James 1 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Roughly AD 45 to 62, an early stage of the Christian movement, before the Jewish revolt against Rome and probably before the letters of Paul circulated widely
Location
Written most likely from Jerusalem, where James led the church, and sent to Jewish believers scattered across the eastern Roman Empire
Audience
Jewish followers of Jesus living outside the land of Israel in scattered communities, many of them poor and under social pressure
Situation
The letter opens by telling readers to treat trials as something to welcome because endurance is what testing produces, and to ask God for wisdom without wavering. It then contrasts the poor believer's high standing with the rich man's fading, warns against blaming God for temptation, and insists that hearing the message without acting on it is self-deception.
Key Background
The writer is generally taken to be Jesus' brother, who led the Jerusalem church, which explains the letter's heavily Jewish frame of reference and its resemblance to the wisdom writings of Proverbs and Sirach rather than to a formal theological argument. Addressing the twelve tribes in the dispersion uses the standard term for Jews living outside the homeland and quietly claims that these scattered believers are the reassembled people of Israel. The picture of the rich man withering like a wildflower under the scorching wind reflects the region's sirocco, a hot desert wind that could kill off the spring bloom in a single day, and the closing definition of pure religion as caring for orphans and widows names the two groups who, without a male provider in a household-based economy, had no legal or economic protection at all.
From James, a of God and of the Jesus The — to the the greetings.
Consider it nothing but my and whenever you run into all kinds of
because you know that when your is put to the test, it produces
And let that endurance finish its work in you, so that you'll be and not missing anything.
Now if any of you is missing ask God — he gives generously to everyone it them — and it will be given to you.
But when you ask, you've got to and not because the person who second-guesses is like a wave in the ocean, blown and tossed around by the wind.
That person shouldn't expect to receive anything from the
since they're down the — unstable in everything they do.
The brother or sister who has should take pride in being up,
and the one who is should take pride in being brought low — because they will fade away like a
The sun comes up with its scorching heat and dries up the plant; its flower drops off and all its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich person will wither away right in the middle of their
is for the person who holds up under hardship, because once they've been they'll receive the of that God has promised to those who love him.
When someone is being they should never say, "God is tempting me," because God can't be by and he himself doesn't tempt anyone.
Instead, each person is tempted when they're and by their own
Then desire, once it has conceived, gives birth to And when it's fully grown, produces
be my dear brothers and sisters.
Every good gift and every perfect present comes down from the of who or
He chose to us through the of so that we would be like the and of everything he created.
Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: everyone should be to to and to
because human anger doesn't produce the of for us.
So every bit of and the that in your lives, and humbly receive the word that's been in you — it has the power to you.
But be people who actually do what the — don't just listen to it and fool yourselves.
Because anyone who listens to the word but doesn't do what it says is like someone who looks at their own face in a
takes a look, walks away, and immediately forgets what they looked like.
But the person who looks carefully into the that — and keeps at it, not just hearing and forgetting but actually doing something — that person will find in everything they do.
If anyone considers themselves to be to but doesn't a on their they're fooling themselves — their is worthless.
Devotion that is and in the eyes of God the Father looks like this: taking care of and in their distress, and keeping yourself from being by the