The book of James is full of admonitions and imperatives, or warnings and commands. In this section James does not hold back on either account. Yet on both accounts the theme of grace is uniquely interwoven throughout. James boldly names and calls out sins of division in the churches. He admonishes them for pursuing friendship […]

The story of Jonah is an enigma. God chose Jonah to be His instrument to take the message of salvation to Nineveh. Instead, Jonah tried to flee from God by boarding a ship going in the opposite direction. But God pursued His petulant prophet through a storm and a really big fish. From the belly […]

We can surmise from the ways Paul writes of and to Timothy that there was no one more important to him in terms of his ministry. Of Timothy, Paul wrote, “I have no one like him,” and, “how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel” (Philippians 2:19-24). Timothy […]

Though James presses into fresh territory, he actually has not changed the subject in the second half of chapter two. He is still calling us to embody the faith we profess. And James still appeals to our treatment of the poor as an index of our spiritual condition. He registers shock that professing Christians would […]

In this paragraph James expands on his exhortation that Christians show no partiality. James is not condemning the sort of proper honor shown to those whom honor is due. For example, children are most certainly to honor their parents. Husbands are to love their wives more than themselves and wives are to submit to their […]

In the previous section, James set the stage for what will be the great theme of the middle portion of his letter. By contrasting empty religion with religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father, James establishes that the practices of Christian worship and devotion must be joined with self-control, care for the […]

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” Once again we see how James moves quickly from one subject to another. In this one section James addresses such issues as listening well, speaking with restraint, sinful anger, “rampant wickedness,” the righteousness of God, the sufficiency of Scripture, hearing and doing God’s […]

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” Once again we see how James moves quickly from one subject to another. In this one section James addresses such issues as listening well, speaking with restraint, sinful anger, “rampant wickedness,” the righteousness of God, the sufficiency of Scripture, hearing and doing God’s […]