I have completed my commentary on James. I will be posting this in sections on Wednesdays over the coming weeks. Here is the first section.
James
A
Commentary
By –
Willard Stringham
Preface
For many years, I have had the desire to
write a commentary on the book of James. This epistle is one of the books of
the New Testament that I have read again and again and again. Each time that I
read it, I am struck by the fact that it is as relevant to the issues of our
day as it was when it was penned all those years ago.
I have both Bible college and seminary
credentials, but my intention with this commentary is not to pen an academic
work. The goal of this book is to provide the lay reader with an accessible
commentary on the book of James and its meaning for our lives today. It will be
a more devotional type commentary.
It is my hope and prayer that as you read
this work that you will gain a greater insight into the message of James and
how it applies to our walk with the Lord Jesus today. May God bless you as you
endeavor to learn more about Him through His word.
Introduction
The first thing that we need to address as
we begin our study of the book of James is what type of literature it is. James
is called an epistle. It is a letter that was written by the author to address
a group of believers. Much of the New Testament is made up of epistles with the
Apostle Paul being the one who penned most of them.
As we approach the book of James, we need
to ask ourselves which James is the author of this text. There are three
different James’ in the Bible. The first one we think of is James the son of
Zebedee who was the brother of John. Almost all Bible scholars agree that he
did not write this epistle. James was the first martyr among the apostles. He
was killed in about 44 AD. The thinking is that there would not have been
enough time for the church to spread out sufficiently enough for James to pen a
letter to all of the churches that are mentioned in the first part of the book.
If James the son of Zebedee did write this book, it would have been the first
book of the New Testament canon to be written.
While the vast majority of scholars hold
to the fact that this James did not write the book, I hold out that it is
possible. James was one of the inner three disciples. As we will see, much of
James sounds like Jesus. It was written by someone who really knew what Jesus
was talking about while He was here on this earth. While not probable that
James John’s brother wrote the book, I don’t think it is as impossible as many
Bible scholars suppose.
Another James who is a candidate for
authorship is James the Less also known as James the son of Alpheus. He is not
mentioned in the Bible outside of the list of disciples and apostles when the
twelve are listed. There isn’t much support for him being the author.
The James who almost everyone believes wrote
this book is James the Just who was Jesus’ brother and the leader of the church
in Jerusalem. He was a very prominent leader in the early church, and he was
highly respected for his piety and his knowledge. James was the leader of the
first church council in Jerusalem that is recorded for us in Acts 15. He would
have had the authority and respect to write to churches and to have his words
listened to and acted upon.
Now, just as an overview before we get into
the heart of the text, what is James all about. This book is about living a
life based on Godly wisdom. It is about practicing what one preaches. James
wants those who are followers of Jesus to live like they are what they
proclaim. He wants people to be doers of the Word and those who practice pure
religion.
In this book, James tells us how we are to
behave in this world. He will tell us that faith without works is dead and that
those who follow Jesus need to get control of what they say as the tongue is a
deadly poison that can destroy people and a person’s testimony.
As we will see, one of the things that
really attracts me to the book of James is that James speaks out strongly
against favoritism and prejudice. He stands up for the poor and for those who
labor for a living. He stands for the oppressed against the oppressor. As you
read and study this epistle, you will find that it is much like the Sermon on
the Mount. There and in this book, there is a strong emphasis on making sure
that you don’t have an empty profession of faith but that you have a true
possession of faith that manifests itself in living a holy life of good works.
It is now time for us to dig into what the
Lord Jesus has to teach us through the Epistle of James.
James
Chapter 1:1
The book of James begins by the author
telling us that he is the servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
what all of us who name Jesus as our Savior are supposed to be. We are to be
servants of the Lord. That means that He is our master. He gives us His
commandments and teachings, and as His servants, we are to follow what He has
set out for us. That is what it means to be a Christian. It means following the
Lord Jesus in all things. He is the center of our lives. It is not enough to
say that Jesus is Savior. He must also be Lord.
In this first verse, James also addresses
his readers. He is writing to the twelve tribes that are scattered throughout
the world. What he is saying is that this letter is being written to those of
the Jewish faith who have come to recognize that Jesus is the promised Messiah.
From the day of Pentecost and beyond, many
Jewish people came to faith in the Lord Jesus. Since they were gathered for the
feast of Pentecost, many went back to their home regions and told others of the
good news about who Jesus is and what He had accomplished through His death and
resurrection. Many were added to the church day by day.
James 1:2-4
These verses are not the easiest verses for us
to understand. It seems very difficult to have an attitude of pure joy when
trials come to us in our lives. However, James is encouraging us to have the
proper attitude so that we learn the proper spiritual lessons that the Lord is
trying to teach us when we are going through difficult times in our
lives.
Let me state, all of the trials and
difficulties that we face in our lives are not in some way placed on us by God.
God uses the things that we are going through to help us trust in Him and serve
Him in a greater way. The Lord wants us to call upon Him to help us when we are
facing the difficulties and the struggles that we all go through.
Many of the trials that we face in life can be
quite challenging. Sometimes, there are so intense that they may cause us to doubt
that the Lord cares about us or that He has our best intentions at heart. We
need to banish these kinds of thoughts from our minds.
When we face challenges and tests to our
faith, we endure so that we grow in our faith and trust in the Lord. This
process allows us to become more mature in the faith.
Let us think about in this way. When you face
a temptation, a trial or a difficult situation, you can either succumb to it or
overcome it. When we overcome and persevere, we grow, and we are then able to
better handle other temptations, trials and difficult times that may come into
our lives.
James 1:5-8
In these verses, James is speaking directly
about asking God for wisdom. It is in the direct context of asking for wisdom
to understand how to make it through any of the hard times and temptations that
we might be facing. It is asking for wisdom to overcome.
We can take it a step further from this, I
think. All of us ask things from the Lord. We are even taught to do this by
Jesus in the Lord's Prayer. We ask the Lord for many things each day not only
for others but for our own needs as well.
When we ask the Lord for wisdom, or whatever
else it might be, we need to ask in faith and not waver. James warns against
being double minded and unstable in all of our ways being tossed about like the
waves of the sea.
In faith, believing in the power of the Lord
with all of our hearts, we let our requests be made known to the Lord. We have
to believe that He has the power. We have to walk by faith and not by sight.
Sometimes, things may look bleak, but we must never lose faith in God.
The reason that we do not lose faith is that
God gives generously to all who ask. The Lord wants to help us. He is not out
to get us. He wants what is best for us because He is our kind and loving
Heavenly Father who knows how to give good gifts to His children.
James 1:9-11
This is an interesting
section. It is a contrast between the rich and poor who say that they have
faith. As we go through the book of James, you will see that he doesn’t have a
lot that is nice to say about those who are rich and powerful. He doesn’t
approve of anyone thinking that they are better than someone else.
In this passage, the
first thing that James does is to tell the poor to take pride in their high
position. What could this mean? Weren’t they at the bottom of society? Only
according to the way the world thinks. Not to the way that God thinks.
The person who is poor
in the goods of this world, is wealthy beyond compare if he is a believer in
the Lord Jesus. Why? Because that person is a child of God. Their Father is the
King of the Universe. And they are a child of the King. You can’t get any
better than that.
James will go on to say
that the rich should rejoice in their humiliation, because they are passing
away like a wild flower. They are here today and gone tomorrow.
What does all this
mean? Here is a great instance when we must let Scripture interpret Scripture.
We go back to what Jesus said. Jesus said that the rich man who tore down his
barns and built bigger barns was a fool. He only thought about himself, and he
didn’t use his wealth to help others. Jesus asked what does it profit a man if
he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?
Also, Jesus gave the
parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. The rich man had it all. He even dressed
in purple which in that day meant you were uber wealthy. At his gate was poor
man named Lazarus. He had sores all over and the dogs came and licked him. He
was as low as a man on this earth can get. Yet Jesus surprised everyone and
said that the rich man went to hell and Lazarus went to Abraham’s Bosom which
is Heaven. Why? The poor man Lazarus was right with God, and the rich man
showed by his lack of caring for others that the love of God did not dwell in
him.
Wealth is not a sign of
God’s favor and poverty is not a sign of His displeasure. What is important in
life is that we know God and that we live out our faith by doing unto the least
of those among us.
James 1:12
In this verse, James is telling us more
about standing up under the trials of life. However, I believe that James is
speaking here a little more broadly about the trial of living for Jesus
throughout our lives on earth instead of just talking about living through a
difficult time or through a specific time of temptation.
If we endure and make it through this life
without losing our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus, the Lord will reward us
with a crown of life. It is an
acknowledgment from the Lord that we have done what we were supposed to do. The
Lord gives this crown, James says, to those who love the Lord.
Love for the Lord is demonstrated through
a life of obedience. Jesus Himself said that if you love Me, you will keep My
commandments. He also said that we are His friends when we do whatever it is
that He says.
It is my hope, and I hope it is yours as
well, to hear the words of Jesus saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant.
Enter into the joy of your Lord.”
James
1:13-15
In this section, James wants us to know
where temptations in this life come from. They do not come from God. God does
not tempt any person to do what is wrong. He does not tempt people in order to
get them to sin. What James is saying is that God is not out to get you. He is
not looking to bring something bad down upon you. He doesn’t want you to fail
in following Him, and He is not setting you up to fall away from His service.
We can’t blame God when we slip and fall
and commit the various sins that we commit. James is quite clear. A person sins
when he is drawn away by his own lusts and enticements. We are the ones who are
responsible for our actions. Our own greed and selfish desires when they are
dwelled on, planned on, and schemed on are what leads to sin and separation
from God.
What is the end result of falling into sin
again and again and again? Death is what James says. This can be physical and
spiritual death. Some sins and temptations can lead to death in the physical
sense. Doing certain things and living in certain ways set people up for bad
things to happen to them.
Falling into sin also leads to spiritual
death. I am not saying that every time you sin you lose your salvation. What I
am saying is that if a person continues to lead a sinful lifestyle that is
totally contrary to God and the things of God, that person is making a
conscious choice to have a life that is not about God. That ultimately leads
people to deny God and decide that they don’t want to be a Christian anymore.
With this is mind, it is best for us to
guard our hearts. When we are tempted, we need to pray and seek the guidance
and help of the Holy Spirit. We need to get in the Word. When we do sin, we
need to confess it, and move on in once again doing those things that God wants
us to do.
James
1:16-18
This passage tells us what God is really
like and what His intentions are for us. As James said, God is not tempting
people and trying to get people to fail. He has not set about to bring bad
things and troubles into people’s lives. Instead, James tells us that every
good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father.
The Lord wants and does give good gifts
and good things to us. He blesses us with all spiritual blessings. He has given
us all things that pertain to life and Godliness. He has sent us the Holy
Spirit to lead us and guide us and bless us with spiritual gifts.
We see this presented by Jesus as well. He
told us that God gives good gives to His children. And He does not shift around
and change. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. He will
always be there to help us and to be our peace in the midst of the struggles
and problems of this life.
James goes on to wrap up this section
saying God chose to give us birth. This means that God wanted to redeem us. He
wanted us to come home to the Father’s house. We are the first fruits
spiritually of all. We are the ones who have trusted in Jesus, and we are no
longer bound by death, hell and the grave. We have new life. We are born again,
and we will live with the Lord in a glorified body like unto the glorified body
of the Lord Jesus in the New Heaven and the New Earth.
James
1:19-20
We get some really good advice in this
section. It doesn’t matter if you are Christian or not, this is something that
if followed would help to make the world a better place. We should be quick to
listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.
Listening is a hard thing for many people
to do. We all sometimes struggle with being able to stop and let someone else
tells us what is on their heart. We always want to get our own two cents worth
in. If we are always talking, we can’t find out what someone else is thinking,
and that can cause us to not understand where someone else is coming from. If
you listen more and speak less, you will learn a whole lot more.
We should be slow to speak. What this
means is that we should give a measured answer and not just blurt out the first
thing that comes into our minds. We should analyze what we are going to say, so
as not to inflame a situation or say something harsh or rash that we are sure
to regret later. We especially don’t want to say something in anger. Why?
Anger does not produce the righteousness
that God desires. When you are angry, it causes one to speak words that hurt
and not words that heal. It causes someone to at many times turn away from
Jesus because they see those who say they follow Jesus being angry and saying
mean and destructive things all the time.
If are becoming angry and saying angry things all the time, there is no
way that we can be doing the things that God has called us to do.
James 1:21
In addition to making sure that we aren’t
an angry type of person, James tells us to rid ourselves of the moral filth and
evil that is so prevalent in this world. We can see that this world does not
value the same things that God values. Whatever God has revealed that He wants
people to do, the world and its value system says to do the exact opposite.
For this reason, Christians need to live
holy lives modeled upon the example of the Lord Jesus. If we keep our eyes
fixed on Him and follow all that He has told us to do, we will not go astray.
One of the virtuous we see in the life of
Jesus is humility. Like Jesus, we need to have a humble heart realizing that
everything we have comes as a result of the grace of God. Salvation, and every
good and perfect gift comes from the Father above.
James
1:22-25
This is one of the most well-known
passages in the book of James. It begins by telling us not to practice
self-deception. We are not to be the kind of people who study and hear the Word
of the Lord only. We are also to be the ones who follow the instructions of
God’s Word. We are to follow the teachings and the commandments of the Word. We
are to see the way that the Lord Jesus lived and acted while He was among us,
and we are to do likewise.
James gives us an example of a person who
hears the Word but does not act on what he hears. It is just like what happens
when a person looks at himself in the mirror in the morning. He sees the truth
of his appearance, but just after he walks away from the mirror, he cannot
remember in detail the image that he just saw.
Now, I think what James Is getting at is
that a person who just hears the Word and does not act upon never makes it a
part of his deep reality. It never really gets down deep in his soul and
becomes a part of him. It does not shape him and make him what he needs to be
in the Lord.
A person who really deeply and fully looks
into the Bible and studies it, especially the teachings and the commandments of
the Lord, that person will be blessed in all that they do. The reason for this
is that they will be living life in God’s way. They will be living in this
world following the example of the Lord Jesus. And when we do that, we cannot
go wrong.
The admonition of this passage is clear in
another way. James is saying, and he will repeat the theme, don’t just say you
believe, show it. Don’t just quote verses and show your Biblical intellect. Do
it. Live it out, or it doesn’t make any difference.
James
1:26-27
This is a particular favorite set of
verses for me. It tells about what true religion really consists of. There are
many people who are religious. They go to church. They say all the right
things. They will tell anyone that they meet what a good Christian they are.
But are they practicing true religion according to James?
True religion for James means visiting the
orphans and widows. What does this mean? It means just what Jesus said. It
means doing good unto the least among us as if doing it unto Him. There are a
lot of vulnerable, hurting and oppressed people in this world. A Christian is
someone who stands for justice for the oppressed. A Christian practicing true
religion helps the poor and helps those who cannot or will not help themselves.
Jesus said when you have done it unto the least of these, you have done it unto
me.
James adds an additional component to true
religion. We are to keep ourselves from being polluted by this world. In other
words, we are to live lives of holiness. We are to come out and be separate
from the values and the false idea system of this world. We are to go God’s way
and not the way of the world, the flesh and the devil.
When we do what the Lord has commanded us
to do to help others. When we love our neighbor as ourselves. When we treat
others as we wish to be treated, and when we live our lives without sin, we are
practicing true religion. And that is pleasing to God.
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