Reading for December 30th

Read James 1.1-18. In 1.1-8: Faith and faithfulness. James annouces one of the letter's main themes, faith or faithfulness. In verses 3-4: Faithfulness or endurance in trials leads to maturity, thus adult faith is pure and whole; complete, lacking in nothing. In verses 5-7: Next, faith means petitioning God with wholeness of mind. Jewish purity concerns affirm what is whole, but shun what is of two kinds (doubt and faith; see Lev 19.19; Deut 22.9-11). This theme will be developed in 5.13-18. In verses 9-11: Rise of poor, fall of rich. James repeats the tradition that the rich will fall and the lowly rise (Lk 1.51-52; 1 Cor 1.18-29). He likens the fate of the rich to that of desert flowers which quickly wither, thus echoing Jesus' parable (Mk 4.5-6; 1 Pet 1.24-25). In verses 12-18: Temptation and benefaction. In verse 12: James honors with a victor's crown those who faithfully endure trials (2 Tim 4.8). In verses 13-15: Whence come temptations? Not from God, but from human passions; the human life cycle (conception, birth, fully grown) demonstrates how even a small pollution grows into total depravity. In verse 17: Again God's person and gifts are pure: with God there is no variation, and every perfect benefaction descends from God. In verse 18: God who does not tempt, is our best benefactor, whose gift of birth comes through the preaching of the gospel. This is contrasted to the birth of evil in 1.15. Comments or Questions..