James a devotional study
INTRODUCTION - James
James, one of the brothers of Jesus, became a leader of the church in Jerusalem after Jesus’ death and resurrection. He was respected for the advice he gave and for the wise decisions he helped the community of believers make (see Acts 15:13-21). At one point he decided to write down some of his best teachings and advice and send them to other Jewish believers in Jesus who were scattered throughout the Roman Empire. What he wrote to them has become known as the book of James.
The driving point of James is this: now that God has given us new life (James 1:18), we should live in such a way that this new life is reflected in our actions. We are to be doers of the word and not just hearers of it. Our faith is to be a living faith, which produces good works, not a dead faith, which is really no faith at all.
James drives this point home throughout his book, holding up issue after issue for consideration in light of that main point. In James 1, he talks about how a follower of Jesus will handle trials and temptations. In James 2, he tells followers of Jesus how they should act in the presence of powerful people and weak people. In James 3, he tells them how a Christian should control his or her tongue, and in James 4 he discusses how Christians should handle conflict with other people. Finally, in James 5, he reminds us to live as Christians in the eager anticipation and certainty of Christ’s imminent return.
KEY VERSE
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” (James 1:22)
Study 1 - Our Faith Tested - James 1:1-11
– READ - James 1:1-11 (NLT)
1 This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am writing to the “twelve tribes”—Jewish believers scattered abroad. Greetings!
2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.
3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.
4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.
6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.
7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
9 Believers who are poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them.
10 And those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them. They will fade away like a little flower in the field.
11 The hot sun rises and the grass withers; the little flower droops and falls, and its beauty fades away. In the same way, the rich will fade away with all of their achievements.
– GIVE IT SOME THOUGHT
As a child, you may have played a game with friends in which one player would be trying to find someone or something. Then everyone would try to guide the “seeker” by saying how “warm” or “cold” they were getting. The closer they got to the target, the “warmer” they would be; but when they started to stray in the wrong direction, we’d warn them that they were getting “colder.”
Sometimes we try to play that game with God. We pray for guidance, but what we really want is God’s support for something we already have in mind. When it seems God is helping us toward our desired outcome, we cheer him on: “Warmer … warmer!” But when it seems he is veering away from the goal we want, we warn, “Colder … COLDER!”
When it comes to praying for guidance, prayers like that are just plain backward. We’re not really asking God to guide us; we’re asking God to let us guide him. Instead of looking to serve God, we’re really trying to get him to serve us.
James warns against this role reversal. When we ask for God’s guidance, we must have his goals in mind, not ours. And we must ask and believe that God will answer. We must steer straight to avoid being tossed about by the wind.
When you ask God to guide you, are you looking in his direction?
– DISCUSSION POSSIBILITIES
Joy in Trials (James 1:1–4)
James identifies himself as “a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Knowing that James would have grown up with Jesus—known him as a child, a teenager, a young adult—does it seem remarkable to you that James would now call his brother “Lord” and “Christ”? What do you think happened that convinced James that Jesus, his crucified brother, is here and now the Lord and Messiah?
James addresses his letter “to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion,” but he is not writing to only Jewish believers. He is alluding to the fact that just as the children of Israel were dispersed throughout the world in their exile, so also believers in Christ are now aliens and strangers who are waiting for God to gather them home to himself (see also 1 Pet. 1:1; 2:11). What, then, is the connection between James 1:1 and 2? How does a reminder to Christians of their status as aliens and strangers in this world set up James’s exhortation to them to “count it all joy” when they meet trials?
James 1:2–4 is a chain argument in which one thing leads to another. Trace the chain that James describes. What is the end result of our trials?
The word translated “steadfastness” in James 1:3 literally means “to remain under,” like a person holding up a heavy weight for a long period of time. Think of someone who lifts weights for exercise. What is the “full effect” of that person’s “steadfastness?” What are some of the effects of our remaining steadfast under the weight of trials?
Wisdom from God in Trials (James 1:5–8)
The exhortation in James 1:5 to ask God for wisdom is not disconnected from the theme of persevering under trials. – Read Proverbs 2:1–15. What is wisdom? Where does it come from? What are the benefits of having wisdom?
As in the Old Testament, wisdom is a God-given and God-centered discernment regarding God’s world and how best to live in it. In other words, it is seeing the world and your circumstances as God sees them and then acting in accord with that knowledge. How, then, does God see our trials in this life? How is that different from the way we are tempted to see them? If we could understand our trials as God understands them, how would we act differently?
The word translated as “doubt” in James 1:6 is literally “dispute.” It is used in many different contexts to refer to a dispute with another person. Here, though, James uses the word to refer to a person disputing within one’s own self! In other words, to doubt is to be a person of a fundamentally divided mind and a fundamentally inconsistent attitude toward God. It’s a reckless and wavering distrust—a refusal finally to trust God. The point is not that a Christian never has doubts; it’s that a Christian never allows his mind to become so divided and self-disputing that it welcomes those doubts. A Christian will always strive to take the side of God and truth against doubts when they arise. What are some strategies Christians can use to fight doubt? How can you resist becoming “a double-minded person, unstable in all your ways?”
Don’t Trust in Yourself, No Matter Your Station in Life (James 1:9–11)
James has much to say in his book about poverty and wealth, and how God expects us to use the resources he gives us. Most of the time in this book, the wealthy are evil people who are oppressing James’s readers (e.g., James 2:6 and James 5:1–5). But is that always true? – Read James 4:13–15. James is speaking here to a group of relatively wealthy businesspeople who are traveling to another city in order to make a profit. But it also seems that these businesspeople might be believers! Here’s why: When James addresses wicked, rich oppressors, he doesn’t exhort them to do anything; he simply condemns them. Here, though, he treats these businesspeople as Christians, teaching them to adjust their thinking and their speech to fit true theology. So does James set up a simplistic “poor equals righteous, rich equals wicked” equation? Does the rest of the Bible? What is the Bible’s general opinion of wealth—that it is evil, or that it is dangerous? What other passages of Scripture support your answer?
– SIMILAR SCRIPTURE
Luke 21:19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.
Matthew 5:48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
1 Peter 5:10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
2 Timothy 3:17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Hebrews 13:21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Habakkuk 2:3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.
Galatians 6:9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
Psalm 40:1 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.
Psalm 37:7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!
Philippians 3:12-15 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
1 Corinthians 2:6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away.
Matthew 10:22 and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
Colossians 4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.
Luke 8:15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.
Job 17:9 Yet the righteous holds to his way, and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger.
1 John 4:17-18 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
Proverbs 4:8 Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her.
2 Peter 1:9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.
John 17:23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
Matthew 19:20 The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?”
Mark 10:21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
Study 2 - The Process of Temptation - James 1:12–18
– READ - James 1:12–18 (NLT)
12 God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
13 And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else.
14 Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.
15 These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.
16 So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters.
17 Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.
18 He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.
– GIVE IT SOME THOUGHT
The petition “Lead us not into temptation” (Matthew 6:13) has often confused people. It can be misread to imply that God leads us into temptation. But would God actually do that? No.
As we reflect on this petition, let’s be perfectly clear: God does not tempt us. Period.
But, as the book of James helps us understand, God does allow testing and trials. God tested Abraham, Moses, Job, and others. Jesus himself faced temptations in the wilderness, testing at the hands of religious leaders, and an unimaginable trial as he gave up his own life to pay the debt of our sins.
God allows testing and trials as opportunities for refining our faith. It’s not so that he can say “Gotcha!” or pounce on our failings or make accusations. Out of fatherly love, God can use trials and testing to nudge us along in our growth in faith as followers of Jesus.
When we pray, “Lead us not into temptation,” we’re humbly admitting our own weakness and tendency to stumble. We’re reaching out in sheer dependence on God. We’re asking him to guide and help us through every trial and temptation of life. We’re trusting and believing with all of our hearts that he will never leave us or forsake us but always love and protect us.
– DISCUSSION POSSIBILITIES
Reward for Those Who Endure (James 1:12)
What is the reward that James promises will come to those who steadfastly endure trials? Can you think of other passages of Scripture that point to similar rewards?
How should the promise of reward for endurance motivate us in our walk with Christ?
The Process of Temptation (James 1:13–15)
We often read James 1:12–13 as if James is moving from one topic to a wholly different one—as if he has been talking about trials but is now moving on to talk about temptation. The two concepts are tightly related, however, because trials in our lives will always lead us to temptation. Financial struggle, for example, leads us to distrust God. Stress tempts us to be selfish. Name some specific trials that you have experienced, and consider the sins that you were tempted to fall into because of those trials.
The Bible teaches that God often, in his providence, ordains that his people should face trials. What passages of Scripture teach that truth? What stories in the Bible illustrate it?
If God sometimes ordains that his people will face trials, what then is James saying in James 1:13 that God does not do? (Hint: there is a difference between trial and temptation! See the note on James 1:13 in the ESV Study Bible.)
In James 1:14–15, James uses two metaphors to describe the process of temptation and sin in our hearts. The first, in James 1:14, is an image from fishing. Temptation “entices” a person to bite down on sin, and then when the hook is set, he or she is “dragged away.” That is a terrifying thought. We see the pleasure of sin, are enticed by it, and then before we even realize it, we have lost all control and sin is dragging us away. How have you seen that process of temptation, enticement, sin, and dragging away play out in your own life?
The second metaphor James uses is one of conception and birth. What does it mean for a desire to “conceive?”
When once we act on our evil desires and give birth to sin, what does James say is the end result after sin “is fully grown?”
God’s Goodness and Faithfulness (James 1:16–18)
Why does James turn in James 1:16 to talk about God’s goodness and faithfulness? What are his – Readers in danger of deceiving themselves about, with particular reference to their trials and the temptations that come with them?
With what do you think James is contrasting God when he says that “with [him] there is no variation or shadow due to change?”
What does it mean to be “brought forth?” Has James used this metaphor before in this chapter? – Read John 3:1–6. Where did James get this idea of Christians having been “brought forth?”
What is the “word of truth?” If we are brought forth “by the word of truth,” do you think it’s possible for a person to be saved apart from the gospel?
James’s point in James 1:18 is to show his – Readers that God is good and that he gives good gifts. How does his example of the gift of regeneration accomplish that goal? (read Romans 8:32. James is using the same kind of reasoning.)
– SIMILAR SCRIPTURE
Mark 7:21-22 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.
Ephesians 4:22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,
Matthew 15:18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.
Hebrews 3:13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Isaiah 44:20 He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”
Romans 7:13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.
James 4:1-2 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.
Job 31:9 “If my heart has been enticed toward a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door,
Matthew 5:28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
Job 31:27 and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand,
Romans 7:11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.
Matthew 15:20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”
1 Kings 21:2-4 And after this Ahab said to Naboth, “Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near my house, and I will give you a better vineyard for it; or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its value in money.” But Naboth said to Ahab, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.” And Ahab went into his house vexed and sullen because of what Naboth the Jezreelite had said to him, for he had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my fathers.” And he lay down on his bed and turned away his face and would eat no food.
2 Samuel 11:2-3 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
Joshua 7:21-24 when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.” So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath. And they took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel. And they laid them down before the Lord. And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them up to the Valley of Achor.
Genesis 8:21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.
Genesis 6:5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Hosea 13:9 He destroys you, O Israel, for you are against me, against your helper.
Study 3 - Hearing and Doing the Word - James 1:19–27
– READ - James 1:19–27 (NLT)
19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.
20 Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.
21 So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.
22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.
23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror.
24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.
25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
26 If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.
27 Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.
– GIVE IT SOME THOUGHT
It's not enough to hear his words. As James says, "Do not merely listen to the word ... Do what it says" (James 1:22).
Jesus did not preach his sermon so that you and I could simply hear his words and "be amazed at his teaching" (Matthew 7:28). Jesus expects us to act on those words. What a joy it is for me as a preacher to see changed lives in response to the message--lives transformed by the good news of Jesus Christ. Jesus says, "Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on a rock." Living by true wisdom means following God's way through life. It means trusting God and obeying God, doing what's right in all things to the glory of God (see 1 Corinthians 10:31).
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who lost his life standing up against Nazi Germany, wrote a book called The Cost of Discipleship. The cost of being a follower of Jesus and a citizen of God's kingdom is obedience--practicing what we believe. It may mean hardship and suffering, because the world is hostile to the message of Christ. But just as God strengthened Jesus for his mission, so the Holy Spirit strengthens us to live for him.
– DISCUSSION POSSIBILITIES
Hearers of the Word (James 1:19–21)
Reading through the book of James, it is easy to think that he is moralistic in his understanding of what it means to be a Christian. In other words, one can have the impression that he thinks a right relationship with God is all about doing this or doing that. That, however, is a wrong impression. With all his moral instruction and ethical exhortation, James is not telling a person how to become a Christian. How do you know that’s the case? To whom does James address the moral instruction that begins in James 1:19?
If James is speaking to “beloved brothers” beginning in James 1:19, and if doing is not what makes a person a Christian, what then is it that makes a person a Christian? (Hint: look back at James 1:18.)
There is a common line of reasoning in Scripture that runs from the new birth to the putting off of evil. Paul follows that line of reasoning in Romans 6:1–14, and Peter follows it also in 1 Peter 1:1–23. Does James make the same argument? In what verse does he talk about the new birth? In what verse does he talk about “putting away” evil as a result of that new birth?
What kind of mindset does it take to receive the word of God? How would slowness to hear, quickness to speak, and quickness to anger hinder the word from taking root in a person’s heart?
Doers of the Word (James 1:22–25)
James 1:22 is perhaps the best candidate for a “topic sentence” of James’s letter. More than any other verse, it encapsulates the message James wants to get across to his readers. In fact, the rest of the book will unpack this message of doing the word—not just hearing it—by looking at a number of issues with which James’s readers seem to be struggling. Look through the rest of the book of James. What kinds of issues do you see James addressing? Explain how each is a matter of putting God’s word into practice.
What
metaphor does James use to describe a person who only hears the word,
but does not do it? What kinds of things characterize a person who
would look in a mirror and then immediately forget what he sees
(e.g., impatience, refusal to focus, etc.)?
In James
1:25, the author refers to “the perfect law,” and then
explains what he means by calling it “the law of liberty.” What
do you think this “perfect law” is? (See the note on James
1:25 in the ESV Study Bible.)
True, Practical Religion (James 1:26–27)
These verses are often used to say that the essence of Christianity is to live a moral life—in other words, that if you simply do these things, you will be saved. Is that a correct understanding of what James is saying here? How do you know?
James gives three examples in these verses of what it means to do the Word. What are they? (Hint: there is one in James 1:26 and two in James 1:27.)
James uses these three particular examples, probably not to say that they are the only fruits of a life transformed by the word of truth, nor even that they are the most important. After all, the New Testament mentions many different fruits that come from a transformed life. Rather, he probably uses them for two reasons: first, because each of these fruits has a long pedigree in Old Testament teaching; and second, because they seem to be particular struggles of James’s readers. Find one or two Old Testament passages that teach these same things, and then look through James and find where he addresses each of these ideas again.
– SIMILAR SCRIPTURE
Isaiah 1:16-17 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.
1 John 3:17-19 But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him;
Galatians 6:9-10 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Matthew 25:34-46 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?
1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
Isaiah 58:6-7 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
James 4:4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
1 Timothy 5:4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.
Psalm 119:1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord!
Job 31:15-20 Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb? “If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it (for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother's womb I guided the widow), if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or the needy without covering,
Colossians 3:1-3 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Job 29:12-13 because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him. The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
1 Timothy 1:5 The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
Luke 1:6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.
Psalm 68:5 Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.
James 3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Isaiah 1:23 Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow's cause does not come to them.
1 John 5:18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
1 John 5:4-5 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
John 17:14-15 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
Galatians 6:14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Galatians 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
Galatians 1:4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
Study 4 - The Sin of Partiality - James 2:1–13
– READ - James 2:1–13 (NLT)
1 My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others?
2 For example, suppose someone comes into your meeting dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewelry, and another comes in who is poor and dressed in dirty clothes.
3 If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, “You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor”—well,
4 doesn’t this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives?
5 Listen to me, dear brothers and sisters. Hasn’t God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith? Aren’t they the ones who will inherit the Kingdom he promised to those who love him?
6 But you dishonor the poor! Isn’t it the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?
7 Aren’t they the ones who slander Jesus Christ, whose noble name you bear?
8 Yes indeed, it is good when you obey the royal law as found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
9 But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law.
10 For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws.
11 For the same God who said, “You must not commit adultery,” also said, “You must not murder.” So if you murder someone but do not commit adultery, you have still broken the law.
12 So whatever you say or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law that sets you free.
13 There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you.
– GIVE IT SOME THOUGHT
A while back a man decided to become homeless for one week. Dirty, unkempt, with only his backpack and a blanket, he was, as he put it, “visibly homeless.” He slept on a bench in the center of our well-kept town or in a shelter for the homeless. He wanted to know how people viewed the homeless.
He found out! Most of the people who walked past him ignored him, except to express their disapproval. One well-dressed elderly gentleman who saw him reading a Bible walked past, saying, “That’s a good book.” The only person who asked if he needed anything was another homeless person. He experienced something of the “favoritism” James writes about.
In most of today’s churches, we no longer judge people by the way they dress, because “dressing down” has almost become a fashion statement. But favoritism is alive and well in our culture. We favor those who are on the cutting edge: the well-to-do, beautiful people, stand-out athletes, and high achievers.
James warns us not to show favoritism. In God’s sight, the poor are as important as the rich. The special needs child is as precious as the most outstanding athlete. “The Lord does not look at the things human beings look at… The Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). As believers in Jesus, we are called to do the same.
– DISCUSSION POSSIBILITIES
Preferring the Wealthy over the Poor (James 2:1–4)
– READ James 2:1–4. What is the particular problem that James is addressing among these believers?
Why do you think these believers would act in this way? Why would they show partiality to the rich and powerful?
What does James want his readers to do instead of showing partiality to the rich and powerful? Does he want them to show partiality to the poor? read James 2:1 carefully!
Why does James think it is so bad to make “distinctions among yourselves?” read Ephesians 4:1–3 and 1 Peter 3:8 before you answer.
Do you remember James’s teaching in James 1:6–8 about “doubting?” The word “doubt” there meant something like “self-disputing,” or being divided against oneself, turned against oneself. Well, the word “distinctions” here in James 2:4 is the same word. How does that idea of being divided and turned against oneself help you understand why it is so bad to have such “distinctions” created in the church?
Three Reasons Why Showing Partiality Is Ungodly (James 2:5–13)
In James 2:5, the author gives the first of three reasons why showing partiality to the rich and powerful is wrong. It is, simply, that to do so is utterly unlike God! While these Christians are genuflecting before the rich and powerful, James says, God has chosen to give the gifts of faith and the kingdom to those who are poor in the world’s eyes. In fact, God has a long history in the Old Testament of showing special care and concern for the poor. Can you find some passages in the Old Testament that show this?
Think more about God’s special concern for the poor, shown in the Old Testament. Why does he do this? read Psalm 10:12–14. You see? It is those who are helpless to whom God shows special concern—those who are marked by a recognition that they cannot help themselves. And throughout Scripture, poverty tends toward that kind of humility more than wealth does. In the same way, sickness tends toward humility more than health. That’s why Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick” (Matt. 9:12). Can you see in your own life how wealth, health, or other strengths lead you to rely on those things rather than on God? Explain how that works in your experience. Explain, too, how weaknesses lead you to humbly lean on God.
Is James saying here that being materially poor automatically results in salvation? Look carefully at James 2:5. To whom has God promised the kingdom? To “those who have little money”?
In James 2:8–9, the author gives a third reason why showing partiality to the rich and powerful is wrong: It is a violation of the King’s law. The word “royal” is important in understanding which body of law James is referring to. It is not the Old Testament law in itself, but rather the Old Testament law as interpreted and fulfilled by King Jesus. That’s what makes the law royal; it belongs to the King! Can you think of some Scriptures where Jesus claims the right to interpret the Old Testament law—that is, to say what it actually means?
James says that the royal law accords with the commandment “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” In other words, that commandment encapsulates and sums up the law that King Jesus gives to his people. Why does James choose that particular commandment as the “summing up” one? Does he pick it at random out of all the commandments Jesus gives, or does Jesus himself give it some special status? (Hint: read Matthew 22:36–40.)
In James 2:10–11, why is it true that breaking one commandment of the law makes a person accountable for the whole law?
– SIMILAR SCRIPTURE
Proverbs 24:23 These also are sayings of the wise. Partiality in judging is not good.
James 2:9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
Deuteronomy 16:19 You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.
Leviticus 19:15 “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.
Deuteronomy 1:17 You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgment is God's. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’
Proverbs 28:21 To show partiality is not good, but for a piece of bread a man will do wrong.
2 Chronicles 19:7 Now then, let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with the Lord our God, or partiality or taking bribes.”
Matthew 22:16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances.
James 3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
James 2:3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,”
Jude 1:16 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.
1 Corinthians 2:8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
1 Timothy 5:21 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality.
Revelation 14:12 Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
Titus 2:13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
Titus 1:1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness,
1 Timothy 1:19 holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith,
Acts 20:21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:1 Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
Hebrews 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Psalm 24:7-10 Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory! Selah
Colossians 1:4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints,
Acts 7:2 And Stephen said: “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,
Romans 1:11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—
Study 5 - Faith Without Works Is Dead - James 2:14–26
– READ - James 2:14–26 (NLT)
14 What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone?
15 Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing,
16 and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?
17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
18 Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”
19 You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror.
20 How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?
21 Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
22 You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete.
23 And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God.
24 So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone.
25 Rahab the prostitute is another example. She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road.
26 Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.
– GIVE IT SOME THOUGHT
How do faith and actions (good works, obedience) fit together? While recognizing that salvation is completely a gift from God, including the faith necessary for believing in Jesus as Savior, the Reformers were sometimes troubled by James’s teaching about faith and actions.
For a while, Martin Luther was so adamant about justification through faith alone that he doubted the book of James even belonged in the Bible because of its emphasis on actions and faith. But other Reformers maintained that the importance of grateful actions as a demonstration of faith and a proof against hypocrisy shows that James delivers a clear and authoritative word from God.
Perhaps it can help to say, as some have said, “Faith is the beginning of obedience, and obedience is the completion of faith.” That resonates with Ephesians 2:10, where Paul, after teaching that we are saved by grace through faith, adds that we are “created in Christ Jesus to do good works.” In other words, a natural result of the Spirit’s work to bring us to faith in the loving God is to respond by showing thanks to God and by sharing his love with others. So good works are a natural outcome of faith.
Thankful works and obedience can also be helpful indicators of our growth as Christ's followers. In what ways are you showing God’s love lately?
– DISCUSSION POSSIBILITIES
Faith without Works (James 2:14–17)
James 2:14 and James 2:17 best encapsulate the author’s main point in this section of his letter. What is his main point? When he says that faith needs to “have works” in order to be saving, does he mean that works need to be added to faith, or that works should naturally grow from faith?
Look at the three times James uses the word “faith” in these four verses. Each time, he is talking about something that is actually less than—and therefore not at all—genuine, saving faith. What textual clues do you see that would signal James’s understanding that this is not genuine faith? (Hint: The first time he uses the word, he says “if someone says he has faith,” not “if someone has faith.” What similar clues show up in the second and third uses of the word?)
James’s understanding of the relationship between faith and works seems to be something like the planting of a seed. If a seed (faith) is truly alive, it will produce a plant (works). If it doesn’t produce a plant, however, it does not do any good to grab a plant and stick it into the soil above the seed. That doesn’t make the seed any more alive; it is still dead! In the same way, James is not saying that faith is dead until works are added to it. On the contrary, faith is only alive if it naturally produces good works—in the same way as a seed is only alive if it naturally produces a plant. Adding good works to faith no more makes faith alive than cramming a plant on top of a seed makes the seed alive. Understanding that, explain James 2:17 in your own words.
Response of a Critic (James 2:18–20)
In James 2:18, the author begins a brief conversation with an imaginary opponent. “You have faith and I have works,” the opponent says. In other words, some people have faith and others have works, but both aren’t necessary. James counters by asserting that, no, faith and works are vitally connected. “Show me your faith apart from your works!” he challenges. “You can’t! Because the way you know faith is alive—the way you show it to be real—is by the works that come from it.” How does James’s comment about demons’ “faith” in James 2:19 help to establish his point?
What’s the difference between merely correct theology and genuine, living faith.
Examples of Abraham and Rahab (James 2:21–26)
After taunting his imaginary opponent by asking if he wants to be shown that faith which doesn’t issue in works is useless, James uses the examples of Abraham and Rahab to illustrate his point. In James 2:21, what does the phrase mean which says that Abraham’s “faith was completed by his works?” (Hint: a seed comes to maturity in a plant.) Is he saying that faith is alive but deficient until we add works to it? (Hint: Is a seed alive but deficient until we add a plant to it?)
The word “fulfilled” in James 2:23 has the sense of “reaching its intended goal.” James is saying that Abraham’s belief in God (and his resulting justification) reached their intended goal and came to maturity in his act of obedience to God when he offered Isaac on the altar. Is this understanding (that faith grows to maturity in a life of obedience) different from what Paul teaches elsewhere? Can you think of any verses from Paul’s letters that teach the same thing?
James 2:24 has caused significant confusion among Christians, because it seems to formally contradict Paul’s teaching that we are in fact justified by faith alone. Justification, however, has two different meanings in Scripture. On the one hand is Paul’s somewhat technical use of the word to mean “a judicial declaration, an acquittal and declaration that a person is to be regarded as righteous.” And Paul says that this justification happens through faith alone, on the basis of Christ’s righteousness alone. On the other hand, however, is an older and more common meaning of justification as “a public presentation of a person as being righteous” (e.g., Matt. 11:19; Luke 7:29; Rom. 3:4). Think of it as the difference between a wedding minister’s pronouncement that a couple are man and wife and his public presentation of them to the congregation as people who are acting in a way that is consonant with the pronouncement he has just made. Keeping in mind that James probably wrote his letter several years before Paul wrote his epistles, which of those two senses of “justify” do you think James is using here?
Is
there any formal contradiction between the following two
statements?“A person is judicially declared righteous through faith
alone, on the basis of Christ’s righteousness alone.”
“A
person is publicly presented as righteous—that is, publicly
vindicated as being righteous—not on the basis of faith alone, but
on the basis of a life of obedience which shows that person’s
professed faith to be real.”
In James 2:25–26, the author uses another example to teach this same point—that faith, if it is real, will result in a life of obedience. Is he saying that Rahab was judicially declared righteous on the basis of her obedience, or that she was publicly shown to be righteous by her obedience?
– SIMILAR SCRIPTURE
Matthew 7:26-27 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Luke 6:49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
Titus 1:16 They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
2 Peter 1:5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,
Hebrews 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son,
Hebrews 13:9 Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.
Hebrews 11:7-8 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
Galatians 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
1 Corinthians 13:2-3 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Acts 8:21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.
Matthew 5:20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
1 John 5:4-5 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Titus 3:8 The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.
1 Timothy 1:5 The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
1 Thessalonians 1:3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Galatians 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
1 Corinthians 15:2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
Acts 15:9 and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.
1 Timothy 4:8 for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
Acts 8:13 Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.
1 Corinthians 16:22 If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come!
Jeremiah 7:8 “Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail.
Romans 2:25 For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.
Study 6- Taming the Tongue - James 3:1–18
– READ - James 3:1–18 (NLT)
1 Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly.
2 Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.
3 We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth.
4 And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong.
5 In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire.
6 And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.
7 People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish,
8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison.
9 Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God.
10 And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!
11 Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water?
12 Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring.
13 If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom.
14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying.
15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic.
16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.
17 But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.
18 And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.
– GIVE IT SOME THOUGHT
The apostle Paul says to Christians, “do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29). Rudeness is certainly one forbidden form of unwholesome talk.
We are inclined to be rude to people because, according to the apostle James, we have a tongue problem! James says, “with the tongue, we praise our Lord and Father, and with it, we curse men who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing” (James 3:9-10). Our insulting, demeaning, rude talk can and does damage people’s sense of self-worth, resulting in tremendous emotional damage, sometimes for a lifetime. We are deceiving ourselves if we think we can praise God, and, at the same time, hurt with our talk men, women, and children whom he has created in his image. Put another way, “anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20).
So, what are we to do with our tongue problem? We should acknowledge that no human being can tame the tongue, but “nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). Once we confess Jesus as our Savior, God pours out his love into our hearts. Slowly and often painfully, his love enables us to put away unwholesome talk (like rudeness), and speak only “what is helpful for building others up.”
– DISCUSSION POSSIBILITIES
The Trouble with the Tongue (James 3:1–12)
The main topic of this passage is the evil of the tongue. Why do you think James starts the section with the exhortation that “not many of you should become teachers”? (Hint: if a lot of sinful people are aspiring to the same position in the church, what can be the result?)
– READ James 3:2. What does James think would be the hardest area of life in which to avoid stumbling?
In James 3:3–5, James uses three examples to explain the power of the tongue, despite its physical smallness. What are the three examples? Explain James’s point in your own words.
James 3:6–12 contains some of the most blistering language in the New Testament, which James directs against the tongue. What phrases does James use in James 3:6 to describe the tongue’s evil? Write out each phrase in the verse, and explain what each means. (Use the note on James 3:5–6 in the ESV Study Bible for help.)
What is the contrast James draws in James 3:7–8? What is he communicating about the tongue?
In James 3:9–12, James points out a fundamental tension in our use of the tongue. The tongue does two things at once—blessing and cursing! What three examples does James use in James 3:11–12 to show the absurdity and sinfulness of using the same tongue to bless God and curse people?
Do you think the tongue deserves everything James is ascribing to it here? Does it really cause that much trouble? Why do you give that answer?
The Solution: Wisdom from Above (James 3:13–18)
If the tongue is so dangerous, what should we do about it? James has al– Ready said in James 1:26 that obedience to the word of God requires us to bridle the tongue. His point seems to be similar here. Instead of being driven by the evil of the tongue, we should be marked by “the meekness of wisdom.” Can you find places in James 3:1–12 that show how the tongue can be marked by pride instead of meekness?
Why would somebody boast about having bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in their heart? Why would they confuse those things with “the wisdom that comes down from above” (James 3:15)? (Hint: if your heart is filled with bitter jealousy, you probably don’t recognize it as such; you probably call it “a desire for fairness” and insist on the wisdom of your position!)
Explain how a church full of jealousy and selfish ambition can collapse into disorder and vileness (James 3:16).
– READ James 3:17–18 and notice all the words James uses to describe a person marked by wisdom from above. How are those things opposed to bitter jealousy and selfish ambition?
– SIMILAR SCRIPTURE
Romans 12:14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
1 Peter 3:9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.
1 Corinthians 3:3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?
Psalm 50:16-20 But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips? For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you. If you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you keep company with adulterers. “You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother's son.
1 Timothy 5:13 Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not.
Micah 3:11 Its heads give judgment for a bribe; its priests teach for a price; its prophets practice divination for money; yet they lean on the Lord and say, “Is not the Lord in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us.”
Jeremiah 7:4-10 Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’ “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever. “Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail.
Genesis 20:9 Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.”
2 Samuel 13:12 She answered him, “No, my brother, do not violate me, for such a thing is not done in Israel; do not do this outrageous thing.
Study 7- The Cause of Quarrels - James 4:1–12
– READ - James 4:1–12 (NLT)
1 What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you?
2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.
3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
4 You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.
5 Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him.
6 And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.
9 Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy.
10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.
11 Don’t speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God’s law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you.
12 God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?
– GIVE IT SOME THOUGHT
Human nature hasn’t changed much in the 2,000 years since these words were written. As James points out, quarrels and fights come from people’s desires for things they don’t have. We want a better job, or a more affectionate spouse, or a place on the team, or a bigger house—or any number of other things. We don’t always get what we want, so we get upset. We strive and argue and fight to get what we want. The assumption we make is “I need it” or “I deserve it.”
There are things we really do need or deserve. But, according to James, most of our desires stem from our love for the world and its things. Each of us needs to evaluate our desires. Where do they come from? Why do we have them? Is it because advertisements convince us we deserve something newer or better? Is it because neighbors or relatives have nicer things than we do, and we are just as good and hard-working as they? This kind of subtle resentment leads to bitterness and frustration. As James says, “Resist the devil,” and instead “come near to God … Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”
Are you unhappy or quarrelsome today? See how many of your desires are justifiable or really important. Then draw near to God, the source of all blessing. He will, in his time, lift you up.
– DISCUSSION POSSIBILITIES
The Cause of Quarrels (James 4:1–5)
In James 4:1–3, the author gives us a profound analysis of human conflict. People have wondered for centuries what causes conflict, and they have given multiple answers to the question: differing philosophies, inaccurate assumptions, differing expectations, differences in culture, differing conflict resolution strategies. James, however, cuts right to the root. He gives an answer that is so self-evidently true that it now seems inescapably obvious to us, something that, once said, can never be denied. What is James’s answer? “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?”
In James 4:2, is the author accusing members of the church of actually, physically killing each other? (Hint: – Read Matthew 5:21–22 before you answer.)
Ponder James 4:3. Is every desire a good desire? How do you tell the difference between a good desire and a bad one?
In James 4:4–5, James makes the point that you cannot be driven by ungodly desires and expect to be in friendship with God. Where else in the Bible is this truth taught?
There is no specific verse of Scripture that says precisely, word for word, what James says in James 4:5. Is James misquoting Scripture? Look at the ESV Study Bible notes on James 4:5 and James 3:14. Which theme of Scripture’s teaching is James probably referencing in this verse?
The Nature of Repentance (James 4:6–10)
In James 4:6, what does James say is the antidote to the prideful desires that cause quarrels?
In James 4:7–10, James exhorts believers to do seven things in order to counteract pride in their lives. List those seven exhortations, and explain what James means by each of them.
Who Are You to Judge? (James 4:11–12)
In James 4:11–12, James returns to the main theme of these last few verses—the way some in the Christian community were speaking evil of one another out of jealousy and a selfish ambition for status in the church. “Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.” But – Read the rest of James 4:11. What is the reason James gives for not speaking evil against each other?
To what specific commandment does James point in James 2:8 as summing up or encapsulating the heart of King Jesus’ royal law? How is it a violation of that commandment to speak evil against a brother?
When you know what the law says and deliberately decide not to obey it, but rather to violate it, what are you implicitly saying about that law? (Hint: that it is unworthy of your obedience, etc.) What right do you have to say such things about God’s law? Now, having answered those questions, put James’s point in James 4:11–12 in your own words.
To paraphrase James’s last question in James 4:12, what right do you have to violate the heart of the royal law by judging your brother instead of loving him?
– SIMILAR SCRIPTURE
1 Peter 2:11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.
Romans 7:23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
Galatians 5:17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
Jude 1:16-18 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage. But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.”
Romans 8:7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.
2 Peter 3:3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.
1 Peter 1:14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
Mark 7:21-23 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Titus 3:3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
Colossians 3:5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Genesis 4:5-8 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.
2 Peter 2:18 For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.
Titus 3:9 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.
1 Peter 4:2-3 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.
1 Timothy 6:4-10 he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
Romans 7:5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Study 8 - Sins of the Wealthy - James 4:13–5:6
– READ - James 4:13–5:6 (NLT)
13 Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.”
14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.
15 What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”
16 Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil.
17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.
James 5
1 Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you.
2 Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags.
3 Your gold and silver are corroded. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This corroded treasure you have hoarded will testify against you on the day of judgment.
4 For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
5 You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter.
6 You have condemned and killed innocent people, who do not resist you.
– GIVE IT SOME THOUGHT
Sooner or later we are all faced with life situations that go beyond our control. Whether it’s a sickness, the tension in a relationship or at work, loss of a job, or advancing age, we come to realize that we have no ability to control the outcome. We must simply be patient and, as is often said, “live one day at a time.” Though we usually learn this lesson later in life, it might be helpful to learn it far earlier.
Learning that we have no control over our lives, however, may not necessarily help us. It could simply lead us to despair that nothing will ever turn out. “What’s the use of even trying?” we might ask.
But James gives Christian pilgrims the way to move forward with assurance: praying that God’s will be done.
Jesus taught his disciples this important principle in the Lord’s Prayer, highlighting that his followers can ask that God’s will be done “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Jesus also prayed that God’s will would be done through his own death for our sake. In paying for our sins, Jesus marked a path for us through death to eternal life so that we can walk with the assurance of God’s presence and guidance now and always.
Are you seeking God’s kingdom and walking in his will, even when you cannot control your circumstances?
– DISCUSSION POSSIBILITIES
Boasting about Tomorrow (James 4:13–17)
James 4:13–17 is a straightforward assault on human pride and presumptuousness. Describe the kind of person to whom this section seems to be addressed. What kind of enterprise do these people seem to be engaged in? Do they seem to be poor or fairly affluent?
Do you think the people addressed in these verses are professing Christians? What clues in the text lead you to that conclusion? (Hint: look carefully at James 4:15.)
What mistake are these businesspeople making in their assumptions (James 4:13–14)? What sins underlie these mistaken assumptions?
What does James say ought to be a Christian’s frame of mind when thinking about the future? Is James saying that planning or investing for the future is wrong? If not, what then is he saying is wrong?
Do you think you should actually say the phrase “if the Lord wills” when you talk about the future? Even if it’s not necessary to say it every time, how can you work to cultivate that kind of dependence on God in your own life and thinking?
Essentially, James is here taking aim at the human tendency to think we are in control. What kinds of bad effects does a godless sense of self-sovereignty have in our lives?
Warning to the Rich (James 5:1–6)
If the paragraph in James 4:13–17 is addressed to Christians, to whom is the paragraph in James 5:1–6 addressed? What clues in the text help you describe these people?
This paragraph contains blistering language against wealthy landowners who are oppressing God’s people. As in so much of his letter, James is here resonating deeply with the teaching of the Old Testament. Can you think of some places in the Old Testament that address similar warnings to powerful oppressors?
In what ways were these rich landowners oppressing the church? Give specific examples from the text.
James says that instead of being proud and reveling in their riches and power, they should be doing what? Why?
In what areas of your life do you have a certain degree of power? How do you use it? For example, how do you treat your employees? The family who rents your property? The person who cleans your office building or school? The person who makes your food at a restaurant? Do you treat them as means to the end of your own self-indulgence, or do you treat them as people whom God has put in your life for you to love and care for?
How can you rightly take comfort—as believers do throughout the Bible—at the thought of God’s final judgment of evil, and yet not violate Romans 12:19?
– SIMILAR SCRIPTURE
Proverbs 27:1 Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.
Luke 12:17-20 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’
Genesis 11:3-4 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”
Isaiah 24:2 And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the slave, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor.
Ecclesiastes 2:1 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity.
1 Corinthians 7:30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods,
Ezekiel 7:12 The time has come; the day has arrived. Let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn, for wrath is upon all their multitude.
Isaiah 56:11-12 The dogs have a mighty appetite; they never have enough. But they are shepherds who have no understanding; they have all turned to their own way, each to his own gain, one and all. “Come,” they say, “let me get wine; let us fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be like this day, great beyond measure.”
Isaiah 5:5 And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.
Genesis 11:7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.”
1 Timothy 6:9-10 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
Proverbs 11:28 Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.
Jeremiah 9:23 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches,
Proverbs 11:4 Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.
Luke 6:24-25 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
Luke 12:16-21 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’
Isaiah 13:6 Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come!
Luke 16:19-25 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.
Matthew 19:23-24 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
Micah 6:12 Your rich men are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
Psalm 73:3-9 For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies.
Zechariah 11:2-3 Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, for the glorious trees are ruined! Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the thick forest has been felled! The sound of the wail of the shepherds, for their glory is ruined! The sound of the roar of the lions, for the thicket of the Jordan is ruined!
Zephaniah 1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the Lord. In the fire of his jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
Jeremiah 4:8 For this put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned back from us.”
Psalm 73:18-20 Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
Job 20:15-29 He swallows down riches and vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly. He will suck the poison of cobras; the tongue of a viper will kill him. He will not look upon the rivers, the streams flowing with honey and curds. He will give back the fruit of his toil and will not swallow it down; from the profit of his trading he will get no enjoyment. For he has crushed and abandoned the poor; he has seized a house that he did not build.
Nehemiah 9:25-26 And they captured fortified cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns al– Ready hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness. “Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies.
Deuteronomy 32:15 “But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
Revelation 6:15-17 Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”
Luke 23:28-29 But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’
Amos 6:6-7 who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile, and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.”
Joel 1:13 Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Go in, pass the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God! Because grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God.
Joel 1:11 Be ashamed, O tillers of the soil; wail, O vinedressers, for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished.
Joel 1:5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep, and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth.
Ezekiel 19:2 and say: What was your mother? A lioness! Among lions she crouched; in the midst of young lions she reared her cubs.
Isaiah 22:12-13 In that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth; and behold, joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
Ecclesiastes 5:13-14 There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand.
Psalm 49:6-20 those who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches? Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice, that he should live on forever and never see the pit. For he sees that even the wise die; the fool and the stupid alike must perish and leave their wealth to others.
Study 9- Patience in Suffering - James 5:7–12
– READ - James 5:7–12 (NLT)
7 Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen.
8 You, too, must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near.
9 Don’t grumble about each other, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. For look—the Judge is standing at the door!
10 For examples of patience in suffering, dear brothers and sisters, look at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
11 We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy.
12 But most of all, my brothers and sisters, never take an oath, by heaven or earth or anything else. Just say a simple yes or no, so that you will not sin and be condemned.
– GIVE IT SOME THOUGHT
“Patience is a virtue,” an old proverb says. Certainly, this is true when growing crops. Apples don’t blossom one day and bear fruit the next. Seeds don’t sprout and immediately offer ripe grain. People who tend the soil must wait patiently for their harvest, enduring the reality that much about growth is out of their control.
Such patient waiting is an act of faith and hope. All through the growing season, a farmer looks ahead to the promise of a “valuable crop.” The farmer may plant and tend the seed, but it is “the land” that yields the crop.
In the same way, followers of Jesus live in faith and hope that through all the circumstances of life, God promises to bring about a valuable harvest in our lives. Jesus has not forgotten his people. He has given his life for them; he will return to judge sin and destroy it forever. In the meantime, we wait patiently.
Do you presently face unfair pressure at work, betrayal from family members or friends, or injustice from society? Are you weighed down by your own sin or by temptations? Remember how God sustained his people in the past and on through many ages to the present. Trust that God will also send timely relief through Christ’s compassion and mercy as you wait for the harvest of his “valuable crop.”
– DISCUSSION POSSIBILITIES
Be Patient in Suffering (James 5:7–9)
What is the main exhortation that James gives to his – Readers in this paragraph? Why do they need that exhortation?
What illustration does James use to show his – Readers the meaning of patience? How would that illustration help them understand what he is exhorting them to do?
What does the phrase “establish your hearts” mean, practically speaking? How does the reality of Jesus’ return help you to do that?
Are there circumstances in your life under which you need to be patient? What are they? What truths help you to be patient under those trials?
What function is James 5:9 playing? Why does James warn about grumbling? How could a heart that is not “established” lead a person to grumble? What lies at the root of most grumbling, and how could having an established heart cut that root?
Examples of Patience (James 5:10–12)
Why does James point to examples of patience? How do examples from the Bible help us to see what God wants from us, and the importance of those things?
James says that “the prophets” are “an example of suffering and patience.” About whom do you think James is talking there? What examples from the Old Testament can you think of in which someone endured suffering with patience?
In James 5:11, James mentions two things that should give believers comfort and encouragement to stand fast in their trials. What are those two things?
How does being reminded of the steadfastness of Job encourage you to stand fast as well? How does being reminded of the “purpose of the Lord,” that is, “how the Lord is compassionate and merciful,” encourage you to stand fast?
What is James doing with James 5:12? How does ungodly oath-making (like the grumbling in James 5:9) reveal a heart that is not steadfast and established? How does an unestablished heart lead to ungodly oath-making?
Do you think there is any connection or resonance between James 5:12 and James 4:13–15? If so, what is the connection?
– SIMILAR SCRIPTURE
Hebrews 12:1-3 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
Joel 2:23 “Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given the early rain for your vindication; he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before.
Deuteronomy 11:14 he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil.
Galatians 6:9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
Colossians 1:11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;
2 Corinthians 6:4-5 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;
Romans 2:7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;
Hebrews 6:15 And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise.
Galatians 5:5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.
Romans 8:24-25 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Jeremiah 5:24 They do not say in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.’
Matthew 24:44 Therefore you also must be – Ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
1 Thessalonians 2:19 For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you?
Matthew 24:27 For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
1 Thessalonians 3:13 so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
Romans 15:4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Zechariah 10:1 Ask rain from the Lord in the season of the spring rain, from the Lord who makes the storm clouds, and he will give them showers of rain, to everyone the vegetation in the field.
Hosea 6:3 Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.”
2 Peter 3:4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”
1 Thessalonians 1:3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Luke 21:27 And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
Luke 18:8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Luke 8:15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.
Study 10- The Prayer of Faith - James 5:13-20
– READ - James 5:13-20 (NLT)
13 Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises.
14 Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord.
15 Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.
16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.
17 Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years!
18 Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.
19 My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back,
20 you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back from wandering will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins.
– GIVE IT SOME THOUGHT
Some time ago an elderly woman said to me, “In all the years that we’ve been married, my husband has never once told me he was sorry.” She’s not alone. For many people, the words “I’m sorry” are among the most difficult words to say. Some spouses have never once said these words to each other. Some parents never say these words to their children. And some children never tell their parents they are sorry for what they’ve done.
No matter how difficult it may seem to say these words, they are among the most important words in our lives. And once we say them, there’s a sense of freedom and relief. Instead of making us look weak, these words bring us closer to each other. To say “I’m sorry” does not cause us to lose others’ respect. In fact, the opposite is true. Learning to use these powerful words takes us a long way toward healing in our relationships.
Husbands and wives must learn to say “I’m sorry” to each other. Parents must be willing to tell their children they are sorry when they have failed in their parenting. Children must tell their parents when they have done wrong and ask for their forgiveness.
We fail each other in so many ways. If it is difficult for you to say “I’m sorry,” ask the Holy Spirit to change your heart and to teach you to learn to say it and ask for forgiveness.
– DISCUSSION POSSIBILITIES
How does the illustration about Elijah in James 5:17–18 underline James’s main point? What specifically is James trying to get across when he says that Elijah was “a man with a nature like ours,” and then goes on to point out the powerful effects of his prayer? What is he aiming to tell us about prayers and the God who hears them?
James 5:14–16 have been the occasion for much debate and disagreement among Christians. There are several things at issue. First of all, do you think James is there talking about a physically sick person, or a person who is spiritually sick or weak? (Hint: remember that James draws heavily on Jesus, and in Jesus’ teaching, the words used here for “sick” are always used of physical sickness!)
What do you think the oil signifies? Some have argued that it is an example of the sacrament of “extreme unction,” in which a person is anointed with oil just before death to absolve them of sin. Do you see anything in the text that would suggest that? (Hint: no!) Others have suggested that the use of the oil is medicinal. That’s possible, but do you see anything in the text that would lead you to think that the point is something else—that it is not primarily just medicinal? After all, why would medicine need to be applied by the elders in particular? In your answer consider the purpose of oil in the anointing of a king or priest. – Read Exodus 30:30. What does it mean to “consecrate” someone?
In James 5:16, James connects sickness and sin. Can each and every sickness be traced back to a particular sin? (Hint: – Read John 9:2–3.) Can sickness sometimes be traced back to a particular sin? (Hint: – Read John 5:14 and 1 Cor. 11:29–30.) Given that, what do you think James is saying in James 5:16?
What does James mean by saying that “the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick?” What is the prayer of faith? Does he mean that if you simply have enough faith, God will always heal—and that if God doesn’t heal, it’s your fault for not having enough faith? – Read 2 Corinthians 12:7–9. Was Paul’s prayer there not very faithful? – Read Philippians 2:25–27. Were Paul’s prayers for Epaphroditus not faithful enough until Epaphroditus was almost dead? – Read 2 Timothy 4:20. Did Paul not pray hard enough and faithfully enough before he left Miletus?
Many people believe that James is talking about a special gift of faith—that is, a gift of extraordinary certainty that God gives to a person when he has al– Ready determined to heal someone. First Corinthians 12:9 may be talking about a gift of faith like that. How will that understanding of a gift of faith according to God differ from an understanding that would say James is commanding us to work up enough faith within ourselves so that people will be healed through our praying?
Another possibility is that James is simply picking up again on the teaching of Jesus, which he does often. In that case, he would simply be teaching about the power of praying with faith, just as Jesus often did. – Read Matthew 21:21–22. Those verses sound just as absolute as James’s saying that “the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick,” but they also assume the theological truth that God is sovereign—that is, he determines how he will answer our prayers. In other words, you will get what you ask for when you pray in faith if what you ask for is in line with God’s will. That is a truth stated explicitly in 1 John 5:14–15, but it underlies all of the Bible’s teaching about prayer. If that’s the case, then what is James’s meaning when he says, “And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick?”
Once we understand all the details, James’s point comes through loud and clear: prayer is powerful, and God wants to answer prayer! Do you pray with the understanding that God desires to answer our prayers, or do you pray with the expectation that he won’t answer them?
James 5:19–20 forms a conclusion to the whole book of James. What does James exhort us as Christians to do for each other? What is the benefit of our caring for one another in that way?
– SIMILAR SCRIPTURE
Jeremiah 29:12-13 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Matthew 21:22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
Proverbs 15:29 The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.
John 9:31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.
Psalm 34:15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.
1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Jeremiah 33:3 Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
Matthew 7:7-11 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
1 John 3:22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
Psalm 145:18-19 The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.
Daniel 9:20-22 While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding.
Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.
Acts 19:18 Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices.
Luke 11:11-13 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Psalm 10:17-18 O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 pray without ceasing,
Proverbs 28:9 If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.
Job 42:8 Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.”
Genesis 20:17 Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children.
Hebrews 12:13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.
Numbers 11:2 Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down.
Matthew 3:6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
Genesis 18:23-32 Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes.
1 Thessalonians 5:25 Brothers, pray for us.
Luke 18:1-8 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’”
2 Chronicles 30:20 And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.
2 Kings 20:2-5 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, “Now, O Lord, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord,
2 Kings 4:33-35 So he went in and shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to the Lord. Then he went up and lay on the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. And as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm. Then he got up again and walked once back and forth in the house, and went up and stretched himself upon him. The child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.
Exodus 9:28-29 Plead with the Lord, for there has been enough of God's thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord's.
Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
Romans 5:19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.
Romans 3:10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
Acts 12:5-11 So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.
Hebrews 13:18 Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.
Acts 4:24-31 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed’— for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
1 Kings 17:18-24 And she said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!” And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed. And he cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?” Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child's life come into him again.” And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived.
Joshua 10:12 At that time Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.”
Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.
Acts 10:38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
Numbers 21:7-9 And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
Genesis 19:29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Luke 7:3-4 When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him,
2 Chronicles 32:20-22 Then Hezekiah the king and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, prayed because of this and cried to heaven. And the Lord sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty warriors and commanders and officers in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he came into the house of his god, some of his own sons struck him down there with the sword. So the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from the hand of all his enemies, and he provided for them on every side.
2 Chronicles 14:11-12 And Asa cried to the Lord his God, “O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.” So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.
1 Kings 13:6 And the king said to the man of God, “Entreat now the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” And the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king's hand was restored to him and became as it was before.
Exodus 17:11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.
Genesis 20:7 Now then, return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”
Luke 9:6 And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.
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