What an important message James gives as I look into the new year. James teaches me to persevere in all that is good. James teaches me to ask God for whatever I need and to be content with whatever I get. James teaches me to always stay humble and, rather than fighting my brothers, to be at peace with them and to fight against the sinful desires that war within me and seek to destroy me. James teaches me to respect everyone, curse no one, and help everyone, no matter their social standing, to live out their faith. James teaches me to let praise, prayer, confession and conversion be what characterizes my life. James describes the normal Christian life. It is one of uncomplaining, undescriminating, persevering faith in the Lord.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, my dear brothers and sisters!

My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins (James 5:19-20).

I have often misread this verse. I read it in such a way that someone else was always the one who strayed from the truth. Yet, the passage clearly includes me in that number, for it says "any among you". I too may stray from the truth, and if a brother corrects me, I should be most grateful because by doing so he may haved saved my soul and gained forgiveness for my sins.

Friends, let us be open to rebuke and correction, especially from our brothers and sisters in Christ. How else can we be a holy people unless we can sharpen one another in this way? Yet, if we bite and devour each other at the first hint of rebuke, how can we encourage one another to be salt and light in this dark world (cf. Galatians 5:15)? We ought to welcome correction, because it is for our good. Instead, when we are corrected, we are quick to point out the faults of the one correcting us rather than humbly listening, deeply reflecting, and prayerfully submitting ourselves to God's counsel and direction.

Some are so entrenched in their defensiveness, whether by early abuse or years of unchecked abusing, they have become pathological, even sociopathic. They automatically react to any kind of criticism or correction. I sense Jesus had such people in mind when he said, 

Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces (Matthew 7:6).

It is not wise to rebuke or correct such people, for they have too deeply sown the seeds for their own destruction, and anyone that puts himself in their path will either be hurt by them or destroyed with them. Such people are like those possessed by hard demons, who Jesus said could only be exorcised by prayer and fasting. I recall the words of Paul:

Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will (2 Timothy 2:25-26).

Some people are entrapped by the devil and can only be rescued by God. Therefore, while we do not confront, we do not forget about such people, especially if they profess the Name of Christ, but we pray for them. 

Let us not be like the foolish ones who do not know how to receive rebuke and correction. Let us be like the wise, who not only welcome correction (cf. Proverbs 23:9;9:8;12:1) but from it grow wiser still (Proverbs 9:9).

Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him (James 1:12).

James writes that while temptations arise from our own lusts, trials come from the Lord. Unlike temptations, which are designed to ensnare and ultimately destroy us (cf. James 1:13-15), trials are given to make us better and stronger. Temptations start out pleasurable but end in great loss. Trials start out painful but end in great gain. A parallel passage to James 1:12 is Hebrews 12:11, where we read,

All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Instead of "trials" the word "discipline" is used. The same perseverance required of trials is required of the Lord's discipline. And just as there is a "crown of life" for perseverance under trial, there is a "peaceful fruit of righteousness" for perseverance through discipline.

The interesting nuance in the passage from Hebrews is the perspective of training. It is not a passive endurance of trials that is in view but a persevering effort while bearing the weight of trials. The body-builder does not grow muscles by simply lying under a heavy weight. He grows muscles as he pushes against the resistance of that weight. The believer does not grow in character and righteousness simply by cowering under the weight of temptation, social pressure, and hardships. No, he grows when he pushes against such resistance by choosing righteousness, humbly serving and giving even to his own hurt, and refusing to compromise integrity while seeking positive results. 

Friends, let us persevere in righteousness under trial because it is for our good. Let us not complain about hardship, knowing that we may very well be experiecing the Lord's discipline, from which we will only get better. If we could see every trial in this way, our joy would know no bounds. Paul testified to this:

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead... in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds (2 Corinthians 1:8-9; 7:4).

Paul experienced no small trial, but even in the midst of this trial, by understanding the purpose and end of his trials, he was able to experience boundless joy. I pray that all of us will know kind of joy in our walk with the Lord.

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For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law (James 2:10-11).

James writes something that seems obvious. One does not have to break every law to be considered a lawbreaker. One only needs to break one law. In the same way, one only needs to break one of the Ten Commandments to be considered a law breaker before God. So an adulteress is a lawbreaker just as much as a murderer. 

However, James does not suggest that adultery and murder are the same. To suggest that it is would be a logical non sequitur, for saying that one sin as another makes one a lawbreaker is not the same as saying that all sins are the same degree of evil. For even in contemporary jurisprudence, we know that while a murderer and a petty thief are both criminals, their crimes are not equally heinous, nor do they receive the same punishment. Likewise, it would be wrong for anyone to conclude that since breaking one of God's laws makes one a lawbreaker, this in turn makes all sins the same. All sins are not the same. Even the Lord said as much to Pilate:

Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin (John 19:11).

Friends, I have heard more than once from a sincere believer that all sins are alike in the eyes of God. And they use this text in James to support their view. But they are sincerely wrong in both their view and their understanding of this text in James. All sins are not alike in the eyes of God.

Now, we may say that all are sinners in the eyes of God (cf. Romans 3:23), but not every sin is equally evil. Sometimes in our zeal to defend God's holiness, we go too far in our claims. This is both unnecessary and ultimately harmful to our Cause. 

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4).

The Bible here teaches us to consider whatever kinds of trials we may experience in our lives as "all joy". It does not speak of trials moderately, admitting to some bad parts as well as good parts. No, we are commanded to consider all of it joy. Why?

It is all joy because every aspect of every trial is given by God to test our faith and produce endurance. And when these tests are received with joy in the Lord, without complaint or resistance, then they will achieve the perfect result that God intended for them to achieve. 

Every blow of trial is like the striking of a rock hammer against the rough, dull, and useless block of our lives. The master craftsman is the Lord, and He strikes His blows to perfect our character. He is crafting our lives to be like the perfect model that is Christ Jesus, who also learned obedience by that which He suffered (cf. Hebrews 5:8). When we suffer, it is by God's design, so that we might walk in the footsteps of Christ:

For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:21).

This is the perfection that God has in mind, that we might be like Christ. So Paul writes,

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29).

This was Paul's ambition for himself:

That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:10-12).

To be "perfect and complete, lacking in nothing", therefore, is to be like Christ. So Paul writes that the whole purpose of the ministries God gave among men was to this end:

Until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13).

He, that is Christ Jesus, is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. He is our all and all.

But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:30).

So, when James next writes, "But if any of you lacks wisdom...", there is a strong sense that this wisdom has everything to do with what he has just counseled with respect to considering every trial a joy and with respect to the goal of perfection, which is simply being like Christ. As the passage in 1 Corinthians 1:30 reveals, Christ Jesus Himself is the "wisdom from God". Our perspective on trial is not simply some proverbial tidbit. It arises from a relationship with Christ, who suffered for us, leaving us an example, to walk in His steps (cf. 1 Peter 2:21). 

The wisdom is not simply in becoming someone who endures trials well. No, the wisdom is in becoming more like Christ. By His suffering, He demonstrated that His love and absolute obedience to God knew no bounds. Likewise, when we suffer in faith, we manifest the greater excellencies of Christ:

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed (1 Peter 1:6-7).

This is also why James writes that there can be no wisdom apart from faith:

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. (James 1:5-6).

The trials are given to test and strengthen faith. If there is no faith to test and strengthen, the trials would then be pointless. What is more, the asking in faith is not simply believing that God will grant wisdom, but believing in Christ (cf. James 2:1 that James has faith in Christ in mind), who is the embodiment of wisdom from God (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:30). And to doubt is not simply to doubt God's willingness or ability to give wisdom but to disbelieve in Christ, through whom all good things come (cf. Hebrews 13:21; Philippians 4:13; Romans 8:28ff). That is also why James says that such a person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord:

For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (James 1:7-8).

On the other hand, when we trust in Christ, who is God's best thing, we can be sure that He will not withhold any other good thing from us:

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32).

This is also why Paul can write that no amount of suffering can compare to the glorious inheritance that he expects to receive in Christ:

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us (Romans 8:18).

For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing (2 Timothy 4:6-8).

Friends, I hope you can see why James speaks of Christians rejoicing in every trial. When the trial is understood from the perspective of faith in Christ Jesus, it can no longer be labeled a simple and useless hardship. It will be seen as a tool of God to refine us into the image of Christ. We will embrace it as a noble calling to walk in the footsteps of Christ, who suffered for us. When we rejoice in our trials, we are declaring the surpassing excellencies of our inheritance in Christ, which makes any trial pale in comparison. We will be like the saints of old, who by faith endured every hardship because they were looking forward to a better inheritance (cf. Hebrews 11:16,26,35).

Trials do not simply make us a better person. No, that is not enough to stir such all-encompassing joy. They will make us Christ-like. They will exalt Christ, our chief love, in our lives. It is with this in vew that Paul can write,

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ (Philippians 3:7-8).

Therefore, dear friends, rejoice! Rejoice in every trial. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice! (Philippians 4:4).

James 1
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

Faith is given by God. Ask in what has been offered by God without doubting God’s sincerity. If he offered, ask for it, and it will be yours; as we just read in Hebrews.

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins (James 5:13-20).

These verses seem to conflate sickness and sin, prayer and confession, and healing and forgiveness. We find something similar in Jesus' ministry, where He both heals sicknesses and forgives sin, treating them as if they are one and the same thing:

 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? (Luke 5:23)

What is more, when the biblical writers cite Isaiah's prophecy (Isaiah 53) of the Messiah taking on Himself our infirmities so that we might be healed, they relate this prophecy both to the healing of sicknesses as well as to the forgiving of sin:

When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases." (Matthew 8:16-17).

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed." (1 Peter 2:24).

James, which is one of the earliest books written in the New Testament, and nearest to the sayings of Jesus (c.f. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7), has much to parallel the message and ministry of Jesus. And in Jesus' ministry, the healing of the sick and the forgiveness of sin was often seen as one and the same thing.

So in James 5 we read him relate the confession of sin with healing:

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed (James 5:16).

We see him relating prayer for the sick with the forgiveness of sin:

And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven (James 5:15).

The difficulty people have with this passage in James is the seemingly absolute promise of James 5:15,

And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.

Will everyone be healed? Since everyone is not healed, theologians have sought to come up with explanations for what James may have meant.

John Piper reads "prayer offered in faith" as something like prayer combined with the "gift of faith," whereby certain individuals are endowed with supernatural faith, a faith that moves mountains kind of faith, so that these sick are healed by them.

Others have tried to argue that James had a specific kind of sickness in mind, namely, one induced by sin. So, they argue, God will heal these kinds of sicknesses once the offending sins have been confessed before the elders of the church. This view may picture the incestuous man about whom Paul writes, "hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 5:5). The restoration of such a one might involve both physical and spiritual healing.

Still others have tried to get around the absolute terms of the verse by seeing an implied "if the Lord wills" after the promise, so that we would read it something like "And the prayer of faith will make the sick person well if the Lord wills." Now, this is not without precedent. With respect to Jesus' promise to grant whatever His disciples prayed, we find in one passage the simple and absolute statement (John 14:13-14), but then in a parallel text, the promise is conditioned with the caveat "if the Lord wills" (1 John 5:13-15).

Clearly there are some legitimate differences of opinion about how to understand this verse. What is generally agreed is that James does not mean that everyone will be healed when these procedures are followed. While Piper's view is an attractive solution, there is nothing to support James' bringing in a supernatural spiritual gift into this context. In fact, his language suggests the exact opposite. He speaks of "if anyone among you...let them...is anyone among you...let them..." The reference to "anyone among you" suggests every believer rather than certain gifted ones. Further, in James 5:17 he cites Elijah as an example, not in view of his supernatural calling or gifting, but as "a human being, even as we are."

The argument that a specific sin-related sickness is in view is not completely persuasive either. If this is only what James had in mind, he would not have written the conditional words "if they have sinned..." (James 5:15). The suggestion here is that at least some sicknesses for which he encourages prayer are not connected to sin. Therefore, even if sin-related sickness is somewhat highlighted, it is not addressed exclusively.

I prefer the last view, namely, to see here an implied "if the Lord wills." In fact, James espouses this perspective with respect to every event in life in the preceding chapter:

Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that" (James 4:14-15).

I have argued elsewhere that in my survey of the biblical teaching on prayer, prayer was not given by God so that we might inform God, nor was it given primarily for us to get things from God. No, prayer is a God-given tool whereby we might align our wills with God's will. Therefore, "the prayer offered in faith" is a prayer that trusts in God's will to be done. It is an unwavering confidence in God's ability and His good purpose. And in view of this confidence in God, if we receive what we ask for, we praise God; if we do not receive what we ask for, we praise God. The reason is that it is not so much that prayer changes things as much as prayer changes us and we change things. Consider the example of David on the fate of his son in 2 Samuel 12:14-23 as an example of the prayer offered in faith:

But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.” After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground. The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them. On the seventh day the child died. David’s attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, he wouldn’t listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.” David noticed that his attendants were whispering among themselves, and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.” Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate. His attendants asked him, “Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!” He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”

Friends, today's sharing may have been a bit heavy. And most people prefer just to be told the "correct" view rather than have someone interact with a number of views. This is also why certain academic commentaries are so hard to read. Academic integrity requires them to be as comprehensive as possible in interacting with every major viewpoint before presenting their own. This does not make for easy or fun reading. While I often do this kind of personal research and analysis, I rarely share it on this site because I do not want to overly burden you in your reading and study of Scripture; however, I hope you understand that sometimes it is both necessary and fruitful to labor in this way.

Hebrews 12:11 all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later yields peaceful fruit

Revelation 3:19 those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

Hebrews 12:7 it is for discipline that you have to endure.

James 1:2-4 consider it pure joy… because testing produces perseverance… that you may be mature and complete

If infancy in faith has to do with grappling with the idea that Jesus died so grace can abound for you, maturity is living as if this were true.

If you KNOW that eternity with the ever satisfying God is in your future, then a little pain and a little lack now is not a big deal.

If you KNOW that Yahweh controls all outcomes, then a little pain and an apparent pending doom, is not a big deal

If you KNOW these, in full maturity, then you could calmly face a crowd of people yelling ‘crucify him,’ and be willing to stretch out your limbs for hours of pain.

I feel challenged every time I fail before God to live like The Faith is real, to live in faith. I see how I have taken my eye off the “later yields,” how passive my “zealous”-ness has become, how I lost an opportunity to grow in “discipline,” and how I have missed out on some “joy.”

Alternatively, like most every other discipline I have tried to submit myself to, when I succeed it is such a thrill to experience that growth! Focusing on the Later Zealously for the Discipline rewarded in the now with Joy; it can be a self feeding cycle of thrills and excitement that is not found in any video game or worldly accomplishment – perhaps for a short time, but nothing that impacts my character or…. Joy.

Glory to God