James Chapter 2 vv. 18-26

What did James know that will help us

There should be no doubt in a modern Christians belief and faith, and note, belief is held here separate from faith, you can believe in Christ, that's a mental event, yet have no faith, which is an exercise of all you are, based upon that belief.  Today's human is approximately 30% smarter overall than they were a century ago.  The average intelligence quotient is approximately 120 some slightly higher some slightly lower, but a century ago 100 was a good average.  Nearly all read, a century ago, very few did.  Nearly all know how to use some form of technology, a century ago that technology did not exist- in fact, for the most part wasn't even dreampt of yet.  What is about to happen, however, to Homo Sapiens, which is what we are, classification wise, whether you believe we are created or not, I happen to believe we are created, but I also believe it is totally possible to understand we are created and hold on to true scientific facts of existence, such as children with blue eyed grandmothers, tend overwhelmingly to have children who when they have children will have blue eyes- we're saying the trait tract misses a generation.  Lots of folks say that, "You have your mothers kind nature," wouldn't be an unusual statement at all, and yet it's a loud testimony to genetic predisposition, and God created us thus.  What's about to happen is exceptional in human history, we're about to make a singular advent into tying technology, learning and the human existence, into one singular and spectacular result.  The question that James asks in chapter two, therefore, becomes all the more important, because the very real possibility is, we'll gain the world and lose our souls.

18But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

20You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless ^d ?21Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”^e and he was called God’s friend. 24You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

25In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

Two times in my life my faith has come under fire, once, when we were challenged to do missionary work for those who existed on the streets of a major city.  The second time was more subtle, it was after I'd failed at a ministry, left the pastorate, and went into the most miserable state of recluse one can imagine.  Both times it wasn't my faith that got me through, it was Christ in supernatural intervention not allowing me to end it all.  Yes it's true, there are times in even the strongest faith, when they wonder if heaven isn't so much nicer, why wait?  The why wait is in service, that's why we wait, we stay here to fight, and fight, and love and love and fight some more, and love some more, and, you get it.  

We stay to live and to live more abundantly, as our Lord promised.  It's hilarious but my friends complain about their cell phones; "The service is terrible,"  "I don't know why we can't get better..."  You've heard it, you know exactly what I'm talking about, someone reading this in fifty years may laugh that we actually used such archaic forms of limited communication, might compare us to cave people making drawings with blood- but until then, we are holding in our hand more computing power than existed on the entire globe, in one phone, on November 23 1963 when John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated.  We have gained and gained and benefited from technological advancement as never before in human history, and what do we do with that, do we turn it into a tool for making disciples?  Wow wouldn't that be cool? But instead what do we do?

It's a great question that James is discoursing on because it goes to the root issue of why we do what we do, do we do it for bragging rights, to reassert to ourselves that we've got it together and the rest don't, that's a kind of divisive behavior and reasoning that the enemy of Christ and God, Satan, loves.  Or do we do things for others based on the fact that we believe that Jesus would want it done?  That's a trickier proposition than one might believe, and yet, it's been tried, many times.  We're about to start exploring the many ways that Christ's teachings can be applied to our lives today, and in that application, we're about to drive ourselves to the edge of what faith and belief and in fact tolerate and operate within.  James' asked the pivotal question, but in it lies several interesting challenges, for example, why would someone say, " “You have faith; I have deeds.”  Oh oh bit different approach to it, I can see, you're actually sitting back thinking, that's good, that's where we want to go.  Let's go!

James Chapter Two verses 14-17 (Cont.)

What did James know that will help us

Once upon a time there was a Christian who felt that what was needed in the church was more members, felt it so acutely that this Christian decided they needed to go out and invite others to come to church.  It was at that point that this Christian began to hear about the church, things that were unbelievable, and, that this Christian had never known about.  That the church was ugly in the way it treated it's people, well, that certainly hadn't been this Christian's experience.  That the church was money hungry just wanting it's people's money, which this Christian found hard to believe since rarely did they go above a tithe?  They heard the church was prejudiced and only liked certain folks to attend and so they couldn't.  The Christian thought this was odd, because they'd been accepted, long hair and all, back in the day?  So finally they couldn't take the perplexing difference between what they had felt and experienced and what they were hearing so they went to the pastor to talk about it, but the pastor wasn't in.  They tried for a week to get to see the busy pastor, but the pastor was never available until finally Sunday came, and as they were passing by in line to shake the pastors hand, they asked when they might visit only to hear the pastor say, "Have my secretary put it on my calendar."  Sometimes our conduct and the circumstances of being a modern Christian get tested in all kinds of ways we didn't expect.

14What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 
15Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 
16If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 
17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

Here's a weird paradox of the modern busy church- are we too busy for what we're supposed to be doing?  "Dana, this is a commentary, aren't you supposed to be taking us deeper into the Greek language and history of the writings...instead of staying all light weight - and contemporary?  What kind of question is that which you're asking us?"  One which we need to hear, is my thinking, and, while we certainly could go into the Greek, there are apps available, such as one I find useful beyond belief, "My Sword," wow what an app, gives you the Greek right there on touch available verses as the ones above.  But in our contemporary church, we're busy- we are, and yet I can't help but wonder how James would view what we're doing?

James begins in verse 14 with what it appears is a question, "What good is it?"  "Ti to ophelos" (roughly Tie-2-Ofellows ) it is not so much a question as it pertains to something being more abundant than- so James in some sense is wondering as much as directly questioning to those who he knows, and who haven't been killed.

To get as close to the original text as possible, it is to see that the next statement is -"Brothers of me," now this is a Novum Tesamentum Graece, 1983, so it is translated differently by Dr. Mounce and the International Greek New Testament team- they have it as "...my brothers," slight difference, to the point that it would become semantic.  So the idea conveyed is a measuring stance about the abundant quality of a brothers something.  Here James moves into the realm of proclaiming Christians, versus, Christians who might not even feel worthy to proclaim themselves such, but nonetheless are labeled as following Jesus.  Let's use the NIV group, "if someone claims to have faith but has no works?"  It is structurally different in the older main order text but again, the only difference is semantic, the meaning- is clear.  James is talking to those who profess or are identified by others as brothers in Christ, and then he asks the pointed remark- so, what's our answer? 

Then we go to the "Phrase that pays," don't know if any of you are old enough to remember "The 64 thousand dollar question," but the answer was in "The phrase that pays."  Here James just becomes inquisitive, almost philosophical about the matter, NIV "Can that kind of faith save him?"  Why would anyone want to end up in such a position?  Especially in the times James writes to?  And so we will leave this question for the next entry, but it is something to wonder at, isn't it?

May God add his blessings to the readings of his word- and since you are going- make disciples.  

OH I see, you have it together! James Chapter 2 vv. 14 plus

What did James know that will help us

My appreciation for folks who want me to do better has grown over the years.  When someone used to tell me that my writing was "Too deep," my ego would take that as a compliment, not realizing, I'd wasted God's gift to us in the form of time.  So that led to my suffering a dire lack of God's gift to us in the form of money.  That led to a suffering from God's people over a lack of resources.  God's time, God's money, God's resources, see we don't have any of those my friend, they are given to us, and the closer you walk with Jesus the more you realize, He's a gentleman we aren't.  Do we need help, well it would appear so...

14What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

So that you won't feel slighted, your writer is deliberately leaving in two paragraphs from the previous entry, why(?)- for emphasis and for staying on the point, James uses language as he now realizes, seems to me later in life, that words can and should move faith- think about the essence of faith, my sense is, it's a primal sentence - "Follow Jesus." 

We focus on the wrong aspect of what we believe is worshiping God all the time, and not because we want to, it's not deliberate, rather it is subtle, very subtle, and respectfully, the Devil who wants you to buy that he doesn't exist, hasn't stopped working on that artful lying.  

Sometimes you just have to say something over again, and the nature of Satan is to suggest that such won't help with getting your message across.  Trust me to share with you, mercy, is far from my heart most days- and I love Jesus, so you have to ask, "How can that be?"  It is that I am human - a sinner, saved not by being exceptional, saved not by being a witness, saved not by anything, ANYTHING, that I would be able to say I did- saved only by God's grace.  Some very quickly add, that you must have faith- and I'd quickly insert that there is no additive to grace, once you've been saved, by grace, trust me, faith is not nearly the struggle it used to be.  Mercy, on the other hand, well, that's a tad bit more complicated, as we'll discuss in pursuant writings.  

So James begins what may be one of the most important points about following his brother that's ever been made- we see the issue as faith, James was meaning the issue as what we do in our lives.

We want to separate faith into a compartment that operates when we open it.  Jesus fully makes it apparent, there is no compartment, once you choose to ask Him to forgive you of your sins, you belong to Him, and His sheep hear His voice.  Does the sheep who has found a nice clump of grass want to do anything but eat it?  Does the sheep standing by still waters and enjoying a nice cool drink when it's hotter than hell, want to quit drinking?  Little wonder the Psalmist then made it clear that we were to move, that he walked not in comfort and gracious nice castles, he walked in the valley of the shadow of death.  Jesus calls us to understand we are changed, and that change is gonna do His will, ultimately that can be by becoming a gracious and loving and forgiving and understanding follower, or it can be by being chastised, but it will be.

May God add his blessings to the reading of this.  Amen

James Chapter Two verse 12-13

What did James know that will help us

My friend has suffered much in his life, oh he has had his fair share of blessings, don't misunderstand me, and he's no sad sack- in fact often he has chosen to be uplifting to those who are down.  But now he's facing something that he doesn't know how to deal with- he would love to commit revenge- and few of us would be interested in him being arrested for it.  We believe that the person who committed the injustice against him is a worthless character who has rejected all the good intentions of those who have tried to get him to see the truth about himself.  And my friend could, he could take revenge, he is a hunter, he has high powered rifles, he could take a shot from two blocks away and nobody would know who or how- so, he's in a bit of a quandary.  So are we, we have high powered rifles, we know who the sleaze bag is, but we're also in a bit of a quandary.  Into the scene steps a man who's brother brought things back to life, in fact, slowly over the period of his life, he watched his brother do it, many times- so when the man he loved, and he presumed his brother also loved, and in fact we know he did, died, it left James in a quandary as to why his brother - God, wouldn't raise him up.  Think that's a tough one, try his being there on the day his Brother, our Lord, shouts, "Lazarus," - and somebody we know as the tempter probably whispered in his ear, "Why wasn't it Joseph?" 

But we've grown now, we're older now, and we know that quandary isn't real, revenge belongs to God alone, and we don't understand why, and we will probably never fully get it, but on occasion, as here in verse 13, it all jumps right up in our face, and we realize, the blessing from mercy comes to the merciful.

12Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom,13because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

We focus on the wrong aspect of what we believe is worshiping God all the time, and not because we want to, it's not deliberate, rather it is subtle, very subtle, and respectfully, the Devil who wants you to buy that he doesn't exist, hasn't stopped working on that artful lying.  

Sometimes you just have to say something over again, and the nature of Satan is to suggest that such won't help with getting your message across.  Trust me to share with you, mercy, is far from my heart most days- and I love Jesus, so you have to ask, "How can that be?"  It is that I am human - a sinner, saved not by being exceptional, saved not by being a witness, saved not by anything, ANYTHING, that I would be able to say I did- saved only by God's grace.  Some very quickly add, that you must have faith- and I'd quickly insert that there is no additive to grace, once you've been saved, by grace, trust me, faith is not nearly the struggle it used to be.  Mercy, on the other hand, well, that's a tad bit more complicated, as we'll discuss in pursuant writings.  May God add his blessings to the reading of this.  Amen

James Chapter Two - Verse 1 and vv. 7

What did James know that will help us

There are substantial debates going on in the world - and in fact heated fights, beyond even arguments, over the fact of bias, over prejudice, over someone feeling they have been mistreated.  So isn't it appropriate, and outrageously so, that these thousands of years ago the one who lived with the one who created it all, would write about it?  

1 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

James gets right to the point about how we have a tendency to treat those we think are wealthy in monetary ways, with deference.  At the same time he brilliantly illustrates how we also show a reverse type deference to those of less monetary value.  But the crux is verse 4.  In verses 1-3 James brilliantly paints the exact opposite situations to make contrast.

Now James moves in verse 4 to the crux, two things Christ had preached very strongly against.  One was aligning oneself away from Christ as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, becoming instead a group apart from His leadership.  Then the second items having to do with not so much judging, wherein we realize we're precautioned against being judges with evil thoughts.  Jesus admonished us to "Judge not, and you will not be judged;" but here James heightens the charge with the added value of evil thoughts.

Now James turns to an almost theological treatise when he discusses how it might be that God would choose those with less means to be rich in faith and inherit the Kingdom of God.  What does that bring to mind?  How about Luke 21:4 wherein you will recall a widow how gave all that she had?  

Then we come to verse 6, and herein lies a question that was asked 2000 or more years ago, that seems particularly relevant in our day and time when it appears the wealthy are manipulating the ideas of the poor?  Now if James stopped there, he would have already assured himself a heated deacon session at First of Jerusalem, but James doesn't seem to have the subtle nature, or, maybe he does, and prefers just to let fly?  Verse 7 rings out about conduct- it isn't about what they think, how they react about faith, it's about how they are- don't they, by acting s they do about what God has given them, prove that they don't have an honest grasp of genuine Christlike behavior?  One of the toughest of all sections to analyze, but stick with us, it's only going to get deeper and one might say, cleaner.

James Chapter 2 verse 1

What did James know that will help us

Ever been standing in a line, waiting to go into an event, suddenly there is a bustle in the crowd, a limousine pulls up, someone you don't necessarily recognize steps out, before they do, the bodyguards precede them, opening the door to the limo.  And they are escorted to the door and then go inside, while you're standing there?  That's not to hard to take, because you're going to get in, right? But if adjust the circumstances just a bit, from an event, to something perhaps, slightly more important, say, an organ; and suddenly the idea or concept of deference to the wealthy, takes on a whole 'nother level of sting, don't it.  Now imagine that you're the wealthy person.  Flip the mirror a bit and you begin to see that something is askance, and it may not be you.

Let's spend only a moment or two on the subject of making a Greek text from a couple thousand years ago mean what it meant, and should mean and likely does truthfully mean, today.  First there are enormous cultural differences between a largely agrarian society and a technological one.  Second there are enormous differences between a village structured lifestyle built around a system honoring elders, and what we have today.  Third the sheer depth of economic differences, especially in America versus other countries; and the economic environ of Jerusalem in the time of James writing.

Now all that being said, there are therefore plenty of different translations of this spectacular thought available today, here is a sampling:

Berean Bible:  1 My brothers, as you hold out your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, do not show favoritism.

NIV 1 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 

A famous motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar once commented that "life lived only for monetary gain isn't successful - money isn't all that counts, but it's right up there with oxygen."  So being paid deference because you possess wealth in merely monetary terms may be, strictly speaking, a downfall within itself?  Perhaps this is why so many of the worlds wealthiest and most successful people give their wealth away as philanthropists?  They are credited as having good hearts, even though, it is usually said that way, "Even though, they're wealthy."  

However in our modern context, showing favortism can amount to much, much more, as we'll discuss in the next entry...be sure to share this with your friends, if you like it, and comment yourself - 

James Chapter One verse 19-27 Emphasis verse 19

What did James know that will help us?

     If there is any doubt left in anybodies mind about the times being different today than they were just ten short years ago, take an honest look at the LGBTQ movement that didn't exist then.  This entire block of protest oriented movement has come into it's own with the last five years, it might have had an undercurrent existence, but it wasn't mainstream in it's wide proclamation until the last five years.  And it represents a minority shift in values being projected onto the majority and that's new as well.  What do I mean by that, a minority, not many people register as a member of this sex declaring sect, they don't have big numbers of members, but they sound like they do, and they make anyone who takes any sort of opposing stand seem out of touch with modern thinking to put it kindly.  What does this have to do with the writings of a disciple and church leader thousands of years ago?  They had small groups of dissenting believers who thought everybody should be like them, the vocal minority who yells loud to get approval from the non vocal majority is not a new way.  
    What is new since the time of Jame's writing is the change in the outward ways of people.  During the time that James wrote, people lived in village groups, even though they had separate abodes, rooms in which they slept, their common area around those lodgings was the village square where they shared chores that could be done by groups, brought the produce in (they were largely agrarian), and chatted about the day as the day went on.  They were friendly with each other because it was necessary for life, but also because, you will find, we humans tend to be likable folk, it's why we've done well as a specie.  Enter James who says:  


Bearing in mind dear reader that in the Greek there aren't divisions as we separate the scripture, but James in chapter one seems to group logically into two main sections, the first after his declaration of who is writing is the section with verses 2-18 that we've gone over in previous entries- that section might be designated and sometimes is designated as "Trials and Temptations."  Now we move to a section that is often referred to as "Listening and Doing."  It will be obvious why that is, so it seemed prudent at the outset of this section to take a look at those verses then focusing on the break out of logic in Jame's inspired writing:  

19My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,20because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

26Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

---

    Notice the "My dear brothers and sisters,"  in an age where we are trying to confuse ourselves about how we are, and what we are, James begins by stating that this is to those who love him as brothers and sisters.  People will do things for siblings they won't do for anyone else.  Let's lock that down, you will do things for a brother or sister that you won't for anyone else, why is that?  Let me suggest a couple of potentials, one is, brothers and sisters have spent a huge amount of time together- and that time brings out both the bad and the good of what a person is.  Brothers and sisters know the real of each other, and cling to it instead of rejecting it.  
    
The other suggestion is more subtle but it amounts to this, it's a decision that you are going to defend them, no matter what, and sticking to that has a production of results that brothers and sisters talk about as, "Yeah he was always getting himself into trouble, but I'd step in and..."  Even when those times were bad, once a family called me to do a funeral for a biker, he'd been a rough dude, but his brother was there and two sisters and they were constantly saying "Yeah but we got him out of that..."  

One other item interesting to note from that sad occasion, everybody believed that even though he lived like hell, he feared hell and believed that Jesus would get him out of hell?  OK, you better believe that seemed to me to be an interesting thing to remember about a person?  They remembered little kind things that he had done, and over a period of about two hours, his real character began to emerge, he might have been a rough dude, there is no doubt in my mind that's a rough life, but he had plenty of love in his existence.  My hope is someday in heaven I'll hear a voice saying, "Glad you preached it that way, you told the truth about me, not what everyone assumed was the deal..."

Wrapping up this entry, please note the entry "take note of this," that's an emphatic, it means to place special emphasis on what's to follow that "Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry."  Everyone is a fascinating term, isn't it?  Everyone as it is translated here in the NIV is a good attempt at the Greek word which is two words actually, "pas anthropos" roughly translated as "pas"- "every," "anthropos," "man." But if you have signed on to BillMounce.com know that this translator and contributor to the New International Version of the Bible will take bold stands for truth in getting the words right.  Why is this so important as to be in a commentary on James, one of those writings, because as we noted at the outset of this page, we're now trying to decide that men and women can be different than men and women, so the meaning of words is very important indeed.

   

What Did James Know That Will Help Us [James chapter 1 verse 16-18]

What did James know that will help us?

   You and I, we, are in the midst of the most massive delusion making reality shifting technologies ever in the history of man.  Let's try to think of it this way, Bill Gates, a name you recognize as one of the worlds wealthiest men, founder of Microsoft one of the worlds largest and most prestigious computer companies; put it in these terms, "Not since the Gutenberg printing press has a revolutionary upgrade in technology had such a powerful effect as the computer."  [Business at the Speed of Thought] Gates wrote that theorem in his landmark work two decades back! 
    In those days we discussed the potential to do quantum computing, today, it happens.  In those days we discussed virtual reality, today we have online virtual communities where people choose their identity and interact.  While it is still less than totally real, it's only about two years away until the average person will be able to don a mask and go into a world unlike anything they've ever experienced before.  Just as in my doctoral thesis a decade back the simple concept of Christianity keeping up with social media, was postulated as being something the church would be slow to adjust to- so in this time did James see a clear threat to the lives of his flocks faith!  They were being deceived about the god's, when they knew the one true God, just as we are now being deceived about God who is being replaced in our minds by a technology that does miracles.  James saw it and was inspired to write about it thousands of years ago because nothing, absolutely nothing is as important to following Christ as faith!  He wrote:

16Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 

17Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. 

18In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.

Were people in the times James wrote of different than we are today, fundamentally, no.  The same basic human needs existed then as exist today, food, shelter, continuing the family, work and productive use of ones time, all were the same issues then as today.  They were primarily agricultural folk, we aren't.  They had precious few copies of scripture of any kind, the gathering of the Jewish worshipers, men leading, with the families able to sit around the outside the central place of opening the scrolls, was in " Hebrew: בית כנסת‬ bet kenesset, 'house of assembly' or בית תפילה‬ bet tefila, "house of prayer", [Wiki-Synagogue, 2018] The scrolls were kept and cherished, few parchments of any letters existed, it is possible that this was a circular letter shared among the Christians now known as "The Way."  And to those people James said, "Don't be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters."  Because we know the word of God is eternal, such is being said also to you today, and for your children in the future coming, if Christ tarries His return, they will read, don't be deceived.  It is not a question therefore that we are, deceived, it is in the form of a requested urgent strong recommendation, don't be.

Time marches forward, from the present, with memories of the past.  That past, however strongly the physicists among us would like you to believe, doesn't exist, does.  It exists in the impact it has upon your present thinking.  To deny that is to deny the essence of what it means to realize we are sinners, and we are, sinners.  "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.."  [1 John 1:8] 

We are in a perpetual walk with a Lord who is God, Jesus is our Lord, but make no mistake about it. without His forgiving blood atonement, you and I are doomed to an eternity in hell.  We don't like to discuss it, but that's the truth, Jesus did shed his blood that through forgiveness of our sins we might be saved from God the Father who cannot look upon sin- therefore in His Holy Presence sin vanishes, it can't exist- but under the blood sacrifice of Jesus our sins are forgiven.  It is the most complicated yet profoundly simple aspect of the born from above human being.  So simple that many miss it, Paul said that would be the case- and that's unfortunate because it is so simple to ask Christ to forgive you of your sins- and yet, if you don't believe that you're capable of "missing the mark," if you never do wrong, if you've never failed in any way shape or form, well shucks, what need of Jesus have you?  "Every Good and perfect gift..."

Now James gets deep - "18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created."  Imagine that the universe(s) and all created everything belongs and is through God- no, you can't?  Don't feel bad, neither can I, neither can any human, ever- except one- Jesus who said, "I am the way, the truth and the life no man can come unto the Father save by me." [vv. John 14:5]  James now takes us to the place prepared for our kneeling- "that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created."  OK lets not miss those two little connecting items, OF ALL.  

James Chapter 1 vv. 13-15

What did James know that will help us?

What do you believe is going to happen to you next- not this thing that has happened to you, maybe you've been told your health is shot, maybe you've been told your bills are too high and your ability to pay is diminished, maybe your best friend has turned on you and said unbelievably cruel things in a very public place like Facebook-  there are literally hosts of things that can happen that are bad.  Label that the present bad, and think of it that way, this is now, this is bad, but what do you believe is going to happen to you next?  It appears from the text in James herein displayed as the Berean Bible Interlinear- so the Greek is placed therein, with the English not an easy thing to accomplish but the Berean's are a very faithful group of translators that seem to be very sincere in keeping the translation as clean and true to the writing as possible. Above the Berean Interlinear is an New International Version (NIV) translation so you can see them clearly, the NIV stays so close to the actual meaning of the words.  Please visit Bill Mounce contributor to the New International Version translation.

13When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;14but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

13Μηδεὶς (No one) πειραζόμενος (being tempted) λεγέτω (let say) ὅτι (-), “Ἀπὸ (By) Θεοῦ (God)πειράζομαι (I am being tempted).” 14ὁ (-) γὰρ (For) Θεὸς (God) ἀπείραστός (unable to be tempted) ἐστιν (is) κακῶν (by evils); πειράζει (tempts) δὲ (now) αὐτὸς (He Himself) οὐδένα (no one). 14ἕκαστος (A man) δὲ (however) πειράζεται (is tempted), ὑπὸ (by) τῆς (the) ἰδίας (own) ἐπιθυμίας (desire) ἐξελκόμενος (being drawn away) καὶ (and) δελεαζόμενος (being enticed).15εἶτα (Then) ἡ (-) ἐπιθυμία (desire), συλλαβοῦσα (having conceived), τίκτει (gives birth to) ἁμαρτίαν (sin); ἡ (-) δὲ (and)ἁμαρτία (sin) ἀποτελεσθεῖσα (having become fully grown), ἀποκύει (brings forth) θάνατον (death).

  These first passages in James are very important for the Christian to grapple with because James is going to draw from his deep well of life, faith and practice as the Pastor of the First Church Jerusalem- and he's going to pass on to us, what he believes faith for us should be.   Life once again lets bear in mind, this is the man who lived with Jesus before He was declared as the Son of God.  Why say it that way, because Jesus didn't self declare until the near end of His ministry, why would he be secretive, had a lot to do with, if the enemies of the Word would be able to put Him in situations that would make it untenable, Christ might be forced as the Lamb of God to act in a way not accomplishing the Will of God- what am I saying, Jesus was fully man, He had free will, just like you and I, so, kneeling in the garden do you now see why it was God's will that had to be done, not Christ?  Do you further see how the condition of Christ wasn't secret to His brother who knew Him in ways and with family closeness that only James could?  Verse 13.

James saw the present horror, there's no other word for the situation which Jerusalem under Roman rule was.  Seeing a friend you have prayed with beaten, spit upon, and then nailed to a piece of wood and burned with tar on them so the roads could be lit.  Horror all around you, and for what, what you believe, because you aren't doing a thing against Rome except telling Caesar he isn't God.

James doesn't preach, teach or believe in a dead faith, an intellectual ascent to the mental idea and concept of Jesus's teachings- James knew that such faith isn't real, it won't last and doesn't have within it the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  The indwelling of the Holy Spirit was something that James likely caught the first time he and Jesus got into something that they shouldn't have when Joseph wasn't looking.  While your jumping up and down about that not being in the New Testament- let your mind look again at this simple verse.  When tempted- well, could Jesus be tempted?  Well what's Paul say in Hebrews?  Wasn't Christ a man tempted in every way as we?  So that we don't have a savior who doesn't get what it is to be we?  Now look again at verse 13 and there it is, right up front- when tempted no one should say...because James had been, catch, this, taught that- by his brother- for years upon years of constant every day contact.  Contact with a brother who at the end of it, taught His brother that He was indeed, God, that He did indeed rise again.   Verse 14.

Now James turns to the experience of those teachings bouncing off what he knew from having lived it.  He probably remembered that look, a look that only someone who knows something you can't, but can't wait for you to discover it- my typing teacher had that look, she knew, touch typing would change my life forever, but, she also knew, like James had seen Jesus show him, it ain't easy. Now comes the nature of the present evil- we are always in a situation where we think it's good, but it may only look good, evil always does.  What we grab hold of in terms of understanding and present day knowledge, but what comes next?

Inside their homes James's congregation was safer than they were assembled, because when scattered to their each place, they couldn't be grabbed coming away from an assembled place, so they couldn't gather together without the actual danger of being spotted and identified by a solider of Rome as one of them, one of the way.  Now James reflects back on that also, and he sees the temptation to not gather together, and he sees how separately they weren't supported.  They didn't have each other, they didn't have the elders, they didn't have the Under Shepherd (Pastor).  At this point in their worship they have the Holy Spirit, but they didn't have much else, which tells us, the Holy Spirit is enough and James says very clearly here, we allow ourselves to fall, and it's a process, we think about and execute the sin that grabs us, and then we try to act like we hadn't- that, says James, isn't truth.  Note the word James uses, desire, which, when it is placed upon by a good guide, the Holy Spirit, for the good of the Body of Christ, it is a great heart moving tool.  When it's based on your own selfish whims, desire begins a process that will kill you.  Verse 15.

Lets stop there for today with the finalizing question, if you don't know what the Holy Spirit indwelling you is we'll be only to happy to share with you about Him, He's wonderful.