Caesar sent Albinus to Judea as procurator when he was informed of the death of Festus. But the younger Annas, who as I said had received the high priesthood, was headstrong in character and audacious in the extreme. He belonged to the sect of the Sadducees, who in judging offenders are cruel beyond any of the Jews, as I have already made clear. Being a man of this kind, Annas thought that he had a convenient opportunity, as Festus was dead and Albinus still on the way. So he assembled a council of judges and brought it before James, the brother of Jesus, known as Christ, and several others. Annas charged them with breaking the law and handed them over to be stoned. But those who were considered the most fair-minded people in the city, and strict in their observance of the law, were most indignant at this, and sent secretly to the king, imploring him to write to Annas to stop behaving in this way. His conduct had been wrong from the first. Some of them too waylaid Albinus on the road from Alexandria and explained that it was illegal for Annas to assemble a council without his authority. Convinced by their arguments, Albinus wrote an angry letter to Annas, threatening to punish him. In consequence, King Agrippa deprived him of the high priesthood, which he had held for three months only, and appointed Jeshua son of Dammaeus.

Those who seek worldly glory display the qualifications which they think they have in their correspondence. But the apostles boast, at the beginning of their letters, that they are slaves of God and Christ.

Christ deigned to reveal himself to James after his passion, and eventually it became proverbial to say: He appeared also to James.^[1] James refers to himself as a servant, but we must remember that there are two kinds of servitude, voluntary and involuntary. The involuntary servant is a slave who fears punishment, and therefore his service does not spring from love. But the voluntary servant is really no different from a son.

We read that when Stephen was martyred a great persecution of the church broke out at Jerusalem and that they were all scattered across the countryside of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles. James then wrote this letter to those who had been scattered because they had suffered persecution for the sake of righteousness. And not only to them, but also, as the rest of the letter testifies, to those who had become Christians but who were still struggling to achieve perfection, as well as to those who remained outside the faith themselves and did their best to persecute and disturb believers. All of these people were exiles, though for different reasons. But we also read in the Acts of the Apostles that at the time of our Lord’s death there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven.^[1] What these nations were is explained a little further on, where Luke mentions Parthians, Medes, Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, and so on.^[2] James also exhorts the righteous not to lose their faith, and he rebukes sinners, warning them that they must refrain from sinning and practice virtue, so that they would not be condemned by those who had received the sacraments of faith in an unfruitful way, even worthy of hell. He goes now to warn unbelievers to repent of the murder of the Savior and of the other crimes in which they were implicated before divine retribution overtook them secretly, or even openly for that matter.

More than any worldly dignity, the Lord’s apostles gloried in the fact that they were slaves of Christ. That is how they wanted to be known in their preaching, in their writing and in their teaching. ^[1] TO THE TWELVE TRIBES IN DISPERSION. ISHO‘DAD OF MERV: The opening resembles the titles of St. Paul’s letters, and perhaps James is the author of it, whoever he may be. He was unacquainted with Paul’s custom of writing to one particular nation and city, and for a particular reason. Instead, this author writes to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations because of the captivity, and not to the churches in every place, because he had no particular reason to be so specific. COMMENTARIES, PROLOGUE.^[1]

If you count it all joy when you fall into various temptations, you give birth to joy, and you offer that joy in sacrifice to God.

Falling into temptation may mean being overwhelmed by temptation, for temptation is like a raging torrent which engulfs the traveler. In times of temptation some people manage to cross this torrent without being overwhelmed by the rising tide, because they are good swimmers who can avoid being swept away. But if others who lack their strength try to do it, they are overcome.

Suffering is a real bond, an encouragement to greater love, and the basis of spiritual perfection and godliness. Listen to the one who says: If you want to serve the Lord, prepare your soul for temptation.^[1] And again Christ said: In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage.^[2] And again: straight and narrow is the way.^[3] Everywhere you see suffering being praised, everywhere it is accepted as necessary for us. For in the world there is no one who wins a trophy without suffering, who has not strengthened himself with labors and dieting and exercise and vigils and many other things like that. How much more is that true in this battle!

Because we are human, we live a most dangerous life amid the snares of temptation.

Just as the world has to pass through winter before the spring comes and the flowers bloom, so a man must go through many temptations before he can inherit the prize of eternal life. For as Paul said: Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.^[1] Temptations come in three ways, by persuasion, by attraction and by consent. Satan persuades, the flesh is attracted, and the mind consents.

Nobody will take the disciples’ joy from them because, although they suffered persecution and torture on behalf of Christ’s name, yet they willingly bore all adversities because they were enkindled by hope in his resurrection and by their vision of him. Moreover, they thought it perfect joy when they encountered different kinds of temptations.

For those who have been tried and tested, trials and afflictions are the source of the greatest joy, for that is how their faith is proved.

The Word of God . . . causes us to despise all life’s painful experiences and to count as joy every trial that assails us.

When our Lord and God taught his disciples that they must pray to be delivered from temptation,^[1] he meant the kind of temptation which we readily and willingly fall into and which does not contain any kind of trial. But James is talking about the kind of trials which are unwanted and teaches that those who struggle for the truth should not be discouraged by them.

Temptations can be endured by spiritual knowledge and faith in the Trinity.

James says that we are tempted by our adversaries in order to learn the virtue of patience, and thereby to be able to show and to prove that in our hearts we have a firm belief in a future retribution. In interpreting this verse we must bear in mind what the apostle Paul said about the same thing: Knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character.^[1]

Why do trials produce patience? It is because patience brings those who experience it to perfection.

Perfection is the love of God, which is that very same perfect love which casts out fear,^[1] that is, the fear of being tempted. Perfection is also patience, which is the guardian of the soul as Scripture says: By your patience you will gain your souls.^[2]

Patience builds character, so that someone who possesses it cannot be overcome but is shown to be perfect. For this reason believers are tested in order to improve their patience, so that by it their faith may be seen to be perfect.

Why do trials produce patience? It is because trials demonstrate the purity of faith, which is made perfect by the patient endurance of affliction.

This is the faith by which the righteous person lives. This is the faith which believes in the one who justifies the ungodly. This is the faith by which glorying is cut out [Rom 1:17]. . . . This is the faith which gains the bountiful outpouring of the Spirit.

What blessing will that man not possess who has asked for and received this wisdom from the Lord? This will give you an understanding of what grace is, for if this wisdom were from ourselves it would not be from above and we would not have to ask for it from the God who created us.

Just because faith may be given to us before we ask for it, it does not follow that it is not a gift of God. God may well give it to us before we ask him for it, just as he also gives peace and love. This is why we pray both that faith may be increased in those who already have it and also that it may be given to those who have not yet received it.

Why does James tell them to seek wisdom?^[1] It is so that they might have God’s assurance. Only God should be asked for wisdom, not philosophers or astrologers. God gives wisdom like a fountain which never runs out of water, and he fills everyone whom he enters, but the wisdom of philosophers and other human agents is not given in abundance, and it is soon spewed out.

Saving wisdom can come only from God and cannot be found by human free will, without the help of divine grace, as the Pelagians insist. Here, however, James is speaking particularly about that wisdom which we need when we meet temptations. He says that if there are some among us who do not understand why it is that we need to be tested in this way, then we should ask God to explain to us that a father must punish his children in order to make them ready for the inheritance of eternal life.

James calls wisdom the cause of perfection. He knows that faith is tried and tested in affliction. There is no need to ask God for perfect people. What we need are wise people. This is why he encourages those who want to be on top of their afflictions to ask God for wisdom.

James is referring here to spiritual wisdom, not the human kind. Spiritual wisdom is the cause of all perfect action. This is the heavenly wisdom, and when we have been strengthened by it we can do anything perfectly.

The doubter is really full of pride. For if you have not believed that God will hear your request, you have not acted in such a way as to avoid being condemned already by the one who tests everything. The doubter has become double-minded even without wanting to be. It is therefore necessary to condemn a plague as dreadful as this.

James shows that the basis of human wisdom is faith. Here he may be contending against Simon Magus, who asked the apostles to give him the Holy Spirit but did not ask in faith.

The believer must present himself to God, by his exemplary life, in such a way as to appear to be worthy of being heard by him. For whoever knows that he has not kept the Lord’s commandments will quite rightly have no hope of being heard by him. As Scripture says: If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.^[1]

If a person is confident, let him ask. But if he doubts he should not ask, because he will not receive what he is not sure about. Such a person soon retreats from the faith which he does have and then backslides. This happens to him because of his pride, because he quickly despairs of ever getting something which he asks for if it does not turn up immediately. In any case, it is no bad thing if someone who thinks too highly of himself has his prayer requests turned down.

Purely human merits are evil, and God does not crown them. Any good merit is a gift of God.

The person who, because of his biting conscience, doubts that he will receive any of the heavenly gifts will easily abandon his faith when he is tempted and be carried away into various sins as easily as if he were blown about by the wind.

This refers to the person who asks in a spirit of haughtiness and contempt. Take away all double-mindedness, and above all, when you ask God for something, do not hesitate, saying to yourself: How can I ask God for something, seeing that I have sinned so greatly against him?

Put away doubting and do not hesitate to ask of the Lord. Do not say to yourself: How can I ask of the Lord and receive from him, seeing that I have sinned so much against him? Do not reason with yourself like this, but turn to the Lord with all your heart and ask of him without doubting, and you will know the multitude of his tender mercies, that he will never leave you but fulfill the request of your soul.

We who do not follow our Lord with complete and perfect faith but yet have withdrawn from foreign gods dwell in a no-man’s land. We are cut down by the foreign gods as deserters, but because we are unstable and unreliable, we are not defended by our Lord.

A double-minded man is one who on the one hand prays to God and on the other hand fails to obtain anything from him because inside his conscience is accusing him all the time. A man is double-minded when he wants to have fun in this world but also reign with God in heaven. Likewise, a man is double-minded when he seeks the approval of others for his good deeds rather than spiritual rewards from God.

A double-minded person is someone who is unstable and unreliable. Such a person has no clear vision of the future and no sure grasp of the present but rather drifts about here and there, grasping at whatever he can. He may be compared with the waves of the sea which are tossed to and fro, or to a flower of the field which is here today and gone tomorrow.

This verse applies to Hebrew slaves who were great and proud and high in their own eyes but in their slavery had become the lowest of the low. It is as if he were saying that life was harder for the rich people with whom they were living than it was for them as their servants. The boasting referred to here is not vain glory but joy in times of temptation.

Everyone who humbly endures adversity for the Lord’s sake will receive from him the highest rewards of his kingdom.

Every good thing comes to us if we humble ourselves before God.

Humility is the distributor of all good things, and apart from it there is nothing which is good.

Scripture says that whoever exalts himself will be humbled.^[1] Wealth is a rich man’s flower, but the elements of the universe are out to snatch it away from him. James says very little about the humble man, but it is enough, for he will receive his glory from God. But the rich are condemned at great length, so that no one will be tempted to follow their example.

James says this ironically, because the rich man will see the wealth in which he gloried, and with which he used to despise the poor in this world, come to an end. He will be humiliated by his eternal condemnation, like the rich man who despised Lazarus.

James calls the rich man both proud and humble at the same time, because what puffs him up also brings him down.

The flower of the field is pretty and its smell is pleasant for a while, but it soon loses the attraction of its beauty and charm. The present happiness of the ungodly is exactly the same—it lasts for a day or two and then vanishes into nothing. The rising sun stands for the sentence of the strict Judge, which puts a quick end to the transient glory of the reprobate. Of course it is also true that the righteous person flourishes, though not in the same way. The unrighteous flourish for a time, like grass, but the righteous flourish forever, like great trees, as Scripture says: The righteous flourish like the palm tree.^[1]

The rich man is said to fade away even while he goes about his business, because anyone engaged in business knows that it can always take an unexpected turn for the worse.

Disasters are the common lot of the saints, who must suffer them. It is by enduring them and overcoming them that the virtue of the righteous has always been noticeable. With invincible strength they have defied all trials—the heavier the sufferings they endured, the more courageous were their victories.

James does all he can to encourage people to bear their trials with joy, as a burden which is bearable, and says that perfect patience consists in bearing things for their own sake, not for the hope of some better reward elsewhere. He nevertheless tries to persuade his hearers to rely on the promise that their present state will be put right. The person who has fought the hard battles will be perfectly able to handle anything. Someone who comes through his troubles in this way will be duly prepared to recieve his reward, which is the crown of life prepared by God for those who love him.

We see no garments or cloaks, but we see crowns more valuable than any gold, than any contest prizes or rewards, and ten thousand blessings stored up for those who live upright and virtuous lives on earth.

If anyone is so zealous for continence or good works that he neglects to seek the rewards of eternal recompense in return for them, that person may indeed appear to have a fine linen miter on his head, but he does not have little crowns, for although he certainly displays the image of virtue before other human beings, he does not acquire the reward of virtue with the Lord.

This verse is reminiscent of Revelation [2:10]: Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

If ever we find ourselves afflicted by illness, grief or trouble, let us not blame God, for God cannot be tempted by evil and does not tempt anyone. Each of us is scourged with the ropes of our own sins.^[1]

By temptation in this context, James meant the bad sort by which we are deceived and subjected to the devil. There is another kind of temptation [mentioned in Deuteronomy 13:3] which is really a kind of testing that comes from God.

At this point James moves on from those external temptations which God sends to us for the testing of our faith to those internal ones which assault our souls and which are inspired by the devil. He wants to dispel the notion that the God who puts good thoughts into our minds also fills them with evil intentions. No one who has such wicked thoughts in his mind should ever try to claim that they come from God.

Any testing which comes from God is for good, not for evil. . . . It is quite otherwise with the devil. He tempts in order to kill those whom he has tempted. Furthermore, the devil does not know what is inside us, but God knows and has given everyone his task to accomplish, according to his sovereign will.

God is said to tempt when he abandons those who stubbornly fall into the snares of temptation. That is how Adam succumbed to the wiles of the tempter when he abandoned the commands of the Creator.

Against this fault medicinal aid is sought from him who can heal all illnesses of this sort, not by separating an alien nature from us but by healing our own nature.

The one giving birth is lust, the thing born is sin. Lust does not give birth unless it conceives, and it does not conceive unless it entices and receives willing consent to commit evil. Therefore our battle against lust consists in keeping it from conceiving and giving birth to sin.

If we sin when we are drunk with pleasure, we do not notice it. But when it gives birth and reaches its goal, then all the pleasure is extinguished and the bitter core of our mind comes to the surface. This stands in contrast to women in labor. For before they give birth, such women have great pain and suffering, but afterwards the pain goes away, leaving their bodies along with the child. But here it is quite different. For until we labor and give birth to our corrupt thoughts, we are happy and joyful. But once the wicked child called sin is born we are in pain as we realize the shame to which we have given birth, and then we are pierced through more deeply than any woman in labor. Therefore I beg you right from the start not to welcome any corrupt thought, for if we do so the seeds will grow inside us, and if we get to that stage, the sin inside us will come out in deeds and strike us dead by condemning us, in spite of all our confessions and tears. For there is nothing more destructive than sin.

Each one of us is tempted by our own lust, so let us fight and resist and not give in nor allow ourselves to be lured by it, nor allow it to conceive anything to which it might then give birth. It is like this—lust coaxes and coddles you, it excites and urges you on, positively encouraging you to do something wrong. Do not give in and it will not conceive. If you ponder it willingly and with pleasure, then it will conceive and give birth, and you will die.

There are three stages in temptation. The first is suggestion, the second is experiment, and the third is consent. If we resist the devil’s suggestions, then we have victory over temptation and deserve to inherit the crown of life. But if we let the enemy’s suggestions gradually take control of us, then we find that we are taken away from the right path and start to indulge in sin. However, if we go no further than initial experiments, we may have offended God, but we have not yet fallen into mortal sin. However, if we continue down the path of depravity and start to embrace evildoing by giving our full consent to it, then we are deserving of death, and the enemy has triumphed over us.

The desires of sinners are the birth pangs of death.

This refers to the deception of the heretics who think that because God rules the physical world in darkness and in light, in drought and in rain, in cold and in heat, so he also rules over human wills with the same determinateness—in good and in bad, in sadness and in joy, in death and in life. Because of this error, James goes on to add that it is every good endowment and every perfect gift which comes from the Father of lights.

Do not be deceived into thinking that temptations come from God.

James calls God the Father of intelligent lights, that is to say, the illuminator of all rational beings, from whom, as the giver of these things, the divine gifts come to human beings. These gifts, James says, are the very best, complete and without defect, undoubtedly perfect. But as there are some people who argue from this that only the good things in life come from God, and not things which are regarded as bad or harmful, we have to recall such passages as he brought evil on them,^[1] Evil came down from God onto the gates of Jerusalem^[2] and so on. From these and other similar examples it is clear that bad things as well as good may come about through God’s judgment.

If doing something ourselves means that it is not also a work of God, then casting mountains into the sea would not be a work of God, since Matthew [17:20] and Luke [17:6] both say that this can be done by the power of faith.

You should hope for this perseverance in obedience to the Father of lights, from whom descends every good and perfect gift, and ask for it every day in your prayers, and in so doing have confidence that you are not strangers to the predestination of God’s people, for he allows you to do even this.

Man’s merit is a free gift, and no one deserves to receive anything from the Father of lights, from whom every good gift comes down, except by receiving what he does not deserve.

The soul gradually ascends to the heavens after the resurrection. It does not reach the highest point immediately but goes through many stages during which it is progressively enlightened by the light of Wisdom, until it arrives at the Father of lights himself.

Inspired by the Father, each procession of the Light spreads itself generously towards us, and in its power to unify, it stirs us by lifting us up. It returns us back to the oneness and deifying simplicity of the Father who gathers us in. For as the sacred Word says, from him and to him are all things.^[1]

The lights are either the rational powers or else those who have been enlightened by the Holy Spirit.

God never changes or transforms himself into other forms, lest by changing he should somehow appear to be mortal. For the modification implied in change from one thing to another involves a share in death of some sort. Therefore there is never any addition of parts or of glory in him, lest anything should seem to have been wanting to the perfect one in the first place. Nor can there be any diminution in him, for that would imply some degree of mortality in him.

Hear what God says: I am, I am and I do not change.^[1] He remains always firm and unchanging in his being, and those who have been formed by the gospel and who have been transformed by his commands through the gift and transformation which comes from above, are called to persevere in these precepts as much as their strength permits and not to be swept away by the times in which we live. Therefore Paul also warned people, saying: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may prove what the good and acceptable and perfect will of God is.^[2]

This changing is a shadow which conceals the divine light if it goes through certain ups and downs in this life, but because God is un-changing, no shadow can cut off his light.

Since what comes from us lacks perfection and indeed is very imperfect, nor does it enlighten the soul, think what perfection they will have who acquire it after a happy pilgrimage through life, who with great effort have cleansed their souls from the wickedness they inherited at birth, and who have finally reached the divine splendor.

Suppose we had told you that we had freely received grace from the Father of lights, from whom comes every good and perfect gift, but that we do not care for you to receive it also. If so, we would then have deserved to become an object of abhorrence on the part of God and of yourselves. But instead we present to you the truth from Holy Scripture and from experience and show you the royal way.

Just as the heavenly powers rule over the angelic creatures, so we human beings rule over the lower creation.

The birth here applies in the first instance to the Son and then by extension to the creatures. For to him belong truth and consubstantiality with God, whereas to the creatures belong honor and inheritance. The fact that the same name is used does not mean that the same honor is given, nor should things which are said by extension be taken to mean that they apply in the first instance as well. By first fruits James means that we are the first and most highly honored. For by creatures he means the visible creation, of which humanity is the most highly honored part.

God has changed us from being children of darkness into being children of light, not because of any merits of ours but by his own will, through the water of regeneration. But lest we should think that by begetting us in this way God has made us somehow a part of his own nature, James goes on to add that the result of the divine activity is that we have become the first fruits of his creatures, which means that we have been exalted over the rest of creation.

Here James reminds us that God is immutable, which is not true of us. For if we have been born it is clear that we have also been changed. How can something be immutable if it has gone from nonbeing to being? Furthermore he adds that God has given us birth by the Word of Life, lest we might be tempted to think that his Son was also born in the same way as we are. But according to John, all things were made by the Son, which means that he was not born along with us who have been made by him.

Truth is more safely heard than preached. For when it is heard, lowliness is preserved, but when it is preached some bit of boastfulness may steal in almost unawares, and this brings corruption.

James is right to say this, for it is stupid to think that someone who is not prepared to learn from others will somehow be well-equipped to preach to them. Someone who wants to become wise must first of all ask for this gift from God, as James has already said. Then he must find himself a good teacher and in the meantime discipline his tongue so that he says nothing useless but restricts himself to preaching the truth which he has recently learned from others.

When James says quick to hear he is not talking about simple listening but about eagerness to put into practice what has been heard. For he distinguishes quite clearly between the person who is ready to act on what he has heard and the one who is weighed down by laziness and procrastination, sometimes even to the point of never attempting to do anything at all.

Because a diseased mind has no control over its own judgment, it thinks that whatever anger suggests must be right.

Even if anger seems justified in human terms, it can never be right in God’s eyes. A human judge who loses his temper, even if his decision is the right one, cannot imitate the justice of God, who always judges in perfect tranquility of mind.

Unconsidered speech and unguarded wrath do no good at all. David said: Be angry but do not sin.^[1] This means that we must be careful when we get angry not to let it develop into an uncontrollable fury. This is where those who are slow come into their own. It may be wrong to be slow in other things, but when it comes to anger, tardiness is the right policy, because by the time we get round to it the reasons for it may have dissipated.

Filthiness and wickedness arise out of anger. Introductory Tractate on the Letter of James.

You cannot do good unless you have cleansed yourself from evil first. Filthiness refers primarily to external things which corrupt our hands, whereas wickedness refers primarily to internal things which corrupt our souls. Both must be overcome if we are to do good.

This refers to the sin which corrupts a man, which dwells in us as the cause of evil. But outside us there is another kind of evil which creeps up on us unawares and is the work of demons who are opposed to us.

What James wants to say is this. Although a person may often fall into uncleanness, the faster he gets out of it the better. Otherwise, if he remains in it and carries on, he will make the evil stronger by force of habit and have a harder time washing it away.

James did not say of the words but of the Word, in spite of the fact that there are so many words from the Holy Scriptures which are venerated in the church.

Neither I nor any other preacher can see into your hearts . . . but God is looking, for nothing can be hidden from him. . . . Do not deceive yourselves by coming eagerly to hear the Word and then failing to do it. If it is a good thing to hear, it is a much better thing to do. If you do not hear, you cannot do, and therefore you will build nothing. But if you hear and do not do, then what you are building will be a ruin.

In other words, be mindful of your own salvation!

James knows that some people can get all exited by what they hear, but even in the course of listening their enthusiasm may start to cool off. Therefore he adds these words, so that they may give effect to what they hear.

There are two kinds of mirrors—large and small. In a small mirror you see small things—this is the Old Testament, which leads no one to perfection. But in a big mirror you see great things—this is the New Testament, because in it the fullness of perfection is seen.

If someone is a hearer of the word only and does not confirm it by his deeds, he will lose the word as well, for it will slip through his fingers and disappear.

James here uses the common mirror as a metaphor for the intellectual mirror, but without going into details. Think of him as saying that someone who hears a sermon but does not put any of it into practice is like a man who having seen himself in the mirror immediately forgets what he looked like.

We learn what God has made us like, having given us new birth by the washing of regeneration. But if we do not remember what we have seen and apply it in our deeds, then we shall lose the grace which has been given to us. But the one who remembers that he has been born again from on high, that he has been justified, and sanctified and counted among the children of God, will not give himself over to works which reject that grace.

This is like the person who has used the law of Moses to contemplate what he was made like, that is, the image and likeness of God the Creator, but afterwards draws no conclusions about his own behavior from what he has looked at and instead goes back to being just what he was before.

The law of liberty is one of love, not fear. Paul too was no longer terrified by the law of God as a slave would be but was delighted with it, even though he saw another law in his members which was at war against the law of his mind.^[1]

Spiritual happiness is gained not by empty words but by putting our good intentions into practice.

The spiritual law contains something magnificent and altogether desirable, which is able to draw people away even from following it corruptly, and able to make them perfect. The perfect law is liberating because it is the law of Christ, which sets us free from all slavery to the flesh, whether that means observance of the sabbath, circumcision, ritual purifications or whatever.

Anger causes tongues to become unbridled and speech unguarded. Physical violence, acts of contempt, reviling, accusations, blows and other bad effects too numerous to recount are born of anger and indignation.

James says here that even if someone appears to be doing the good works of faith which he has learned he ought to do, none of this matters unless he restrains his tongue from slanders, lies, blasphemies, nonsense, verbosity and other things which lead to sin.

This rule is the bottom line of true religion.

If you want to be truly religious, do not demonstrate this by your knowledge of the law but by the way you put it into practice. Religion appears to mean something more than faith, in that it offers the knowledge of hidden things and confirmation of what is grasped by faith.

Instead of fields, buy souls that are in trouble, according to your ability. Look after widows and orphans. Do not neglect them. Spend your riches on these kinds of fields and houses.

We can become more like God if we are merciful and compassionate. If we do not do these things, we have nothing at all to our credit. God does not say that if we fast we shall be like him. Rather he wants us to be merciful, as he himself is. I desire mercy, he says, and not sacrifice.^[1]

James calls God the Father because as far as he is concerned there is no other god who made the world (as the Marcionites and other heretics claim). What he says about widows has to be understood in the light of the fact that there were many who tried to rob them of their possessions, as it says in the Gospel.^[1]

It is good to see that James has added the words before God, the Father, because there are plenty of people who appear to be religious in the sight of men but who are wicked as far as God is concerned.

Here someone might say: If James is a teacher of the covenant established by Christ, why does he not just abolish everything connected with the law, instead of exalting it by supporting those who are experienced in keeping it? Why does he not rebuke them and turn them away from it? To this we answer that James accommodates himself to them and starts where they are. Rather than attack the law head on, he draws them away from it gradually, aware that they are suspicious of new ideas and inclined toward skepticism about them. By doing this he increasingly prepares them to hear what he has to say and then weans them away from observance of the law little by little.

In this verse the world refers to the common and ungodly people who are led astray by their lusts and errors.