There must be a vocation to go along with the vocabulary. 16 - Pious clichés and Christian verbiage are not the evidence of saving faith. Calvin said, “Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is not alone.” 13 - The lawbreaker will be judged without mercy, as he showed no mercy in breaking the law. 12 - “The law of liberty” is the Word of God. 11 - To break one law makes a lawbreaker as if he had broken any other law. 10 - To break the law in one point makes one a lawbreaker. 9 - To discriminate between rich and poor is sin, and it makes a person a transgressor of the law. 8 - The law is summed up in this statement, even as the Lord Jesus Christ stated. 6 - James is rough on the rich (see Proverbs 22). 5 - Poor by the world’s standards, but heirs of the kingdom. 4 - “Are ye not then partial in yourselves?” should be, Are ye not divided in your own mind? This means that they revealed a doubt concerning their faith by these actions. 3 - This is discrimination made in favor of the rich. “Goodly apparel” (KJV) is fine clothing, contrasted to the clothing of a poor man. “With a gold ring” means not a single ring, but a man loaded down with gold rings, which was an evidence of wealth. The Jewish Christians evidently used the word “synagogue” even if they did not meet in an actual synagogue building. 2 - “Assembly” is synagogue, meaning a coming together. 1 - “Have” is hold - “Hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.” Don’t be a spiritual snob. “Unspotted” - contact with the world does not mean to be implicated in the things of the world. “Visit” - contact with the sorrow of the world and problems of people. Psalm singing on Sunday and filthy stories on Monday identify a heretic. The tongue is the true index of the reality of religion. 26 - “Religious” means to go through the ritual and forms of religion. To obey the Word leads to blessing and life. 25 - “Looketh” means to look attentively, penetratingly. To ignore the x-ray that reveals a cancer leads to death. 24 - To ignore the Word leads to tragedy. 23 - The Word reveals the natural man in reality. To give only a mental assent to it is to rationalize, which leads to self-deception. The implanted Word is a preventative against the sins of the flesh. “Superfluity of naughtiness” (KJV) is abundance of wickedness. 20 - The anger of man is contrary to the will and work of God. 18 - The Word of God gave birth to a son of God ( 1 Peter 1:23). “Neither shadow of turning” means that there is no shadow cast by turning, like the dark side of the moon. There is no variation, as the laws of creation reveal. He is good and He gives good gifts for He is the Creator. Sin gives birth to death in an unholy union. 15 - Desires of the flesh lead to sin, and sin to death. 14 - A man is tempted with evil when he is trapped and hooked by his own lust (flesh). God is incapable of being tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no man. 13 - No man is tempted with evil from God. 12 - The thought here is that there is a reward for the man who endures testing and is approved (tried) afterward. 11 - As the sun scorching the grass causes it to wither away, so the rich will fade from the earth. Riches will not keep him alive or give him eternal life. 9 - “Low degree” is the poor, in contrast to the rich. 6 - He is to ask without hesitation, with bold faith. “Upbraideth not” - it is “pure, simple, giving of good, without admixture of evil or bitterness” (Vincent). 5 - If any lack wisdom in attaining to Christian normality, let him ask of God wisdom in this direction. “Acid of grief tests the coin of belief.” See John 2:23-25 and John 6:64-66 Romans 5:3-5 Galatians 6:17 Psalm 131:2. 3 - When faith is poured into the test tube of trials, the result is patience. There is a purpose in trials, they are not trivial or meaningless. The Jews were scattered throughout the Roman Empire in principal cities. James does not get familiar with the Lord - notice that he uses the full name, Lord Jesus Christ. 1 - “Servant” is bond slave (he was a half-brother of our Lord, according to the flesh). (The soon coming of Christ produces patience, vv. Vexation of the rich value of the imminent coming of Christ, Chapter 5 (Worldliness is identified with fighting and the spirit of dissension, vv. Vacuity and vapidness of worldliness, Chapter 4 (“What is in the well of the heart will come up through the bucket of the mouth.”) God tests faith by good works, Chapter 2:14-26 God tests faith by attitude and action in respect of persons, Chapter 2:1-13Į. (Doing, not doctrine, is the final test of faith knowing is not enough.)ĭ. God tests faith by the Word, not by man’s words, Chapter 1:22-27 God does not test faith with evil, Chapter 1:13-21 (Twofold result: development of patience here, v. God tests faith by trials, Chapter 1:1-12 Verification of genuine faith, Chapters 1 - 3Ī.
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