A Letter of James
1 FROM JAMES, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Greetings to the Twelve Tribes dispersed throughout the world.
My brothers, whenever you have to face trials of many kinds,
count yourselves supremely happy, in the knowledge that such testing of
your faith breeds fortitude, and if you give fortitude full play you will go
on to complete a balanced character that will fall short in nothing. If any
of you falls short in wisdom, he should ask God for it and it will be given
his, for God is a generous giver who neither refuses nor reproaches any-
one. But he must ask in faith, without a doubt in his mind; for the doubter
is like a heaving sea ruffled by the wind. A man of that kind must not expect
the Lord to give him anything; he is double-minded, and never can keep
a steady course.
The brother in humble circumstances may well be proud that God lifts
him up; and the wealthy brother must find his pride in being brought low.
For the rich man will disappear like the flower of the field; once the sun is
up with its scorching heat the flower withers, its petal fall, and what was
lovely to look at is lost for ever. So shall the rich man wither away as he
goes about his business.
Happy the man who remains steadfast under trial, for having passed that
test he will receive for his prize the gift of life promised to those who love
God. No one under trial or temptation should say, 'I am being tempted by
God'; for God is untouched by evil, and does not himself tempt anyone.
Temptation arises when a man is enticed and lured away by his own lust;
then lust conceives, and gives birth to sin; and sin full-grown breeds
death.
Make no mistake, my friends. All good giving, every perfect gift, comes
from above, from the Father of the lights of heaven. With him there is no
variation, no play of passing shadows. Of his set purpose, by declaring the
truth, he gave us birth to be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Of that you may be certain, my friends. But each of you must be quick
to listen, slow to speak, and slow to be angry. For a man's anger cannot
promote the justice of God. Away then with all that is sordid, and the malice
that hurries to excess, and quietly accept the message planted in your hearts,
which can bring you salvation.
Only be sure that you are on the message and do not merely listen; for
that would be to mislead yourselves. A man who listens to the message but
never acts upon it is like one who looks in a mirror at the face nature gave
him. He glances at himself and goes away, and at once forgets what he
looks like. But the man who looks closely into the perfect law, the law
that makes us free, and who lives in its company, does not forget what he
hears, but acts upon it; and that is the man who by acting will find
happiness.
A man may think he is religious, but if he has no control over his tongue,
he is deceiving himself; that man's religion is futile. The kind of religion
which is without strain or fault in the sight of God our Father is this: to
go to the help of orphans and widows in their distress and keep oneself
untarnished by the world.
2 MY BROTHERS, believing as you do in our Lord Jesus Christ, who reigns
in glory, you must never show snobbery. For instance, two visitors may
enter your place of worship, one a well-dressed man with gold rings, and
the other a man in shabby clothes. Suppose you pay special attention
to the well-dressed man and say to him, 'Please take this seat', while to the
poor man you say, 'You can stand; or you may sit here on the floor by my
footstool', do you not see that you are inconsistent and judge by false
standards?
Listen, my friends. has God chosen those who are poor in the eyes
of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he has promised
to those who love him? And yet you have insulted the poor man. More-
over, are not the rich your oppressors? Is it not they who drag you into
court and pour contempt on the honoured name by which God has
claimed you?
If, however, you are observing the sovereign law laid down in Scripture,
'Love your neighbour as yourself', that is excellent. But if you show snob-
bery, you are committing a sin and you stand convicted by that law as
transgressors. For if a man keeps the whole law apart from one single
point, he is guilty of breaking all of it. For the One who said, 'Thou shalt
not commit adultery', said also, 'Thou shalt not commit murder.' You may
not be an adulterer, but if you commit murder you are a law-breaker all the
same. Always speak and act as men who are to be judged under a law of
freedom. In that judgement there will be no mercy for the man who has
shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgement.
MY BROTHERS, what use is it for a man to say he has faith when he does
nothing to show it? Can that faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister
is in rags with not enough food for the day, and one of you says, 'Good luck
to you, keep yourself warm, and have plenty to eat', but does nothing to
supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So with faith; if it does
not lead to action, it is in itself a lifeless thing.
But someone may object: 'Here is one who claims to have faith and
another who points to his deeds.' To which I reply: 'Prove to me that this
faith you speak of is real though not accompanied by deeds, and by my
deeds I will prove to you my faith.' You have faith enough to believe that
there is one God. Excellent! The devils have faith like that, and it makes
them tremble. But can you not see, you quibbler, that faith divorced from
deeds is barren? Was it not by his action, in offering his son Isaac upon the
altar, that our father Abraham was justified? Surely you can see that faith
was at work in his actions, and that by these actions the integrity of his
faith was fully proved. Here was fulfilment of the words of Scripture:
'Abraham put his faith in God, and that faith was counted to him as
righteousness'; and elsewhere he is called 'God's friend', You see then that
a man is justified by deeds and not by faith in itself. The same is true of the
prostitute Rahab also. Was not she justified by her action in welcoming the
messengers into her house and sending them away by a different route?
As the body is dead when there is no breath left in it, so faith divorced from
deeds is lifeless as a corpse.
3 MY BROTHERS, not many of you should become teachers, for you may
be certain that we who teach shall ourselves be judged with greater strict-
ness. All of us often go wrong; the man who never says a wrong thing is a
perfect character, able to bridle his whole being. If we put bits into horses'
mouths to make them obey our will, we can direct their whole body. Or
they can be directed by a tiny rudder on whatever course the helmsman
chooses. So with the tongue. It is a small member but it can make huge
claims.
What an immense stack of timber can be set ablaze by the tiniest spark!
And the tongue is in effect a fire. It represents among our members the
world with all its wickedness; it pollutes our whole being; it keeps the
wheel of our existence red-hot, and its flames are fed by hell. Beasts and
birds of every kind, creatures that crawl on the ground or swim in the sea,
can be subdued and have been subdued by mankind; but no man can sub-
due the tongue. It is an intractable evil, charged with deadly venom. We
use it to sing the praises of our Lord and Father, and we use it to invoke
curses upon our fellow-men who are made in God's likeness. Out of the
same mouth come praises and curses. My brothers, this should not be so.
Does a fountain gush with both fresh and brackish water from the same
opening? Can a fig-tree, my brothers, yield olives, or a vine figs? No more
does salt water yield fresh.
WHO AMONG YOU is wise or clever? Let his right conduct give practical
proof of it, with the modesty that comes of wisdom. But if you are harbour-
ing bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, consider whether
your claims are not false, and a defiance of the truth. This is not the
wisdom that comes from above; it is earth-bound, sensual, demonic. For
with jealousy and ambition come disorder and evil of every kind. But
the wisdom from above is in the first place pure; and then peace-loving,
considerate, and open to reason; it is straightforward and sincere, rich in
mercy and in the kindly deeds that are its fruit. True justice is the harvest
reaped by peacemakers from seeds sown in a spirit of peace.
4 What causes conflict and quarrels among you? Do they not spring from
the aggressiveness of your bodily desires? You want something which you
cannot have, and so you are bent on murder; you are envious, and cannot
attain your ambition, and so you quarrel and fight. You do not get what you
want, because you do not pray for it. Or, if you do, your requests are not
granted because you pray for the wrong motives, to spend what you can get on
your pleasures. You false, unfaithful creatures! Have you never learned
that love of the world is enmity to God? Whoever chooses to be the world-s
friend makes himself God's enemy. Or do you suppose that Scripture has
no meaning when it says that the spirit which God implanted in man turns
toward envious desires? And yet the grace he gives is stronger. Thus
Scripture says, 'God opposes the arrogant and gives grace to the humble.'
Be submissive then to God. Stand up to the devil and he will turn and run.
Come close to God, and he will come close to you. Sinners, make your
hands clean; you who are double-minded, see that your motives are pure.
Be sorrowful, mourn and weep. Turn your laughter into mourning and
your gaiety into gloom. Humble yourselves before God and he will lift
you high.
Brothers, you must never disparage one another. He who disparages a
brother or passes judgement on his brother disparages the law and judges
the law. But if you judge the law, you are not keeping it but sitting in
judgement upon it. There is only one lawgiver and judge, the One who is
able to save life and destroy it. So who are you to judge your neighbour?
A WORD WITH YOU, you who say, 'Tomorrow or tomorrow we will go off
to such and such a town and spend a year there trading and making money.'
Yet you have no idea what tomorrow will bring. Your life, what is it? You
are no more than a mist, seen for a little while and then dispersing. What
you ought to say is: 'If it be the Lord's will, we shall live to do this or that.'
But instead, you boast and brag, and all such boasting is wrong. Well then,
the man who knows the good he ought to do and does not do it is a sinner.
5 Next a word to you who have great possessions. Weep and wail over the '
miserable fate descending on you. Your riches have rotted; your fine clothes
are moth-eaten; your silver and gold have rusted away, and their very rust
will be evidence against you and consume your flesh like fire. You have piled
up wealth in an age that is near its close. The wages you never paid to the
reapers has reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts. You have lived on earth
in wanton luxury, fattening yourselves like cattle — and the day for slaughter
has come. You have condemned the innocent and murdered him; he offers
no resistance.
be patient, my brothers, until the Lord comes. The farmer looking for
the precious crop his land may yield can only wait in patience, until the
autumn and spring rains have fallen. You too must be patient and stout-
hearted, for the coming of the Lord is near. My brothers, do not blame
your troubles on one another, or you will fall under judgement; and there
stands the Judge, at the door. If you want a pattern of patience under ill-
treatment, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord; remem-
ber: 'We count those happy who stood firm.' You have all heard how Job
stood firm, and you have seen how the Lord treated him in the end. For
the Lord is full of pity and compassion.
ABOVE ALL THINGS, my brothers, do not use oaths, whether 'by
heaven' or 'by earth' or by anything else. When you say yes or no, let it be
plain 'Yes' or 'No', for fear that you expose yourselves to judgement.
Is anyone among you in trouble? He should turn to prayer. Is anyone
in good heart? He should sing praises. Is one of you ill? He should send
for the elders of the congregation to pray over him and anoint him with oil
in the name of the Lord. The prayer offered in faith will save the sick man,
the Lord will raise him from his bed, and any sins he may have committed
will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for
one another, and then you will be healed. A good man's prayer is powerful
and effective. Elijah was a man with human frailties like our own; and when
he prayed earnestly that there should be no rain, not a drop fell on the land
for three years and a half; then he prayed again, and down came the rain
and the land bore crops once more.
My brothers, if one of your number should stray from the truth and
another succeed in bringing him back, be sure of this: any man who brings
a sinner back from his crooked ways will be rescuing his soul from death
and cancelling innumerable sins.
The New English Bible (with Apocrypha)
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, 1970
Posted Jan 3, 2019, 2:56 PM UTC · edited
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