James: English Translation, Commentary, and Uncial Text

THE LETTER OF JAMES

Translation and Commentary

by James Snapp, Jr.

2013

Commentary portion © 2013 James Snapp, Jr.
English translation based on the Equitable Eclectic Greek text is not
copyrighted.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface

English Translation:
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five

Commentary: 

1:1 Greeting (with Introduction)
1:2-8 Joy & Maturity
1:9-11 What is Prosperity?
1:12-21 Trials & Temptations
1:22-27 Hearing & Doing
2:1-13 Against Favoritism
2:14-26 Faith & Works
3:1-12 Taming Your Tongue
3:13-18 What is Wisdom?
4:1-10 Surrender to God
4:11-12 There is One Judge
4:13-17 What is Your Life?
5:1-6 Against the Rich
5:7-12 The Lord is Near
5:13-18 The Power of Prayer
5:19-20 Seek the Lost

Appendix One: Theology in the Epistle of James
Appendix Two: Election and Accountability
Appendix Three: Cross-references

Greek Text 
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Preface

The purpose of this translation is to accurately transmit the meaning
of the Greek text into English, primarily on a word-for-word basis. A
translation should be deep and clear to the same extent that the original
text was deep and clear. Therefore this translation avoids oversimplifying
the text. 
Any translation is only as good as the Greek text it represents. The
Greek foundation of this translation was established by the Equitable
Eclectic method, carefully evaluating the readings of ancient manuscripts
from diverse locales, rather than drawing from only one text-type. This
has resulted in a very accurate base-text. 
May this book achieve the purposes for which it was made. In serving
the Lord, may it also serve you.

James Snapp, Jr., translator
Curtisville Christian Church
Indiana – United States of America
 
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The Letter of James
 
Chapter One
 
1Jacob, servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes
sown in foreign lands: greeting.
2Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various
difficulties, 3knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
 4And let patience have its full effect, so that you may be full-grown and
mature, lacking in nothing.
5But if any one of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to
all, abundantly and without chiding, and it will be given to him. 6But let
him ask in faith, without doubting. For he who doubts is like a wave of
the sea, blown by the wind, and tossed. 7Let not that man think that he
will get a thing from the Lord – 8that two-souled man, unstable in all his
ways!
9Let the lowly brother boast because he is being lifted up, 10and the
rich, because he is being brought low. For as a flower of the grass he
will pass away. 11For the sun has risen with intense heat and shriveled
the grass, and its flower fell, and the beauty of its face perished. Thus
the rich man in his pursuits will fade away.
12Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, for after being tested,
he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who
love Him.
13Let no one say when tempted, "My temptation is from God," for God is
not tempted by evil, and He Himself tempts no one. 14But each person is
tempted as he is lured away by his own desires, and seduced. 15Then the
desire, having conceived, gives birth to sin. And sin, when full-grown,
brings forth death. 16Don't be deceived, my beloved brothers!
17Every good gift, and every perfect present, is from above, descending
from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of
turning. 18By His own will He begat us by the word of truth, so that we
would be a kind of first-fruits of His creatures.
19Therefore, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to
speak, and slow to anger. 20For man's anger does not achieve God's justice.
21So, abandoning all filthy rags and every trace of evil, meekly welcome
the implanted word, which has the power to save your souls.
22But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, outsmarting
yourselves. 23For if anyone is a word-hearer, and not a doer, he is like a
man who looks in a mirror at the face with which he was born: 24for he saw
himself, and went away, and immediately forgot what his likeness was like. 
25But whoever studies the perfect law of liberty, and remains therein,
being not a neglectful hearer, but a work-doer – he will be blessed in his
deeds.
26If anyone considers himself religious, and does not bridle his tongue,
but deceives his heart, such religion is worthless! 27This is clean and
flawless religion before God the true Father: to visit orphans and widows
in their distress, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
 

Chapter Two
 
1My brothers, do not have the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus
Christ with favoritism. 2For suppose a man has entered into your synagogue
with a gold ring, in fine clothes, and there also enters a poor person in
ragged clothes. 3And you look favorably upon the one wearing the fancy
clothes, and say, "Here, you take this good seat." And to the poor person
you say, "You stand there, or sit here, under my footstool." 4Didn't you
thus discriminate among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
5Listen, my beloved brothers! Didn't God select the poor of the world to
be rich in faith, and to be heirs of the kingdom which He has promised to
those who love Him? 6Yet you dishonored the poor person. Don't the rich
overpower you and drag you into court? 7Don't they blaspheme the good name
that was named over you?
8If indeed you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You
shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well. 9But if you show
favoritism, you sin, and are exposed by the law as offenders. 10For
whoever keeps the whole law, and stumbles in one, has become guilty of
all. 11For the One who said, "No adultery" also said, "No murder." Now if
you do not commit adultery, but you murder, you have become a law-breaker.
12So speak and act appropriately, as those who are going to be judged by
the law of liberty. 13For judgment shall have no mercy to him who showed
no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
14What's the point, my brothers, if someone says he has faith, and he has
no works? That faith cannot save him, can it? 15If a brother or sister is
barely clothed, and might even lack one day's food, 16and one of you says
to them, "Go in peace, be warm and well-fed," and yet you give them none of
what the body needs, what's the point? 17So also faith, if it does not
have works, is dead, by itself. 18But someone shall say, "You have faith,
and I have works. Show me your faith without the works, and I will show
you the faith through my works."
19You believe that God is one. Well done! Even the demons believe that,
and they bristle. 20But are you willing to learn, O hollow man, that faith
without works is dead? 21Was it not by works that our father Abraham was
justified, having offered his son Isaac upon the altar? 22Look: faith was
working together with his works, and through the works, his faith became
full-grown. 23And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham had
faith in God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was
called, "Friend of God."
24You see that by works a man is justified, and not by a lonely
faith. 25Likewise, was not even Rahab the prostitute justified by works,
when she welcomed the messengers, and sent them out another way? 26For as
the body without spirit is dead, in the same way faith without works is
dead, too.
 
Chapter Three
 
1Do not be many teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive a
stricter standard of judgment. 2For we all stumble in many ways. If
anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a fully developed man, able
to control the reins of the whole body as well.
3Observe: having put horses' bits into their mouths, to make them obey
us, we turn their whole body as well. 4And consider the ships which are so
huge, and are driven by strong winds: they are turned by a tiny rudder to
go wherever the whim of the steersman may want.
5And thus the tongue is a small body-part, and it makes large boasts. 
See how such a huge forest is burnt by such a small fire! 6And the tongue
is a fire, the world of wickedness. The tongue, situated among our body-
parts, stains the whole body and ignites the cycle of natural life, and it
is ignited by Gehenna-hell.
7For every kind of beast and bird, creepers and swimmers, is tamed, and
has been tamed by human beings. 8But no human can tame the tongue. It is
a rebellious evil, full of deadly poison!
9With it we praise the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who are
made in the likeness of God. 10Out of the same mouth come blessing and
cursing. My brothers, these things should not be so! 11Does a fountain,
from one opening, gush the sweet water with the bitter? 12Can a fig tree
make olives, my brothers? Can grapevines make figs? Likewise no salty
fountain produces sweet water.
13Who is wise and perceptive among you? Let him demonstrate by good
behavior that he works in wisdom's meekness. 14But if you have bitter envy
and selfish ambition in your heart, do not exalt yourself, and do not deny
the truth. 15That wisdom does not descend from above; rather, it is
earthly, soul-based, demonic. 16For where jealousy and selfishness exist,
there is disorder and every foul practice. 17But the wisdom from above is
first pure, then peaceful, gentle, easily entreated, full of mercy and good
fruits, unwavering, unhypocritical. 
18The fruit of righteousness is peacefully planted by those who make
peace.
 
Chapter Four
 
1The wars and conflicts you have among yourselves: from where do they
come? Where? Isn't this the source: from your cravings that fight in
your body-parts? 2You desire, and do not have, so you murder and covet. 
You cannot obtain, so you fight and wage war. You do not have, because you
do not ask. 3You ask, and you do not receive, because you ask badly, so as
to spend it on your cravings.
4Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship
with the world is opposition to God? Whoever chooses to be a friend of the
world makes himself an enemy of God. 5Or do you think that the Scripture
pointlessly says that the Spirit which dwells in us has envious desires? 
6But He gives greater grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud,
but to the lowly He gives grace." 
7Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from
you. 8Come close to God and He will come close to you. Cleanse your
hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you who are two-souled. 9Be
miserable, and mourn, and weep! Turn your laughter into lamenting, and
turn your glee into grief. 10Lower yourselves before the Lord, and He will
lift you up.
11Do not defame each other, brothers. The one who defames a brother and
judges his brother is defaming and judging the law. Now if you judge the
law, you are a judge instead of a law-keeper. 12There is One Law-giver and
Judge who has power to save and to destroy; so who are you to judge your
neighbor?
13Come now, you who say, "Today and tomorrow we shall travel to this or
that city, and stay there one year, and run a business, and make a
profit." 14You do not know about tomorrow. For what is your life? It is
a mist which appears for only a little time, and then disappears. 
15Instead, you should say, "If the Lord wills, and we live, we will also do
this or that." 16But now you boast in your arrogant assumptions. All such
boasting is evil.
17So if someone knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it
is sin.
 
Chapter Five
 
1Come now, you who are rich: weep and howl over your impending
torments. 2Your riches have rotted, and your clothes have become moth-
eaten. 3Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will bear
witness against you, and will consume your flesh like fire. You have
hoarded treasure in the last days!
4Look at the pay of the workers who chopped your fields – the pay you
have withheld: it cries out, and the harvesters' shouts have entered into
the ears of the Lord of angelic armies. 5You lived in revelry and luxury
upon the earth; you gorged your hearts as in a day of slaughter. 6You
condemned and murdered the righteous, who does not oppose you.
7So persevere, brothers, till the coming of the Lord. Look: the farmer
waits for the earth's precious fruit; he is perseverant until it receives
the first and last rains. 8You also are to persevere. Strengthen your
hearts, for the coming of our Lord is near. 9Do not grumble about each
other, brothers, lest you be judged. Look: the Judge is standing at the
doors!
10As an example, brothers, of endurance and perseverance, take the
prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11Look: of those who
persevere, we say, "How blessed!" You have heard of the patience of Job,
and you have seen the Lord's objective – that He is full of compassion, and
merciful.
12But first of all, my brothers, do not use oaths: not "By heaven," nor
"By the land," nor any other oath. Just let your "Yes" be "Yes," and let
your "No" be "No," to avoid falling into hypocrisy.
13Is anyone among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is anyone
happy? Let him sing psalms. 14Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for
the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with
oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer of faith shall save the
sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, his
sins will be forgiven.
16Confess your offenses to one another, and pray for each other, so that
you may recover. The earnest prayer of the righteous has a powerful
effect. 17Elijah was a man with an emotional nature like ours, and he
fervently prayed that it would not rain. And it did not rain upon the land
for three years and six months. 18And again he prayed, and the sky gave
rain, and the land blossomed with its fruit.
19My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone
turns him back, 20let him know that he who turns a sinner from his
wandering way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of
sins.
 
The End of the Letter of James

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COMMENTARY
 
The main purposes of this commentary are to illustrate, explain, and
apply the lessons taught in James' epistle, to illuminate the background of
the text, and to resolve some textual questions. This commentary moves
from point to point rather than verse-to-verse. It is arranged in 16
parts; Part One is a basic introduction to the book of James.
 
1:1 Greeting (with Introduction) 
1:2-8 Joy & Maturity
1:9-11 What is Prosperity?
1:12-21 Trials & Temptations 
1:22-27 Hearing & Doing
2:1-13 Against Favoritism
2:14-26 Faith & Works
3:1-12 Taming Your Tongue
3:13-18 What is Wisdom?
4:1-10 Surrender to God
4:11-12 There is One Judge
4:13-17 What is Your Life?
5:1-6 Against the Rich
5:7-12 The Lord is Near
5:13-18 The Power of Prayer
5:19-20 Seek the Lost
 
PART ONE (1:1) – GREETING
 
James is the only person in the Bible who is specifically described as
"slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." And James, and no other
inspired writer, used the ordinary Greek word chairein as his opening
greeting (the Roman commander Claudias Lysias used the same greeting in
Acts 23:26). This is fitting, because James is a unique book. It was one
of the first books in the New Testament to be written.
The author was the individual named Jacob, better-known to English-
speakers as James, who is described in the New Testament as the "brother of
the Lord." He had not believed on Jesus during His ministry, but Christ
appeared specifically to James after the resurrection (as Paul mentions in
First Corinthians 15:7). Then James joined Christ's disciples. Years
later, James was a pillar of the church in Jerusalem. He presided over the
first Church Council. His wise decision to openly welcome Gentiles into
the church preserved Christian unity and expansion.
How blessed was James, who spent many years in the same household as
Christ, and saw the risen Lord, and guided the infant church. He gave his
life for Christ; the early church writer Hegesippus (who died around A.D.
180) stated that around A.D. 62, in Jerusalem, a mob attacked James and he
was thrown from a tower (possibly part of the temple); still alive, he was
stoned, and, finally, he was killed with a club. He prayed through the
entire ordeal. Cleopas, one of the disciples who walked with Jesus on the
road to Emmaus (in Luke 24:18), then became the second presider/overseer of
the Christian church in Jerusalem.
James the brother of Jesus is often confused with James the son of
Alphaeus. Some Roman Catholic teachers claim that they are in fact the
same person. However, this is dubious for several reasons. First, because
James is listed in Matthew 13:55 as one of Jesus' brothers who, in John
7:5, did not believe in Him. Second, in Mark 3:19, Jesus and His 12
apostles, including James the son of Alphaeus, are in a house when His
mother and brothers come to see Him (v. 31); this would make James be in
the house and coming to the house at the same time. Third, in Acts 1:13-
14, James the son of Alphaeus is listed with the other apostles, and
following this, Luke states that the "brothers of Jesus" were in the same
place. These passages all point to the existence of two distinct persons.
The confusion arose partly because of the promotion of the doctrine of
the perpetual virginity of Mary. If, after the birth of Christ, Mary and
Joseph had natural offspring (as Matthew 1:25 indicates), then the doctrine
of the perpetual virginity of Mary is false. Christians in the late 100's-
400's wanted to maintain the idea that Mary was perpetually virgin, partly
as a way to appeal, through syncretism, to worshipers of pagan goddesses
(such as Cybele), but mainly as a means of encouraging asceticism and
celibacy. 
They proposed scenarios such as the following: a couple named Alphaeus
and Mary — not the Mary — had four sons (James, Joses, Simon, and Judas). 
Then Alphaeus died. Joseph, Alphaeus' brother, married the widow Mary (to
carry out the "levirate duty," see Deut. 25:5-10). Then the widow Mary
died. It was after this that Joseph, in his old age, was betrothed to
Mary, Jesus' mother, to be her guardian, but they never had intercourse. 
Thus Jesus' "brothers" were adoptive step-brothers, not children of Joseph
and Mary.
Complicated as it is, nothing about such a scenario would be implausible
were it not for the various passages in the Gospels, noted above, that rule
out the notion that James the brother of Jesus was the same person as James
the son of Alphaeus. They are two separate individuals. The plainest
interpretation of the text is that the Greek word adelphoi in Matthew 13:55
means what it says: that Jesus had brothers. This, in turn, implies that
Mary the Theotokos, or "God-bearer," was granted a natural marriage and
family.
It may be worthwhile to briefly diverge from our main subject in order to
explore this point a little further, by introducing the composition Against
Helvidius, which was written by Jerome, an influential scholar and
translator of the late 300's and early 400's. In this composition, Jerome
defended the doctrine that Mary was never intimately known by Joseph;
Jerome was responding to the claim, promoted by a man named Helvidius, that
Jesus' brothers were the offspring of Joseph and Mary. Jerome's case was
along the following lines: 
Facing the statement in Matthew 1:25 that Joseph did not know Mary until
she had brought forth a son, Jerome proposes that the term "until" (eōs in
Greek) does not necessarily imply the occurrence of what is mentioned. In
Matthew 28:20, Jesus said that He would be with His disciples until the end
of the age, and in First Corinthians 15:25, Christ is said to reign until
He has put all enemies under His feet. These statements, Jerome submits,
do not require that Christ will be absent from His disciples when the end
of the age arrives, or that Christ will stop reigning when His enemies are
subdued.
Anticipating that Helvidius might reply that such an interpretation of
Matthew 1:25 is mere cleverness, and that if Matthew had intended to state
that Joseph did not ever intimately know Mary, he could have said so
plainly, Jerome then insists that Helvidius' appeal to the plain meaning of
the passage, that is, to an exact literal interpretation, is problematic,
because the exact, literal meaning would be that Joseph intimately knew
Mary immediately after Jesus' birth, without even waiting till after the
purification-period prescribed in the Law. 
Jerome then makes the point that Luke 2:7's reference to Jesus as Mary's
firstborn son does not imply that she ever gave birth to other sons. By
considering some passages in the Law, and by considering the example of
John the Baptist, it is evident that an only son qualifies as a firstborn
son. This part of Jerome's case is incontestable, but if Helvidius had
been given the means to respond, he probably would have answered that while
the term itself does not require other sons to exist, Luke's decision to
use the term "firstborn" implies at the very least that it was not a
priority of Luke to teach that Mary and Joseph had no children afterwards.
Jerome then proposes that the individuals known as Jesus' brothers in the
Gospels were merely close relatives, and he rejected Helvidius' notion that
Mary and Joseph were the father and mother of many sons and daughters
inherently offensive. At this point, Jerome's composition ceases to be an
analysis of what Scripture says about Jesus' brothers, and becomes an
endorsement of celibacy. Jerome mentions that Helvidius used the writings
of Tertullian (who wrote in the late 100's and very early 200's) – perhaps
alluding to Tertullian's statements in Against Marcion 4:19, where
Tertullian takes for granted that the reference to Jesus' brothers in
Matthew 12:46-47 literally means what it says – but Jerome cavalierly
dismisses Tertullian as a man outside the church. The last three chapters
of Against Helvidius are mostly hollow rhetoric. 
But something in his closing remarks stands out: he states that
Christians "do not deny what is written, and likewise we reject what is not
written." It is ironic that such a statement is embedded in a composition
that was produced to defend a doctrine that is not in the Scriptures. If
the church today aspires to affirm what is written, and to abstain from
creating doctrines out of man-made traditions and extrapolations, then the
view of Jerome (that James was Jesus' close relative), the view of
Helvidius (that James was the natural son of Joseph and Mary), and the view
that James was Jesus' adoptive step-brother, should all be allowed to co-
exist.
The epistle of James was sometimes listed among the disputed books
(the "antilegomena") in the first few centuries of Christianity, mainly
because it was not as widely distributed as other books and because of
questions surrounding its author's identity. Among the writers of the
early church, Theodore of Mopsuestia (c. 350-428) did not accept James as
authoritative, or any of the other General Epistles, possibly because they
were not included in a translated collection of New Testament books which
he used. But Basil of Caesarea-in-Cappadocia (c. 329-379) and Gregory of
Nyssa (c. 335-395) did accept James. So did Gregory Nazianzus (c. 330-
390), Athanasius of Alexandria (298-373), and Cyril of Jerusalem (315-
386). When the question of the Biblical canon arose in the church, James
was recognized as inspired and authoritative at the Third Council of
Carthage in A.D. 397.
James wrote to the twelve tribes in the Diaspora. This term normally
referred to the Jewish population outside the borders of the Holy Land. 
James applied the phrase to the spiritual Israel: the Christian church. 
Particularly, his audience consisted of poor Jewish Christians in Judea,
Samaria, Galilee, Syria, and Phoenicia. They had scattered from Jerusalem
because of persecution (Acts 11:19-23). Not only did they endure hardship
as refugees, but they also faced a famine (Acts 11:27-28). They needed the
wisdom, patience, fellowship, and joy which James taught them to seek. 
Just as the Greek word diaspora implies, the first readers of James'
letters were comparable to seeds sown on foreign soil. James' message
provided them with spiritual nourishment, so that they could grow deep in
the Word, and bear fruit, waiting for the Lord's harvest. His message is
for us also, for in a sense all the kingdoms of this world are foreign
realms, and we are citizens of a different kingdom, the spiritual Israel. 
Picture yourself as a Jewish Christian in Syria or Phoenicia in A.D. 48,
listening to an older Christian read James' letter to you, as we explore
his inspired message.
 
PART TWO (1:2-8) – JOY AND MATURITY
 
Many of the subjects in James' letter radiate from the theme expressed in
verses 2-3: use difficulties as opportunities to become mature.
But why should we "consider it all joy" when hard times come? James is
not telling us never to grieve when grief is appropriate; this is not an
invitation to deny reality. It is an invitation to believe in realities
that are not yet obvious to us. James is telling us to channel our grief
and frustration, so that it will not control or consume us. Often, in the
face of tragedy and disaster, we do not know and cannot see the meaning. 
In these times, we need patience. When we instinctively cry, "I want some
answers!" our next cry should be, "But I want God more!"
Deep insights into divine plans do not often come overnight. Sometimes
God's assurance that there is an answer is the only answer we see, until we
see Him. To see the purpose for suffering is to see something of the
working of God — something that cannot be seen from a perspective rooted to
this world. Isaiah 30:19-26 speaks of similar circumstances. There, God
assures His people that although He has fed them with affliction and given
them oppression to drink, someday their teacher will reveal Himself and His
purposes.
No one can see things from God's perspective unless He lets them. So to
get that insight, we should pray for it in faith. Consider the "Blind
Sheep's Prayer" –
 
"Lord, grant not that I might see, and so believe,
but that I might believe, and therefore see.
Or let my love and trust of Thee, my Shepherd,
relieve my need to see.
For my understanding of Thee has an end,
but let my love for Thee have no end,
as Thy love for me never ends."
 
James' desire for the reader to be perfect and complete is not only for
the individual Christian, but also for the church as a whole. We ought to
be a fully-functioning body in which each member performs its task. The
"you" in verse 4 is plural. Our ambition should be not only for personal
maturity, but also for the church's complete faithfulness and unity.
James' words in 1:5 have a noticeable contrast with Sirach
(Ecclesiasticus) 20:14-15. The apocryphal writer describes how a fool
gives: "He looks to receive many things for one. He gives little, and
upbraids much."
"Two-souled" in 1:8 may sound a little strange; perhaps "double-minded"
is more familiar. But James probably intended to sound unusual; his
letter was the first known Greek writing to use the Greek word dipsuchos
(the usual word for "mind" was naos, not psuche). "Two-souled" should not
be taken literally, though; it is a lively description of someone with
wavering convictions; today we might use the term "wishy-washy" to convey
the same idea. 
 


PART THREE (1:9-11) –
WHAT IS PROSPERITY?
 
The difference between rich and poor is introduced here, and then is
abruptly dropped, not to be seen again until chapter two. This may seem
disjointed. However, James is like a painter who paints his pictures with
dots instead of brush-strokes. His epistle is in the genre of rabbinical
"Wisdom" literature, collections of advice for daily living (somewhat
similar to Proverbs) with appeals to role models of the past. The
objective of the rabbis was to present a montage of the things of which
good character consists, and to encourage readers to pursue those things. 
James' occasional lack of smooth transitions is not a matter of quality,
but of style.
The comparison in verses 9-10a is something of a riddle: it is easy to
see why the lowly brother should celebrate when God raises him up, but why
should the rich man celebrate when his status is reduced? The solution to
this riddle is that inasmuch as God works through the poor believer, and
displays His power most effectively in lowly vessels, the rich man should
perceive, when his temporal status is lost, that God intends to use him. 
In the Old Testament, God demanded that Gideon's army must be reduced in
size, in order that the credit for the victory would be given to God;
likewise when an individual's power or influence or wealth is reduced, this
should not provoke a believer to despair. Instead, it should be accepted
as a sign that God intends to work with that individual to achieve a
victory for the glory of God.
Notice James' vivid illustration of the flower that wrinkles up in the
sunlight. This illustration qualifies as a miniature parable, reflecting
James' familiarity with the use of very short stories to succinctly make a
point – perhaps intentionally reflecting Christ's method. The same
illustration-method is sustained throughout James' letter.
 
PART FOUR (1:12-21) –
TRIALS AND TEMPTATIONS
 
The crown of life to which James refers may be pictured as a crown made
of laurel-branches, of the kind that were given to winners in ancient
athletic contests, especially foot-races (the Greek word here is stephanon
rather than diadema, the kingly crown). Athletes trained long and hard to
receive a crown of leaves which quickly faded (compare Paul's analogy in
First Corinthians 9:24-27), but Christians' heavenly laurels will not
fade. A contrast between the fading flower in verse 11, and the ever-
living laurels in verse 12, might be intended.
There is a textual issue in verse 12: although most Greek manuscripts
specify that the Lord is the one who has promised the crown of life, some
of the oldest manuscripts do not make any such identification, and other
witnesses, such as the Vulgate (a Latin translation made in the late 300's
which became the standard Latin text) and the Peshitta (a Syriac
translation which was probably also made in the late 300's, but possibly
earlier) identify the crown-promiser as "God," rather than "the Lord." If
this variant-unit were considered in isolation, it would seem that the less
specific variant is probably original. However, the text in some of the
same manuscripts that support the shorter reading here in verse 12 has a
tendency elsewhere to omit the words "the Lord;" for example, Codex
Vaticanus does not have the phrase "of the Lord" in James 5:14. Perhaps in
a very early copy that was made to be read in church-services, the words
"the Lord" (in Greek, o Kurios, which was contracted to Ks by copyists as a
reverential custom) received a special mark, which was intended to indicate
that the reader should treat these words in a special way, and this mark
was misunderstood by a copyist as instructions to omit them. The theory
that James here follows a rabbinical style by only alluding to God
indirectly seems untenable considering how often he elsewhere mentions God
specifically.
Another hypothesis, or conjecture, is that as James wrote this letter, he
momentarily stopped using Greek at this point, and wrote down the sacred
Hebrew name of God. A Greek scroll of the Minor Prophets (now in the
collection of Dead Sea Scrolls, with the identification 8HevXIIgr), found
at Nahal Hever, in the Judean desert, exhibits such a practice: most of
the text is in Greek but when God's sacred name appears, it is written in
Hebrew lettering. It was understood, in that era, that this name was not
to be pronounced as the text was being read aloud; another word referring
to God was to be substituted for it. Such a feature could account for all
three existing variants. However, it is impossible to verify this theory
since no manuscript of James displays the Hebrew name of God here. The
basic meaning of the passage is not impacted by the difference.
In verse 17, another textual variant appears: where almost all
manuscripts read "variation or shadow of turning," two of the oldest Greek
manuscripts of James – Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus – read,
"variation such as a cast-shadow caused by turning." The difference is
between the Greek words parallagē ē tropēs aposkiasma (in most manuscripts)
and parallagē ē tropēs aposkiasmatos (in Vaticanus and Sinaiticus). The
usual reading refers to perceived changes in the light that shines from
heavenly bodies, such as what is experienced during an eclipse, or, more
ordinarily, in the daily shortening and lengthening of shadows cast by
sunlight. The ē, when given a soft breathing-mark, is understood as the
equivalent of the English word "or." The reading in Vaticanus and
Sinaiticus appears to have originated when ē was understood to have a rough
breathing-mark, resulting in the meaning "such as." This led to the
natural expansion of aposkiasma into aposkiasmatos, so as to make the
grammar of the sentence more consistent, making this word's form match up
with the preceding genitive, as Hort proposed.
In 1914 a remarkably early papyrus fragment (Papyrus 23, probably
produced in the mid-200's) was discovered in Egypt which has almost the
same reading (parallagēs ē tropēs aposkiasmatos). (This fragment is at the
Spurlock Museum at the University of Illinois.) In Papyrus 23, the t in
tropēs has either faded, or has been erased, yielding the reading ropēs
(movement); if it was intentionally erased, this may indicate that a user
of this manuscript felt that the phrase properly referred to cast-shadows
that move (rather than turn), thus referring mainly to the daily changes in
the length of shadows cast by the sun, rather than to the changing angles
of sunlight that one might see on a sundial. If the reading aposkiasmatos
had broader attestation, it might be considered original, in which case
translations would refer to cast-shadows as an example of the sort of
variation which the Father of lights does not have.
Two kinds of birth are compared in 1:14-19. First, an immoral desire
gave birth to sin, which produced death. This is a picture of spiritual
adultery, vividly described in Ezekiel 16 and Hosea 2. This passage
suggests that becoming a sinner is not merely a matter of being physically
born. Rather, a person becomes a sinner by sinning – by willfully
disobeying God. And this is something which everyone does, except for
those whose intellects are not developed to the point of recognizing moral
laws of any kind. But there is an escape: James adds that God gave birth
to us, through His Word, to be people specially dedicated to Him (like the
first-fruits of grain-harvests in Israel, which were to be offered to God;
see Exodus 23:16). Notice that in terms of when it was written, this is
the first mention of regeneration, the new birth, in the New Testament. 
Later, the apostle Paul reframed this contrast in Romans 3:23: "The wages
of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord."
A fine illustration may be drawn from the background of a Greek word used
in verse 16. Ancient astronomers noticed that most stars stay on regular
paths, but a few wander away. These stars were therefore called the
"wanderers." That's where the word "planet" comes from; the Greek word for
"to wander" or "be led astray" is planaō. So in 1:16, James is telling us
to be like stars, in a sense: we should not only shine, but we ought to be
orderly, so that others may chart their courses guided by our examples. 
James refers to wandering again in 5:19. Compare Philippians 2:16 and Jude
verses 11-13.
At the beginning of verse 19, the variant iste ("know this") in place of
ōste ("therefore") echoes an early orthographic error. Further along in
the same verse, an early Alexandrian copyist adjusted the text by inserting
de, thus forcing the first phrase of the verse to refer to the preceding
thought, rather than to what follows.
In verse 21, James makes a sudden invitation for his hearers to receive
salvation. This may have been for the benefit of non-Christians visiting
the church-assemblies, where the letter was read aloud to an audience. If
that is the case, then it indicates that the letter's original recipients
had moved away from direct persecution, or else the audience would likely
all be Christians already. The invitation still goes out; the saving,
cleansing power of the Word still saves: the message that Christ was
crucified for you, and that the power of Christ, risen from the dead, can
save you. Let the Word be rooted in your heart, promising forgiveness
from God and new life planted by God.
Yet the passage applies to believers also. It was not an unbelieving
Gentile, but the high priest of Israel, who was pictured wearing filthy
rags in Zechariah 3:1-9. Believers, too, need to receive the word of
truth, in order to be delivered from the evil in the world that invites
them to detour from God's path every day, and to be delivered from these
things is to be saved – not in the sense that believers are regenerated
again and again, but in the sense that we are rescued from opportunities to
sin, including opportunities to express apathy and slothfulness. We have
been given a new nature, begotten through the word of truth, but if we do
not act as what we have become, then how are we different from what we
were?
A person who heeds a warning against stepping into a trap has been saved
from it just as much, if not more, than a person who has been released from
a trap; as God's Word calls unbelievers to be released from the devil's
traps, it also calls believers not to step into them. The believers who
welcome the word of truth will be motivated to act according to its
direction.
 
PART FIVE (1:22-27) –
HEARING AND DOING THE WORD
 
Those who think that words alone will satisfy God are just fooling
themselves. God wants transformation. It's easy to get caught up in
spiritual facades, and it's easy to make impressive claims. But a
caterpillar in a windstorm is not a butterfly. There is no surrender
without enlistment; there is no salvation without regeneration. 
Verses 23-25 are doctrinally interesting. A man looks in a mirror at the
face with which he was born – literally, the face of his genesis. James'
choice of words may suggest two kinds of people: first, an unsaved person
who only hears the word and notices his fallen nature; due to the
distractions of the world he does not do anything about it. Second, an
immature believer who hears the word and notices that he has been promised
new life; then he proceeds to live as if he never noticed it.
What exactly is the "law of liberty" mentioned in verse 25? This could
be merely James' description of Christian love. Or it could be a name for
the basic message of salvation through Christ. But there is another
possibility.
An early church writer named Papias, writing around A.D. 110, wrote that
Matthew wrote down the sayings (logia) of Christ in Hebrew. This is
sometimes interpreted to refer to Matthew's Gospel account; however, since
Matthew's Gospel contains much more than Jesus' sayings, this is not the
most likely option. The hypothesis that best fits the evidence is that,
prior to the writing of his Gospel, Matthew composed a collection of Jesus'
sayings, consisting of
The Sermon on the Mount, with an epilogue (chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8:1-13)
The Sending of the Twelve (chapter 10),
The Parables of the Kingdom (chapter 13),
The Teaching on Humility (chapter 18), and
Judgments and the End of the World (chapters 23, 24, & 25).

In the Gospel of Matthew, each of these sections concludes with the
same kind of ending; this may be a trace of the previously-made
compilation. 
Without diving deeply into all the background of the Gospel of
Matthew, we may deduce the following regarding the Saying-source mentioned
by Papias:
(1) It was a five-part collection of Jesus' sermons and parables.
(2) It was intentionally structured as a counterpart to the five books
of Moses.
(3) If it was written in Jerusalem or Antioch, James would probably have
read it (the Jewish Christians dwelling dispersed in Acts 11:19 were in,
among other places, Antioch).
(4) "Law of Liberty" would be a fitting title for such a collection,
especially since the Hebrew word for liberty differs from the Hebrew name
of Jesus by only one letter.

I conclude from this that when James referred to the law of liberty, he
was referring to a text and/or oral tradition known to his readers, and
that we know its contents as Matthew chapters 5, 6, 7, 10, 13, 18, 23, 24,
and 25, with some narrative passages. (It should be noted that the Sayings-
collection could have contained some passages which Matthew did not use but
which were used by Luke.)
As evidence that James seems to draw certain themes and even quotations
from this Sayings-collection, see the following comparison.
 
PARALLELS BETWEEN JAMES AND THE LOGIA-BASED
CHAPTERS OF MATTHEW
 
 
JAMES MATTHEW

1:1 "servant," "Lord"……………..10:25 "servant," "Lord"
1:2 joy in suffering………………..5:11-12 joy in suffering
1:4 reach for perfection………….5:48 reach for perfection
1:5 God gladly gives……………..7:11 God gladly gives (cf. Lk. 11:13)
1:9 the lowly is exalted…………..23:12 the humble is exalted
1:10 fading flower, grass………..6:30 fading flowers, grass
1:11 scorching sun………………13:6 scorching sun
1:12 reward for endurance………5:12 reward for endurance
1:16 beware of deceivers………..7:15, 24:4 beware of deceivers
1:17 God gives good gifts……….7:11 God gives good gifts
1:19 be quick to hear…………….13:9 hear the message
1:21 the planted word……………13:3, 23 the planted word
1:22-24 be a word-doer………….7:21 do the Father's will
1:22-25 contrasting ways:……….7:24-27 contrasting ways:
hearing vs. doing…………………..hearing vs. doing
1:27 helping the needy…………..25:35-36 helping the needy
2:2 seats in the synagogue……..23:6 seats in the synagogue
2:5 the poor are blessed…………5:3 blessed are the poor
2:5 a heavenly inheritance………25:35 a heavenly inheritance
2:6 being taken to court…………10:17 being taken to court
2:8 Love your neighbor………….5:43 Love your neighbor, and enemies
2:11 No adultery, no murder……5:21, 27 No adultery, no murder
2:12 Judgment is near…………..24:42-45 Judgment is near
2:13 Judgment or mercy………..18:32-35 Judgment or mercy
2:14 worthless words…………… 7:21 worthless words
2:15 hungry, naked brother……..25:42-43 hungry, naked brother
2:19 One is God………………….23:9 One is your Father
2:26 spiritual deadness………….23:27 spiritual deadness
3:1 stricter judgment……………. 23:14 stricter judgment (cf. Lk. 20:47)
3:6 the fire of Gehenna………….5:22 the fire of Gehenna
3:8 none can tame the tongue…10:20 the Spirit tames the tongue
3:12 figs and grapevines………..7:16 figs and grapes
3:13 showing your wisdom……...5:16 shining your light
3:18 peacemakers……………….5:9 peacemakers
3:18 sowing God's fruit…………. 13:3, 24, 31 sowing God's kingdom
4:2 hate murder, lust adultery…….5:21-22, 27 hate murder,
……………………………………………lust adultery
4:4 the world's affairs……………13:22 the world's affairs
4:8 clean your hearts…………… 23:26 clean your inside
4:9 weepers……………………… 5:4 those who mourn (cf. Lk. 6:25)
4:10 the humble are lifted……….23:11-12 the humble are exalted
4:11-12 do not judge……………. 7:1 do not judge
4:13 thoughts of tomorrow………6:34 thoughts of tomorrow
4:14 life tomorrow………………..5:25 life today
[4:17 sins of omission] ………….[Lk. 12:47 sins of omission]
5:2 moths and rust……………….6:19-20 moths and rust
5:6 killing the righteous………….23:35 killing the righteous
5:7 waiting for rain……………….24:37-39 waiting for rain
5:8 strengthen your hearts………24:42 be on the alert
5:9 the Judge "at the doors" ……24:33 the Judge is "at the door"
5:10 suffering prophets………….23:34 suffering prophets
5:11 blessed endurers…………..5:11-12 blessed endurers
5:12 Do not swear………………. 5:34-37 Do not swear
Not by heaven………………………Not by heaven
Not by earth…………………………Not by earth
Yes/No……………………………….Yes/No
5:14 the church…………………..18:17 the church
5:15 healing the sick…………….10:8 healing the sick
5:19-20 seeking a sinner………..18:11-18 seeking a sinner
 
Some of these similarities may be the result of James' own encounters
with Jesus' teachings. But as a whole, they strongly suggest a literary
connection between James' epistle and Matthew's Sayings-collection. This
generally augments the case for a very early date for the epistle of James.
Verse 27 indicates that James did not consider "clean" religion to be a
matter of keeping the kosher laws; nor did he adhere to the Mosaic
ordinances about defilement, although James was strict about not
deliberately offending the Jewish Christians who kept the kosher-
laws. Rather, these things are, in the new covenant, a matter of
demonstrating love to those in need, and of godly integrity. James may
have intentionally patterned his words here after Isaiah 1:17; Isaiah's
first chapter has much to say on the theme of faithfulness and true
religion, and is often echoed by James.
 
PART SIX (2:1-13) –
A WORD AGAINST FAVORITISM
 
The synagogue that is mentioned by James in 2:2 was probably not a fully-
functioning Jewish synagogue-building, but for Christians it served the
same purpose: it was a place, probably a house, where the people of God
met to worship the Lord and share the message of the Scriptures. James'
use of this term indicates both the early date of the epistle and his
audience's ethnic background as Jews.
A textual question has arisen regarding the exact contents of what was
said to the poor man pictured by James in verse 3. Codex Vaticanus
presents the statement as, "You stand or sit there," but Codex Sinaiticus
and the Byzantine Text say, "You stand there or sit here," and other
manuscripts, including Codex Alexandrinus, say, "You stand there or sit." 
This is a very difficult contest; the most widespread reading has been
adopted. The lesson of the illustration is not significantly different
when the other readings are consulted. 
An important theological concept is in verse 5: the doctrine of
election. James does not try to explain this idea; he just takes it for
granted that those who are rich in faith (in this case, poor people) are
rich in faith because God chose them. And those who shall inherit the
kingdom of God will do so because God chose them. Yet it is not as if
salvation is a lottery game in which God randomly selects people to be
saved. Elsewhere (Romans 8:28-30), the Bible tells us that God's choice is
based on His foreknowledge. God has always known who will believe and
endure to the end. So, on one level, it is up to us to be saved or lost –
to respond to the gospel with faith or unbelief. God holds each one of us
accountable for that decision (otherwise, appeals such as the one that
James makes in 1:21 would be pointless). At the same time, God is
ultimately responsible for accomplishing the good news of Christ and for
letting us hear His offer; we could not respond if He had not provided
something to respond to.
James adds an extra factor to that mysterious equation: poverty begets
piety. No one turns to God until they realize that they need Him, and
(generally) poor people make that realization more easily than rich people
do. Throughout the book of James, the "poor" are on God's side; the "rich"
are wicked. This contrast is not universal (see First Timothy 6:17-19),
but it should not be taken lightly. As Jesus says in Matthew 19:24, "It is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to
enter the kingdom of God."
Verse 7 seems designed to remind Christians of their baptism. James
takes for granted his readers' ability to recall its occurrence.
James reminds us in verses 8-11 that we do not have the freedom to pick
and choose which divine commandments we should obey. It is not as an
individual's connection to God is comparable to a rope consisting of
hundreds of strands, some of which can be cut without any danger. Rather,
when we are babies, our innocence is like an unbroken chain; when one link
in the chain is broken, the whole connection is severed. When we consider
how thoroughly we have broken our connection to God, our desire to show
mercy to others should be provoked, with the understanding that there is a
flip-side to the beatitude that the merciful shall receive mercy: those
who show no mercy should not expect mercy to be shown to them.
The closing words of verse 13 – "Mercy triumphs over judgment" – were
understood by the translator of the Peshitta, as a command: through mercy,
triumph over judgment.

PART SEVEN (2:14-26) – FAITH WORKS

The Greek word translated "barely clothed" in verse 15 is gumnoi, from
which the word "gymnasium" comes (in the Roman Empire, most athletes
trained naked). Although this word can mean "naked," here it does not mean
100% bare; in James' Jewish culture, if a person didn't have on his outer
coat but did have on the inner tunic, he was still called "naked." (See
John 21:7 for another example of this use of the word.)
The quotation marks in verse 18 could feasibly be placed after the first
occurrence of the word "works." (The early manuscripts do not have any
quotation marks.) If the quotation marks are moved to that location, then
James, in the rest of this section, answers a hypothetical question from a
fellow churchgoer. If the quotation marks remain where they are, then
James is pointing out that a Judaist would have a penetrating objection to
workless faith.
In verse 20, the Alexandrian variant argē ("useless" or "barren")
appears in place of nekra ("dead"). The main manuscript-support for argē,
though ancient, is relatively isolated. It appears that an early copyist
saw the word argē in the margin – having been written there as an
interpretation of nekra (suggested, perhaps, by a Greek pun) – and,
misinterpreting the margin-note's purpose, substituted it in place of
nekra.
In verses 21-26, James may have chosen his illustrations in order to
create a memorable symmetry: all three Old Testament characters he
mentions here have, in Greek, a double-A in their names: Abraham, Isaac,
and Rahab.
Verse 24 is the climax of this section. It has sometimes been
misrepresented as a contradiction of Paul's words in Galatians 2:16 and
Ephesians 2:8-10. For instance, the Protestant reformer Martin Luther
called James "an epistle of straw" partly because of this. However, this
is a case of surface tension, not contradiction. Paul describes
justification as an action – the pronouncement of grace, like the issuance
of a pardon releasing a guilty prisoner. James describes justification as
a state of being – the enactment of grace, like a pardoned prisoner's walk
out of jail.
Both perspectives are valid. Works without faith do not please God. But
neither does faith without works. Such faith, if it does not respond to
the opportunity to act, is a sham, because genuine faith produces actions
faithful to God. Good works are not a matter of necessity, but they are a
matter of nature-expression: "servant" is part of the definition of
"Christian;" therefore a true Christian is a true servant, and a true
servant is one who works when he is called to do so. Paul stresses that
good works produced by faith are not meritorious. Without opposing that
point, James stresses that they are not optional, either, inasmuch as they
are part of the definition of the people of God. To put it another way,
faithful activity does not save us, but voluntary inactivity is one of the
things from which we are saved.
Paul's vigorous opposition to justification by "works of the Law" may
refer specifically to strict adherence to Mosaic rituals as a means of
achieving righteousness. The small Dead Sea Scroll Miqsat Ma'ase ha-Torah
("MMT") describes about 20 ritualistic practices done in pursuit of purity
and forgiveness; they are described as ma'ase Torah, that is, works of the
Law. If similar teachings were known to the Galatians, it would mean that
Paul was simply addressing a strict ritualistic form of Judaism as he wrote
against "works of the Law," and it was not his intention to suggest that
inactive faith is saving faith. Rather, Paul's point was that faith in
works is not saving faith.
In verse 26, the reference to "the body without spirit" may be applied on
more than one level. In chapters three and four, James pictures the
Christian congregation as a body, with members. This verse, viewed through
that interpretive lens, conveys how crucial is the Spirit's presence in the
church. (Many manuscripts descend from an early ancestor in which the word
"the" was added before "spirit," either to emphasize this point, or simply
to make a clear sentence even more clear.)
This verse may have some impact on an important issue: the issue of when
human life begins. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew term nephesh was used
to refer to living souls, although this is not its only meaning (12 times
it refers to someone or something dead). Adam became a living soul
(nephesh) when he began to breathe. So the question emerges, in the case
of a human fetus, although obviously there is biological life present from
the moment of conception (and distinct life is present from about the
fourteenth day following conception, when twinning is no longer possible): 
When does the soul emerge? or, When is spiritual life present? In the 1973
U.S. Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion, this
presence was acknowledged with a non-religious term, "meaningful life." To
the permanent shame of the court, a majority of the court's justices
legalized abortion, and their decision resulted in the deaths of millions
of unborn children.
James 2:26 carries theological weight on this topic because the Greek
word for "spirit" is the same as the word for "breath" – pneuma. Without
pneuma, a being is dead (see Matthew 27:50). If spiritual life begins with
physical breathing, then spiritual life is not present in a fetus until
about the tenth-twelfth week of pregnancy, when the lungs begin to
function, taking amniotic fluid in and out. This is roughly the same time
when the fetus' bone marrow begins to produce blood, and when the yolk sac
disconnects from the body. Leviticus 7:11 and a secondary reading in the
Hebrew text of Ecclesiastes 11:5 (which says, in essence, "You do not know
how the spirit emerges along with the bones of the child in its mother's
womb") may support the position that a human fetus does not have spiritual
life until the physical body reaches a certain stage of complexity at about
this time.
The idea that spiritual life is not present until birth, when the child
breathes air, is preposterous. Human beings can breath oxygen-saturated
liquid and, in doing so, they do not stop living. Plus, Luke 1:41-44
depicts John the Baptist experiencing joy while in his mother's womb.
This leaves unanswered the question of whether or not we should regard
the fetus or embryo before the tenth-twelfth week of pregnancy as
sacrosanct. But other Scriptures, such as Judges 13:2-5 and Psalm 127:3,
provide a general answer to that question. Also in the ethical equation is
the principle of moral caution, which various ethicists have affirmed:
just as it would be reckless for a hunter to shoot at a movement in the
woods without knowing if the target is a human being or not, similarly it
would be irresponsible and negligent to kill a human fetus without knowing
whether or not the fetus has a soul. Unless it would be reckless to
continue a pregnancy, due to an exceptional threat to the life of the
mother, the unborn child should receive the benefit of the doubt.
Barring such an exceptional circumstance, the presence of a human body in
a mother's womb, even at the earliest stage of pregnancy, should be
understood by Christians as an indication of divine intent, and Christians
should co-operate with that intention. Think of how we should apply the
basic principle of hospitality: we should be willing to welcome a
stranger, even if, at the moment, he is far away, and our eyes cannot tell
if we are seeing a human being who wears an animal-coat, or an animal
wearing its own coat. Likewise we should be willing to welcome children,
even when they do not yet look like children.
The standard adopted by the early church was, "You shall not destroy your
conceptions before they are brought forth, nor kill them after they are
born" (The Epistle of Barnabas, 14:11, c. A.D. 140), and "You shall not
murder a child by abortion" (The Didache, 2:2, c. A.D. 115). As much as it
is up to us, we should not reject God's gifts (see Psalm 126).
 
PART EIGHT (3:1-12) –
TAMING YOUR TONGUE
 
It is a worthy goal to become a respected teacher. But who wants the
responsibility of possibly having people quoting everything you say, and
making decisions accordingly, now and decades and centuries from now?
Such a responsibility is not to be taken lightly. The teacher's error,
echoed by his students, rapidly becomes a hundred errors, and much more
when it is echoed by the students of his students. Many preachers, relying
on the same commentary, have confidently misinformed their congregations,
because of the commentator's mistake. 
So James instructs his listeners to keep in mind that whoever wants to be
the schoolmaster must first gain mastery over himself – and this is nowhere
more necessary or more difficult than when it requires mastery of the
tongue. The Holy Spirit's power is necessary to accomplish that. 
A small textual variant affects the beginning of 3:3, where the base-text
of this translation has ide, which means "Behold," or "Observe," like its
rival variant idou. However, some scholars prefer the reading ei de, "Now
if." They do so for the following reasons:
(1) Some manuscripts read ei de.
(2) As the rules of ancient Greek spelling changed (not only in the
course of time but from one region to another), some vowel-pairs were
written as a single vowel, in the same way that "honour" has become
"honor" in the USA. Thus a manuscript-copyist who read ei de could copy
it as ide.
(3) Copyists who wished to make the text smooth and clear would change
ei de into ide, because ide forms a better match with the start of 3:4,
idou kai.../"Behold also..."
(4) Ei de is a grammatically awkward transition, while ide is
unobjectionable.
In response, the following points should be considered.
(1) In Codex Sinaiticus, one of the most important witnesses for ei
de, these four letters, written without spaces (which was the usual writing-
method in early manuscripts), are followed by the word gar ("for"),
implying that eide ,written without spaces between words, was understood as
a non-standard spelling of ide, rather than as two words.
(2) While it is possible that one or more copyists decided to
shorten ei de into ide, the opposite process, in which ide was changed to
eide, and from there to ei de, is also plausible.
(3) Copyists who were willing to alter the Greek text to make it
clearer and smoother would change ei de (if it were there) into idou (not
ide) to match the idou in 3:4. Some late manuscripts, including those
which formed the basis of the Textus Receptus, have this reading.
(4) Some text-compilers, applying the principle that a difficult
reading is more likely to be original than a clear one, accept ei de mainly
because it appears to be the more difficult reading. However, when the
question of difficulty is restated so as to ask, "Which reading were
copyists more likely to misinterpret?" then ide presents itself as the
variant which accounts for all its rivals: some copyists simply misspelled
the word, and this was subsequently treated as two words; meanwhile other
copyists replaced the word with the more common idou.
(5) The words ei de appears elsewhere in James (1:5, 2:9, 2:11,
4:11), but ide does not. On one hand, this implies that the variant ei de
is more consistent with James' usual vocabulary. On the other hand, this
makes it easy to see how ide could be harmonized to the more common
transition, while making it difficult to see how ide arose at all if it is
not original, inasmuch as the presence of ei de elsewhere shows that
copyists did not consider ei de to pose any difficulty transition in the
other passages where it is used by James.
All things considered, ide should be adopted as the original text. 
 
Verse 6 contains a verbal contrast between the cycle of natural life –
or, more literally, the wheel of birth, geneseos – and Gehenna-hell
(gehennes). Both terms need some explaining. The "cycle of natural life"
refers idiomatically to the predictable, orderly patterns of earthly life. 
The tongue, James is saying, sends such things spinning out of control. 
Gehenna was the city dump in the valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem. Among
Jews, this fire-pit was a symbol of the place of eternal punishment waiting
for the wicked. Isaiah 1:31 hints at its existence; in Isaiah 66:22-24 it
is described as a place of perpetual burning: "their worm shall not die,
neither shall their fire be quenched." Jesus spoke of this place of
torment again and again. In the chapters of Matthew that are based on
Matthew's Sayings-collection, Jesus describes "the Gehenna of fire" (5:22,
18:9), the "furnace of fire" where there is "weeping and gnashing of teeth"
(13:42, 50), the "eternal fire" (18:8, 25:41), "a place with the
hypocrites" (24:51), and "eternal punishment" (25:46). This demonstrates
that the notion of an eternal hell was taught by Jesus. True Christians
continue to teach it.
This inevitably provokes a question: "How could a God of love create
such a place?" Here are a few ideas about this. 
(1) Hell was originally made for the devil and his cohorts, as Jesus
states in Matthew 25:41. From the devil's point of view, and from the point
of view of anyone who thinks that the service of God is repugnant, hell is
preferable to heaven. The pride of hell's inhabitants is their
consolation. God knows that they will never give it up.
(2) Hell is created differently for each person. On the Day of
Judgment, each non-regenerated soul will enter an eternal habitation that
has been shaped, to an extent, by the individual's moral decisions. These
habitations will never be heaven, and thus, compared to the bliss of
heaven, they will be infinitely inferior, as a lake of fire is inferior to
the company of angels. 
(3) Hell is a punishment not only for sins committed on earth, but also
for sins committed in hell itself. The first term of punishment, for sins
committed on earth, is not very severe compared to eternity. But the
longer anyone is in hell, the more rebellious and unrepentant he becomes;
consequently he is liable to a longer sentence for the newly-incurred
offenses. This cycle of increasing rebellion and pride and re-sentencing
continues forever.
(4) Hell is God's dump. It has no consolation. Its inhabitants know
they are being punished for their sins. Whatever is worst to them is what
happens to them, without relief. All this should strongly encourage us to
avoid hell. Yet it is possible that what will be observed as eternal
suffering, spanning eons, might be experienced differently by those
undergoing the suffering, as if it is only beginning. In the physical
world, the phenomenon of time-dilation at the edge of black holes has been
analyzed; something like that may be the fate of hell's inhabitants: 
although their experience is eternal, they might not be aware that it is. 
This would render baseless the charge that hell is cruel, while maintaining
the Bible's depiction of hell as a complete separation from God's presence
and all its beneficial effects.
 
Why did God make hell eternal? To the unbeliever who asks this question
I answer that there are many reasons, some of which we can fathom and some
of which are unknown to us. And one of those reasons is so that you will
realize that the urgency of the plea to repent. Satan does not want you to
realize that urgency. But the stakes of your decisions about whether you
will become a citizen of the New Jerusalem, or of the earthly Babylon, are
high. Those who try to change Christ's teaching about hell by saying,
"Hell is merely the grave," or, "Hell is non-existence," or, "Hell burns a
while and then stops," or, "Hell is a temporary stage of soul-purification,
a prelude to heaven," are inviting complacency. Their view of hell is
often accompanied by a shrunken view of Jesus; they say, "He was created,"
or, "He was the archangel Michael," or, "He was just a man." A small
danger requires only a small savior. But the danger of delay is great and
the consequences of continuing to indulge our sinful nature are immense. 
Against such things only a great Savior can prevail. 

There is a nice harmony between 3:11-12 and John 7:38: those who are
vessels of the Holy Spirit, who is described as "rivers of living water"
flowing from within the believer, should not be able to express bitter or
vitriolic language.
A textual variant affects the translation of verse 12. The Byzantine
Text says, "Nor does the same fountain produce sweet and bitter water,"
whereas the shorter Alexandrian Text says, "A salty well (or fountain) does
not produce sweet water." Both branches of the text's transmission are
valuable: the Byzantine Text preserves the word outōs ("likewise") which
was lost in the Alexandrian Text due to scribal carelessness, as an early
copyist's like of sight skipped from the ou at the beginning of outōs to
the same letters at the beginning of the following word. The Alexandrian
Text, however, better preserves the exact form of the rest of the sentence,
which is so concisely worded that an early copyist considered it necessary
to make a clarifying adjustment by conforming the wording here to the
expression in verse 11, thus producing the Byzantine reading. Codex
Sinaiticus, the Vulgate, and the Peshitta are members of the diverse
alliance of witnesses which support the resultant adopted reading.

PART NINE (3:13-18) –
WHAT IS WISDOM?
 
Although this section seems to begin abruptly, it actually blends well
with Part Eight as a word of instruction against abuses of freedom in the
churches. Specifically, the context suggests that some people got talking
in the church service, presenting themselves as great teachers, and just
couldn't shut up or give others time to share their testimonies (see 1:26,
3:6). James responds: if they are so worthy to teach, let them prove it
by works, not words – if their true intention is to promote Christ and not
themselves.
"Wisdom's meekness" is vaguely similar to the wisdom attributed to the
Greek philosopher Socrates. It was said in ancient Athens, "No one is
wiser than Socrates, because he knows that he knows nothing." Likewise,
if, as Scripture says, to fear the Lord is to take the first step toward
wisdom, the second step might be to know that it takes more than two steps
to reach it, and the third step is to know that the first step away from
wisdom is to think that you have it. True wisdom results in humility, not
pride.
Verse 17 has an exceptionally alliterative arrangement in Greek. This is
a passage meant to be memorized. James' contrast between carnal wisdom and
heavenly wisdom resembles Paul's list of the works of the flesh and the
fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:19-23.
 
PART TEN (4:1-10) –
SURRENDER TO GOD
 
James' depiction of the congregation as a "body" with members continues
in this section. He returns to the theme of spiritual unfaithfulness which
was described in 1:14-15. 
At the beginning of verse 4, some early manuscripts read only
"Adulteresses" (Moichalides), although most manuscripts of James, including
Codex P (uncial 025, produced in the 800's), read, "Adulterers and
adulteresses" (Moichoi kai moichalides). Advocates of the shorter reading
have proposed that James was using an idiom from the Old Testament, in
which Israel was described as God's unfaithful wife, and that a copyist who
did not perceive the non-literal nature of the term added the first two
words in order to ensure that readers would understand that the unfaithful
individuals referred to here were not only females but also males. 
However, the Old Testament idiom involved the use of a singular term,
rather than a plural term, to collectively represent unfaithful people. In
addition, the longer reading accounts for the shorter one without involving
the theory that a copyist deliberately altered the text: an early
copyist's line of sight drifted from the letters moich- in the first word
to the same letters in the third word, and as a result he accidentally
omitted all the letters in between. 
Desiderius Erasmus, the Roman Catholic scholar who produced a series of
very influential editions of the Greek New Testament in the early 1500's,
speculated that although the Greek manuscripts read phoneuete ("you
murder") in 4:2, the original text was phthoneite ("you covet"). This has
the advantage of forming an orderly procession of events in which a desire
leads to coveting. It also relieves interpreters of the need to explain
how it is that James' Christian readers were committing murder. However,
this conjecture is not necessary; the act of murder in verse 2 should be
understood to be as non-literal as the adultery in verse 4.
Two questions should be faced regarding verse 5. First, what exactly
does the passage say in the manuscripts? Second, to what Scripture is
James referring?
The manuscripts say slightly different things: some (including Papyrus
54, Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Alexandrinus, Codex Vaticanus, and Codex Psi)
read katōkisen, "has been made to dwell," while others read katōkēsen,
"does dwell." The second reading is easier than the first one and is
therefore, at first glance, more likely to be unoriginal. On the other
hand, no non-Greek manuscripts clearly echo katōkisen; they agree with
katōkēsen; this indicates that this reading was widespread when the early
versions were made. Adding to the difficulty, the pronunciation of both
words was nearly identical, so copyists working in a group, having a
manuscript slowly read to them as they wrote, could have understood the
word either way, depending on the reader's dialect or drawl. 
The variant katōkisen may have originated when, in a very early copy,
katōkēsen was written with katōkē- at the end of a line, and -sen at the
beginning of the next line. If the e (eta) in katōkēsen, extended into the
margin, and its outermost strokes were rubbed away there, the remainder
would look like the letter iota, the way that the letter H becomes the
letter I when the two strokes on the right are erased. This is just the
sort of thing that might cause a copyist using an old manuscript as his
exemplar to create a brand-new variant. Usually we take it for granted
that it would be a very good thing for a copyist to use an old exemplar,
and the older, the better. But in some respects, it was precisely because
ancient, worn manuscripts were used as exemplars (and this is reported by
Jerome to have occurred in Caesarea in the mid-300's) that the copyists
using them were more likely to create new variants wherever their exemplars
were faded or unclear. Meanwhile, copyists who used relatively young
exemplars were less likely to introduce such changes, because young
exemplars were less likely to have undergone small and difficult-to-detect
damage.
Another possibility is that when copyists began to abbreviate sacred
names (such as "Lord," "God," "Jesus," and "Christ"), and they abbreviated
"Spirit," this elicited the assumption that the Holy Spirit was the
subject, and with this assumption already in a copyist's mind, as he was
producing a manuscript via dictation, when he heard his supervisor say
katōkisen here, he assumed that katōkēsen had been read. (In Codex
Sinaiticus, the word Pneuma ("Spirit") is abbreviated; in Codex Vaticanus,
however, it is not abbreviated, perhaps indicating that a copyist sensed
the difficulty in his exemplar's statement that the spirit which has been
placed within us has envious desires.)
All things considered, katōkēsen accounts for katōkisen better than
katōkisen accounts for katōkēsen; in addition, the external support for
katōkēsen is much more diverse, which indicates that katōkisen is a
localized alteration. So, James is referring to the Spirit that dwells in
us.
Some English translations, adopting katōkisen, render the passage as
if God jealously desires the Spirit which he put within us, or as if the
Holy Spirit jealously desires us. Not only are these rendering based on an
incorrect base-text, but they obscure or misrepresent the meaning of the
Greek words that appear at the end of the verse: phthonon epipothei. The
word phthonon is not used to refer to God's jealousy anywhere in the Bible;
it consistently refers to a bad human trait (see, for instance, its
inclusion in lists of vices: Romans 1:29, Titus 3:3, First Peter 2:1). And
epipothei is only used to describe human longings or desires. Obviously,
James does not intend to ascribe envious desires to the Holy Spirit – and
those who insist that he does are simply redefining the word phthonon! The
other option is that the spirit referred to is not the Holy Spirit, but the
human spirit. This may have been the interpretation that led the KJV's
translators to render the passage, "Do ye think that the scripture saith in
vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?"
Now let's answer the second question: to what Scripture does James
refer? Some interpreters suggest that James was referring to a rabbinical
writing or hymn rather than to the Scriptures in the normal sense of
inspired writings, as Paul seems to do in Ephesians 5:14. However, this is
a speculation of last resort.
The most elegant and logical solution is that James is asking a
rhetorical question, with the understanding that his audience will respond,
"Of course the Scriptures do not vainly say that envious desires are from
the indwelling Spirit!" Rendered in this way, the verse has nice
continuity with verses 3-4, and explains why the "Scripture" is not found
in Scripture.
Perhaps James intentionally phrased this verse with a double-meaning
(when spoken aloud in Greek) so that his readers would contrast two things
while digesting it: human vulnerability to envy, and the perfect holiness
of the Holy Spirit.
Another textual variant involves a simple mistake that occurred when a
copyist was writing verse 6. John Calvin, in his commentary on James,
mentions that although many manuscripts contain verse 6, some manuscripts
do not contain it, and this caused Erasmus to suspect that it was a
marginal cross-reference that has been inserted into the text. (Codex P,
also known as Codex Porphyrianus or 025, produced in the 800's, does not
contain verse 6.) But no such expansion has occurred. What has happened
is that a copyist's line of sight accidentally drifted from the words
didōsin charin near the beginning of verse 6 to the same words at the end
of the verse, thus skipping all of the material in between. 
 
PART ELEVEN (4:11-12) –
THERE IS ONE JUDGE
 
This short section speaks for itself. Difficult circumstances might
entice us to blame others, or to point out other people's faults in
unconstructive ways. But we should always be building up each other.
James says here that God is the One Law-giver and Judge; yet James also
describes Christ as "the Judge," standing at the doors, in 5:9.
In the Byzantine Text of verse 12, the words "and Judge" do not appear,
and the final question – "Who are you that judges the other person?" – is
slightly different. The loss of the words "and Judge" (kai kritēs) appears
to have originated accidentally, when an early copyist's line of sight
drifted from the letters tēs at the end of the word nomothetēs (Lawgiver)
to the same letters at the end of kritēs. At the end of the verse, the
wording of the Byzantine Text appears to have been adjusted to resemble the
wording in Romans 2:1. The Peshitta disagrees with the Byzantine Text in
both cases.
 
PART TWELVE (4:13-17) –
WHAT IS YOUR LIFE?
 
This section has basically the same theme as Luke 12:13-21. The
similarity continues on into chapter five. This may indicate that the
material in Luke 12 was included in the Sayings-collection (Luke 12, except
for vv. 13-21 and 47-48, is paralleled in Matthew 10:26-33, 6:25-33, 24:42-
51, and 10:34-36 – all Logia-passages), and was accessed by James. Another
possibility is that James himself was in the crowd during Jesus' talk in
Luke 12. 
James made a pun in 4:13. The Greek words for "we shall travel" and "run
a business" are very similar (poreusometha and emporeusometha).
Verse 17 stresses James' point about making self-centered assumptions
that do not consider God's will. To neglect to acknowledge God's
supremacy, and to neglect to seek to submit to His will, is not just
forgetfulness; it is sin, it is pride, and destruction follows it. How
many people have been ruined trying to get rich quick! (See Psalm 127:1
and Proverbs 16:18-19).
James 4:17 is a particularly compelling verse, applicable to many
prideful assumptions besides business plans. Many a person has heard the
gospel, and been summoned to repent and be baptized, and felt the Spirit
convicting him because of his inaction. Such a person often dooms
himself. The decision to procrastinate service to God, despite awareness
of His call, is a decision to sin.
 
PART THIRTEEN (5:1-6) –
A WORD AGAINST THE RICH
 
James has adopted for this section a type of oratory, or monologue,
called the diatribe, in which an enemy, though not present, is addressed as
if he can hear the speaker. In this case the target is "Mr. Rich Man." 
The first reaction of the poor church-goers in James' day may have been
something like, "Yes, that's right; those people who don't share their
wealth deserve their punishment!" However, the prospect of encountering
the Lord as He commands His angelic armies to harvest the earth should not
move everyone, not only the rich, to consider their ways.
In the preceding passage, James pictured people who were making plans,
and he condemned their presumptuousness, without condemning careful
planning, properly put at God's disposal. Likewise, as he pictures the
wealthy individuals in this passage, he is not condemning wealth (inasmuch
as Abraham, one of James' examples of faithful service to God, was
wealthy); he condemns greed, dishonesty, oppression, and apathy toward the
needy.
Intentionally contributing to extreme economic polarization is a sin. 
Economic polarization is a subtle violation of the command to love your
neighbor as yourself. James does not advocate violent revolution or
governmental tyranny as the solution to the problem of economic
oppression. Instead, he offers the prospect of divine retribution as a
motivating force, pricking the conscience of the rich, and consoling the
poor with a great truth: it is better to be poor, or oppressed, or even
murdered, than to be evil. 
This section also applies, to a degree, to those who have been given
a share in the Christian faith, and do not share it. The gospel is more
precious than silver or gold. Have you been silently hoarding it? Are you
helping God's harvesters, planting seeds and tilling the soil of the souls
of your friends and neighbors? Are you helping the harvest in fields far
away? James just said that anyone who does not do what he knows he should
do, is sinning.
In these last days, do not be miserly with the gospel. Share it gladly. 
If we are in debt to Christ, we are in debt to the least of these. 
Remember the thought of the four beggars in the story of deliverance in
Second Kings 7:9: "We are not doing right. Today is a day of good news
and we are keeping it to ourselves. If we wait until daylight, punishment
will come upon us. Therefore let us go right now and tell the king's
household." 
In 5:3, the meaning of James' words about gold and silver is somewhat
subtle. At first glance, they don't seem to make sense, because gold and
silver don't rust. Anyone who had obtained coins under the impression that
they were genuine gold and silver, and then saw them rusting, would realize
that he had been swindled. James seems to be saying that those who have
invested themselves in gold and silver, and put their trust in money, will
someday realize with livid faces that they have been swindled of their very
lives. What they thought was valuable treasure was actually worthless,
like counterfeit coins.
The reference to workers entitled to wages may be evidence that James
wrote this letter in the Holy Land, because in most of the rest of the
Roman Empire, slave labor would be used for tasks such as crop-gathering
and field-chopping. 
James may have meant something special as he used the term "the
righteous" in 5:6 and 5:16. "The righteous" is a term with several
meanings in the New Testament (and in some of the Dead Sea Scrolls). As it
is used here, it may be taken two ways. On one level, it refers to the
Christian community, in whole or part (see Matthew 13:42, 25:46, Romans
1:17). James could be referring specifically to Steven (who was martyred
in Acts 7). On another level, the term "the righteous" refers to Christ
himself (see Acts 7:52, First Peter 3:18, First John 2:1). 
So James is not only saying that the rich have arrested and – perhaps by
negligence and apathy – murdered Christians, but that in doing so, they
have assaulted Christ Himself and put themselves in the same class as those
who falsely arrested, tried, and crucified Christ. When the church is
attacked, Christ Himself is also attacked.
An interesting side-note is that James was posthumously given the title
"the Just" or "the Righteous," for he, like the righteous in verse 6, did
not resist his murderers when the final test came.
 
PART FOURTEEN (5:7-12) –
ENDURE! THE LORD IS NEAR
 
This section (and chapters 4 and 5 as a whole) has some strong echoes of
Malachi chapters 3 and 4. Compare, for example, James 4:8 with Malachi
3:7. If James' original audience noticed the allusion to Malachi, they may
have been comforted by considering Malachi 3:10-12.
We have reached a very important point about eschatology (the study of
the end-times). James – leader of the church in Jerusalem, taught by
Christ, inspired by the Holy Spirit – had at his disposal the same Old
Testament prophecies that we have, and the teachings that are now found in
Matthew 24. Yet he did not presume to set a specific date for Christ's
return. Instead, he consistently indicated that he believed that the Lord
could come, right then. This was before the temple in Jerusalem was
destroyed, let alone rebuilt.
We should have the same approach, knowing that Christ has assured us,
"You do not know which day your Lord is coming" (Matthew 24:42). Those who
try to sneak around Christ's words, by predicting years instead of days,
end up stacking one error upon another. So always be ready for the Lord to
come, just as you should always be prepared to go. Be assured that when a
teacher comes along who makes the serious mistake of scheduling the Second
Coming, he is a false teacher, no matter how sincere and noble he may
seem. Among those who have been guilty of this are William Miller (without
whose influence Seventh-Day Adventism would not have developed), who set
Christ's return at 1844, and Charles T. Russell (founder of the Watchtower
Society), who predicted 1914 and 1915, and whose followers, the Watchtower
Society, also known as "Jehovah's Witnesses," also set various dates for
Christ's return. Having learned from their mistakes, the Watchtower
Society's teachers now settle for one big mistake: they claim that Jesus
returned invisibly in 1914. Edgar C. Whisenant predicted that Christ would
return in 1988, and Harold Camping scheduled Christ's return several
times. Several other writers, such as Hal Lindsey and John Hagee, also
deserve to be rebuked because they have scheduled Christ's return to occur
in a specific generation.
In verse 10, when James said, "Take the prophets," he may have meant it
in a literal way, as in, "Take the writings of the prophets in hand, and
consider their experiences." "The Prophets" was the title of the second
part of the Old Testament according to its ancient arrangement (see Luke
24:44). James seems to endorse, in one way or another, all three groups
into which the Old Testament Scriptures were collected: the whole Law (2:8-
10), the Prophets (5:10), and the Psalms (5:13).
Verses 9 and 12 are reminders that, especially in hard times, we should
be watchful against sinning with words. We should not grumble or lie. In
fact, Christians should be so honest that a plain "Yes" or "No" will be
sufficient proof of their truthfulness. Verse 12 forbids oaths which imply
that one's ordinary speech is not totally reliable. It does not forbid
giving an unadorned affirmation, or promise, of honesty. (Compare Paul's
strong assurances in Galatians 1:20 and Philippians 1:8.)
Notice the striking parallel between James 5:12 and Matthew 5:34-37.
Three variations in the text of this passage bear some comments. First,
in verse 7, the word "rain" (ueton) is absent from the Alexandrian Text,
represented by Codex Vaticanus. If the word ueton was transposed to the
end of the verse in an ancestor of Codex Vaticanus, its loss could be
explained as a simple mistake; an early copyist's line of sight drifted
from the -on in opsimon (latter) to the same letters in ueton. But the
reading in Codex Sinaiticus may indicate that something else occurred: an
early copyist regarded the text as unclear, because the annual weather-
cycles that he experienced were quite different. So he left out the word,
so that the phrase "first and last" would be understood to refer to the
waited-for harvest-fruits mentioned earlier in the verse. In Codex
Sinaiticus, this interpretation has been placed in the text; instead of
ueton, Codex Sinaiticus refers to the first and last karpon, that is,
fruit. Many copies, including Sinaiticus, feature the word an after ews
(until), increasing the clarity of the sentence.
Second, in verse 8, most manuscripts refer to the coming of the Lord, but
a small group of manuscripts called the Harklean Group refers to the coming
of our Lord. The Peshitta has this reading, too. None of the manuscripts
in the Harklean Group is particularly early, but the text they preserve
appears to be very early, inasmuch as Codex Sinaiticus, which was produced
in the mid-300's, has a textual variant in the third verse of Jude which is
a combination of the ordinary reading "salvation" (sōtērias) and a reading
which is attested by the Harklean Group, "life" (zōēs); Sinaiticus' reading
is "salvation and life" (sōtērias kai zōēs). I adopted the Harklean
Group's reading in James 5:8 on the grounds that it escaped early
conformation to the wording that appears earlier in the verse.
Third, a textual variant in verse 12 has caused a difference among
English translations: the Byzantine Text reads eis upokrisin ("into
hypocrisy"), while the Alexandrian Text reads upo krisin ("under
judgment"). What has happened is that a very early copyist interpreted the
two words eis upokrisin as three words, eis upo krisin, ("into under
judgment") and wrongly deduced that one preposition or the other did not
belong in the text. Two late manuscripts (minuscules 76 and 209) read eis
krisin, proving that copyists made such a misinterpretation; the copyists
of these two copies (or the copyist of an ancestor-manuscript that they
shared) omitted upo instead of eis.
 
PART FIFTEEN (5:13-18) –
THE POWER OF PRAYER
 
In verse 14, James' reference to the church's elders (presbuterous) shows
that the early Christian church rapidly adopted the Judaic model of
synagogue organization as it spread. It does not, though, imply the
presence of an organized church hierarchy that the word "presbytery" may
suggest in modern times. Paul's list of qualifications for elders (First
Timothy 3) had not yet been written. Probably James has in mind the older,
respected members of the congregation, especially those who took active
roles in the assembly. If the early church closely followed Judaic
precedent, then there were at least ten such men in each congregation. 
In recent times a question has arisen about what kind of oil should be
used to anoint the sick. A simple consultation of the Greek text shows
that the oil used to anoint the sick is olive oil: "olives" in 3:12 is
elaias; the oil in 5:14 is elaiō, from the same word-root. In Mark 6:13,
oil was used by Jesus' followers, and miraculous cures were the result. 
Probably some of the elders to whom James refers had received miraculous
gifts of healing directly from the apostles. This may be why James
expected no other outcome than a full recovery.
Many people have observed that even when James' instructions are
faithfully followed today, it does not always produce physical healing. 
This should induce us to realize that, contrary to what some may say, God
can and does use physical sickness for His glory and for our benefit. God
cares for our physical well-being, but even more for our spiritual well-
being, and sometimes the second can advance at the expense of the first. 
Regarding this, consider the insight of Psalm 119:71-76, as well as the
implications of Second Kings 13:14, Philippians 2:25-30, and First Timothy
5:23.
A person who is suffering will see God's purpose better if he has mature
Christians with him, to assure him that he is not abandoned. In this way
the words of James take new dimensions: the prayer of faith shall save the
sick from despair, and the Lord will raise him up to greater spiritual joy,
to higher vision, and to the peace that passes understanding, in the
assurance that whether he remains in the flesh, or travels on to glory, he
is with the Lord, having His forgiveness.
In verse 16, the confession of offenses in clearly mutual. This verse
does not advocate a one-way confessional booth. Christians are to counsel
each other and bear one another's burdens, but leaders should not give the
laity the impression that they can barter with God for forgiveness. The
words "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned," should be directed only to
God. Jesus said, "You are all brothers. Do not call anyone on earth your
'Father,' for One is your Father: He who is in heaven" (Matthew 23:8-9). 
As brothers, we should confess our sins and our flaws, so that we may be
helped to become strong. James does not address the question of how public
or private these confessions ought to be. But one way or another, it
should be done; confession, as the saying goes, is good for the soul.
A textual variant in verse 16 has affected English translations: the
Alexandrian Text says to confess your sins (tas amartias); the Byzantine
Text says to confess your offenses (ta paraptōmata). The Alexandrian
wording, supported by Codices Vaticanus, Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, and
others, echoes a conformation to the words which immediately precede it. 
The Alexandrian Text also adds "Therefore" (oun), so as to more clearly
connect verse 16 to the subject of verse 15. The theory that an early
copyist in the Alexandrian transmission-stream adjusted the wording of
verse 16 by repeating verbiage from verse 15 seems more likely than the
alternative scenario, in which a copyist arbitrarily replaced a common word
with another common word.
The "three years and six months" in 5:17 is somewhat unexpected, since in
I Kings 18, the drought is only said to have lasted for about three years. 
Yet, in Luke 4:25, Jesus mentions that it did not rain for three years and
six months. This may be yet another indication of James' familiarity with
the teachings of Christ.
But how can the three and a half years in James and Luke be harmonized
with the three years in I Kings? The simplest solution is that Elijah made
his announcement at the very end of a dry season, in which case Jesus and
James combined the ordinary six months of dry weather with the three years
of extraordinary drought.
By combining those two periods, Jesus and James created a parallel
between the time of Elijah's drought and a time of persecution which
ultimately fulfilled a purpose of God. As almost every Jew of James' day
knew, three and a half years was the period of Israel's subjugation under
the Syrian oppressor Antiochus Epiphanes in 168-165 B.C. The same time-
range appears in Daniel 7:25 and Revelation 11:2, 12:6, etc. Just as James
compared the early Christian communities to the nation of Israel in 1:1,
his reference here may be intended to remind his readers that although they
were living through a drought-caused famine, and also through a time of
persecution, God would hear their prayers for the famine and persecution to
end.
James' reference to Elijah's prayer for rain is a very appropriate
reminder that we should not pray mere token-prayers; we ought to pray
earnestly and with confidence. Elijah bent down on the ground and prayed
seven times before only a small cloud appeared – but having God's promise,
Elijah knew that a downpour was coming.

PART SIXTEEN (5:19-20) –
SEEK THE LOST
 
Can a person be heaven-bound, and later be lost, and later still be
heaven-bound again? James says here, Yes. Some people, in defense of an
oversimplified "Once-saved, always-saved" view, try to dismiss this, by
saying that the "if" in 5:19 (like the "if" in Hebrews 10:26-29) makes the
passage hypothetical. It is hypothetical, but if the hypothesis is not
true-to-life, then why would James write about a situation which cannot
exist? (James does not directly address the question, "Can a person be
heaven-bound, and later be lost, and stay lost?". Regarding this, see the
appendix "Election and Accountability" at the end of the commentary.)
In 5:20, some manuscripts read ginōskete, "Know," and others read
ginōsketō, "Let him know." The United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament
varies here from one edition to another, indicating the difficult balance
of considerations involved in ascertaining the authentic text at this
point. Perhaps in an early copy ginōsketō happened to be written at the
end of a line, with the final letter, omega, extending into the margin. 
There, the ink might have been partially rubbed off, causing the damaged
letter to look like the first, circular stroke of the letter epsilon. 
Copyists would be likely to prefer ginōskete since it is less ambiguous
than ginōsketō. The vagueness of verse 20 raises some questions: who
should be informed, and whose soul is being saved? It would seem that the
soul of the wanderer is saved from death – but also, the one who seizes the
opportunity to seek the lost thus avoids committing a sin of omission. The
ambiguity here is thought-provoking, and James may have intended it that
way. 
To seek and to save the lost is the reason Jesus came, and in seeking to
turn back the wanderer, we follow Christ's example and emulate Christ's
love, which, as First Peter 4:8 says, covers a multitude of sins. Clement
of Alexandria, a leader in the early church in the early 200's, believed
that the words, "Love covers a multitude of sins" were spoken by Jesus
Himself.
James knew what it was like to reject the truth and then be given another
chance to embrace it. His letter compels us to share the love we have
received, so that others, like James, may turn from unbelief to the risen
Lord, who is heard in the Law of Liberty, seen in mature character, and
touched in acts of kindness.
 
 
++++++++++++++++

 
Appendix One:
Theology in the Epistle of James
 
James is often described as a practical, non-theological book. James
wanted his readers to have a functioning, practical faith, not merely a
theoretical one. Yet he did convey, indirectly, some basic theological
premises. Arranged in seven categories, or facets, James' theology looks
like this:
 
GOD (Theology Proper)
God is one – a Supreme Being who is the unchanging source of light and of
all good gifts, including salvation. He is personally concerned for all
individuals, and desires to be their Friend. He hears prayers, and
responds. He maintains ultimate justice; yet he is very merciful and
forgiving. (1:5, 1:13, 1:17-18, 1:20, 2:23, 4:4, 4:6, 4:8, 4:10, 5:4,
5:11, 5:15, 5:20)
 
CHRIST (Christology)
Jesus Christ is worthy to be called "our glorious Lord," the focus of
our faith. He exists now, not just in the past. Prayers are made in His
name. He shares the title "Lord" interchangeably with the Father. (1:1,
1:2, 3:9, 4:12, 5:7-9, 5:11, 5:15)
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT (Pneumatology)
As the "spirit of wisdom" from above (see Isaiah 11:1-5), the Spirit
produces godly character in believers. The Holy Spirit dwells within
Christians. No one should imagine that envious desires come from the Holy
Spirit. The Spirit gives life to the church. (2:26, 3:17-18, 4:5)
 
THE BIBLE (Bibliology)
The books of the Old Testament are historically reliable and
authoritative. They guide the reader to knowledge of God and of oneself. 
The study of God's revelation points the way to obedience, maturity, and
spiritual blessings. (1:25, 2:10, 2:21-25, 4:5-6, 5:10, 5:13)
 
ANGELS AND DEMONS (Angelology)
Heavenly armies in the service of God exist. Demons – evil spiritual
entities – also exist. They believe in God; yet they oppose Him and His
people. They encourage people to fall into sin, especially pride. There
is an arch-demon, called the devil. He should be constantly and
unanimously opposed. (1:17, 2:19, 3:15, 4:7, 5:4)
 
SALVATION (Soteriology)
Each human being who sins is under a sentence of death. But God has
selected some to inherit His kingdom; they will become His special people
by His will. God plants His message of new life in a person's heart, and
it is up to that person to accept or reject it. New life, by definition,
includes merciful character and the propensity to do good works. (1:14-15,
1:18, 1:21, 2:14, 2:17, 3:17)
 
THE CHURCH (Ecclesiology)
The church consists of all the faithful, even though they may be dwelling
separate from one another. It may be perceived as the spiritual Israel. 
Each local body has a group of elders, or older members, who visit the
sick, praying and anointing then with oil. There is also someone who reads
for the congregation. Those who wish to serve the body as teachers should
bear in mind their great responsibility, and be sure of their motives. 
(1:1, 1:16, 2:5, 3:1, 3:13-14, 4:1-4, 4:11, 5:14)
 
THE END OF THE WORLD (Eschatology)
Christ the Lord will return very soon, and then there will be a judgment
of every individual. Mercy will be approved; cruelty will be punished. 
Those who love the Lord and endure hardship for Him will receive life, but
for evildoers, especially rich money-hoarders and dishonest businessmen,
there will be fiery torments in hell. (2:12-13, 4:12, 5:1-5, 5:7-9)
 
MANKIND (Anthropology)
Every person has a body, soul, and spirit, although the difference
between soul and spirit is not defined. Humans are made in God's
likeness. Yet, everyone is born with a nature that, given the opportunity,
develops selfish desires. We all succumb to temptation, and we all sin,
resulting in death. (1:14-15, 1:21, 2:26, 3:9, 4:5)
 
 
++++++++++++++++
 
Appendix Two:
Election and Accountability

How can James' statements about God choosing people for salvation be
harmonized with his offer to freely accept God's salvation (1:21)? The
resolution of the underlying question – can predestination and man's free
will co-exist, and if so, how? – is usually attempted in commentaries on
Romans rather than James, but since the question arises here we will
investigate it here via a story.
Once upon a time, there was a time-traveler. His time-machine was very
advanced, no bigger than a wristwatch. He could just punch in the date he
wanted to go to, press "Enter," and he would go there.
The time-traveler traveled to a town. He arrived on Tuesday. All over
the town, large posters and signs were posted. They read, "The dam near
this town is going to break this coming Sunday, and it will completely
engulf the town. The only escape is to climb to the top of Mount Blood,
the tallest hill in town. Be there at 12:00 noon on Sunday, or perish!"
Some of the people in the town, after reading the signs, went straight to
the top of Mount Blood and sat down and waited and didn't move. Others
went there, too, but then climbed back down. Some ignored the signs
entirely. Some climbed to the roofs of the buildings they had built. Some
went to the tops of other hills. Some went up to the top of Mount Blood,
then came back down, and went up again, again and again. Some waited and
waited and finally reached the top of Mount Blood only at 11:59 on Sunday. 
Some went to the dam and insisted that nothing was wrong with it.
Finally Sunday came, and 12:00 noon came, and the dam broke. Tons of
water swept into the town and swallowed it up, including all the buildings
and all the hills except Mount Blood. The time-traveler, who was on top of
Mt. Blood with the survivors, wrote down the names of all the survivors in
a notebook. Then he, with his notebook, traveled back in time to the
previous Monday, the day before the Tuesday he had arrived in before.
On Monday, he went to a store in the town and bought sign-making
materials, and made posters and signs, reading, "The dam near this town is
going to break this coming Sunday, and it will completely engulf the town. 
The only escape is to climb to the top of Mount Blood, the tallest hill in
town. Be there at 12:00 noon on Sunday, or perish!" Then he posted the
signs all over town. The rest of the week happened exactly as it had
before, including the collapse of the dam and the destruction of the town
and the death of all the townspeople except the ones at the top of Mt.
Blood on Sunday at 12:00 noon.
 
Now consider this time-traveler. The first time he went through the week
(when he started on Tuesday), he didn't do anything but watch and gather
information. He wrote down names in a book. The second time through (when
he started on Monday), he intervened and issued the call to escape the
flood by climbing to the top of Mount Blood and staying there.
The time-traveler, as he goes through the week the second time,
represents God. God does not need to go through time to gather
information; he knew the future of everything before He created anything. 
His Book of Life, with the names of all the elect, was already written. 
Since His knowledge of the future is infallible, election is immutable,
just like the entries in the time-traveler's notebook. So it is definitely
Biblical to say, "Once elect, always elect." God is the author of eternal
salvation.
But this is not quite the same as saying, "Once saved, always saved." 
Back to the story: some people climbed up Mount Blood, and at that point
they were in a saved position, that is, as a matter of hypothesis, if the
dam had broken right then and there, they would have survived. But the
time-traveler knew in advance that their names were not in his book; he
knew that they would not be there when the dam actually collapsed. 
Likewise, he knew that some people did not heed the call right away, and if
the dam had broken at that point, they would have drowned. But the time-
traveler knew that their names were in his book; he knew that, when the dam
broke, they would be at the top of Mount Blood. And he knew that some who
went up Mount Blood and came back down would perish, while others who
wandered down would be brought back and be saved. Each person's situation
was changeable, but each person's destiny was constant.
In the same way, God foreknew who would endure to the end for Him, and
who would not. It was not by arbitrary selection, but by this
foreknowledge, that God decided who would be predestined to be saved
through the blood of Christ, and to be conformed to the image of His Son
(see Romans 8:27-31).

++++++++++++++++
 
Appendix Three: Cross-references
 
There is a saying among commentators: "Scripture is its own best
interpreter." Here is a list of passages of Scripture which, when
consulted alongside the contents of the Epistle of James, may be helpful to
those attempting to interpret and apply the text.
 
 
CHAPTER ONE
 
1: Galatians 1:19
2: Matthew 5:11-12, First Peter 4:12-16
3-4: Romans 5:3-5
5: Proverbs 2:6, Matthew 7:7, Romans 5:3-5
6: Matthew 21:21-22, Mark 11:23
7: Jeremiah 11:8-11
8: Psalm 1:6, Proverbs 13:15
9: Jeremiah 9:23-24, First Corinthians 1:27-31
10-11: Psalm 103:15-16
12: Isaiah 28:4-5, Second Timothy 4:8
13: Matthew 6:13
14: First Corinthians 10:13
15: Romans 6:23
17: Psalm 36:9, 43:3, Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8
18: John 1:12-13, First Peter 1:23, Proverbs 3:9
19: Proverbs 14:29, 6:32, 29:20
20: John 18:10-11, Ephesians 4:26
21: Hebrews 12:1, Matthew 13:4, 19
22: Romans 2:13
23-24: Matthew 7:26, Second Corinthians 13:5
25: Psalm 19:7, Luke 11:28, John 15:23
26: Galatians 6:3, Ecclesiastes 5:3, First John 3:18
27: Isaiah 1:17-18
 
CHAPTER 2
 
1: John 7:24, Romans 2:11
5: Luke 6:20
7: Isaiah 52:5
8: Leviticus 19:18, Mark 12:31
9: Deuteronomy 1:17
10: Romans 3:23, Isaiah 64:6
11: Exodus 20:13-14, Mark 10:19
12: Matthew 12:36-37
13: Psalm 18:25, Matthew 5:7
14: Luke 6:46
15-16: Proverbs 3:27, 14:31, 19:17
18: First Thessalonians 5:12-13
19: Deuteronomy 6:4
21-23: Genesis 15:6, Genesis 22:9-18, Isaiah 41:8, Romans 4:3, Galatians
3:6
24: Romans 3:28, Galatians 5:6, Ephesians 2:8-10
25: Joshua 2
 
CHAPTER 3
 
1: Matthew 15:14, Luke 12:47-48
2: Psalm 39, Proverbs 24:16
3-4: Proverbs 30:24-28
5-6: Proverbs 13:3, Matthew 12:36-37
8: Psalm 140:3, Proverbs 21:23, Romans 3:13
9-10: Ephesians 4:29, First John 4:20
11: Proverbs 18:5, Jeremiah 2:13
12: Matthew 7:16
13: Matthew 11:19, Jeremiah 9:23-24
14: Proverbs 11:2, Isaiah 10:15
15: Ezekiel 28:12-17
18: Matthew 5:9
 
CHAPTER FOUR
 
1: First Corinthians 3:3
3: Matthew 7:7-11, Luke 17:6
4: Isaiah 1:21, First John 2:15
6: Proverbs 3:34
7: First Peter 5:6-8
8-9: Zechariah 1:3, Joel 2:12-13, Matthew 5:4
9: Psalm 126:5-6
10: Matthew 23:12, Luke 18:14
11: Matthew 7:1, Romans 2:1
12: Isaiah 33:22, Matthew 10:28
13-14: Proverbs 27:1
14: Psalm 39:4-6
15: First John 5:14
16: Psalm 52:1-7
17: Luke 12:47-48
 
CHAPTER FIVE
 
1: Mark 10:25, Luke 16:22-23, Joel 1:5, 1:13
2: Proverbs 11:4, Matthew 6:19-21
3: Proverbs 11:4
4: Proverbs 22:16
5: Jeremiah 22:13, Jeremiah 12:1-3
6: Psalm 37:32, Isaiah 57:1
7: Hosea 10:12, Joel 2:23
8: First Peter 4:7, Second Peter 3:9, First John 2:18
9: Matthew 24:33, Acts 10:42
10: Hebrews 11:32-38
11: Job 42, Psalm 34:19, Psalm 103:8
12: Matthew 5:34-37
13: Psalm 40:1-3
14: Mark 6:12-13
16: Proverbs 28:13, First John 1:9
17-18: First Kings 17-18, Luke 4:25
19: Galatians 6:1
20: Proverbs 10:12, First Peter 4:8
 
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THE GREEK TEXT
OF THE LETTER OF JAMES