Persevering and the Source of Temptation, 1:9-18

Last time, we dealt with the “double minded believer,” a Christian who lives as though they have two souls, one that believes in God and acts accordingly, and one that has no faith in God and lives only for itself. This “double mindedness” keeps believers from experiencing joy in the midst of trials and blocks him from receiving God’s blessing. A Christian must believe with all the sincerity in his heart that God will help him. God will honor this person’s unwavering faith by giving him what he needs. Charles Wesley’s beautiful words ring true:

A heart resigned, submissive, meek,
My great Redeemer’s throne,
Where only Christ is heard to speak,
Where Jesus Christ reigns alone.

1. Trials: the great equalizer, 1:9-11

Verses 9-11 seem to be a whole new topic of discussion, but since verse 12 deals with persevering under trial, verses 9-11 relate in a general way to that subject. James is indicating that trials make all believers equal; rich or poor, all experience trials.

Verses 9 and 10 form a parallelism and contrast. The parallel is “take pride” and the contrast lies in the phrases “brother in humble circumstances” and “one who is rich.”

Because James uses the word “brother,” we know that he is referring to Christians. In the first example, the brother is one who finds himself in humble circumstances. The Greek is tapeinos, which means “lowly,” “insignificant,” “weak,” or “poor.” We assume James is thinking about a brother in poverty, but all of those meanings could be in his mind. The paradoxical statement “high position” is not the position of poverty, for there is no virtue in being poor. The “high position” refers to this believer’s position in Christ. In other words, this person’s source of joy is not his deprivation of material goods, but his sense of worth to Christ. That is what fellowship with Jesus Christ gives a person: a sense of their true value to God. When a person realizes that they belong to God, they understand that the important things in life are spiritual in nature and they soon find that the many material advantages of this life do not satisfy and bring joy.

The other brother is the opposite to the one in humble circumstances. This brother is one who is rich. This person is encouraged to glory in his low position. Does James mean to insinuate that being wealthy puts one in a low position? Of course not; the context involves trials. What James is doing is illustrating the reorientation of values when we come to God. In Christ, there is neither rich nor poor; one’s social standing means nothing to Him. James resorts to irony to hit that point home. Ironically, in this world a person is thought to be superior if they are wealthy. The wealthy are viewed as smarter and more influential by virtue of their wealth. This, of course, has no bearing on eternity whatsoever. The sense of value in Christ that exalts the poor man, humbles the wealthy man, for he realizes the true nature of wealth: it cannot stave of trials and it is temporary. That can be humbling thing for a wealthy man to realize.

Trials in life come to us no matter what our station in life may be. Being poor does not exempt us from trials nor does it make our trials any worse than those of the wealthy. Being wealthy, one cannot avoid trials, like sickness and death, pain and depression. Indeed, the Grim Reaper catches us all, rich or poor.

2. The failure of false security, 1:10b-11

These verses bring to mind the teaching of Christ:

Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. (Luke 12:15, 23 TNIV)

James uses an illustration from nature to make his case of the transitory nature of wealth and material possessions. In fact, James all but quotes from a portion of Isaiah’s prophecy:

A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All people are like grass, and all human faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.

The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. (Isaiah 40:6-7 TNIV)

James describes the climate conditions of Israel in a single verse. In the same way indicates that no matter how much wealth one may have, that wealth can vanish quickly. Like the sirocco winds that burn up grass and flowers in the deserts of Palestine, so life’s circumstances can drain one’s resources in a relatively short period of time. We may take a lifetime accumulating things, only to have them dwindle away in no time. But this is also the case with the poor, who may also grow dependent on whatever resources they my have; family, friends, the government. The Scottish Psalter paraphrases Psalm 103 like this:

Man is like the tender flower,
And his days are like the grass,
Withered where it lately flourished
By the blighting winds that pass.

3. Reward for perseverance, 1:12

James concludes his discourse of the testing of faith by writing about the reward that will be given to those who successfully stand the test and persevere. The crown of life may refer to a number of things; it’s difficult to know exactly James has in mind. He may have in mind the Septuagint translation of Zechariah 6:14-

The crown shall be for those who endure.

In this verse, “endure” refers to those who remain faithful; who don’t give up and give in to the sin around them. In James, it has a similar sense; enduring the trial with faith and a good attitude. Another way to look at the crown is the way the Greek readers of this letter would have understood it. Everybody in James’ day would have been familiar with the crown of laurel leaves a victorious athlete was awarded for winning a race. The sense is the same and James’ meaning is clear. The believer who endures their trial is like the athlete who wins his race; and both will receive their reward. Because the Christian life is measured against eternity, the Christian’s reward is an eternal one. Of course, there is some reward for believers to enjoy in this life; the eternal quality of life has its beginnings here and now, but its culmination lies beyond the grave.

A believer cannot earn this crown of life by “hanging tough.” God asks believers to place their complete faith and trust in Him. Consider what Peter said 1 Peter 2:20 and relate his words to James’:

But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. (TNIV)

Of this crown of life, Trench writes,

The crown of life is the emblem, bit of royalty, but of highest joy and gladness, of glory and immortality.

4. The real source of temptation, 1:13-15

James, the model pastor, like all pastors, knows the human heart and he knows that not everybody will be able to endure the tests God places before them. These verses constitute a warning not to blame God but rather to understand the cause of temptation that leads to defeat.

It might be reasoned by some that if God is all and over all as the Bible teaches, then God Himself is responsible for sending to man the various trials of testing and temptations. In point of fact, God does bring believers into situations of testing for the purpose of discerning and strengthening their character. This is, in effect, all part of the believer’s maturing process. However, to suggest that the test or trial is in itself the equivalent of the temptation which may emerge from it is a wholly pagan notion which sees good and evil residing in God.

In other words, as verse 13 indicates, when a believer is going through a difficult time and feels overwhelmed and in a fit of anger or rage curses God, they may later blame their sin on God, after all, since the God is control, then He caused me to sin. James makes it clear that God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. Tempting a believer to sin is evil, and God is not tempted to do an evil act, so He is not the one responsible for the believer’s errant behavior.

In verses 14 and 15, James makes it clear that the temptation to sin comes from within believers themselves. James does not blame anything or anybody; it is by our own sinful nature that each of you is tempted when you are dragged away by your own evil desire and enticed. The verbs “dragged away” and “enticed” are taken from the world of hunting and fishing. They have the idea of a hunter or fisherman luring their prey, then drawing them out of hiding of our of the water. Man’s desire for evil attracts his attention, then persuades him to approach the forbidden thing and then that man is snared by his own bait.

Wiley writes,

All appetite is instinctive and craves indulgence. It never controls itself, but is subject to control. Hence St. Paul says, ‘I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway (I Cor. 9:27).

Sin has a definite genealogy, and James traces it from conception to birth to death. First, temptation comes, then desire, like a human mother, conceives and gives birth to sin. Then sin, the spawn of evil desire, develops until it is full grown and ready to produce its own offspring. When sin reaches its full development, it results in death (see Burdick for an excellent discussion of this).

J.B. Philips in his translation of verse 15 links it to verse 16 and says,

And sin in the long run means death-make no mistake about that, brothers of mine!

5. God gives only good, 1:17-18

Again, as the pastor, James understands that the people to whom he is writing have been driven from their homes and are living in strange lands, far from friends and loved one in many cases. James knows their lot is a difficult one and that many of them have undoubtedly began to complain to God. So he addresses them affectionately and admonishes them not to be deceived. James wants his readers to understand what God is really like, not to rely on their distorted perceptions of Him.

Some believers, when burdened down with trials and cares get worn down and worn out and lose perspective and they question the goodness of the love of God. But instead of sending temptations, God is the giver of “every good and perfect gift.” James makes the following points about God that are worth considering briefly:

He is all good. Kistemaker writes that “God is goodness personified.” His goodness to believers is seen by what He has given them. God’s gifts are marked by the thoughtfulness and kindness, not destructiveness. God gave man a world in which to live; God gave man the gift of His Son to save His soul; God give man His abiding presence in the Person of His Holy Spirit. The gifts God gives His people are perfect, and they include all spiritual and material blessings. Since God is in control of every situation that befalls us, and if He gives only good things to us, how could we ever believe He would allow anything to hurt us?

He is ever dependable. God is like the lights He created and placed in the sky: they are always there, shining down on this planet. You can depend on the sun to light the sky by day and the moon and stars to light the night sky. He is dependable like them, and He is light as they are light. 1 John 1:5 says-

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

But unlike the shifting shadows caused by the light in the sky, God “does not change.” God does not produce light and shadow; He is always the giver of good gifts.

Verse 18 is the last reason James gives to prove God is not the cause of temptation. Rather than acting in a destructive manner, God acts constructively: He gave us new birth! He created within us a new heart and a new soul. The word “chose” is emphasized because of its location in the sentence. Giving us new birth was not our choice, but God’s. We did not choose Him, rather God chose us.

In verse 15, James tells us that sin gives birth to death. But here, we learn that God gives us new birth through His all-powerful Word, that is, the Gospel of salvation.

And why did God do all this for us? James says:

[T]hat we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

This is a mystifying verse for us to understand. In the Old Testament, the “firstfruits” referred to the first born of man, of cattle, the first produce from the vineyard, orchard, and field. The “firstfruits” were considers especially holy and belonged to God. They were a foretaste of things to come.

What an honor. We are God’s firstfruits, special and holy to Him. Imagine, that God has chosen us from among all the creatures He created holy and set apart only for Him. We belong to God. How can anybody possibly think God would do anything to tempt us to be led astray from Him?