Page 11 - General Epistles (James through Jude) Textbook

wealth as both their wealth and themselves can pass away just like wild flowers when the scorching
heat from the sun comes. It is not clear as to whether the rich are believers. If they are not though, why
is James concerned with them and why does he exhort them to live a transformed way of life? Even
though it is still unclear on whether or not the rich were part of the congregation or not, based on James
5:1-6, which discusses their downfall of the rich without hope, I agree with Grant R. Osborne’s
conclusion here:

“Thus, many scholars (Davids, Dibelius, Laws, Martin, Maynard-Reid, Stulac) favor the last of these
possibilities on the grounds that… the wealthy are viewed as being outside the congregation and as
enemies of the faith… the rich are sarcastically being told to “boast” in the fact that all that remains for
them is condemnation and destruction (their “humiliation” when they will “fade away,” 1:10) at the final
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judgment.”

So, “Status before God” and the world (or man) are clearly different. For both the believers who are
poverty-stricken and rich, their ground for confidence should be “their identification with Jesus
Christ.”
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In James 1:3-4, James discussed the products in this life for successfully going through trials of many
kinds. But in James 1:12, he discusses the eschatological product for successfully going through all kinds
of trials. That product would be received at the second coming of Jesus Christ. And that is the crown of
life which was promised by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Temptations (Jas. 1:13-18).
Because of continuous various trials, some among those who were dispersed may have begun to think
that God was the source of temptations. But James says that their thinking was not possible because 1)
God cannot be tempted by evil and 2) He does not tempt anyone. And temptation here means the inner
enticement to sin (cf. Luke 22:40, 46; 1 Tim. 6:9). Each person is tempted when they are dragged away
by their own desires. A “desire” is a self-centered longing of what we ourselves want rather than a
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concern for what God wants for us.” To entice means “drawing in an unsuspecting victim with an
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attractive bait or lure.” So, inside them, they are being enticed to sin through their own evil desires.
But why is the devil not in view here? By using the illustration of conception and thereafter birth, James
drives the point home by saying that when we are tempted and we give in, we give birth to sin. And
when sin matures, it brings death. Osborne understand that as spiritual “death.”
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In light of the Christians’ continuous experience of both trials and temptations, James encouraged them
to realize that the source of especially various kinds of trials is God the Father who remains unchanging
and chose to give new birth (and continues to give new birth) to them so that they might be a kind of
first fruit. So, they did not need to view the beginning and end of trials of many kinds as evil because
they were allowed by God the Father from whom every good and perfect gift comes from. Further, they
needed to view various kinds of trials as good and perfect gift for them. So, when we ourselves are going
through various kinds of trials, we should view them as a good and perfect gift from God the Father.

Listening and Doing the Word of God (Jas. 1:19-27).
In this section, James encourages his audience to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.
Why? Because human anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desires. So, human anger
produces sinful behaviors. How were they to solve the problem of anger? They needed to continue
doing some actions, namely; getting rid of moral filth and the evil that was so prevalent and to humbly
accept the Word which was already planted in them which can save them. Getting rid is in an imperative

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