Do not be deceived about where temptation comes from, for God tempts no one to evil. Every good and perfect gift is from above, from the Father of lights who does not change like shifting lights but remains constant. Of His own will He gives new life through the word of truth, that believers should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. When burdened and lacking wisdom, go to God Himself in prayer and ask in unwavering faith, for He gives generously to all and upbraids not, rather than erring by depending on finite human wisdom and help. Do not be deceived about personal responsibility, but lay aside all filthiness, receive the engrafted word, be doers and not hearers only, bringing the will into harmony with God in swift hearing, slow speaking, freedom from wrath, and pure religion kept unspotted from the world.
Warning and Its Context
Do not be misled about where temptation to evil comes from, for God tempts no one to evil. The warning guards against error on this point and opens the declaration that every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning. Unlike lights that change, He is constant and does not change, and His character remains unchanging. This unchanging giving is set against any mistaken idea about God and His gifts.
Of His own will He brings believers to new life through the word of truth, that they should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. Therefore every person is to be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. Human wrath does not work the righteousness of God. When the Word of God is received and obeyed, light shines forth in good works.
The same warning leads on to laying aside all filthiness and overflowing naughtiness and receiving with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save the soul. It calls for being doers of the word and not hearers only, lest one deceive himself like a man who looks at his face in a glass and then forgets what he saw. It calls for looking into and continuing in the perfect law of liberty so as to be blessed in deed. It calls for bridling the tongue, lest religion be vain, and for practicing pure and undefiled religion by visiting the fatherless and widows in their affliction and by keeping oneself unspotted from the world.
Trusting God Alone
Do not err by seeking wisdom and help from human sources instead of God when burdened and lacking wisdom. The error is looking to fellow men, carrying difficulties to workers already weighed down on every hand, sending across the continent and knocking at the door of human finite wisdom, and pouring out complaints to human ears for a word from human channels.
Instead go to the Source of all grace and sufficiency, bow on the knees before God who is nigh, take it all to the Lord in prayer, and ask of God who gives to all liberally and upbraids not, in faith nothing wavering. God gives wisdom generously to those who ask Him in faith, and trusting Him is set against depending on human judgment. Christ is more deeply interested in those who need help than any human agent can be, His arm is not shortened that it cannot save nor His ear heavy that it cannot hear, and every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights. That Father is unchanging, constant unlike changing lights, and does not change.
Do not err in the estimate of His gifts, for sanctified discernment is called for in order to see all things clearly.
Living Out Obedience
Do not err means do not be deceived about personal responsibility to overcome self, temper, and inclinations and to bring the will into conformity and harmony with God's will. The whole first chapter is to be read carefully and prayerfully and applied to oneself, with heed taken to self and to doctrine. For students this means learning to work out Christ's righteousness under God's discipline and advancing from victory to victory with the Lord's help, and for others it means understanding the responsibility to overcome evil and move forward under God's discipline. For one long in the work of God with grave responsibilities it means seeing his work to do to clear the King's highway, lest he be weighed in the balances and found wanting.
The verse begins God's great remedy for the diseases of body and soul and God's health-reform prescription running through verse 27, with the same health principles presented in the second chapter. The instruction of these verses and of the whole first chapter is practical, to be taken heed to day by day and brought into the daily life. Those who do so will have victory and will triumph at last with the overcomers.
Do not err forbids saying the reproof of James 1 has no reference to oneself, for it has special reference to those guilty of bitterness, evil speaking, unjust suspicion, and judging brethren over trifling matters. It forbids self-deception about a supposedly perfect course while catching at supposed evil, talking it over, feeding upon it as a sweet morsel, and presenting every act of brethren in a distorted light. It therefore calls for reading James 1:1-16 slowly and prayerfully, then verses 16-19 onward to the close. This reading is to be joined with silent prayer for the Lord to search the heart as with a lighted candle and reveal self, and with earnest prayer for spiritual eye salve and heavenly anointing to cleanse perverted ideas born of selfishness, so as to become swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath.
Do not be deceived about where temptation comes from, for God tempts no one to evil. Every good and perfect gift is from above, from the Father of lights who does not change like shifting lights but remains constant. Of His own will He gives new life through the word of truth, that believers should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. When burdened and lacking wisdom, go to God Himself in prayer and ask in unwavering faith, for He gives generously to all and upbraids not, rather than erring by depending on finite human wisdom and help. Do not be deceived about personal responsibility, but lay aside all filthiness, receive the engrafted word, be doers and not hearers only, bringing the will into harmony with God in swift hearing, slow speaking, freedom from wrath, and pure religion kept unspotted from the world.
Warning and Its Context
Do not be misled about where temptation to evil comes from, for God tempts no one to evil. The warning guards against error on this point and opens the declaration that every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning. Unlike lights that change, He is constant and does not change, and His character remains unchanging. This unchanging giving is set against any mistaken idea about God and His gifts.
Of His own will He brings believers to new life through the word of truth, that they should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. Therefore every person is to be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. Human wrath does not work the righteousness of God. When the Word of God is received and obeyed, light shines forth in good works.
The same warning leads on to laying aside all filthiness and overflowing naughtiness and receiving with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save the soul. It calls for being doers of the word and not hearers only, lest one deceive himself like a man who looks at his face in a glass and then forgets what he saw. It calls for looking into and continuing in the perfect law of liberty so as to be blessed in deed. It calls for bridling the tongue, lest religion be vain, and for practicing pure and undefiled religion by visiting the fatherless and widows in their affliction and by keeping oneself unspotted from the world.
Trusting God Alone
Do not err by seeking wisdom and help from human sources instead of God when burdened and lacking wisdom. The error is looking to fellow men, carrying difficulties to workers already weighed down on every hand, sending across the continent and knocking at the door of human finite wisdom, and pouring out complaints to human ears for a word from human channels.
Instead go to the Source of all grace and sufficiency, bow on the knees before God who is nigh, take it all to the Lord in prayer, and ask of God who gives to all liberally and upbraids not, in faith nothing wavering. God gives wisdom generously to those who ask Him in faith, and trusting Him is set against depending on human judgment. Christ is more deeply interested in those who need help than any human agent can be, His arm is not shortened that it cannot save nor His ear heavy that it cannot hear, and every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights. That Father is unchanging, constant unlike changing lights, and does not change.
Do not err in the estimate of His gifts, for sanctified discernment is called for in order to see all things clearly.
Living Out Obedience
Do not err means do not be deceived about personal responsibility to overcome self, temper, and inclinations and to bring the will into conformity and harmony with God's will. The whole first chapter is to be read carefully and prayerfully and applied to oneself, with heed taken to self and to doctrine. For students this means learning to work out Christ's righteousness under God's discipline and advancing from victory to victory with the Lord's help, and for others it means understanding the responsibility to overcome evil and move forward under God's discipline. For one long in the work of God with grave responsibilities it means seeing his work to do to clear the King's highway, lest he be weighed in the balances and found wanting.
The verse begins God's great remedy for the diseases of body and soul and God's health-reform prescription running through verse 27, with the same health principles presented in the second chapter. The instruction of these verses and of the whole first chapter is practical, to be taken heed to day by day and brought into the daily life. Those who do so will have victory and will triumph at last with the overcomers.
Do not err forbids saying the reproof of James 1 has no reference to oneself, for it has special reference to those guilty of bitterness, evil speaking, unjust suspicion, and judging brethren over trifling matters. It forbids self-deception about a supposedly perfect course while catching at supposed evil, talking it over, feeding upon it as a sweet morsel, and presenting every act of brethren in a distorted light. It therefore calls for reading James 1:1-16 slowly and prayerfully, then verses 16-19 onward to the close. This reading is to be joined with silent prayer for the Lord to search the heart as with a lighted candle and reveal self, and with earnest prayer for spiritual eye salve and heavenly anointing to cleanse perverted ideas born of selfishness, so as to become swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath.