1 Enoch 98:4

Pseudepigrapha

2 For ye men shall put on more adornments than a woman, And coloured garments more than a virgin: In royalty and in grandeur and in power, And in silver and in gold and in purple, And in splendour and in food they shall be poured out as water. 3 Therefore they shall be wanting in doctrine and wisdom, And they shall perish thereby together with their possessions; And with all their glory and their splendour, And in shame and in slaughter and in great destitution, Their spirits shall be cast into the furnace of fire. 4 I have sworn unto you, ye sinners, as a mountain has not become a slave, And a hill does not become the handmaid of a woman, Even so sin has not been sent upon the earth, But man of himself has created it, And under a great curse shall they fall who commit it. 5 And barrenness has not been given to the woman, But on account of the deeds of her own hands she dies without children.

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.

 Notes and 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 ..."

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

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