Chapter 1

1 From James, a slave of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes dispersed abroad. Greetings! 2 My brothers and sisters, consider it nothing but joy when you fall into all sorts of trials,⁠ 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect effect, so that you will be perfect and complete, not deficient in anything. 5 But if anyone is deficient in wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without reprimand, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith without doubting,⁠ for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed around by the wind.⁠ 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord,⁠ 8 since he is a double-minded individual, unstable in all his ways. 9 Now the believer of humble means should take pride in his high position. 10 But the rich person’s pride should be in his humiliation because he will pass away like a wildflower in the meadow.⁠ 11 For the sun rises with its heat and dries up the meadow; the petal of the flower falls off and its beauty is lost forever. So also the rich person in the midst of his pursuits will wither away. 12 Happy is the one who endures testing because when he has proven to be genuine, he will receive the crown of life that God promised to those who love him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one.⁠ 14 But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires.⁠ 15 Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin,⁠ and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death. 16 Do not be led astray, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change.⁠ 18 By his sovereign plan he gave us birth through the message of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. 19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters! Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.⁠ 20 For human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness. 21 So put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls.⁠ 22 But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves.⁠ 23 For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone who gazes at his own face in a mirror.⁠ 24 For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets what sort of person he was. 25 But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out—he will be blessed in what he does.⁠ 26 If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their adversity⁠ and to keep oneself unstained by the world.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 98:4 and James 1:14

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · New Testament

Summary

James and 1 Enoch both reject the idea that sin comes from outside forces, including God. In 1 Enoch, sin is something humans create and are responsible for. James expresses a similar idea, teaching that temptation begins with a person’s own desires.

Passages

1 Enoch 98:4

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

2 For men will wear more ornaments than a woman, and colored garments more than a virgin: in royalty, grandeur, and power, and in silver, gold, and purple, and in splendor and food they will be lavished on as if with water. 3 So they will lack teaching and wisdom, and will perish along with their possessions; and with all their glory and splendor, and in shame, slaughter, and great poverty, their spirits will be thrown into the furnace of fire. 4 I have sworn to you, sinners, that just as a mountain has not become a servant, nor a hill the maidservant of a woman, so sin was not sent upon the earth, but man created it himself, and those who commit it will fall under a great curse. 5 Barrenness was not given to the woman, but she dies without children because of the deeds of her own hands.

300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

James 1:14

New Testament

12 Happy is the one who endures testing because when he has proven to be genuine, he will receive the crown of life that God promised to those who love him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires. 15 Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death. 16 Do not be led astray, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change. 18 By his sovereign plan he gave us birth through the message of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

80–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in James

References

"... As in Deuteronomy 30:19 the promise for those who are faithful is life, although this life is now an eschatological gift rather than the prolonging and blessing of life in this world. The alternative to this gift, as in Deuteronomy 30:19, is death as is evident from James 1:14-15. Therefore, the depiction of faithfulness and unfaithfulness in James 1:12-15 presents the audience with an implicit choice between life and death; the urgency of this choice being underscored by the preceding depiction of the fate of the `rich' brother in verses 10-11. The depiction of love, faith and endurance in James 1:12 contrasts sharply with the person who says, 'I am tested/tempted by God' (1:13). Such a speech seeks to pass the responsibility for one's own sin and suffering onto God, a tendency well documented in antiquity (Homer, Odessey 1.32-34; Aeschines, Timaeus 190; Philo, On the Flight and Finding of Moses 78-81; On the Confusion of Tongues 161; Proverbs 19:3; Sirach 15:15; 1 Enoch 98:4). However, James' prohibition warns the audience against adopting such a position because it represents not only a misconception of God, but also a misunderstanding of the origin of trials and sin. For James, the misconception of God's character involved in saying, `I am tested by God', is twofold in nature, since God does not test anyone. The latter claim that God does not test anyone explicitly denies that God is the source of trials, thus removing any ground for blaming God for the hardships and failures that occur when faced with trying situations ..."

Jonathan G. May, Covenant Loyalty and the Goodness of God: A Study in the Theology of James (University of Glasgow, 2002), 179–180.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

James5 chapters

Compare 1 Enoch 98:4 and James 1:14

Summary

Passages

1 Enoch 98:4

James 1:14

References

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