Contents:
The Dangerous Duty of Delight. A Model of Christian Maturity. An Essential Guide to Speaking in Tongues. The Cross and Christian Ministry. How Long, O Lord? Faith To Live By. Keeping the Ten Commandments. Does Prayer Change Things? Mystery of the Holy Spirit. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. A Tale of Two Sons. Ephesians- Everyman's Bible Commentary. How to Prepare Bible Messages. The Man Christ Jesus: Theological Reflections on the Humanity of Christ.
The Truth War Study Guide. The Dynamics of Spiritual Gifts. Balancing the Christian Life. The Letters of John. The Jewish Annotated New Testament. The Preacher's Commentary - Vol.
The Character of the Lord's Worker. Matthew Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible. The Preacher's Commentary - Volume But patience is not inevitably produced in times of trial. If difficulties are received in unbelief and grumbling, trials can produce bitterness and discouragement.
Jesus is looking for disciples - doers, not just hearers. Or, get it for Kobo Super Points! It does not ask whether good works are to be done, but before the question is asked, it has already done this, and is constantly doing them. Why won't my login from the old site work? Old Testament New Testament. Or subscribe to our Newsletter: For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes.
This is why James exhorts us to count it all joy. Counting it all joy is faith's response to a time of trial. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing: The work of patient endurance comes slowly, and must be allowed to have full bloom. Patient endurance is a mark of the person who is perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. If any of you lacks wisdom: Trials are a necessary season to seek wisdom from God. We often didn't know we needed wisdom until our trial. Once in a time of trial, we need to know if a particular trial is something God wants us to eliminate by faith or persevere in by faith. In trials, we need wisdom a lot more than we need knowledge.
Knowledge is raw information, but wisdom knows how to use it. Someone has said that knowledge is the ability to take things apart, but wisdom is the ability to put things together. Let him ask of God: To receive wisdom, we simply ask of God - who gives wisdom generously liberally , and without despising our request without reproach. We need to understand that He is the God of the open hand, not the god of the clenched fist. When we want wisdom, the place to begin is in the Bible. The place to end is in the Bible. True wisdom will always be consistent with God's word.
But let him ask in faith: Our request for wisdom must be made like any other request - in faith , without doubting God's ability or desire to give us His wisdom. This shows the kind of heart we need in seeking God's wisdom from the Scriptures: With no doubting … let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord: The one who doubts and lacks faith should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. This lack of faith and trust in God also shows that we have no foundation, being unstable in all our ways. A double-minded man, unstable in all his ways: To ask God, but to ask Him in a doubting way, shows that we are double-minded.
If we had no faith, we would never ask at all. If we had no unbelief, we would have no doubting. To be in the middle ground between faith and unbelief is to be double-minded. The man who came to Jesus and said Lord, I believe; help my unbelief Mark 9: He wanted to believe, and declared his belief. His faith was weak, but it wasn't tinged with a double-minded doubt.
Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits. Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation: As much as it is appropriate for the lowly to rejoice when they are lifted up by God, so it is appropriate but far more difficult for the high the rich to rejoice when they are brought to humiliation by trials.
By faith in Christ the two are equals. Because as a flower of the field he will pass away: Trials serve to remind the rich and the high that though they are comfortable in this life, it is still only this life, which fades as the grass grows brown and the flowers fade away. In the land of Israel, there are a variety of beautiful flowers that spring to life when the rains come, but they last for only a short time before withering away.
On the scale of eternity, this is how quickly the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits. The riches of this world will certainly fade away - but James says that the rich man also will fade away. If we put our life and our identity into things that fade away , we will fade away also. How much better to put our life and our identity into things that will never fade! If a man is only rich in this world, when he dies, he leaves his riches.
But if a man is rich before God, when he dies he goes to his riches! Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Blessed is the man: In those great statements of blessing, Jesus wasn't finished telling us how we can be blessed. Here, we learn we can be blessed as we endure temptation. Temptation is one of the various trials James 1: As we persevere through temptation, we are approved , and will be rewarded as the work of God in us is evident through our resistance of temptation.
The crown of life which the Lord has promised reminds us that it really is worth it to endure under the temptations we face. Our steadfastness will be rewarded as we demonstrate our love for Jesus to those who love Him by resisting temptation. Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God": Temptation does not come from God. Though He allows it, He Himself does not entice us to evil, though God may test our faith without a solicitation to evil nor does He Himself tempt anyone. James knew that most people have an evil tendency to blame God when they find themselves in trials.
But by His very nature, God is unable to either be tempted in the sense we are tempted, as James will explain , nor can He Himself tempt anyone. We should remember that the pagan gods of ancient times were well acquainted with evil, and sinned often themselves. But the true God, the God of the Bible cannot be tempted by evil. Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed: God doesn't tempt us. Instead, temptation comes when we are drawn away by our own fleshly desires and enticed - with the world and the devil providing the enticement.
Satan certainly tempts us. But the only reason temptation has a hook in us is because of our own fallen nature, which corrupts our God-given desires. We often give Satan too much credit for his tempting powers, and fail to recognize that we are drawn away by our own desires. Some who like to emphasize the sovereignty of God say that God is responsible for all things. But God is never the one responsible for man's sin and damnation.
By no means; for their hearts are subjected to depraved lusts, because they are already corrupt and vicious. When desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin: Springing forth from corrupt desire is sin. Springing forth from sin is death. This progression to death is an inevitable result that Satan always tries to hide from us, but we should never be deceived about. Satan's great strategy in temptation is to convince us that the pursuit of our corrupt desires will somehow produce life and goodness for us.
If we remembered that Satan only comes to steal, and to kill, and to destroy John Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above: From our own fallen natures and from those who would entice us, we expect no true goodness.
But every good and every perfect gift comes from God the Father in heaven. Of course, the ultimate goodness of any gift must be measured on an eternal scale. Something that may seem to be only good such as winning a lottery may in fact be turned to our destruction. With whom there is no variation or shadow of turning: God's goodness is constant.
There is no variation with Him. Instead of shadows, God is the Father of lights. In the ancient Greek grammar, James actually wrote " the Father of the lights. Biblical Commentary Deeper Life Book 1. Galatians Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. Hablar con Dios - Diciembre Spanish Edition. A Patristic Commentary on the Four Gospels.
The Sermon on the Mount. Biblical Commentary Deeper Life Book 2. A Fresh Perspective on an Ancient Vision. Connections Commentary January-April Contemplaciones de Adviento Spanish Edition.
Commentary on James (Commentary on the New Testament Book #16) - Kindle edition by Robert H. Gundry. Download it once and read it on your Kindle. Read "Commentary on James (Commentary on the New Testament Book #16)" by Robert H. Gundry with Rakuten Kobo. Delve Deeper into God's Word In this.
A Study of Philippians 2: The Book of Exodus: