Bible Study Library

Dear Disciples:

We begin in this lesson a new study on the book of James. More accurately, it’s a letter from James to the twelve dispersed tribes of Israel. James has been called the “Proverbs” of the New Testament because it addresses numerous topics with real-world, practical wisdom.

In Screwtape Letters (a must-read, by the way), C.S. Lewis published a series of letters from a senior demon named Screwtape to his underling Wormwood. In the letters, he advised Wormwood on the proper way to win over a human, whom he calls “the patient.”

Here’s one bit of the advice he offered:

“The great thing is to prevent his doing anything. As long as he does not convert it into action, it does not matter how much he thinks about this new repentance. Let the little brute wallow in it. Let him, if he has any bent that way, write a book about it; that is often an excellent way of sterilising the seeds which the Enemy plants in a human soul. Let him do anything but act. No amount of piety in his imagination and affections will harm us if we can keep it out of his will. As one of the humans has said, active habits are strengthened by repetition but passive ones are weakened. The more often he feels without acting, the less he will be able ever to act, and, in the long run, the less he will be able to feel.” (CS Lewis, Screwtape Letters, letter 13).

If there is a single theme in James’ letter, it is simply this: Applying faith to action.  James focuses entirely on what Screwtape wanted to prevent – acting out our faith.

After a very brief greeting, James gets right down to business.

How should Christians handle trials? (James 1:1-12)
James says joy is the proper response to tough times (v. 2). Huh? Yes, joy.

He didn’t say “happiness.” Joy and happiness are usually translated from different Greek words (chara [χαρα] vs. chairo [χαιρω]). Even in Greek, you can see that they look similar. That’s because they are related.

• Happiness is essentially an emotion, a feeling. Joy is an attitude, a condition, a habit of thought.
• Happiness is how you feel; Joy is how you are.

Why should we experience joy in tough times? James answers that question, too. It is because trials test our faith, faith-testing brings perseverance (v. 3), perseverance brings maturity and completeness, and completeness means we lack nothing (v. 4).

Let’s restate that:
You should experience joy during trials because they’ll result in you having everything you need!

James knows this isn’t the most natural response to trials, so he addresses three things that might get in the way of your joy:

• Lack of wisdom
• Weak faith
• Misguided perspective on the importance of your earthly life

Wisdom (1:5)
Wisdom is a simple thing to acquire. All you have to do is ask. You don’t even have to clean up your life first! If you ask God for wisdom, he’ll give it to you without finding fault (v. 5).

Now, there’s a whole other study that we won’t venture into here on King Solomon, who asked God for wisdom, received it, but didn’t clean up his life — it ended up disastrously for him. If you want God’s wisdom, it’s a good idea to be willing to let Him change you, too. But James says that’s not a requirement. Ask God, and He’ll give you wisdom.

Weak Faith (1:6-8)
There is one thing, however, that will prevent God from giving you wisdom — doubt (vv. 6-7). If you doubt, you are double-minded (v. 8).

Think about that. It makes plain sense… If you ask God for the wisdom to handle trials and then doubt that He’ll actually lead you through them, you are thinking two opposing things — God will lead me through, God won’t lead me through. It’s like someone sitting at a stop sign and deciding to turn both right and left at the same time. We’d say someone like that is “unstable,” and so does James: “He is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does” (v. 8).

If this is you — asking God and then not fully trusting God — admit to yourself that this problem goes deeper than your trust in God. You are unstable in other areas of your life, too.

Perhaps God is using these trials in your life to first get that part of yourself under control?

Misguided perspective on the importance of your earthly life (1:9-12)
James throws a twister in these verses. He says:
     Poverty = High position (v. 9)
     Wealth = Low position (v. 10)

This is certainly different that the way we would naturally describe things. We use phrases like “upper socioeconomic class” to refer to rich people and “lower socioeconomic class” to refer to poor people. What is James’ point? Is he saying we should all strive to be financially poor?

Not exactly. He’s not saying either one is better than the other. His message is that wealth will eventually fade away, so it’s irrelevant. It has absolutely no bearing on what really matters.

To both the rich and the poor he says “take pride in your position.” Now, the Greek words translated “take pride” is elsewhere translated “rejoice,” such as in a parallel passage in Romans:

Romans 5:1-4: Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand [this is what really matters!]. And we rejoice [that's the word] in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice [same word again] in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope [sound familiar?].

Actually, James 1:9-10 in Greek is more literally translated:

“The brother in humble circumstance ought to rejoice in his high position, and the one who is rich in his low position, because each will pass away like wild flowers.”

James’ point is that neither one matters. Both should rejoice where they are — Poor people should rejoice that they have a position far greater than that (independent of temporary stuff) and rich people should rejoice that they have a position much lower than that (i.e., not so dependent on stuff that is temporary).

Isaiah reminds us that “The arrogance of man will be brought low and the pride of men humbled; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day” (Isa 2:11, repeated in Isa 2:17).

Or, as an old Russian proverb says it, “at the end of the chess game, the king and the pawn go back into the same box.”

I’ll conclude by listing some questions you might want to ponder in your study of this passage. They are the same questions we answered for ourselves in class.

James 1:2

• Does anyone consider facing trials as something to be joyous about?
• What does it take to make us actually joyous in our trials?
• Is there any kind or trial that people shouldn’t be happy to face?

1:4

• What does James say should motivate the joy we experience during trials? What does he suggest we think about or realize about the trials?
• What is an example of a trial you’ve faced where you should have “considered it pure joy?” How did you actually react to the trial?
• James says that we “won’t lack anything” if we are “mature and complete.” When you don’t lack anything, you have everything! What does he say causes us to “have everything?”

1:5

• How “perfect” do we need to be to get wisdom from God?
• What is required for us to have God’s wisdom?

1:8

• What does “double-minded” mean? [Think of a different type of example of double-mindedness in action, similar to wanting to turn both left and right at a stop sign]
• How is asking God for wisdom and then doubting the wisdom He gives you similar to that?

1:11

• James just said in verses 3-4 that facing trials with joy makes us have everything. Anyone who has everything is rich! Now he talks about people who are poor [in "humble circumstances"] and people who are rich in worldly goods. What does he say each kind of person should take pride in?

1:12

• This verse goes back to verses 3-4 - “Perseverance” comes from facing trials. What does he say happens if we do persevere in our trials?
• So, with all of this, what is God’s ultimate goal in allowing us to face trials?
• What should our lives look like the next time we face a trial? What should people be able to see if, for instance, we develop a serious disease, our house burns down, we become crippled, or we lose our sources of income?