God and Man
V.12- James comes back to facing trials. Here, he is looking to the end of trials. What is at the end of a trial? Blessing! “Blessed is a man…” As James reflects on the trial, he tells us that we will receive the crown of life. What is the crown of life? It is the crown of eternal life.
In Luke 22:28-30, Jesus promises and assures the disciple that they have and will face a variety of trials, yet it doesn’t end there. The one who perseveres through the trials, Jesus says, WILL receive a kingdom. Nowhere in Scripture does it speak of believers inheriting a separate kingdom apart from Christ. The Father grants the Son dominion over the kingdom promised to believers that endures forever. Therefore, enduring through trials is further proof that we will obtain the crown of life. No Christian perseveres through a trial in vain.
When Peter is promised that Satan will sift him like wheat (v.31), Jesus says that He has been in prayer for him already. Here is a truth that is essential to undergoing trial… we always overcome and succeed because Christ is with us every step of the way. Yes, we might slip up and sin during a trial, but this does not mean that we are stripped of our crown. Peter denied Christ 3 times and Peter was upheld by Christ and is in heaven this very moment because of Christ.
What, then, does it mean to persevere? We looked at this word in verses 3 and 4. Why look again? Because in verses 3 and 4 to persevere is seen as a noun. In verse 12 it is a verb and there is a difference. The Greek defines perseverance as a verb saying, “to face and withstand with courage” (BSL). So this is not the thought of “just getting through the trial,” but it is facing the trial with confidence and courage because Christ is on our side as we go through it! Further, this perseverance helps us cross the bridge over to the crown of life. These things are Divinely interconnected.
Perseverance is not the only thing said of believers in verse 12. The one who is said to have persevered has been approved or tested (ESV). We must understand this truth rightly. God tests but does not tempt. These two words have two different meanings. Now, there are numerous OT passages that show that people were tested by God. One of the lesser-known accounts of this is found in Deuteronomy 13:1-3 which is relevant to us. Consider the Charismatic teachers of the day as the text is read… There are plenty of people today who emphatically teach a variety of signs and wonders. Large movements based on health and wealth, and the audible voice of God speaking run rampant in this world. Here, in Deuteronomy 13, God is using these false prophets, not so that His people would be deceived and fall away, but to find out how much they loved Yahweh their God.
There is no doubt that the church is being tested today. Will she stand on sound doctrine? That is the question! And our response should be twofold, first praise God that He is testing the genuineness of His bride, of our faith and love toward Him. And second, that our ears must be on the alarm for a false teacher/teaching. According to 1 Corinthians 11:18-19 it is necessary for the church to have factions. Sounds crazy! But it isn’t. The purpose is to weed out the goats and leave the remaining sheep. If this testing were not present the leaven would remain in the lump (1 Corinthians 5:6, Galatians 5:9)!
How essential is testing in the Christian life? Romans 5:1-5 says that this testing is necessary. After Paul boasts in his afflictions, he gives a reason as to why he does. Verse 3 says, “afflictions bring about perseverance.” How did Paul gain this perseverance? The same way James speaks in verse 12, by testing. You could rightly say in Romans 5:4 that perseverance through testing brings forth proven character and proven character means to bring forth hope, and if you have gone through testing and come out of it, you have indeed run to Christ who is our hope for strength.
But this Romans text is not alone in proving this truth. 1 Peter 1:6-7 summarizes all that has been said in James 1:12… So, I ask you this as well as myself, when you or I go through a trial and by God’s grace persevere through it, is our response to praise and glorify and honor Jesus Christ?
The promised crown of life that we will receive after facing trials is seen in Revelation 2:10… This is directed to Smyrna some 50 years or so after James wrote his epistle. Yet, the truth regarding perseverance through trial unto the crown of life remains the same. Here, the suffering they will endure will be for a period. But after this suffering, the call is to continue to remain faithful unto death. It’s after death that the promised crown of life is obtained. This is what Revelation 2:10 promotes. Does James contradict this due to lacking the appointed time of being given? No, he is contradictory at all. How do we figure? Trials and testing occur on earth. James is writing to an audience that is living on earth, bound by time and space. Question, do trials and testing occur in heaven? No, because faith is not needed in heaven the way that it is needed here, for we will see Jesus face to face.
And it is this crown that is reserved for believers in Christ. James beautifully and succinctly depicts the believer in verse 12. The believer perseveres, is tested, and loves Christ. Are you looking for a believer to model after? Look no further than such a description. God tests believers in a wondrous display of faith in Christ.
VV.13-14- Verse 13 causes trouble for some believers and unbelievers. How is it that God tests men yet He does not tempt them? Spurgeon writes, “In a temptation we try a man with a view of inducing him to do wrong; but God tries men to best them, that they may, by finding out their weakness, be saved from doing wrong.”
The beginning of verse 13 leaves zero room to blame God for temptation or being tempted. This is a declaration offered by James, not a suggestion. He speaks in the active affirmative here. In other words, it is a continual declaration for us today. In a day where having the power to declare and make your own reality is all the rage, how many times do you hear this kind of declaration that is true, ‘I declare that temptation comes from within me, the flesh is at work, and God cannot be blamed.” That is a proper declaration, but you will not hear this in most megachurches today.
James gives us a sensible reason to the following question, why does God allow evil to exist? Or why does God allow me to be tempted in the first place? Isaiah 63:15-19 renders similar words, but pay attention to verse 17 and you will quickly hear the similarities as the prophet asks… Or what about Pharoah, who’s heart was hardened by Yahweh? Or what about God having mercy on those He so chooses too? This seems contradictory in some ways doesn’t it? But here is the key ingredient that is missing. The blame is being placed in the wrong place. Scripture repeatedly declares that God is good and that no evil is found in Him (check the Psalms and 1 John). But it does say that man is evil and that he cannot do any good (Psalm 14:3, Romans 3:10, 12). Who worshiped idols because Yahweh did not respond quickly enough? Man. Who built a tower to exalt himself? Man. Who needs laws because immorality exists? Man.
On the contrary, all that is said about God is that He loves that which is good. Psalm 5:4 is clear, “For You are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil does not sojourn with you.” Again 1 John 1:5, “God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.” Habakkuk declares, “Your eyes are too pure to see evil.”
It is true that God does not tempt, it is also true that God permits temptation to occur. Remember, He is omniscient over all things. Nothing is hidden from His sight. Therefore, God is not evil but permits evil to continue. For it was fitting that God’s Son would go through temptation, perfectly that is, and for our blessing, Jesus is the most sympathetic High Priest (Hebrews 4:15).
Seeing verses 13 and 14 in contrast of one another opens the floodgates of understanding. Why does God not tempt, and why is it impossible for Him to do so? Because He is holy and righteous. Man is not; thus, this temptation comes from him. It could not be any simpler than that.
V.15- A text of Scripture that many are familiar with is Joshua 7:20-24 and the account of Achan’s wicked deeds of covetousness and disobedience. We know this man sinned in this way, but what was the root cause? Answer, it was temptation that laid at the root. What caught his eye? It was a mantle from Shinar. He could not resist temptation and fell right into it. His fall to temptation had a national rippling effect. Israel would be defeated at Ai because of this man’s sin, and his family covering it up. The penalty was great as the entire family line of Achan is wiped off the face of the earth (vv.24-25).
The story of Achan and others like it are the living out of the warning passage of verse 15. None of us in this room would say that the only way we sin is by impulse. For King Ahab we see the thought behind his sin and the quick sin of Jezebel in the killing of Naboth for his vineyard (1 Kings 21:2).
Again, the Scripture is clear of man’s position before God. Romans 5:12-14 clearly states that whether a man sins in the same way that Adam did or not, man is still a sinner. Further, it is man’s fault that death exists (Ezekiel 18:4, Romans 6:23). The Bible also states that this was never God’s desired outcome (Ezekiel 33:11).
We have thoroughly gone over man’s position before God, but what is this lust that James speaks of? Can lust ever be a good thing? The general definition of lust is an intense craving or desire. So, would lusting over a particular meal count as a good form of lust? Or if the lust is not harmful, is it ok?
Here is a helpful definition given by Todd Pruitt, “Lust, in all its forms and expressions, is without exception sinful and, therefore, represents a sort of mutiny against God.” Further, the Greek in James 1:15 defines lust saying it is a “desire for what is forbidden” (Thayer). And yet, the same word in 1 Thessalonians 2:17, Paul says that he, Silas, and Timothy “were all the more eager with great desire to see your face.” This is not to say that they were lusting but there was a joyous looking forward to in seeing the brothers at Thessalonica. Clearly, James is speaking of a lust that is wicked and dishonors God.
V.16- Verse 16 ends this section. It could be seen as the hinge verse or applicable to what has been seen prior and to what is seen after. The Greek puts verse 16 into the paragraph before verses 17 and 18, and we can see why. The deception is alive and well today that God is the inventor of evil because He created all things therefore, He initially dooms man to failure in telling him to keep a law he cannot.
There is discussion about whether in God there any evil is. If God is good, how could evil exist and the like. One argument I saw was using Isaiah 45:7 to prove that God creates evil and is therefore evil. The ESV renders that God “creates calamity.” How does this fit with James 1:13-15 that tell us that God is not evil? Here is how it fits. The Scripture says over and over that there is no evil in God. He is only good (Psalm 34:8, 145:9, Nahum 1:7, James 1:17). The Spirit ensures that there is no confusion about man’s place and God’s. Hence, it is not of God for any man to be deceived for deception comes from the deceiver and the father of lies, the adversary, Satan. Therefore, we can trust that all that God says is true because His Word is true. Hence, our ever present need to have and hold onto a high view of Scripture!
