1. Trials and Temptations. James 1:1-18

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are of the Dispersion, greeting.

2 Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations; 3 knowing that the proving of your faith worketh patience. 4 And let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.

5 But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord; 8 a doubleminded man, unstable in all his ways.

9 But let the brother of low degree glory in his high estate : 10 and the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. 11 For the sun ariseth with the scorching wind, and withereth the grass; and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his goings.

12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been approved, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to them that love him. 13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth no man: 14 but each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then the lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin: and the sin, when it is fullgrown, bringeth forth death. 16 Be not deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

In his brief line of greeting James pauses for no long description of himself or of his readers, merely indicating that as a "servant of God" he worships and obeys Jesus Christ as divine Lord and Master, and that those to whom he writes are Jews of the great national dispersion. He at once turns to the first great need of the readers, both in his day and ours, as he gives comfort in trial and warning in temptation. It is true that both experiences are denoted by the same word, yet the testing of which he speaks first is that of outward circumstances, and that which he next considers is due to inward desire.

He startles us by the strange paradox with which he begins, as he bids us "count it all joy" when we are suddenly overwhelmed by misfortunes of every possible kind. He does not mean that we are to court disaster or to seek for trouble or to deny the reality of pain and sorrow, but we are to regard all these adversities as tests of faith and as means of moral and spiritual growth. We are to rejoice, not because distresses come, but in view of their possible results. They may produce "patience," which is not mere passive submission, but steadfast endurance and triumphant trust. We are urged therefore to allow "patience" to do its full work in producing a maturity of character in which every virtue is fully developed and no grace is lacking. Such a blessed issue of trials is possible only when we look upon them in the right light; it requires "wisdom" to see life steadily and "see it" whole and to view its darker scenes in their right perspective. Trials may embitter, they may dwarf, they may work moral disaster. Therefore we must ask God for needed grace, for true "wisdom." He gives to all liberally; he never rebukes us for asking too much. We must, however, look to him in absolute confidence. If our minds are allowed to dwell only on our distress, or to turn restlessly back and forth from his changeless love to our pitiful selves, the state of the soul is like a wave of the sea, "driven by the wind and tossed"; surely then no divine grace can be received, no moral progress can be made.

Two familiar examples of testing are now given, the trials of poverty and the temptations of wealth. Either may result in moral injury, even in spiritual disaster; but if met with the "wisdom" which God gives, either may issue in the perfecting of character. It is of course much easier to rejoice when wealth comes than when it goes; but joy may be possible in the latter experience when we realize that what one is should concern him more than what he has, particularly when we remember that wealth passes away and a man ceases to be rich quite as swiftly as a flower withers under the summer sun. The character, however, which issues, from either the test of prosperity or the test of adversity abides forever.

As James, therefore, emphasizes the reward of endurance, he speaks of "the crown of life, which the Lord promised to them that love him," by which he means that one whose faith stands the test, one who views each event of life in the light of the wisdom which God gives, receives as a reward, as an inevitable result, life in ever fuller, larger degree, life more abundant, life for time and for eternity.

As the writer declares this blessedness of "the man that endureth temptation," he has in mind both the tests of outward circumstances and also of inclinations to sin. Of the latter he now speaks in more detail. He assures us that as trials may lead into truer life, any harm which results from them must be due to the evil within us. That which converts a trial into a temptation is solely the sinful lust that comes from our own hearts. "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God." We may not use those words, but we are all inclined to excuse our wrongdoing on the ground of some circumstance or inheritance which is logically related to the providence of God, which therefore comes from God. Evil, however, cannot tempt God, it can make no appeal to him, it cannot have its source in him; therefore "he himself tempteth no man." Evil desire, which we should resist, which by the grace of God we may resist, is like a temptress by whom one is coaxed and cajoled and enticed; and when evil desire is allowed to lodge in the heart it soon controls the will. The result is sin, and the issue of sin is nothing less hideous than death. The loss of beauty and purity and holiness and happiness, the loss of fellowship with goodness and God, the loss of all that is worthy the name of life, comes from our own evil selves.

James warns us against false conceptions of ourselves or of God: "Be not deceived, my beloved brethren." So far from being the author of evil, God is the Giver of every good gift, and all his gifts are good. He is like the sun; other heavenly bodies like the moon or stars may wax or wane, but from "the Father of lights" streams forth changeless, unmingled love. Surely we can trust him in every hour of trial, in every time of temptation. His greatest gift is the new life which he has imparted to us through the truth revealed in Christ. As the "firstfruits" were dedicated to God and gave promise of the coming harvest, so we Christians are designed to be the special possession of God and the pledge and earnest of a redeemed race.