CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
James 1:2. Temptations.—As so often in the New Testament, trials which take the form of suffering, and serve the purposes of Divine discipline.
James 1:3. Trying.—Testing, proving. “The proof to which your faith is put works out endurance.” Patience.—ὑπομονήν; the perseverance which does not falter under suffering. Christian patience is much more than passive submission.
James 1:4. Entire.—Lacking no part essential to full and healthy spiritual life. The figure is taken from the animals, some of whose organs may be undeveloped, or may be mutilated.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— James 1:2-4
The Ministry of Trial to Christian Character.—It is necessary to keep in mind the persons who were directly addressed in this epistle. They were Jewish Christians who were placed in difficult circumstances, and called to bear various persecutions, on account of their faith in Christ. Their troubles were special to their religion. They were such as Hindoos still have to endure when they are baptised in the name of Christ. The trials were not merely the commonplace afflictions that come into every life; and so they were not merely disciplinary and educative. They were distinctly influences acting upon them as temptations to apostasy from Christ; and therefore they are properly called “temptations”: there was in them something of the element of incitement to evil. Distinguish afflictions from temptations; or rather, see under what conditions afflictions may become temptations. Many of the forms in which earthly trials come prove to be tempting forms. They may be testings; they may be temptings.
I. Right feeling concerning trials.—The feeling commended here certainly seems strange. “Count it all joy,” nought but joy. There cannot be joy in them; there can be joy in seeing into them. Is there any real ground for such joy? There is, if we can give due weight to these considerations.
1. No trial that ever comes to us is either an accident or the work of an enemy. If Satan brought calamity to Job, he was, for the time at least, God’s angel, doing a painful bit of Divine work.
2. The Christian has learned never to connect his trials with personal sin. It is the conscience of connection between personal sin and personal suffering that makes the bitterness of suffering. That bitterness the Christian should never know.
3. Trials assure us of God’s gracious interest in our higher, spiritual welfare. A purpose of grace is in them. A ministry of grace is in them. And it is far better for us to have the grace than to escape the trials that bring it to us.
4. Trial cultures all the finer elements of character, and in that issue of trial the Christian may, and should, unfeignedly rejoice. Could a Christian rightly apprehend what human life is, and leads towards, and rejoice in having been freed from trials? That question may be asked concerning both outward and inward trials. But if we “joy in tribulation,” it can only be with the joy of faith, with that faith-vision which can see within things, and discern meanings and issues.
II. Right thoughts concerning trials.—“Worketh patience.” They are not to be thought of as mere things, accidents, calamities. They work. And their work may be humbling, separating, arresting, proving, and culturing by proving. They work; but never self-willedly; always under the immediate presidency and direction of our Father-God. And they never get beyond His control. His mission is in every event that happens. The trials work out “peaceable fruits of righteousness.”
III. Right issues of the work of trials.—“Patience.” This we may see as
(1) self-mastery;
(2) endurance; or
(3) the waiting of expectancy; for in Christian patience there is always active faith. The energy that can do the work of the hour, while we patiently wait. Patience is not listlessness and indifference. It is a sign that patience, under trial, is Christianly-toned when a man keeps bravely on, carrying his burden while he fulfils his duties.
IV. Right anxieties concerning the issues of trial.—“Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire.” This is the proper anxiety, that the trial should fully do all that it was sent to do. Every plant that grows wants to reach its maturity, wants to flower and seed. So does every grace in us; and therefore we want every influence that bears on the maturing to get its perfect work, and help towards the perfect flowering. Because men cannot hope to become “perfect and entire,” lacking nothing, in Christian character, without the ministry upon them of earthly sufferings, therefore they may even respond to St. James, and “glory in tribulations also.”
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
James 1:2-12. The Christian in Times of Suffering.
I. The suffering state of Christians in this world is represented.
1. Implied that troubles and afflictions may be the lot of the best Christians.
2. These outward afflictions and troubles are temptations to them.
3. These temptations may be numerous and various.
4. They are not created by the good man, nor sinfully drawn upon himself.
II. The graces and duties of a state of trial and affliction are here pointed out to us.
1. Joy.
2. Faith.
3. Patience.
4. Prayer.
(1) What to pray for;
(2) how to obtain it;
(3) encouragement to seeking;
(4) condition of success;
(5) steadiness of mind.
III. The holy, humble temper of a Christian, both in advancement and debasement, is described.—Matthew Henry.
James 1:2. Temptation and Sin.—Temptation is not sin. An old German divine says, “You cannot prevent the birds flying over your head; but you can prevent them from making nests in your hair.” An old English Divine says, “I cannot help it if the devil comes up to my door. I cannot help it if he lifts the latch and walks in. I can help it if I offer him a chair.”
The Manifoldness of Human Trials.—Diverse, manifold temptations. They touch on all its sides human character, and affect every form of human relation, because the approach to men is by such different avenues; the needs of men and society take such a variety of forms. Very striking is the versatility of human trial; the surprise of the forms it can take; and the adaptation of forms to occasions which can sooner or later be recognised. The angel of affliction is marvellously skilful in his adjustments. The expression “fall into” suggests an unlooked-for concurrence of adverse circumstances. Every possible trial to the child of God is a masterpiece of strategy of the Captain of his salvation for his good.
James 1:2-8. Christian Joy in Times of Trial.—The epistle was written to correct abuses which had already shown themselves in certain portions of the Church. Some of these arose from the influence of persecution, and from the peculiar trials and temptations which it brought along with it. Temptation never means affliction simply, but in every case conveys the idea of a moral trial, or a test of character. Had not popular usage lowered the meaning of our own word “trial,” as applied to providential changes, so that it now expresses little more than pain or privation, it would correspond exactly to the Greek term here used, and applied to sufferings or afflictions, not as such, or as mere chastisement or means of grace, but as tests or touchstones of the sufferer’s dispositions and affections, of his faith and patience and obedience. The difficulty of complying with the general injunction of the text may appear to be enhanced by the variety of outward forms and circumstances under which the work of providential trial may be carried on. Though it may be rational and right to rejoice in one variety of such temptations, it does not follow necessarily that it is possible or right in all. But the text has the term “divers,” manifold, multiform, diversified; so it must be meant that in the full sense we are to count our various providential trials “all joy.” As, however, “no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous,” it is not unreasonable to suppose that the joy required is not a joy to be experienced in the very article or stress of the temptation, but a joy to be engendered by a believing, grateful retrospection of the trial after it is past, or at least after the first shock is over, and the soul is able to reflect upon it. This distinction helps to explain the paradoxical aspect of the exhortation to rejoice in that which necessarily involves pain and suffering. Christians may reasonably have joy in thinking that they have suffered, and so have had occasions of attesting their fidelity, and patience, and submission to God’s will. But the joy is not merely retrospective; it is prospective also. It is founded on knowledge of the consequences which may be expected from a certain course of action or suffering. The trials or temptations of the Christian are the test or touchstone of his faith, both in the strict and comprehensive sense. They put to the proof his trust in God, his belief in what God says, of what God promises. But in so doing they afford the surest test of his religion, of his whole religious character. And providential trial or temptation produces a permanent effect upon the character. It generates a habit—that of patient endurance, that of steadfast perseverance in the way of God’s commandments. For of patience, as of faith, it may be said that it cannot stand alone, it cannot exist independently of other virtues, other graces, other traits of Christian character. He who will not do God’s will cannot endure it in a Christian spirit. Evangelical patience presupposes, includes, or carries with it evangelical obedience or activity. To say that it is fostered or matured by trial is to say that trial is an important means of grace, and to be thankfully submitted to, and even rejoiced in, as a gracious agency for securing spiritual health. The trial of our faith “worketh out,” elaborates, and as it were laboriously cultivates, a habit of persistent and unwavering obedience and submission to the will of God, both in the way of doing and suffering. It is implied that this Divine ὑπομονή, this principle and habit of patient continuance in doing and suffering the will of God, is not a mere superfluous embellishment of Christian character, a work of supererogation added to its necessary elements by way of doing more than man needs or God requires, but itself an element that cannot be dispensed with, and without which neither sufferers nor actors in God’s service can be “perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” And all this affords abundant room for wise discrimination and a sound discretion.—J. Addison Alexander, D.D.
Temptation, its Meaning and Uses.—The subject of temptation, as treated in the Bible, is more than a little perplexing, from the appearance of inconsistency or contradiction in the several statements. In this chapter, within the space of ten or twelve verses, we have these four apparently irreconcilable statements: that it is to be counted all joy when we fall into temptations; that the man who endures temptation is blessed; that temptations do not come from God; and that they do come from our lusts and passions. Now, how can that be joy and blessedness which does not come from God, but from the lowest part of our nature, left in a basely ungoverned condition? The difficulty is somewhat illumined by reflecting on one broad feature of human life and action. Everything that falls within human activity may be said to have two sides to it. On the one side there is a Divine providence in the course a frail thing takes; on the other, there may be the outrage of all good sense and propriety. It is universally impossible in a single instance to escape from this complex position. Take, then, any temptation that arises from our bodily senses; there is a Divine side even to these when they are obeying the holy will of God. And then they help, not mislead, the soul. But in man’s exercise of them there comes waywardness, folly. If men would only admit this double aspect of human things, to the fulness of its existence and influence, it would lessen, if it did not remove, many difficulties. It would be seen that temptation must necessarily fill human life, and can arise at any and every point from the action of man’s folly and error. With this explanation, can we say in any sense that it is the will of God, and justifiably so, that we, being what we are, should thus find temptations, with the risk of being betrayed by them? To answer this, we must consider a little more what man is, and what his position and calling in this life, possessed of these evil tendencies. Were he innocent and pure, and had he no knowledge of evil, there were then no evil tendencies. Were man either the creature of destiny, or a thing completely pliable to all surrounding influences, temptation would seem a very needless hardship. It is when we reflect that the thought of man most nearly adequate is of a being of great grandeur of nature, yet afflicted with evil tendencies—a being of unlimited though undeveloped capacities in all directions. The great meaning and use of temptation is to reveal the secret and unknown depths of the human soul, which may take three directions:
1. Very many things in human life, from the most startlingly terrible down even to the quite trivial, tell us how very little any one knows of the extent to which evil has invaded the nature of man. Who has not often observed in life a display of perversion that no one could have anticipated? No man knows himself, and no other man knows him, as to evil, until he is tried.
2. A more beautiful aspect of temptation is its power to develop the fortitude of virtue, the resolute moral earnestness of the man. To a being like man, knowing good and evil, and mysteriously allied to both, there would appear to be no other method of spiritual discipline.
3. The full force of these truths comes out to view as our perception becomes quite clear of the extreme opposite qualities—holiness and sin. Three truths are necessary to our search for the meaning of the difficult problems of life:
1. The paternal care of God.
2. The interpreting light of the future.
3. And the stupendous interests of morality. To him who sees in life no vast meaning to be unfolded, all these temptations may present only a tangled web. But when life emerges from this obscurity, as a God-given thing, with an infinitude of purpose, with a moral intensity that can be measured only by a heaven of ineffable bliss and a hell of unutterable gloom, then temptations are full of a sacred intent, come with the benediction of the all-wise and all-loving Father, it may be with sacred tears, to cast us on His everlasting arms of compassion and strength, and to fill our hearts with His pure joy.—Samuel Edger, B.A. (Auckland, N.Z.).
James 1:3. The Trial of Waiting Work.—Human trouble never takes on a more serious form, and never becomes a severer test, than when it makes effort and enterprise impossible, and compels us to do nothing, and wait. Estimate
(1) the pain of a condition of indecision;
(2) the restlessness of watching;
(3) the fear that the waiting will be in vain. It is a supreme difficulty to keep the heart rightly toned at such times, and to keep the life filled with right occupations. Difficult to be duly, but not unduly, anxious. Difficult to keep trust joined with prayer. “Watch and pray.” But it is precisely in dealing with these difficulties that our characters get their culture through temptations.
Patience Something to be Won.—“Worketh patience.” Do not think that the grace will come to its full beauty in an hour. It is a matter of culture through tending and discipline. A child is naturally impatient. A worldly man is naturally impatient. A Christian man is a man cultured unto letting “patience have her perfect work.” The agencies more especially employed in the cultivation of patience are:
1. The disappointments of life, which become temptations to heartlessness and hopelessness.
2. The delays of life, when hope deferred makes the heart sick, and men feel the temptation to force their own way, and hurry through their own schemes.
3. The afflictions of life which involve severe pain, or the nervous restlessness which seems to make patience impossible.
4. Daily contact with persons whose temper and disposition are specially trying to us, and with whom it is almost impossible to bear.
5. The little incidents of life, which are too small to make demand of any great effort to master ourselves, and consequently are done without self-restraint, and often very impatiently. Patience is the one virtue that is especially cultivated by the sanctifying of the common events and relations of life.
The Praise of Patience.—Patience is the guardian of faith, the preserver of peace, the cherisher of love, the teacher of humility. Patience governs the flesh, strengthens the spirit, sweetens the temper, stifles anger, extinguishes envy, subdues pride; she bridles the tongue, restrains the hand, tramples upon temptations, endures persecutions, consummates martyrdom. Patience produces unity in the Church, loyalty in the State, harmony in families and societies; she comforts the poor, and moderates the rich; she makes us humble in prosperity, cheerful in adversity, unmoved by calumny and reproach; she teaches us to forgive those who have injured us, and to be the first in asking forgiveness of those whom we have injured; she delights the faithful and invites the unbelieving; she adorns the woman and approves the man; she is beautiful in either sex and every age. Behold her appearance and her attire. Her countenance is calm and serene as the face of heaven unspotted by the shadow of a cloud, and no wrinkle of grief or anger is seen on her forehead. Her eyes are as the eyes of doves for meekness, and on her eyebrows sit cheerfulness and joy. Her mouth is lovely in silence; her complexion and colour that of innocence and security; while, like the virgin, the daughter of Zion, she shakes her head at the adversary, despising and laughing him to scorn. She is clothed in the robes of the martyrs, and in her hands she holds a sceptre in the form of a cross. She rides not in the whirlwind and stormy tempest of passion, but her throne is the humble and contrite heart, and her kingdom is the kingdom of peace.—Bishop Horne.
Patient Bearing is Reasonable.—It is but reasonable to bear that accident patiently which God sends, since impatience does but entangle us, like the fluttering of a bird in a net, but cannot at all ease our trouble or prevent the accident. It must be run through, and therefore it were better that we compose ourselves to a patient, than to a troubled and miserable, suffering.—Jeremy Taylor.
James 1:4. Perfect and Entire.—There is both unity and distinctness in these terms. “Perfect” means that which fully attains its end. “Entire” means that which is complete, and harmoniously and healthily developed, in all the parts or regions of the spiritual life. The two words are wanted to express the full idea of a Christian.
Christian Character a Thing of Quiet Growth.—It is with the building up of Christian character as with the formation of crystals. In order that a crystal may be properly and perfectly formed, at least three things are necessary: there must be ample time in which all unnecessary fluid can be dissipated, and the component parts of the crystal come gradually together; there must be sufficient room for all the angles and planes of the crystal to attain their regular size; and there must be the absence of agitation, so that all the points and proportions of the crystal shall be evenly and symmetrically formed. Christian character, when it is what it ought to be, is more beautiful than any crystal that nature’s laboratory ever produced; and in order that it may reach its perfectness time is necessary. It is a thing of quiet growth; it has to rise gradually and by many stages into form and beauty; to hurry through religious processes will be to mar and spoil the result; we must “let patience have her perfect work.” And space is as needful as time. If we shut ourselves up in a narrow place, if we go away from the broad, open world, and confine ourselves to a monk’s seclusion, to a hermit’s solitude, we shall be cramped and restricted; and while some parts of our character may become finely and delicately developed, others will be stunted and dwarfed, and the character as a whole will be anything but perfect. The absence of agitation, too, is important. Whatever may be going on upon the surface of our life to interrupt its tranquillity, deep down in the depths of the spirit in which character has its beginnings, and from which it grows, there must be the unruffled calm which trust in the Father’s will and power and purposes never fails to inspire; otherwise our character will be built up by fits and starts, and so will lack the fulness of harmony, symmetry, majesty, which it ought to possess.—B. Wilkinson.
The Ideal of Christian Attainment.—“Perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” Perfection of character is the idea, the aim, to be kept in the soul of the Christian, there to work as a perpetual inspiration to the seeking of perfection in the life and conduct and relationships. St. Paul presents the distinction between full-grown men and little children: the full-grown men are the perfect; they have reached the fulness, the standard, of Christian manhood. St. John has a similar kind of expression: he addresses several classes—the fathers, the young men, the little children; viewing these as different stages on the way to the perfect, that perfect being kept as the thought and aim in the soul of each. The idea of “perfect” comes out more plainly when it is set beside another word, “perfect and entire.” A man “entire” is one who has preserved or regained a lost completeness; or one in whom no grace that ought to be in a Christian man is wanting. But a man “perfect” is one who has attained his moral end, the standard according to which, in view of which, he was made; or one in whom no grace that ought to be in a Christian is found imperfect or weak, but all have reached a certain ripeness and maturity. The idea of absolute perfection is to be cherished in a man’s soul, and that idea is to be sustained by constant communion with the great model of human perfection, Christ Jesus, and a suitable effort is to be made afresh every day to work out that thought of the perfect in the spirit and temper and conduct of the life. Get the thought of perfection within you, and let your whole history be the history of a struggle after the perfect in all the relations of life.
The Christ-model of the Perfect Life.—The perfect—which as merely a creation of our imagination could exert little moral influence upon our life—was to be realised before the actual vision of men, and amidst our common scenes, and so to become the very mightiest moral influence. Christ is the ideal perfection realised in humanity. Christ is God’s perfect thought of what man should be. Without the help of Christ’s perfect life we could not form the idea of a perfect man. It is a simple fact that men never have formed such an idea. In Christ we not only think of, we see, the perfect. He is perfect on every side: perfect in all the stages of childhood, youth, manhood; perfect in all the spheres of the spirit, temper, speech, relationship; perfect in all the claims of duty, devotion, charity; perfect in all the scenes of success, loss, suffering, death; perfect in all the exercises of will, affection, and desire. In Him perfection is proved to be, and seen to be, an attainable thing. The ideal of perfect goodness Christ came to preach, and He could preach it with no consciousness that He Himself fell short of it.
The Perfect Work of Patience.—The new life in Christ comes to persons having peculiarities of natural disposition and character. It has its work in moulding, restraining, altering, developing, and completing natural character. It perfects graces that may be existing—perhaps only in germ—in natural dispositions; and it brings them, plants them, cultivates them, when they are lacking. Patience is a grace; it is one of the fruits of the Spirit. It takes two forms:
1. It may be the state of our mind and feeling as we go about our duty.
2. It may be the spirit which tones our intercourse with others. What in Christian life is likely to call patience into exercise?
1. The characters and dispositions of those with whom we must associate. Different and difficult temperaments. Some very wilful and trying.
2. The afflictions and trials of life. These often come in a way that disturbs our plans and tries our patience.
3. The element of the “future” in our redemption. Our best things have to be waited for. “If we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” Note the relation of patience to faith and hope. Faith strengthens patience. Patience tempers hope. For examples of patience see Job, Simeon, Paul, and our Divine Lord. The following things tend to support and nourish patience:
1. The sense of God’s presence with us.
2. A fitting apprehension of the holy purpose which God has in His dealings with us.
3. The necessarily gradual character of the work of our sanctification.
4. The strain involved in times of trouble.
5. The exceeding great and precious promises of future blessing.