Page 9 - General Epistles (James through Jude) Textbook

Study Section 2: Trials of Many Kinds and Doing the Word.

2.1 Connect.

Do you know that there are deadly effects to giving-in to temptations? Also, do you know that
there are spiritual benefits at the end of many kinds of trials? Most often, people blame Satan
for conceding to the demands of all the temptations. If that is true, why does James, the half-
brother to Jesus Christ put the blame on people themselves as the ones to blame for giving-in to
temptations? Are you also aware that listening to the Word of God is equally important as doing
the Word of God? And do you know how doing the Word of God looks like? I am praying that after your
study of this section, you should be comfortable to give a biblical explanation to all the above raised
questions to any given audience.

2.2 Objectives.
1. The student should be able to describe and explain the spiritual benefits of having to undergo
various kind of trials.

2. The student should be able explain clearly man’s responsibility in accepting all the demands of
temptations.

3. The student should be able to describe the spiritual significance of both listening and doing the Word
of God.

2.3 Trials of Many Kinds, Temptations, and Listening and Doing the Word of God (Jas. 1:1-27).
Trials of Many Kinds and Temptations (Jas. 1:1-18).

In James 1:1a, James, the half-brother to Jesus Christ says that he is the bond-servant of both
God and the Lord Jesus Christ. From both Hebrew and Greek languages, the phrase “bond-
servant” means that James was born (but not made) to be a slave/servant. Note: “If you buy a
Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year. . . go out free without
paying anything. But if the servant should declare, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I
will not go out free,’. . . his master will pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him forever”
(Exod. 21:2, 5-6). Bond servant is used “of Israel’s leaders as persons of dignity (worthiness) in
Yahweh’s service.” This kind of servanthood should not only be understood as extreme humility.
12
Instead, if you are this kind of a servant, you should view yourself as standing on equal grounds with
the renowned and celebrated servants of God who are both still living and dead. These might include
Moses (Deut. 34:5; Dan. 9:11), David (Jer. 33:21; Ezek. 37:25), Amos, Jeremiah, and Daniel). How
does one become a bond-servant? The moment we surrender our lives to Christ Jesus, we become
bond-servants of both God and the Lord Jesus Christ. As bond-servants, “all rights over” our lives and
13
properties belong to our master, God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

8