Bible Commentaries

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

To the twelve tribes — Once very devout, Acts 26:7 ; still the most nimble and mercurial wits in the world, but light, aerial, and fanatical, apt to work themselves into the fool’s paradise of a sublime dotage.

Which are scattered abroad — Banished from Rome by the Emperor Claudius, Acts 18:2 ; (Sueton. xxv.), and called by St Peter, "strangers of the dispersion," 1 Peter 1:1 . The Jews at this day are a disjected and despised people, according to Deuteronomy 28:64 , having neither country nor resting place; even in Jerusalem there be not to be found at this day a hundred households of them. (Breerwood’s Inq.)

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My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

Count it all joy — The world wondereth (saith Mr Philpot the martyr) how we can be so merry in such extreme misery. But our God is omnipotent, who turneth misery into felicity. Believe me, there is no such joy in the world as the people of Christ have under the cross; I speak it by experience, … He counted it so upon mature deliberation, as the apostle here adviseth.

All joy — That is, full joy (by a Hebraism), complete and perfect; such as is the joy of merchants when they see their ships come laden in.

When ye fall into — Not go in step by step, but are precipitated, plunged. Or when ye fall among, as he that went down towards Jericho fell among thieves,Luke 10:30; Luke 10:30 . When ye are so surrounded that there is no escaping them, being distressed, as David was, Psalms 116:3 .

Into divers temptations — Crosses seldom come single ( Catenata piorum crux ), as neither do mercies, but trooping and treading one upon the heels of another. Aliud ex alio malum. Teren. After rain cometh clouds, Ecclesiastes 12:2 . As in April, no sooner is one shower unburdened, but another is brewed. And when the apostle calleth them temptations, he meaneth such afflictions as will put us hard to it, and show what metal we are made of; pressing and piercing crosses.

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Knowing this , that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

The trial of your faith — Yea, such a well knit patience, as maketh a man suffer after he hath suffered, as David did from Shimei, but first from Absalom. Tile stones till baked are not useful; but well burnt and hardened they withstand all storms and ill-weather. See my Love Tokens, p. 170.

Knowing this — And therefore rejoicing, if not in the sense, yet in the use of your afflictions. See Trapp on " Hebrews 12:10 " See Trapp on " Hebrews 12:11 "

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But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Let patience have her perfect work — Patience must not be an inch shorter than the affliction. If the bridge reach but half-way over the brook, we shall have but ill-favoured passage. It is the devil’s desire to set us on a hurry; he knows his temptations will then work best.

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If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

If any of you lack wisdom — That is, patience to bear afflictions as he ought, cheerfully, thankfully, fruitfully, so as to be able to say, "Well for the present, and it will be better hereafter," which is the patient man’s motto, Qui placide sortem ferre scit, ille sapit. I thank thee, O Lord, for all my pain (said Francis of Assisi, in all his extremity), and I beseech thee, if thou think good, to add to it a hundred-fold more. Feri Domino, feri, said Luther; a peccatis enim absolutus sum: Smite, Lord, smite on, my sins are pardoned; all shall be for the best. Mr William Perkins, when he lay in his last and killing torment of the stone, hearing the bystanders pray for a mitigation of his pain, willed them not to pray for an ease of his complaint, but for an increase of his patience. (Dr Hall, Rein. of Profaneness.)

Let him ask it of God — It hath been questioned by some whether a man can have patience, sine auxilio gratice, without the help of God’s grace. (Aquinas.) But Christians know they cannot. It is not patience but pertinacy in godless men, that call not upon God; it is stupidity of sense, not a solidity of faith; a reckless desperation, not a confident resolution: such was that patience put forth by Mithridates of old, and by Baltasar Gerardus the Burgundian, that slew the Prince of Orange, 1584, and for the same endured very grievous torments. True patience is the fruit of prayer; this wisdom from above is one of those perfect gifts that cometh down from the "Father of lights," who is therefore called the "God of patience and consolation." God, as he is skilful in dirigendo, pitiful in corrigendo, so will he be bountiful in porrigendo.

That giveth to all men liberally — Not scantily, sparingly, or with an ill will. He is no penny father (as they say), but rich in mercy to all that call upon him. Αξιωματικωτατος μεν εστιν ο βασιλευς ημων , saith Basil. (Consil. Mon. i.) Our king gives like himself, and according to his state; he is angry with those that ask him small matters. He doth not shift off his suitors as Antigonus did the philosopher; who first asked him a groat; he answered, that was too little for a king to give; he requested the king then to give him a talent; who replied, that that was too much for a beggar to crave. ου βασιλικον το δομα. ου κυνικον το λημμα . God solicits suitors,John 4:23; John 4:23 , and complains (as the Emperor Severus once did of his courtiers), "Hitherto ye have asked me nothing." He gives also according to his excellent greatness; as Alexander the Great gave a poor man a city; and when he modestly refused it as too great for him, Alexander answered, Non quaero quid te accipere deceat, sed quid me dare, The business is not what thou art fit to receive, but what it becometh me to give. (Sen. de Benef. ii. 16.)

And upbraideth not — Neither with present failings, nor former infirmities. Qui exprobrat, reposcit. (Tacit.) So doth not God; unless in case of unthankfulness. For then he will take his own, and be gone, Hosea 2:8-9 .

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But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

But let him ask in faith — See Trapp on " Hebrews 11:6 "

Nothing wavering — We are too ready in temptation to doubt, yea, to hold it a duty to doubt. This (saith one) is to light a candle before the devil, as we use to speak.

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For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

That he shall receive — Unless he strive against his doubting, and wade out of it, as the moon doth out of the cloud. Qui timide rogat, negare docet; He that prayeth doubtingly, shuts heaven’s gates against his own prayers.

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A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

Unstable in all his ways — As he is that stands on one leg, or as a bowl on a smooth table. Contrariwise, a believer is as a square stone set into the building,1 Peter 2:7; 1 Peter 2:7 ; shaken he may be, but he is rooted as a tree; wag he may up and down as a ship at anchor, but yet he removes not.

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