James is Okay with Me

Luther famously referred to James as "an epistle of straw". Many assume this meant he didn't like the Epistle when, in fact, he went on to say, "I praise it and consider it a good book, because it sets up no doctrines of men but vigorously promulgates the law of God." It was, to Luther, not as valuable as other books because "it has nothing of the nature of the gospel about it" where other books in the New Testament "show you Christ and teach you all that is necessary and salvatory for you to know."

Me? I like James. Oh, I suppose, like Luther, not as much as some of the others. While Paul is immersed in doctrine and explanation, James is saying, "This is the way; walk in it." Paul gives us piles of "why" and then says, "Therefore ..." James basically says, "Do this." But James packs so much "do this" in so small of a space that it's just so rich.

Take, for instance, his first chapter. There we find that we should face trials with "all joy" because they produce maturity (James 1:2-4). We learn that God gives wisdom, so just ask (James 1:5-8). There is this fascinating thing with the poor and the rich, where the poor will be exalted and the rich humbled ... and both should glory in it (James 1:9-11). Seriously ... glory in humiliation? That's what James says under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (and in perfect harmony with "count it all joy when you face trials"). There is a blessed promise that those who persevere will receive the crown of life (James 1:12). James, in the face of modern "spirituals", defines religion "that is pure and undefiled before God" as a good thing (James 1:26-27). He urges us not to deceive ourselves by hearing and not doing the Word (James 1:22-25). There is that glorious instruction so rarely heeded, "Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger" (James 1:19) and the wondrous claim that every good thing you have came from an Immutable Father (James 1:17).

Perhaps one we need badly today is this one in the middle of the chapter.

Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death (James 1:13-15).

It has been from the beginning our habit to blame others for our failings (read "sin"). It was Adam's first response: "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate" (Gen 3:12). There it is, plainly in the lap of God. Eve was gentler, saying that it was the serpent. We tend not to say, "It was me." But if you are a believer, "buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life" (Rom 6:4), here's what the Bible says about you and sin: "One who has died has been set free from sin" (Rom 6:7). Get that? You're dead to sin. So, by what method does sin raise its ugly head (as it surely does) in the believer's life? It's not that woman God gave you or the serpent. The devil didn't make you do it. Paul says, "Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness" (Rom 6:11-13). How does sin occur in a believer's life? You choose it. You submit yourself to it. You let sin reign. You are lured by your own desires. As you give way to those desires, they give birth to sin. As James says elsewhere, "Brothers, these things ought not be" (James 3:10).

And just think. That's only the first chapter. Loads and loads of practical pointers, important issues, genuine applications of truth. Okay, so maybe James can be ... meddlesome. Maybe he's a little too pointed to suit some of us. I mean, seriously, all that stuff about faith producing works and the dangers of the tongue and drawing near to God can get a bit pointed. Especially his thing on fights among believers.

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God (James 4:1-4).

Ouch! That can hurt when so many of us are specifically aiming at friendship with the world as a good thing. And, like before, we're pretty sure that conflicts in our midst are always caused by that other guy, certainly not me! So, yes, maybe James cuts too close to the bone for real comfort, but there is a lot of good stuff in there. I think I'll keep it in my Bible.