Every post in James, in order. Tap a post for the whole conversation, or the book icon for the verses.
James here. Servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Writing to all of God’s people scattered away from home, the twelve tribes, wherever you’ve ended up. Hello.
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes of the Dispersion: Greetings.
When trouble hits you from every direction, count it pure joy. Testing your faith grows perseverance. So let perseverance finish the job, and you’ll come out mature and complete, not missing anything.
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Short on wisdom? Ask God. He gives generously to everyone and doesn’t hold it against you for asking. Just ask like you actually believe it. Someone who doubts is like a wave in the sea, blown and thrown about by the wind.
Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
Nobody gets to say “God is tempting me.” You get dragged off by what you want. Want grows into sin. Sin, fully grown, gives birth to death. That’s the order it goes in.
When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father who made the lights in the sky. He doesn’t change. Not even a shifting shadow.
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.
Quick to listen. Slow to speak. Slow to get angry.
My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,
Don’t just hear the word. Do it. Hearing it and not doing it is like looking at your face in a mirror, walking off, and forgetting what you look like before you’re out the door.
Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves. For anyone who hears the word but does not carry it out is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror, and after observing himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
Think you’re religious but can’t control your tongue? You’re fooling yourself. Religion God actually accepts: look after orphans and widows in their trouble, and don’t let the world stain you.
If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his heart and his religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Picture it. A man walks into your meeting with gold rings and nice clothes. Then a poor man comes in, in shabby clothes. You make a fuss of the rich one and give him the best seat, and you tell the poor one to stand over there, or sit on the floor by your feet. Really?
My brothers, as you hold out your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, do not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you lavish attention on the man in fine clothes and say, “Here is a seat of honor,” but say to the poor man, “You must stand” or “Sit at my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
Replying to @jamesjerusalem
Listen. Hasn’t God chosen the people this world calls poor to be rich in faith? And you’ve shamed them. Isn’t it the rich who push you around and drag you into court?
Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?
Love your neighbour as yourself. The royal law. Keep that and you’re doing well. Play favourites and you’re breaking it.
Moses@mosesSame part, from the LORD: no revenge, no grudges. Love your neighbour as yourself. And he signs it “I am the LORD.”If you really fulfill the royal law stated in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
What good is faith that never does anything? A brother or sister has no clothes and nothing to eat, and you tell them “All the best, keep warm, eat well,” and give them nothing. Faith like that, on its own, is dead.
What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith, but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you tells him, “Go in peace; stay warm and well fed,” but does not provide for his physical needs, what good is that? So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead.
Replying to @jamesjerusalem
Okay but some people have faith and some people have deeds. You do you.
But someone will say, “You have faith and I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.
Abraham. Wasn’t he shown to be right with God by what he did, when he put his son Isaac on the altar? His faith and his actions were working together. That’s how the Scripture came true: Abraham believed God, God counted it as making him right, and he was called God’s friend.
Moses@moses · MoriahAt the place, Abraham builds an altar, lays the wood on it, ties up his son and lays him on top. He takes the knife.Was not our father Abraham justified by what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith was working with his actions, and his faith was perfected by what he did. And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called a friend of God.
Same with Rahab, the prostitute in Jericho. She took the spies in and sent them off another way. Her faith did something.
One of the two spies@spy.one.jerichoMeanwhile, we were up on her roof. Under a pile of flax. Not moving.In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute justified by her actions when she welcomed the spies and sent them off on another route?
A body without breath is dead. Faith without deeds is just as dead.
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
Not many of you should be teachers. Teachers get judged more strictly. And we all trip up, in loads of ways.
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to control his whole body.
A small bit in a horse’s mouth steers the whole horse. A tiny rudder steers a massive ship through strong winds. The tongue’s small too. And look how big a forest one little spark can set on fire.
When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can guide the whole animal. Consider ships as well. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot is inclined. In the same way, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it boasts of great things. Consider how small a spark sets a great forest ablaze.
People have tamed every kind of animal, bird, reptile and sea creature. Nobody has ever tamed the tongue. With it we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people made in God’s likeness. Same mouth. That shouldn’t be happening.
All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, this should not be!
Replying to @jamesjerusalem
Does fresh water and salt water come out of the same spring? Can a fig tree grow olives? Can a vine grow figs?
Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree grow olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
Where do all your fights come from? From the wants at war inside you. You don’t have because you don’t ask. And when you do ask, you don’t get it, because you only want it to spend on yourselves.
What causes conflicts and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from the passions at war within you? You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask. And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.
Come near to God and he’ll come near to you. Stand up to the devil and he’ll run from you. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he’ll lift you up.
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.
Big news: in the next day or two I’m off to a new city. Spending a year there, doing some business, turning a profit. Excited for this next chapter.
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.”
You don’t even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? You’re a mist. Here for a little while, then gone. What you should be saying is: if the Lord wants, we’ll live and do this or that.
A trader with plans@trader.withplansBig news: in the next day or two I’m off to a new city. Spending a year there, doing some business, turning a profit. Excited for this next chapter.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 the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.”
Mowed the man’s whole field. Still haven’t been paid. Not a penny.
Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
Right, you rich people. Start crying. Your wealth has rotted. Moths have eaten your clothes. The wages you held back from the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you, and their cries have reached the ears of the Lord who commands heaven’s armies.
A harvester, still waiting to be paid@unpaid.harvesterMowed the man’s whole field. Still haven’t been paid. Not a penny.Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you. Your riches have rotted and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and consume your flesh like fire. You have hoarded treasure in the last days. Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
So be patient till the Lord comes. Look at a farmer, waiting for his land to give its crop, patient through the autumn and spring rains. Stop grumbling about each other. The Judge is standing at the door.
Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer awaits the precious fruit of the soil—how patient he is for the fall and spring rains. You, too, be patient and strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near. Do not complain about one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged. Look, the Judge is standing at the door!
You’ve heard how Job kept going. And you’ve seen how the Lord brought it round in the end. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
The book of Job@bookofjobAfter Job prays for his friends, the LORD restores everything. Twice what he had before.See how blessed we consider those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen the outcome from the Lord. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
Above all, don’t swear oaths. Not by heaven, not by earth, not by anything. Let your yes be yes and your no be no.
Above all, my brothers, do not swear, not by heaven or earth or by any other oath. Simply let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” no, so that you will not fall under judgment.
Jesus said it first, on the mountainside: don’t swear at all. Let your yes be yes and your no be no.
Matthew@matthew · The mountainHis “You’ve heard it said… but I tell you” list:
1. Murder? Anger already counts.
2. Adultery? Looking with lust already counts.
3. Oaths? Just let your yes be yes.Above all, my brothers, do not swear, not by heaven or earth or by any other oath. Simply let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” no, so that you will not fall under judgment. But I tell you not to swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor should you swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ Anything more comes from the evil one.
Anyone suffering? Pray. Anyone happy? Sing. Anyone ill? Call the church elders to pray over you and anoint you with oil in the Lord’s name. Own up to your sins to each other and pray for each other, so you can be healed. The prayer of a good person is powerful.
Is any one of you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he 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 man has great power to prevail.
Elijah was a human being just like us. He prayed hard that it wouldn’t rain, and it didn’t, for three and a half years. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured, and the ground grew its crops.
Elijah's servant@elijahs.servantElijah’s at the top of Carmel, crouched on the ground with his face between his knees. He keeps sending me to look at the sea. Nothing. Go back. Nothing. Seven times. The seventh time: a cloud as small as a man’s hand, coming up out of the sea.Elijah was a man just like us. 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 yielded its crops.
If one of you wanders off from the truth and someone brings them back: that person has saved a soul from death and covered over a whole lot of sins.
My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, consider this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover over a multitude of sins.