The man who makes no allowances for others will find none made
for him. It is still true that "mercy smiles in the face of judgement."
The relation between faith and action
2:14-18a - Now what use is it, my brothers, for a man to say he "has faith" if
his actions do not correspond with it? Could that sort of faith save anyone's
soul? If a fellow man or woman has no clothes to wear and nothing to eat, and
one of you say, "Good luck to you I hope you'll keep warm and find enough to
eat", and yet give them nothing to meet their physical needs, what on earth is
the good of that? Yet that is exactly what a bare faith without a
corresponding life is like - useless and dead. If we only "have faith" a man
could easily challenge us by saying, "you say that you have faith and I have
merely good actions. Well, all you can do is to show me a faith without
corresponding actions, but I can show you by my actions that I have faith as
well."
2:18b-23 - To the man who thinks that faith by itself is enough I feel
inclined to say, "So you believe that there is one God? That's fine. So do all
the devils in hell and shudder in terror!" For, my dear short-sighted man,
can't you see far enough to realise that faith without the right actions is
dead and useless? Think of Abraham, our ancestor. Wasn't it his action which
really justified him in God's sight when his faith led him to offer his son
Isaac on the altar? Can't you see that his faith and his actions were, so to
speak, partners - that his faith was implemented by his deed? That is what the
scripture means when it say: 'Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to
him for righteousness. And he was called the friend of God.'
2:24-25 - A man is justified before God by what he does as well as by what he
believes. Rahab who was a prostitute and a foreigner has been quoted as an
example of faith, yet surely it was her action that pleased God, when she
welcomed Joshua's reconnoitring party and got them safely back by a different
route.
2:26 - Yes, faith without action is as dead as a body without a soul.
CHAPTER 3
The responsibility of a teacher's position
3:1 - Don't aim at adding to the number of teachers, my brothers, I beg you!
Remember that we who are teachers will be judged by a much higher standard.
The danger of the tongue
3:2-6 - We all make mistakes in all kinds of ways, but the man who can claim
that he never says the wrong thing can consider himself perfect, for if he can
control his tongue he can control every other part of his personality! Men
control the movements of a large animal like the horse with a tiny bit placed
in its mouth. Ships too, for all their size and the momentum they have with a
strong wind behind them, are controlled by a very small rudder according to
the course chosen by the helmsman. The human tongue is physically small, but
what tremendous effects it can boast of! A whole forest can be set ablaze by a
tiny spark of fire, and the tongue is as dangerous as any fire, with vast
potentialities for evil. It can poison the whole body, it can make the whole
of life a blazing hell.
3:7-12 - Beasts, birds, reptiles and all kinds of sea-creatures can be, and in
fact are, tamed by man, but no one can tame the human tongue. It is an evil
always liable to break out, and the poison it spreads is deadly. We use the
tongue to bless our Father, God, and we use the same tongue to curse our
fellow-men, who are all created in God's likeness. Blessing and curses come
out of the same mouth - surely, my brothers, this is the sort of thing that
never ought to happen! Have you ever known a spring to give sweet and bitter
water simultaneously? Have you ever seen a fig-tree with a crop of olives, or
seen figs growing on a vine? It is just as impossible for a spring to give
fresh and salt water at the same time.
Real, spiritual wisdom means humility, not rivalry
3:13-16 - Are there some wise and understanding men among you? Then your lives
will be an example of the humility that is born of true wisdom. But if your
heart is full of rivalry and bitter jealousy, then do not boast of your wisdom
- don't deny the truth that you must recognise in your inmost heart. You may
acquire a certain superficial wisdom, but it does not come from God - it comes
from this world, from your own lower nature, even from the devil. For wherever
you find jealousy and rivalry you also find disharmony and all other kinds of
evil.
3:17-18 - The wisdom that comes from God is first utterly pure, then
peace-loving, gentle, approachable, full of tolerant thoughts and kindly
actions, with no breath of favouritism or hint of hypocrisy. And the wise are
peace-makers who go on quietly sowing for a harvest of righteousness - in
other people and in themselves.
CHAPTER 4
Your jealousies spring from love of what the world can give you
4:1-3 - But about the feuds and struggles that exist among you - where do you
suppose they come from? Can't you see that they arise from conflicting
passions within yourselves? You crave for something and don't get it, you are
jealous and envious of what others have got and you don't possess it
yourselves. Consequently in your exasperated frustration you struggle and
fight with one another. You don't get what you want because you don't ask God
for it. And when you do ask he doesn't give it to you, for you ask in quite
the wrong spirit - you only want to satisfy your own desires.
4:4-6 - You are like unfaithful wives, flirting with the glamour of this
world, and never realising that to be the world's lover means becoming the