An Alphabetical Analysis
Volume 7 - Doctrinal Truth - Page 242 of 297
INDEX
'My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations'
(Jas. 1:2).
It would be strange indeed if the believer who fell into all manner of
temptation to do evil, should count it 'all joy', but it is clear that
temptation of this kind is far from the mind of James, for he immediately
goes on to say 'knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience'
(Jas. 1:3); and, like the epistle to the Hebrews, associates this tempting,
or trying, with 'perfection', 'Let patience have her perfect work' (Jas.
1:4).
After speaking of a double-minded man who is unstable in all his ways,
and of the danger of pride, he uses a figure that takes our minds back to the
Gospels; 'For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it
withereth it the grass' (Jas. 1:11), a passage that recalls the parable of
Luke 8:13; 'They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the
word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time
of temptation fall away'.  The withering of the burning heat of the sun
(Matt. 13:6; Mark 4:5,6) is likened to 'affliction or persecution for the
word's sake' (Mark 4:17).  This being the case, we are prepared to find, and
do find, a reference to temptation similar to that found in Hebrews:
'Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried (or
having become approved, dokimos), he shall receive the crown of life,
which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him' (Jas. 1:12).
The introduction of the words 'approved' and 'crown' brings the passage
into line with the epistle to the Hebrews, which also urges the believer to
endure and to run with patience the race set before him, and which more than
once speaks of reward for such conduct.
James now turns to the aspect of temptation that arises from, and leads
to, sin:
'Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot
be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man' (Jas. 1:13).
If these words be taken literally, we are immediately faced with a
problem, for we get the two contrary statements, 'Neither tempteth He any
man' (Jas. 1:13), and 'God did tempt Abraham' (Gen. 22:1).  But this is the
case only upon the surface, for the reader of the Scriptures will probably be
aware that throughout the Old and New Testaments there appears a figure of
speech called Ellipsis, or Omission, and that in many passages the sense is
found by supplying by repetition a word that has already gone before.  If in
James 1:13 we repeat the governing clause, 'with evil', all will be clear.
'Let no man say when he is tempted (to do evil things), I am tempted of God;
for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man (with
evil)'.  This, however, is negative; the positive follows, 'But every man is
tempted (to do evil things), when he is drawn away of his own lust, and
enticed' (Jas. 1:14).
That these two aspects of temptation are in mind in the epistle of
James is evident, for he could not teach, 'My brethren, count it all joy when
ye shall fall into divers temptations ... and are led away by your own lust,
and enticed ... bringing forth sin and ending in death' (Jas. 1:2,14,15), yet
such must be the implication of James 1:2 if there is no difference between