King James Version

James 1

James 1 teaches believers to count trials as joy because tested faith produces patience, to ask God for wisdom in faith, and to blame their own desires, not God, when tempted. It ends by calling readers to be doers of the word and not hearers only, and defines pure religion as caring for orphans and widows and staying unspotted from the world.

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James 1 (KJV)

Greeting to the twelve tribes v. 1

¹James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.

Joy in trials and asking for wisdom v. 2-8

²My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

³Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

⁴But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

⁵If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

⁶But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

⁷For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

⁸A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

The lowly and the rich v. 9-11

⁹Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:

¹⁰But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.

¹¹For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

Temptation comes from within, every good gift from above v. 12-18

¹²Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

¹³Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

¹⁴But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

¹⁵Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

¹⁶Do not err, my beloved brethren.

¹⁷Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

¹⁸Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Be doers of the word, not hearers only v. 19-27

¹⁹Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

²⁰For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

²¹Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

²²But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

²³For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

²⁴For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

²⁵But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

²⁶If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.

²⁷Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

What James 1 means

James opens without a long introduction and goes straight to hard times. He tells readers to "count it all joy" when they meet various trials, not because pain is good, but because "the trying of your faith worketh patience" (verse 3). Patience, given time to finish its work, makes a believer complete, lacking nothing.

Anyone who lacks wisdom for that kind of testing is told to ask God, who gives to all freely and does not scold the one asking. The condition is to ask in faith without wavering. James pictures the doubter as a wave of the sea, pushed back and forth by the wind, and calls such a person "double minded" and unstable.

Verses 12-18 draw a sharp line between being tested and being tempted to sin. The one who endures will receive "the crown of life" (verse 12). But no one should say God is tempting them to evil. Temptation grows from a person's own desire, which gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full grown, brings death. In contrast, every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights, who never changes.

The last section turns to how a person hears God's word. Be swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. Hearing without doing is like looking in a mirror and walking away forgetting your own face. The one who looks into the perfect law of liberty and keeps doing it will be blessed in what he does.

James closes with a short test of real faith. Religion is empty if a person cannot control the tongue. Pure religion before God is to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Christians have long read this chapter as a practical summary of the whole letter: faith that is real shows up in endurance, speech and action.

Background and context

The writer names himself only as James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. The letter is traditionally attributed to James the brother of the Lord, a leader of the church in Jerusalem (Galatians 1:19, Acts 15:13).

It is addressed to "the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad" (verse 1), which most readers take to mean Jewish believers living outside the land of Israel. Its short, direct commands and pictures from nature have led many to compare it with the book of Proverbs and with the Sermon on the Mount.

Key verses

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
James 1:2-3 · KJV

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
James 1:5 · KJV

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
James 1:22 · KJV

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
James 1:27 · KJV

Cross references

Romans 5:3-4 Paul makes the same point: tribulation works patience, and patience leads on to hope.And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
1 Peter 1:6-7 Peter also speaks of the trial of faith as more precious than gold tried with fire.Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
Proverbs 2:6 The LORD gives wisdom, which is why James says to ask God for it.For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
1 Corinthians 10:13 God does not let believers be tempted beyond what they can bear, and makes a way to escape.There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
Revelation 2:10 The crown of life promised to those who endure appears again in the letter to Smyrna.Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Matthew 7:24-26 Jesus' wise and foolish builders make the same contrast between hearing and doing.Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
James 3:2 James returns to the tongue in chapter 3, building on the bridled tongue of 1:26.For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

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Common questions

What is the main message of James 1?

James 1 says that trials test and grow faith, that God gives wisdom to those who ask in faith, that temptation comes from our own desires rather than from God, and that hearing God's word must lead to doing it.

What does it mean to count it all joy?

James is not saying trials feel good. He says to count them as joy because of what they produce: tested faith works patience, and patience makes a believer complete.

Does God tempt people according to James 1?

No. James 1:13 says "God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man." Verse 14 says each person is tempted when drawn away by his own lust.

What is pure religion in James 1:27?

It is to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

Who wrote James 1?

The writer calls himself James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Tradition identifies him as James the brother of the Lord, a leader of the Jerusalem church.