James

The epistle of James.

1. Trials and Perseverance

1: What are the "twelve tribes in the Dispersion"?

5: We have a deep problem with immaturity and foolishness in the church. We need more people to be seeking wisdom. God will give it generously!

6: Doubt destroys all our power. The only way God's power flows into our life is through faith.

9-11: Poetic lines. Poverty and wealth are temporary.

Americans are always in pursuit of wealth, and that is fading away.

12: Compare with other verses that discuss 'the crown of life.' Doing good works in faithfulness to God wins us eternal glory.

13-15: Desire brings temptations to sin, and sin leads to death.

17: In God there is no change.

18:

what does it mean for those who have received the word of truth to be a 'firstfruits of his creatures'? is this alluding to some kind of universal cosmic restoration? regardless, it seems to allude to creation imagery here, light and shadow and God's word calling forth - hearing about Christ is the new creation, bringing us out of the spiritual prison of desire sin and death.

19-21: We do not control our tongues! We speak in anger, malice, and filthiness all the time.

25: What does it mean to look into the law of liberty and persevere?

In one sense, we can do whatever we want. Nobody forces you to be righteous or to sin. But if what we want is sin, then we reap death in our life. And if what we want is to love God and our neighbor, and to persevere in that love, then the freedom will only grow.

26: Doing religious things is worthless if you can't control your tongue. Truly pleasing God means speaking good things, caring for the weak, and living a pure life.

2. Faith Without Works Dead

1-7: We are always tempted to honor people who are higher up in the world, more attractive, wealthier, fancier. That's what the world honors. But Christians are supposed to show honor to poor and ugly people, too. After all, God chose you, and you're not so great. We are heirs of a kingdom that is greater than all the skyscrapers and banks and palaces and temples that exist on this world.

So honoring rich people more shows that you care more about temporary wealth than eternal wealth.

Loving rich people more than anyone else means that you really just love the world. You must love those poorer and uglier and less pleasant, as well.

12-13: The law of liberty is that you will be judged as you judge. So if you don't show mercy, mercy will not be shown to you.

14-26: Many people talk about how faith is how we are saved, not works, but that cause us to shift the focus in the wrong direction. As James says here, faith without works is not faith. So, we are justified not by faith alone, but by faithful works.

Jesus will judge everyone according to their deeds. Honor God by giving love and mercy to your neighbor. That's all you have to do.

3. Taming the Tongue

2: Whether or not you may be a teacher some day, we are all seeking perfection, and perfect self-control in body and in speech is the marker of a mature and holy Christian.

6: So many of the problems in our life, and in the afterlife, are caused by the tongue!

9-12: Christians are not supposed to curse other people. Other people can be rude, hateful, disgusting. But so can we! We don't want to end up cursed by God for the same things we cursed other people for. So, we must focus on blessing others and hoping God blesses us the same way.

From the beginning to the end, the Bible tells us that words are power.

13-18: You prove you are the best not by seizing status for yourself, which can only lead to chaos and deceit and bitterness, but by peacefully harvesting righteousness.

4. Submit to God

1-3: People fight because they do not have spiritual self-control and they covet what other people have.

4: It's better to be an enemy of the world and a friend of God. God's kingdom will last forever. The world is fading away. Why covet what they have when you have been promised something eternal? Put your hope in that.

8: So easy to complain about things going wrong in your life. If only there were an immortal, all powerful God who could solve those problems for you! If he was your friend, surely you could endure it, or one day discover he has removed it. So draw near. 9:

Have you ever considered that you're laughing too much? It would be silly to make it a religious requirement that people laugh less. But I have been convicted by this verse. It is easy for me to carry on with sins and to presume upon God's mercy, to feel guilt and repent and to swiftly continue enjoying myself until I fall back into some kind of sin and despair again. Are you sinning? It's because you're double-minded. Maybe you should take a break from laughter. Set aside the comedies for a time. Mourn throughout the day. If you are caught in sinning, you are dying, and the appropriate response is to weep before God that this state of living death could be removed from you. Now, if you break your captivity to sin, if you find you are overcoming your temptations, then that is a great time for laughter. I'm not anti-laughs entirely. But we have such an amusement based culture that we don't even know how to properly grieve over our sin. We want to get right back to the happiness right away.

Some people are naturally gloomy and melancholic and they enjoy brooding too much. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm saying that if you have an area of active double-mindedness, where you are being torn between serving God and your lusts, then you need to take a break from the amusements of life and focus on drawing near to God in solemnity and mourning. The living God is at hand, and he demands humility. Let him make you holy.

People are too quick to be pursuing the house of laughter. Let God place you there. As long as you are double minded, stay humble and mourning until God exalts you. Do not exalt yourself - your gloominess is no reason to be proud. You ought to be happy, if you were near God.

11: Once again, we are told not to speak evil and judge other Christians. It is so easy to do but it is one of the main things we should be on guard against. Other Christians might go in weird directions sometimes. That's between them and God. You're supposed to love them.

Now, they might just be foolish, and you don't want to take part in foolishness. You want to be seeking wisdom from God. But that involves working peacefully and mercifully. (3:17-18) What if you found out later that you had been judgmental and hateful of someone who had been on a special mission from God?

13-17: You don't have full control over the shape your life will take, what successes and failures you'll have. But you can know what the right thing is and do that: being humble, loving God, loving others.

5. Patience and Prayer

1-6: Many people accrue their wealth by cheating. What's that money going to be worth before the judgment seat of God? What's it worth when you're dead?

We have a lot of luxuries around us. They're fun to enjoy, but how did we get them? Often, if we trace back the source of the luxury long enough, we find people overworked and suffering, either here in America or somewhere else in the world. Luxury comes from slavery, somewhere down the line, and that is why we should not love luxuries too much.

For everyone to be at peace, we would probably have to sacrifice most of our luxuries.

12: Don't make elaborate elevated oaths, because in some sense everything you say should be a faithful promise. Live your life, as best you can, where everything you say is true, and what you say you'll do you do, because you say what you mean and mean what you say. That's what perfection looks like. The more true and faithful your words are, the better you can witness to God, the more you can bless your neighbor, and the freer your life can be from doubt and deceit.

14-16: Prayer saves the sick, either healing them in this life or saving them in the one to come.

Health doesn't come from hospitals. It comes from the life force of a holy God. So we must confess our sins and pray for one another.

16-18: The more righteous we are, the more spiritual power we can bless others with. He gives more miracles to those who are more righteous. You must believe we can change the world with a prayer to God. That's a more glorious thing to aim for in life than any sort of job or status or lifestyle.

19-20: We must pray for those who have wandered away from the church and faith in the promises of God. We don't want their soul to die.