Jam 1:6-7 | KingComments | STEP | . In the previous section you saw that God loves to see you come to Him. But there is a condition attached to it. That condition is that you should come “in faith” (cf. ) and without any doubt in your heart concerning His kindness. If you ask God for wisdom, while you still doubt His kindness for giving that wisdom, you look like the surf of the sea. In such a case you focus yourself on God to ask Him for wisdom, while in your heart you still seek other possibilities where you might find wisdom to escape the trial. You open yourself to God, but at the same time you listen to the opinions of others or you look at the circumstances and make your decisions dependent on that. Then there is no room for God to make something clear to you. The result of such an attitude is that you are tossed to and fro, like a wave of the sea is driven up and down. Doubt looks like the open sea, where the waves are a plaything of the wind. Such is a man who doubts: he is a plaything of opinions of other people to which he opens himself. . It is not wrong to seek one another for advice, but that advice is not to take the first and leading place. If the advice of others means that much to you that your trust in God is not effective anymore, you will receive nothing from the Lord. Seeking others for advice or listening to the good advice of others, must on the contrary increase the confidence in God. God wants you to trust Him unconditionally. . A man who doesn’t do that is “double-minded”. That such a man is inwardly double-minded will also appear from his ways. He is “unstable” in all his ways, it is not possible to understand him. You may think for a moment that he is on the right way, but a moment later he goes a totally different direction. He is not a reliable person. He has a wavering course. He has no stability at all in his faith life. . After the general principles about endurance in trials, James applies these principles to “the brother of humble circumstances”. You can derive that from the word “but”. In that way James makes a contrast with what is earlier said and especially with the doubtful person. The lowly or socially deprived brother is in danger to doubt the love of God for him. As an Israelite he was raised with the thought that richness is the proof of God’s blessing and that poverty is the proof that God’s blessing is withheld, due to unfaithfulness. But things are not like that anymore, James says. Poverty is not necessarily a proof of unfaithfulness and God’s dissatisfaction about that. Poverty is a temptation that can be endured with joy because it can be seen as a test of faith. James adds a special encouragement to that. He says to the socially deprived one that he may rejoice in his spiritual riches and “his high position”. He may do so because of his connection to Christ. The poor may glory in his exaltation because Christ is not ashamed to call him ‘brother’ ( ). This title is ignored and counted as nothing in the world. The poor, however, knows that the glory of this world will pass away as a flower of the field, while he rejoices to be a partaker of those who are acknowledged by the Lord of glory as His own. . James has also a word for the socially prosperous one. The rich man who glories or boasts in his riches must realize that in a spiritual sense he is lowly and poor in his riches. James calls on the rich man to glory “in his humiliation”, which means in what he in himself is to God. In himself the rich man is a sinner who cannot stand before God. In addition, it will be a good thing for him to realize that all his riches will pass away. That not only goes for the riches of the rich man, but also for the rich man himself, “ he will pass away” . . Grass represents the prosperity of human life with its inextricable link that that prosperity will quickly pass away. The flower gives the grass color and luster, but the color and luster of the flower also pass away quickly. You see the illustration of that in the history that the Lord Jesus tells about the poor Lazarus and the rich man ( ). Lazarus was really poor. The rich man did not care about him at all. Lazarus means ‘God is help’ and God had brought Lazarus in such particular circumstances to bring the meaning of his name into practice. Lazarus had nothing and no one else to help him, but God. The rich man lived only for himself alone and needed no help from God. But at the other side of death the roles are reversed. There the rich has become a poor man and the poor Lazarus has become a rich man. The value of being rich, or better said, the meaninglessness of being rich, appears to be as the heat of the sun as an illustration of tests in life. If sickness and death make their entry, it appears that health and life are priceless and not for sale, even if a person would possess all the money of the world. You can also see the sun with its heat as a metaphor of the Lord Jesus, Who is presented as “the sun of righteousness” ( ). When He comes to judge the earth He will humiliate everything that is lofty and lifted up ( ). What man considers highly and prominently, will be destroyed by Him. All things in which the heart of man can possibly put his trust and through which he thinks not to need God for, will pass away when the Sun of righteous appears. In the light of the Sun, which reveals everything, it will be seen what it has been all worth. . With the promise “blessed” to the man who perseveres under trial, James concludes the introductory section about the test of faith. The man who has overcome the trial, receives beside that approval also a reward. To him “the crown of life” will be given. The Greek word for ‘crown’ here is stephanos . There is another word for crown, the word diadema . The ‘diadem’ is the symbol of royalty or imperial dignity. That word is quite often used in the book of Revelation. Here it is stephanos , which is a crown of honor as a symbol for a winner. This crown is not of gold, but of bay leaves. Therefore it has no material value. The symbolic value, however, is enormous, because of the honor that goes together with it. This crown is received by someone who has delivered an exceptional achievement. This crown was to be gained during the Olympic Games in those days. With this crown in view, a participant was prepared to make great efforts and impose on himself all sorts of denials. The stephanos is a great encouragement to run the race. In this sense the ‘crown of life’, also mentioned in Revelation 2 ( ), will be handed over by the Lord Jesus on the day of decoration. Other crowns to be deserved will also be handed out on that day, like ‘the crown of righteousness’ ( ) and ‘the unfading crown of glory’ ( ). Those who have endured the trials and who have testified not to be living for the life on earth, but for the true life, who were even prepared to pay their faithfulness with death, will receive that crown as an exceptional homage from God. When the Lord Jesus returns with His own, they will be characterized by ‘life’. That means that it will be seen by all people that they bear the special mark of the Lord Jesus as the life, for He is the life ( ). They will bear life as an honorary distinction. The life that they have lived and of which the excellent quality in the most difficult circumstances has been demonstrated, will be received out of the hand of the Lord Jesus, what will be visible to all people. In this way He will be glorified in His saints and will be marveled at among all who have believed ( ). We ought to be Christians who exercise themselves in abstaining from everything that could keep them from gaining the prize ( ). To be able to do that with heart and soul, we need love. James speaks about that in the last part of . Only those who love Christ are prepared to subject themselves to a hard and long lasting exercise. “Those who love Him” is a wonderful expression, which appears four times in the New Testament, of which two times in this letter ( ; , ). That shows that the true practice of faith is only possible if love for the Lord Jesus is the driving force. Only love for Him will have the effect in you that you exert yourself and make sacrifices. To make that happen in you a total change had to take place, for you were an enemy of God. Loving God is your answer to God’s love for you. Now read James 1:6-12 again. Reflection: How can you receive the crown of life?

‏ James 1:6-7

Do Not Doubt, but Persevere

Jam 1:6. In the previous section you saw that God loves to see you come to Him. But there is a condition attached to it. That condition is that you should come “in faith” (cf. Heb 11:6) and without any doubt in your heart concerning His kindness. If you ask God for wisdom, while you still doubt His kindness for giving that wisdom, you look like the surf of the sea. In such a case you focus yourself on God to ask Him for wisdom, while in your heart you still seek other possibilities where you might find wisdom to escape the trial. You open yourself to God, but at the same time you listen to the opinions of others or you look at the circumstances and make your decisions dependent on that.

Then there is no room for God to make something clear to you. The result of such an attitude is that you are tossed to and fro, like a wave of the sea is driven up and down. Doubt looks like the open sea, where the waves are a plaything of the wind. Such is a man who doubts: he is a plaything of opinions of other people to which he opens himself.

Jam 1:7. It is not wrong to seek one another for advice, but that advice is not to take the first and leading place. If the advice of others means that much to you that your trust in God is not effective anymore, you will receive nothing from the Lord. Seeking others for advice or listening to the good advice of others, must on the contrary increase the confidence in God. God wants you to trust Him unconditionally.

Jam 1:8. A man who doesn’t do that is “double-minded”. That such a man is inwardly double-minded will also appear from his ways. He is “unstable” in all his ways, it is not possible to understand him. You may think for a moment that he is on the right way, but a moment later he goes a totally different direction. He is not a reliable person. He has a wavering course. He has no stability at all in his faith life.

Jam 1:9. After the general principles about endurance in trials, James applies these principles to “the brother of humble circumstances”. You can derive that from the word “but”. In that way James makes a contrast with what is earlier said and especially with the doubtful person. The lowly or socially deprived brother is in danger to doubt the love of God for him. As an Israelite he was raised with the thought that richness is the proof of God’s blessing and that poverty is the proof that God’s blessing is withheld, due to unfaithfulness. But things are not like that anymore, James says. Poverty is not necessarily a proof of unfaithfulness and God’s dissatisfaction about that. Poverty is a temptation that can be endured with joy because it can be seen as a test of faith.

James adds a special encouragement to that. He says to the socially deprived one that he may rejoice in his spiritual riches and “his high position”. He may do so because of his connection to Christ. The poor may glory in his exaltation because Christ is not ashamed to call him ‘brother’ (Heb 2:11). This title is ignored and counted as nothing in the world. The poor, however, knows that the glory of this world will pass away as a flower of the field, while he rejoices to be a partaker of those who are acknowledged by the Lord of glory as His own.

Jam 1:10. James has also a word for the socially prosperous one. The rich man who glories or boasts in his riches must realize that in a spiritual sense he is lowly and poor in his riches. James calls on the rich man to glory “in his humiliation”, which means in what he in himself is to God. In himself the rich man is a sinner who cannot stand before God. In addition, it will be a good thing for him to realize that all his riches will pass away. That not only goes for the riches of the rich man, but also for the rich man himself, “he will pass away”.

Jam 1:11. Grass represents the prosperity of human life with its inextricable link that that prosperity will quickly pass away. The flower gives the grass color and luster, but the color and luster of the flower also pass away quickly.

You see the illustration of that in the history that the Lord Jesus tells about the poor Lazarus and the rich man (Lk 16:19-25). Lazarus was really poor. The rich man did not care about him at all. Lazarus means ‘God is help’ and God had brought Lazarus in such particular circumstances to bring the meaning of his name into practice. Lazarus had nothing and no one else to help him, but God. The rich man lived only for himself alone and needed no help from God. But at the other side of death the roles are reversed. There the rich has become a poor man and the poor Lazarus has become a rich man.

The value of being rich, or better said, the meaninglessness of being rich, appears to be as the heat of the sun as an illustration of tests in life. If sickness and death make their entry, it appears that health and life are priceless and not for sale, even if a person would possess all the money of the world.

You can also see the sun with its heat as a metaphor of the Lord Jesus, Who is presented as “the sun of righteousness” (Mal 4:2). When He comes to judge the earth He will humiliate everything that is lofty and lifted up (Isa 2:10-12). What man considers highly and prominently, will be destroyed by Him. All things in which the heart of man can possibly put his trust and through which he thinks not to need God for, will pass away when the Sun of righteous appears. In the light of the Sun, which reveals everything, it will be seen what it has been all worth.

Jam 1:12. With the promise “blessed” to the man who perseveres under trial, James concludes the introductory section about the test of faith. The man who has overcome the trial, receives beside that approval also a reward. To him “the crown of life” will be given.

The Greek word for ‘crown’ here is stephanos. There is another word for crown, the word diadema. The ‘diadem’ is the symbol of royalty or imperial dignity. That word is quite often used in the book of Revelation. Here it is stephanos, which is a crown of honor as a symbol for a winner. This crown is not of gold, but of bay leaves. Therefore it has no material value. The symbolic value, however, is enormous, because of the honor that goes together with it.

This crown is received by someone who has delivered an exceptional achievement. This crown was to be gained during the Olympic Games in those days. With this crown in view, a participant was prepared to make great efforts and impose on himself all sorts of denials. The stephanos is a great encouragement to run the race.

In this sense the ‘crown of life’, also mentioned in Revelation 2 (Rev 2:10), will be handed over by the Lord Jesus on the day of decoration. Other crowns to be deserved will also be handed out on that day, like ‘the crown of righteousness’ (2Tim 4:8) and ‘the unfading crown of glory’ (1Pet 5:4). Those who have endured the trials and who have testified not to be living for the life on earth, but for the true life, who were even prepared to pay their faithfulness with death, will receive that crown as an exceptional homage from God.

When the Lord Jesus returns with His own, they will be characterized by ‘life’. That means that it will be seen by all people that they bear the special mark of the Lord Jesus as the life, for He is the life (Jn 11:25 ; Jn 14:6). They will bear life as an honorary distinction. The life that they have lived and of which the excellent quality in the most difficult circumstances has been demonstrated, will be received out of the hand of the Lord Jesus, what will be visible to all people. In this way He will be glorified in His saints and will be marveled at among all who have believed (2Thes 1:10).

We ought to be Christians who exercise themselves in abstaining from everything that could keep them from gaining the prize (1Cor 9:27). To be able to do that with heart and soul, we need love. James speaks about that in the last part of Jam 1:12. Only those who love Christ are prepared to subject themselves to a hard and long lasting exercise.

“Those who love Him” is a wonderful expression, which appears four times in the New Testament, of which two times in this letter (Rom 8:28; 1Cor 2:9, Jam 1:12 ; Jam 2:5). That shows that the true practice of faith is only possible if love for the Lord Jesus is the driving force. Only love for Him will have the effect in you that you exert yourself and make sacrifices. To make that happen in you a total change had to take place, for you were an enemy of God. Loving God is your answer to God’s love for you.

Now read James 1:6-12 again.

Reflection: How can you receive the crown of life?