See on Mark 13:33, and comp. Luke 21:36; Ephesians 6:18.

With grief (στενάζοντες)

Lit. groaning. See Romans 8:23, 2 Corinthians 5:2, 2 Corinthians 5:4; James 5:9.

Unprofitable (ἀλυσιτελὲς)

N.T.o, olxx. From ἀ not, and λυσιτελής paying for expenses. Hence, what does not pay; unprofitable.

I may be restored to you (ἀποκατασταθῶ ὑμῖν)

Not implying imprisonment, but enforced absence through sickness or other cause.

Not an O.T. phrase, and found only in Paul and Hebrews. See Romans 15:33; Romans 16:20; 1 Corinthians 14:33; Philippians 4:9, 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 3:16. The phrase signifies God who is the author and giver of peace.

Who brought again from the dead (ὁ ἀναγαγὼν ἐκ νεκρῶν)

The only direct reference in the epistle to the resurrection of Christ. Hebrews 6:2 refers to the resurrection of the dead generally. Ἁνάγειν of raising the dead, only Romans 10:7. Rend. "brought up," and comp. Wisd. 16:13. Ἁνά in this compound, never in N.T. in the sense of again. See on Luke 8:22; see on Acts 12:4; see on Acts 16:34; see on Acts 27:3. The verb often as a nautical term, to bring a vessel up from the land to the deep water; to put to sea.

That great shepherd of the sheep (τὸν ποιμένα τῶν προβάτων τὸν μέγαν)

The Greek order is, "the shepherd of the sheep the great (shepherd)." Comp. John 10:2, John 10:11, John 10:14; 1 Peter 2:25, and see Isaiah 63:11. Of God, Ezekiel 34.

Through the blood of the everlasting covenant (ἐν αἵματι διαθήκης αἰωνίου)

Rend. "in the blood of an eternal covenant." See Zechariah 9:11. The phrase eternal covenant N.T.o. Common in lxx; see Genesis 9:16; Genesis 17:19; Leviticus 24:8; 2 Samuel 23:5; Jeremiah 32:40; Ezekiel 16:60. Const. with the great shepherd of the sheep. It may be granted that the raising of Christ from the dead, viewed as the consummation of the plan of salvation, was in the sphere of the blood of the covenant; nevertheless, the covenant is nowhere in the N.T. associated with the resurrection, but frequently with death, especially in this epistle. See Matthew 26:28; Luke 22:20; Hebrews 9:15, Hebrews 9:16, Hebrews 9:17, Hebrews 9:20. The connection of the blood of the covenant with Christ's pastoral office gives a thoroughly scriptural sense, and one which exactly fits into the context. Christ becomes the great shepherd solely through the blood of the covenant. Comp. Acts 20:28. Through this is brought about the new relation of the church with God described in Hebrews 8:10 ff. This tallies perfectly with the conception of "the God of peace"; and the great Shepherd will assert the power of the eternal covenant of reconciliation and peace by perfecting his flock in every good work to do his will, working in them that which is well pleasing in his sight. With this agree Jeremiah 50:5, Jeremiah 50:19; Ezekiel 34:25, and the entire chapter, see especially Ezekiel 34:12-15, Ezekiel 34:23, Ezekiel 34:31. In these verses the Shepherd of the Covenant appears as guiding, tending his flock, and leading them into fair and safe pastures. Comp. Isaiah 63:11-14, and Revelation 7:17, see note on ποιμανεῖ shall shepherd. Ἑν αἵματι "in the blood," is in virtue of, or in the power of the blood.

For "suffer," rend. "bear with." See Acts 18:14; 2 Corinthians 11:1; 2 Timothy 4:3. Do not become impatient at my counsels in this letter. The word of exhortation refers to the entire epistle which he regards as hortatory rather than didactic or consolatory. The phrase only in Acts 13:15.

I have written a letter unto you (ἐπέστειλα ὑμῖν)

A.V. supplies a letter. Rend. "I have written unto you." The verb only here, Acts 15:20; Acts 21:25. Lit. to send, not letters only. Sometimes with ἐπιστολαὶ or ἐπιστολὰς letters added, as Nehemiah 6:19; 1 Macc. 12:7. In N.T. always of sending a letter.

In a few words (διὰ βραχέων)

There is a suggestion of apology. Do not grow impatient. The letter is short. The phrase N.T.o , but comp. δἰ ὀλίγων, 1 Peter 5:12, and ἐν ὀλίγῳ briefly, Ephesians 3:3.

Paul's habit, when using ὁ ἀδελφός brother with a proper name, is to put the proper name first. See Romans 16:23; 1 Corinthians 1:1; 1 Corinthians 16:12; 2 Corinthians 1:1; 2 Corinthians 2:13; Philippians 2:25.

Set at liberty (ἀπολελυμένον)

Nothing is known of the fact referred to. Ἁπολύειν of releasing from confinement, Matthew 27:15; John 19:10; Acts 3:13; Acts 4:21, Acts 4:23; Acts 5:40.

This may mean, "those who are in Italy send greeting from Italy"; or, "those of Italy (Italian Christians with the writer at the time) send greeting' from the place at which the letter is being written. See Introduction. The phrase affords no reliable indication as to the residence of the persons addressed.

Only here and in James 2:1; nowhere in the speeches of James (Acts 15:14, Acts 15:15; Acts 21:20 sq.). Had he used Jesus' name it might have been supposed to arise from vanity, because he was the Lord's brother. In all the addresses of epistles the full name, Jesus Christ, is given.

Servant (δοῦλος)

Properly, hired servant. Compare Philippians 1:1; Jde 1:1.

That are scattered abroad (ἐν τῇ διασπορᾷ)

Lit., in the dispersion; on which see on 1 Peter 1:1. Rev., which are of the dispersion.

Greeting (χαίρειν)

Lit., rejoice. The ordinary Greek salutation, hail! welcome! Also used at parting: joy be with you. Compare the same expression in the letter from the church at Jerusalem, Acts 15:23; one of the very few peculiarities of style which connect this epistle with the James of the Acts. It does not occur in the address of any other of the Apostolic Epistles.

Joy follows up the rejoice of the greeting. The all has the sense of wholly. Count it a thing wholly joyful, without admixture of sorrow. Perhaps, as Bengel suggests, the all applies to all kinds of temptations.

When (ὅταν)

Lit., whenever: better, because it implies that temptation may be expected all along the Christian course.

Ye fall into (περιπέσητε)

The preposition περί, around, suggests falling into something which surrounds. Thus Thucydides, speaking of the plague at Athens, says, "The Athenians, having fallen into (περιπεσόντες) such affliction, were pressed by it."

Divers (ποικίλοις)

Rev., manifold. See on 1 Peter 1:6.

Temptations (πειρασμοῖς)

In the general sense of trials. See on Matthew 6:13; and 1 Peter 1:6.

Rev., proof; but the American Revisers insist on proving, and rightly. See on 1 Peter 1:7.

Worketh (κατεργάζεται)

The compound verb with κατά, down through, indicates accomplishment. The proving will work successfully and thoroughly. This harmonizes with a perfect work, James 1:4.

Patience (ὑπομονήν)

See on 2 Peter 1:6, and James 5:7.

"This is followed by a perfect man. The man himself is characterized from his condition and work" (Bengel). Work (ἔργον) is the word with which κατεργάζεται, worketh, is compounded. It is the accomplished result of patience in moral purification and ennobling. Compare work of faith, 1 Thessalonians 1:3.

Perfect and entire (τέλειοι καὶ ὁλόκληροι)

The two words express different shades of thought. Τέλειοι, perfect, from τέλος, fulfilment or completion (perfect, from perfectus, per factus, made throughout), denotes that which, h has reached its maturity or fulfilled the end contemplated. Ολόκληροι, from ὅλος, entire, and κλῆρος, a lot or allotment; that which has all which properly belongs to it; its entire allotment, and is, therefore, intact in all its parts. Thus Peter (Acts 3:16) says of the restored cripple, "faith has given him this perfect soundness (ὁλοκληρίαν). Compare the familiar phrase, an accomplished man. Note, also, James' repetition of the key-words of his discourse, rejoice, joy, patience, perfect.

Wanting nothing (ἐν μηδενὶ λειπόμενοι)

Rev., more literally, lacking in nothing. Note James' characteristic corroboration of a positive statement by a negative clause: entire, lacking in nothing ; God that giveth and upbraideth not; in faith, nothing doubting. The conditional negative μηδενὶ, nothing, is used, rather than the absolute negative οὐδενὶ, as implying nothing which may be supposed ; no possible thing.

Omitted in A. V. In pursuing this perfection you will find yourselves lacking in wisdom. One may say, "I know not how to become perfect;" but, if any man, etc.

Lack

Note the repetition.

Of God that giveth (τοῦ διδόντος Θεοῦ)

The Greek puts it so that giving is emphasized as an attribute of God. Lit., "Ask of the giving God," or of "God the giver."

Liberally (ἁπλῶς)

Only here in New Testament. Literally the word means simply, and this accords with the following negative clause, upbraiding not. It is pure, simple giving of good, without admixture of evil or bitterness. Compare Romans 12:8, where a kindred noun is used: "He that giveth let him do it with simplicity (ἐν ἁπλότητι)." Compare, also, Proverbs 10:22. Men often complicate and mar their giving with reproach, or by an assumption of superiority.

Compare Matthew 21:21. Not equivalent to unbelief, but expressing the hesitation which balances between faith and unbelief, and inclines toward the latter. This idea is brought out in the next sentence.

A wave (κλύδωνι)

Rev., surge. Only here and Luke 8:24; though the kindred verb occurs at Ephesians 4:14. The word is admirably chosen, as by a writer who lived near the sea and was familiar with its aspects. The general distinction between this and the more common κῦμα, wave, is that κλύδων describes the long ridges of water as they are propelled in horizontal lines over the vast surface of the sea; while κῦμα denotes the pointed masses which toss themselves up from these under the action of the wind. Hence the word κλύδων here is explained, and the picture completed by what follows: a billow or surge, driven by the wind in lines, and tossed into waves. Both here and in the passage in Luke the word is used in connection with the wind. It emphasizes the idea of extension, while the other word throws forward the idea of concentrating into a crest at a given point. Hence, in the figure, the emphasis falls on the tossing; not only moving before the impulse of the wind, but not even moving in regular lines; tossed into rising and falling peaks.

Driven by the wind (ἀνεμιζομένῳ)

Only here in New Testament.

Tossed (ῥιπιζομένῳ)

Only here in New Testament. From ῥιπίς, a fan. Anyone who has watched the great ocean-swell throwing itself up into pointed waves, the tops of which are caught by the wind and fanned off into spray, will appreciate the vividness of the figure.

Emphatic, and with a slightly contemptuous force.

Anything

i.e., which he asks for.

The A. V. puts this as an independent apophthegm, which is wrong. The sentence is a comment and enlargement upon that man. "Let not that man think," etc., "a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." So Rev.

Double-minded (δίψυχος)

Peculiar to James, here and James 4:8. Not deceitful, but dubious and undecided.

Unstable (ἀκατάστατος)

Only here in New Testament. The kindred ἀκαταστασία, confusion, is found James 3:16, and elsewhere.

Omitted in A. V. Introducing a contrast with the double-minded.

The brother of low degree (ὁ ἀδελφὸς ὁ ταπεινὸς)

Lit., the brother, the lowly one. Not in the higher Christian sense of ταπεινὸς (see on Matthew 11:29), but, rather, poor and afflicted, as contrasted with rich.

Rejoice (καυχάσθω)

Not strong enough. It is, rather, boast. So Rev., glory. Compare Romans 5:3; Philippians 3:3.

In that he is exalted (ἐν τῷ ὕψει αὐτοῦ)

Lit., in his exaltation. Rev., in his high estate.

A form of expression similar to the preceding. Lit., in his humiliation. Both the A. V. and Rev. preserve the kinship between ταπεινὸς and ταπεινώσει, by the word low.

Flower (ἄνθος)

Only here, James 1:11, and 1 Peter 1:24.

By the use of the aorist tense James graphically throws his illustration into the narrative form: "For the sun arose - and withered," etc.

With a burning heat (τῷ καύσωνι)

Rev., with the scorching wind. The article denotes something familiar; and the reference may be to the scorching east-wind (Job 1:19, Sept.; Ezekiel 17:10), which withers vegetation. Some of the best authorities, however, prefer the rendering of the A. V.

Falleth (ἐξέπεσεν)

Aorist tense. Lit., fell off.

The grace of the fashion (εὐπρέπεια τοῦ προσώπου)

Lit., the beauty of its face or appearance. Εὐπρέπεια only here in New Testament.

Fade away (μαρανθήσεται)

See on 1 Peter 1:4.

Ways (πορείαις)

Rev., goings. Only here and Luke 13:22. His goings to and fro in acquiring riches.

Lit., having become approved. See on trial, 1 Peter 1:7. The meaning is not, as the A. V. suggests, when his trial is finished, but when he has been approved by trial. Rev., rightly, when he hath been approved.

The crown (στέφανον)

See on 1 Peter 5:4.

Of life (τῶς ζωῆς)

Lit., the life: the article pointing to the well-known eternal life. The figure is not that of the athlete's crown, for an image from the Grecian games, which the Jews despised, would be foreign to James' thought and displeasing to his readers. Rather the kingly crown, the proper word for which is διάδημα, diadem. In Psalm 20:3 (Sept.), στέφανος is used of the royal crown. In Zechariah 6:11, Zechariah 6:14, the reference seems to be to a priestly crown, forming part of the high-priest's mitre.

Lit., from God. Not by God, as the direct agent, but by agency proceeding from God. Compare Matthew 4:1, where the direct agency, "by the spirit," "by the devil," is expressed by ὑπό.

Cannot be tempted (ἀπείραστος ἐστι)

Lit., is incapable of being tempted. But some of the best expositors render is unversed in, evil things, as better according both with the usage of the word and with the context, since the question is not of God's being tempted, but of God's tempting. Rev. gives this in margin. Ἀπείραστος, only here in New Testament.

Neither tempteth he (πειράζει δὲ αὐτὸς)

The A. V. fails to render αὐτὸς: "He himself tempteth no man." So Rev.

Only here in New Testament. This and the following word are metaphors from hunting and fishing. Drawn away, as beasts are enticed from a safecovert into a place beset with snares. Note the present participle, as indicating the progress of the temptation: "is being drawn away."

Enticed (δελεαζόμενος)

As a fish with bait. Also the present participle. See on 2 Peter 2:14.

Note the article, omitted in A. V. The peculiar lust of his own.

Hath conceived (συλλαβοῦσα)

Lit., having conceived.

Bringeth forth (τίκτει)

Metaphor of the mother. Rev., beareth.

When it is finished (ἀποτελεσθεῖσα)

Better, Rev., when it is full grown. Not when the course of a sinful life is completed; but when sin has reached its full development.

Bringeth forth (ἀποκύει)

A different verb from the preceding, bringeth forth. Rev. has rendered τίκτει, beareth, in order to avoid the repetition of bringeth forth. The verb is used by James only, here and at James 1:18. The image is interpreted in two ways. Either (1) Sin, figured as female, is already pregnant with death, and, when full grown, bringeth forth death (so Rev., and the majority of commentators). "The harlot, Lust, draws away and entices the man. The guilty union is committed by the will embracing the temptress: the consequence is that she beareth sin....Then the sin, that particular sin, when grown up, herself, as if all along pregnant with it, bringeth forth death" (Alford). Or (2) Sin, figured as male, when it has reached maturity, becomes the begetter of death. So the Vulgate, generat, and Wyc., gendereth. I am inclined to prefer this, since the other seems somewhat forced. It has the high endorsement of Bishop Lightfoot. There is a suggestive parallel passage in the "Agamemnon" of Aeschylus, 751-771:

"There is a saying old,

Uttered in ancient days,

That human bliss, full grown,

Genders, and dies not childless:

continued...

Πᾶσα δόσις ἀγαθὴ καὶ πᾶν δῶρημα τέλειον.

Such verses, or parts of verses, occur occasionally in the New Testament. Sometimes they are quotations from the Greek poets; sometimes the writer's words unconsciously fall into metrical form. Poetical quotations are confined to Paul, Acts 17:28; 1 Corinthians 15:33; Titus 1:12.

Every good gift and every perfect gift (see Greek above)

The statement that these gifts are from God is in pursuance of the idea that God does not tempt men to evil. The gifts of God are contrasted with the evil springing from man's lust. Two words are used for gifts. Δόσις occurs only here and Philippians 4:15; there in an active sense; but here passive, as in Proverbs 21:14: (Sept.). Δῶρημα is found Romans 5:16. It enlarges slightly upon the other word in emphasizing the gift as free, large, full; an idea which is further developed in James 1:18, of his own will. The Rev., rather awkwardly, endeavors to bring out the distinction by the word boon, for which the American Revisers insist on retaining gift. Boon originally means a petition; favor being a secondary and later sense, as of something given in response to a petition. The word is of Scandinavian origin, and the meaning favor seems to indicate a confusion with the Latin bonus, good; French, bon.

Perfect

Enlarges upon good, bringing out more distinctly the moral quality of the gift.

And cometh down (καταβαῖνον)

A present participle, to be construed with ἄνωθεν ἐστιν, is from above. Lit., is coming down, from above. As usual, this union of the participle with the finite verb denotes something habitual. Render, descendeth from above. Compare James 3:15.

Father of lights (τοῦ πατρὸς τῶν φώτων)

Lit., the lights, by which are meant the heavenly bodies. Compare Psalm 135:7 (Sept.); and Jeremiah 4:23 (Sept.). God is called "the Father of the lights," as being their creator and maintainer. Compare Job 38:28; Psalm 8:3; Amos 5:8.

Is no variableness (ἔνι)

Abbreviated from ἔνεστι, is in. Stronger than the simple is, and denoting inherence or indwelling. Rev., can be.

Variableness (παραλλαγὴ)

continued...

Rev., brought forth. See on James 1:15, and compare 1 John 3:9; 1 Peter 1:23.

A kind of first-fruits (ἀπαρχήν τινα)

A kind of indicates the figurative nature of the term. Time figure is taken from the requirement of the Jewish law that the first-born of men and cattle, and the first growth of fruits and grain should be consecrated to the Lord. The point of the illustration is that Christians, like first-fruits, should be consecrated to God. The expression "first-fruits" is common in the New Testament. See Romans 8:23; Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 15:20, 1 Corinthians 15:23; Revelation 14:4.

The A. V. follows the reading ὥστε. But the correct reading is ἴστε, ye know, and so Rev. Others render it as imperative, know ye, as calling attention to what follows.