Greeting

James 1

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes dispersed abroad: Greetings.

Trials Bring Perseverance

Y’all should consider it all joy, my siblings, when y’all fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of y’all’s faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance have its perfect work so that y’all may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

But if any of y’all lacks wisdom, that person should ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to them. But a person should ask in faith without doubt, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That human shouldn’t expect to receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded person, unstable in all their ways.

Let the sibling in humble circumstances take pride in their high position, but the rich person should take pride in their humiliation, since they will pass away like a wildflower in the grass. For the sun rises with scorching wind and withers the grass. Then the flower falls, and its beautiful appearance is destroyed. So the rich person will also fade away in their pursuits.

Blessed is the one who endures testing, because after being approved, that person will receive the crown of life which the Lord promised to those who love ʜɪᴍ.

When tempted, no one should say, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and ʜᴇ ʜɪᴍꜱᴇʟꜰ tempts no one. But each person is tempted when they are lured and enticed by their own desire. Then the desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and the sin, when it is fully grown, produces death. Y’all must not be deceived, my beloved siblings. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. According to his purpose, he brought us forth by the word of truth, so we would be a kind of first fruits among ʜɪꜱ creation.

Hearing Versus Doing

Y’all pay attention, my beloved siblings, every human should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, because human anger doesn’t produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and excess evil, with humility y’all should receive the implanted word, which is able to save y’all’s souls.

But y’all must become doers of the word, not only hearers who deceive themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, they are like a person who looks at their natural face in a mirror, sees themselves, then goes away and immediately forgets what kind of person they were. But the one who looks into the perfect law of freedom and stays close to it, not becoming a forgetful hearer but an effective doer, that person will be blessed in what they do.

If anyone thinks of themself as religious but doesn’t bridle their tongue, they deceive their own heart and their 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 unstained by the world.