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ΙΑΚΩΒΟΥ
1ΙΑΚΩΒΟΥ θεοῦ καὶ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ δοῦλος ταῖς δώδεκα φυλαῖς ταῖς ἐν τῇ διασπορᾷ χαίρειν.
I. 1. Ἰάκωβος] For the person intended see Introd., pp. xi ff. The name is Ἰακώβ in LXX., but has been doubtless Graecised as a modern name, as so many names in Josephus. Probably it was common at this time: three are mentioned by Josephus, and curiously one the brother of a Simon (Ant. xx. 5, 2), another coupled with a John (B. J. iv. 4, 2). The third is an Idumaean (B. J. iv. 9, 6). [James brother of Jesus Christ is also mentioned (Ant. xx. 9, 1) (if the passage be genuine). See pp. xv, xxi f.]
θεοῦ καὶ κυρίου Ἰ. Χ. δοῦλος] The combination θεοῦ καὶ κυρίου Ἰ. Χ., though grammatically possible, is against Scriptural analogy, and would involve a very improbable want of balance. The absence of the article is due to abbreviation and compression of phrase. See note on 1 Peter i. i (p. 15 b). An unique phrase as a whole, it unites the O.T. θεοῦ δοῦλος (-οι) (Acts iv. 29; 1 Pet. ii. 16; Apoc. saepe and esp. i. 1; and, in greeting, Tit. i. 1 Παῦλος δοῦλος θεοῦ, ἀπόστολος δὲ Ἰ. Χ.) with St Paul’s δοῦλος Ἰ. Χ. (Ἰ. Χ.) (fully in Rom. i. 1; later Phil. i. 1, δοῦλοι Χ. Ἰ..; as also Jude 1; cf. 2 Pet. i. 1).
This coupling of God and Christ in a single phrase covered by δοῦλος is significant as to St James’ belief. Without attempting to say how much is meant by it, we can see that it involves at least some Divineness of nature in our Lord, something other than glorified manhood. This is peculiarly true as regards a man with Jewish feelings, unable to admit lower states of deity. It thus shews that he cannot have been an Ebionite. Even St Paul’s salutations contain no such combination except in their concluding prayers for grace and peace. An analogous phrase is in Eph. v. 5, ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ θεοῦ..
The conception is not of two distinct and co-ordinate powers, so to speak; as though he were a servant of two lords. But the service of the one at once involves and is contained in the service of the other. Christ being what He is as the Son of the Father, to be His servant is impossible without being God’s servant; and the converse is also true. κυρίου Ἰ. Χ. is the full phrase illustrated by the early chapters of Acts; esp. ii. 36: God had made Jesus both Lord and Christ. This true sense of χριστός is never lost in N.T.; it is never a mere proper name like Ἰησοῦς, which though a significant name is still a proper name like any other. “Χριστός” has indeed, as a title, a little of the defining power of a proper name, because it. represents not merely its etymology “Anointed” but מָשִׁיחַ. Ἰ Χ. is not merely “Jesus the Anointed” but “Jesus, He who has been looked for under the name ‘the Anointed,’ having therefore the characteristics already 2associated with the name, and more.” Accordingly, though we often find Χ. Ἰ. where Χ. is intended to have special prominence, we never have κ. Χ. Ἰ. but only κ. Ἰ. Χ., as here, Ἰ. standing between κ. and Χ. and thereby declared to have the character of both, but specially linked with Χ., κ. being prefixed to both together.
δοῦλος, servant] Probably in the widest sense, answering to Κύριος, equivalent to “doing His work in His kingdom, in obedience to His will” (cf. Acts iv. 29). It is misleading to call δοῦλος “slave,” as many do, for it lays the whole stress on a subordinate point. It expresses in the widest way the personal relation of servant to master, not the mere absence of wages or of right to depart. But St John in Apoc. (x. 7) uses the O.T. phrase “His own servants the prophets,” from Amos iii. 7; Dan. ix. 6, 10; Zech. i. 6, and probably has this in mind in calling himself “the servant of God” (i. 1). And it is not unlikely that St James also has it in view, not necessarily as implying himself to be a prophet, as Jn probably does, but. as standing in an analogous relation to God and His kingdom.
ταῖς δώδεκα φυλαῖς] . Equivalent to Israel in its fulness and completeness. It has nothing to do with the return or non-return of the different tribes from captivity. Josephus believed the ten tribes to have remained in great numbers beyond the Euphrates, and in 4 Esdras xiii. 45 they are said to be in Arzareth, which Dr Schiller-Szinessy (Journ. of Philology, 1870, pp. 113 f.) has shewn to be only the אֶרֶץ אַחֶרֶת (“another land”) of Deut. xxix. 28, referring to Sanhed., shewing that that verse was referred to the ten tribes. They are also the subject of later traditions. But whatever may have been thought about the actual descendants of the twelve tribes, and their fate, the people was thought of as having returned as a whole.
After the return, when Judah and Benjamin apparently alone returned to any very considerable extent, the reference to tribes, as a practically existing entity, seems to have come to an end, except as regards the descent of individuals through recorded genealogies, and the people that had returned was treated as representing the continuity of the whole nation, Judah and Israel together. (See Ezek. xlvii. 13; Ezra vi. 17; viii. 35.) This would have been unnatural if the tribes had been previously the primary thing, and the people only an agglomeration of tribes: but in reality the true primary unit was the people, and the tribes were merely the constituent parts, the union of which expressed its unity.
Accordingly our Lord Himself chose twelve Apostles, and spoke of them as to sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And in the Apocalypse 12,000 are sealed from each of twelve tribes. Cf. xxi. 12-14.
Hence τ. δ. φ. is equivalent to τὸ δωδεκάφυλον (ἡμῶν), Acts xxvi. 7, which occurs also Clement i. 55 (cf. 31, τὸ δωδεκάσκηπτρον τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, answering to Test. xii. Patriarch. Napht. 5, τὰ δώδεκα σκῆπτρα τ. Ἰσραήλ from 1 Kings xi. 31 ff.; see LXX.), and Joseph. Hypomnesticum (Fabricius Cod. Pseud. V.T. ii. p. 3) τοὺς δώδεκα φυλάρχους ἐξ ὧν τὸ δωδεκάφυλον τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ συνίσταται. Both forms of speech in Lib. Jacobi i. (1, 3).
By keeping up this phrase St James marked that to him the designation of the Israel which believed in Christ as the only true Israel was no mere 3metaphor. To him a Jew who had refused the true Messiah had ceased to have a portion in Israel.
ἐν τῇ διασπορᾷ] The term comes from Deut. xxviii. 25 (LXX.), and also sparingly from later books; also from the more frequent use of the word διασπείρω, which in this connexion is freely used, as well as διασκορπίζω, for זָרָה, to scatter, or blow abroad. The cognate זָרַע, to sow, is used in this sense only, Zech. x. 9 (LXX. καὶ σπερῶ αὐτοὺς ἐν λαοῖς). Even here the notion is merely of scattering, not of sowing seed destined to germinate, and probably this was all that the LXX. anywhere meant. The idea of the Jews among the nations being a blessing to them and spreading light is found in the prophets, but not, I think, in connexion with the image of seed. The corresponding Hebrew word is simply גּוֹלָה, exile (lit. stripping), and hence the exiles collectively.
From the original seat at Babylon, which still continued a main home of the Dispersion, it spread under Alexander and his successors westward into the Greek world, Syria, Egypt (Alexandria and Cyrene), Armenia, Asia Minor, and at last Rome. It was like a network of tracks along which the Gospel could travel and find soil ready prepared for it in the worship of the true God, and the knowledge and veneration of the ancient Scripture.
χαίρειν] See Otto in Jahrb. f. deutsche Theol., 1867, pp. 678 ff. The common greeting in Greek letters. The Semitic was of course שָׁלוֹם or (Chald.) שְׁלָם. In letters in the Apocrypha χαίρειν often occurs, as also εἰρήνην or εἰρήνη (together, χ. and εἰρήνην ἀγαθήν, 2 Macc. i. 1). Hence it must have been freely used by Jews as well as heathens. In N.T. it occurs three times: Acts xxiii. 26, Claudius Lysias to Felix (heathen); xv. 23, Jerusalem letter to Gentile Christians at Antioch, etc.; and here. It has been pointed out that the Jerusalem letter was also not improbably written by St James, but nothing can be built on a coincidence in itself so natural. Here, the Greek form is probably preferred to εἰρήνη, etc. for the sake of the next verse.
2Πᾶσαν χαρὰν ἡγήσασθε, ἀδελφοί μου, ὅταν πειρασμοῖς περιπέσητε ποικίλοις,
2. πᾶσαν χαράν, all joy] Not “every (kind of) joy,” as from the variety of trials; nor yet “joy and nothing but joy” negatively, but simply “all” as expressing completeness and unreservedness. Hence it includes “very great,” but is not quantitative, rather expressing the full abandonment of mind to this one thought. Thus Aristides i. 478 (224), τὸ δὲ μηδ᾽ ἐξ ὧν ἑωράκαμεν ἀξιοῦν πεπαιδεῦσθαι πᾶσα ἂν εἴη σνμφορά; also Epictetus (ap. Gebser Ep. of James p. 8) 3, 22 εἰρήνη πᾶσα; 2, 2 πᾶσά σοι ἀσφάλεια, πᾶσά σοι εὐμάρεια; 26 πᾶσα εὔροια; and Phil. ii. 29; 2 Cor. xii. 12; Eph. iv. 2.
χαράν] Joy, from ground of joy, by a natural figure. The χαράν catches up χαίρειν. “I bid you rejoice. And this I say in the most exact sense, though I know how much you have to bear that seems anything but matter of rejoicing. Just circumstances like these should you account occasions of unreserved joy.”
On the sense, see 1 Peter i. 8 with v. 7. But virtually it comes from Lk. vi. 23, and the Beatitudes altogether.
ὅταν with aor. subj.] Although suggested by present circumstances, the exhortation does not take its form from them. It is not “now that you are encountering,” but “when ye shall,” and probably also, by the common frequentative force of ὅταν, “whensoever ye shall.”
περιπέσητε] Not “fall into” but “fall 4in with,” “light upon,” “come across.” First used of ordinary casual meetings, as of persons in the street or ships at sea; then very commonly of misfortunes of all kinds, sickness, wounds, a storm, slavery, disgrace, etc. So the two other N.T. places: Lk. x. 30; Acts xxvii. 41. The idea then is that, as they go steadily on their own way, they must expect to be jostled, as it were, by various trials.
πειρασμοῖς, trials] An important and difficult word, entirely confined to O.T., Apocr., N.T., and literature founded on them; except Diosc. p. 3 B, τοὺς ἐπὶ τ. παθῶν τειρασμούς, experiments, trials made, with drugs in the case of diseases, i.e. to see what their effect will be.
But the word goes back to πειράζω, which is not so closely limited in range of authors. First, “tempt” is at the utmost an accessory and subordinate sense, on which see on v. 13. It is simply to “try,” “make trial of,” and πειρασμός “trial.”
Nor on the other hand does it, except by the circumstances of context, mean “trial” in the vague modern religious and hence popular sense, as when we say that a person has had great trials, meaning misfortunes or anxieties. Nothing in Greek is said πειράζειν or called a πειρασμός except with distinct reference to some kind of probation.
Young birds are said πειράζειν τ. πτέρυγας (Schol. Aristoph. Plutus 575). But more to the point, Plutarch (Cleom. 7 p. 808 a) says that Cleomenes when a dream was told him was at first troubled and suspicious, πειράζεσθαι δοκῶν, supposing himself to be the subject of an experiment to find out what he would say or do. And still more to the point Plutarch Moralia 15 p. 230 a, Namertes being congratulated on the multitude of his friends asked the spokesman εἰ δοκίμιον ἔχει τίνι τρόπῳ πειράζεται ὁ πολύφιλος; and when a desire was expressed to know he said Ἀτυχίᾳ.
The biblical use is substantially the same. In O.T. πειράζω stands almost always for נַסָּה (also ἐκπειράζω) and πειρασμός for the derivative מַסָּה. נַסָּהis used for various kinds of trying, including that of one human being by another, as Solomon by the Queen of Sheba, but especially of man by God and God by man. Of man by God for probation, under the form of God exploring; of God by man always in an evil sense, “tempting” God, trying as it were how far it is possible to go into disobeying Him without provoking His anger; with this last sense we are not concerned. The trying or “proving” (A.V.) of man by God is sometimes, but not always, by suffering. In one chapter (Deut. viii. 2) it is coupled with עִנָּה, κακόω, “humble” or “afflict”; but the context shews that “proving” is meant, as it is also in Judg. ii. 22; iii. 1, 4. The cardinal instance is Abraham (Gen. xxii. 1). Πειρασμός chiefly refers to temptations of God by men, also probations of Pharaoh (Deut. iv. 34; vii. 19; xxix. 3). There only remains Job ix. 23, very hard and probably corrupt (LXX. altogether different, Vulg. poenis), where “probations” may possibly be said in bitter irony, but “sufferings” is most improbable, considering the derivation.
In Judith, Wisdom and Ecclus. πειράζω similarly has both uses, viz. of God by man, and man by God; also πειρασμός in Ecclus., not only of Abraham (xliv. 20; as also 1 Macc. ii. 52), but more generally; but in ii. 1; xxxvi. 1, on the one hand the context implies affliction, on the other the stress lies on probations. These two are interesting passages as preparing the way for St James. (1) xxxvi. 1, τῷ φοβουμένῳ Κύριον οὐκ ἀπαντήσει κακόν· ἀλλ᾽ ἐν πειρασμῷ (whatever comes will come by way of trial), καὶ `άλιν ἐξελεῖται. Still more (2) ii. 1, Son, if thou settest thyself to serve the Lord God, prepare thy soul εἰς πειρασμόν etc. Cf. ii. 5, ἐν πυρί δοκιμάζεται χρυσός κ.τλ.
5In the N.T. other shades of meaning appear. Besides the ordinary neutral making trial, and God’s trial of man, and man’s evil trial or tempting of God, we have men’s evil making trial of one whom they regarded as only a man, the Scribes and Pharisees “trying” or tempting our Lord, not tempting Him to do evil, but trying to get Him to say something on which they could lay hold.
But further a peculiar sense comes in at what we call our Lord’s temptation (Mk i. 13, πειραζόμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ Σατανᾶ; Mk. iv. 1, πειρασθῆναι ὑπὸ τ. διαβόλου; Lk. iv. 2, πειραζόμενος ὑ. τ. δ.). In Mt. (iv. 3) the devil is then called ὁ τειράζων.
For ποικίλοις, divers, see note on 1 Pet. i. 6 (p. 41).
3γνώσκοντες ὅτι τὸ δοκίμιον ὑμῶν τῆς πίστεως κατεργάζεται ὑπομονήν·
3. γνώσκοντες, taking knowledge, recognising] Not necessarily a new piece of knowledge, but new apprehension of it.
δοκίμιον, test] In N.T. only here and, in similar connexion, 1 Pet. i. 7, a very hard verse. In LXX. only in two places, both rather peculiar. (1) Prov. xxvii. 21, representing מַצְרֵף, a “melting-pot”; but the change of order shews that “test” was meant by LXX., “there is a δοκίμιον for silver and a πύρωσις for gold.” (2) Ps. xii. 7, צֲלִיל, probably a “furnace,” a difficult and perhaps corrupt passage. Similarly the cognate words δόκιμος, δοκιμάζω in LXX. mostly refer to silver or gold tried and found pure, to a trial by fire. [See Deissmann Bib. Stud. sub voc., and Expositor 1908 p. 566.]
The rather rare word is always the instrument of probation, never the process. Similar places are Herodian ii. 10. 6, δοκίμιον δὲ στρατιωτῶν κάματος: Iamblichus Vita Pythag. 30 p. 185 fin., ταύτην (τ. λήθην) δή μοι θεῶν τις ἐνῆκε, δοκίμιον ἐσομένην τῆς σῆς περὶ συνθήκας εὐσταθείας.
κατεργάζεται, worketh] A favourite word with St Paul.
ὑπομονήν, endurance] The word ὑπομονή (A.V. patience) is hardly used by classical writers (an apophthegm in Plutarch Moralia 208 c, and an interpolated clause in his Crassus 3) to describe a virtue, though frequently for the patient bearing of any particular hardships. It stands for קָוָה and its derivatives in the sense of the object of hope or expectation (as Ps. xxxviii. 8, καιὶ νῦν τίς ἡ ὑπομονή μου; οὐχὶ ὁ κύριος;), and perhaps hope itself in the LXX. and Ecclus. (Fritzsche on xvi. 13). But late Jewish and Christian writers use it freely for the virtue shewn chiefly by martyrs: thus 4 Macc. i. 11, τῇ ἀνδρείᾳ καὶ τῇ ὑπομονῇ, and often; Psalt. Solom. ii. 40; Test. xii. Patriarch. Jos. 10; in the N.T., Lk. xxi. 19 (cf. Mt. xxiv. 13); St Paul often; Hebrews; 2 Peter; and Apoc.; later Clement 1. 5; Ignatius ad Polyc. 6; etc.
No English word is quite strong enough to express the active courage and resolution implied in ὑπομονή (cf. Ellicott on 1 Thess. i. 3). “Constancy” or “endurance” comes nearest, and the latter has the advantage of preserving the parallelism of the verb ὑπομένω. The resemblance of this verse to Rom. v. 3 f. should be noticed, though probably accidental.
4ἡ δὲ ὑπομονὴ ἔργον τέλειον ἐχέτω, ἵνα ἦτε τέλειοι καὶ ὁλόκληροι, ἐν μηδενὶ λειπόμενοι.
4. ἔργον τέλειον ἐχέτω, have a perfect work or result] The sense, obscure in the Greek, is fixed almost certainly by the context. The phrase is suggested by, and must include the meaning of, κατεργάζεται in v. 3. Endurance is represented as having a work to do, a result to accomplish, which must not be suffered to cease prematurely. Endurance 6itself is the first and a necessary step; but it is not to be rested in, being chiefly a means to higher ends. Here the Stoic constancy is at once justified, and implicitly pronounced inadequate, because it endeavours to be self-sufficing and leads the way to no diviner virtue. The work of the Christian endurance is manifold (elicited by divers trials, v. 2) and continuous, not easily exhausted; it remains imperfect (so the connexion of the two clauses teaches) while we are imperfect. This use of ἔργον is illustrated by the common negative formula οὐδὲν ἔργον, generally translated “no use,” as in Plutarch Lysander 11, ἦν δὲ οὐδὲν ἔργον αὐτοῦ τῆς σπουδῆς ἐσκεδασμένων τῶν ἀνθρώπων: Publicola 13, οὐδὲν ἦν ἔργον αὐτοῦ (τοῦ ἡνιόχου) κατατείνοντος οὐδὲ παρηγοροῦντος. The combination of τέλειον with τὸ ἔργον occurs Ignat. Smyrn. but it is not a true parallel.
τέλειοι, perfect] This word in St James, as applied to man, has apparently no reference, as in St Paul, to maturity, and still less to initiation. It expresses the simplest idea of complete goodness, disconnected from the philosophical idea of a τέλος. In the LXX. it chiefly represents תָּמִים, a variously translated word, originally expressing completeness, and occurring in several leading passages as Gen. vi. 9 (τέλειος); xvii. 1 (ἄμεμπτος); Deut. xviii. 13 (τέλειος); Job i. 1 (ἄμεμπτος); Ps. cxix. 1 (ἄμωμος). The Greek τέλειος in a moral sense, rare in the LXX. and virtually wanting in the Apocrypha, recurs with additional meanings in Philo, e.g. Legum Allegoriae iii. 45—49 (in contrast with ὁ προκόπτων. ὁ ὰσκητής).
It regains its full force and simplicity in Christ’s own teaching, Mt. v. 48 (“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect”); xix. 21 (“If thou wilt be perfect” contrasted with “What lack I yet?”). These passages are probably the chief sources of St James’ usage.
ὁλόκληροι, entire] The principal word τέλειος is reinforced by the almost synonymous ὁλόκληρος, the primary sense of which seems to be freedom from bodily defect either in a victim for sacrifice or in a priest; that is, it is a technical term of Greek ritual. In extant literature we do not find it before Plato, and he may well have introduced it into literature. It soon was applied in a wider manner to all freedom from defect (cf. e.g. the Stoic use in Diogenes Laert. vii. 107) being opposed to πηρός, κολοβός, χωλός. But the original sense was not forgotten, and can be traced in the usage of Josephus and Philo, though not in the LXX.
Thus τέλειος and ὁλόκληρος (which are used together somewhat vaguely at least once by Philo, Quis rerum div. heres? 23 p. 489) denote respectively positive and negative perfection, excellence and complete absence of defect (cf. Trench N.T. Synon. § 22). It is quite probable however that St James uses ὁλόκληρος with a recollection of its original force in Greek religion, and wished his readers to think of perfection and entireness not; merely in the abstract but as the necessary aim of men consecrated to God.!
ἐν μηδενὶ λειπόμενοι, coming behind in nothing] Λειπόμαι with the dative means not mere deficiency but falling short whether of a standard or of other persons, the latter when expressed being in the genitive. Essentially it is to be left behind, as in a race, and it comes to be used for the defeat of an army, strictly for its ceasing to resist the enemy and throwing up the struggle. There is thus a suggestion of acquiescence in shortcoming as a thing to be striven against (cf. Gal. vi. 9; Heb. xii. 3; 2 Thess. iii. 13). Compare the use of ὑστερῶ and ὑστεροῦμαι in St Paul and 7Hebrews (e.g. 1 Cor. i. 5, 7, ἐν παντὶ ἐπλουτισθητε ἐν αὐτῷ, ἐν παντὶ λόγῳ καὶ πάσῃ γνώσει. . . . ὥστε ὑμᾶς μὴ ὑστερεῖσθαι ἐν μηδενὶ χαρίσματι).
The object of comparison is usually expressed, rarely implied (as Diodorus Sic. iii. 39; Plutarch Nicias 3); but λείπομαι is also used quite absolutely, as here, in Plutarch Brutus 39 (ἐρρωμένους χρήμασιν ὅπλων δὲ καὶ σωμάτων πλήθει λειπομένους); cf. Sophocles Oed. Col. 495 f. Ἐν, commonly omitted, occurs Herodotus vii. 8; Sophocles l.c.; and Polybius xxiv. 7 (legat. 50); see also Herod. vii 168.
This final clause, added in apposition (cf. i. 6, 8, 14, 17, 22, 25; ii. 9; iii. 2, 8, 17), not only reaffirms negatively what has been already said positively, but suggests once more the idea of continual progress (a “race” in St Paul’s language, as Phil. iii. 14; cf. “the crown of life” in v. 12) implied in the earlier clauses.
The spiritual force of this and similar verses cannot be reduced within the limits of “common sense.” An “ideal” interpretation can be excluded only by “frittering away a pure and necessary word of Christ Himself. The perfection in all good, after which every Christian should strive simply as a Christian, is infinite in its nature, like a heavenly ladder the steps of which constantly increase the higher we climb: but woe to him who would make landings in it out of his own invention and on his own behalf” (Ewald, Jahrbücher iii. 259).
5. εi δέ τις ὑμῶν λείπεται σοφίας, But if any of you lacketh wisdom] If any, i.e. whoever. The preceding λείπόμενοι suggests λείπεται with a somewhat different sense and construction. Λείπομαι with the genitive meaning to “be wanting in” is rare, this sense being an extension of the commoner to “be bereaved of”; it occurs Sophocles Elect. 474 (γνώμας λειπομένα σοφᾶς); Plato Menex. 19, 246 E; Pseud: Plato Axiochus 366 D (repeating ἄμοιρον); Libanius Progymn. p. 31 A (λ. τῆς τῶν ποιητῶν ἐνθέου μανίας); besides Jam. ii. 15.
σοφίας] The context fixes, without altogether restricting, the sense of wisdom. “True perfectness cannot be where wisdom still is wanting; and wisdom, the inward power to seize and profit by outward trials, cannot be supplied by the trials themselves: but it may be had of God for the asking; He will send it direct into the heart.” It is that endowment of heart and mind which is needed for the right conduct of life. “All salutary wisdom is indeed to be asked of the Lord; for, as the wise man says (Ecclus. i. 1), ‘All wisdom is from the Lord God, and hath been with Him for ever.’ . . . But here there seems to be a special reference to that wisdom which we need for use in our trials, etc.” (Bede).
This human and practical idea of wisdom is inherited from the meditative books of the O.T. and the later works written on their model. Compare “the fear of the Lord that is wisdom” (Job xxviii. 28), where wisdom is the knowledge of the most essential facts and the power to walk instinctively by their light. It is remarkable to find wisdom holding this position in the forefront of the epistle, quite in the spirit of the elder theology. See further the notes on iii. 13-18.
ἁπλῶς, graciously] The combination with giveth early led to the assumption that ἁπλῶς requires here the sense of “abundantly,” but without authority (cf. Fritzsche Rom. iii. 62 ff.) and against the true context. On the other hand, a large body of evidence forbids us to admit only the meanings “simply” or “with singleness of heart,” and establishes a nearer approach to “bounteously” than most good critics have been willing to allow (see below).
In the best Greek authors the guidance 8of etymology is strictly followed, and ἁπλοῦς as a moral epithet denotes only the absence of guile or duplicity. Later writers comprehend under the one word the whole magnanimous and honourable type of character in which this singleness of mind is the central feature. Kindred and associated epithets are γενναῖος (cf. Plato Repub. i. 361 B, ἄνδρα ἁπλοῦν καὶ γενναῖον . . . οὐ δοκεῖν ἀλλ᾽ εἶναι ἀγαθὸν ἐθέλοντα), ἐλευθέριος. (Aeschines, p. 135, Reiske), and μεγαλόψυχος. Truthfulness, liberality, and gentleness variously appear as manifesting the same high sense of honour.
The transition may be seen in Xenophon Cyropaed. viii. 4, 32 ff., where Cyrus blames alike those who magnify their own fortune (so thinking to appear ἐλευθεριώτεροι) and those who depreciate it, and adds, ἁπλουστάτου δέ μοι δοκεῖ εἶναι τὸ τὴν δύναμιν φανερὰν ποιήσαντα ἐκ ταύτης ἀγωνίζεσθαι περὶ καλοκἀγαθίας. But the usage became clearer subsequently. Scipio (Polybius, xxxii. 13, 14) resolved πρὸς μὲν τοὺς ἀλλοτρίους τὴν ἐκ τῶν νόμων ἀκρίβειαν (i.e. his strict legal rights) τηρεῖν, τοῖς δὲ συγγενέσι καὶ φίλοις ἁπλῶς χρῆσθαι καὶ γενναίως κατὰ δύναμιν. One of Timon’s friends (Lucian Tim. 56) professed that he was not one of the flatterers, greedy of gold and banquets, who paid their court πρὸς ἄνδρα οἷόν σε ἁπλοῖκὸν καὶ τῶν ὄντων κοινωνικόν. David is said by Josephus (Ant. vii. 13, 4) to have admired Araunah τῆς ἁπλότητος καὶ τῆς μεγαλοψυχίας, when he offered his threshing-floor and oxen. M. Antony’s popularity is attributed by Plutarch (c. 43) to his εὐγένεια, λόγου δύναμις, ἁπλότης, τὸ φιλόδωρον καὶ μεγαλόδωρον, ἡ περὶ τὰς παιδιὰς καὶ τὰς ὁμιλίας εὐτραπελία. Brutus, having tempered his character by education and philosophy, seemed to Plutarch (c. 1) ἐμμελέστατα κραθῆναι πρὸς τὸ καλόν, so that after Caesar’s death the friends of the latter attributed to Brutus εἴ τι γενναῖον ἡ πρᾶξις ἤνεγκε, considering Cassius ἁπλοῦν τῷ τρόπῳ καὶ καθαρὸν οὐχ ὁμοίως (cf. Philopoem. 13). The Persians desired Ariaspes for their king, as being πρᾷος καὶ ἁπλοῦς καὶ φιλάνθρωπος (Plutarch Artaxerx. 30). Ὁ μὲν ἁπλούστερος, though opposed to ὁ πανουργότερος, is the high-minded friend who, when admitted indiscreetly to a knowledge of private affairs owing to his too complaisant manners, οὐκ οἴεται δεῖν οὐδ᾽ ἀξιοῖ σύμβουλος εἶναι πραγμάτων τηλικούτων ἀλλ᾽ ὑπουργὸς καὶ διάκονος (Plutarch Moralia 63 B). Wine is said to quench πολλὰ τῶν ἄλλων παθῶν (besides fear) ἀφιλότιμα καὶ ἀγεννῆ), and ἄοινος ἀεὶ μέθη καὶ σκυθρωπὴ ταῖς τῶν ἀπαιδεύτων ἐνοικεῖ ψυχαῖς, ἐπιταραττομένη ὑπὸ ὀργῆς τινος ἢ δυσμενείας ἢ φιλονεικίας ἢ ἀνελευθερίας· ὧν ὁ οἶνος ἀμβλύνων τὰ πολλὰ μᾶλλον ἢ παροξύνων οἰκ ἄφρονας οὐδὲ ἡλιθίους ἀλλ᾽ ἁπλοῦς πεοεῖ καὶ ἀπανούργους, οὐδὲ παρορατικοὺς τοῦ συμφέροντος ἀλλὰ τοῦ καλοῦ προαιρετικούς (ib. 716 A, B). We are reminded of this passage of St James by the following: “So I think that the gods confer their benefits in secret, it being their nature to delight in the mere practice of bounty and beneficence (αὐτῷ τῷ χαρίζεσθαι καὶ εὖ ποιεῖν). Whereas the flatterer’s work οὐδὲν ἔχει δίλαιον οὐδ᾽ ἀληθινὸν οὐδ᾽ ἁπλοῦν οὐδ᾽ ἐλευθέριον” (ib. 63 F).
There are traces of a similar extension of meaning in Latin, as Horace Ep. ii. 2, 193, “quantum simplex hilarisque nepoti Discrepet, et quantum discordet parcus avaro” (cf. “the cheerful giver” of Prov. xxii. 8, LXX., and 2 Cor. ix. 7); Tacitus, Hist. iii. 86, “inerat tamen (Vitellio) simplicitas et liberalitas, quae, ni adsit modus, in vitium vertuntur”; and perhaps Vell. Paterc. ii. 125, 5, “vir simplicitatis generosissimae.”
Himerius (Ecl. v. 19) affords the nearest verbal parallel to St James: εἰ δὲ ἁπλῶς διδόντος λαβεῖν οὐκ εὔλογον, τῶς οὐ πλέον, ὅτε μηδὲ προῖκα κ.τ.λ. Here however ἁπλῶς is not ethical at all, but retains its common classical 9meaning “absolutely,” that is (in this connexion) “without a substantial equivalent.” In St James the need for adopting this meaning is removed by the sufficient evidence for “graciously”; and it is excluded by the contrast with “upbraideth.”
In Jewish writings ἁπλοῦς is generalised in a different direction to denote one who carries piety and openness of heart before God into all his dealings. So the LXX.: 1 Chron. xxix. 17 for ישֶׁר; Prov. xix. 1 (cf. x. 9; 2 Sam. xv. 11); Aq.: Gen. xxv. 27; Job iv. 6; Prov. x. 29; Sym.: Job xxvii. 5 for תָּם ,תֹּם, and תֻּמָּה; Wisd. i. 1; 1 Macc. ii. 37, 60; 3 Macc. iii. 21; and the whole Test. vii. Patriarch., esp. the Test. of Issachar (e.g. 3), not without reference to the original meanings, as in opposition to περίεργος.
In St James (as in Rom. xii. 8; 2 Cor. viii. 2; ix. 11, 13) the late Greek usage and the context certainly determine the chief shade of meaning, but with clear reference to singleness. “Liberally” (A.V.) would be the best translation, if we could preserve exclusively its proper ethical sense; but by “liberally” we now usually mean “abundantly,” and that is not the particular aspect of God’s bounty indicated here by the following words, whatever may be the case in the passages of St Paul. On the whole graciously, coupled as it is with giveth, seems the nearest equivalent.
καὶ μὴ ὀνειδίζοντος, and upbraideth not] The opposition is clearly to graciously, not to giveth: to upbraid is not to refuse, or even to vouchsafe “a stone for bread,” but to accompany a gift with ungenerous words or deeds. Ὀνειδίζω often has this sense in classical writers from Aristotle (Rhet. ii. 6. 10; cf. Demosth. de Coron. § 269) onwards (see exx. in Wetstein). In Ecclus. it is a favourite word (with ὀνειδισμός), and occurs more than once in strictly parallel passages: “My son, give not reproach with thy good deeds, neither painful words with every gift. Will not dew assuage the hot wind? So is a word better than a gift. Lo, is not a word more than a good gift? And both are with a gracious man (κεχαριτωμένῳ). A fool will upbraid ungraciously (ἀχαρίστως ὀνειδιεῖ), and a gift of the envious dissolveth the eyes” (xviii. 15-18). “The gift of a fool will profit thee not, for his eyes are many, instead of one. He will give little and upbraid much, and open his mouth as a crier: to-day he will lend, and to-morrow ask back; hated is such a man” (xx. 14, 15). “Have respect . . . unto thy friends concerning words of upbraiding, and upbraid not after thou hast given” (xli. 17, 22).
By this contrast of mean and ignoble benefactors, St James leads on from the naked idea of God as a giver to the more vital idea of His character and mind in giving (cf. i. 13, 17 f.; iv. 6; v. 7), answering by anticipation a superstitious thought which springs up as naturally in the decay of an established faith as in the confused hopes and fears of primitive heathenism. The subject is partly resumed in v. 17.
διδόντος . . . δοθήσεται] Giveth what? Wisdom doubtless in the first instance; but, as the immediate occasion of prayer becomes here the text for a universal lesson, St James’ meaning is best expressed by leaving the object undefined. In like manner the “holy spirit,” promised in Lk. xi. 13 to them that ask, is replaced in the parallel Mt. vii. 11 by “good things” without restriction.
This verse has much in common with some of Philo’s most cherished and at the same time most purely biblical thoughts on God as a free giver and on wisdom as specially the 10gift of God. But his language, beautiful and genuine as it often is, suffers much from being overlaid with a philosophical contrast between this wisdom (virtually “intuition”) and the knowledge and discernment which come by processes of education. The wisdom of St James, for all its immediate descent from heaven, excludes no lesson of experience in thought or life.
6. αἰτείτω δὲ ἐν πίστει, μηδὲν διακρινόμενος, but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering] Taken from our Lord’s words in Mt. xxi. 21, Mk xi. 23; cf. Jam. v. 15. Not the mere petition avails, but the mind of the asker, the trust in God as One who delights to give. Wavering is no doubt the right translation of διακρινόμενος in this verse (as Mt. Mk, ll. cc.; Acts x. 20; Rom. iv. 20; xiv. 23), though singularly enough this sense occurs in no Greek writing, except where the influence of the N.T. might have led to its use. It is supported by the versions, the Greek commentators on the N.T. from Chrysostom and Hesychius, as well as by the context of all the passages. It is probably derived from the common meaning to “dispute” (Jer. xv. 10; Acts xi. 2; Jude 9; cf. Ezek. xvii. 20 codd.; xx. 35 f.; Joel iii. 2), of which there is a trace in the passages of Romans. Compare the use of διαλογίζομαι, to “dispute with oneself,” in the Gospels.
ἔοικεν κλύδωνι θαλάσσης, is like a rough sea] Κλύδων appears never (not even Polyb. x. 10. 3) to mean a “wave,” but always “rough water” (“the rough sea” A.V. Wisd. xiv. 5) or “roughness of water”; it is frequently coupled with σάλος.
ἀνεμιζομένῳ καὶ ῥιπιζομένῳ, blown and raised with the wind] This appears to be the nearest approach to the meaning of the Greek allowed by the English idiom. Ἀνεμίζω, occurs nowhere else in Greek literature, and might by its etymology express any kind of action of the wind. The equally rare analogous verb πνευματίζω is used where fanning is intended (Antigonus Caryst. ap. Wetst.). The compound ἐξανεμίζω is preserved only in the Scholia on Homer Il. xx. 440 (ἦκα μάλα ψύξασα, interpreted τῇ κινήσει τῆς χειρὸς ἡρέμα ἐξανεμίσασα: Steph. s.v.), where likewise it denotes the gentle air made by a wave of the hand. The cognate ἀνεμοῦμαι is to “be breathed through (or, swelled out) by the wind” (whence a singular derivative use peculiar to writers on Zoology), except in one passage; and its compound ἐξανεμοῦμαι has the same range, with the further meaning to “be dissolved into wind.” An epigram in the Anthology (A. P. xiii. 12) applies ἡνεμωμένος to the sea, described as roaring (βρόμος δεινός) and causing a shipwreck. With this exception the evidence, such as it is, implies a restriction of ἀνεμίζω to gentler motions of the air: and in St James the improbability of an anticlimax forbids it being taken as a stronger word than ῥιπίζω.
Still more definitely, ῥιπίζω means strictly to fan either a fire or a person. It is formed not from ῥιπή, a “rushing motion” (as applied to air, a “blast”), but from the derivative ῥιπίς, a fire-fan; and consequently expresses only the kind of blast proper to a fan. This restriction appears to be observed in a few passages of a rather wider range. Thus ῥιπίζομαι is applied to dead bodies allowed to sway freely (?) in the air (Galen. x. 745 ed. Kahn); to sea foam carried inland (Dion Cass. lxx. 4); to spacious and airy chambers (ὑπερῷα ῥιπιστά, Jerem. xxii. 14); to water preserved by motion from the “death” that would follow stagnation (Philo, 11de incor. mundi 24). Lastly an unknown comic poet (Meineke iv. 615) calls the people an unstable evil thing (δῆμος ἄστατον κακόν), which altogether like the sea is blown by the wind (ὑπ᾽ ἀνέμου ῥιπίζεται) and from being calm raises its crest at a trifling breeze (καὶ γαληνός . . . πνεῦμα βραχὺ κορύσσεται. These leading words are clear, though the line is corrupt). The compound ἀναρριπίζω always means to “fan a flame” literally or figuratively.
The prima facie notion of billows lashed by a storm is therefore supported by hardly any evidence; and indeed the restless swaying to and fro of the surface of the water, blown upon by shifting breezes, is a truer image of a waverer (cf. Dion Cass. lxv. 16, Vitellius ἐμπλήκτως ἄνω καὶ κάτω ἐφέρετο, ὥσπερ ἐν κλύδωνι). In the tideless Mediterranean even a slight rufflement would be noticed in contrast with the usually level calm, and the direct influences of disturbing winds are seen free from the cross effects of other agencies.
7μὴ γὰρ οἰέσθω ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐκεῖνος ὅτι λήψεταί τι παρὰ του κυρίου1515κυρίου] κυρίου, 8 ἀνὴρ δίψυχος, ἀκατάστατος ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτοῦ.
7, 8. We have to choose here between three constructions, each marked by a different way of punctuating between the verses. (a) With a colon, making two separate sentences (A.V.); “let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord: a man of two minds is unstable in all his ways.” (b) With a comma making v. 7 a complete sentence, with v. 8 added in apposition (R.V. text); “let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord, a man of two minds, unstable in all his ways.” (c) Without a stop, making v. 7 incomplete without part of v. 8 (R.V. marg.); “let not that man think that a man of two minds, unstable in all his ways, shall receive anything from the Lord.”
In (a) and (b) it is “that man” that is said not to receive from the Lord, and so that is blamed. Now who is “that man” — “he that wavereth” or “if any of you etc.”? The whole context excludes him that merely “lacketh wisdom” from blame: blame here attaches not to the absence of wisdom, but to the failure to ask for it, or to the asking without faith. Therefore the constructions (a) and (b) require “that man” to mean the waverer. As an independent proof that he is meant, it is urged that “that man” is itself a reproachful designation. Undoubtedly it might be so employed; but St James’ usage does not favour the supposition. He has the same word for man (ἄνθρωπος) in six other places, but nowhere with a trace of reproach and apparently always in emphatic opposition to other beings. Thus the opposition is to God’s other “creatures” in i. 19; to “the devils” in ii. 20 and probably 24; to “every kind of beasts etc.” in iii. 8 f.; to beings not “of like passions” v. 17; and so here to “the Lord.” Likewise there is no force in a cumbrous reproachful description (ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐκεῖνος) thus closely preceding an explicit rebuke: in Mt. xii. 45; xxvi. 24 the weight of the words is in harmony with the peculiar solemnity of the subjects. If no reproach is implied, the phrase is still more inexplicable by Greek usage as applied to the person last mentioned.
On the other hand, if he that “lacketh wisdom” be intended, all difficulty vanishes. The obvious way of setting aside the last person and pointing back to the person mentioned before him would be in Greek the use of the pronoun “that” (ἐκεῖνος); and the insertion of “man” we have already seen to be explained by the opposition to “the Lord.”
Since then “that man” must naturally mean him that merely “lacketh wisdom,” and so cannot be identified with the subject of rebuke, the constructions (a) and (b) (of which (b) is certainly the more natural) are excluded, and the two verses become one unbroken sentence. I am not 12aware of any intrinsic advantage of the constructions (a) or (b) that would lead us to set aside this conclusion, though habit makes us assume a pause at the end of v. 7. Perhaps a feeling that the words “unstable in all his ways” must denote a punishment, not a sin, may have introduced the construction (a) into late MSS. of the Vulgate (inconstans est), and so into A.V.: in reality this instability is strictly neither sin nor punishment, but in some sense the transition from the one to the other. The position of the verb (in the Greek) at the beginning of the clause is explained by the length and elaborateness of its subject.
Although the man deficient in wisdom is not directly rebuked, the form of the sentence implies that he is concerned in the words spoken of others. Though not assumed to be a waverer, he is virtually warned that he may easily become liable to the reproach, and reminded of the nature of his relation as a “man” to “the Lord” of men.
8. ἀνήρ, man] A different word from that used in v. 7, and wholly without emphasis.
δίψυχος, of two minds] The image of δίψυχος (lit. “two-souled”) represents either dissimulation (suggested to modern ears by “double-minded” in A.V.), or various kinds of distraction and doubt. Here faithless wavering is obviously meant, the description in verse 6 being made more vivid by an additional figure. Perhaps, as Calvin suggests, there is an intentional contrast with the manner of God’s giving; “graciously” (ἀπλῶς) being according to the primitive meaning of the Greek “simply”: Ita erit tacita antithesis inter Dei simplicitatem, cujus meminit prius, et duplicem hominis animum. Sicut enim exporrecta manu nobis Deus largitur, ita vicissim sinum cordis nostri expansum esse decet. Incredulos ergo, qui recessus habent, dicit esse instabiles etc. There may also be an allusion to “loving God with all the soul” or “the whole soul,” ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ ψυχῃ σου (Deut. vi. 5; Mt xxii. 37). The idea was familiar to the Greeks (δίχα θυμὸν or νόον ἔχειν etc.) from Homer and Theognis (910 Bergk); cf. Xenoph. Cyropaed. vi. 1. 41. It appears less distinctly in 1 Kings xviii. 21, and perhaps 1 Chr. xii. 33 (Heb. “a heart and a heart,” not LXX.). We are reminded of St James by Ecclus. i. 28, “Disobey not the fear of the Lord, and approach Him not with a double heart” (ἐν καρδίᾳ δισσῇ).
The word itself δίψυχος δίψυχία, διψυχέω) occurs here and iv. 8 for the first time. It is sprinkled over the early Fathers rather freely, and is found occasionally in later times in the novelist Eustathius (viii. 7; xi. 17 f.), as well as in ecclesiastical writers. Probably all drew directly or indirectly from St James (Philo, Fragm. ii. 663 Mangey, uses διχονοῦς ἐπαμφοτερής, where St John Damascene has the heading περὶ δειλῶν καὶ διψύχων). The early references are Clem. I. 11, 23; in both cases διστάζοντες is added as if to explain an unfamiliar word: the latter passage (ταλαίπωροί εἰσιν οἱ δίψυχοι, οἱ διστάζοντες τῇ ψυχῇ κ.τ.λ.) seems quoted from an earlier writing (as it is likewise in Ps.-Clem. II. 11); the reference in this passage is conjectured by Lightfoot to be to the prophecies of Eldad and Medad referred to in Hermas, Vis. ii. 3, and therefore current early at Rome: they are said to have prophesied to the people in the wilderness, so that it is probably a Jewish, though possibly a Christian, book; Ep. Barnab. 19 (cf. δίγνωμος, δίγλωσσος ib.; διπλοκαρδία 20); Const. Ap. vii. 11 (“Be not of two minds in thy prayer (doubting) 13whether it shall be or not (cf. Herm. Vis. iii. 4. 3); for the Lord saith to me Peter upon the sea, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?”); Ps.-Ignat. ad Heron. 7; Hermas passim; and Didache Ap. iv. 4 οὐ διψυχήσεις πότερον ἔσται ἢ οὔ (whence the usage in Barnabas, Hermas, and Const. Ap.). The reproof to Peter literally “on the sea” (ὀλιγόπιστε, εἰς τί ἐδίστασας; Mt. xiv. 31) may have been present to St James’ mind, as he had just drawn a comparison from the sea,
ἀκ. ἐν πάσαις τ. ὁδοῖς αὐτοῦ] As “a man of two minds” is a slightly varied repetition of “he that wavereth,” in like manner “unstable in all his ways” answers to “like a rough sea etc.” This parallelism is in itself enough to prove that the absence of the conjunction after “two minds” is expressive, and denotes not simple co-ordination but sequence: “a man of two minds and so unstable in all his ways.”
ἀκατάστατος, unstable] Things properly are called ἀκατάστατα, when they do not follow an established order of any kind (καθεστηκότα: cf. Aristot. Probl. xxvi. 13). The word is rarely applied to persons. Polybius (cf. Demosth. de fals. legat. p. 383) seems to mean by it “fickle” or “easily persuaded” (vii. 4. 6); he couples the substantive with madness (μανία) a few lines further on. Other examples are Epictetus (Diss. ii. 1. 12: φοβήσεται, ἀκαταστατήσει, ταραχθήσεται) “in a state of trepidation”; Pollux “fickle” (vi. 121), and also “disorderly,” i.e. “stirring up disorder” (vi. 129); the translators of the O.T. “staggering” or “reeling”: Gen. iv. 12 (Sym.) ἀνάστατος καὶ ἀκατάστατος with varr., σαλευόμενος καὶ ἀκαταστατῶν (στένων καὶ τρέμων LXX.), Lam. iv. 14 (Sym.), ἀκατάστατοι ἐγένοντο LXX.) τυφλοὶ ἐν ταῖς ἐξόδοις, Isa. liv. 11 (LXX.), “tossed with tempest” (A.V.), of Zion compared to a ship, and apparently Hos. viii. 6 (Sym.) where the “Quinta Editio” has ῥεμβεύων; Plut. II. 714 E, says that wine makes τ. γνώμην ἐπισφαλῆ καὶ ἀκατάστατον; cf. Σκοτόμαινα νύξ ἐστιν ἐν ᾗ μαίνεται καὶ ἀκαταστατεῖ τὰ οὐράνια in Etym. Magn. 719, 34. The verbal resemblance of Tob. i. 15 (ἐβασίλευσεν Σενναχηρὶμ ὁ υἱὸς ἀντ᾽ αὐτοῦ, καὶ αἱ ὁδοὶ αὐτοῦ [al. αἱ ὁδ. τῆς Μηδίας] ἡκαταστάτησαν [so B; Α κατέστησα, א ἀπέστησαν], καὶ οὐκέτι ἡδυνάσθην πορευθῆναι εἰς τὴν Μηδίαν) is curious but hardly more: the meaning seems to be “his roads” (possibly “his ways of government”) “were full of disorder and therefore unsafe.”
On the whole it can scarcely be doubted that St James intended, or at all events had in view, the physical meaning of ἀκατάστατος employed by the translators of the O.T.; so that the two leading words of the phrase make up a vigorous metaphor, “staggering in all his ways.” But the English word “staggering” hardly suits the tone of the verse; and “unsteady” has other disturbing associations. “Unstable” (A. V.), though somewhat feebler than the Greek, must therefore be retained, and has the advantage of covering the alternative meaning “fickle.” Compare Ecclus. ii. 12, “Woe to cowardly hearts and faint hands, and a sinner that walketh upon two paths.”
ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτοῦ, in all his ways] Ὁδοῖς retains its original force as “roads” or “journeys” more distinctly than the English equivalent. “In all his ways” is perhaps, as Bede says, in prosperity and adversity alike; whether suffering trial or not, he has no firm footing. The formula occurs Ps. xci. 11 and elsewhere.
The last two sentences may be thus paraphrased: “A prayer for wisdom, to be successful, must be full of trust and without wavering. Wisdom comes not to him that asks God for it only as a desperate chance, without firm 14belief in His power and cheerful willingness to give. Such a one is always tossed to and fro by vague hopes and fears; he is at the mercy of every blast and counterblast of outward things. While he allows them to hide from him the inner vision of God’s works and ways, he cannot go straight forward with one aim and one mind, and therefore lacks the one condition of finding wisdom; he is a stranger to that converse with God, in which alone the mutual act of giving and receiving can be said to exist.”
A passage of Philo deserves to be appended; much of the context is necessarily omitted. “Whatsoever things nature gives to the soul need a long time to gain strength; as it is with the communication of arts and the rules of arts by other men to their pupils. But when God, the fountain of wisdom, communicates various kinds of knowledge (τὰς ἐπιστήμας) to mankind, He communicates them without lapse of time (ἀχρόνως); and they, inasmuch as they have become disciples of the Only Wise, are quick at discovering the things which they sought. Now one of the first virtues thus introduced is the eager desire of imitating a perfect teacher, so far as it is possible for an imperfect being to imitate a perfect. When Moses said (to Pharaoh, Ex. viii. 9) ‘Command me a time that I may pray for thee and thy servants etc.,’ he being in sore need ought to have said, ‘Pray thou at once.’ But he delayed, saying, ‘To-morrow,’ that so he might maintain his godless feebleness (τὴν ἁπαλότητα τῆς ἀθεότητος) to the end. This conduct is like that of almost all waverers (ἐπαμφοτερισταῖς), even though they may not acknowledge it in express words. For, when any undesired event befalls them, inasmuch as they have had no previous firm trust in the Saviour God, they fly to such help as nature can give, to physicians, to herbs, to compound drugs, to strict regimen, in short to every resource of perishable things. And if a man say to them, ‘Flee, O ye wretched ones, to the only Physician of the maladies of the soul, and forsake the help which mutable (παθητῆς) nature can give,’ they laugh and mock with cries of ‘To-morrow,’ as though in no case would they supplicate the Deity to remove present misfortunes” (De Sacrif. Ab. et Caini, 17-19).
9Καυχάσθω δὲ [ὁ] ἀδελφὸς ὁ ταπεινὸς ἐν τῷ ὕψει αὐτοῦ, 10 ὁ δὲ πλούσιος ἐν τῇ ταπεινώσει αὐτοῦ, ὅτι ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου παρελεύσεται. 11 ἀνέτειλεν γὰρ ὁ ἥλιος σὺν τῷ καύσωνι καὶ ἐξήρανεν τὸν χὸρτον, καὶ τὸ ἄνθος αὐτοῦ ἐξέπεσεν καὶ ἡ εὐπρέπεια τοῦ προσώπου αὐτοῦ ἀπώλετο· οὕτως καὶ ὁ πλούσιος ἐν ταῖς πορείαις αὐτοῦ μαρανθήσεται.
9-11. A return to the original theme of v. 2, bringing in the characteristic contrast of rich and poor as a special application of the principle of rejoicing in trials. There is probably a reference to the Beatitudes such as they appear in St Luke (vi. 20, 24). An indirect opposition (marked by But and also by the brother) to the waverer of v. 8 is doubtless also intended. Poverty, riches, and the change from one to the other may be among the “ways,” in all of which the waverer is found unstable.
9. The order in the Greek is important. ὁ ἀδελφὸς belongs equally to ὁ ταπεινός and ὁ πλούσιος, so that “let the brother boast” is common to both verses. As St James bids his “brethren” count it all joy when they fell in with trials, so he here points out the appropriate grounds of boasting to each member of the brotherhood, the body who might be expected to take a truer view of life than the outer world.
καυχάσθω, glory] In the O.T. and Ecclus. “glorying” or “boasting” drops altogether its strict sense, and signifies any proud and exulting joy: so הִתְהַלַּל (ἐπαινοῦμαι) Ps. xxxiv. 3; lxiv. 11 etc.; and καυχῶμαι Ps. v. 11; cxlix. 5; Ecclus. xxxix. 8 etc. In the N.T. the word is confined to the Epp. and common there; but rarely loses its original force, probably out of St James only in the parallel Rom. v. 2, 3, 11 and in Heb. iii. 6; in other apparently similar cases the effect is produced merely by obvious 15paradox. Possibly the extension had its origin in Jerem. ix. 23 f., quoted 2 Cor. x. 17. Here καυχάσθω repeats the χαράν of v. 2 with a slight change, meaning joy accompanied with pride.
ταπεινός, of low estate] Poverty is intended, but poverty in relation to “glorying” and contempt, a state despised by the mass of mankind. Ταπεινός means indifferently “poor” and “poor in spirit” i.e. “meek,” two notions which the later Jews loved to combine: it is often used in both senses in Ecclus.
τῷ ὕψει αὐτοῦ, his height] Not any future elevation in this or the other world, but the present spiritual height conferred by his outward lowness, the blessing pronounced upon the poor, the possession of the Kingdom of God. Continued poverty is one of the “trials” to be rejoiced in.
10. τῇ ταπεινώσει αὐτοῦ, his being brought low] Suffering the loss not of wealth only, but of the consideration which wealth brings. Ταπείνωσις might mean “low estate,” as in the LXX.(and Lk. i. 48 from 1 Sam. i. 11); but St James’ language is not usually thus incorrect, and the classical sense is borne out by the context. The correlation with v. 9 is not meant to be exact. The rich brother is to glory in his being brought low whenever that may be, now or at any future day (see v. 1). If the “trials” of the times included persecution, the rich would be its first victims. This is a marked feature in the persecution of the Jews by the mob of Alexandria under the Emperor Gaius (Philo, Leg. ad Gai. 18; e.g. πένητας ἐκ πλουσὶων καὶ ἀπόρους ἐξ εὐπόρων γεγενῆσθαι μηδὲν ἀδικοῦντας ἐξαίφνης καὶ ἀνοίκους καὶ ἀνεστίους, ἐξεωσμένους καὶ πεφυγαδευμένους τῶν ἰδίων οἰκιῶν κ.τ.λ.).
ὅτι, since) This introduces not an explanation of being brought low, but one reason why the rich brother should glory in it, or more strictly why he should not be startled at the command to glory in it. Perfection (v. 4) is assumed to be his aim: our Lord taught that riches are a hindrance in the way of perfection (Mt. xix. 21 ff.): and this doctrine loses no little of its strangeness, when the separable, and so to speak accidental, nature of riches is remembered.
ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου, as the bloom of grass] Taken from the LXX. rendering of Isa. xl. 6: πᾶσα σὰρξ χόρτος πᾶσα δόξα ἀνθρώπου ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου. χόρτος, properly “fodder,” means in the LXX. such grass, or rather herbage, as makes fodder. It stands rightly for חָצִיר (cf. Job xl. 15), in the first place here as in the two following verses. But ἄνθος χόρτου is put for צִיץ הַשָּׂדֶה, which is rightly translated ἄνθος τοῦ ἀγροῦ, “the flower of the field,” in the parallel Ps. ciii. 15. The LXX. nowhere else translate שָׂדֶה by χόρτος, nor will it bear that meaning: hence χόρτου is merely an erroneous repetition. The unique image taken from the flower of grass had therefore an accidental origin, though it yields a sufficient sense.
Grass is frequently used in the poetical books of the O.T. to illustrate the shortness of life, or the swift fall of the wicked. To understand the force of the image we must forget the perpetual verdure of our meadows and pastures under a cool and damp climate, and recall only the blades of thin herbage which rapidly spring up and as rapidly vanish before the Palestine summer has well begun. By “the flower of the field” the prophet (and the LXX. translator) doubtless meant the blaze of gorgeous blossoms which accompanies the first shooting 16of the grass in spring, alike in the Holy Land and on the Babylonian plain (Stanley Sin. and Pal. 138 f.; Layard Nineveh i. p. 78).
παρελεύσεται, pass away] Παρέρχομαι and “pass” answer strictly to each other in their primary and their metaphorical senses: the Greek word here, as often in classical writers, means to “pass away,” i.e. pass by and so go out of sight; it is employed in precisely similar comparison, Wisd. ii. 4; v. 9.
Which passes away, the rich man or his riches? Notwithstanding the form of the sentence, we might be tempted by the apparent connexion with v. 9 to say his riches (ὁ πλοῦτος included in ὁ πλούσιος). But in that case the only way to avoid unmeaning tautology is to take the comparison as justifying the mention of impoverishment rather than the exhortation to glorying in impoverishment; “let the rich man glory in his being brought low, for brought low be assuredly will be, sooner or later.” This gives an intelligible sense; but no one having this in his mind would have clothed it in the language of vv. 10, 11. St James must therefore mean to say not that riches leave the rich man but that he leaves his riches. This is the interpretation suggested by the natural grammar of v. 10, and no other will suit the last clause of v. 11.
But a difficulty remains. St James would hardly say that the rich man is more liable to death than the poor, and the shortness of life common to both is in itself no reason why the rich should glory in being brought to poverty. Probably the answer is that St James has in view not death absolutely but death as separating riches from their possessor, and shewing them to have no essential connexion with him. “Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; for when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him” (Ps. xlix. 16, 17). “Whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?” (Lk. xii. 20). The perishableness was familiar to heathens of all nations: cf. Horace Od. ii. 14 “Linquenda tellus et domus et placens Uxor; neque harum, quas colis, arborum” etc. The argument goes no further than to lower the relative value set upon wealth, and cannot by itself sustain the exhortation of v. 10. But the exaggerated estimate of wealth here combated involved much more than exaggeration. It set up riches as the supreme object of trust and aspiration, and fostered the vague instinct that there was a difference of nature corresponding to the distinction of rich and poor. Thus in effect it substituted another god for Jehovah, and denied the brotherhood of men. To a rich man in this state of mind the lesson of the prophet was a necessary preparation for receiving the teaching of Christ.
I1. ἀνέτειλεν, riseth] This is the common classical (gnomic) aorist of general statements founded on repeated experience. There is no clear instance of this use in the N.T. except here and v. 24. Rapid succession is perhaps also indicated by the series of aorists, though too strongly expressed in A.V. Not unlike is Ps. civ. 22, ἀνέτειλεν ὁ ἥλιος, καὶ συνήχθησαν (so all MSS. except B).
σὺν τῷ καύσωνι, with the scorching wind] A rare word in ordinary Greek, and there chiefly used for some very inflammatory kind of fever (καύσωνος, θέτμης — Suid. where Bernhardy refers to Herod. Epim. p. 196); in Athen. iii. p. 73 A it denotes noontide heat. This seems also to be the meaning in Gen. xxxi. 40 (A all.; καύματι E) and Song of 3 Child. 44 (A Compl. al.3; καῦμα B all., καῦσος all.); also in Mt. xx. 12;