33 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO James 1 In this chapter, after the inscription and salutation, the apostle instructs the saints he writes to, how to behave under afflictions, and in every state of life; teaches them not to impute their sins to God, but to themselves; directs them in hearing the word, and cautions against self-deception in religion. The...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
James, a servant of God,.... That is, of God the Father; not by creation only, as every man is; nor merely by calling grace, as is every regenerate person; but by office, as a preacher of the Gospel, being one that served God in the Gospel of his Son, and was an apostle of Christ; nor is this any sufficient objection to his being one, since others...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Inscription. (a. d. 61.) 1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. We have here the inscription of this epistle, which consists of three principal parts. I. The character by which our author desires to be known: James, a servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Though he...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was an apostle, and he was the Lord’s brother, yet he mentions not these greater things, but he takes the lowly title, in which, no doubt, he felt the highest honour, and calls...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. “Where are the lost ten tribes?” asks somebody. They never were lost. That is a mere piece of nonsense. There were, and there are still, twelve tribes of Israel, as much one as the other. Ask any Jew if it is not so. James writes to all...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. The apostle James evidently believed in no lost ten tribes, as some nowadays do. They never were lost; the Israelites whom we see nearly every day belong to venue of all the twelve tribes, so James addressed his Epistle “To the twelve...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. According to the teaching of some in the present day, the apostle should have said, “To the two tribes, and the ten that are lost,” but he does not say so, nor does Scripture say so. “To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
My brethren,.... Not only according to the flesh, he being a Jew as they were; but in a spiritual sense, they being born again of the same grace, belonging to the same family and household of faith, and having the same Father, and being all the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus: count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; not...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Knowing this,.... By experience; as everyone that is trained up in the school of affliction does: the apostle appeals to the saints, to whom he writes, for the truth of what he was about to say; and which he gives as a reason why they should rejoice in afflictions, because it is a known fact, that the trying of your faith worketh patience: two...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But let patience have her perfect work,.... Or effect; or be brought unto perfection; which may denote both the sincerity and continuance of it unto the end, with constancy: patience may be said to be perfect, when it appears to be real and sincere, and not dissembled; for as there may be a feigned faith, a dissembled love, and an hypocritical...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
If any of you lack wisdom,.... This shows that the perfection before spoken of is not to be understood as in this life, since the apostle immediately supposes lack of wisdom in them; for this is not said in a form of doubting, whether they wanted it or not, but rather as supposing, and taking it for granted that they did; and in the first, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But let him ask in faith,.... Not only in the faith of the divine Being that God is; but in the faith of the promises he has made; and in the faith of his power and faithfulness to perform them; and in the faith of this, that whatever is asked, according to the will of God, and is for his glory, and his people's good, shall be given. Nothing...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For let not that man think,.... Imagine, conclude, or please himself with such thoughts, that he shall receive anything from the Lord; wisdom, or anything else, he is seeking after; for wanting faith, he has nothing to receive with; faith is the grace, which receives the Lord Jesus Christ himself, and all grace from him; which receives a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
A double minded man,.... A man of two souls, or of a double heart, that speaks and asks with an heart, and an heart, as in Psalms 12:2 who halts between two opinions, and is at an uncertainty what to do or say, and is undetermined what to ask for; or who is not sincere and upright in his requests, who asks for one thing, and means another, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Let the brother of low degree,.... By "the brother" is meant, not one in a natural, but in a spiritual relation; one of Christ's brethren, and who is of that family that is named of him; of the household of faith, and is in church communion: and whereas he is said to be of "low degree", or "humble", this regards not the affection of his mind, or...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But the rich, in that he is made low,.... That is, the rich brother; for there were rich men in the churches in those times, and which James often takes notice of in this epistle. Such an one should rejoice or glory in his lowness, or low estate; in the consideration of the low estate, out of which he was raised, by the good providence of God, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat,.... As it is about the middle of the day, when it shines in its full strength, and its heat is very great and scorching, especially in the summer season, and in hot climates: but it withereth the grass; strikes it with heat, causes it to shrivel, and dries it up; and the flower thereof falleth;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Blessed is the man that endureth 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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Let no man say when he is tempted,.... Here the apostle uses the word "tempted", in another sense than he did before. Before he speaks of temptations, as matter of joy and boasting, here of temptations, which are criminal, and issue in shame and death; the temptations he before makes mention of, being patiently endured, denominate men happy, but...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But every man is tempted,.... To sin, and he falls in with the temptation, and by it, when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed; the metaphor is taken either from fishes, who are enticed by the bait, and drawn out by the hook; or from a lascivious woman, who meeting with a young man, entices him, and draws him away after her to commit...