James chapter 1

In order to understand the book of James, we have to understand the
author and his purpose for writing the book.  First off, it is written
by James, brother of Jesus, and the purpose for his writing is to
encourage his readers that they must be both practical and ethical – in
their Christian walk.  He was tired of how many Christians were
performing their Christian duties out of mindless obligations vs. a love
for Christ.  James wanted his readers to examine their faith to see if
it was genuine or not.  He saw the Gospel as being practical — that we
should take it at face value and not dissect it theologically.  James
wanted his readers to be pure and undefiled in their religion.  The two
main themes coming out of the Gospels:  to seek out personal growth in
Christ and be sensitive to social relationships.  James saw the majority
of Christians as a group of people that try to talk their way into
heaven versus acting as Christians on their way to heaven – being “doers
of the Word”.  

With that background in mind, let’s dive into chapter one.  I want to
spend the majority of my ramblings of chapter one on verses 13-15.  In
verse 13 we see James telling us that we cannot blame God for the
temptation that we encounter.  He tells us that God is not tempted by
evil, so why in the world would He in return try to tempt us if it is
not in His nature.  Then, in verse 14, James says it is by our own
heart’s desires that we respond to the outward enticements of this world
and are tempted.  It is very interesting to note that nowhere in these
verses does he mention or allude to Satan as the one who tempts us.  I
believe it is not James’ intention to explain the origin of sin, but
rather get the point across that it is not God who is enticing us to do
evil.  James’ approach is showing us that temptation is spawned from our
own internal evil desires.  We all know that Satan is the external
source of temptation, but we cannot blame him for the stronghold of
sinful deeds, which lie deep within each individual.  Jesus states in
Mark 7:1-23 that defilement comes from within.  This is heavy stuff I
know, but stuff we all need to know.

In closing we see James’ social part of Christianity in verse 22, where
he says; “…be doers of the word, and not hearers only…”  His point -
that salvation leads to service.  We fool ourselves if we believe that
church attendance is simply to hear the Word and do nothing with it.
Rather, we need to convert what we’ve heard into a real ministry of
action.