Reading for January 8th

Read James 5.7-11 In 5.7-11: Patience unto judgment. The exhortation to patience comes in two parts: vv. 7-8 and 10-11. Patience, moreover, awaits the great judgment, both its coming (vv. 7-8) and the appearance of the great judge. In verse 7: James reflects agricultural patterns in the Middle East with winter and spring rains. In verse 9: The warning against judgments connects with similar remarks in 4.11-12 and echoes Mt 7.1-5. In Rev 3.20 Jesus the judge stands at the door, although the Judge here is more likely God. In verses 10-11: Like the examples in 2.21-26, the prophets exemplify endurance and faithfulness in difficult times. The premier example if Job. This is the only mention of Job in the New Testament. Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 7th

Read James 4.13-5.6. In 4.13-5.6: pride of the rich. The criticism of the rich in 1.10-11 and 2.1-4 returns. In 4.13-15: Evil speech expresses arrogance focused on getting rich. In contrast, virtuous speech entrusts one's life and prosperity to God. In verses 16-17: Boasting, another form of evil speech, expresses pride in a repeat of "faith and work" (2.14-26), wholeness is lost when someone knows the right thing to do, but fails to do it. In 5.1-4: Continuing his censure of the rich, James first devalues clothing and jewelry as corruptible (Mt 6.19-21). Then, echoing the popular saying that the wealthy are all theirves, he notes that they withhold wages from laborers. In verses 5-6: Finally, the fruits or injustice simple make the wealthy fat for judgment's slaughter, James next topic. Coomments or Questions..

Reading for January 6th

Read James 4.11-12. In 4.11-12: Evil speech again. Continuing 1.19 and 3.1-12, James resumes his censure of internal divison (3.14-18; 4.1-2). Again, James focuses on wrong speech: speak evil against one another and speak evil against the law and the judges. Such people lack wholeness, judging the law but not doing it. This concludes with a reference to God, who both gave the law and will be its judge; see 2.8-13. Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 5th

Read James 4.1-10. In 4.1-10: Friendship with the world; hatred of God. In verses 1-3: In question-and-answer format, James describes the genesis of evil. Conflicts that spring from envy (3.14, 16) lead either to murder or covetousness. In verse 4: Using contrasts, he juxtaposes friendship with enmity, humility with pride, and God with the devil. Friends of the world are God's enemies, and God's friendship means enmity with the world. In verses 5-6: God's jealousy reffers to God's desire to protect what is God's; it is the opposite of envy in 3.16, which seeks to hurt another. Prov 3.34 proves that God resists the proud and enriches the humble, a theme found frequently in James. In verses 7-8: Using spatial metaphors, James urges his addressees to flee from the devil and draw near to God. The path to purity means cleansing one's hands and purifying one's heart, being wholly in God's service. Impurity lies in being double-minded, or mixing contridictory things. In verses 9-10: A return to the theme of humility (v. 6), now with a strong call to repentance. Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 4th

Read James 3.13-18. In 3.13-18: Evil envy. Continuing his justapostion of evil and good. James contrasts two types of wisdom: True wisdom from above is both practical and pure; it yeilds meekness, peace, and mercy, which are manifested in the practice of a good life. In contrast, false wisdom is earthy, unspiritual and devilish; it manifests itself in highly aggressive behavior, such as envy, ambition, and disorder. One is reminded of the description of lowliness in 2.5. Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 3rd

Read James 3.1-12. In 3.1-12: Unbridled tongue equals pollution. Echoing 1.19, James again urges control of bodily orifices. In verses 2-4: Perfection comes from making no mistakes with the tongue. He refers here to strong control of the mouth, noting how a mere bridle guided the horse, as a rudder does a ship. In verses 5-6: The destruction of a large forest by a tiny fire illustrates the power of an uncontrolled tongue. In the world of purity concrns, something so small as a tongue can stain the whole body, the way yeast was thought to corrupt flour. In verses 7-8: He likens the tongue to the animal never tamed, the snake. Both contain poison in their mouths. In verses 9-12: Since holiness is whleness one cannot bless God and curse others. Wholeness applies to natural examples. Springs cannot yeild both pure and brackish water; fig trees produce figs, not olives, and grapevines yeild grapes not figs. Comments or Questions..

Reading for January 2nd

Read James 2.14-26. In 2.14-26: Perfection of active faith. James performs here like a teacher anticipating objections and answering them. In verses 14-17: Some object that faith alone counts; James counters that faith which does not feed the hungry and clothe the naked is dead or unclean. Perfection, then, means wholeness; both faith and works. In verses 18-20: To those who boast of their works, James counters that faith can be manifested only by works, bit without works it is useless. Mere understanding of God's supremacy counts for nothing, unless faithful obedience follows. In verses 21-26: As proof, James cites from the Bible male and female examples of perfect faith. Abraham, a righteous believer (Gen 15.6), showed perfect faithfulness by offering isaac as a sacrifice (Gen 22). Rahab, who extended hospitality to Israelite spies (Josh 2.1-12), is considered holy in spite of being a prostitute. In concusion, James labels the position of faith without works as the ultimate pollution, death. Comments or Questions..