'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.

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