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James 1

James joins endurance under testing to trust in God’s goodness and obedience that takes shape in daily conduct.

James writes as a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion. He addresses believers facing trials and differences in wealth, urging endurance and prayer for wisdom. He distinguishes temptation arising from human desire from the good gifts that come from God. The letter then turns to receiving and doing God’s word, with close attention to speech, anger, and care for people in affliction.

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1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are in the Dispersion: Greetings.
2Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations,
3knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
4Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
6But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed.
7For that man shouldn’t think that he will receive anything from the Lord.
8He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9Let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position;
10and the rich, in that he is made humble, because like the flower in the grass, he will pass away.
11For the sun arises with the scorching wind and withers the grass; and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So the rich man will also fade away in his pursuits.
12Blessed is a person who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord promised to those who love him.
13Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one.
14But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed.
15Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when it is full grown, produces death.
16Don’t be deceived, my beloved brothers.
17Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation nor turning shadow.
18Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
19So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger;
20for the anger of man doesn’t produce the righteousness of God.
21Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.
23For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror;
24for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
25But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom and continues, not being a hearer who forgets but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.
26If anyone among you thinks himself to be religious while he doesn’t bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is worthless.
27Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
James 1:12The promise of the crown of life places present testing within God’s lasting commitment to those who love him.
James 1:5God’s readiness to give wisdom meets the need of believers learning to endure trials with faith.
James 1:17James identifies the unchanging Father as the source of good gifts, ruling out God as the source of temptation.
Where this chapter reaches

Romans and 1 Peter share James’s theme of faith tested through suffering, with endurance and promised life in view. Proverbs shares his teaching about wisdom and restrained speech, while Matthew shares the emphasis on doing what God says and asking him for good gifts.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What difference does James draw between enduring a trial and being drawn toward sin?

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Where might hearing God’s word need to become action in your speech or care for someone in affliction?

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Questions people ask about James 1

Why does James 1 say to count trials as joy?

James grounds this command in what testing can produce: endurance that leads toward maturity and completeness. The passage does not call suffering pleasant or require delight in pain. Its focus is the outcome of persevering faith, reinforced by the promise of life to those who love God.

Does James 1 say God tempts people?

James rejects the claim that God entices anyone into evil. He traces temptation to a person’s own desire, which draws them toward sin and death. Testing can produce endurance, yet temptation toward evil has a different source. God is presented as the giver of good gifts and new birth.

What does double-minded mean in James 1?

James uses the term for someone who asks God while doubting, comparing that person to a wave driven by wind. The surrounding verses connect this divided stance with instability and warn against expecting an answer. The passage describes a divided posture toward God; it does not discuss every kind of question a believer might have.

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What the Bible says about temptation →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).