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Bible Commentaries
James 1

Wesley's Explanatory NotesWesley's Notes

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Verse 1

A servant of Jesus Christ - Whose name the apostle mentions but once more in the whole epistle, James 2:1 . And not at all in his whole discourse, Acts 15:14, &c.; or Acts 21:20-25 . It might have seemed, if he mentioned him often, that he did it out of vanity, as being the brother of the Lord. To the twelve tribes - Of Israel; that is, those of them that believe. Which are scattered abroad - In various countries. Ten of the tribes were scattered ever since the reign of Hosea; and great part of the rest were now dispersed through the Roman empire: as was foretold, Deuteronomy 28:25, &c., Deuteronomy 30:4 . Greeting - That is, all blessings, temporal and eternal.

Verse 2

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

My brethren, count it all joy — Which is the highest degree of patience, and contains all the rest.

When ye fall into divers temptations — That is, trials.

Verse 4

But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Let patience have its perfect work — Give it full scope, under whatever trials befal you.

That ye may be perfect and entire — Adorned with every Christian grace.

And wanting nothing — Which God requires in you.

Verse 5

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

If any want — The connexion between the first and following verses, both here and in the fourth chapter, will be easily discerned by him who reads them, while he is suffering wrongfully. He will then readily perceive, why the apostle mentions all those various affections of the mind.

Wisdom — To understand, whence and why temptations come, and how they are to be improved. Patience is in every pious man already. Let him exercise this, and ask for wisdom. The sum of wisdom, both in the temptation of poverty and of riches, is described in the ninth and tenth verses.

Who giveth to all — That ask aright.

And upbraideth not — Either with their past wickedness, or present unworthiness.

Verse 6

But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

But let him ask in faith — A firm confidence in God. St. James also both begins and ends with faith, James 5:15; the hinderances of which he removes in the middle part of his epistle.

He that doubteth is like a wave of the sea — Yea, such are all who have not asked and obtained wisdom.

Driven with the wind — From without.

And tossed — From within, by his own unstableness.

Verse 8

A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

A doubleminded man — Who has, as it were, two souls; whose heart is not simply given up to God.

Is unstable — Being without the true wisdom; perpetually disagrees both with himself and others, James 3:16.

Verse 9

Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:

Let the brother — St James does not give this appellation to the rich.

Of low degree — Poor and tempted.

Rejoice — The most effectual remedy against doublemindedness.

In that he is exalted — To be a child of God, and an heir of glory.

Verse 10

But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.

But the rich, in that he is made low — Is humbled by a deep sense of his true condition.

Because as the flower — Beautiful, but transient.

He shall pass away — Into eternity.

Verse 11

For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

For the sun arose and withered the grass — There is an unspeakable beauty and elegance, both in the comparison itself, and in the very manner of expressing it, intimating both the certainty and the suddenness of the event.

So shall the rich fade away in his ways — In the midst of his various pleasures and employments.

Verse 12

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

Happy is the man that endureth temptation — Trials of various kinds.

He shall receive the crown — That fadeth not away.

Which the Lord hath promised to them that love him — And his enduring proves his love. For it is love only that "endureth all things."

Verse 13

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

But let no man who is tempted - To sin.

Say, I am tempted of God — God thus tempteth no man.

Verse 14

But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

Every man is tempted, when — In the beginning of the temptation.

He is drawn away — Drawn out of God, his strong refuge.

By his own desire — We are therefore to look for the cause of every sin, in, not out of ourselves. Even the injections of the devil cannot hurt before we make them our own. And every one has desires arising from his own constitution, tempers, habits, and way of life.

And enticed — In the progress of the temptation, catching at the bait: so the original word signifies.

Verse 15

Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Then desire having conceived — By our own will joining therewith. Bringeth forth actual sin - It doth not follow that the desire itself is not sin. He that begets a man is himself a man.

And sin being perfected — Grown up to maturity, which it quickly does.

Bringeth forth death — Sin is born big with death.

Verse 16

Do not err, my beloved brethren.

Do not err — It is a grievous error to ascribe the evil and not the good which we receive to God.

Verse 17

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

No evil, but every good gift - Whatever tends to holiness.

And every perfect gift — Whatever tends to glory.

Descendeth from the Father of lights — The appellation of Father is here used with peculiar propriety. It follows, "he begat us." He is the Father of all light, material or spiritual, in the kingdom of grace and of glory.

With whom is no variableness — No change in his understanding.

Or shadow of turning — in his will. He infallibly discerns all good and evil; and invariably loves one, and hates the other. There is, in both the Greek words, a metaphor taken from the stars, particularly proper where the Father of lights is mentioned. Both are applicable to any celestial body, which has a daily vicissitude of day and night, and sometimes longer days, sometimes longer nights. In God is nothing of this kind. He is mere light. If there Is any such vicissitude, it is in ourselves, not in him.

Verse 18

Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Of his own will — Most loving, most free, most pure, just opposite to our evil desire, James 1:15.

Begat he us — Who believe.

By the word of truth — The true word, emphatically so termed; the gospel.

That we might be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures — Christians are the chief and most excellent of his visible creatures; and sanctify the rest. Yet he says, A kind of - For Christ alone is absolutely the first - fruits.

Verse 19

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

Let every man be swift to hear — This is treated of from James 1:21 to the end of the next chapter.

Slow to speak — Which is treated of in he third chapter.

Slow to wrath — Neither murmuring at God, nor angry at his neighbour. This is treated of in the third, and throughout the fourth and fifth chapters.

Verse 20

For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

The righteousness of God here includes all duties prescribed by him, and pleasing to him.

Verse 21

Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

Therefore laying aside — As a dirty garment.

All the filthiness and superfluity of wickedness — For however specious or necessary it may appear to worldly wisdom, all wickedness is both vile, hateful, contemptible, and really superfluous. Every reasonable end may be effectually answered without any kind or degree of it. Lay this, every known sin, aside, or all your hearing is vain.

With meekness — Constant evenness and serenity of mind.

Receive — Into your ears, your heart, your life.

The word — Of the gospel.

Ingrafted — In believers, by regeneration, James 1:18 and by habit, Hebrews 5:14.

Which is able to save your souls — The hope of salvation nourishes meekness.

Verse 23

For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

Beholding his face in a glass — How exactly does the scripture glass show a man the face of his soul!

Verse 24

For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

He beheld himself, and went away — To other business.

And forgot — But such forgetting does not excuse.

Verse 25

But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

But he that looketh diligently — Not with a transient glance, but bending down, fixing his eyes, and searching all to the bottom.

Into the perfect law — Of love as established by faith. St. James here guards us against misunderstanding what St. Paul says concerning the "yoke and bondage of the law." He who keeps the law of love is free, John 8:31, etc. He that does not, is not free, but a slave to sin, and a criminal before God, James 2:10.

And continueth therein — Not like him who forgot it, and went away.

This man — There is a peculiar force in the repetition of the word.

Shall be happy — Not barely in hearing, but doing the will of God.

Verse 26

If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.

If any one be ever so religious — Exact in the outward offices of religion.

And bridleth not his tongue — From backbiting, talebearing, evilspeaking, he only deceiveth his own heart, if he fancies he has any true religion at all.

Verse 27

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

The only true religion in the sight of God, is this, to visit - With counsel, comfort, and relief.

The fatherless and widows — Those who need it most.

In their affliction — In their most helpless and hopeless state.

And to keep himself unspotted from the world — From the maxims, tempers, and customs of it. But this cannot be done, till we have given our hearts to God, and love our neighbour as ourselves.

Bibliographical Information
Wesley, John. "Commentary on James 1". "John Wesley's Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible". https://studylight.org/commentaries/eng/wen/james-1.html. 1765.
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