James 1 - IVP New Testament Commentaries

Temptations and Good Gifts

In the very midst of a trial, when I am feeling fear and sorrow and pain, if I am asked by a friend, "What danger or threat is there in your life now, that I may pray for you?" I would probably answer, "Pray for the deadly disease to be healed, or for my financial needs to be met, or for the people to stop doing the things that are injuring me." In other words, I would think of the chief injury being inflicted by the trial, and my foremost concern would be for the trial to be stopped. Now, in 1:13-18, comes a word of God that requires a radical change in our thinking. The Bible says that the trial itself is not the most seriously life-threatening factor. The greatest danger to me is not the wrong being done to me, but the wrong that may be done by me. The real threat is that when wrong is done to me, I may be tempted to fall into sin myself.

This central emphasis by James sometimes is obscured in the debate over the meaning of James's terms and the relationship between 1:12 and 1:13. Some accentuate a distinction between James's terms for "trial" and "temptation." Dibelius would separate them to such extreme that "the seduction by lusts in vv 13-15 has nothing whatsoever to do with the afflictions in v 12" (1976:90). Moo is more moderate in language but still puts the emphasis on a transition in subject: "Thus, despite the fact that the same Greek root (peira-) is used for both the outer trial and the inner temptation, it is crucial to distinguish them" (1985:72). Yet in the next sentence Moo admits that James makes so little mention of such a distinction that Moo is left guessing: "It is probably within verse 13 that James makes the transition from one to the other." Others make the opposite emphasis on the commonality of the two terms and verses. Davids, for example, proposes that "both verses refer to testing" and translates the middle of 1:13 "God ought not to be tested by evil persons" (1982:81-82). Moo is right to reject this as "a very poorly attested meaning" (1985:72), but Davids is driven to this by his failure to observe fully enough the flow of James's thought in logic and vocabulary.

The noun trial (peirasmos) in 1:12 and the participial verb tempted (peirazo) in 1:13 share a common root, and the primary contrast is not between these two terms. This does not mean that trials and temptations are identical and interchangeable concepts. But it does have two implications for our understanding of the text. First, James is continuing the line of thought about the spiritual dynamics of trials. The temptations he has in mind now are especially those that come in the context of his readers' trials--for example, the temptation to harbor hatred or to take revenge toward those who have persecuted them, or the temptation to be covetous and jealous in their economic hardship. This focuses our understanding of the passage so that we will be able to apply it honestly. Societal values might lead us to think of temptation in terms of our appetite for food or sexual pleasure. James wants us to apply the text to our temptations toward hatred and greed and envy.

Second, the really decisive point of contrast to the idea of temptation in 1:13 is the completely different term (dokimion) for "test" or "testing" in 1:12 and 1:3. By using 1:12 so firmly as the start of a new segment united to 1:13-15 (instead of a reference back to 1:2-4 by way of summary as I have suggested), Davids interprets James as dissociating God from the test and "denying that God actively tests anyone" (1982:79-81). There is no debate over the fact that James is warning Christians not to blame God for temptation and sin. However, James does want us to see the testing as a divinely used and positive alternative that stands in direct contrast to the temptation.

James has told us already that God desires the trial to become a test for the development of perseverance leading to maturity. The alternative possibility is now considered: that the trial may become a temptation for sin leading to death. That alternative is emphatically not God's will for the Christian, for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. James is describing another dimension to the spiritual dynamic, one that stands in contrast to the one already presented in 1:2-4. We can compare the two parallel patterns now in the following way.

TRIAL => TESTING => PERSEVERANCE => MATURITY

TRIAL => TEMPTATION => SIN => DEATH

James will now warn against this second pattern (in 1:13-15) and then encourage a following of the first pattern (in 1:16-18). That these two paragraphs should be so compared will be evident in the parallelism in the outline of their content.Temptations (1:13-15)

James would remember the Lord's teaching that it is not God's desire to tempt a person to live in any way displeasing to him, and that temptation should be resisted (Mt 6:13; 26:41). The flow of James's thought now is to assert facts of God's nature and God's will and then to answer questions these facts raise about the dynamics of temptation.

1. God's nature and will. God's nature is that he cannot be tempted by evil. This is a reminder of the holiness of God, whose moral purity is absolute, unassailable, undefiled. He is high and exalted, the Holy One of Israel, whose holiness is so pure that it is described in terms of its wondrous beauty, splendor and utter awesomeness (Ps 27:4; 29:2; 99:3). There is not the smallest trace of evil in God's nature (1 Jn 1:5), and evil cannot have any closeness to God. That is why God's holiness put despair into Isaiah's heart: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty. . . . `Woe to me!' I cried. `I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips . . . and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty' " (Is 6:3-5). This sense of God's awesome purity is so strong in both Old and New Testaments that it would have to be the background for James when he assures us that God will not be tempted by evil.

This particular character of God leads to a particular will of God--nor does he tempt anyone. Not only is he holy; he requires holiness of us. His will for us is always toward holiness, never toward evil. If this is so, it raises the question about human experience that James wants to address. We all experience the temptation to do evil. What then is the origin of temptations, and how do they operate?

2. The dynamics of temptation. First, the origin of the temptation is emphatically the person's own evil desire. James's term is epithymia, a "desire" or "longing" especially with evil meaning. This is a call for us to take responsibility for our own lives and to deal with our sinful motives. Have you ever blamed your parents or other people for what you have become? Have you ever blamed circumstances for what you have done? Of course people and circumstances do affect us. However, one of the most significant ways we resist the work of God for our growth toward becoming "mature and complete" is that we blame factors outside of ourselves for our sin.

I recall a young man I was counseling who was beginning to deal very productively with certain relational problems and an addiction. He said, "I've been angry at my parents for years for my problems, but I see that has been a way for me to be irresponsible about my own behavior." I rejoiced when he said that, for it was a very large and courageous step of faith toward healing. James is doing us a great good by forthrightly confronting this issue--that we are tempted to sin by our own evil desires.

Second, the action of the temptation is to drag away and to entice. This is a hunting and fishing metaphor (dragged away as by a predator; enticed as by a lure). With both terms James is warning his readers concerning who is really in danger in the temptation. When they are tempted, they are thinking about taking some pleasure--such as the pleasure of revenge on their persecutors. But who is really being captured? Who is really in danger? The Christians themselves are the prey!

Third, the effect of the temptation is sin leading to death. Here James adopts a childbearing image. The person's desire does the conceiving (syllambano) and the giving birth (tikto) to sin; then sin's full growth culminates naturally in its own act of producing (apokyeo); what it ultimately produces is death. It is vivid imagery, emphasizing how natural the progression is. This attention-getting imagery is designed to stop sinners in their tracks, seeing that death is the natural and terrible end of a life of sin, not just an occasional result for some sinners. Paul stated the same truth with an image of compensation: "the wages of sin is death" (Rom 6:23). God gave Adam the same assurance about the forbidden fruit: "when you eat of it you will surely die" (Gen 2:17). James is warning Christians to see the danger, and so to abhor sin, and therefore to deny the evil desire from which sin comes.

Seeing this impact, we can conclude that we would be applying the verse in a way not intended by James if we derived a doctrinal statement that Christians can lose their salvation. James's concern is not for such a point of doctrine but for a life of genuine faith. He is not telling genuine Christians that they may lose their salvation; he is warning that genuine salvation comes by repentance and faith. The extremity of the warning simply shows how seriously James takes the lordship of Christ. He expects that true believers will not go on giving themselves to sin. To accept Christ as Savior is to accept him as Savior from sin and so to turn from sin and follow him as Lord. James's intention is that we should take the holiness of God seriously, realize the extremity of danger in a life of sin and turn from sin to follow Christ.

This is why the greatest danger to James's persecuted readers is not the wrong being done to them but the wrong they may do. Now James is ready to explain the basis for the alternative pattern: a trial becomes the good gift of a testing to develop perseverance leading to maturity and completeness.Good Gifts (1:16-18)

The admonition not to be deceived should be seen as a transition, a "hinge verse" (Davids 1982:86), directed both to the preceding ideas and to the next verses. Don't be deceived about the origin of temptation, and don't be deceived about the origin of every good gift either. It should also be seen as a verse of deep concern addressed to my dear [or "beloved"] brothers. James earnestly wants to help his readers in their suffering and to save them from the greatest danger to their lives: sin. Notice in this paragraph an outline parallel to the one in 1:13-15.

1. God's nature and will. He is the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. The association of God with heavenly lights is an image of his exalted glory and power. The dissociation of God from shifting shadows is a declaration of his immutability. Both images are designed to give us assurance that we may rely upon him confidently. James wants his readers to cling to the certainty of God's unchanging love in their suffering. Furthermore, this guaranteed nature of God has led to this will of God: He chose to give . . . What James emphasizes is that God gives by his own will (participle bouletheis), not someone else's; he gives good and perfect gifts, not evil ones; in fact, every good gift is from him, not just some of them.

James intends the force of these truths to accumulate with impact on our actual beliefs about God. Especially in times of trial, is your image of God one of exalted authority, trustworthy constancy and unfailing generosity? Do you believe that God gives you good gifts? The same young man who faced his error of blaming his parents also said to me, "I've been a Christian five years, but it's been only in the last few months that I have taken God seriously. I have talked a good God-game, but I have not taken seriously his power and authority to change my life." Again I rejoiced over his humility and honesty; I have every confidence that God will deliver him from his addiction and make him someday "mature and complete, not lacking anything."

2. The dynamics of good gifts. First, the origin of the good gifts is emphatically God himself. Whether one acknowledges God as the provider of blessings is an issue of major consequence. Failure in this was, for example, a step in Israel's spiritual adultery, according to Hosea 2:5, 8, 12. James is passionate about this because he wants his suffering readers to be able to apply it in their trials. They need to believe this fundamental truth: in the midst of the trials, God has good gifts for them.

Second, the action of the good gifts is one of coming down. The implied application of this fact is that we are to look up! With the allusion to far-off heavenly bodies James evokes an image of looking up to receive something wondrous, in order that we may anticipate God's good gifts instead of looking only at the hardship of our circumstances. John Bunyan said, "Temptation provokes me to look upward to God."

Third, the effect of the good gifts comes in two stages. The initial effect is to give us birth. It refers not merely to physical birth but to regeneration, since it comes through the word of truth which becomes the theme of 1:19-27, where it is not God's creative word but his saving and freeing word. The contrast is to sin in 1:15, which gives birth to death (the same verb apokyeo). The further effect of God's good gifts is to make us "a kind of firstfruits of all he created"--that we become not only alive but also changed. The image of firstfruits connotes an expectation of the ultimate fruit-bearing goal of God's work in us. It is the image with which James concludes this section; its meaning will be apparent as we review the passage.

The implication of what James teaches is to encourage the application of God's own nature and will in Christians' practice. We call certain attributes of God "incommunicable" because finite beings do not possess them. God's immutability is one such attribute. But James is persistent in wanting Christians to practice God's ways and to live identifiably as the firstfruits of God's redemptive work through Christ. James is encouraging Christians to imitate God's ways, which are in contrast to their own evil desire.

The first aspect of God's character emphasized in the text was his holiness, which is so absolute that he cannot be tempted by evil. Our high calling as firstfruits of his creation is to have that character of holiness more and more clearly reflected in us. We imitate God in his holiness when we resist temptation because we abhor sin.

The second fact of God's character was his grace. He gives good gifts. We imitate God in this trait by graciously giving good gifts to others--even to those who are causing the trials in our lives, for we will give "generously to all without finding fault" (1:5). When we are treated unjustly and hurtfully, we will take our stand here: to rely on God to provide good gifts for us while we persevere in loving our enemies, doing good to those who hate us, blessing those who curse us and praying for those who mistreat us (Lk 6:27-28).

The third fact emphasized about God was his immutability. Even this can be reproduced in a finite form. The trait by which we participate in this attribute of God is none other than perseverance--the very trait which God will develop in us through the testing of trials.

This is where the topic of perseverance in trials, begun in 1:2-3, has led us. It is James's earnest desire that Christians facing trials of many kinds should see the special privilege set before them in the circumstance of a trial. We have a goal higher than merely escaping the trial or avoiding the pain. God is at work through the trial to make us "mature and complete"--in fact, like God in character and ways. This is James's message: Christian, be astounded at your high calling to reflect and even participate in God's divine nature, and let your astonishment be your motivation then to "consider it pure joy . . . whenever you face trials of many kinds."Our Response to Trials: A Theology of Suffering

With the climax of the passage reached in 1:16-18, Christians can see how crucial is their response to trials. When servants of God meet trials (a loss, a setback, an attack, an injustice, a suffering), they can respond in either of two ways presented by James. They can respond out of evil desires, making the trial an occasion for temptation, leading to sin. Or they can respond out of faith, with joy that they are truly blessed. This response makes the trial an opportunity for testing instead of temptation, and this testing develops perseverance that causes the Christian to become more like God, mature and complete in Christ.

The purpose of reducing the passage to these simple terms is not to oversimplify the awful crises many Christians face, as if the response were easy or mechanical. The purpose is rather to illuminate the pivotal step in facing suffering. When you encounter a trial, such as unjust treatment from another, you may experience a temptation to retaliate by criticizing, gossiping, withholding love or inflicting injury. Instead, in the light of James's teaching, you can ask God to help you take several steps.

1. Deal with the evil desire in yourself. Repent of it, confessing that the temptation comes from your own evil desire.

2. Consider the trial pure joy. Thank God--not for the temptation, for that came from evil desire, but for the good gifts God will bring in the testing.

3. You may still go on to oppose the injustice and try to change the circumstances of the trial. Some Christians, when they encounter evil, regard it as sent by God and call it "the cross I must bear." From such a mistaken perspective, passive endurance is the only proper response, because resisting the trial would be resisting God. This is a misunderstanding of Jesus' use of the cross image. When Jesus said his followers must take up their cross, he was describing the discipline they would need to persevere in the face of expected persecution. From James's teaching, the Christian does not have to leave circumstances untouched as "the cross" to be carried. God is not pleased by injustice; so the Christian will work to oppose injustice. At the same time, servants of God may consider it pure joy that they have opportunities to be tested for the development of perseverance.

The response of pure joy is, then, neither a passive acceptance of injustice (that would be unholy) nor an unrealistic escapism (that would be untruthful). James has shown joy to be an honest, realistic response to trials because of the truth of God's nature.

I recall again my dear friends Jim and Marie. It has been sixteen years since their son died. They did persevere then, but new trials have come. Marie was diagnosed with cancer. Months of chemotherapy followed; their financial burden was heavy with no insurance; Marie was confined to her home much of the time; loneliness and depression were frequent; pain was constant. Marie told me that at times it was difficult to feel confident about God's love for her. But she found her faith in God growing. She believed God's love for her through Christ to be real and sufficient to save her, deliver her and accomplish the blessing of her life in spite of the suffering. Marie set her heart on the crown of life.

Jim and Marie were not exuberant during those days; but they were persevering by faith. I prayed for the full blessing unfolded in James 1:1-18 to be fulfilled in them. For they are dearly loved by God, who unchangeably gives good gifts and who calls Jim and Marie to joy.

And now I have received news that Marie has died, and I have just talked with Jim. He said, "I tell people Marie is now in the best place she could possibly be, and that I will see her again. Some of them ask me, `How do you know?' I tell them, `I've staked my life on it.' " While that may not exactly answer their question, Jim's testimony is very proper. He has taken the stand of faith in Christ of which James the Just was writing. I weep for my friend, but I can rejoice for him as well.