christianity know how much more we cannot have comfort without duty. Although true peace of conscience is founded on Christ’s satisfaction, yet it is found only in his service: “Come to me … and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28); but verse 29 says, “Take my yoke upon you … and you will find rest for your souls.” As we must come to Christ for comfort, so we must remain under his discipline. See how wonderfully this is provided for in the Gospel. There is the power of the Spirit against weaknesses, and merit against failings, so that duty is provided for as well as comfort. You need not despair about weaknesses, as you have the help of a mighty Spirit. In short, when you have the greatest thoughts about duty, you may have the sweetest hopes of comfort and can say with David, “I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands” (Psalm 119:6).

Note 6. God’s children are his firstfruits. The word hints at two things—their dignity and their duty. These two considerations will show the meaning of the apostle’s expression.

(1) It notes the dignity of the people of God in two ways. One is that they are “a people that are his very own” (Titus 2:14), the people God looks after. The world’s people are his goods, but you are his treasure. Firstfruits is emphatic. Others are only his creatures, but you are his firstfruits. He delights to be called your God: “Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 144:15). He is Lord of all, but he is your God. What a wonderful example this is of God’s love for us, that he should reckon us as his firstfruits!

The other way is that they are a large proportion of the world. The firstfruits were offered for the blessing of all the rest: “Honor the Lord with … the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine” (Proverbs 3:9-10). It is the same here with the children of God. These are the firstfruits that God takes in place of a whole nation, to convey a blessing on the rest.

(2) It hints at duty as, first, thankfulness in all their lives. Firstfruits were dedicated to God as a sign of thankfulness. Cain was implicitly branded for ingratitude because he did not offer the firstfruits. You who are God’s firstfruits should live a life of love and praise, aware of his mercy. The apostle says the mercies of God should persuade us to offer ourselves “as living sacrifices” (Romans 12:1). Now, under the Gospel, there are no sin offerings; they are all thank offerings. So then, give yourselves up in spiritual worship. It is only reasonable that when God has given us life we should be his firstfruits. The motive for obedience under the Gospel is not fear but gratitude. “… to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear” (Luke 1:74). Your lives should show that you are firstfruits, yielded to God as a testimony of gratitude.

Second, this indicates holiness. The firstfruits were holy to the Lord. God’s part must be holy; and therefore firstfruits that were in themselves an abomination, such as the firstborn of a dog or ass, were not to be offered to God—they were redeemed with money. God can brook no unclean thing. Sins in you are far more upsetting to God’s Spirit than to other people. Jeremiah 32:30 says, “The people of Israel and Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth.” The Septuagint reads, “they alone [or, they only] have been sinners before me,” as if God did not take notice of the sins of other nations.

Third, this indicates consecration. Your time, energy, and concerns are all the Lord’s. You cannot do with them as you please, but only what makes for the Lord’s glory. You are not firstfruits when you seek your own things. You are not to live in your own ways, nor for your own ends.

Firstfruits were handed over to God, and the owner had no rights over them. So then:

a. You are not to walk in your own ways; your desires and wills are not to guide you—only God’s will is to guide you. “There is a way,” says Solomon, “that seems right to a man” (Proverbs 16:25); a corrupt mind looks on it as a good way, and a corrupt will is ready to follow it. So the prophet Isaiah says, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6). Remember to study the mind and will of God. Your own ideas will seduce you, and your own affections will betray you.

b. Do not live for yourself: “Those who live should live no longer for themselves,” for their own pleasure, profit, or honor (2 Corinthians 5:15). We have no rights over ourselves; everything is given up to God. All pleasures or honors are refused or received depending on how they can be used to the glory of God.

Commentary on Verse 19

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.

My dear brothers. James has spoken about the word of truth being the instrument of conversion, and on that ground urges diligence in hearing and reverence in speaking about it. He is saying, you see what an honor God has given the Word; through it he bestows his new life. Therefore, be quick to listen—that is, have a teachable mind to wait on God’s Word; be slow to speak— that is, do not rashly give your opinion about things concerning the faith; be slow to become angry—that is, do not be angry with those who differ from you. If we take these directions as being a specific reference to the matter in hand, the context is easy to understand. I agree that it is good to apply Scripture, and so this teaching extends to private conversation, when people are full of talk themselves and cannot bear to listen to others and seek private revenge in anger; these things are often found in Christian meetings and conventions. But the main aim of the apostle is to direct his readers to the solemn hearing of the Word.

Notes on Verse 19

Note 1. Wherefore [KJV]. It is a great encouragement to wait on God’s ordinances when we consider the benefits God gives through them. Say this when you listen: I must listen so that my soul may live; I am going to the Word that is to give me life, to make my soul share in the divine nature.

Note 2. Wherefore [KJV]. Experience of God’s ordinances makes us more eager to receive them. He has given you birth by the word of truth; wherefore be quick to listen. When God gives you success, he gives you a seal of his truth, a real experience of the comforts of his service. The Stancarists [the family of Stancaras, a professor at Königsberg and afterwards in Poland, where he died in 1574—Ed. note] think ordinances are useless for believers. But they are ignorant of the nature of grace, the state of their own hearts, and the purposes of the Word. Because this proud sect has revived in our own day, and because many people as soon as they have found the benefit of ordinances think they are above them, let us examine this a little more.

(1) They are ignorant of the nature of grace, which always leaves a longing for more: “My soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you” (Psalm 63:1). The apostle Peter says, “Now that you have tasted that the Lord is good … come to him, the living Stone” (1 Peter 2:3-4); that is, if you have had any experience of Christ in the Word (which is the case in the context), you will come to him for more. Grace is brought to life by previous experience, not blunted.

(2) They are ignorant of the purpose of the Word, which is not only to give us birth but to make the saints mature (see Ephesians 4:12-13). The apostles, when they had founded churches, returned to strengthen the disciples (Acts 14:22). We are to look after growth as well as truth. Now, in case you should think this only applies to newborn babies or to weaker Christians, you will see that mature Christians also need to exercise themselves in this way. The prophets “searched intently” into the writings of other prophets (1 Peter 1:10). Daniel himself, though a prophet and a prophet who had visions, studied the Scriptures: see Daniel 9:2. Even the greatest believers need to pray, meditate, read, and listen in order to preserve the work of grace that has started in their souls. Note in particular Luke 8:18, “Consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.”

(3) They are ignorant about the state of their own hearts. Are there no graces to be perfected and increased, no corruptions to be put to death, no good resolutions to be strengthened? Certainly no one needs ordinances more than those people who do not need them. The spirit is a tender thing. Things that are most delicate are most dependent. Brambles grow by themselves, but the vine needs supports. Wolves and dogs scavenge, but sheep need a pastor. Those who look into their hearts will find two reasons for ordinances.

First, knowledge is imperfect. It is good to be aware of our own ignorance. No one is so proud and contented as those who know least; “the man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know” (1 Corinthians 8:2). At first truths seem few and quickly learned. In any learning we are humbled with the imperfections of knowledge, and it is the same in divine matters. We see little in the world until we come to be more deeply acquainted with it. “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law” (Psalm 119:18). Then we discern depths and wisdom that we never thought of. The Word is an ocean without bottom or banks. A man may see an end of other things: “To all perfection I see a limit; but your commands are boundless” (Psalm 119:96). We can never exhaust all the treasure that is in the Word.

Second, affections need to be stirred. Commands need to be repeated to a dull servant, and our will is like that. Live coals need blowing. The apostle Paul says, “For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged” (1 Corinthians 14:31). The apostle specifies the two purposes of prophesy— namely, that we may learn and be comforted.

Note 3. Everyone. This is a universal duty. No one is exempt from listening and patient learning. Those who know most learn more. Junius was converted through talking with a plowman. A simple layman turned the whole Council of Nicea against Arianism. God may use the meanest things to instruct the greatest. Paul, the great apostle, calls Priscilla and Persis, two women, his “fellow workers in Christ Jesus” (Romans 16:3, 12). Torches are lit many times by a candle, and the most glorious saints benefit from the lowest. Christ taught his disciples through a child: “He called a little child and had him stand among them” (Matthew 18:2). It is proud disdain to scorn the humblest gifts. There may be gold in an earthen jar. There is no one too old, no one too wise, no one too high to be taught. Let everyone … be quick to listen.

Note 4. Be quick. That is, ready. The commendation of duties involves the ready discharge of them. Swiftness includes two things:

First, freedom of spirit. Do it without being reluctant when you do it. No offerings are accepted by God except those that are freewill offerings: see Psalm 119:108.

Second, diligence in taking the next opportunity. Do not ignore an opportunity and say, “Another day.” Delay is a sign of unwillingness. In Ezekiel 1 the beasts had four faces and four wings. They had four faces, waiting for the Spirit to come on them, and four wings, ready to fly wherever God sent them. This readiness is shown in three things:

a. In curbing all deliberations. “I did not consult any man” (Galatians 1:16). When the soul deliberates about duty, it neglects duty. Do not debate when God commands. The soul is half won over when it starts debating things. In Genesis 2:17 God says, “When you eat of it you will surely die.” Eve repeats this in Genesis 3:3, “You must not eat … or you will die”; and Satan says, “You will not surely die” (verse 4). God affirms, the woman doubts, and Satan denies. It is not good to allow the devil the advantage in a discussion; when you pause over something, Satan works on your hesitancy.

b. In setting aside all excuses. Duty would never be done if we gave in to the soul’s every doubt. Peter, as soon as he heard the voice of Christ, threw himself into the sea, while others came by boat (Matthew 14:29); he did not worry about the waves between him and Christ.

c. In yielding yourselves up to God’s will without reservation, make no exceptions. The ear and heart must be open for every command. “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:9). He was ready to receive whatever God commanded. Alas, it is otherwise with us, though Christ offers himself to us, as he did to the blind man in Luke 18:41, “What do you want me to do for you?”

Note 5. Quick to listen. That is, to the Word of God, or else it would be good to be slow to listen. Various things are implied in this precept.

(1) It shows how we should value listening. Be glad for an opportunity. The ear means the sense of learning, and so it is of grace; it is that sense that is consecrated to receive the most spiritual dispensations. “How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?” (Romans 10:14). The Lord began his sermon with, “Hear, O Israel” (Deuteronomy 6:3). When Christ was solemnly declared to be the great prophet of the church, Matthew 17:5 records these words: “This is my Son, whom I love … Listen to him.” Reading is useful, but the voice has a secret influence on the soul because of the link between the external word and inward reason. This is the way the authority and sovereign efficacy of the Spirit are conveyed. The apostle had spoken a great deal about the Word, and then he said, “This is the word that was preached to you” (1 Peter 1:25). It is not the Word read but the Word “preached.” Reading is good in its place; but to neglect listening, pretending that you can read better sermons at home, is a sin.

(2) This shows how keen we should be to take every opportunity to hear the Word. If ministers should preach “in season and out of season,” people should listen. People used to travel far for such an opportunity. Matthew 3:5 says, “People went out to hear him [John] from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.” Some of the places mentioned were thirty miles from Jerusalem.

(3) This shows readiness to listen to other people’s understanding of the Word. We should not be puffed up with our own knowledge but must be quick to listen to what others say. It is a great evil to hold other people’s gifts in contempt. No one is so wise that he cannot receive some benefit from the different handling of what he already knows. It is beneficial to observe the breath of the Spirit of God in various instruments.

(4) This shows what we should do in Christian meetings. They often degenerate into noise and clamor; we are all quick to speak, but not to listen to one another, and so all our conferences end in confusion, and no good is gained by them. I recall that when a Manichee argued against Augustine and cried out, “Hear me, hear me,” the Father modestly answered, “Neither hear me, nor I thee, but let us both hear the apostle.” When someone cries, “Hear me!” and another, “Hear me!” let us both hear the apostle, and then we shall hear one another. James says, Be quick to listen, slow to speak.

Note 6. There are many occasions when we must be slow to speak. This clause must also be seen in the light of the context; that is, slow in speaking about the Word of God.

(1) This teaches people not to preach the Word until they are furnished with sufficient gifts. John was thirty years old when he first preached (see Luke 3:1); the fifteenth year of Tiberius’ reign was John’s thirtieth year. Everyone longs to be a teacher in Israel. Few wait until thirty years’ experience equips them for so great a task. Tertullian observes that “men usually make much progress in the tents of heresy, and become teachers while they are only just Christians.” He goes on: “they set up young men to teach, that they may win them by honor, when they cannot win them by truth.” Certainly this is a bait that pride quickly swallows. Hasty births do not fill the house but the grave. Men who obtrude themselves too soon in a calling do not edify but destroy. It is good for a while to be slow to speak. Aquinas, when he heard Albertus, was called “the dumb ox” because for a long time he was completely silent.

(2) This shows that we should not be too quick in our judgments about doctrines. We should not rashly condemn or defend anything that is contrary to the Word of God. Be slow to speak; that is, do not speak until you have sure grounds for what you say.

(3) We should not be more keen to teach others than we are to learn ourselves. Many are quick to speak but slow to act. Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers (3:1); that is, do not be keen to discipline others when you neglect your own soul.

(4) We do not talk about the things of God in an empty way. It is good to take every opportunity, but indiscreet speaking does more harm than silence. “When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise” (Proverbs 10:19). “A man of knowledge uses words with restraint” (Proverbs 17:27). Empty vessels sound loudest.

(5) This teaches us not to be too quick to speak against the Word. It is good to be dumb at a reproof, though not deaf. Do not let every proud thought be voiced. Guilt recoils against listening to the Word, and the mind is full of ungodly objections. Thoughts may be revised with further information, but words cannot be recalled. Thoughts only stain our own spirits; words taint others. Thoughts are less deliberate than words. With thoughts we sin with our mind only; with words, with our mind and tongue.

Note 7. Renewed men should be slow to become angry. You must understand this in the same way as the other clauses; so it implies that the Word must not be received or delivered with an angry heart. This concerns both listeners and teachers.

(1) The teachers. They must be slow to anger in delivering the Word.

a. Do not let the Word stem from private anger. Spiritual weapons must not be used in your own cause. The Word is not committed to you for advancing your own interests but Christ’s.

b. Do not give yourselves over to your own passions and anger. People easily distinguish between this feigned thunder and divine threatenings.

(2) The people. This teaches them to sit patiently under the Word. Do not rise up in arms against a just reproof. This is natural to us, but be slow to do it. Do not yield to your nature. Anger only reveals your own guilt. The children of God are meekest when the Word hits their hearts directly. Bless God for meeting with you in the Word.

Note 8. Anger is curbed by delaying it. Be slow to become angry. Anger does not grow by degrees, like other desires, but at birth she is full grown. “A man’s wisdom gives him patience” (Proverbs 19:11). Many men are like gunpowder. They ignite at the least offense. When people are quick to become angry, they dishonor God and wound their conscience. Later they are sad about the effects of their sudden anger. Athenodorus advised Augustus, when he was overtaken by anger, to repeat the alphabet. This advice was good, as it tended to cool a sudden rage, so that the mind, being distracted, might deliberate later on. Thus, after Theodosius the Great had rashly massacred the citizens of Thessalonica, Ambrose advised him to decree that all people sentenced to death should have their execution deferred until the thirtieth day, so that there might be time for showing mercy if it was necessary. It is a description of God that he is “slow to become angry”; certainly a hasty spirit is most unlike God. Solomon says, “Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7:9).

Commentary on Verse 20

For man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.

Here James gives a reason for the last clause. Men’s anger stops them from attaining God’s righteousness and from doing what God requires in his Word.

For man’s anger. He emphasizes man’s; he does not say anger in general, for there is always a righteousness in the wrath of God.

Does not bring about. That is, does not attain, does not bring about any righteous action. It prevents God from perfecting his work in us.

The righteous life that God desires. Some say this is justice mixed with mercy, which is the righteousness that the Scriptures ascribe to God, and anger will not let a man dispense it. But this sense seems too forced an interpretation. Others say that it means anger that does not execute God’s just revenge but our own malice. However, the righteousness of God is the righteousness that God requires, approves, brings about. In this sense in Scripture things are said to be of God or of Christ when they are effected by his power or commanded in his Word. Thus faith is said to be the work of God (see John 6:29). It is clear that James is using a figure of speech here by which more is intended than said. The apostle means that human anger is so far from working righteousness that it brings all kinds of evil.

Notes on Verse 20

Note 1. From the context, note that the worst thing we can bring to a religious controversy is anger. The context speaks about anger occasioned by differences about the Word. Usually no passions are so outrageous as those that are engaged in quarrels about religion. However, this should not be the case. Christianity, of all religions, is the meekest and most humble. It is founded on the blood of Christ, who is a slain Lamb. It is sealed by the Spirit of Christ, who descended like a dove. Both are emblems of meek humility. Should a meek religion be defended by our anger, or the God of peace served with angry passions? Christ’s warfare does not need such ungodly weapons. The devil’s kingdom is often ruined by the rage of his own instruments. You cannot assist Satan more than when you wrong the truth by an unseemly defense of it. Use strong arguments but soft words.

Note 2. Does not bring about the righteous life. Anger is not to be trusted. It is not as just and righteous as it appears to be. Of all the passions, we most often justify anger. Anger, like a cloud, blinds the mind and then rules it. So do not believe anger. People give credit to their passion, and that increases it. Anger is full of mistakes; it seems to be just and righteous when it does nothing to promote the righteous life that God desires. Passion is blind and cannot judge; it is furious and has no leisure to debate and consider.

Note 3. Man’s anger … the righteous life that God desires. Note the contrast, for the two words man and God are emphatic. The point is that an angry spirit is a spirit not welcomed by God. God is the God of peace and requires a quiet and composed spirit. Angry people are most unfit to act with grace or to receive grace. Angry people make room for Satan but grieve the Spirit (see Ephesians 4:26-27 and 30); they are more fit to receive sin than grace.

Note 4. This last note is more general and comes from the whole verse. Man’s anger is usually evil and unrighteous. Anger and passion are sins that the people of God are often surprised by, and all too often they accept it without remorse, from conceit.

I shall therefore endeavor to show two things briefly:

(1) What anger is sinful.

(2) How sinful, and how great and evil it is.

It is necessary to state that all anger is not sinful. One type is allowed, another is commanded, another is reproved.

a. There are some reflex actions that are natural and not sinful. Anger in itself is only a natural response to what is offensive. So the apostle says, “In your anger do not sin” (Ephesians 4:26). He allows what is natural and forbids what is sinful.

b. There is a necessary holy anger, which is the whetstone of fortitude and zeal. So it is said, “Lot … was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men” (2 Peter 2:7). Christ himself “looked around at them in anger” (Mark 3:5). Moses’ anger grew hot (Exodus 11:8). This is only a reaction of the will, guided by the rules of reason. Certainly those who are angry at nothing but sin are angry and do not sin. However, this strong emotion must be used with great caution.

First, the principle must be right. God’s interests and ours are often confused. We are more likely to be angry at affronts to ourselves than to God. Pride and self-love often rage at our own contempt and disgrace. Zeal is too good an affection to be sacrificed to the idol of our own esteem and interests.

Second, it must have a right object. The heat of indignation must be against the crime rather than against the person. Good anger is always accompanied with grief; it prompts us to pity and pray for the offending party. Christ “looked around at them in anger … deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts” (Mark 3:5). False zeal has malice in it and wants the offender rooted out. It seeks revenge rather than correction.

Third, the manner must be right. See that you are not tempted to any indecent speech. Moses had good reason to be angry, but “rash words came from Moses’ lips” (Psalm 106:33). In religious contexts anger is often vented freely and lies unchecked under a pretense of zeal.

c. There is a sinful anger when it is either hasty and deliberate or excessive.

First, rash and sudden emotions are never without sin. Some fragile spirits are like fine glasses, broken as soon as they are touched, and all in a rage over a trifle. Some meek and grave spirits are like flints that do not spark unless there is a violent and great collision. Feeble minds are prone to anger. They are like broken bones, which flare up at the least touch. It argues much unmortifiedness to be so quickly moved.

Or, second, such anger is excessive when it exceeds what is merited. Anger should be like a spark that is quickly extinguished —like fire in straw rather than like fire in iron. Thoughts of revenge are sweet, but when they linger they are apt to turn sour. Aristotle reckoned there are three degrees of angry men, each worse than the former: some are hasty, others are bitter, others are implacable. Anger retained becomes revenge. This spirit is most unchristian. The rule of the Word is, “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry” (Ephesians 4:26). If the sun leaves us angry, the next morning may find us malicious. Plutarch said of the Pythagoreans that if they had fallen out during the day they would before sunset mutually embrace one another and depart i n love. There is a story about Patricius and John of Alexandria, between whom great anger had passed. At evening John sent him this message: “The sun is set.” At this they were soon reconciled.

Third, anger without sufficient reason. “Anyone who is angry with his brother without cause will be subject to judgment” (Matthew 5:22, NIV footnote). But what is a sufficient reason for anger? Are injuries? I answer, no. Our religion forbids revenge as well as injury, for they differ only in degree.

Fourth, all anger must be aimed at correcting offenses, not executing one’s own malice. The stirring of the spirit is not sinful until revenge mingles with it. So then, as there must be a good cause, there must be a good purpose. Cain was angry with Abel without cause, and therefore his anger was wicked and sinful (Genesis 4:5). But Esau had some reason to be angry with Jacob, and yet his anger was not excusable because there was revenge in it (Genesis 27:41).

My next task is to show you how sinful anger is.

a. Nothing gives room for Satan more than anger. Ephesians 4:26-27 says, “In your anger do not sin,” and then, “Do not give the devil a foothold.” It is as if the apostle had said that if you give room to anger, you will make room for Satan. When passions are neglected they grow into habits, and then the devil has a kind of hold on us. The world is full of the tragic effects of anger, and therefore when it is harbored you do not know what this may result in.

b. It greatly wounds your own peace. When the apostle spoke about the sad effects of anger, he added, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Ephesians 4:30). The Holy Spirit loves a meek spirit; the clamor of passion drives him from us. It is only just for God to allow no peace of conscience to those who care so little for peace.

c. It disparages Christianity. The glory of our religion lies in the power that it has to sanctify the spirit. When people who profess Christ burst out in rude and indiscreet excesses, they stain their profession. Pagans are famous for their patience under provocation. When I find them passing over offenses with a meek spirit, without any intention of revenge, I cannot but wonder and be ashamed that I have less command of my own spirit than they had.

Commentary on Verse 21

Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is prevalent, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

The apostle, having spoken about the power of the Word, and that it should be heard willingly and without a contradicting spirit, and having shown the evil of anger, returns to his main exhortation.

Lay aside all wrathful affections, he says, that you might be more fit to welcome the Word with an honest and meek heart, for your comfort and salvation. In the verse there is a duty to accept the word. To help you achieve this, get rid of all moral filth. This duty is to be performed humbly, with submission to the word planted in you. The motive is, which can save you.

Therefore. That is, because anger is such an obstacle to the righteousness that God requires; or it may refer to the whole context.

Get rid of. The word implies that we should put it off as an unclean garment. The same metaphor is used by the apostle Paul in Ephesians 4:22, “Put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires”; and in Colossians 3:8, in a similar case, “But now you must rid yourselves of … anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language.”

All moral filth. The word is sometimes used for the filthiness of ulcers, and also for the nastiness and filth of the body through sweating. Here it is used to stir up greater abomination against sin, which is elsewhere called “dirt from the body” (1 Peter 3:21). Some suppose the apostle is referring to lusts that are most beastly. But either the sense must be more general to imply all sin, or more particularly restrained to filthy and evil speaking, or it does not fit the context.

The evil that is so prevalent. This may be translated “the overflowing of malice.” It indicates scoffing. See 1 Peter 2:1, to which James might be alluding, as he wrote after him. Beza translates it, “the excrement of wickedness.” Some think it alludes to the refuse from the sacrifices in the Kedron valley. Most take it generally for that abundance of evil and filthiness that is in the human heart.

Accept. This word is often used for the appropriation of the Word. Accept means to make more room for it in your hearts. Thus 2 Thessalonians 2:10 says, “they refused to love the truth.” Faith is expressed in this way: “all who received him” (John 1:12).

Humbly. That is, with a teachable mind, with a modest, submissive spirit.

The word planted. Some refer this to reason, others to Christ, but this is absurd. This word shows the purpose and fruit of listening— that the Word may be planted in us. The apostle shows that by the industry of the apostles, the Word was not only propounded to them but rooted in them by faith. A similar metaphor is used elsewhere: “I planted … but God made it grow” (1 Corinthians 3:6). This metaphor is also used in Colossians 1:6, “this gospel is producing fruit and growing.”

Which can save you. That is, as it is accompanied with divine grace; the Gospel is “the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).

Your souls (KJV). That is, yourselves—souls and bodies. Salvation is attributed to the soul, as it is the principal part of the whole. In other passages the same manner of expression is used: “the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:9). So Matthew 16:26 says, “forfeits his soul”—that is, himself. In such forms of speech the body is not excluded, because it always follows the state of the soul.

Notes on Verse 21

Note 1. Get rid of. Before we come to the Word there must be preparation. Instruments must be tuned before they can make melody. Solomon says, “Guard your steps when you go to the house of God” (Ecclesiastes 5:1). Christ says, “Consider carefully how you listen” (Luke 8:18). Come prepared. Let me say one word by way of caution and another by way of direction.

(1) By way of caution:

a. Do not exclude God from your preparations. The very dispositions of the spirit are from God.

b. Though you cannot get your hearts into the condition you desire, trust God: “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). The help that is absent to sense and feeling may be present to faith. You do not know how God may come to you. The eunuch read and did not understand, and God sent him an interpreter (see Acts 8). It is not good to neglect duty out of discouragement; this is to commit one sin in order to excuse another: see Jeremiah 1:6 and Exodus 4:10-11.

(2) By way of direction: the heart must be purged, faith exercised, repentance renewed, weaknesses reviewed, God’s glory considered, and the nature, grounds, and ends of the ordinances weighed in our thoughts. There must be enough preparation to make the heart reverent. God must be served with a joy mixed with trembling. The heart is never right in worship until it is gripped by awe of God: “How awesome is this place!” (Genesis 28:17). Such preparation will settle the spirit in a heavenward direction. David says, “My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast” (Psalm 57:7)—that is, composed in a heavenly and holy frame. Engage in preparation that will make you humble and hungry. Grace is usually given to the hungry soul: “He has filled the hungry with good things” (Luke 1:53).

Note 2. Christian preparation mainly consists in getting rid of evil frames. Weeds must be rooted out before the ground is fit to receive the seed: see Jeremiah 4:3. A filthy spirit and the pure holy Word do not mix. Those who do not turn from their sins are unfit listeners. There is an extraordinary vanity in some people, who will lay aside their sins before some solemn duties but intend to return to them later. What can people who come in their sins expect from God? Their state denies their worship. God will have nothing to do with them.

Note 3. Get rid of. Take it off as a rotten and filthy garment. Sin must be left with utter detestation: “you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, ‘Away with you!’” (Isaiah 30:22). Sin is often expressed as an abomination. It is so to God; it should be so to us.

Note 4. All. We must not get rid of some sin, but all sin. So in Peter the particle is universal: “all malice” (1 Peter 2:1); and David says, “I hate every wrong path” (Psalm 119:104). When we hate sin as sin, we hate all sin. The heart is most sincere when the hatred is general. The least sin is dangerous and in its own nature deadly and destructive. We read of some who have been devoured by wild beasts, lions, and bears, but also of others who have been eaten up by vermin, mice, or lice. Pope Adrian choked on a gnat. The least sins may undo you. Christ speaks of a little leaven.

Note 5. Moral filth. Sin is moral filth; it sullies the glory and beauty of the soul and defaces God’s image. This expression is often used. Consider “contaminates body and spirit” (2 Corinthians 7:1). Not only gross wickedness, such as comes from human lusts, is called moral filth, but such as is more spiritual—unbelief and heresy. Original corruption is given this name. “What is man, that he could be pure?” (Job 15:14). People are greatly mistaken when they think sin is an ornament, for the Spirit of God calls it dung and excrement. But more especially I find three sins called moral filth in Scripture:

(1) Covetousness, because it debases the spirit of man and makes him stoop to such indecencies as are beneath humanity.

(2) Lust, which in Scripture is called filthiness or the sin of uncleanness (see 1 Thessalonians 4:7), because it makes a man submit his desires to animal happiness, which is sensual pleasure.

(3) In this passage, anger and malice are called moral filth. We take pleasure in such, but it is only filthiness.

So, all that has been said encourages us to resist sin, to detest it as a defilement. It will darken the glory of our natures.

Note 6. The evil that is so prevalent. There is a great deal of wickedness to be purged from the human heart. As there is salt in every drop of the sea, so sin is in everything that is framed within the soul. In the understanding there are filthy thoughts and purposes; there sin begins. In the will are filthy tendencies, and the affections mingle with filthy objects. The memory retains nothing but mud and filthiness. The conscience is defiled and stained with the impurities of our lives. The whole body is an instrument of filthiness. Second Peter 2:14 says, “with eyes full of adultery” (the original says “full of the adulteress”). The tongue betrays the rottenness of the heart in filthy language. How we bless God that there is “a fountain … to cleanse them from sin and impurity” (Zechariah 13:1). Certainly conversion is not easy work—there is such a mass of corruption to be set aside.

Note 7. Accept. Our duty in listening to the Word is to receive it. In the Word there is the hand of God’s bounty, reaching out comfort and counsel to us; and there must be the hand of faith to receive it. In receiving there is an act of the understanding, apprehending the truth and musing on it. So Christ says, “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you” (Luke 9:44).

Note 8. Humbly accept. The Word must be received with all meekness. Christ was anointed to preach good news to the meek (see Isaiah 61:1). The main purpose now is to show what this meekness is. Consider its opposites. Since the fall graces are best known by their opposites. This meekness excludes three things:

(1) An angry fierceness, in which people rise in a rage against the Word. When they are admonished, they revile. Deep conviction often provokes fierce opposition: “The word of the Lord is offensive to them” (Jeremiah 6:10).

(2) A proud stubbornness. People scorn to set sail before the truth; and though they cannot maintain their opposition, yet they persist in it.

(3) A contentious wrangling. This is found in men who have undisciplined thoughts. The psalmist says, “He instructs sinners in his ways. He will guide the humble in what is right and teaches them his way” (Psalm 25:8-9). Out of all sinners, God takes the meek sinner for his scholar. Camero observes that the Scriptures are so written that those who want to know can know, and those who have a mind to argue may take offense and perish through the rebellion of their own reason. For, says Camero, “God never intended to satisfy men of a stubborn and perverse wit.” And Tertullian observed the same: “God has so disposed the Scriptures that those who will not be satisfied will be hardened.” Our Saviour Christ says in Mark 4:11-12 that “To those on the outside everything is said in parables so that ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving.’” As a just punishment for willful blindness and hardness, those who do not want to see will not see. When the heart is humble and obeys a truth, the mind is soon opened to accept it.

Secondly, I will show what meekness includes:

a. Humility and brokenness of spirit. There must be meekness before grafting. Gospel revivals are for the contrite heart: see Isaiah 57:15. The broken heart is not only a tamed heart but a tender heart, and then the least touch of the Word is felt.

b. A teachable spirit. “The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace loving” (3:17). The servants of God come with a mind ready to obey; they wait to discover their duty: “Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us” (Acts 10:33). Perverse opposition will be your own ruin. Luke 7:30 says, “The Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God’s purpose,” but this was “for themselves”; that is, it was to their own loss. So Acts 13:46 says that you “do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life.” Disputing against the Word is a judgment on yourself. It is as if, in effect, you said, “I do not care for God or for all the grace and glory that he gives me.”

Note 9. The Word must not only be understood by us but planted in us. This is God’s promise: “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33); that is, he will enlighten our minds to understand his will and will frame our hearts and affections to obey it. Then we shall not only know about our duty but have the inclination to do it. This is the true grafting. See, then, that the word is grafted in you. You will know it in this way:

(1) If it is grafted, it will be “producing fruit” (Colossians 1:6); it will spring up in your conversation.

(2) The graft draws all the sap from the stock to itself. All your affections, purposes, cares, thoughts will serve the Word: see Romans 6:17.

Note 10. The Word in God’s hand is an instrument to save our souls. It is sometimes called “the word of truth,” at other times “the word of life”; one notes its quality, the other its fruit. It is called “the power of God” (Romans 1:16) and “the arm of the Lord”: “Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” (Isaiah 53:1). The Gospel is a saving Word; let us not despise its simplicity. Gospel truths should not be too plain for our mouths or too boring for our ears. “I am not ashamed of the gospel,” says the apostle, “because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).

Note 11. The main preoccupation of a Christian should be to save his soul. This is put forward as an argument for listening to the Word. It will save your souls. Usually our greatest concern is to gratify the body. Man is part angel, so to speak, and part beast. Why should we please the beast in us rather than the angel? In short, your greatest fear should be for the soul, and your greatest concern should be for the soul. Your greatest fear: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body … be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). So your greatest care—riches, and splendor in the world—these are the conveniences of the body; and what good will they do you when you come to be laid in the cold, silent grave? “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). It is only a sorry exchange to give the eternal welfare of the soul for a temporary reward from the world. “For what hope has the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?” (Job 27:8). Many ungodly people rise early, go to bed late, and eat the bread of sorrows. Oh, that we were wise enough to consider these things, that we would make it our business to provide for the soul, to clothe the soul for another world, that we would wait on God in the Word, that our souls may be furnished with every spiritual and heavenly excellency, that we may not be “found naked,” says the apostle in 2 Corinthians 5:3.

Note 12. Those who have received the Word must receive it again. Even if it was grafted in you, receive it so that it may save your souls. God has planned it to be a means not only of regeneration but of salvation. So until we come to heaven, we must have its help. Those who live above ordinances do not live at all, spiritually speaking. The Word, though it is an immortal seed, needs constant care and watering.

Commentary on Verse 22

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

This verse continues from the previous verse. He has spoken about the fruit of the Word and the salvation of the soul. In order that this may be obtained, he shows that we should not only hear it but practice it.

Do what it says. Here doing implies receiving the work of the Word into the heart and expressing the effect of it in life. There are three things that make people doers of the Word—faith, love, and obedience.

Do not merely listen. Some neither hear nor do; others hear, but they rest in it. Therefore the apostle does not discourage listening. Listen, he says, but not merely.

Deceive. The word implies a syllogism. It appears to be true, but it is false in matter or form. The apostle refers to those false discourses that are in men’s consciences. Paul uses the same word to imply the deceit that people impose on others by plausible arguments: “I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by finesounding arguments” (Colossians 2:4).

Yourselves. The argument receives force from these words. If someone wants to baffle other people, he would not deceive himself in a matter of so great consequence. Or else it may be an admonition: you deceive yourselves, but you cannot deceive God.

Notes on Verse 22

Note 1. Listening is good, but it should not stop there. The apostle says, Do not merely listen. Many go from sermon to sermon and hear much, but do not digest it in their thoughts. The Jews were much given to turning over the leaves of the Scriptures but did not weigh them. Therefore our Saviour reproves them in John 5:39, “You diligently study the Scriptures.” They thought it was enough to be concerned with the letter of the Scripture, and that mere reading would give them eternal life. There is a sad description of some foolish women in 2 Timothy 3:7, that they are “always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.”

Note 2. The doers of the Word are the best listeners. It is good when we hear things that are to be done and do things that are to be heard. That knowledge is best that is most practical, and that hearing is best that ends in practice. David says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path” (Psalm 119:105). It is light indeed that directs you in your paths and ways. Matthew 7:24 says, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” That is wisdom, to go to the Word in order that we may leave it better people.

The true use of ordinances is to go to them so that we may profit from them. If you cannot find immediate benefit in what you hear, consider how it may be useful for you in the future. It is good to provide for Babylon while we are in Zion, and not to reject truths as being irrelevant to us but to store them up for future use.

Note 3. Deceive yourselves. Do not cheat yourselves with a false argument. Observe that self-deceit is founded on some false reasoning. You can help your conscience not to be deceived in the following ways:

(1) You may build on right principles. It is good to “hide the word in our hearts” and to fill the soul with sound knowledge. This will always rise up against vain hopes. If you want to destroy weeds, you must plant the ground with different seeds. “Bind them upon your heart forever … when you awake, they will speak to you” (Proverbs 6:21-22).

(2) If the witness of conscience is not to fail you, observe these rules: First, note the first sign of an aroused conscience. Sudden promptings through the Word or through prayer are the birth of conscience.

The first voice of conscience is genuine. Therefore, whatever peace wicked people like to claim, their consciences truly witness to them. The artificial and second report of conscience is deceitful and partial, when it has been flattered or choked with some ungodly principles. But the first report, like a stitch in the side, is true and faithful.

Second, wait on the Word. One of its main uses is to help the conscience in witnessing and to bring us and our hearts to know each other: “The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). It reveals all those schemes through which we try to hide our actions from our own conscience.

Third, frequently call your conscience into the presence of God. First Peter 3:21 talks of “the pledge of a good conscience toward God.” Will your conscience witness in this way to the all-seeing God? When Peter’s sincerity was questioned, he appealed to Christ’s omniscience: “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you” (John 21:17). Can you appeal to God’s omniscience and assure your hearts before him? “This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything” (1 John 3:19-20). God’s omniscience is mentioned there because that is the attribute to which conscience appeals.

(3) For conscience to do its work as judge, you must do this:

First, when conscience is silent, be suspicious of it; we are sometimes careless, and our heart grows senseless with pleasures. A dead sea is worse than a raging sea. This is not a calm but death. A tender conscience is always witnessing; so when it never asks, “What have I done?” that is a sign that it is seared. There is constant talk between a godly man and his conscience; it is either suggesting a duty or revealing defects. It is believers’ daily exercise to judge themselves. Just as God, after every day’s work, reviewed it and “saw that it was good” (Genesis 1), so they review each day and judge its actions.

Second, if conscience does not speak to you, you must speak to your conscience. David told insolent men to “search your hearts and be silent” (Psalm 4:4). Take time to speak with yourself. The prophet complained, “No one repents of his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done?’” (Jeremiah 8:6). There should be a time to ask questions of your own souls.

Third, clarify every uncertainty. Conscience will sometimes lisp out half a word. Draw it out to full conviction. Nothing makes the work of grace so doubtful as when Christians content themselves with being half-persuaded. The Spirit delights in complete conviction: “He will convince the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8). Conviction comes when things are laid down so clearly that we see it is impossible that it should be otherwise. The Spirit does this whether it is in a state of sin or righteousness. God says he will deal with his people so roundly that “you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation” (Ezekiel 16:63). They will be so convinced that they will not have a word to say except “Unclean! Unclean!”

Note 4. People are easily deceived into having a good opinion of themselves because of mere listening. We are prone to latch on to the good in any action and not to consider its evil: I listen to the Word, and therefore I am doing well. Watch out for this deceit. Such a weighty structure should not be raised on so sandy a foundation: see Matthew 7:26.

(1) Consider the danger of such a self-deception. Listening without action brings greater judgment on you. Uriah carried letters to Joab, and he thought the contents were for his preferment in the army, but it carried the message of his own destruction. We hear many sermons and think we will point something out to God; but from those sermons will God condemn us.

(2) Consider how far hypocrites go in this matter. They may stop following errors and listen to the Word constantly: see Luke 6:47. They may approve of the good way and applaud it: “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you” (Luke 11:27-28). They may display a great deal

of false affection: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46). They may be endowed with gifts of prophecy and miracle-working; but see Matthew 7:22. Christ says, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down” (Matthew 7:19). There must be something positive. There may be some external conformity, but there is no effectual change; the tree is “a bad tree” (Matthew 7:18). So outward duties with partial reformation are no good.

(3) Consider how easily we are deceived: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Who can trace and unravel the mystery of iniquity that is in the soul? Since we lost our uprightness, we have many schemes through which we avoid the voice of conscience (see Ecclesiastes 7:29).

Commentary on Verses 23-24

Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.

Here James enlarges on the previous argument about the vanity of superficial listening, with a simile taken from a man looking in a mirror.

Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says. That is, he is content with superficial listening and superficial knowledge about the Word of God and does not leave resolved to obey.

Is like a man. In the original the word for man is the word for the masculine sex. Some people criticize this. The apostle does not say, “like a woman”; women are more diligent. They look at themselves over and over again to remove every spot and deformity. But this is more clever than solid. The apostle uses the word man to mean both men and women, as in verse 12: Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial”—the man or woman.

Who looks at his face. “The face of his nativity.” What is meant by that? Some say, the face as God made it at its birth, that he may behold God’s work in it, and so they condemn makeup; or his natural face, on which men bestow least care. I think face means his own face, the mirror representing the very face that nature gave him.

After looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. He forgets his facial blemishes. A careless soul ignores what the Word exposes and is not repentant.

Notes on Verses 23-24

Note 1. The Word of God is like a mirror. But what does it show us?

(1) God and Christ. “We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18). A mirror implies the clearest representation that we are capable of here on earth. I admit that a mirror sometimes represents a dark vision, as in 1 Corinthians 13:12 (“Now we see but a poor reflection; then we shall see face to face”). Someday we shall see God himself: “We shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). But now we have his image and reflection in the Word. Sometimes in Scripture the phrase “heart of flesh” stands for an earthly mind, and sometimes it stands for a tender heart. In contrast to “heart of stone,” “heart of flesh” is taken in a good sense. Similarly, in contrast to the shadows of the law, seeing in a mirror implies clear discernment.

(2) The Word is a mirror to show us ourselves; it reveals the hidden things of the heart and all the deformities of the soul: “Whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed” (Mark 4:22). The Word reveals everything. Our sins are the blemishes that the law reveals; Christ’s blood is the water to wash them off and is revealed in the Gospel. The law reveals sins: “Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died” (Romans 7:9).

Application. Here is a meditation for you. When you are looking into your mirror, think: the Word of God is a mirror; I must look after the complexion of my soul. Take part of the law and exercise yourself with it every day, and you will soon see the deformity of your own spirit. Do not look in a flattering mirror.

Note 2. The knowledge of formal professors is only slight and superficial. They are like people looking at their faces in a mirror, or like the glance of a sunbeam on a wave; it rushes into the thoughts and it is gone. Under the law, the beast that did not chew the cud was unclean. Meditation is very useful and sheds constant light. Some people know things but are loath to let their thoughts stay with them. Luke 2:19 tells us that “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” A slippery, vain mind will hardly hold on to truths.

Note 3. Proud men leave ordinances just as they go to them: they look and go away. Like the beasts in Noah’s ark, they go in unclean and come out unclean. So many come unhumbled and unmortified and go away the same. Let this never be said of you.

Note 4. Poor understanding makes a very weak impression. Things work when the thoughts are serious and deep; musing makes the fire burn: see Psalm 39:3. And David, when he expressed his deep feelings, said, “My sin is always before me” (Psalm 51:3). Men thoroughly affected say, I shall remember that sermon all my life. David says, “I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life” (Psalm 119:93). Others let good things slip because they never felt their power.

Commentary on Verse 25

But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

In this verse you have the third reason why people should listen to the Word in order to practice it. The first was, they would only deceive themselves. The next, that mere listening would be of little benefit; no more than if a man glanced into a mirror and had a fleeting view of himself. And now, right listening correctly ends in blessedness.

But the man who looks. This metaphor comes from those who do not only glance at a thing but bend their body toward it, that they may pierce it with their eyes and pry into it. The same word is used for the disciples stooping down to look into Christ’s sepulchre: see Luke 24:12 and John 20:4-5. It is also used about the search that the angels made to find out the mysteries of salvation: “angels long to look into these things” (1 Peter 1:12). The word implies three things:

(1) Deep meditation. He does not glance but looks intently.

(2) Diligent inquiry. They are not content with their first thoughts but pry into God’s mind revealed in the Word.

(3) Openness. They look on it to find its virtue for their hearts: see 2 Corinthians 3:18.

Such a gaze brings the glory of the Lord into our hearts, just as Moses’ face shone after he had talked with God. By conversing with the Word, we carry off its beauty and glory in our spirits.

Into the perfect law. Some people understand this to refer to the moral law, in contrast with the ceremonial law, which is not complete or able to justify. It is not perfect because it did not remain forever; “(for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God” (Hebrews 7:19). A man could not be sanctified, justified, and saved without Christ or through the dispensation of Moses. The soul could find no rest in the law without looking to Christ. Though this interpretation is possible, I apply it to all the Word of God, and in particular to the Gospel. The will of God in Scripture is called a law. So a godly man “meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:2) on God’s law. Now this law is said to be perfect because it is so in itself, and those who look into it will see that they need no other word to make men of God perfect.

That gives freedom. It is called freedom because of the clearness of revelation; it is the counsel of God to his friends. Piscator says, “It spares no one, but deals with everyone freely.… It calls us into a state of freedom.”

And continues to do this. That is, he perseveres in studying this holy doctrine and remains in its knowledge, belief, and obedience.

Not forgetting what he has heard. “A hearer of oblivion” is a Hebraism; this clause corresponds to the former simile about a man forgetting what he looks like (verse 24).

But doing it. That is, working hard to put everything into practice.

He will be blessed in what he does. That is, he will be blessed in all his ways; whatever he does will prosper. This may be an allusion to the words of Psalm 1:3, “Whatever he does prospers.” There the psalmist speaks about obeying the law and meditating on the law, as James speaks here about looking at the perfect law that gives freedom. The Roman Catholics say, here is a clear example that we are blessed because of our deeds. But I answer, it is good to note the exact scriptural phrase. The apostle does not say for but in what he does. This is evidence of our blessedness, not grounds for it.

Notes on Verse 25

Note 1. Who looks. We should with complete earnestness apply ourselves to the knowledge of the Gospel. There should be deep meditation and diligent inquiry. Your first duty, Christians, is to accept the Word into your thinking: see Psalm 1:2. We should always be chewing this cud. Truths are ripened by meditation. Then there must be diligent inquiry: “The prophets … searched intently and with the greatest care” (1 Peter 1:10). “Search for it [wisdom] as for hidden treasure” (Proverbs 2:4). Precious stones do not lie on the surface; you must dig in the dark recesses of the earth for them. Truths do not lie on the surface. The beauty and glory of the Scriptures must be sought out with much study and prayer. A glance discovers nothing of any worth. So to know Christ in a general way is not the same as searching out the breadth and the depth and the length and the exact dimensions of his love for us.

Note 2. The Gospel is a law. It is often called by this name: “Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). There the covenant of works is called “the law of sin and death” because it convicts fallen man of sin and hands him over to death. But the Gospel, or covenant of grace, is called “the law of the Spirit of the life” of Christ because it joins us to Christ, whose life we are enabled to live by the Spirit. It is called “the law of … life” because everything is found in the Gospel:

(1) Justice, without which law is only a tyranny. All the precepts of the Gospel are just. The Gospel is holy, good, and comforting.

(2) Proclamation, which is the life of the law. “Proclaim freedom for the captives” is how Isaiah refers to it (61:1).

(3) The author: God can prescribe to the creature.

(4) The end: public good, without which a law is a tyrannous exaction. The end is the salvation of our souls.

Well, then, look upon the Gospel as a law and rule, according to which:

(1) Your lives must be conformed: “Peace … to all who follow this rule” (Galatians 6:16)—that is, who live according to the directions of the Gospel.

(2) All controversies and disputes must be decided by it: “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn” (Isaiah 8:20).

(3) Your state is judged by it: “God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares” (Romans 2:16). The Gospel itself is a law, partly because it is a rule and partly because of the prevailing power it has over the heart. It is “the law of the Spirit of life”; so those who are in Christ have a law. The apostle says in 1 Corinthians 9:21, “I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law”—that is, under the rule and direction of the moral law, as a part of the Gospel.

Note 3. The Word of God is a perfect law. It is perfect in various ways:

(1) Because it makes us perfect. The nearer we come to the Word, the greater is the perfection of our spirits. The goodness and excellency of the creature lies in conforming to God’s will.

(2) It directs us to the greatest perfection, to God, to the righteousness of Christ, to perfect communion with God in glory.

(3) It concerns the whole man. It influences the conscience. Men go no further than outward obedience, but “the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul” (Psalm 19:7). It is not a lame, defective rule; besides, outward observances are beneficial for the soul.

(4) It is a perfect law because of its changelessness; it does not need to be changed. A perfect rule needs no amendment.

(5) It is pure and free from error. No human laws are without some blemish in them. In Syrian law, virgins had to lose their virginity before marriage. So the laws of every country have some evidence of human frailty.

(6) It is a comprehensive rule. Whatever is necessary for knowledge, for regulating life and worship, for confirmation of true teaching, for refuting false teaching, it is all in the Word: “so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:17).

So then:

(1) Prize the Word. We love what is perfect.

(2) Allow nothing to be added to it: “Do not add to what I command you” (Deuteronomy 4:2). So the whole Bible concludes with the warning: “If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book” (Revelation 22:18).

Note 4. The Gospel, or Word of God, is the perfect law that gives freedom. As it is perfect, so it gives freedom. It does so in various ways:

(1) It teaches the way to true freedom from sin, wrath, and death. By nature we are under the law of sin and death, entangled with the yoke of our own corruption, and bound over to eternal misery. But the Gospel teaches liberty and deliverance. “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). There is no state so free as that which we enjoy through the Gospel.

(2) The bond of obedience laid on us is indeed a perfect freedom. For:

a. Our obedience is freedom. Duty is the greatest freedom, and sin the greatest slavery. You cannot have a worse restraint than to be left to walk in the ways of your own hearts. The angels who sinned are said to be “bound with everlasting chains” (Jude 6). A wicked man is in slavery here and hereafter. Sin itself is slavery, and hell a prison: see 1 Peter 3:19. If there were nothing in sin except the present slavery, that is enough to dissuade us. Who wants to be a slave to his own desires? But the present is nothing when compared with the future. Why should we think of Christ’s service as a burden when it is the most happy liberty?

b. We do it because we are free. Whatever we do, we each do it as “the Lord’s freedman” (1 Corinthians 7:22)—from motives of love and gratitude. God might rule us with a rod of iron, but he woos the soul with constraints of love. One passage says, “I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy” (Romans 12:1); another says, “The grace of God … teaches us” (Titus 2:11-12). The motives of the Gospel are mercy and grace; and the obedience of the Gospel is an obedience performed out of gratitude.

c. We have the assistance of a free Spirit, who helps us in the work of obedience. There is spirit and life in the commandments. Previously there was light in the commandment to guide our feet, but not fire to burn up our desires.

d. We do it in a free state and are God’s children. “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father’” (Romans 8:15).

Application. So, consider whether you are under a law of liberty or not. To this end:

(1) Ask your souls, what are you a slave to? Sin or duty? Do you delight in the law of the Lord in the inward man?

(2) When you perform a duty, what frame of mind are you in? Your motivation should spring from love.

Note 5. And continues. This commands us to continue in knowledge of and affection to the Word. “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples” (John 8:31). “Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son” (2 John 9).

Two things are opposed to us our abiding in the Word:

(1) Apostasy, when we abandon our previous profession and zeal for God. This is a sad case! “It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them” (2 Peter 2:21). The less law, the less transgression.

(2) There are other gospels: “turning to a different gospel” (Galatians 1:6). “Command certain men not to teach false doctrines” (1 Timothy 1:3). People love to have something new and strange, which is usually the basis for heresy. “If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing” (1 Timothy 6:3-4). This desire to hear another gospel is very dangerous. New ways are the roads to an old error.

So then, if you are to abide in the Word:

(1) Be sure to cherish good thoughts if they come into your hearts. You should abide there. If the Spirit breaks in on your soul suddenly, do not let him go suddenly.

(2) Be careful to observe the first signs of decay in your spirits, that you may “strengthen what remains and is about to die” (Revelation 3:2).

Note 6. Not forgetting what he has heard. Hearers must take care that they do not forget the good things given to them. Here are some helps for the memory:

(1) Attention. People remember what they heed and regard. “Pay attention to what I say … keep them within your heart” (Proverbs 4:20-21)—that is, in a place where nothing can take them away. Where there is attention, there will be retention. The memory is the chest of divine truths, and a man should carefully lock them up. “Which of you will listen to this or pay close attention in time to come?” (Isaiah 42:23).

(2) Affection. This is a great friend to the memory. People remember what they care for. An old man will not forget where he has put his bag of gold. Delight and love are always renewing and reviving the object of our thoughts. David often asserts his delight in the law, and therefore it was always in his thoughts: “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long” (Psalm 119:97).

(3) Application and appropriation of truths. We will remember what is relevant to us.

(4) Meditation, holy care to hold on to the Word, so that it is not snatched away from us by vain thoughts, and so the birds of the air do not gobble up the good seed (see Matthew 13:4). “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19); she “treasured” them because she “pondered” them.

(5) Observe what truths achieve. You will remember things that were spoken about a long time ago when you see them verified: see John 2:19-22. Things observed like this will make old truths come to mind again.

(6) Put into practice what you hear. You will remember the good you received from it: “I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life” (Psalm 119:93).

(7) Commit it to the Spirit’s keeping: “The Counselor … will remind you of everything” (John 14:26). Christ gave the Holy Spirit charge of his own sermons. The disciples’ memories were too unreliable.

Note 7. Not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it. Sin comes for lack of memory. Forgetful hearers are negligent people; “those who keep his covenant … remember to obey his precepts” (Psalm 103:18). A godly man has a good memory; he remembers to act. Wicked people are often portrayed as having bad memories, as in Job 8:13, “who forget God,” and Psalm 119:139, “my enemies ignore your word”—that is, they do not practice it. Yes, the sins of God’s people are usually sins of forgetfulness. A bad memory causes a great deal of harm in the soul. “Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?” (Mark 8:18); the people did not consider the previous experience of the loaves and fishes and so distrusted Jesus. Hide the whole Word in your heart, that you may have a fresh truth to check sin in every temptation (see Psalm 119:11). Store up the mercies of God, that you may be thankful; forget not all his benefits (see Psalm 103:2).

Note 8. But doing it. The Word gives us work to do. It was not ordained for speculation. There is the work of faith (see John 6:29), the labor of love (see Hebrews 6:10), and fruits worthy of repentance (see Matthew 3:8). All this work the Gospel gives us to do—faith, love, and new obedience. Do not content yourselves, then, with a part of the truth. Faith is your work, repentance is your business, and the life of love and praise is your duty.

Note 9. He will be blessed in what he does. There is a blessedness linked to doing the work of the Word; not for the work’s sake, but because of the mercy of God. So, see that you hear, so that you may come within the orbit of the blessing.

Commentary on Verse 26

If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.

The apostle, having shown the blessedness of those who are doers of the Word, now shows who are only listeners and do not put the Word into practice—people who allow themselves any known sin— and he gives as an example the evils of the tongue.

Question. Before I comment on the words any further, I will inquire why James places so much weight on this one thing. It seems so insignificant in itself and seems to have so little reference to the context.

Answer.

(1) This is a main reason for our respect for our neighbor. True love for God will be manifested in love for our neighbor. God said, “You shall love God,” and he also said, “You shall love your neighbor.” The apostles often used this argument to unmask hypocritical arguments, as in 1 John 2:9, “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.” See also 1 John 3:17-18, “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” How can you imagine that those who are open to the love of God could be merciless towards other people? So 1 John 4:20 says, “Anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.”

(2) There is a natural inclination in us to cause offense with the tongue. Censuring is a pleasing sin that goes very well with our nature. The more natural corruptions are, the more care should be taken to suppress them: “I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin” (Psalm 39:1). As you watch, so you should pray and desire God to watch over your watching: “Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips” (Psalm 141:3). Being in awe of God is a great restraint.

(3) It was the sin of that age. This is apparent from the frequent references to it. See verse 19, all of chapter 3, 4:11, etc. It is a bad sign to be carried away by the evil of the times. Wicked people are described as following “the ways of this world” (Ephesians 2:2; the original Greek says “according to the age”). So also Romans 12:2 says: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world”; this means, do not wear the clothes of the times.

(4) Because this seemed to be such a small sin, and having set aside bigger sins, they practiced it all the more. They were not adulterers or drunkards, and so they congratulated themselves on their apparent holiness. Note that indulgence in the smallest sin cannot coexist with grace. Your religion is worthless if you do not keep a tight rein on [your] tongue.

(5) This is usually the hypocrite’s sin. Hypocrites, of all people, are least able to bridle their tongue. Those who seem to be religious are the most free in censuring others. They are aware of the guilt of their own spirits and so are most prone to suspect others. Censuring is a trick of the devil, which excuses indignation against their own sins. Gracious hearts reflect most on themselves. They do not look for things to reprove in others but things to lament in themselves. When a man is aware of his own failings, he is very sympathetic in reflecting on the weaknesses of others: “You who are spiritual should restore him gently” (Galatians 6:1).

(6) There is such a quick interchange between the tongue and the heart; that, says the apostle, is why their religion is worthless— they cannot keep a tight rein on their tongues. Seneca said, “Speech is the express image of the heart,” and someone greater than he said, “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). The quality of many people’s religion can be discerned by the intemperateness of their language. Words are the overflow of their wickedness.

With these reasons in mind, the opening of this verse is easier to understand.

If anyone considers himself religious—if he seems religious to himself or others, by the practice of a few things in worship.

Yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue. That is, he does not abstain from the evils of the tongue, such as reviling and censuring.

He deceives himself. This may be understood in two ways:

(1) He has too good an opinion of himself. Self-love is the ground of hypocrisy. They do not search themselves or suspect themselves of any evil. Judas last of all asked, “Master, is it I?” They are too easy on themselves but too severe on others.

(2) The other sense may be that he comes at last to flatter himself, to deceive his own soul.

His religion is worthless. That is, either he makes the good things that are in him to be vain and unprofitable, or his religion is a pretense.

Notes on Verse 26

Note 1. Considers himself religious. Religion may be only a pretense. Consider “the man who thinks he knows something” (1 Corinthians 8:2)—that is, who flatters himself on his knowledge. “If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself” (Galatians 6:3).

Note 2. Does not keep a tight rein on his tongue. It is a major part of religion to bridle the tongue. There are several evils that must be restrained—lying, swearing, cursing, ribaldry. I will speak about these four.

(1) Lying. Beware of this in all its varieties. The devil—that is, the accuser—is called the liar too.

(2) Cursing. There is corruption at the heart when the tongue is so loose. There is seldom any blessing for those who are given over to cursing.

(3) Swearing. The righteous are afraid to take oaths (see Ecclesiastes 9:2).

(4) Ribaldry. This is “filthy language” (see Colossians 3:8) or “coarse joking” (Ephesians 5:4).

Note 3. He deceives himself. Hypocrites come at length to deceive themselves. A liar, by repeating his lies, begins to believe them.

Note 4. His religion is worthless. Pretended religion will be fruitless. Of all things, a man cannot endure his serious actions being in vain and to no purpose. This will be no small part of one’s torment in hell, to think that all his profession has come to this.

Commentary on Verse 27

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Here the apostle comes to the positive part of the test. As a man must not take revenge in case his religion proves in vain, so he must do good, that it may be found to be pure and faultless.

Note from the context that negatives in religion are not enough. He must curb his tongue, but also he must look after the orphans. We should not be content with simply removing evil but must be concerned about what is good. There should not only be an abstinence from major sins but care taken to maintain communion with God. Descriptions in the Word are negative and positive: “does not walk in the counsel of the wicked … But his delight is in the law of the Lord” (Psalm 1:1-2). Some people are not drunkards, but are they godly? Is there any power in their religion? Are there any feelings of the spiritual life within their souls? God, who hates sin, delights in grace.

Now I come to the words of this verse. James urges them to do charitable deeds and engage in holy behavior, so that in this way they might show themselves to be truly religious.

Pure and faultless. James is not setting out the whole nature of religion but only some particular evidence of it. Religion also requires faith and worship, but the truth of these is seen in charity and a holy life. Therefore, those who oppose the Scripture in our day misinterpret this; they want to make the whole of religion consist in these outward acts. But the apostle is dealing with hypocrites, who feigned faith and worship and who also neglected charity.

Religion that God our Father accepts. That is, God who is the Father of Christ and the Father of us in him. The same phrase is used in many other passages: “Praise be to the God and Father o f our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:3; see also Ephesians 1:3 and 5:20). Hypocrites may deceive men, who see the outside; but God the Father judges rightly. This is also mentioned to show the sincerity of such Christian acts. They should be carried out as in the presence of God. To look after. This word embraces all duties of love.

To look after them is to comfort them in their misery, to relieve them in their necessities. This one charitable act includes all duties to our neighbor.

Orphans and widows. These are specified, but others are not excluded. There are other objects of charity, such as the poor, the sick, the prisoners, the foreigners, who are also mentioned in the Scriptures. But orphans and widows most often need help and are most liable to neglect and oppression. They are often mentioned elsewhere in Scripture, as in Isaiah 1:17, “Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.” See also Psalm 146:9 and Proverbs 15:25 and 23:10.

In their distress. That is, in their oppression. This is added in case people should think they have performed their duty by visiting the rich and wealthy among the fatherless and widows.

To keep oneself from being polluted. This is linked to the previous duty. It shows the inseparable connection between charity and holiness and shows that religion is false when it does not teach holiness as well as charity. Roman Catholics separate them, praising charity as a merit to expiate the defect of unholiness.

By the world. The world, when it is taken in a negative sense, sometimes stands for the men of the world and sometimes for the desires of the world: “everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does” (1 John 2:16). To keep oneself from being polluted by the world is to keep ourselves from the infection of an evil example and the rule of worldly desires.

Notes on Verse 27

Note 1. Purity is the glory of religion. True Christianity is called a “holy faith” (Jude 20). So an impure life is incompatible with holy faith. “The deep truths of the faith” must be held “with a clear conscience” (1 Timothy 3:9). We live correctly when we have a pure heart. “Blessed are those whose ways are blameless” (Psalm 119:1). “Blessed are the pure in heart” (Matthew 5:8).

Note 2. Pure religion should be kept undefiled. A holy life and a generous heart adorn the Gospel. Religion is not adorned by ceremonies but by purity and charity. The apostle Paul speaks about making “the teaching about God our Saviour attractive” (Titus 2:10).

Note 3. A great fruit of piety is provision for the afflicted. In Matthew 25 you see acts of charity. Works of mercy become those who have received mercy from God. This is being like God. One of the chief glories in the Godhead is his tireless love and bounty. He looks after the orphans and widows; so should we.

Note 4. Charity singles out those in the greatest misery. The apostle says, widows and orphans. True generosity is when we give to those who are not able to reciprocate: “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives …” (Luke 14:12-14).

Note 5. God our Father. We serve God best when we consider him as a Father in Christ. “Lord, Lord” is not half so sweet as Our Father. We are not servants but have received adoption as sons. Get an interest in God, that his work may be sweet to you. Mercies are sweeter when they come not only from a Creator but from a Father.

Note 6. Helping the afflicted and living a pure life go together. The apostle links them, and so does Christ: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy,” and “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:7-8). Someone who is charitable and not pure is better for others than he is for himself. Goodness and righteousness are often linked in the Old Testament: see Micah 6:8 and Daniel 4:27. It is strange that people should separate what God has joined. So let the hand be open and the heart pure. You must look after orphans and widows and keep [yourself] from being polluted by the world.

Note 7. The world defiles. One can hardly walk here without defiling one’s clothes.

(1) The things of the world taint our spirits. Through worldly objects we soon grow worldly. Christ prayed, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one” (John 17:15). Christ knew what a temptation it is to live amidst honors and pleasures. It was a happy thing that Paul could say, “The world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14). The world is crucified to many, but they are not crucified to it.

(2) The desires of the world stain and deface your natures. The apostle Peter talks of “corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:4). Your affections were made for nobler purposes than to be wasted on your desires.

(3) The men of the world are dirty creatures. We cannot have anything to do with them without being defiled. The apostle says, “If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work” (2 Timothy 2:21). “From the latter”—that is, from the leprosy of evil examples, for the apostle is speaking of those vessels of dishonor that are in the great house of God, the world, which a man cannot touch without defilement. A man cannot hold any communion with them without being the worse. “These men are blemishes at your love feasts” (Jude 12); they defile the whole company.

So then:

(1) Let us become more and more weary of the world. In our heavenly home above, “nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful” (Revelation 21:27). There are no devils in heaven; they were cast out long ago (see 2 Peter 2:4).

(2) While we live here, let us keep ourselves as undefiled as we can. “Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy” (Revelation 3:4). There are a few who escape the corruption of the world. You are kept by the power of God; yet, in some sense you must keep yourselves: “Blessed is he who stays awake” (Revelation 16:15). It is foolishness to think that because power is from God, we therefore have no responsibility.