James Commentary:
I. Greeting and Testing of Faith (1:1-18)
A. Address and Greeting (1:1)
B. Endurance Produced from Trials (1:2-4)
C. Ask God for Wisdom in Faith (1:5-8)
D. Humbleness: the Poor and the Rich (1:9-11)
E. Reward for Enduring Trials (1:12)
F. Temptation is From Man (1:13-15)
G. Every Good Gift is from Above (1:16-18)
II. Hearing and Doing the Word (1:19-27)
III. The Sin of Partiality (2:1-13)
IV. Faith without Works is Dead (2:14-26)
V. Christian Speech and Wisdom (3:1-4:3)
VI. Submission to God: (4:4-17)
VII. Concluding Admonitions (5:1-19)
Blessed is a person who endures temptation. Or affliction, which is designed by temptation, as in James 1:2 and the man that endures it is he that so bears it, and bears up under it, as not to be offended at it, and stumble in the ways of Christ, and fall away from the truth, and a profession of it, as temporary believers in a time of temptation do; but manfully and bravely stands up under it, and does not sink under the weight of it, or faint on account of it; and endures afflictions in such manner as not to murmur and repine at them, but is quiet and still, and bears them patiently and constantly, and so endures to the end. Such expect afflictions, and when they come, they are not moved by them, but, notwithstanding them, continue in the ways and work of the Lord; and such are happy persons; they are happy now, and shall be hereafter.
Saints are happy under afflictions, and even on account of them, for they are tokens of God's love to them, and evidences of their sonship; and especially they are happy under them, when they enjoy the presence of God in them, when they are instructive to them, and are saner, lifted, when they learn from them the useful lessons of faith, patience, humility, and resignation to the will of God, and are made more partakers of his holiness;
For when he is tried; by the fire of afflictions, as gold is tried in the fire; when God hereby has tried what is in his heart, and the truth of grace in him, as faith, love, patience and the like, and has purged away his dross and tin, and has refined and purified him, as gold and silver are refined and purified in the furnace, or refining pot: and when being thus tried and proved, and found genuine, and comes forth as gold.
For when he has been approved. We cannot say that we are blessed till our graces have been tried and proved, and when they have been tried and proved, and we have endured the test in God’s great proof-house, then are we blessed, but not till then.
Here is a man who has received a file of what looks to be bank notes, and he thinks he is very rich. Have you tried to pass one of them? Have you taken one of them to a bank? No, poor fool! He does not wish to have his fine fortune tried, he is angry when you suggest a doubt. And yet his wealth is mere fiction, those flimsy papers are bank notes of the Bank of Elegance, and if he were to attempt to pass them, he might rather be suspected to be a thief, than be judged to be a rich man. Much faith in this world is no better than that, and he is not blessed, but blinded, that possesses it.
He is blessed who has tried his faith, who has gone to God with a promise, and received an answer to his prayer. He is blessed who has had his faith tried, who, having been put into the furnace has by that faith in God been made to walk safely amid the flaming coals, and to come out unharmed. Untried faith is questionable faith. Is it faith at all? Was there ever in this world a believer altogether without trouble, or a grain of faith which had undergone no trial?
He will receive the crown of life. Of course the allusion is to the Grecian games. See how the man runs! Every muscle is strained. There is not a part of his body but what is violently exercised. He tries to pass his fellows. He flies to the goal; he reaches it, and then he receives a crown. A crown of laurel, or of ivy, or, perhaps, of parsley, was put upon his head. For the crown follows the contest.
If, then, it be our chief happiness to be crowned in the kingdom of God, it follows, that the contests with which the Lord tries us, are aids and helps to our happiness. Thus the argument is from the end or the effect: hence we conclude, that the faithful are harassed by so many evils for this purpose, that their piety and obedience may be made manifest, and that they may be thus at length prepared to receive the crown of life.
It is a crown of glory that fadeth not away, an incorruptible one; and differs from the corruptible crown given to the victors in the above mentioned games, which were made of fading herbs, and leaves of trees: and now the man that bears up under afflictions, and holds out unto the end, shall have this crown put upon him, and he shall "receive it"; not as merited by him, by his works or sufferings, for neither of them are worthy to be compared or mentioned with this crown of life and glory; but as the free gift of God, as it will be given him by the righteous Judge, as a reward of grace, and not of debt
Which the Lord promised. This promise he made before the world was, who cannot lie, nor deceive, and who is able to perform, and is faithful, and will never suffer his faithfulness to fail (see James 2:5); so that this happiness is certain, and may be depended upon: besides, the promise of this crown of life is in Christ, where all the promises are yea and amen; yea, the crown itself is in his hands, where it lies safe and secure for "them that love him"; either the Lord Jesus Christ, his person, his people, his truths, and ordinances, and his glorious appearing (2 Tim 4:8) or God the Father.
To those who love him. Not that their love is the cause of this crown of life, or eternal life, for then it would not be the free gift of God, as it is said to be; nor of the promise of it, for that was made before the world was, and when they had no love unto him; but this phrase is descriptive of the persons to whom God manifests his love now, admits to near communion and fellowship with himself, makes all things, even their afflictions, to work for their good.
He then reminds us that the conquerors of all temptations are those who love God, and that we fail when we are tried, for no other cause than because the love of the world prevails in us.