Testing Your Faith

1 ^[a]James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To the twelve [Hebrew] tribes [scattered abroad among the Gentiles] in the dispersion: Greetings (rejoice)!

² Consider it nothing but joy, my ^[b]brothers and sisters, whenever you fall into various trials. ³ Be assured that the testing of your faith [through experience] produces endurance [leading to spiritual maturity, and inner peace]. ⁴ And let endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed [in your faith], lacking in nothing.

⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom [to guide him through a decision or circumstance], he is to ask of [our benevolent] God, who gives to everyone generously and without rebuke or blame, and it will be given to him. ⁶ But he must ask [for wisdom] in faith, without doubting [God’s willingness to help], for the one who doubts is like a billowing surge of the sea that is blown about and tossed by the wind. ⁷ For such a person ought not to think or expect that he will receive anything [at all] from the Lord, ⁸ being a double-minded man, unstable and restless in all his ways [in everything he thinks, feels, or decides].

⁹ Let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position [as a born-again believer, called to the true riches and to be an heir of God]; ¹⁰ and the rich man is to glory in being humbled [by trials revealing human frailty, knowing true riches are found in the grace of God], for like the flower of the grass he will pass away. ¹¹ For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; its flower falls off and ^[c]its beauty fades away; so too will the rich man, in the midst of his pursuits, fade away.^(A)

¹² Blessed [happy, spiritually prosperous, favored by God] is the man who is steadfast under trial and perseveres when tempted; for when he has passed the test and been approved, he will receive the [victor’s] crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. ¹³ Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God” [for temptation does not originate from God, but from our own flaws]; for God cannot be tempted by [what is] evil, and He Himself tempts no one. ¹⁴ But each one is tempted when he is dragged away, enticed and baited [to commit sin] by his own [worldly] desire (lust, passion). ¹⁵ Then when the illicit desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin has run its course, it gives birth to death. ¹⁶ Do not be misled, my beloved brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of lights [the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens], in whom there is no variation [no rising or setting] or shadow ^[d]cast by His turning [for He is perfect and never changes]. ¹⁸ It was of His own will that He gave us birth [as His children] by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits of His creatures [a prime example of what He created to be set apart to Himself—sanctified, made holy for His divine purposes].

¹⁹ Understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters. Let everyone be quick to hear [be a careful, thoughtful listener], slow to speak [a speaker of carefully chosen words and], slow to anger [patient, reflective, forgiving]; ²⁰ for the [resentful, deep-seated] anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God [that standard of behavior which He requires from us]. ²¹ So get rid of all uncleanness and ^[e]all that remains of wickedness, and with a humble spirit receive the word [of God] which is implanted [actually rooted in your heart], which is able to save your souls. ²² But prove yourselves doers of the word [actively and continually obeying God’s precepts], and not merely listeners [who hear the word but fail to internalize its meaning], deluding yourselves [by unsound reasoning contrary to the truth]. ²³ For if anyone only listens to the word ^[f]without obeying it, he is like a man who looks very carefully at his natural face in a mirror; ²⁴ for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he immediately forgets ^[g]what he looked like. ²⁵ But he who looks carefully into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and faithfully abides by it, not having become a [careless] listener who forgets but ^[h]an active doer [who obeys], he will be blessed and favored by God in what he does [in his life of obedience].

²⁶ If anyone thinks himself to be religious [scrupulously observant of the rituals of his faith], and does not control his tongue but deludes his own heart, this person’s religion is worthless (futile, barren). ²⁷ Pure and unblemished religion [as it is expressed in outward acts] in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit and look after the fatherless and the widows in their distress, and to keep oneself uncontaminated by the [secular] world.