James

1:1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.

2-4 Esteem it all joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you might fall into any and all sorts of trials, knowing that the proving of your faith produces steadfastness [remaining under]. Allow steadfastness, then, its perfect work, so that you may be perfect [brought to completion] and entirely whole, lacking in nothing.

5-8 If any of you now lacks wisdom, let him ask God, the One giving all generously, not finding fault, and it will be given to him. Let him ask in faith, however, doubting nothing. For the one doubting [or hesitating] is like a wave of the sea, being blown by the wind. Let not such an [hesitant] man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. For he is a doubleminded [two-soul or split-soul] man {confused in his own story of self}, wildly unstable in all of his ways.

9-11 Let the brother or sister of lowliness boast in his height; and let the rich, then, [boast] in his lowliness and humiliation, because like a flower of grass, he will pass away. For the sun has risen with its burning heat and withered the grass, and its flower faded away and the beauty of its appearance has vanished. In the same way, the rich man in his pursuits, will fade away.

12-15 Blessed is the man who endures [remains steadfast under] trials, because, having been proven, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those loving Him. Let no one being tested say, “I am being tested by God.” For God cannot be tempted or tested by evils {God does not know evil; doing what is wrong never enters His mind}, and He Himself tempts/tests no one. A man, however, is tempted/tested by his own desire being drawn away [turned in the wrong direction] and enticed [lured by bait]. Then desire, having taken [having become pregnant], gives birth to sin; and sin, brought to completion, gives birth to death.

16-18 Do not be misled, my beloved brothers and sisters. Every act good act of giving, and every perfect and completed gift, is from above [from the Source], coming down {coming out from} the Father of lights, with whom there is no change or shadow of turning. Out from His desire, He gave birth to us by the Word of truth, for us to be a firstfruits of His created beings.

19-21 Consider this, however, my beloved brothers and sisters, let every man or woman be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow into anger. The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore, having already put off all defilement and the abounding of misfortune or wickedness, inside of gentleness receive the implanted [as sperm] word, which is able to save your souls [your story and awareness of self].

22-27 Be, however doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. For, if anyone is a hearer of the word [only] and not a doer, that one is like a man looking at the face of his origin or birth in a mirror. For he has perceived himself and has gone away and immediately forgotten what likeness he is. The one, however, having stooped to look intently into the perfect law of liberty, and having continued [abided] in it [liberty], not having been a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed inside of his work.


2:1-4 My brothers and sisters, do not hold the faith of our Lord, Jesus Christ of glory, inside of favoritism or respect of persons. For if someone might come into your assembly with a gold ring and in splendid clothes, then also someone poor in dirty clothes, you should look upon the one wearing the splendid clothes and should say, “You sit here in honor,” and to the poor should say, “you stand there,” or, “Sit under my footstool,” then have you not made a distinction among yourselves and have become judges with malicious thoughts?

5-7 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has God not chosen the poor in this world to be rich inside of faith and heirs of the kingdom that He promised to those loving Him? You, however, have dishonored the poor. Are not the rich oppressing you and dragging you into court? Are they not slandering the good name having been called upon you?

8-13 If indeed you keep the royal law, according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. If, however, you show favoritism, you are practicing sin [falling short of the mark], being exposed by the law as walking contrary. For whoever shall keep the entire law, but shall stumble in one point, he has become guilty of all. For the one having said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery, but you murder, you have become one who walks contrary to the law. So speak and so act as through the law of freedom as one being about to be judged. For judgement will be without mercy to the one not having shown mercy. Mercy triumphs and exults boastfully over judgment.

14-17 What is the profit, my brothers and sisters, if anyone says to possess faith, but does not have works? Is faith not able to save him? Now, if a brother or a sister is without clothes, and lacking of daily food, and anyone of you says to them, “God in peace; be warmed and be filled,” but does not give them the needful things for the body, what is the profit? So also faith, if it does not possess works, is dead according to itself. {It is clear to me now that James is in no way saying that we are “saved by works,” but rather, that the faith that is Christ is always reaching out to bless others in meaningful ways.}

18-25 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show my works coming out of faith. You believe that God is one. You are doing well! Even the demons believe that and shudder! Do you want to come to know, however, O empty man {this refers to a so-called “faith” that is invisible}, that faith apart from {not resulting in] works is inactive? Was not Abraham our father justified and declared to be righteous, having offered his son Isaac upon the altar? You see that his faith was synergeoing with his works, and out of his works, his faith was perfected and brought to full completion. And the Scripture was fulfilled saying, “Abraham believe God, and it was counted to him into righteousness,” and he was called a friend of God. You see that out of works a man is justified, and not out of faith alone {not out of an ‘invisible’ faith.” {Again, James is not pointing us to the works of the law, but to the actions of loving one another and of devotion to God.} Likewise also, was not Rahab the prostitute justified out of works, having received the messengers and having sent them forth by another way?

26 For just as the body apart from spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. {Without denying what James is trying to make clear, that faith energeoes through love, as Paul also said, we could see his metaphor turned around regarding the works of the law, that is, “works apart from faith are also dead.”


3:1-5a Let not many of you become teachers, my brothers and sisters, being aware that we will receive greater judgment or scrutiny. For we all stumble and cause to stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, this one is a perfect man, able indeed to bridle the entire body. If, now, we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they will be persuaded by us, we are able to direct their entire body. Consider ships as well, being so large and being driven by strong winds, are directed by a very small rudder, wherever the impulse of the one steering it intends. Thus also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts great things.

5b-12 Consider a small fire, how great a forest it is able to set on fire. The tongue is also a fire, a cosmos of injustice and hurt. The tongue is set among our members, staining the entire body, and setting on fire the wheel or course of our genesis, and is itself being set on fire by gehenna. For all kinds of animals and of birds and of creeping things and things of the sea, are tamed and have been tamed by the nature of the human, but the tongue, no one of mankind is able to tame, it is an out-of-control evil, full of death-bringing poison {the word is used to speak of an arrow tipped by poison}. With it we bless and speak good things of our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, those continually and actively coming into being as the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth comes good words and words of cursing. My brothers and sisters, these things ought not to be so. Can the spring out of the same opening pour forth both fresh and bitter? My brothers, is a fig tree able to produce olives? Or a vine, figs? Neither can a salt sprint produce fresh water.

13-18 Who is wise and skilled among you? Let him show out of the good behavior his works inside the gentleness of wisdom. If you have bitter jealousy [zeal] and self-interest inside your heart, do not boast of it and lie against the truth. {James is referring to a salty spring that cannot produce fresh water. – In other words, do not boast that your heart is filled with falseness, but rather that your source is Christ alone.} This is not the wisdom coming down from above, but is earthly, soulish, and demonic. For where false zeal [jealousy] and self-interest exist, there will be chaos and every worthless practice. But the wisdom from above is indeed first pure and holy, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and of good fruits, non-judgmental and sincere [not-fake]. Now the fruit of justice is sown [as a seed] inside of peace by those making peace.


4:1-5 From where do disputes and quarrels come among you? Is it not from there, out of your sensuous passions fighting inside your members? You desire and do not have; you kill and are eager to possess but are not able to obtain. You quarrel and fight. You have not because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, that you may spent it inside of your sensual pleasures. Adulteresses! Are you not aware that friendship with the world is hostility against God? Whoever, therefore, has chosen to be a friend of the world, has appointed [themselves] to be an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scriptures says in vain, “The Spirit that dwells inside of us longs for and greatly desires with envy [longing that turns sour because it does not achieve its desire]?”

6 However, He gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud and arrogant, but gives grace to the humble.”

7-10 Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. [Be present with God and He will be present with you.] Cleanse your hands, you who fall short, and possess purified hearts, you who are split in your souls. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into eyes downcast. Humble yourselves in the face and presence of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

11-12 Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters. The one speaking against his brother or judging his brother, speaks against law and judges law. {The word “the” is not there in front of “law.” Thus this is not speaking of the outward law of Moses, but rather the law of liberty inside of Christ.} If you judge law, however, you are not a doer of law, but a judge. There is one Lawgiver and Judge, the One being able to save and to destroy. Who are you, then, judging your neighbor?  

13-16 Come now, those who are saying, “Today or tomorrow, we will go into a certain city, and will spend a year there, and will trade and make a profit. You do not know what the next day is. What is your life? It is just a vapor, appearing for a little while and then disappearing. Say instead, “As the Lord desires, we will both live and do this or that. Now, however, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is malicious.

17 Therefore, to him being aware of doing good and not doing, to him it is falling short.


5:1-6 Your wealth has become corrupt and your clothes have become moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their rust serves as a testimony against you and will consume your flesh like fire. You have treasured up, stored up supply inside the last days. Consider the wage of the workmen who harvested your fields, having been defrauded by you, as it cries out, and the cries of those having harvested, and has entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies. You lived in luxury upon the earth, and you lived in self-indulgence. You have nourished and fattened your hearts inside the day of slaughter. You have condemned and have put to death the just; he does not resist you.

7-8 Be patient, therefore, brothers and sisters, until the presence of the Lord. Consider the farms who awaits the precious fruit of the earth, being patient for it until it receives the early and latter rains. You also be patient; strengthen your hearts, because the presence of the Lord is here.

9-11 Do not grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be judged. Consider the Judging standing before the doors. Take the prophets, brothers and sisters, who spoke inside the name of the Lord, as an example of being afflicted and of long-suffering. Consider that we pronounce blessed and happy those having persevered. You have heard of the perseverance of Job, and you have seen the outcome and completion of the Lord, that the Lord is full of compassion and affection, and is merciful.

12 But above all things, my brothers and sisters, do not swear [promise with an oath], neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor any other oath. Let your “Yes,” be yes, however, and your “No,” no, so that you might not fall under judgment. {Consider that. James is saying that a most important Christian virtue in his mind is not to pledge allegiance to flags or swear an oath of commitment to monastic orders or to ministry or to courtroom judges. The list goes on. Those who are led by their oath cannot be led by the Spirit.]

13-18 Is anyone among you suffering hardships? Let him pray? Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call near the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, having anointed him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save [heal and make whole] the one ailing, and the Lord will raise him up [out of the sick bed]. And if anyone has committed sins, it will be forgiven him [as well.] Therefore, acknowledge the sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a just man is very strong and energeoes effectively. Elijah was a man just like us, and he prayed a prayer that it not rain, and it did not rain upon the earth three years and six months. And again, he prayed, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

19-20 My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you might wander from the truth, and someone should bring him back to himself, let him know that the one having brought back one who has fallen short from the wandering of his way, will save his soul {his self-story} from death and will cover over a great many sins.