TUB CAMBRIDGE BIBLE 
 FOR SCHOOLS & COLLEGES 
 
 IP GENERAL EPISTLE OF 
 
 ST: JAMES 
 
 &.H.PLUMPTRE.i>,D, 
 
 GENERAL BJ>ITOn 
 BISHOP OF WORCESTER 
 
 J 
 
tihravy of t:Ke 'theolo0tcal ^cminavy 
 
 PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 Edward Bates Turner 
 

 { 
 
 W\)t Cam!)ritise Mhlt for ^cI)odIs 
 
 THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF 
 
 ST. JAM ES 
 
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Zijt Camftntrjje MW for ^ti)oolfi 
 antr Collejjes* 
 
 General Editor ;— J. J. S. PEROVVN,fct§cOQF PWJ^g>>^ 
 Bishop of Worcestkr. /iv^ ^ 
 
 THE GENERAL EPISTLEX^OGlGAlSt^^ 
 
 ST. JAM ES, 
 
 IVITH NOTES AND INTRODUCTION 
 
 BY THE LATE 
 
 E. H. PLUMPTRE, D.D. 
 
 DEAN OF WELLS. 
 
 EDITED FOR THE SYNDICS OF THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 
 
 STEREOTYPED EDITION. 
 
 <2rambrfijge : 
 
 AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 
 1895 
 
 lAll Rights reserved.^ 
 
First Edition 1878. 
 
 Repi'inted 1^']'^ [six times), 1879, 1882 (i'ze^zV^), 1883, 1884, 
 
 1886, ib88, 1890, 1892, 1893, 1895 
 
PREFACE 
 BY THE GENERAL EDITOR. 
 
 The General Editor of The Cambridge Bible for 
 Schools thinks it right to say that he does not hold 
 himself responsible either for the interpretation of 
 particular passages which the Editors of the several 
 Books have adopted, or for any opinion on points of 
 doctrine that they may have expressed. In the New 
 Testament more especially questions arise of the 
 deepest theological import, on which the ablest and 
 most conscientious interpreters have differed and 
 always will differ. His aim has been in all such 
 cases to leave each Contributor to the unfettered 
 exercise of his own judgment, only taking care that 
 mere controversy should as far as possible be avoided. 
 He has contented himself chiefly with a careful 
 revision of the notes, with pointing out omissions, with 
 
 ST JAMES 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 suggesting occasionally a reconsideration of some 
 question, or a fuller treatment of difficult passages, 
 and the like. 
 
 Beyond this he has not attempted to interfere, 
 feeling it better that each Commentary should have 
 its own individual character, and being convinced 
 that freshness and variety of treatment are more 
 than a compensation for any lack of uniformity in 
 the Series. 
 
 Deanery, Peterborough. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 II. 
 
 Introduction. pages 
 
 Chapter 2. The Author of the Epistle 5 — 34 
 
 Chapter II. To whom was the Epistle addressed 35 — 39 
 
 Chapter III. The date of the Epistle 40—4 5 
 
 Chapter IV. Analysis of the Epistle 43— 4 5 
 
 Text and Notes 47—107 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE AUTHOR OF THE EPISTLE. . 
 
 I. The name of Jacobus or 7^r^3— which, after passing 
 through various chances and changes of form, Spanish lago 
 and Portuguese Xaytne (pronounced Hay me) and Itahan Gia- 
 como and French Jacques and Jaint^ and Scotch Hainish, has 
 at last dwindled into our monosyllabic James— was naturally, 
 as having been borne by the great Patriarch whom Israel claimed 
 as its progenitor, a favourite name among the later Jews\ In 
 the New Testament we find two, or possibly three, persons who 
 bore it : (i) James the son of Zebedee. (2) James the son of 
 Alphseus. Both of these appear in all the lists of the Twelve 
 Apostles. (3) There is a James described as the son of a Mary 
 and the brother of a Joses or Joseph (Matt, xxvii. 56, Mark 
 XV. 40), and a comparison of that passage with John xix. 25, 
 defines this Mary as the wife of C/Spas (not Cleophas as in 
 the English Version) and possibly also (though the con- 
 struction is not free from ambiguity) as the sister of our 
 Lord's mother. To his name is attached the epithet, not 
 of "the less" as in the EngHsh version, as though it indi- 
 cated difference in age or position, but of the " little," as an 
 
 1 It is not without a feeling of regret, that I adopt in this volume the 
 form in which the historical associations of the name have entirely dis- 
 appeared. Usage, however, in such a matter, must be accepted as the 
 jus et norma loquendi. 
 
6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 epithet descriptive in his case, as in that of Zacchasus (Luke 
 xix. 3), of his stature. (4) There is a James whose name 
 appears, together with Joses and Simon and Judas, in the 
 Hsts of the "brethren" of the Lord, in Matt. xiii. 55, Mark vi. 3, 
 and who is so described by St Paul in Gal. i. 19. St Paul's way of 
 speaking of him there and in Gal. ii. 9, 12, leaves not a shadow 
 of doubt as to the identity of this James with the one who 
 occupies so prominent a position in the Church at Jerusalem in 
 Acts xii. 17, XV. 13, xxi. 18. 
 
 The Epistle of St James may have been written, as far as the 
 description which the writer gives of himself is concerned, by 
 any one of these four, reserving the question whether the descrip- 
 tions connected with (2), (3) and (4) give us any grounds for 
 believing that the three accounts refer to two or even to one 
 person only. 
 
 II. The hypothesis that the son of Zebedee, the brother of 
 the beloved disciple, was the writer of the Epistle, has commonly 
 been dismissed as hardly calling for serious consideration. It 
 is not, however, without a certain amount of external authority, 
 and has recently been maintained with considerable ability by 
 the Rev. F. T. Bassett in a Commentary on the Epistle (Bag- 
 sters, 1876). It may be well therefore to begin with an inquiry 
 into the grounds on which it rests. 
 
 (i) The oldest MSS. of the earlier, or Peshito, Syriac version, 
 ranging from the 5th to the 8th century, state, in the superscrip- 
 tion or subscription of the Epistle, or both, that it is an Epistle 
 " of James the Apostle." Printed editions of the Syriac Version 
 state more definitely that the three Epistles (James, i Peter, and 
 I John) which that version includes, were written by the three 
 Apostles who were witnesses of the Transfiguration, but it is 
 uncertain on what MS. authority the statement was made. As 
 far then as this evidence goes, it is of little or no weight in 
 determining the authorship. It does not go higher than the 
 fifth century, and leaves it an open question whether "James 
 the Apostle" was the son of Zebedee, or the son of Alphseus, or 
 the brother of the Lord, considered as having been raised to the 
 office and title of an Apostle. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 (2) A Latin MS. of the New Testament, giving a version of 
 the Epistle prior to that of Jerome, states more definitely that it 
 was written by "James the son of Zebedee," but the MS. is not 
 assigned to an earlier date than the ninth century, and is there- 
 fore of little or no weight as an authority. Neither this nor the 
 Syriac version can be looked on as giving more than the con- 
 jecture of the transcriber, or, at the best, a comparatively late 
 and uncertain tradition. 
 
 (3) Admitting the weakness of the external evidence, Mr 
 Bassett rests his case mainly on internal. It was, he thinks, d 
 priori improbable that one who occupied so prominent a place 
 among the Apostles during our Lord's ministry, whose name 
 as one of the " Sons of Thunder" (Mark iii. 17) indicates con- 
 spicuous energy, should have passed away without leaving any 
 written memorial for the permanent instruction of the Church. 
 It is obvious, however, that all cl priori arguments of this nature 
 are, in the highest degree, precarious in their character, and 
 that their only value lies in preparing the way for evidence of 
 another kind. 
 
 (4) The internal coincidences on which Mr Bassett next lays 
 stress are in themselves so suggestive and instructive, even if 
 we do not admit his inference from them, that it seems worth 
 while to state them briefly. 
 
 {a) There is, he points out, a strong resemblance between 
 the teaching of the Epistle and that of John the Baptist, as is 
 seen, e. g., in comparing 
 
 James 1.-22, 27 with Matt. iii. 8 
 
 ii. 15, 16 ... Luke iii. 11 
 
 ii. 19, 20 ... Matt. iii. 9 
 
 V. I — 6 ... Matt. iii. 10 — 12. 
 
 And he infers from this the probability that the writer had been 
 one of those who, like Peter, John and Andrew, had listened to 
 the preaching of the Baptist. 
 
 {b) There are the frequently recurring parallelisms between 
 the Epistle and the Sermon on the Mount, which strike the 
 attention of well-nigh every reader. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 James i. 2 compared with Matt. v. lo — 12 
 
 ...... i. 4 V. 48 
 
 i. 5. V. 15 vii. 7—12 
 
 i. 9 V. 3 
 
 i. 20 V. 22 
 
 ii. 13 vi. 14, 15, V. 
 
 ii. 14 vii. 21 — 23 
 
 iii. 17, 18 V. 9 
 
 iv. 4 vi. 24 
 
 iv. 10 V. 3, 4 
 
 iv. II vii. I — 5 
 
 V. 2 y\. 19 
 
 V. 10 V. 12 
 
 V. 12 V. 33—37- 
 
 It is urged that the son of Zebedee vi^as certainly among our 
 Lord's disciples at the time the Sermon on the Mount was deli- 
 vered, while there is no evidence that the son of Alphseus had 
 as yet been called, and a distinct statement, assuming the bro- 
 ther of the Lord not to be identical with the son of Alphasus, 
 that he at this time did not believe in Jesus as the Christ. 
 (John vii. 5.) 
 
 (c) The writer finds in St James's description of Jesus as "the 
 Lord of Glory" a reference, parallel to those of 2 Pet. i. 16 — 18 
 and John i. 14, to the vision on the Mount of Transfiguration 
 which had been witnessed by Peter and the two sons of 
 Zebedee. 
 
 (d) In the emphasis with which the writer of the Epistle 
 condemns the sins of vainglory and rivalry and self-seeking 
 ambition Mr Bassett finds a reference to the disputes and 
 jealousies which during our Lord's ministry disturbed the har- 
 mony of the Apostohc company (comp. ch. i. 9 — 12, iii. 14 — 16 
 with Matt, xviii. i, Mark ix. 34); in his protests against the 
 "wrath of man" (ch. i. 19, 20), a reminiscence of his own pas- 
 sionate desire to call down fire from heaven, as Elijah had done 
 of old (Luke ix. 54). With this and with Elijah's loss of patience 
 (i Kings xix. 4 — 10), he connects the statement that " EHas 
 was a man of like passions with ourselves" (ch. v. 17). 
 
 (e) Stress is laid on the language of the Epistle as to the 
 "coming of the Lord" as agreeing with what our Lord had said 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 on the Mount of Olives in the hearing of the sons of Zebedee 
 and of Jona (Mark xiii. 3). Compare 
 
 James ii. 6, 7 with Mark xiii. 9 
 
 iv. I ... Mark xiii. 7 
 
 iv. 13, 14 ... Mark xiii. 32 
 
 V. 9 ... Mark xiii. 29 
 
 V. 7 ... Matt. xxiv. 27. 
 
 It is inferred that here also he was reproducing what he had 
 himself heard. 
 
 (/) The not unfrequent parallelisms between this Epistle 
 and I Peter are next brought to bear on the question. They 
 are given as follows : — 
 
 James i. 2 with i Pet. i. 6 — 9 
 
 i. 10 i. 24 
 
 i. 21 ii. I 
 
 iv. 6, 10 V. 5 
 
 V. 20 IV. 
 
 It is urged that these coincidences of thought and phrase are 
 just what might be expected in those who like the son of Zebe- 
 dee and the son of Jona had been friends and companions in 
 the work of disciples and Apostles. 
 
 (5) Interesting and suggestive as each of these lines of 
 thought beyond question is, the evidence does not appear, on 
 the whole, to warrant the conclusion which has been drawn 
 from it. It would be a sufficient explanation of {a) and {b) that 
 the writer of the Epistle had been one of the hearers of the 
 Baptist and of our Lord, or had read or heard what we find re- 
 corded in St Matthew's Gospel. Of {c) it must be said that the 
 epithet " of glory" was far too common (Acts vii. 2 ; Eph. i. 17 ; 
 Col. i. 27 ; Heb. i. 3, ix. 5) to prove what it is alleged to prove. The 
 faults mentioned under {d) were too much the besetting sins of 
 the whole people to sustain any conclusion based on the suppo- 
 sition that they applied specially to the writer. It is obvious 
 that the teaching of our Lord as to His " Coming," under {e), 
 must, from a very early period, have become, at least to the 
 extent to which the Epistle deals with it, the common property 
 of all believers. Lastly, as to the parallelisms of (/) it must be 
 
lo INTRODUCTION. 
 
 remembered that there is as much evidence that another James 
 was for many years in constant communication with St Peter, 
 as there is for the earlier friendship of that Apostle with the son 
 of Zebedee. 
 
 On the whole, then, it is believed that this hypothesis, inter- 
 esting and ingenious as it is, must be dismissed as not proven. 
 
 III. The name of the second Apostle who bore the name of 
 James comes next under consideration. Can we think of the 
 son of Alphasus as the writer of the Epistle ? Here a prelimi- 
 nary question meets us : Are we to think of the son of Alph^us 
 as identical with the brother of the Lord, and with "James the 
 little," the son of Mary, the wife of Clopas, and the sister of our 
 Lord's mother ? The view that one and the self-same person is 
 described in these different ways has been so widely held that it 
 is necessary to examine the grounds on which it rests. 
 
 (a) It has been supposed that Clopas in John xix. 25 is ano- 
 ther form, somewhat nearer to the Hebrew {Chalpi), of the name 
 which is represented in the first three Gospels by Alphaeus. 
 This is in itself probable enough, but it is a question whether the 
 same person would have been likely to have been known by 
 both forms of the name in the same company of the disciples. 
 The natural tendency, where the same names abound in any dis- 
 trict, is that the men who bear them become known by distinct 
 forms, or by epithets attached. Prima facie, therefore, we should 
 expect to find the Alphaeus, who is the father of Levi or Mat- 
 thew and of James, and possibly of the Judas who is connected 
 with James in the list of the Twelve, a different person from 
 Clopas. There is at any rate far more ground for assuming the 
 identity of the father of Matthew with the father of James (the 
 name being the same in each case) than for looking on the two 
 as distinct persons, and the latter as the same as Clopas. 
 
 {b) The inference is, it is supposed, strengthened by the fact 
 that Mary the wife of Clopas is apparently identical with "Mary 
 the mother oi Joses" (Mark xv. 47) and of James (Mark xvi. i, 
 Luke xxiv. 10), of James the little and of Joses (Mar'k-xv. 40), 
 and that these two names appear in conjunction with Judas in 
 the list of the brethren of the Lord (Mark vi. 3). It is assumed 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 that the words of John xix. 25 refer the terms "his mothers 
 sister" and "Mary the wife of Clopas" to the same person, and 
 that the James and Joses who were her sons were identical 
 with the two who bear those names in the list of the four 
 "brethren" of the Lord in Matt. xiii. 55, Mark vi. 3, and that 
 they are called "'brethren," though really only cousins. 
 
 Against this conclusion however we have to set the facts : 
 (i) that it is by no means certain that in St John's enumeration 
 of the women who stood by the Cross, " his mother, and his 
 mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magda- 
 lene," even when taken by itself, warrants the inference that 
 " his mother's sister " was identical with " the wife of Clopas ; " 
 and (2) that a comparison with Matt, xxvii. 56, and Mark xv. 40, 
 makes it far more probable that she was the same as Salome, the 
 mother of the sons of Zebedee. ''3) In Acts i. 13, the " brethren" 
 are named after the Eleven Apostles, and clearly as distinct from 
 them; St Paul, in i Cor. ix. 5, in like manner distinguishes them 
 from the Apostles. It is prz'md facie utterly improbable that 
 the two writers should so have spoken had three, or even two, 
 of the " brethren " been enrolled in the company of the Twelve. 
 (4) Yet more important in its bearing on the question is the 
 part taken by the "brethren of the Lord " throughout His 
 ministry. They come, with the mother of Jesus, to check His 
 preaching, and are contrasted by Him with His disciples as His 
 true brethren (Matt. xii. 46—50; Mark iii. 31—35; Luke viii. 
 19 — 21). The tone in which the men of Nazareth speak of them 
 (Matt. xiii. 55 ; Mark vi. 3) is hardly compatible with the thought 
 that they had accepted Him as the Christ. As late as the last 
 Feast of Tabernacles before the Crucifixion, St John definitely 
 quotes words as spoken by them which imply doubt and distrust, 
 and states that they did not then beheve on Him (John vii, 5). 
 It is surely scarcely conceivable that those of whom such things 
 are said could have been among the Twelve who were sent forth 
 to proclaim their Lord as the Head of the Divine Kingdom. On 
 these grounds, therefore, in spite of the authority of many great 
 names which might be cited in its favour, we are, I believe, 
 compelled to reject the hypothesis that James the son of 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Alphaeus was identical with the brother of the Lord, and except 
 on that hypothesis, there are absolutely no grounds whatever, 
 external or internal, to connect the former with the authorship 
 of this Epistle. 
 
 IV. It remains, therefore, that we should (i) consider the 
 claims of the last-named James, known as the brother of the Lord, 
 and (2) inquire into the nature of the relationship which that name 
 was intended to express. When these two points are settled we 
 can pass on, without further hindrance, to what we know of the 
 life and character of the writer. 
 
 It must be admitted that the evidence in this case begins at 
 a comparatively late date. Eusebius {Hist, ill. 25, circ. A.D. 
 330) reckons "the Epistle known as James's" among the 
 writings which, though accepted by the majority, were yet open 
 to question {antilegomend). It is clear from another passage 
 that by this James, the reputed author of the Epistle, he means 
 " the brother of the Lord," to whom the Apostles had assigned 
 the "throne" of the bishopric of Jerusalem {Hist. 11. 23). The 
 first of the Epistles known as Catholic was said to be his. He 
 adds, however, in his truthful desire of accuracy, " It should be 
 known that it is counted spurious by some. Not many of the 
 ancients, at anyrate, have made mention of it, as neither have they 
 of that of Judas, which also is one of the seven Catholic Epistles. 
 But nevertheless we know that these two have been publicly 
 read and received in very many Churches." Origen {Conifn. in 
 Joajift. xix. 6) had spoken of "the Epistle reputed to be by 
 James," and quotes from it as by him {Horn. Vlil. i^t Exod.)y but 
 does not specify to which James he assigns it. Jerome, whose 
 long residence at Bethlehem makes him the representative of 
 the Syrian as well as the Western tradition, takes up the language 
 of Eusebius. "James who is called the brother of the Lord, 
 known also as the Just, wrote one Epistle only, which is one of 
 the seven Catholic Epistles. Yet that too is said to have been 
 set forth by some one else in his name, though gradually, as time 
 went on, it gained authority." {Catalog. Script. Eccles.) 
 
 The very early list of the books of the New Testament, in 
 the Ambrosian Library at Milan, known, from the name of its 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 first editor, as the Muratorian Fragment, and referred to a date 
 about A.D. 190, though having no authority, except from its 
 antiquity, is remarkable as confirming the statement of Eusebius 
 that the Epistle of St James was not universally accepted. The 
 list includes, besides books about which there was no doubt, 
 the Epistle of Jude, and two Epistles of St John, the Apoca- 
 lypse of Peter (a book conspicuously apocryphal), the Shepherd 
 of Hermas, and even the Wisdom of Solomon^ but it makes 
 no mention of the Epistle of St James. After the time of 
 Eusebius, however, in spite of the doubting tone in which he 
 speaks, it won its way to general acceptance. It appears in 
 the list of the Council of Laodicea, c. 59 (A.D. 363), of the 
 third Council of Carthage, c. 39 (A.D. 397), of the so-called 
 Apostolic Canons. It is acknowledged by Cyril of Jerusalem 
 {Catech. IV. 33, A.D. 349), by Epiphanius of Cyprus {Adv. hcsr, 
 LXXVI. 5, circ. A. D. 403), by Athanasius {Epist. Test. 39, before 
 A.D. 373), by Gregory of Nazianzus. (A.D. 391), and no question 
 was raised as to its authority till the i6th century, when the 
 dogmatic bias of Luther and his school led them to revive the 
 old doubts as to its inspiration and canonicity. 
 
 .The conclusion from these facts would seem to be that the 
 Epistle of St James came somewhat slowly into general circu- 
 lation. It was natural that it should do so. Though addressed 
 to the Twelve Tribes of the Dispersion, it does not follow that 
 any very effectual measures were taken to secure its reaching 
 them. And so far as copies did find their way to distant cities, 
 they were addressed, we must remember, to the declining and 
 decaying party of the Church of the Circumcision. They came 
 from one whose name had been identified, rightly or wrongly, 
 with that party in its attitude of antagonism to the teaching of 
 St Paul and the freedom of the Gentile Churches. The writer^s 
 personal influence had not extended beyond the Churches of 
 Judea, and the Churches of the Gentiles did not feel the im- 
 pression made on those who knew him by the sainthness of his 
 fife and character. The writer of the Muratorian Fragment 
 represents this early stage of the history of the Epistle. He 
 does not reject it. He has obviously not heard of it. When the 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 letter becomes known to the students and scholars of the Church, 
 to men like Origen, Eusebius and Jerome, they naturally at first 
 speak of it with some hesitation. After a time inquiry leads 
 to a more prompt and unquestioning acceptance. The more 
 critical writers have no doubt that the James, whose name it 
 bears, was the brother of the Lord, and not the son of Zebedee; 
 and their judgment, as the result of inquiry and given in the 
 teeth of the natural tendency to claim an Apostolic authority for 
 any fragment of the Apostolic age, may well be looked on as 
 outweighing the conjecture of a Syrian transcriber in the 9th 
 century who yielded to that tendency, or the scarcely less con- 
 jectural inferences of recent writers. 
 
 V. So far, then, we have reached a fairly firm standing 
 ground, and may take a fresh start on the assumption that the 
 Epistle was written, not by the son of Zebedee, nor by the son 
 of Alphasus, but by James the brother of the Lord. A question 
 of great difficulty, however, once more meets us on the threshold. 
 What kind of relationship did that description imply.? Very 
 different answers have been given to that question. 
 
 (i) We have the view that the "brethren of the Lord" were 
 the sons of Joseph and of Mary, and therefore His younger 
 brothers. This has in its favour, the common and natural, 
 though not, it must be admitted, the necessary, meaning 
 of the Greek word for "brethren," perhaps, also, the prhnd 
 facie inference from Matt. i. 25. It was adopted by Helvidius, 
 a Latin writer of the 4th century, and has been revived by 
 some recent scholars of high reputation, among whom are 
 Dean Alford and Canon Farrar. It has against it the general 
 consensus of the Fathers of the third and fourth century, resting 
 on a wide- spread belief in the perpetual virginity of the mother 
 of the Lord, and the fact that Helvidius was treated as pro- 
 pounding a new and monstrous theory. It may be admitted 
 that the word does not necessarily mean that those who bore it 
 were children of the same mother, and that Matt. i. 25 does not 
 necessarily imply what, at first sight, it appears to mean. It is 
 scarcely likely, however, with such words at hand as the Greek 
 for "sister's son" (Col. iv. 10) or "cousins" (Luke i. 36), that it 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 would have been used to express either of those relationships. 
 Slightly weighing against it, perhaps, are (i) the action and tone 
 of the brethren in relation to our Lord (Matt. xii. 46 ; John vii. 
 3—5), which is that of elder rather than younger relatives, and 
 (2) the fact that the mother of our Lord is commended to the 
 care of John, the son of Zebedee and Salome (John xix. 26), and 
 not to those who, on this view, would have been her more natural 
 protectors. It is probable, however, as stated above, that the 
 wife of Zebedee may have been the sister of the Virgin, and if 
 so, then there were close ties of relationship uniting St John to 
 the latter. All that can be said is that the New Testament 
 writers, if their language does not exclude the alternative theories, 
 are, at least, not in any measure careful to exclude this. 
 
 (2) There is the theory that the "brethren" were the children 
 of Joseph by a former marriage. It need scarcely be said that 
 there is nothing in the New Testament to prove such a theory. 
 Indirectly it falls in with what has just been said as to their 
 tone towards our Lord, and the preference of a sister's son (as- 
 suming Salome to have been the "mother's sister" of John xix. 25) 
 to step-sons as a guardian and protector, would be sufficiently 
 in harmony with the practices of common life. In the second, 
 third, and fourth centuries this appears to have been the 
 favourite view. It met the reverential feeling which, rightly or 
 wrongly, shrank from the thought that the wedded life of the 
 mother of Jesus was like that of other women. It gave to the 
 word " brethren," without any violence, an adequate or natural 
 meaning. It was maintained by Epiphanius (A.D. 367), by 
 Origen {in Joatm. ii. 12, in Matt. xiii. 55), Eusebius {Hist. 11. i), 
 Hilary of Poitiers (A.D. 368), Gregory of Nyssa (a.d. 394), Cyril 
 of Alexandria {in Gen. vii. p. 221), and with the modification 
 that Joseph's first marriage was with the widow of his brother 
 Clopas, by Theophylact (Comm. on Matt. xiii. 55, Gal. i. 19). 
 It has been revived in our own time by Canon Lightfoot {Excursus 
 on "The brethren of the Lord" in Conunentary on Galatia?is), 
 and maintained as against the third hypothesis now to be men- 
 tioned, with arguments which seem to the present writer to 
 admit of no satisfactory answer. 
 
i6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 (3) Lastly, there is the theory already alluded to, that the 
 "brethren" were the sons of the wife of Clopas, who is identi- 
 fied with the sister of the Virgin, and that they were thus called 
 "brethren" in the wider sense in which that word may be 
 used of "cousins." Clopas is held (though this was an after- 
 thought of writers later than Jerome, who was the first to pro- 
 pound this view) to be identical with Alphaeus, and James 
 the brother of the Lord is held to be identical with James the 
 son of Alphaeus, in the list of the Apostles, and "Jude of 
 Janies^'' to be another of the brethren, and Simon, a third bro- 
 ther, is identified with Simon Zelotes, or the Canaanite. The 
 theory was first started by Jerome {Cafal. Vir. Illustr.; Adv. 
 Helvid.y in his eagerness to vindicate the perpetual virginity 
 of Mary against what seemed to him the heresy of Helvidius, 
 but though maintained vehemently at first, was afterwards 
 treated by him as a matter of comparative indifference (Light- 
 foot's Excursus^ tit supra). His influence, however, gave cur- 
 rency to the theory in the Western Church, and it was probably 
 received by Ambrose (whose language, however, is consistent: 
 with the Epiphanian theory) in his treatise De Institutio7ie 
 Vii'ginis^ and by Augustine {in Joann. xxviil., Enarr. in 
 Ps. cxxvii., Contr. Fatist, xxii. 35). The Western Church, ac- 
 cordingly, in her Calendar has recognised only two Saints of 
 the name of James, and has naturally been followed in this 
 respect by the Church of England, which gives July 25 to the 
 son of Zebedee, and May ist to St Philip and the- son of 
 Alphaeus. The choice of the Epistle for that day implies his 
 identification with the brother of the Lord. In the Greek 
 Church, on the other hand, we trace,, beyond the shadow of 
 doubt, the survival of the Epiphanian view, or perhaps of the 
 still older tradition on which it rested, Oct. 9th being dedicate-d 
 
 1 Dr Mill {Mythical Interp. p. 29 1) quotes a passage from a MS. of 
 the 14th century, ascribed to Papias, and maintaining Jerome's view as 
 proof of an almost apostolic antiquity for this theory. The occurrence 
 of "the mediseval " Star of the Sea," as applied to the Virgin, is, however, 
 in itself proof of a much later date than that of Papias of Hierapolis, 
 and Dr Lightfoot shews that it comes from a work by a writer of the 
 same name in the nth century. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 17 
 
 to the son of Alphaeus, and Oct. 23rd to the brother of the 
 Lord. It is not probable, looking to the language of the Greek 
 Church as to the Virgin, that this distinction between the two 
 whom writers that follow the Roman view identify, rests on its 
 acceptance of the Helvidian view. 
 
 On the whole, then, in a question confessedly of considerable 
 difficulty, we may rest in the conclusions : 
 
 (i) That there is absolutely no ground for identifying James 
 the brother of the Lord with the son of Alphaeus, and therefore 
 none for. believing him to have been of the number of the 
 Twelve Apostles. 
 
 (2) That there is absolutely no ground for believing the 
 brethren of the Lord to have been the children of the Virgin's 
 sister, and therefore only cousins. 
 
 (3) That the first impression made by the language of the 
 New Testament is in favour of their being brethren in the fullest 
 sense of the word, but that this language is not incompatible 
 with the view that they were the children of Joseph by a 
 previous marriage. 
 
 VI. I have been reluctant up to this point to bring in the evi- 
 dence of apocryphal or spurious writings. But it will be admitted, 
 assuming the above conclusions as at least partly proved, that it 
 is an enquiry not without interest to ask what relation the 
 narratives of such writings bear to them. 
 
 In the Protevatigeliiiin yacobiy an apocryphal narrative, 
 dating probably from the second century, and therefore prior 
 to any of the theories which originated in the fourth, Joseph 
 appears as an old man with sons at the time of his espousals 
 (c. 9), but with no daughter (c. 17). The sons are with him at 
 Bethlehem at the time of the Nativity. James himself is repre- 
 sented as writing the book after the death of Herod the Great 
 (c. 25). The Gospel of the Pseudo- Matthew agrees as to the age 
 of Joseph (c. 8), and relates that James, "the first-born son of 
 Joseph," was bitten in the hand by a viper in his boyhood, and 
 was healed by the touch and the breath of Jesus (c. 31). Joseph, 
 Judas, and Simeon are named as the other brothers. Anna, 
 the mother of the Virgin, after the death of her first husband, 
 
 ST JAMES 
 
i8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Joachim, marries Cleophas, and has by him a second daughter 
 Mary, who in her turn is married to Alphasus, and becomes the 
 mother of Phihp and James, the Apostles. The History of Joseph 
 (c. 3) gives the names of the four sons, and Assia and Lydia as 
 the names of the daughters, and relates that Joseph became a 
 widower when Mary was of the age of twelve, lived to the age of 
 iir; James and Judas remaining in the household till his death 
 (c. 14), and died with Jesus holding his hands, and receiving his 
 last sigh (c. 19). The Gospel of Thouias repeats the story of the 
 viper that bit James (c. 16). The. Arabic Gospel of the Infancy 
 tnakes James and Joses grown up while Jesus is yet an infant. 
 
 The Apocryphal Gospels thus referred to are so full of 
 frivolous and fantastic fables, that no single fact narrated in 
 them can claim, on that ground, the slightest degree of credi- 
 bility; but the uniform consent of so many books written in 
 various languages and countries, in adopting the Epiphanian 
 view as distinct alike from that of Helvidius and that of 
 Jerome, must be admitted as shewing what was in the second 
 and third centuries the current tradition of the Church. It was 
 not probable that writers aiming at attracting popular admira- 
 tion would run counter to any prevalent tradition that "the 
 brethren of the 'Lord" were really only His cousins. 
 
 VII. Leaving the region of legends, but keeping on the stratum 
 of truth which underlies them, we may venture to picture to our- 
 selves that household of Nazareth in at least the outline of its life. 
 We can think of the elder brothers watching with loving admi- 
 ration the growth of the Holy Child that "increased in wisdom 
 and in stature and in favour with God and man." Their training 
 had been after the pattern of that which prevailed in all devout 
 Jewish houses. They had known the Holy Scriptures daily. 
 They heard it read in the Synagogue on the Sabbath day. They 
 read it in their home. But in that village of Nazareth, as 
 throughout GaHlee, Greek was probably both spoken and read 
 familiarly, and thus they might become acquainted with the 
 teaching of books which the Alexandrian Jews had added to the 
 Hebrew Canon. Their father dies, and then they marry 
 (i Cor. ix. 5), and, it may well have been, leave their step-mother to 
 
INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 be maintained by the younger Half-Brother who was her own 
 son. So the years pass on till the preaching of the Baptist breaks 
 through the orderly routine with the energy of a new force. The 
 brothers go from Nazareth as others go from Capernaum, and 
 James learns the lessons which he afterwards reproduces in his 
 Epistle, and adopts the Nazarite rule, for the rigorous obser- 
 vance of which his life was afterwards conspicuous. And then 
 follows that which to him, as to the other dwellers in Nazareth, 
 was a marvel and a stumblingblock. The younger Brother 
 proclaims in the Synagogue, probably on the great Day of 
 Atonement, that the most glorious promises of the Prophets, 
 which were read on that day as the appointed lesson, were ful- 
 filled in Him. They have loved and honoured Him up to this 
 time, but they are not prepared for this. They fear the probable 
 effects of such a proclamation in raising the opposition of 
 Pharisees and Scribes or the jealous suspicion of the Tetrarch 
 Antipas. They hold back from joining the company of the 
 disciples. The oft-repeated words of Jesus, that " a prophet is not 
 without honour but in his own country, and among his own kin, 
 and in his own house" (Mark vi. 4; Matt. xiii. 57 ; Luke iv. 24; 
 John iv. 44), are spoken as with a plaintive reference to a definite 
 personal experience. They, too, are tempted to take up the 
 half-taunting words, "Physician, heal thyself," and to demand 
 that wonders as great as those of which they had heard at 
 Capernaum should be wrought in their presence in their own 
 city. They hear a few months afterwards that the Mission of 
 the Kingdom is going on at Jerusalem and throughout Gahlee, 
 that Scribes and Pharisees have come down from Jerusalem to 
 watch, and, if possible, to entrap the new Teacher (Luke v. 17)^ 
 that they have coalesced with the Herodians against Him, and 
 are plotting against His life (Mark iii. 6). They and His mother 
 are anxious to protect Him against that danger. And so they 
 leave Nazareth, and appear on the outskirts of the crowd at 
 Capernaum at the very moment when the antagonism was 
 becoming more and more embittered, and the situation more 
 full of danger (Matt. xii. 46). They are anxious to utter their 
 words of warning, to restrain Him, while there is yet time, from 
 
 2 — 2 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 irrevocable words which may lead to a shameful death. They 
 hear in return the declaration, so full of blessing for others, so 
 full of warning and reproof for them, " Behold my mother and my 
 brethren ! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which 
 is in Heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother" 
 (Matt. xii. 49, 50). " So far their efforts were frustrated ; but the 
 heart of the Brother yearns over the kindred and the neighbours 
 who were so slow of heart to believe, and He appears once again 
 in the Synagogue of Nazareth (Matt. xiii. 54—58). The 
 brothers listen, admiring but still not believing, and the 
 men of Nazareth appeal, as it were, to their self-esteem. 
 What was He in outward birth or condition, that He should 
 be more than they? "Is not this the carpenter's son, Himself 
 a carpenter? Is not His mother called Mary? Are not His 
 brethren, James and Joses and Simon and Judas, with us?" 
 (Matt. xiii. 55 ; Mark vi. 3). Once again the old sad proverb was 
 fulfilled, and He of whom these things were said could do but 
 few works of power there because of their unbeHef (Mark vi. 5). 
 The months passed on apparently with little or no change of 
 feehng. The Feast of Tabernacles came, the last that preceded 
 the Passion, and the brethren were going up with other Gali- 
 lasans to the Holy City. They turned to the Prophet in whom 
 they did not as yet believe with the measure of belief which He 
 required, in a tone of impatient expectation. Why remain in 
 Galilee if He were indeed the King of Israel? " Depart hence, 
 and go into Judaea, that thy disciples also" — obviously the 
 disciples in Jerusalem, of whom they had heard as listening to 
 Him in his previous visits — "may see the works that thou doest. 
 For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he 
 himself seeketh to be known openly" (John vii. 3—5). "If thou 
 do these things," if thou canst heal the sick and give sight to the 
 blind and cast out devils, "shew thyself to the world," to that 
 world of which they thought as gathering in Jerusalem to 
 keep the coming Feast. That challenge He did not accept, for 
 it implied that they, and not He, were judges as to the time 
 and manner of His Manifestation. Their time was "always 
 ready," but His was mapped out for Him by a Wisdom higher 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 than theirs, and His time was not yet full come (John 
 vii. 8). They, we know, were present at the Feast, and they 
 found the thoughts of the men of Judaea concerning Him 
 fluctuating and uncertain. Some acknowledged Him as the 
 Prophet, some as the Christ, some spoke of Him as a deceiver 
 (John vii. 40, 41, 47). Attempts were made to seize Him, and 
 made in vain. The Feast ended as it began, in division, and 
 the last words which they may have heard were^ "He hath 
 a devil and is mad"— words which might almost seem to have 
 been an echo of their own thoughts, when they, or those whom 
 they had sent, said " He is beside Himself" (Mark iii. 21). 
 
 The last Passover came, and the brethren, we must believe, 
 were there, with the others who came from Galilee. Perhaps they 
 too thought that the long-delayed manifestation for which they 
 had crav'ed was at last to be granted, and that " the kingdom of 
 God was to immediately appear" (Luke xix. 11). But it is signi- 
 ficant that He eats the Passover, which was essentially the re- 
 ligious feast ofthe/ajfti/y, not with them, as would, under common 
 conditions, have been natural, but with the Twelve, to whom 
 He had pointed as being His true brethren. Then came what 
 would seem to them the fulfilment of all their worst forebodings, 
 the capture, the condemnation, and the death. It may be in- 
 ferred from John xix. 26 that it was the beloved disciple, the 
 nephew, and not the step-son, of the Mother of the Lord, who 
 accompanied her to the place of Crucifixion, but they too could 
 hardly have been absent from that awful spectacle. And then 
 came that which changed their doubt and hesitation into faith. 
 The risen Lord was seen of Cephas and of the Twelve, and then 
 of five hundred brethren at once, and after that, of James 
 (i Cor. XV. 5—7). When St Paul thus wrote, the one person of 
 whom his readers would think as thus referred to, was neither 
 the son of Zebedee, who was no longer among the living 
 witnesses of the Resurrection, nor the son of Alphseus, who was 
 to the Corinthians, as to us, hardly more than a name. He 
 could refer, they would say, to none other than the brother of 
 the Lord, whom they knew as the Bishop of Jerusalem, the head 
 of the Church of the Circumcision. A legend or tradition in 
 
22 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the Gospel according to the Hebrews^ which takes its place 
 among the more respectable of the New Testament Apocrypha, 
 and was translated by Jerome himself into both Greek and 
 Latin, connects this appearance with an incident sufficiently 
 suggestive to be worth inserting here. James had sworn, we 
 are told, that he would not eat bread from the hour in which he 
 had drunk of the Lord's cup until he should see Him rising 
 from the dead. "And the Lord went and appeared to him, and 
 said after a while, Bring hither a table and set bread on it ; and 
 He took bread and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to 
 James the Just, and said to him. My brother, eat thy bread 
 now, for the Son of Man hath risen from among those that 
 sleep." (Jerome, Catal. Script. Eccles.). The narrative presents, 
 it is obvious, so many analogies with other manifestations 
 recorded in the Gospels, that admitting the fact of the appear- 
 ance to James, on the strength of St Paul's statement, this may 
 well be received as giving what was probably the manner. 
 
 Some such appearance, at any rate, offers the only reasonable 
 explanation of the next fact in the life of St James recorded in 
 the New Testament. The Resurrection and the Ascension are 
 passed, and the " brethren " are with the Twelve in the Upper 
 Chamber in Jerusalem (Acts i. 14). They take part in the 
 election of Matthias, and are sharers in the marvellous gifts of 
 the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (Acts ii. i — 4). From that 
 time they cast in their lot with the fortunes of the infant 
 Church, and their earthly relationship to the Lord of that 
 Church, the witness they were able to bear to the blameless 
 Youth and Manhood at Nazareth, no less than to the fact of the 
 Resurrection, must have given them a marked prominence in the 
 company of the disciples. They accepted the admission of the 
 Samaritans into the infant Church. On St Paul's return to 
 Jerusalem, three years after his conversion, he was received 
 by Peter alone of the Apostles, and by James the Lord's 
 brother (Gal. i. 18, 19) ^ It seems probable that on the death 
 
 ^ It has sometimes been inferred from St Paul's way of speaking 
 ("other of the Apostles saw I none save James the Lord's brother") 
 fJmt the one so named must have been among the Twelve, and therefore 
 
INTRODUCTION. 23 
 
 of James the brother of John, his namesake, the brother of the 
 Lord, succeeded, either by direct election, or by tacit acceptance, 
 into the place thus left vacant. When the persecution under 
 Agrippa made it necessary for Peter to leave Jerusalem, the lan- 
 guage of the Apostle on his departure implies that James was left 
 as the guide and teacher of the Church (Acts xii. 17). It may 
 fairly be assumed that he was among the elders who received the 
 alms that had been collected by the Gentile converts at Antioch 
 (Acts xi. 30) for the disciples at Jerusalem. We may reason- 
 ably trace an allusion to that act of benevolence, and to the new 
 name of Christians which had been applied to the disciples at 
 Antioch (Acts xi. 26), in the language of the Epistle (see Notes 
 on ch. ii. 7, 16). It was, probably, one of the consequences 
 of the new position which he thus occupied, that in view of 
 the expansion of the Church, he wrote his Encyclical Epistle 
 to the twelve tribes of the Dispersion, addressing primarily 
 those among them that had embraced the faith of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ (ch. i. i, ii. i, v. 7), but indirectly calling all the 
 families of Israel to repentance, and faith, and holiness (see In- 
 trodMction ch. ii.). Then, after seventeen years had passed since 
 the conversion of St Paul, we find him presiding at the Council 
 of Jerusalem, recognised as, by age and position, the represen- 
 tative of the Church of the Circumcision (Acts xv. 13). The de- 
 votion, purity, asceticism of his life, his faithfulness and loving 
 observance of all rules which devout Pharisees practised, 
 had won for him the respect of that party as a whole. It 
 was not strange, perhaps, that those of its members who had 
 accepted the faith of Christ should look upon him as their ideal 
 Apostle, and present his life to the Gentile converts as the ex- 
 ample which they were bound to follow. He, they seem to have 
 said, would never sanction the baptism of uncircumcised prose- 
 lytes as members of the Church of Christ, nor their exemption 
 from the rules of the Law and the traditions of the Elders. He, 
 on his part, however, disclaims that inference from his conduct. 
 
 identical with the son of Alphaeus. The examples of a like con«;truction 
 in Luke iv. 26, 27 shew that no such inference is reliable. The woman 
 of Sarepta was not one of the widows of Israel, nor was Naaman one of 
 its lepers. 
 
24 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 He had given no such commandment (Acts xv. 24). He had 
 learnt from the Prophet whose teaching he reproduces (comp. 
 Amos viii. 5, 10 with James iv. 13, v. i, 2 ; Amos vi. i — 6 with 
 James v. 5), in whom he found a Nazarite like himself (Amos 
 ii. II, 12), to welcome the conversion of the "residue of men," 
 and to receive as brethren all "the Gentiles upon whom the 
 name of the'Lord is called" (Acts xv. 17). He suggests as the 
 right solution of the immediate problem, that the Gentile 
 Christians should be received on the footing which the more 
 liberal Pharisees had accepted as that of the Proselytes of the 
 Gate, bound to the precepts of Noah, but not to those of Moses 
 (Acts XV, 20). He gives to Paul and Barnabas the right hand 
 of fellowship (Gal. ii. 9), accepts in full the Gospel which they 
 had preached (Acts xv. 25, 26), and publicly gives his sanction to 
 the work they had done among the Gentiles. He recognises in 
 so doing that the Law which he himself continued to observe 
 with so much rigour, might be to others a yoke not easy and a 
 burden not light (Matt. xi. 29, 30), and that the only law of liberty 
 v;as the law of the true King, " Thou shalt love thy neighbour 
 as thyself" (Acts xv. 10, 19 ; James i. 25, ii. 8). 
 
 It is scarcely likely that, after this frank and full acceptance, 
 attested not by St Luke only, but by St Paul himself, in the 
 Epistle in which he is most eager to vindicate his entire inde- 
 pendence of the Church at Jerusalem, St James would have 
 taken up the position of antagonism which some recent writers 
 assign to him in the history of the Apostolic Church, which 
 they have constructed out of their inner consciousness, resting 
 on the assumption that the wild romances of the Clejnenthte 
 Homilies and RecogTiitions contain a more trustworthy his- 
 tory than the Acts of the Apostles. And the most natural 
 explanation of the fact that St Peter's conduct at Antioch, 
 in relation to the Gentiles, was altered for the worse when 
 "certain came from James" (Gal. ii. 12), is that then, as 
 before, his name was used by those to whom he had given 
 no such commandment, to enforce their interpretation of the 
 Concordat which had been adopted, on his proposal, at the 
 Council of Jerusalem. It is clear at any rate, that, while on the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 25 
 
 one hand, his own life was such as to win the admiration of 
 those who were most zealous for the Law, he still continued, 
 on the other, to hold out to St Paul the right hand of fellow- 
 ship. He must have received him on the occasion of the visit 
 of which we have only the brief fragmentary record of Acts 
 xviii. 22. He welcomes him, when he comes once again, accom- 
 panied by many Gentile converts, confirms the terms of the 
 great Charter of Gentile freedom, and makes the characteristic 
 suggestion that St Paul should shew that he himself " walked 
 orderly and kept the Law," by doing partially, but as fully as 
 circumstances admitted, what he had done more thoroughly 
 before, and presenting himself in the Temple as one who had 
 upon him the vow of the Nazarite (Acts xxi. 18 — 25). Here, as far 
 as the New Testament is concerned, we take our leave of him, 
 and have to depend on the less certam guidance of later histoiy. 
 A brief narrative of his death is found in Josephus {Ant. XX. 
 9 § i), but it has been regarded by many writers as a Christian 
 interpolation. It states that when Albinus succeeded Festus 
 (Acts xxiv. 27) as Procurator of Judasa, the younger Ananus, or 
 Annas (son of the High Priest so named in Luke iii. 2 ; John 
 xviii. 1 3),- was himself High Priest, bold and daring in character. 
 He was of the sect of Sadducees (comp. Acts iv. 4, v. 17) 
 who were always conspicuous for harshness in all judicial 
 proceedings (comp. Joseph. Ant. xiil. 10 § 6, Wars, 11. 8 § 14). 
 And so, taking advantage of the interval between the death of 
 Festus and the arrival of Albinus, he called together a Council of 
 Judges (clearly the Sanhedrin), and "he brought before it the 
 brother of Jesus that was called Christ, whose name was James, 
 and certain others, and having charged them with transgressing 
 the law, delivered them to be stoned. Some of the most equit- 
 able in the city, however, and those who were most accurate in 
 their knowledge of the Law, were grieved at this. They sent 
 secretly to the King (the Agrippa of Acts xxv. J 3), begging him 
 to restrain Ananus from such acts of violence. Some of them 
 meet Albinus on his way from Alexandria, to tell him what 
 Ananus had done, and how it was unlawful for him to convene 
 the Council without his consent, and the result was that Albinus 
 
26 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 wrote him a threatening letter, and that Agrippa deposed him 
 from the priesthood." 
 
 The story of his death is told in a more dramatic form, and 
 probably with some legendary admixture, by Hegesippus, the 
 historian of the Jews, who wrote in the third quarter of the 
 second century. The passage (quoted by Euseb. Hist. Ii. 23) 
 is so interesting, and in some respects so important, that it will 
 be well to give it at length. 
 
 "James the brother of the Lord receives the Church from 
 the Apostles, he who was called the Just from the Lord's time 
 even to our own; for many bore the name of James. This 
 man was holy from his mother's womb. He drank no wine nor 
 strong drink, nor did he eat any thing that lives. No razor 
 came upon his head, nor did he anoint himself with oil, nor use 
 the bath. He only was allowed to enter into the holy_place, for he 
 wore no woollen, but linen garments only. And he was Avont to 
 go alone into the sanctuary, and used to be found prostrate on his 
 knees, and asking forgiveness for the people, so that his knees 
 grew hard and worn, like a camel's, because he was ever kneel- 
 ing and worshipping God, and asking forgiveness for the 
 people. And on account of his exceeding righteousness he was 
 called the Righteous (or the Just), and Oblias, which means in 
 Greek 'the bulwark of the people' and 'righteousness,' as the 
 prophets shew of him. Some then of the seven sects of the 
 people, of those whom I have described in my Memoirs, were 
 wont to ask him. Who is the door of Jesus? And he was wont 
 to say that this was the Saviour. And of these some believed 
 • that Jesus is the Christ. But the sects of which I have spoken 
 did not believe either in the Resurrection, or in Him who 
 Cometh to give to every man according to his works. As many 
 then as believed did so on account of James. And when many 
 of the rulers also believed, there was a stir of the Jews and 
 Scribes and Pharisees, saying that the whole people were in 
 danger of looking for Jesus the Christ. They came together 
 and said to James: 'We entreat thee, restrain the people, for 
 they have gone astray to Jesus as though He were indeed the 
 Christ. We beseech thee to persuade all that come to the day 
 
INTRODUCTION. 27 
 
 of the Passover concerning Jesus ; for we all hearken to thee. 
 For all of us bear thee witness, and all the people also, that 
 thou art righteous, and art no respecter of persons. Do thou 
 therefore persuade the multitude not to be led astray concern- 
 ing Jesus ; for we and all the people hearken unto thee. Stand 
 therefore on the pinnacle of the Temple, that thou mayest be 
 conspicuous aloft, and that thy words may easily be heard by 
 all the people, for by reason of the Passover all the tribes have 
 come together, and with them the Gentiles.' So the Scribes 
 and Pharisees before-mentioned placed James on the pinnacle 
 of the Temple, and they cried out to him, and said, *0 thou 
 Righteous one, to whom we are all bound to hearken, since the 
 people are all gone astray after Jesus that was crucified, tell us 
 what is the door of Jesus.' And he answered with a loud voice: 
 *Why ask ye me concerning Jesus the Son of man? He hath 
 sat down in Heaven on the right hand of the Great Power, and 
 is about to come .upon the clouds of Heaven.' And when many 
 were fully persuaded, and were glorifying God for the testimony 
 of James, and saying, ' Hosanna to the Son of David,' then again 
 the same Scribes and Pharisees said one to another, 'We did ill 
 in giving scope for such a testimony to Jesus, but let us go up 
 and cast him down, that they may fear and not believe him.' 
 And they cried out, saying, 'Ho, ho, even the Righteous is gone 
 astray !' And they fulfilled the scripture that is written in 
 Isaiah, Let us make away with the Righteous, for he is dis- 
 pleasing to us; therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their 
 works. And they went and cast the Righteous one down ; 
 and they said one to another, 'Let us stone James the Righteous.' 
 And they began to stone him, for when he was cast down he 
 did not die at once, but turned and fell on his knees, saying, 
 'O Lord God our Father, forgive them, I beseech Thee, for 
 they know not what they do.' And while they were thus 
 stoning him, one of the priests of the sons of Rechab the son of 
 Rechabim, of whom the Prophet Jeremiah bears record, cried 
 out and said, 'Cease ye: what is it that ye are doing.? The 
 Righteous one is praying for you.' And one of them, who 
 was a fuller, took the club wherewith he was wont to beat his 
 
28 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 clothes, and smote the head of the Righteous one with it. And 
 so he bore his witness. And they buried him at the place 
 beside the Sanctuary, and his tombstone remaineth by the 
 Sanctuary. He was, and is, a true witness both to Jews and 
 Greeks, that Jesus is the Christ." 
 
 There is but little, if anything, in this narrative, that is in 
 itself improbable. The picture drawn of St James's life agrees 
 with the position occupied by him in Acts xx. 23 as the centre 
 of those who were all zealous of the Law, as giving prominence 
 to the Nazarite vow as an act of devotion, as wishing above all 
 things to stop the mouths of disputants and gainsayers. The 
 long-continued prayer in the Temple is but the natural develop- 
 ment of the teaching of the Epistle as to the power of effectual 
 fervent prayer. The use of linen garments only was after the 
 rule of .the Essenes (Joseph. Wars, il. 8 § 4). The abstinence 
 from wine and animal food was what might be expected in one 
 who had been a student of the prophet who gave such pro- 
 minence to the Nazarite vow (Amos ii. 11, 12; Acts xv. 16), who 
 had been also a follower of the Baptist, and so largely repro- 
 duced his teaching. The non-use of the bath need not be 
 understood of any neglect of the multiplied ablutions which 
 were practised by all Pharisees and devout Jews, above all, 
 by the Essenes (Joseph. Wars, II. 8 § 3), whose life approxi- 
 mated to the type presented by that of St James and of the 
 Baptist. The "bath" in the language of the writers of that 
 age was the Roman bath with its sudatorium, frigidarium, 
 shampooing, and other appliances, which was naturally looked 
 upon by those who were leading an ascetic life as an effemi- 
 nate luxury. Even the more startling fact, that the brother 
 of the Lord was allowed to enter into the Sanctuary, is not 
 without a parallel (assuming the term to point not to the Holy 
 of Holies, but to the Court of the Priests) in the privileges 
 which were granted to other Nazarites, and which led a later 
 Jewish writer (Maimonides, More Nevochim III. 43) to place 
 those who took that vow on them as a life-long obligation, on a 
 level with the High Priest ; and the mention of the priest of the 
 sons of Rechab, who naturally sympathised with one whose life 
 
INTRODUCTION. 29 
 
 was like his own, is explained by the fact, sufficiently established 
 by the Targum of Jonathan and other evidence (see Dictionary 
 of the Bible, Art. ''Rechabites"), that they were adopted, after the 
 Captivity, into the tribe of Levi, perhaps into the family of Aaron, 
 and became entitled to their privileges. The tradition reported 
 by Epiphanius {Hcer. 78) that he, like St John at Ephesus 
 {Eus. v. 24), wore the neTaKov, or thin plate of gold, with the 
 words "Holiness to the Lord," which belonged to the High 
 Priest (Exod. xxviii. 36), represents, it is obvious, the same ideas, 
 and in spite of its apparent strangeness, need not be rejected as 
 in itself incredible^ The name Oblias^, with the explanation 
 which Hegesippus gives of it, represents the reverence felt by 
 the population of Jerusalem for one who was to them the last 
 surviving representative of the saintly life, and which shewed 
 itself in their feeling that when he was murdered their defence 
 was gone, and that the calamities that then followed in such 
 quick succession were the just punishment of that deed of blood 
 (Euseb. Hisi. 11. 23). The question which seems to us at first 
 scarcely intelligible, What is the door of Jesus ? connects itself 
 with the teaching of the Epistle that "the Judge standeth at the 
 door" (ch. V. 9). One who had those words often on his lips 
 as a warning against the selfish luxury of the generation in 
 which he lived, was likely enough to hear from Sadducean 
 priests, themselves foremost in that luxury, the mocking question, 
 
 1 It may be noted, in connexion with this statement, that the por- 
 trait of Josephus, commonly found in the English editions, represents him 
 with this petalon. I do not know from what picture the engraving was 
 made, but the fact seems to indicate that the practice was not so strange 
 as it appears to us. Josephus, it will be remembered, claimed descent 
 from the sons of Aaron, and it is not unlikely that both St John and the 
 brother of the Lord may have had alike claim (see Article "Priests" in 
 the Dictionary of the Bible). Jerome, whose personal knowledge goes for 
 something in such a matter, says that Josephus was in such favour with 
 Vespasian and Titus, that he had a public statue at Rome {Caial. Script. 
 Ilhist. ), so that there may have been some authority in the fourth century 
 for such a representation. 
 
 2 The probable Hebrew form of the word was Ophli-am ( = strong- 
 hold of the people), the first half of the word being identical with Ophel, 
 the tower on the south side of the Temple, which was the residence of 
 the Levites (Neh. xi. 21). 
 
30 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " What is that door of which we hear so much ? " They did not 
 hear anything, though the Judge was standing at the door and 
 knocked. 
 
 VI. Later traditions present features that are either dimmer 
 or more distorted. The party that had misrepresented St James 
 in his life continued their work after he was dead ; and in the 
 controversial romance known as the Homilies of the Pseudo- 
 Clement of Rome, Peter writes to the brother of the Lord, and 
 maintains the perpetual obligation of the Law of Moses against 
 the preaching of the man (obviously the forger of the letter 
 means St Paul) who was "his enemy," and James delivers the 
 record of his teaching to men who are at once "devout and 
 circumcised and faithful," and binds them by a solemn oath, 
 like that of the Freemasons or other secret societies, to absolute 
 secresy and obedience {Epistle of Peter, prefixed to the Clemen- 
 tine Ho77iilies). The Pseudo-Clement dedicates his work to "his 
 lord James, the bishop of bishops, who rules Jerusalem, the 
 Holy Church of the Hebrews" {Epist. of Clejuetit). In a second 
 romance known as the RecogJiitio7zs, ascribed to the same 
 writer, St James, the "Archbishop" of Jerusalem, sends Peter to 
 Caesarea to stop the work carried on by Simon the Sorcerer 
 {Recogn. I. 72, 'j'^, and stands for seven days on the steps of the 
 Temple proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ, while Saul, here 
 also represented as from first to last the "enemy" of Peter and 
 of James, is making havock of the Church. In the Apostolic 
 Co7istitutions, a work probably of the third or fourth century, he 
 appears with the Twelve (here also distinguished from the son 
 of Alphaeus), (Book VI. 14), and gives rubrical directions for the 
 lighting of lamps, and the Evening Prayer that was to accom- 
 pany it (Book VIII. 35 — 37), and for prayers for the departed 
 (Book VIII. 41). In accordance v/ith the hints there given, the 
 Eastern Churches, of which Antioch was the centre, claimed 
 him as having laid down the order and pattern of their worship, 
 and the Liturgy of James comes before us as one of the great 
 representatives of what was in the third, and possibly in the 
 second, century, the Eucharistic Service of the ancient 
 Church, and James is commemorated in it as the prince of 
 
INTRODUCTION. 31 
 
 Bishops, Apostles, and Martyrs (Trollope's Liturgy of St Jajties, 
 p. 130). The "brother of the Lord" has become the ' h.bik(l>66ios , 
 "the brother of the very God." {Ibid, p. 25.) 
 
 Wild and fantastic as are these imaginings, they are yet not 
 without interest as shewing how powerfully the personality of 
 James had impressed itself on the minds of his contemporaries 
 and followers. Legends gather round the memory of a great 
 man, not of a small one. And the character which is visible 
 through all of them is that of one who continued all his life a • 
 Hebrew of the Hebrews, zealous for the Law, and devout in its 
 observance, winning by his personal holiness the admiration 
 and reverence of all who knew him. It is refreshing, however, 
 to pass from the region of fables, and to tread on the safer 
 ground— safer, though here, too, we need the caution which 
 should attend all exercise of the historical imagination— of the 
 inferences that may legitimately be drawn from what the New 
 Testament writers tell us of the man, from what he tells us of 
 himself. We have, then, present before us one whose personal 
 work is limited to Jerusalem, who undertakes no far-distant 
 journeys. Such a life tends naturally to the devout, contem- 
 plative, ascetic pattern of religion. It keeps itself "unspotted 
 from the world." Its practical activity is limited to "visiting the 
 fatherless and widows in their affliction." The days pass by in 
 a calm unbroken order, and the outer stirrings of the world 
 scarcely ruffle it. And the life was spent in great part, at least, 
 in company with the two Apostles, St Peter and St John. We 
 can think of James as delighting in their converse, interchanging 
 thoughts with them, learning from them, and in his turn teaching 
 them, so that, as we have seen (p. 9), his words and phrases 
 are often theirs, and theirs are his. And there also, for part 
 of the time, must have been the Publican- Apostle, writing his 
 Gospel for the Hebrews, yet writing it, there seems reason 
 to believe, in Greek as well as Hebrew, for the twelve tribes 
 that were scattered abroad, to whom St James addressed his 
 Epistle. May we not think of the two as communing together 
 as the work went on; the brother of the Lord imparting to 
 the Evangelist the genealogy of the house of David, which 
 
32 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 was treasured among the records of his lineage, and the 
 events, as he remembered or had heard them, of the Birth 
 and Infancy of the Christ, and reading the Sermon on the 
 Mount, in which he found the "royal law, the perfect law of 
 freedom ; " and of which accordingly we find so many echoes in 
 the Epistle (p. 8)? From time to time there appears in Jerusalem 
 one of wider thoughts and wider work, whom many of the 
 Church at Jerusalem hated and suspected, James does not 
 hate or suspect, and holds out the right hand of fellowship, but he 
 feels that he has a vocation and ministry of his own, and his 
 form of life and type of thought remain as they were, but little 
 influenced by the teaching of the Apostle of the Gentiles. And 
 Luke comes with St Paul, and the wide culture and sympathies 
 of the beloved physician enable him to understand, better than 
 others, the character of the Bishop of Jerusalem, outwardly so 
 different from, essentially so in harmony with, the character of 
 his friend, and he resolves that, as far as in him lies, the false 
 rumours of an antagonism between them which had gone 
 abroad and gained acceptance, shall be shewn to be not facts, 
 but the reverse of facts, engendered by the father of lies. And 
 the life thus calm and tranquil is naturally given to study as 
 well as prayer and good works. The Holy Scriptures are 
 naturally the chief object of those studies, but his early know- 
 ledge as a Galilaean, and his frequent intercourse with the 
 Hellenistic pilgrims of the Dispersion, who came up to keep 
 their Pentecost or other feasts at Jerusalem, made him familiar 
 with the Greek version of those Scriptures, and so with the 
 books which the Alexandrian Jews had added to the Hebrew 
 volume. His Epistle shews how much he valued the practical 
 teaching of one of those books, how he found in the Son of 
 Sirach one who, like himself, had sought for wisdom and had 
 not sought in vain. The parallelisms with that book are, as the 
 following table will shew, nearly as numerous as those with the 
 Sermon on the Mount. 
 
 James i. 5. Ecclus. xx. 15, xli. 22. 
 
 i. 8. i. 28, ii. 12. 
 
 i. 12. i. II, 16, iS. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 33 
 
 James i. 12. 
 
 !• 19. 
 
 1- 23. 
 
 ?:.^5. 
 
 in. 5. 
 
 Ecclus. 
 
 . XV. II. 
 
 . V, II, XX. 7. 
 
 xii. II. 
 
 
 
 xiv. 23, xxi. 23. 
 xxviii. 10. 
 
 
 iii. 6. 
 
 
 xxviii. iq (?). 
 
 Yet another book, the work, probably, of a contemporary, 
 written, as some, have thought^, by the Jew of Alexandria, 
 eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures, to whom many critics, . 
 from Luther onwards, have assigned the authorship of the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, must have attracted him by its very 
 title, the Wisdom of Solomon, and with this also we find not a 
 few interesting and suggestive parallelisms. 
 
 James i. II. Wisd. ii. 8. 
 
 i- 12. V. 7. 
 
 i- i7« vii. 17 — 20. 
 
 i. 20. xii. 10. 
 
 i. •zs* vii. 26. 
 
 ii. 21. X. 5. 
 
 iv. 14. iii. 16, v. 9 — 14. 
 
 We picture such a man to ourselves as grave and calm, for 
 the most part silent, but when speaking, letting fall words that 
 were as seeds that germinated and took root in the souls of 
 others, indifferent to the luxuries and comforts of life, honouring 
 the poor more than the rich, visiting the fatherless and the 
 widow, accompanying the Elders of the Church when they 
 anointed the sick with oil in the hope of their recovery, slow to 
 judge, calming by his saintly meekness the angry passions of 
 contending parties, adopting the policy of non-resistance in 
 times of persecution. Not without cause did men speak of him 
 as emphatically the "just, or righteous, one" as presenting a type 
 of character after the pattern of His who was emphatically the 
 Just One, Jesus Christ the Righteous (Matt, xxvii. 19; Luke 
 xxiii. 47; Acts iii. 14, vii. 52; i John ii. i). The frequent oc- 
 currence of that title either in its Greek or Latin form (as in 
 
 1 See Two Papers on 7'he Writings of Apollos in Vol. i. of the 
 Exposiior. 
 
 ST JA>fES J 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the Justus of Acts i. 23, xviii. 7; Col. iv. 11) seems to indicate 
 that it was used somewhat freely of those who aimed at a 
 higher righteousness than that of the Scribes and Pharisees. 
 
 So far as we may think of such a one as James the Just as 
 reeding refreshment after the strain of worship and of work, 
 some subtle touches in the Epistle lead us to think of that 
 refreshment as found by him, as by all pure and simple souls, in 
 the forms of life around him. To consider the lilies of the field, 
 to dwell lovingly on what he calls the comeliness, not of the 
 fashion, but of the face of each fair flower (see Note on i. 10), 
 to find a quiet joy, as St John is said to have done in his old age 
 (see note on ch. iii. 7), in the power of man to tame the wildness, 
 and even to win the affection, of bird or beast, — this also we may 
 think of as entering into the life of the brother of the Lord, and 
 teaching him new lessons in the wisdom which he sought. Chris- 
 tendom has presented many types of saintliness, more intense and 
 vehement, more mystic and spiritual^ with wider thoughts, or at 
 least a freer utterance, of the mysteries of God. It was well that 
 the Apostolic age should present one type such as this, in which 
 holiness appeared mainly as identical with Wisdom ; that this 
 should be as much the special characteristic of St James, as 
 Faith was of St Paul, and Hope of St Peter, and Love of the 
 beloved disciple. That type has happily not been without its 
 representatives in later ages of the Church. In Macarius of 
 Egypt, in Thomas k Kempis, in our own Bishop Wilson, w.e 
 trace the same ideal of life, the aim at that wisdom which. 
 Cometh from above, and is first pure and then peaceable, gentle, 
 and carrying with it the persuasive power of gentleness. The 
 life of St James was well characterised by Eusebius {Hist. Tl, 
 23), as marked by " the highest philosophy." The Liturgy of 
 the Greek Church as happily attaches the epithet "Wise "rather 
 than Just, to the "brother of the Lor.d," and commemorates 
 "the marvellous and ineffable mysteries" which were made 
 known to him by the " Wisdom of the incarnate Lord " who 
 vouchsafed to be his Teacher. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 33 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 TO WHOM WAS THE EPISTLE ADDRESSED? 
 
 I. The letter which bears the name of James purports to be 
 addressed to the "twelve tribes that are scattered abroad" 
 (literally in the dispersion. See note on ch. i. i). No other 
 Epistle takes so wide a range. St Peter's, which comes nearest 
 to it, does not extend beyond the section of the "dispersion" 
 that was to be found in the northern and central provinces of 
 Asia Minor. This contemplates nothing less than all the 
 families of Israel, and, as far as they are concerned, is, in the 
 fullest sense of the word, a Catholic or Universal Epistle. 
 
 On the other hand, there seems, at times, to be an implied 
 limitation. He writes to those who "hold the faith of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ" (ch. ii. i), who have His worthy (or noble) Name 
 called upon them (ch. ii. 7), who live in the expectation of His 
 coming (ch. v. 7). Seen from one point pf view, the Epistle 
 seems a call to the outward Israel, such as the preaching of the 
 Baptist had been, to be true to their calling, to live by the light 
 they had, to conquer the besetting sins of their race. Seen from 
 another, it is an earnest appeal to the Israelites who had ac- 
 cepted Jesus as the Christ, to be on their guard, lest those sins 
 should reappear in the new society of the Church of God. From 
 yet a third stand-point it seems to be addressed specially to 
 the Churches of Judaea. It speaks of forms of persecution and 
 oppression (ch. ii. 6, 7, v. 4), which obviously refer directly to 
 the acts of violence that followed on the death of Stephen (Acts 
 ix. 2), and were renewed under Herod Agrippa I. (Acts xii. i, 2). 
 2. We shall perhaps be better able to understand the 
 features which the Epistle thus presents to us, if we endeavour 
 to realise the position of the writer. The Church of Jerusalem 
 wus committed to his special charge. All the notices of his 
 life, historical, traditional, legendary, represent him as con- 
 
 3—2 
 
36 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 fining himself to that special work, as never leaving the Holy 
 City, as being a constant worshipper in the Temple. But every 
 feast in every year brought to Jerusalern representatives of the 
 "dispersion" from "every nation under heaven" (Acts ii. 5). 
 Taking the list of those who were present on the day of Pente- 
 cost, we fin^ among them those of Parthia and Media and Elam 
 (Persia), who were descendants of the Ten Tribes that had been 
 carried into exile by the river of Gozan and in the cities of 
 the Medes by Shalmaneser (2 Kings xvii. 6) ; the dwellers of 
 Mesopotamia, who were of the children of the Babylonian 
 captivity (2 Kings xxiv. 14—16, xxv. 11) ; those of Egypt, who 
 traced their settlement in Alexandria to the invasion of Ptolemy- 
 Lagus (Joseph. Ant. xii. i) ; others, as in the case of the 
 eunuch of Acts viii. 27, who, in the reign of Manasseh, had 
 been carried off by Psammetichus (as in the history of the 
 Septuagint that bears the name of Aristeas), and were known, 
 even in the time of the prophet Zephaniah, as the people " of 
 the daughter of my dispersed beyond the rivers of Ethiopia" 
 (Zeph. iii. 10). Lastly, there were those whom the war with 
 Pompeius had scattered over every province of the Roman 
 Empire and had planted in large numbers in Rome itself, 
 those who had made jtheir way from Alexandria to the parts 
 of Libya about Cyrene, the more isolated settlements of Arabia 
 and of Crete. With some of these, at least, St James would 
 come into contact. In those who came from Egypt he might 
 find thoughts in some measure in harmony with his own. The 
 Therapeutae ( = "healers of the soul," or, perhaps, "followers of 
 the devout life"), who were leading a devout ascetic life on the 
 shores of the Lake Mareotis in the Delta of the Nile, never 
 tasting animal food nor wine, praising God in solemn chants 
 and antiphonal hymns (Euseb. Hist. II. 17); the disciples of 
 Philo, dwelling much on the attainment of a true philosophy as 
 the highest aim of man, and identifying the Divine Word or 
 Logos with the Giver of all wisdom and knowledge ; those who 
 brought with them the sapiential books which were studied 
 among the Alexandrian Jews, the Wisdom of the Son of Sirach, 
 and the more recent work known as the Wisdom of Solomon, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 37 
 
 probably by a contemporary, possibly, as some have inferred 
 from numerous coincidences of thought and language, by the 
 author of the Epistle to the Hebrews prior to his acceptance of 
 the faith of Christ ^ These he would welcome as manifesting in 
 their various forms the search after the life of heavenly wisdom 
 to which he himself was devoted. But in most of those who 
 came he would note, with shame and sorrow, the same defects as 
 those which he found among his own countrymen, the same 
 greed of gain (ch. iv. i, 2), the same respect of persons (ch. ii. 
 I — 7), the same wrangling and bitterness in debate (ch. iii. 
 I — 12). They relied upon their faith in the dogma of Mono- 
 theism as a substitute for holiness of life (ch. ii. 19). They ab- 
 horred idols, and yet robbed their temples (Rom. ii. 22). They 
 pleased not God, and were contrary to all men (i Thess. ii. 15). 
 The name of God was blasphemed among the Gentiles through 
 their lamentable and shameful inconsistencies (Rom. ii. 24). In 
 view of these evils, we may believe, St James was led to write 
 to the Twelve Tribes of the Dispersion, to call them at least to 
 live up to the ideal of the faith of Israel. It lay in the nature 
 of the case, however, that those with whom he came most into 
 contact were those who held the faith which he held, that Jesus 
 was the Christ, and that being so. He was none other than the 
 Lord of Gloiy (ch. ii. i). Only in such as these could he find 
 those who would be the bearers of his letter to the several 
 centres of the Dispersion. Only among these could he feel any 
 assurance that his letter would, in the first instance, gain a 
 hearing. In these he saw those who were to be, in the Divine 
 purpose, a purpose which they might forward or frustrate, the 
 first-fruits of humanity (ch. i. 18). And therefore he writes, not 
 as a prophet or moralist only, but as " the servant of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ" (ch. i. i). He is above all anxious that they, in 
 their life as individuals and as a community, should not hold the 
 faith in the Lord Jesus as a mere barren dogma, but should 
 shew the fruits of their higher knowledge in "the meekness of 
 wisdom," in a nobler and purer life (ch. iii. 13). Because he is 
 writing to the Twelve Tribes at large, he does not dwell with any 
 
 ^ See Note, p. ^7^. 
 
38 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 fulness on the higher mysteries of the Kingdom, but is content 
 to call on them to live by the light they have, in the conviction 
 that in so doing they would be led to know of the doctrine 
 whether it were of God (John vii. 17). Because he is writing to 
 those who shared his faith and hope, he does not shrink from the 
 confession of his belief in Jesus as the Christ, or from pressing 
 on the minds of those who were to read his letter the solemn 
 thought that He was the Judge, and that His coming was not 
 far off (ch. v. 7). But one who lived as St James, in one spot, 
 the horizon of whose view was consequently within compara- 
 tively narrow limits, was certain to be impressed mainly with 
 what he himself heard and saw. He would dwell on the scenes 
 which he witnessed, or knew of as practised in the Christian 
 synagogues of Judaea (ch. ii. i — 3), to the persecutions of which 
 it had been the scene, and in which the wealthy aristocracy of 
 the Sadducean priest-party — always, as he himself experienced 
 and as Josephus testifies {A7it. xiil. 10. § 6; XX. 9. § i ; Wars, 
 II. 8. § 14), conspicuous for their judicial cruelties — had taken 
 the most prominent part (ch. ii. 6). He would point to the 
 indifference which the richer Jews shewed towards the suffer- 
 ings of the poor of Jerusalem at the time of the famine, and 
 contrast it with the liberality of the Gentile converts whom 
 they despised as outside the pale of the covenant of Israel (ch. 
 ii. 15-18). 
 
 Such, it is believed, is the conclusion to which the phas- 
 nomena of the Epistle lead. It will be seen that it takes in 
 whatever element of truth is to be found in the less complete 
 theories which look on it as addressed only to Jews as such 
 or only to Jewish Christians, or only to the Churches of Judasa. 
 We need not wonder, if we remember even the outlines of the 
 history of the Apostolic Church, that it should be comparatively 
 slow in finding its way into general acceptance, that though in 
 one sense Catholic in its aim, and in due time recognised by that 
 • title, it did not occupy, in the history of the Canon of the New 
 Testament, a position like that of the Gospels or the Epistles 
 of St Paul. Read in the first instance in the Churches of the 
 Circumcision only, bearing the name of the Teacher whom the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 39 
 
 party of the Judaisers, developed afterwards into the sect of the 
 Ebionites, claimed as theirs, and whom they put forward, as in the 
 Pseudo- Clementine Homilies and Recognitio7is, as the antagonist 
 of St Paul, it was inevitable that its course should be more or 
 less retarded. We may, perhaps, trace some indirect reference to 
 its teaching in the Epistle to the Romans (ch. ii. 24 ; Rom. iii. 28), 
 yet more clearly in the Epistle to the Hebrews (ch. ii. 21, 25 ; 
 Heb. xi. 17, 31), and in that of Clement to the Church of 
 Corinth, as in his use of St James's word for " double-minded " 
 (c. 11), his quotation of the question, ''Whence come wars and 
 fightings among you ?" (c. 46), and of the maxim that love ''covers 
 a multitude of sins " (c. 49), in his reference to the sacrifice of 
 Isaac (c. 31), in his citation of the same words from Prov. iii. 34, 
 that are quoted by St James (c. 30), in the prominence which he 
 gives to the history of Rahab (c. 12), in his naming Abraham 
 the friend of God (c. 68). Irenasus (iv. 16) reproduces the pas- 
 sage about Abraham (ch. ii. 21), and there are many parallelisms 
 between its teaching and that of the Shepherd of Hermas. Comp. 
 
 Mand. xii. 5 with James iv. 7 
 
 xii. 6 iv. 12. 
 
 ix. I i. 8. 
 
 Vis. iii. 9 V. 4. 
 
 In the time of Origen it was known and read. The Peschito 
 Syriac version included it, and recognized the writer as an 
 Apostle. Eusebius, as we have seen, classed it among the 
 books that some looked on as spurious, nor was it included 
 in the Canon of the Muratorian fragment, though that list takes 
 in, as has been said above, such books as the Wisdotn ofSoio?non, 
 and the Shepherd of Hermas. Finally, however, with the other 
 Antilegomenay it won its way, as already stated, to a general 
 acceptance, was received into the Canon by the Council of 
 Laodicea, A.D. 320, and the third Council of Carthage, a.d. 397, 
 and is not now likely to be displaced, except by those who, led 
 by dogmatic prejudices, think lightly, as Luther once didi,of its 
 merits, or by whom the whole idea of an authoritative Canon of 
 inspired writings is more or less rejected. 
 
 1 The famous "Epistle of straw" appeared in a German' New 
 Testament in A.D. 1522, and though not formally retracted, was never 
 reproduced in any later edition. 
 
40 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE DATE OF THE EPISTLE. 
 
 1. I have assumed so far that the Epistle was written at a 
 comparatively early date, probably prior to the earliest of 
 St Paul's Epistles, or even to the Council at Jerusalem of 
 Acts XV. It remains, however, to give a more distinct view 
 of the facts that lead to that conclusion. 
 
 2. First, then, we note the absence of any reference to the 
 controversy as to the necessity of circumcision, which that 
 Council was summoned to decide. It is scarcely conceivable 
 that one writing after such a controversy had arisen, would, in 
 addressing himself to Jews and Jewish Christians throughout 
 the world, have refrained fro.m^ any reference to it. Writing 
 before, it would be perfectly natural that he should assume that 
 the position which had been assigned by the more liberal Rabbis 
 to the Proselytes of the Gate would be conceded to those also 
 who added faith in Jesus as the Christ to their acceptance of the 
 creed of Israel, and had been baptized in His Name and had 
 received the gift of the Spirit. The case of Cornelius (Acts x. 
 47) might well seem to have ruled the question once and for all 
 in the sense in which St James afterwards ruled it. Here then 
 we get probable limits for the date of the Epistle, in that con- 
 version on the one hand, in the Council of Jerusalem on the 
 other. 
 
 3. It may be noted that- on this view the Epistle itself sup- 
 plies a probable clue to the origin of the controversy, and 
 explains the language in which St James and the Apostles and 
 Elders repudiate the action of those who had originated it. 
 "Forasmuch as we have heard that certain which went out 
 from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, 
 saying. Ye must be circumcised and keep the Law ; to whom we 
 gave no such commandvie7it^^ (Acts xv. 24). It lies on the sur- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 41 
 
 face that there was one passage in the Epistle, which, though 
 written with no such purpose, might easily, interpreted as the 
 Pharisees would interpret it, seem to give a countenance to the 
 position which they maintained. St James had written, "Who- 
 soever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is 
 guilty of all " (ch. ii. 10). How easy it would be for the Judaisers 
 to lay hold of such words, and ignoring the fact that he was 
 speaking of the Law, new and yet eternal, the Law of the King, 
 and yet the Law of freedom, to represent him as insisting on 
 the observance of the whole Mosaic Code, as urging that the 
 neglect of circumcision and new moons and sabbaths stood on 
 the same footing as the violation of the great Laws of duty 
 which were not of to-day or yesterday ! 
 
 4. The reference to the persecutions to which the brethren 
 were exposed in ch. ii. 6, is, it will be .noted, in the present 
 tense. It indicates a stage of suffering which has not yet 
 receded into the past of history. The two persecutions to which 
 the Churches of Judaea were exposed prior to the Council of 
 Jerusalem were, (i) that in which Saul, the Pharisee, made him- 
 self the tool of the Sadducean priesthood, and in which deeds of 
 violence were done precisely corresponding to St James's de- 
 scription (Acts ix. 2), and (2) that in which Herod Agrippa, 
 seeking probably to gain the support of that priesthood as well 
 as of the people, took a leading part (Acts xii. i, 2). It is on 
 the death of James the son of Zebedee in that persecution that 
 the brother of the Lord, as we have seen, first comes into a 
 new prominence, and it is not an improbable supposition that 
 it was in face of the new responsibilities thus imposed upon him,- 
 that he wrote the Epistle that bears his name. 
 
 5. Another coincidence will help us, it is believed, to ap- 
 proximate yet more closely to the date as to which we are 
 enquiring. If we believe, as is shewn in the notes on ch. ii. 
 15 — 18 to be probable, that the words which speak of the 
 contrast between the works of one who feeds the hungry and 
 clothes the naked, and the dead faith of one who rests in an 
 orthodox belief, refer, more or less directly, to the generous help 
 that had been given by the disciples at Antioch to the suffering 
 
42 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 poor at Jerusalem, we find fresh grounds for the conclusion 
 already arrived at; and accepting the dates commonly received 
 for the chronology of the Acts, we have the years between 
 A.D. 44, the date of the help so given, and A.D. 51, the year of 
 the Council, as the limits within which we may place the com- 
 position of the Epistle. In all probability, i.e. it was written 
 while Paul and Barnabas were absent from Antioch on their 
 first missionary journey (Acts xiii.), and it was when they re- 
 turned from their labours that they found their work thwarted 
 and threatened by the false interpretation which had been 
 put upon its teaching. The probable reference to the name 
 of Christian in ch. ii. 7 is, it is obvious, in agreement with this 
 conclusion. It may be mentioned that the view here taken 
 agrees in the main with that maintained by Alford {Com- 
 mentary), by Neander {Pfianzung U7id Leitung, II. p. 576), and 
 most recent Commentators, and is accepted, as far as the date 
 of the Epistle is concerned, by Mr Bassett {IntroducHo7i to 
 Comme7tta7y). Bishop Wordsworth {I7it7'oductzo7i to St Ja77ies)y 
 following Lardner and De Wette and the school of Com- 
 mentators who see in St James's teaching that which was 
 intended to correct inferences drawn from St Paul's, places it 
 naturally after the Epistles to the Galatians and Romans, circ. 
 A.D. 61. It may be questioned, however, in addition to the 
 positive arguments for the earlier date and against the presence 
 of any* such purpose in St James's thoughts, whether copies 
 of those Epistles were likely to have found their way to Jeru- 
 salem during St James's life-time. Apostolical epistles were not 
 likely to be transcribed by the hundred and circulated broadcast 
 in that early age, and the burden of proof lies on those who 
 assume that copies of what was written for Rome or Galatia 
 would be at once despatched by a special courier to the Bishop 
 of Jerusalem. The date of A.D. 61 or 62, shortly before the 
 martyrdom of James in the latter year, must therefore be re- 
 jected, as supported by no adequate proof, and as being against 
 the balance of the circumstantial evidence which has been 
 here adduced. 
 
 6. As to the place of composition, there is not even the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 43 
 
 shadow of a doubt. Even if there were not, as has been said 
 above, an unbroken consent of all historical, traditional, and 
 legendary notices as to the continued residence of the Bishop 
 of Jerusalem in the city which was, in modern language, his see, 
 the local colouring of the Epistle would indicate with sufficient 
 clearness where the writer lived. He speaks, as the prophets of 
 Israel had done, of the early and the latter rain (ch. v. 7) ; the 
 hot blast of the Kauso7i or Simoom of the desert (ch. i. 11), the 
 brackish springs of the hills of Judah and Benjamin (ch. iii. 11), 
 the figs, the olives, and the vines with which those hills were 
 clothed (ch. iii. 12), — all these form part of the surroundings 
 of the writer. Storms and tempests, such as might have been 
 seen on the sea of Galilee or in visits to Cassarea or Joppa, and 
 the power of man to guide the great ships safely through them, 
 have at some time or other been familiar to him (ch. iii. 4), 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ANALYSIS OF THE EPISTLE. 
 
 The structure of the Epistle is, as every reader will feel, 
 altogether informal and unsystematic, and an analysis can 
 hardly aim at more than tracking the succession of topics and 
 indicating, where possible, the latent sequence of thought. 
 
 Chap. I. Writing to those of whom he thinks as exposed 
 to trials and "temptations, he opens with words of comfort as 
 to the work they are meant to do (i — ^4). That they may 
 accomplish that work men want the wisdom which learns the 
 lessons of experience, and wisdom is given to those who ask 
 for it in faith (5 — 7). In want of faith there is instability, and 
 the secret reason why faith is in most men so weak is that 
 they prefer the false riches to the true. Conquer that tempta- 
 tion, and trials lead straight on to the crown of life (8 — 12). 
 
 Nor must men think that they can plead destiny and God's 
 Will as an excuse for yielding to temptation. That Will is 
 
44 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 absolutely righteous. Evil is found not in circumstances but 
 in man's lust and appetite (13 — 17). From God comes all 
 good and nothing but good, above all, the highest good of the 
 Word of truth which regenerates our life (18 — 21). Well for 
 us, if we receive that Word and do it ; woe for us, if we only 
 think we have received it, and substitute a ritual observance for 
 works of pitying love (22 — 27). 
 
 Chap. II. How hollow such a ritual religion may be is 
 seen even in the synagogues of believing Jews. They profess 
 faith in Him who was poor Himself and the Friend of the poor, 
 and in the very place where they meet to worship Him they 
 insult the poor and act with base servility towards the rich. 
 Small as men may think this fault, it is a wilful transgression 
 of the law of Christ by which we are to be judged (i — 13). It 
 will .profit such breakers of the Law little to say that they have 
 maintained the faith of Israel in the Unity of the Godhead 
 in the midst of the worshippers of Gods many and Lords many. 
 Faith without works is dead, and the ultimate acquittal and 
 acceptance of a man will depend not so much on what he has 
 believed as on the manner in which belief has influenced prac- 
 tice (14—26). 
 
 Chap. III. Nor was this the only evil of which the Chris- 
 tian synagogue was the scene. Men were struggling for pre- 
 eminence as teachers, each with his doctrine and interpretation. 
 Thence came wrangling and debate, and the tongue shot forth 
 the fiery arrows of bitter words (i — 8). To suppose that a 
 man could be wise or religious while he was uttering curses and 
 anathemas was as monstrous as any natural portent, salt and 
 sweet water gushing from the same spring, figs borne by olive- 
 trees, and the like (9 — 12). Far other than that was the true 
 wisdom that comes from above. Let men look first on this 
 picture and then on that, and so make their choice (13—18). 
 
 Chap. IV. In strong contrast with the life regulated by 
 such a wisdom is the unwisdom of those who think only of 
 gratifying the promptings of their lower nature. From those 
 promptings comes nothing but discords and confusion. Men 
 must choose once more between the friendship of the world 
 
INTRODUCTION. 45 
 
 ami that of God, between the lower and the higher life (i — 8). 
 Repentance, humility, the temper that refrains from judging, 
 are the indispensable conditions of all true blessedness (9 — 12). 
 The eagerness that throws its selfish aims and plans into the 
 future, near or far, must be repressed by dwelling on the short- 
 ness and uncertainty of life (13 — 17). 
 
 Chap. V. As if conscious that he had nearly reached the 
 limit of his Epistle, the writer takes up the more solemn tone 
 of the older prophets in his warnings to the rich. They little 
 know the miseries which he foresees as close at hand, the swift 
 judgment that is coming upon the oppressors and persecutors 
 (i — 7). What is a thought of terror for them is, however, one of 
 encouragement and comfort for the patient sufferers. The "end 
 of the Lord" for such, will be as full of blessing as that of Job 
 and the prophets who had endured patiently in the days of 
 old (7 — 11). A few more rules of life are needed for men's 
 daily conduct. To abstain from rash and random oaths; to 
 find in prayer and psalmody the true utterance of sorrow or of 
 joy (12, 13); to trust to simple remedies and the prayer of faith 
 in times of sickness (14, 15) ; to confess faults, one to another, 
 in the behef that the prayer for forgiveness and other spiritual 
 blessings is as mighty now as was Elijah's prayer for drought 
 or rain (17, 18) ; to think not only or chiefly of saving ourselves, 
 but to aim by prayer and counsel and act, at saving others 
 (19, 20) — this is the true pattern of the life of Christ's disciples. 
 Having said this, the writer has nothing more to say, and the 
 Epistle ends. 
 
J 
 
 ST. JAMES. 
 
 1-^4. Trials and their Purpose. 
 
 AMES, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, 1 
 to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. 
 
 1—4. Trials and their Purpose. 
 
 1. a servant of God and of the Lord yesus Christi The description 
 which the writer gives of himself throws no light on his identity. The 
 term "servant," better slave, as one who had been bought with 
 a price (i Cor. vi. 20, vii, 23), was used of themselves by both St 
 Peter (2 Pet. i. i) and St Paul (Rom. i. i ; Titus i. i). It might be 
 claimed by either of the Apostles who bore the name of James, or by 
 the brother of our Lord, or indeed by any believer, (i Pet. ii. 16). 
 
 It may be noted that this and ch. ii. i are the only passages in 
 which St James names our Lord, and that the form in which the Name 
 appears is identical with that in the Epistle from the Apostles and 
 Elders assembled under St James's presidency, in Acts xv. 26. 
 
 to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad] Literally, that are In 
 the dispersion. The superscription is interesting as shewing that the 
 ten tribes of the Kingdom of Israel, though they had been carried into 
 a more distant exile than Judah and Benjamin, were thought of, not as 
 lost and out of sight, but as still sharing the faith and hope of their 
 fathers. So St Paul speaks of "the twelve-tribed nation" as "serving 
 God day and night" (Acts xxvi. 7), and our Lord's promise that His 
 twelve disciples should sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel 
 (Matt. xix. 28), and the Apocalyptic vision of the sealing of the tribes 
 (Rev. vii. 5 — 8) imply the same belief. The legend as to the disappear- 
 ance of the Ten Tribes, which has given rise to so many insane dreams 
 as to their identification with the Red Indians of America or our Anglo- 
 Saxon forefathers, appears for the first time in the Apocryphal 2 Esdras 
 (xiii. 39 — 47), a book probably of about the same date as the Revelation 
 of St John. 
 
 The term, "the dispersion," the abstract noun. being used for the 
 concrete, had come to be a. technical term for the Hellenistic and other 
 Jews who were to be found within, or beyond, the limits of the Roman 
 Empire. So the Jews ask whether our Lord will go "to the disper- 
 sion of (i.e. among) the Greeks" (John vii. 35). So St Peter writes 
 to "the sojourners of the dispersion'^ in the provinces of Asia Minor 
 
48 ST. JAMES, I. [vv. 2, 3. 
 
 8 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temp- 
 ! tations ; knowing this^ that the trying of your faith worketh 
 
 (r Pet. i. i). The term had probably come into use from the LXX. of 
 Deut. xxviii. 25 ("There shall be a dispersion in all the kingdoms of 
 the world"). So in Judith v. 19, Judah and Benjamin are said "to 
 have come back from the dispersion,^' and the prayer of Nehemiah in 2 
 Mace. i. 27 is that "God would gather together his dispersion." 
 
 greetingX The salutation is the same as in the Epistle purporting to 
 come from the Church over which St James presided, in Acts xv. 23. 
 The literal meaning of the word is to rejoice, and the idiomatic use 
 of the infinitive is a condensed expression of the full "I wish you joy." 
 It was primarily a formula of Greek letter-writers, but it had been used 
 by the LXX. for the Hebrew "peace" in Isaiah xlviii. 22, Ivii. 21, and 
 appears in the superscription of the letters of Antiochus in 2 Mace. ix. 
 19. It is the word used in the mock salutations of the soldiers in the 
 history of the Passion, ''Hail, King of the Jews" (Matt. xxvi. 49, 
 xxvii. 29, xxviii. 9). In 2 John verses 10, 11 it is rendered by the 
 colloquial English of "bidding God speed." It is not used in any other 
 of the Epistles of the New Testament, St Paul and St Peter using the 
 formula " grace and peace. " 
 
 2. count it all joy... '\ We lose, in the English, the link which con- 
 nects the wish for "joy" merged in our "greeting," with the thought 
 which indicates how the wish may be realised even under conditions 
 that seem most adverse to it. The transition may^be noticed as character- 
 istic of the style of the Epistle. Other examples of a like method will 
 meet us as we go on. The Greek formula for "all joy" (literally, 
 every kind of joy) suggests the thought of the varied elements of joy 
 that were to be found in the manifold forms of trial. 
 
 into divers teinptationsX The word, as commonly in the New Testa- 
 ment, stands for trials that take the form of suffering, rather than for the 
 enticements of pleasure. Comp. Luke xxii. 28; Acts xx. 19; i Cor. x. 
 13; T Pet. i. 6. Its use implies accordingly that those to whom the 
 Epistle was written were passing through a time of adversity. This was 
 true, more or less, of the whole Jewish race, every^vhere, but it was 
 specially true of those who being of the Twelve Tribes, also held the 
 faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of those most of all who were most 
 within the writer's view. Comp. i Thess. ii. 14 ; Heb. x. 32, 33, for 
 the sufferings of Jewish and specially of Hebrew Christians. The word 
 for "fall into" implies an unlooked-for concurrence of adverse circum- 
 stances. 
 
 3. that the trying of your fait h'\ The word for "trjring" implies at 
 once a "test," and a "discipline" leading to improvement. The same 
 phrase meets us, in conjunction also with "divers temptations," in i 
 Pet. i. 7. Each was, perhaps, quoting what had become an axiom of 
 the Church's life. 
 
 worketh patience\ The Greek word always implies more than mere 
 passive submission, the '' endurance \xvA.o the end" of Matt. x. 22, xxiv. 13, 
 the perseverance which does not falter under suffering. 
 
w. 4, 5.] ST JAMES, I. 49 
 
 patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye 4 
 may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. 
 
 5 — 8. Wisdom^ and the Prayer that gains it. , 
 
 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth s 
 to all meit liberally, and upbraideth not ; and it shall be 
 
 4. But let patience have her perfect worh] Better, and let endurance 
 have a perfect work, there being sequence of thought but not contrast. 
 The word for "perfect" expresses the perfection of that which reaches 
 its end, and so impHes, possibly, a reference to our Lord's words in 
 Matt. X. 22. The form of the counsel implies that the work might be 
 hindered unless the will of those who were called to suffer co-operated 
 with the Divine purpose. The sufferings must be borne joyfully as well 
 as submissively. 
 
 that ye may be perfect and entire"] The latter word implies complete- 
 ness in all parts or regions of the spiritual life, as the former does the 
 attainment of the end, the completeness of grovi^h. The corresponding 
 substantive is used for the "perfect soundness" of the restored cripple in 
 Acts iii. 16; the adjective, in a like spiritual application, in i Thess. 
 V. 23. 
 
 wanting nothing] The English is unfortunately ambiguous. Better, 
 failing or lacking in nothing. 
 
 6—8. Wisdom, and the Prayer that gains it. 
 
 6. If any of you lack wisdom] As before, in verses i and 2, the 
 prominent word of the preceding clause suggests the opening of the 
 next, the word for "lack" being the same as the "wanting" in the 
 previous verse. The prominence thus given to wisdom is characteristic 
 of the teaching of St James (comp. ch. iii. 13 — 17). It is as though 
 he had largely fashioned his thoughts of the spiritual life on the teaching 
 of the Book of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, perhaps also on the Wisdom 
 of Solomon and Ecclesiasticus. Wisdom, in its good sense, stands, in 
 New Testament language, as implying both a wider range of thought 
 and a more direct influence on conduct than knowledge (1 Cor. xii. 8 j 
 Col. ii, 3). 
 
 that giveth to all men liberally] Literally, simply, but as to give 
 simply, without reserve or arriere pensee, is to give freely, both the 
 adverb and the corresponding noun often carried with them the idea of 
 liberality (comp. Rom. xii, 8; 2 Cor. ix. 11, 13). The thought is that 
 God gives absolutely all good gifts to those that ask Him (Matt. vi. 11), 
 and the highest gift, that of the Spirit that imparts wisdom, is included 
 in the promise (Luke xi. 13). 
 
 and upbraideth not] The word implies a contrast with human givers 
 who too often, at the time or afterwards, mar their bounty with bitter 
 and reproachful speeches. There seems here a direct allusion to the 
 description in Ecclus. xx. 15, of "the gift of a fool," "He giveth little 
 and upbraideth much," to the counsel "after thou hast given, upbraid 
 not" (Ecclus. xii. 23). Not so, St James implies, does God give, though 
 ST JAMES ^ 
 
so 
 
 ST JAMES, I. [w.6, 7. 
 
 6 given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering : for 
 he that wavereth is Hke a wave of the sea driven with the 
 
 7 wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall 
 
 we are more open to His reproaches than any who are the objects of our 
 bounty can be to ours. , . 
 
 a7td it shall be given hinil An obvious echo of our Lord s promise in 
 Matt. vii. 7 ; Luke xi. 9. r • ^ ^ 
 
 6. let him ask in faith'\ The prominence thus given to faith at the 
 very outset of the Epistle must be borne in mind in connection with the 
 subsequent teaching of ch. ii. 14—26. Faith, i.e. trust in God, as dis- 
 tinct from belief in a dogma, is with him, as with St Paul, of the very 
 essence of the spiritual life. 
 
 nothing wavering\ Better, "nothing doubting." Another echo from 
 our Lord's teaching (Matt. xxi. 21). The variations in the English 
 version hinder us from seeing that St Paul, when he said that "Abraham 
 staggered not at the promise of God... but was strong in faith" (Rom. 
 iv. 20), was reproducing the very thought and language of St James. The 
 primary idea of the verb used, as here, in the middle voice, is that of the 
 inner "debating" which implies doubt. It does not involve the absolute 
 negation of unbelief, though, as in Rom. iv. 20, it tends to this, but 
 represents the state of one who meets the question, " Will God keep 
 His promise ?" now with Yes, and now with No. The words of our 
 own poet, 
 
 "Faith and Unfaith can ne'er be equal powers, 
 Unfaith in aught is want of faith in all." 
 
 Tennyson's Merlin and Vivien. 
 
 reproduce the substance of St James's teaching. 
 
 he that wavereth is like a wave] Better, lie that doubtetli. The 
 English play upon the word, though happy in itself, has nothing corre- 
 sponding to it in the Greek. Wycliffe gives " doubt." Tyndal intro- 
 duced "waver" in the previous clause, but kept "doubteth" in this. 
 
 driven raith the wind and tossed] Better, driven by the winds and 
 blasts, both words describing the action of a storm at sea, the latter 
 pointing especially to sudden gusts and squalls. The image, true 
 at all times and for all nations, was specially forcible for a people to 
 whom, like the Jews, the perils of the sea were comparatively unfamiliar. 
 Comp. the description of the storm in Prov. xxiii. 34 and the comparison 
 of the wicked to the "troubled sea" in Isaiah Ivii. 20. Popular speech 
 likens a man who has no stedfastness to a ship drifting on the 
 troubled waves of life. St James goes one step farther and likens 
 him to the unresting wave itself. Now he is in the depths, now up- 
 lifted high. In Eph. iv. 14 the same image describes those who are 
 "carried about by every wind of doctrine." So far as St James wrote 
 from personal experience we trace, perhaps, a recollection of stormy 
 nights upon the Sea of Galilee. If we could identify him with the son 
 of Zebedee, we might think of him as remembering such a night as 
 that of Matt. viii. 24 or John vi. 18. 
 
 7. let not that man think...] Faith, undoubting faith, is then the 
 
vv. 8, 9.] ST JAMES, I. 
 
 receive any thi7ig of the Lord. A double minded man isz 
 unstable in all his ways. 
 
 9 — 1 1 . Riches, and their perishahleness. 
 
 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is ex- 9 
 
 condition of the prayer for wisdom, as of all other prayers, being heard 
 and answered. Without it, the No excludes the Yes, which yet the 
 man will not quite abandon. 
 
 of the Lo7'd] It is a question whether the Divine Title is used in the 
 Old Testament sense, for the Father, or, as generally, though not 
 exclusively, in the New Testament, for the Son. On the whole, look- 
 ing (i) to the meaning of the word in ch. v. 7, 14, 15, (2) and to the 
 frequent use of ''God" and ''the Father" where Christ is not meant, 
 there seems a balance of evidence in favour of the latter meaning. 
 Christ also, not less than the Father, is thought of as giving or not 
 giving, in answer to prayer. Possibly, however, the word was used 
 without the thought of a distinction between the Divine Persons. 
 
 8. A doicble minded man...] The context shews that the man so de- 
 scribed (the Greek word is not found in any earlier writer and may have 
 been coined by St James) is not the fraudulent man but the wayerer, 
 trying to serve two masters (Matt. vi. 24), halting between two opinions 
 (i Kings xviii. 21). It answers to the "double heart" (Heb. "a heart 
 and a heart") of Ps. xii. 1. In Ecclus. i. 28 we find the same thought, 
 though not the same word, "Come not unto the Lord with a dotible 
 heart" and again in Ecclus. ii. 12, where a woe is uttered against the 
 "sinner that goeth two ways" in company with "the fearful and faint- 
 hearted." Clement of Rome (i. 11) reproduces St James's word. The 
 construction of the sentence is doubtful, and may be taken either as 
 in the English text, or, with "he that doubteth" as the subject and 
 "double-minded, unstable" as predicates. 
 
 unstable] The Greek word is found in the LXX. of Isaiah liv. 1 1, where 
 the English version has "tossed with tempest." It is not found else- 
 where in the New Testament, except as a various reading in ch. iii. 8, 
 but the corresponding noun is often used both literally and figuratively 
 (Luke xxi. 9; i Cor. xiv. 33; 2 Cor. vi. 5, xii. 20; James iii. 16 and the 
 LXX. of Prov. xxvi. 28). There is a slight change of imagery, and 
 the picture brought before us is that of a man who does not walk 
 straight onward, but in "all his ways " goes to and fro, now on this side, 
 now on that, staggering like a drunken man. 
 
 9—11. Riches, and their perishableness. 
 9.. Let the brother of low degree] The Greek joins the sentence on to 
 the preceding with the conjunction which may be either "and," or "but," 
 implying that there is a sequence of ideas of some kind. The train of 
 thought would seem to lie in the fact, as shewn in our Lord's words 
 (Matt. vi. 24) that the love of mammon is the most common source of 
 the *' double-mindedness" which St James condemns, both in the poor and 
 in the rich. The "brother" is used, as commonly in the New Testa- 
 
 4—2 
 
52 ST JAMES, I. [w. lo, ii 
 
 10 alted : but the rich, in that he is made low : because as the 
 
 11 flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no 
 sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the 
 
 ment as meaning one of the brotherhood of Christ. The word Christian 
 had probably not as yet come into use in the Churches of Judoea, and 
 was, at any rate, used of the disciples by others rather than by them- 
 selves. *'Of low degree" is, perhaps, somewhat too narrow a render- 
 ing. Better, lie that is lowly or more simply "he that is low." The 
 contrast with the rich man shews that ** poverty" is the chief feature 
 in the low estate spoken of. 
 
 reJoice\ Better as elsewhere, glory, or exult. 
 
 in that he is exalted] Better, in Ms exaltation. His lowliness instead 
 of being a thing to be ashamed of, was his true title to honour. Christ 
 had marked him out as an heir of the Kingdom (Luke vi. 20 ; see ch. ii. 
 5). Man's estimate of honour and dishonour is reversed by God. 
 
 10. But the rich, in that he is made low] Better, in Ms humiliation 
 or lowliness. The context implies that the rich man also is a "brother." 
 Such an one was tempted to exult in his wealth as that which raised him 
 above his fellow-men. The view which Christ had taught him to 
 take was, that it placed him on a level lower than that of the poor. His 
 true ground for exultation would be to accept that lower position, to 
 glory in it, as it were, as St Paul gloried in his infirmities (2 Cor. xii. 9), 
 and to make himself, by the right use of his wealth, a servant of servants 
 unto his brethren. The two other interpretations which have been 
 given of the words, (i) that suggested by the English, that the rich man 
 is to rejoice when he is brought low by adversity, and (2) that the 
 sentence is to be filled up not by an imperative but an indicative, "but 
 the rich man" (on this assumption, not a "brother") "exults in what 
 is indeed his degradation," are, it is believed, less satisfying. Possibly, 
 still keeping the imperative, the words may be taken as ironical "let 
 him glory in his shame. " The whole passage, however interpreted, shews, 
 like chap. iv. i r ; i Pet. v. 6, the impression that had been made on the 
 minds of the disciples by the teaching of their Master in Matt, xxiii. 12; 
 Luke xiv. 11, xviii. 14. 
 
 becaiise as the flower of the grass he shall pass azvay] This, so the 
 train of thought runs, is that which is most humbling to the man of 
 wealth. ' His riches are transient. They vanish often during life. He 
 can carry nothing vidth him when he dies. For the third time in this 
 chapter we notice a close parallelism of thought and language with 
 St Peter (i Pet. i. 24), both drawing from Isai. xl. 6, as a common 
 source. 
 
 11. For the sun is no sooner risen . . . but it withereth] Better, for the sun 
 arose and withered. The Greek has nothing that answers to "no sooner, " 
 and the verbs are throughout in the past tense as in a narrative. It is as 
 thoucrh St James were using the form not of a similitude, but of a parable, 
 apparently not without a reminiscence of some features of the Parable of 
 the Sower (Matt. xiii. 6) and of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. vi. 30). 
 
 with a burning heat] Better, with the scorching heat, probably the 
 Simoom, or hot wind that blows from the desert in the early morning, as 
 
^2] ST JAMES, I. 
 
 53 
 
 grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of 
 the fashion of it perisheth : so also shall the rich man fade 
 away in his ways. 
 
 12 — 15. Temptation^ and its history. 
 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation : for when 
 he IS tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the 
 
 in Luke xii. 55 The whole description comes, as above, from Isaiah 
 
 xl. 6. Comp. also Jonah iv. 8. 
 falleth... perisheth\ Better, as continuing the narrative, feU— perished 
 ^^^are/^j/] Better, perhaps, as expressing the force of the Greek 
 
 passive, be blighted. The Greek verb is not found elsewhere in the 
 
 whTl. "''n'l^''^ ^^^^^ ^' ^" ^^'^ W^^^- of Sol. ii. 8, in a passage 
 
 which rnay well have been present to the mind of the writer. An ad- 
 jective derived from it is found in the "crown that fadeth not away," 
 literally, the amaranthine crown, of i Pet. v. 4. See also i Pet. i. 4. 
 Ihe idea of the -fading" of earthly riches, the "unfading" character of 
 heavenly, was another thought common to the two writers 
 J,JT' "f^^'f"'^'}''^ ofit^ Better, the goodliness of its form, literally, 
 Testame^r' substantive is not found elsewhere in the New 
 
 m his ways] Literally, In Ms goings or joumeyings, as in Luke xiii. 
 J' perhaps with a special reference to the restlessness in trading which 
 shewed Itself in the money-making Jews of Palestine. "Going" and 
 ;/ 1 ? rr (^^^^"^''^^^ and emporeuomai) made up the sum total of their 
 l^r "u ^°""P- ''^^P- ^^- ^3. A various reading gives "in his 
 S-emngs here, as a possible meaning, but the balance of evidence is 
 in lavour 01 goings. 
 
 12—15. Temptation, and its history. 
 
 12. B/essed is the man that endureth tejnptatio7{\ The mode of 
 teaching by Beatitudes reminds us at once of the Sermon on the Mount, 
 with which It will be seen afterwards, the Epistle has so many points of 
 contact. Stress is laid on "enduring" as distinct from simply "suffer- 
 mg, and the temptation" is prominently, as in verse 2, that of sufferine 
 coming from without. ^ 
 
 for when he is tried] Better, when he has stood the trial, the Greek 
 adjective being applied, as in Rom. xiv. 18, xvi. 10, to one who has 
 been tested and approved. 
 
 the crown of life] The image of the "crown" or wreath of the con- 
 queror for the reward of the righteous is common both to St Peter who 
 speaks of 'the crown of glory" (i Pet. v. 4) and to St Paul who speaks 
 o\ the crown of righteousness" (2 Tim. iv. 8). The "crown of life,"— 
 1. e. ot eternal life, which is the crown, is, however, peculiar to St Tames. 
 Ihe figurative use of the word is characteristic of the Son of Sirach 
 (Jicclus 1. II, 16, 18, XXV. 6), and of the LXX. of Proverbs (i. o, iv. o). 
 In Wisd. V. 16, we have, in the Greek, the kindred word "diadem." 
 
54 ST JAMES, I. [vv. 13, 14. 
 
 13 Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man 
 say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God : for God 
 cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any ma7i : 
 
 14 but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his 
 
 which the Lord hath promised to them that love him\ Here again it is 
 a question whether "the Lord" is to be taken in its special New Testa- 
 ment sense, or generally of God. As before (see Note on verse 7) the 
 balance turns in favour of the former, and the tense of the verb ( ' ' which 
 the Lord promised"), as if referring to some special utterance, may lead 
 us to think of such words as those of John xiv. 21, 23. A more general 
 promise of the same kind to those that love the Lord is found in Ecclus. 
 xxxiv. 1 6. 
 
 13. Let no ina7i say when Ju is tejnpted] The thought of trial as 
 coming from outward circumstances, and forming part of man's spiritual 
 education, leads to a deeper inquiry as to its nature, and so passes on to 
 the wider notion of temptation, which includes the allurements of desire 
 as well as the trials of adversity, In both cases men found refuge from 
 the reproof of conscience in a kind of fatalism. God had placed them 
 in such and such circumstances; therefore, He was the author of the sin 
 to which those circumstances had led. The excuse is one which presents 
 itself to men's minds at all times, but here also there is a special point 
 of contact with the Son of Sirach : "Say not thou, it is through the 
 Lord that I fell away" (Ecclus. xv. 11). It may be noted that the 
 popular Pharisaism, which taught a doctrine of necessity (Joseph. Ant. 
 XVIII. I. § 3; Wars, II. 8. § 14) while speculatively maintaining also 
 the freedom of man's will, was likely to develops into this kind of 
 practical fatalism. 
 
 / a7)i tempted of God] The order of the Greek words is more em- 
 phatic, It is from God that I am tempted. 
 
 for God cannot be tempted with evil\ The English * * cannot be tempted " 
 answers to a Greek verbal adjective, not used elsewhere in the New Testa- 
 ment or in the LXX. version of the Old, and not found in Classical 
 Greek. Its meaning as used in later Greek writers, is simply "untried," 
 and so "unversed in," and it has been maintained that it is so used here-, 
 but the context makes it almost certain that St James used it in the sense 
 of ^^untempted.'^'' At first it might seem as if this assertion did not meet 
 the thought to which it appears to be answer, but the latent premiss of 
 the reasoning seems to be that no one tempts to evil, who has not been 
 first himself tempted by it. If men shrank from the blasphemy of 
 affirming that of God, they ought to shrink also from the thought that He 
 could ever tempt them to evil. He who was absolutely righteous, could 
 not be the originator of sin. He tries men, but does not tejnpt them. 
 
 neither tempteth he any man] Better, and He (the pronoun is em- 
 phatic) tempteth no one. 
 
 14. when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed] Both the 
 participles are primarily used of the way in which animals are taken, the 
 first of capture by the hook or noose, as with fish or the crocodile 
 (Herod. 11. 70), the second of beasts or birds which are attracted by food 
 
vv. 15-17.] ST JAMES, I. 55 
 
 own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it 15 
 bringeth forth sin : and sin, when it is finished, bringeth 
 forth death. 
 
 16 — 18. God a7id His perfect gifts. 
 
 Do not err, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and ^^ 
 
 set for them as a bait. Both words had come to be used figuratively of 
 sensual passion, the latter twice by St Peter (2 Pet. ii. 14, 18), and the 
 imagery that follows here suggests the thought that St James had the 
 picture of the hirlot of Prov. vii. 6—23 present to his thoughts. There 
 the "young man void of understanding" yields to her allurements as " a 
 bird hasteth to the snare." "Lust," or rather, desire, in its widest sense, 
 including desire for safety, riches, ease, as well as sensual pleasure, is to 
 man's will as the harlot-temptress of that picture. The temptations of 
 which the earlier verses of the Chapter had spoken are thus, though no 
 longer prominent, not excluded. Adversity and persecution expose men 
 to the evil solicitations of their lower nature, to love of ease and safety, 
 no less than luxury and prosperity. In both "desire" tempts the will 
 to depart from what it knows to be the will of God. 
 
 15. zvhen hist hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin] The image 
 suggested in the previous verse is developed with an almost startling 
 boldness. The will that yields to desire in so doing engenders evil. 
 And as from that fatal embrace, there comes first the conception and 
 then the birth of sin. But sin also grows ; it has its infancy of purpose 
 and its maturity of act ; and so the parable is continued. Sin, in its 
 turn, grows up, and by its union with the will becomes the mother of a 
 yet more terrible offspring, and that offspring is Death, the loss of the 
 true life of the soul, which consists in its capacity for knowing God. 
 The second of the two words rendered "bringeth forth " (better, perhaps, 
 engenderetli) differs from the first, and seems, as a less common word, 
 to have been used for extraordinary or monstrous births (such e. g. as 
 a woman's bearing four or five children), and so is appropriate here. 
 The word occurs again in verse 18, where see note. In looking at 
 the allegory as a whole we note : ( i ) its agreement as to the relation of 
 sin and death, with the teaching of St Paul (Rom. v. 12); (2) its re- 
 semblance to like allegories in the literature of other nations, as in the 
 well-known Choice of Hercules that bears the name of Prodicus, in 
 which Pleasure appears \vith the garb and allurements of a harlot; 
 (3) its expansion in the marvellous allegory of Sin and Death in Milton's ■ 
 Paradise Lost (B. II. 745 — 814), where Satan represents Intellect and 
 Will opposed to God, Sin its offspring, self-generated, and Death the 
 fruit of the union of Mind and Will with Sin. In the incestuous union 
 of Sin and Death that follows and in its horrid progeny, Milton seems 
 to have sought to shadow forth the shame and foulness and misery in 
 which even the fairest forms of sin finally issue. 
 
 16—18. God and His perfect gifts. 
 
 16. Do not err...] The absolute goodness of God had been 
 presented so far on its negative side as excluding aU origination of 
 
56 ST JAMES, I. [v. 17. 
 
 every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from 
 the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither 
 
 evil. But the writer feels that that is but a partial view. It has a 
 brighter aspect, more full of hope and blessing, and the error against 
 which he protests is chiefly hurtful as excluding that aspect from its 
 due influence on faith and conduct. 
 
 17. Every good gift and every perfect gif] The two nouns are dif- 
 ferent in the Greek, the first expressing the abstract act of giving, the 
 second the gift as actually bestowed. The perfection of the one flows 
 from the goodness of the other. The "perfect gift" carries our thoughts 
 beyond all temporal blessings which, though good, have yet an element of 
 incompleteness, to the greater gifts of righteousness and peace and joy; 
 the gift, i.e. of the Holy Spirit, which is the crowning gift of all. Sin- 
 gularly enough, the axiom, if we may so call it, falls into the cadence of 
 a Greek hexameter, and it is conceivable that it may have been a 
 quotation from a poem, or possibly from an early Christian hymn. 
 Like instances of metre are found, besides the direct quotations in 
 1 Cor. XV. 33, Tit. i. 12, in the Greek of Heb. xii, 13 and Rev. xix. 12. 
 The whole passage reminds us once more of the Sermon on the Mount 
 (Matt. vii. 11) and of the parallel promise in Luke xi. 13. 
 
 is frojii above'] The perfect gifts come then, as the new birth of 
 the soul comes, from Heaven, not from Earth (comp. John iii. 3, as in the 
 margin), as does the true wisdom (chap. iii. 15, 17), The prominence 
 of the word and the thought in the Epistle is one of the links that 
 connect it with the (Gospel of St John, in which a like prominence is 
 traceable (John iii. 7, 31, xix. 11). 
 
 from the Father of lights] The plural is used to express the thought, 
 that light in all its forms, natural (as in the "great lights" of Ps. 
 cxxxv. 7), intellectual, spiritual, is an efflux from Him "who is light, 
 and in whom is no darkness at all" (i John i. 5). This axiom as to the 
 Divine Nature was also common to the two great teachers of the Church 
 of the Circumcision, as it was to the teaching of the Apostle of the 
 Gentiles, when he describes the children of God as being also "children 
 of light" (Eph. V. 8). There may possibly be a reference to the Urim 
 and Thummim, the "lights" and "perfections" which symbolised God's 
 gifts of wisdom in its highest forms (Exod. xxviii. 30; Lev. viii. 8; 
 Deut. xxxiii. 8). Comp. also Ps. xlviii. 3. 
 
 with whom is no variabletiess] The noun is primarily a scientific 
 term (our English parallax presents a cognate word) as expressing the 
 change of position, real or apparent, of the stars. Here it is apparently 
 suggested by the word " lights," which primarily conveyed the thought 
 of the heavenly bodies as the light-givers of the world. They, St James 
 seems to say, have their changes, but not so their Creator and their 
 Father. 
 
 shadow of turning] i.e. shadow caused by turning. The latter 
 word, from which we get our "/r^/^," and ^Uropic,^^ is applied, as in 
 the LXX. of Job xxxviii. 33 ; Deut. xxxiii. 14, to the apparent motion 
 of the lights of heaven, and so to any changes. The former is also a 
 quasi-scientific tenn, applied to the effect produced on the sun's disc 
 
V. i8.] ST JAMES, I. 57 
 
 shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the xj 
 word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his 
 creatures. 
 
 by the moon in an eclipse. St James does not appear to use the terms 
 with any very strict accuracy, but the fact that he employs them at all, 
 and that they occur nowhere else in the New Testament, is in itself 
 interesting as connecting him with the form of wisdom described in 
 Wisd. vii. 17 — 20, which deals with "the alterations of the turning of 
 the sun" (the two terms are nearly identical with those which St James 
 uses) and " the change of seasons." Science, he seems to say, deals 
 with the mutability of phaenomena. Faith, and therefore Wisdom, rest 
 on the immutability of God. 
 
 18. Of his own will begat he tis'\ The construction of the Greek 
 is participial, willing lie begat us, and is parallel to that of Col. ii. 18, 
 which, rightly rendered, runs " let no man willing, i.e. by the exercise 
 of his will, deprive you...." The word implies the rejection of the 
 thought either of a destiny constraining the Divine Will, or of chance 
 and, as it were, random impulses, and the reference of our higher 
 spiritual birth to His deliberate Will. Here again we have a parallelism 
 with St John "born.... not of the will of man, but of God" (John i. 13), 
 and with St Peter (i Pet. i. 23). 
 
 The word for "begat" is the same as the second "bringeth forth" in 
 verse 15, and is obviously used here, with the general sense of "engen- 
 dering" or "begetting," to emphasise the contrast between the process 
 which ends in death and that which issues in a higher life. Here also, 
 though the birth was not monstrous, it was out of the common course of 
 Nature, and therefore the unusual word was rightly employed again. 
 
 with the word of trtith'\ So our Lord makes Truth, tlae "word which 
 is truth," the instrument of the consecration or sanctification of His 
 people (John xvii. 17 — 19}. The "word of truth " cannot have here the 
 higher personal sense which the Word or Logos has in John i. i, but 
 it is something more than the written Word of the Old Testament 
 Scriptures, or even the spoken word of preachers. It is the whole 
 message from God to man, of which the written or spoken word is 
 but one of the channels, and which to those who receive it rightly is 
 the beginning of a higher life. Comp. Matt. xiii. 19 ; Mark iv. 14. 
 
 a kind of firstfruits of his creatures']. The meaning of the term is 
 traced back to the Jewish ritual of Lev. xxiii. 10; Deut. xxvi. 2. The 
 sheaf of the firstfruits was offered as part of the Passover celebration. 
 On their entry into Canaan the Israelites were to offer the firstfruits 
 of the land (Deut. xxvi, 2). In each case the consecration of the part 
 was a symbol and earnest of that of the whole. So St James speaks of 
 the "brethren" who have been bom to a higher life, not only as better 
 than others, but as the pledge of a fuller harvest. So St Paul speaks of 
 Christ being "the firstfruits of them that sleep" (i Cor. xv. 20), of a 
 convert being "the firstfruits of Achaia" (i Cor. xvi. 15). St John 
 agrees, as usual, more closely with St James, and describes "the re- 
 deemed from the earth" of Rev. xiv. 4 as "the firstfruits unto God 
 
58 ST JAMES, I. [w. 19— 2t. 
 
 19 — 21. Man's wrath, and God's righteousness. 
 
 T9 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift 
 
 20 to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath : for the ^vrath of man 
 
 21 worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore lay apart 
 all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive 
 
 and to the Lamb. " Christians are called and made what they are by 
 the grace of God, that they may shew of what elevation humanity is 
 capable. Comp. Rom. xi. 16. 
 
 19—21. Man's wrath, and God's righteousness. 
 
 19. Wherefore\ The better MSS. give " Ye know this. ..but let every 
 man." 
 
 my beloved brethrejt\ The formula of address was common to all the 
 four great writers of the Apostolic Chui-ch. We find it in St Paul 
 (i Cor. XV. 58), in St Peter (2 Pet. iii. 14, 15), in St John (i John ii. 7, 
 iii. 2). In the last two instances, however, the word "brethren" is 
 wanting. 
 
 let every man be ST.uift to hear] From the general thought of the 
 high ideal of life implied in the new birth from God, St James passes 
 to the special aspect of that ideal which was most in contrast with the 
 besetting sin of his countr}^men. To him speech was of silver, and 
 silence of gold. In this as in many other passages of his Epistle, 
 he echoed the teaching of the sapiential books of the Old Testament 
 (Prov. xiii. 3, xiv. 29, xvii. 27; Eccles. v. 2) yet more, perhaps, of those 
 of the Apocrypha. So we find "Be swift to hear" in Ecclus. v. 11, 
 and maxims of a like nature in Ecclus. xx. 7. The "slow to wrath" 
 follows on "slow to speak" as pointing to the crucial test of character. 
 If it were hard at all times to be *' slow to speak, " it was harder than 
 ever when men were roused to anger. 
 
 20. the wrath of man...'] Better, A man's wratli, so as to represent 
 the absence of the article in the original. By "the righteousness of God" 
 — the phrase is common to St James and St Paul (Rom. x. 3 ; 2 Cor. v. 2 r ; 
 Phil. iii. 9) — is meant the righteousness which God requires and which 
 He also gives. The besetting sin of the Jews was to identify their own 
 anger against what seemed sin and heresy with the Will of God, to 
 think that they did God service by deeds of violence (John xvi. 2), 
 that they were thus working out His righteousness. The teaching is again 
 after the pattern of the purely ethical books of the Old Testament 
 (Eccles. vii. 9). The MSS. give two forms of the verb rendered 
 "work;" the commonly received one, which conveys the thought, 
 "does not work out or bring to completeness," and that of the better 
 MSS. which means simply, "does not work, or practise." 
 
 21. lay apart all filthiness...] The cognate adjective is found in its 
 literal sense in ch. ii. 2, and figuratively in Rev. xxii. 11. A kindred 
 noun appears in a like combination in " the putting away of the filth of 
 the flesh " of i Pet. iii. 21 and in the LXX. of Prov. xxx. 12. The word 
 
V. 22.] ST JAMES, I. 59 
 
 with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save 
 your souls. 
 
 2^ — 25. Doers and Hearers. 
 
 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, de- 22 
 ceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the 23 
 
 points not specifically to what we call **sins of impurity," but to every 
 form of sin, including the *' wrath" of the preceding verse, as defiling 
 the soul. 
 
 superfluity of naughtiness\ Better, excess of malice, i. e. excess charac- 
 terised by malice. The English "naughtiness," though used in the i6th 
 century, as by Latimer and Shakespeare, as equivalent to "sin" or 
 "wickedness," has gradually lost its sharpness, and has come to be 
 applied almost exclusively to the faults of children. The Greek word, 
 though, like the Latin word from which malice comes, originally generic 
 in its meaning, had come to be associated mainly (as in Eph. iv. 
 31; Col. iii. 8; i Pet. ii. i) with the sins that have their root in 
 wrath and anger, rather than with those that originate in love of pleasure, 
 and so carries on the sequence of thought. 
 
 receive with meek7iess the engrafted word'\ The order of the words, in the 
 original is more emphatic, but in meekness (as contrasted with wrath and 
 malice) receive ye. The "engrafted word" is that which was before re- 
 ferred to as the instrument by which the new and better life was en- 
 gendered. The English ' 'engrafted" suggests one process of growth some- 
 what too definitely, and implanted would be a better rendering. The 
 word is not found elsewhere in the New Testament (the Greek word in 
 Rom. xi. 17 is more specific), but, like so many of St James's phrases, 
 appears in the sapiential books of the Apocrypha (Wisd. xii. 10, 
 "their malice was bred in them"). We note the agreement of his 
 teaching with that of the Parable of the Sower, where the Seed is the 
 "Word," and the conditions of its fertility are found in "the honest 
 and good heart" (Matt. xiii. 23), free from prejudice and bitterness. 
 Moral discipline, the putting away of that which defiles, is the right 
 preparation for the highest spiritual life. 
 
 which is able to save your souls'\ The words express at once the power, 
 and the limits of the power. There was in the implanted word, taken 
 in its widest sense, the promise and the potency of salvation, yet it did 
 not work as by compulsion or by a charm, but required the co-operation of 
 man's will. So, later on, St James speaks of God Himself as being 
 ^^ able to save" (chap. iv. 12). 
 
 22 — 25. Doers and Hearers. 
 
 22. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only"] The thought 
 is the same, though illustrated by a different similitude, as that of the 
 closing verses of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. vii. 24 — 28). The 
 reference to the " hearers of the word " confirms the explanation given 
 above of the Word of the Truth. It is not primarily the written word, 
 
6o ST JAMES, I. [vv. 23, 24. 
 
 word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his 
 24 natural face in a glass : for he beholdeth himself, and goeth 
 
 for then we should have the "reader," not the "hearer," nor Christ as 
 the Incarnate Word, but the spoken message from God to the soul of 
 man — '■^Be ye doers;'''' literally, "become," as though life were a con- 
 tinued process of such "becoming," the condition not being that in 
 which men find themselves by nature. 
 
 deceiving your oivn selves] The word is etymologically more definite 
 than that commonly used for deceiving, and implies strictly the self-' 
 deception, if one may so speak, of bad logic. The hypocrite knew the 
 major premiss; "The doers, not the hearers, are blessed," but though 
 conscience supplied the minor, "I am a hearer, not a doer," he shut his 
 eyes to it and failed to draw the conclusion. The use of the word in 
 the LXX., as e.g. in Gen. xxxi. 7, 41 ; Exod. viii. 29, shews, however, 
 that it had come to be used in the general sense of "cheating" or 
 " defrauding," and it may be questioned, therefore, how far the special 
 sense is to be pressed here. 
 
 23. he is like tmto a man..."] The instance is chosen to illustrate 
 the nature of the paralogisin or fallacy by which the man deceived him- 
 self. It lies, as said above, in forgetting the self-knowledge which 
 should form a premiss in his argument, and reasoning as if it did not 
 exist. 
 
 beholding his natural face"] Literally, the face of his birth, that 
 which he was born with. The latter word might seem at first almost 
 superfluous, but it serves to point the spiritual interpretation. That 
 which the man sees in the mirror of the Divine Word, is the revelation 
 of himself, as he is by nature (comp. i Cor. xiv. 24, 25), weak, sinful, 
 "double-minded." That revelation is meant to lead him to seek for 
 supernatural strength to rise to the higher life. The word for "behold- 
 ing" implies more than a passing glance, the man contetnplates the reflec- 
 tion of his face (see Matt. vii. 3; Luke xii. 24), 
 
 in a glass] Better, in a mirror. The word is the same as in i Cor. 
 xiii. 12. The mirrors in use among the Jews, Greeks, and Romans 
 were of polished metal, and as these presented a less perfect image 
 than our modern mirrors, to see through, i. e. by means of, a mirror had 
 become among the later Rabbis, as well as with St Paul, a proverbial 
 phrase for man's imperfect knowledge of divine things. Here, how- 
 ever, stress is laid on the fact that the mirror does supply, in some 
 measure, the self-knowledge which the man could not attain without 
 it. The sapiential books of the Apocrypha present two interesting 
 illustrations drawn from the same source (Wisd. vii. 26; Ecclus. xii. 11). 
 It is possible, though it can hardly be insisted on, that there is an 
 emphasis on a mail's casual way of looking at a mirror, and the more 
 careful gaze supposed to be characteristic of a woman. 
 
 24. For he beholdeth hiviself...] The Greek gives a subtle variation 
 in the tenses. "For he beheld himself " (the momentary act), and hath 
 gone away (the completed departure continuing in the present), and 
 forgat (the oblivion coming and being completed in a moment). . The 
 
vv. 25,26.] ST JAMES, I. 61 
 
 his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of 7nan he 
 was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of Uberty, and 25 
 continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a 
 doer of the work, this vian shall be blessed in his deed. 
 
 26, 27. T}'tce and false Religion. 
 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth 26 
 
 mode of stating a similitude in the form of a narrative related as 
 belonging to the past is characteristic of St James's style. See note on 
 verse 11. 
 
 25. BtU whoso looketh.. !\ The word involves primarily the idea of 
 stooping down and bending over that on which we look, as with a fixed 
 gaze. See for its literal use Mark xvi. 5; Luke xxiv. 12, and for its 
 spiritual application, "which things the angels desire to look into,'''' in 
 I Pet. i. 12. In Ecclus. xiv. -23, it is used of the "prying in," the 
 eager gaze of the seeker after wisdom ; in xxi. 23 of the intrusive gaze of 
 the fool. Here it implies, like our word "attend," the fixing the 
 whole mind on that which the mirror of the Divine Word discloses to us, 
 but as the act itself might, like the "beholding" of the previous 
 verse, be but transient, St James adds the further condition, "and 
 continueth therein." 
 
 the perfect laiv of liberty] The words appear at first to be wide and 
 general, and to echo the language in which Psalmists and others had 
 spoken of "the law of the Eternal" (Pss. xix. 7, cxi. 7, cxix. i). On 
 the other hand, we have to remember that at the Council at which 
 St James presided, the law of Moses, as such, was described as "a 
 yoke " of bondage (Acts xv. 10), even as St Paul spoke of it (Gal. v. i), 
 and that our Lord had spoken of the Truth as that by which alone men 
 could be made "free indeed" (John viii. 32). It follows from this, 
 almost necessarily, that St James speaks of the new Law, the spiritual 
 code of ethics, which had been proclaimed by Christ, and of which the 
 Sermon on the Mount remains as the great pattern and example. That 
 Law was characterised as giving to the soul freedom from the vices that 
 enslave it. To look into that Law and to continue in it was to share the 
 beatitudes with which it opened. That the writer was familiar with 
 that Sermon we shall see at well nigh every turn of the Epistle. 
 
 being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the zaork] Literally, becoming 
 not a hearer of forgetfulness. The construction is the same as in the 
 "steward of injustice" for the "unjust steward" (Luke xvi. 8, xviii. 6), 
 the genitive of the characteristic attribute being used instead of the 
 adjective. As the one clause balances the other the words that follow 
 probably meant an active worker or "doer." In any case the article, 
 as in the Greek, should be omitted, "a doer of work." 
 
 this man shall be blessed in his deed] Once again, as if shewing on 
 what his thoughts had been dwelling, as the law of liberty, St James 
 returns to the formula of a beatitude, and brings together, in so doing, 
 the beginning and the end of the Sermon on the Mount. 
 
62 ST JAMES, I. [v. 27. 
 
 not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this matCs 
 27 religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God 
 and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows 
 in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the 
 world. 
 
 26, 27. True and false Religion. 
 
 26. If any man a7nong you seem to be religious\ Better, If any man 
 thinks tliat lie is religious. The Greek adjective is one which expresses 
 the outward ritual side of religion, answering to "godliness" as the in- 
 ward. Comp. the cognate word rendered " tvorship of angels " in Col. 
 ii. 18. It is not easy to find an appropriate English adjective for it. 
 "Religious" in its modern sense is too wide, in its old pre-Reformation 
 sense, as meaning one who belonged to a monastic order, too narrow. 
 That sense can hardly be said to have attached to it at the time of the 
 Authorised Version, as the term is used both in the Homilies (e.g. 
 " Christ and his 7'eligion,'''' Hom. on Holy Scripture) and Bacon's Essays 
 (Of Unity in Religion) quite in its modern sense for a whole system 
 of faith and practice. "Devout," "pious," "reverent," suggest them- 
 selves, but all fail to express what the Greek beyond question expresses. 
 "Worshipper" would perhaps be the nearest equivalent. "Ritualist," 
 which answers most closely to the strict meaning, has unfortunately ac- 
 quired a conventional and party meaning. 
 
 and bridleth not his tongue'] The image was a sufficiently common 
 one in the Greek poets and philosophers. St James returns to it in 
 iii. 1, 3. See note there. 
 
 deceiveth his own heart] Here the word is the more common one, as 
 distinguished from that which had been used in verse 22. 
 
 27. Ptcre religion] The word still presents the outward aspect of the 
 devout life. Better perhaps, pure worsliip. 
 
 undefiled] The term seems chosen with special reference to the 
 Pharisee's scrupulous care to avoid anything that caused ceremonial 
 defilement. Comp. John xviii. 28, "lest they should be defiled^'' where 
 the word is that commonly used in the LXX. for polluted, or being "un- 
 clean," as in Lev. v. 3, xi. 23. St James reproduces the teaching of our 
 Lord, that the real defilement comes from within, not from without, that 
 true purity is found in "giving alms of such things as we have " (Mark 
 vii. 20 — 23, Luke xi. 40). 
 
 before God and the Father] The last word seems chosen with a special 
 reference to the duty that follows. We worship the Father when we 
 are like Him in our care for the orphans (Ps. Ixviii. 5). 
 
 To visit] The Greek word implies somewhat more than that which we 
 commonly attach to the English; "to care for," "look after," as in 
 "God hath visited\i\% people" (Luke vii. 16). 
 
 the fatherless and widows] These were the natural and therefore pro- 
 verbial types of extremest affliction. Comp. Job xxix. 12, 13; Ecclus. 
 XXXV. 14. We find from Acts vi. i, that they occupied a prominent 
 place in what we may venture to call the "Charity Organisation" of the 
 Church of Jerusalem.. Comp. also Acts ix. 39 ; i Tim. v. 3 — ro. 
 
vv. I, 2.] ST JAMES, II. 63 
 
 I — 13. Respect of Persons. 
 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus 2 
 Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if 2 
 there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in 
 
 and to keep himself unspotted from the world'] The adjective is chosen 
 with special reference to the "undefiled." The "world" is used as in- 
 cluding all the circumstances that tempt to sin, especially perhaps, the 
 mass of unrenewed humanity out of which Christians are called, but 
 into which they are in danger of sinking back. The real defilement to 
 be guarded against was to be found in spiritual contact with that 
 " world," and not, as the Pharisee thought, in touching cup or garment 
 that was ceremonially unclean. Comp. chap. iv. 4. In this fullest 
 sense of the word, God alone can thus keep a man unspotted, but it is 
 characteristic of St James to lay stress on the co-operation of man's 
 will, even, we may add, as St Paul does in **keep thyself pure" 
 (i Tim. V. 22). The teaching of St James finds a striking parallel in 
 xhat of Philo, who speaks of those who practise **a ritual religion" 
 (using the same word as St James) "instead of holiness" (Philo, p. 173). 
 Comp. also Coleridge, Aids to Reflection, Aph. xxiii. "The outward 
 service [BprjcrKda) of ancient religion, the rites, ceremonies, and cere- 
 mouial vestments of the old law, had morality for their substance. They 
 weijfe the letter of which morality was the spirit ; the enigma of which 
 morality was the meaning. But morality itself is the service and cere- 
 monial {cultus exterior, 6pT)<TK€ia) of the Christian religion." 
 
 Ch. II. 1 — 13. Respect of Persons. 
 
 1. %ave not the faith...] Better, do not hold. The Greek for 
 "respedt of persons " (better, perhaps, acceptance of persons) is in 
 the plural* as including all the varied forms in which the evil tendency 
 might shew itself, and stands emphatically immediately after the nega- 
 tive. The name of "our Lord Jesus Christ" is used obviously with a 
 special force. He had shewn Himself, through His whole life on earth, 
 to be no " respecfer of persons " (Matt. xxii. 16), to have preferred the 
 poor to the rich. T^a,ere was a shameful inconsistency when those who 
 professed to hold the'ilaith which had Him as its object acted otherwise. 
 To the name ofvthe Lond Jesus is added the description ^^ the Lord of 
 Glory." The first t-wo wox'-ds are not repeated in the Greek, but the 
 structure of the English senten\ce requires their insertion. The motive 
 of the addition is clear. In believing in Him who was emphatically a 
 sharer in the Eternal Glory (John .xvii. 5), who had now returned to 
 that Glory, men ought to feel the infin.ite littleness of all the accidents of 
 wealth or rank that separate man fronl'-^raan. This seems the most 
 natural construction, but the position of ^.he words "of glory" is 
 anomalous, and some have joined it with "faith '.' either as a genitive of 
 the object "faith in the future glory, "or as a characterising attribute = 
 " the glorious faith. " 
 
 2. if tJiere come unto your assembly] Literally, In^ your syna- 
 gogue, the old familiar name as yet, in that early stage of tuie Church's 
 
64 ST JAMES, II. 
 
 goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile 
 raiment ; and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay 
 clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place ; 
 
 life, being used for the Christian as for the Jewish place of worship. 
 What is noted presented the most glaring and offensive form which the 
 acceptance of persons had taken. Signs of the eagerness of men who 
 aimed at a high religious reputation to obtain such honours are seen in 
 Matt, xxiii. 6 ; and in a society so pervaded by worldliness as that of 
 Judaea, wealth, if accompanied by any kind of religiousness, was sure to 
 be accepted as covering a multitude of sins. What grieved St James 
 was that the same evil should have crept in even among the disciples of 
 the Lord of Glory. 
 
 a man with a gold ring\ Literally, a gold-ringed man, implying, 
 probably, more than one. The custom was one of the fashions of the 
 Empire, and had spread from Rome to Judoea. So Juvenal, in a port 
 which unites the two forms of ostentatious luxury noted by St Jam( 
 describes one who, though born as an Egyptian slave, appears 
 Tyrian robes upon his shoulders, and golden rings, light or heavy, 
 cording to the season {Sat. I. ■28. 30). So in Martial (XI. 60) we 
 of one who wears six rings on every finger, day and night, an( 
 when he bathes. 
 
 in goodly apparel] Better, in gorgeous, or bright appari 
 word is the same as that used of the robe placed upon our Lor 
 mockery (Luke xxiii. 11), and of that in which the Angel appe- - ■ ' 
 Cornelius (Acts x. 30). The primary idea is that of "bri; 
 shining, and this effect was often produced by a combination 
 embroidery with Tyrian purple and crimson. 
 
 in vile raiment'] squalid is perhaps the nearest eqaivalent ro the 
 Greek word. It is used in the LXX. of Zech. iii. 4, of the " fiV' ' " 
 ments" of Joshua the High-Priest. In Rev. xxii. 11 it is us'^^' 
 ritual "filthiness," as is the cognate noun in chap. i. 21 of this L 
 
 3. And ye have respect to] Better, look witli respect' upoc i,-he 
 same word is used in Luke i. 48, ix. 38. The English version weakens 
 the dramatic vividness of the Greek. .' 
 
 the gay clothing] The English presents a needles^ variation from the 
 Greek, which has the same words as in the preceding verse. The trans- 
 lators would seem to have acted on their pri^iciple hi bringing in as 
 many English words as they could by way o!\ fairness. See Preface to 
 the Authorised Version. 
 
 Sit thou here in a good place] Tha- English paraphrases the Greek, 
 which runs literally, as in the margin, ^t here honourably. In practice 
 the seats most coveted among the ^ Jews were those near the end of the 
 synagogue which looked towajr'Sfs Jerusalem, and at which stood the ark 
 that contained the sacred toll of" the Law. - We do not know whether 
 the first meeting-places 'bf -the Christian society'followed the same arrange- 
 ments, or -s\lTether thi^n, as at a later period, the Table of the Lord took 
 the place M-^jch 'nad been occupied by the ark, and led them to covet 
 the pla< ■ ere near it, and therefore well placed for seeing and 
 
 hearin: ilins elder 
 
w. 4—6.] ST. JAMES, II. 65 
 
 and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my 
 footstool : are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are 4 
 become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloveds 
 brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich 
 in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised 
 to them that love him ? But ye have despised the poor. 6 
 
 Stand thou there... '\ The Christian, probably the elder or deacon, is 
 supposed to point the poor man to his place at the other end of the 
 synagogue, far from sight and hearing, giving him, it may be, the alter- 
 native of a seat on the ground, just below what we should call the 
 "stall," in which the rich man was invited to take his place, with a stool 
 for his feet to rest on. 
 
 4. are ye not then partial in yourselves ?\ The verb is the same 
 as that translated "waver" in chap. i. 6 and elsewhere, as in Matt. xxi. 
 21 ; Mark xi. 23; Acts x. 20; Rom. xiv. 23 by "doubt." Nor is any 
 other meaning, such as that of "making distinctions," necessary, or 
 admissible, here. "When you acted in this way (the tense assumes that 
 the thing had been actually done) did you not doubt, as others doubt, 
 in your own hearts?" Faith in Christ's words as to the deceitfulness 
 of riches and the little honour due to them would have kept men from 
 such servility. They shewed by their words and acts that they were 
 half-hearted, or, in St James's sense of the word, " double-minded." 
 
 judges of evil thoughts?] The construction is the same as that of the 
 English phrase "a man of bad temper," and is precisely analogous to 
 that rendered "unjust judge" (literally, judge of injustice) in Luke 
 xviii. 6, and to the "forgetful hearer" or "hearer of forgetfulness " 
 in chap. i. 25. It means accordingly, " evil- thinking judges." In 
 acting as they did, men made themselves judges between rich and poor, 
 and with "base reasonings," or better, perhaps, what we call "base 
 calculations, " gave a preference to the former. 
 
 5. Hath not God ^osen...] Better, perhaps, did not God choose? as 
 referring to the special ^election of the poor by Christ as the heirs of 
 blessings and the messengers of His Kingdom (Matt. v. 3 ; Luke vi. 20 ; 
 comp. also i Cor. i. 27). 
 
 the poor of this world] Literally, in tMs world, i.e. "as far as this 
 world is concerned." 
 
 rich in faith] The construction of the words is (to use a technical 
 plirase) that of a secondary predicate, "God had chosen the poor in 
 this world as, i. e. to be, rich in faith, as in the region in which they lived 
 and moved," % 
 
 heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised...] Here, as before (ch. i. 
 12), it is scarcely possible to exclude a direct reference to the words of 
 Christ, as in Luke vi. 20, xii. 31, 32, and so we get indirect proof of a 
 current knowledge, at the early period at which St James wrote, of 
 teaching that was afterwards recorded in the written Gospels. Some 
 of the better MSS., however, give " heirs of the promise." 
 
 to the?n that love him 1] Care is taken not to lead men to suppose that 
 poverty itself, apart from spiritual conditions, was a sufficient title to the 
 
 ST JAMES e 
 
6^ ST. JAMES, II. [v. 7. 
 
 Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the 
 7 judgment seats ? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name 
 
 inheritance. There must be the love of God which has its root in 
 faith. What is pressed is that poverty and not wealth was the true 
 object of respect ; partly as predisposing men to the spiritual condi- 
 tions, partly as having been singled out by Christ for special blessings, 
 
 6. But ye have despised the poor] Better, ye have dishonoured, 
 or done dishonour to, the word implying the outward act that ex- 
 pressed contempt. The Greek tense may point to the special instance 
 just given as a supposed fact, *'Ye dishonoured...." The pronoun is 
 emphatic, '*God chose the poor, j^ put them to shame." 
 
 Do not rich ??ien oppress you] Better, lord it over you. The word is 
 like, though not identical with, those used in Matt. xx. 25 ; i Pet. v. 3, 
 and means literally, to act the potentate over others. As a rule the 
 wealthier class in Judaea tended to Sadduceeism (Joseph. Ant. xiii. 10. 
 § 6), and St James's reference to their treatment of the disciples agrees 
 with the part that sect took, including, as it did, the aristocracy of 
 the priesthood, in the persecutions of the earlier chapters of the Acts 
 (iv. 1,6, V. 17). 
 
 and draw you before the judgment seats?] Better, drag you to courts 
 of justice. The same noun appears in i Cor. vi. 2, 4. The Greek 
 verb implies violence, as in Acts xxi. 30. The words may point either 
 to direct persecutions, such as that of Acts ix. 1, 2, or to the indirect 
 vexation of oppressive lawsuits. In the Greek the verb is preceded by 
 an emphatic pronoun, "Is it not thty that drag you." There seems, at 
 first, a want of logical coherence. The rich man first appears as gaining 
 undue prominence in the assembly of Christians, and then as one of 
 a class of persecutors and blasphemers. This, however, is just the 
 point on which St James lays stress. Men honoured the rich Christian, 
 not because he was a Christian, but because he was rich, i. e. because 
 he was connected with a class, which, as such, had shewn itself bitterly 
 hostile to them. 
 
 7. £>o not they blaspheme that worthy nanie\ Better, Do not they re- 
 vile that noble Name? The pronoun is again' emphatic, Is it not they 
 that revile? The two senses of the Greek verb, the reviling which has man 
 for its object, and the blasphemy, in its modern sense, which is directed 
 against God, are in this instance so closely mingled that it is difficult to 
 say which predominates. Men reviled Christ as a deceiver, and in so 
 doing were, not knowing what they did, blaspheming the Son of God. 
 The Name can be none other than that of Jesus as the Christ, and the 
 epithet attached to it, " which is given ^you, or called upon you,^' is best 
 explained as referring to the name of Christian, which was beginning 
 to spread from Antioch into Palestine (Acts xi. 26). Where it had not 
 yet found its way, it was probable enough that the disciples of Jesus 
 would be known by the name out of which "Christian" sprang, as oi 
 XpLCToO, "Christ's people," "Christ's followers." The description re- 
 minds us of the account St Paul gives of his work in compelling the 
 saints to "blaspheme" (Acts xxvi. 11). The persecution in which he 
 thus took part was instigated, it will be remembered, by the Sadducean 
 
vv. 8— II.] ST. JAMES, II. (^-j 
 
 by the which ye are called ? If ye fulfil the royal law ac- 8 
 cording to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour 
 as thyself, ye do well : but if ye have respect to persons, ye 9 
 commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. 
 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in ic 
 one pointy he is guilty of all. For he that said. Do not " 
 
 priests, who formed a wealthy aristocracy, rather than by the more cau- 
 tious Pharisees, who adopted the pohcy of Gamaliel (Acts v. 17, 34). 
 
 8. If ye fulfil the royal law accordhig to the scriptw'e'\ The Greek 
 gives a particle which is not expressed in the English, ' ' If, however, ye 
 fulfil..." Nothing that the writer has said in disparagement of wealth 
 and the wealthy is to lead men to anything at variance with the great 
 law of love ; that law embraces rich and poor alike. The position of the 
 verb in the Greek gives it a special emphasis. The "law" which follows 
 maybe called "royal" or "kingly," either (i) in the sense in which 
 Plato speaks {Minos ii. 566) of a just law as Icingly or sovereign, using 
 the same adjective as St James, or (2) as coming from God or Christ as 
 the true King and forming part of the fundamental code of the king- 
 dom. In a Greek writer the first would probably be the thought in- 
 tended. In one like St James, living in the thought of a Divine king- 
 dom, and believing in Jesus as the King, the latter is more likely to 
 have been prominent. This agrees too more closely with the uniform 
 use of the word in the LXX. in a literal and not a figurative sense. 
 The law which follows, from Lev. xix. 18, had been solemnly affirmed 
 by the true King (Matt. xxii. 39). One who accepted it in its fulness 
 was ipso facto not far from the Kingdom (Mark xii. 34). Believing this 
 to have been the main thought present to St James's mind, it is yet 
 probable enough that he chose the word so that those who were not as 
 yet believers in Christ might see in the commandment of love, the law 
 of God as the Great King. 
 
 ye do well] The words seem to point to those who, like the scribe in 
 Mark xii. 32, 33, were ready enough to accept the law in theory but 
 shrank from its practical application. We almost trace a tone of irony 
 in the words: "In that case, if you attain a completeness which 
 you never have attained, ye do well." "Right well," or "nobly," 
 or more colloquially "excellent well," comes closer to the force of the 
 adverb. 
 
 9. dzit if ye have respect to persons] The Greek gives a compound 
 verb which is not found elsewhere. If ye be person-accepting. 
 
 ye commit sin] The Greek is more emphatic, "It is sin that ye 
 are working, being convicted by the Law. " However generally deco- 
 rous their lives might be, yet through this one offence they failed to meet 
 the requirements of the Law. The way in which they dealt with rich 
 and poor was, in the strictest sense of the term, a crucial test. 
 
 10. in one poitit] The noun, as the italics shew, is not in the Greek, 
 but the English is a satisfactory rendering. Guided by what follows we 
 might perhaps say "in one coynmandinent.^'* 
 
 he is guilty of all] Better, lie has become guilty, i. e. liable to con- 
 
68 ST. JAMES, II. [vv. 12, 13. 
 
 commit adultery, said also. Do not kill. Now if thou 
 commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a trans- 
 
 12 gressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that 
 
 13 shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have 
 
 demnation under an indictment which includes all the particular com- 
 mandments included in the great Law. This seems at first of the nature 
 of an ethical paradox, but practically it states a deep moral truth. If 
 we wilfully transgress one commandment we shew that in principle we 
 sit loose to all. It is but accident, or fear, or the absence of tempta- 
 tion, that prevents our transgressing them also. Actual transgression in 
 one case involves potential transgression in all. A saying of Rabbi 
 Jochanan is recorded in the Talmud {Sabbath, fol. 70) identical with 
 this in its terms, and including in its range what were classed as the 
 39 precepts of Moses. St James was urging upon devout Jews, whether 
 they believed in Christ or no, the highest ethical teaching of their own 
 schools. It is probable enough, that the Pharisees who misrepresented 
 the teaching of St James in the Church of Antioch, laid stress on these 
 words as including circumcision and the ceremonial Law, as well as the 
 precepts which were moral and eternal (Acts xv. i, 5, 24). See Intro- 
 duction, ch. III. 
 
 11. For he that said. Do not commit adtdfeiy..."] The two command- 
 ments are chosen as standing first in the Second Table, the fifth being 
 classed by most Jewish writers as belonging to the First, just as in Greek 
 and Roman ethics, duty to parents came under the head of EyVe/Seia and 
 Pietas, rather than under that of Justice (comp. i Tim. v. 4). This divi- 
 sion is recognised by Josephus {Ant. III. 6. § 6) and Philo {De Decal. i.), 
 and falls in better than the common one with the pentad and duad grouip- 
 ing that pervades the Law. It is singular that in all New Testament 
 quotations from the Second Table "Thou shalt not commit adultery" 
 precedes "Thou shalt not kill," Mark x. 19; Luke xviii. 20 ; Rom. xiii. 
 9 ; and the order is made the subject of direct comment by Philo {De 
 Decal. XII. 24). It may be inferred from this that there was, probably, 
 a traditional order varying from that at present found in the Hebrew 
 Pentateuch. 
 
 12. So speak ye, and so do'\ The thoughts of the teacher dwell, as 
 before (chap. i. 26) and afterwards (chap. iii. i— 12), on sins of speech 
 as no less tests of character than sins of act. In so doing he was echo- 
 ing the words of a yet greater Teacher (Matt. xii. 37). 
 
 the law of liberty] See note on ch. i. 25. The recurrence of the phrase 
 indicates a certain fondness for the thought which it expresses. As a 
 phrase it is peculiar to St James, but the idea is found in John viii. 32. 
 Verbally it presents something like a contrast to St Paul's language as 
 to the law "which gendereth unto bondage" (Gal. iv. 24), but the dif- 
 ference is on the surface only, St James speaking of the moral law when 
 the will accepts it as the guide of life, St Paul of its work as reproving 
 and condemning when the fleshly will resists it, and pre-eminently of 
 its merely ritual and ceremonial precepts, the days and months and 
 years of Gal. iv. 10. 
 
V. 14.] ST. JAMES, II. 69 
 
 judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy ; an6 
 mercy rejoiceth against judgment. 
 
 14 — 26. Jicsiificatio7i by Faith and Works. 
 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he h 
 
 13. For he shall have judgment] There is something more emphatic 
 in the actual structure of the sentence, For tlie judgment shall be mer- 
 ciless to him that wrought not mercy. The axiom presents one 
 aspect of the great law of divine retribution, and, like so much of 
 St James's teaching, is an obvious reproduction of that of the Sermon on 
 the Mount (Matt. vii. i). The reference to that discourse suggests the 
 thought that the "law of liberty" of which St James speaks is not the 
 law given by Moses, but the new Law, full of grace and truth, which 
 was given by Christ. See note on verse 8. On this assumption the 
 supposed contrast with St Paul dwindles into nothing. 
 
 mercy rejoiceth against judgment] The verb is found in Rom. xi. 18. 
 The^ abruptness of the original, where the maxim stands with no con- 
 necting particle, is singularly forcible, mercy glories over judgment. 
 The law holds good universally. It is true of man's judgment, but also 
 of God's, that mercy triumphs over severity, when it finds a willing 
 object. The truth has seldom found a nobler utterance than in the 
 familiar words which remind us that 
 
 •' Earthly power doth then shew likest God's, 
 When mercy seasons justice." 
 
 Shakespeare. Merchant of Venice, iv. i. 
 
 14—26. Justification by Faith and Works. 
 
 14. though a man say he hath faith] The section on which we now 
 enter has been the battle-field of almost endless controversies. It led 
 Luther in the boldness of a zeal not according to knowledge to speak of 
 the whole Epistle with contempt. {Preface to Gerjnan New Testai}ient, 
 1522; but see J. C. Hare's Vindication of Luther, p. 2 1 5. ) To him it was an 
 "Epistle of Straw," [Epistola straminea,) to be classed with wood, hay, 
 stubble, as compared with the teaching of St Paul, which it seemed to 
 him to contradict. It led Bishop Bull to write his Harmonia Apostolica 
 to prove the agreement of the two, by assuming, with many of the Fathers, 
 that St James wrote to correct the false inferences which men had drawn 
 from St Paul's doctrine, in itself and as taught by him a true doctrine, 
 as to Justification. In dealing with the problem presented by a com- 
 parison of the teaching of the two writers, it is obviously necessary to 
 start with what to the reader is an assumption, though to the writer it 
 may be the conclusion of an inquiry, as to the aim and leading idea of 
 the writer with whom we have to deal ; and the notes that follow will 
 accordingly be based on the hypothesis that the teaching of St James 
 was not meant, as men have supposed who exaggerate the diversities of 
 thought in the Apostolic age, to be antagonistic to that of St Paul, nor 
 even to correct mistaken inferences from it, but was altogether inde- 
 
70 ST. JAMES, ir. [w. 15, 16. 
 
 15 hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him ? If a 
 i6 brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and 
 
 pendent, and probably prior in time, moving in its own groove, and 
 taking its own line of thought. If this view, as a theory, solves all 
 the phaenomena, and throws light upon what would otherwise be 
 obscure, it will be its own best vindication. At the close it may be 
 well to take a brief survey of other modes of interpretation. 
 
 We must remember then, to start with, that St James is writing pri- 
 marily to the Jews of the "dispersion." The disciples in Jerusalem 
 and Judaea were under his personal guidance, and therefore were not in 
 need of an Epistle. The faults which he reproves are pre-eminently 
 the faults of the race. Men dwelling, as those Jews dwelt, in the midst 
 of a heathen population, were tempted to trust for their salvation to 
 their descent from Abraham (comp. Matt. iii. 9) and to their maintain- 
 ing the unity of the Godhead as against the Polytheism and idolatry of 
 the nations. They repeated their Creed (known, from its first Hebrew 
 word, as the Shema\ "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord" 
 (Deut. vi. 4). It entered, as our Creed does, into the Morning and 
 Evening Services of the Synagogue. It was uttered by the dying as a 
 passport to the gates of Paradise. It was to this that they referred the 
 words of Habakkuk that the just should live by faith (Hab. ii. 4). 
 St James saw, as the Baptist had seen before him, how destructive all 
 this was of the reality of the spiritual life, and accordingly takes this as 
 the next topic of his letter. 
 
 No emphasis is to be laid on "though a man say." The argument of 
 St James assumes that the man has the faith which he professes. His 
 contention is that faith is not enough by itself, that unless it pass into 
 "works" it gives proof that it is ipso facto dead; and the "works" 
 of which he speaks are, as the next verse shews, emphatically, not 
 ceremonial, nor ascetic, but those of an active benevolence. 
 
 can faith save hif?i?'\ The pronoun, and, in the Greek, the article 
 prefixed to faith, are emphatic. " Can his faith save hi}7i, being such as 
 he is?" There is no slight cast upon faith generally, though the kind of 
 faith in the particular case is declared to be worthless. 
 
 15. If a brother or sister... "l The words are not necessarily used in 
 the sense in which they imply the profession of faith in Christ as they 
 are, e.g., in Acts x. 23, xi. i; i Cor. v. 11. Every Israelite was to see 
 a brother in every child of Abraham (Matt. v. 23; Acts ii. 29, iii. 17). 
 All that can be said is that where the reader of the Epistle was a 
 Christian, he would feel that the words brought before him those who 
 were of the same society or brotherhood. 
 
 naked, arid destitute of daily food] The picture drawn is one of 
 extremest destitution, and, like the teaching of the whole passage, re- 
 minds us of Matt. XXV. 36, 43. What was the faith worth which could 
 witness that suffering and not be stirred to help? The words are 
 applicable to all times and countries, but it gives them a special interest 
 to remember that the Church over which St James presided had suffered, 
 and was probably, at the very -time he wrote, suffering, from the famine 
 foretold by Agabus (Acts xi. 28 — 30). The Gentile disciples had, we read, 
 
w. 17, 18.] ST. JAMES, II. 71 
 
 one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed 
 and filled ; notwithstanding ye give them not those thi7igs 
 which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even i-i 
 so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a 18 
 man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works : shew me 
 
 done their best to alleviate the distress of the Churches of Judaea. St 
 James's language, addressed to the Jews and Jewish Christians of the 
 dispersion, would seem to imply that they had shewn less forwardness, 
 and had wrapt themselves up in the self-satisfaction of professing the 
 orthodox faith of the sons of Abraham, while the Gentile converts 
 whom they despised were setting an example of self-denying charity. 
 
 16. Depart in peace\ The phrase was one of familiar benediction, 
 and had been used by our Lord to those who came to Him seeking 
 bodily or spiritual healing (Luke vii. 50, viii. 48; Acts xvi. 36). It 
 would naturally only be used where such wants, if they existed, had 
 been, or were going to be, relieved. 
 
 be ye warmed and filled\ The first verb refers obviously to the 
 naked, the second to those who are destitute of food. The Greek verbs 
 may be either in the imperative or indicative, **6et yourselves warmed 
 and filled," or " K^ are toarming and filling yourselves.'''' The former is 
 the more generally received interpretation, and represents the kind of 
 benevolence which shews itself in good advice. The idea of mere good 
 wishes is excluded by the use, on this assumption, of the imperative. 
 It may perhaps, however, be questioned whether the indicative does not 
 give a preferable meaning. The man whose faith was only the acceptance 
 and the utterance of a dogma, was mocking the souls of others when 
 he said "God is One — God is your Father," as much as if he said to 
 the naked or hungry, *' Ye are being warmed or filled." No amount 
 of faith on their part could turn that mockery of a feast into a reality, 
 unless they had the food and clothing they needed ; and the man who 
 gave a bare dogma to men without the reality of love, was mocking 
 them, — yes, and cheating himself, — in much the same manner. 
 
 notwithstanding ye give them not] Better, and y*? give them not. 
 The change to the plural generalises the individual case presented in 
 "one of you." 
 
 17. Even so faith, if it hath not works ..1 This then is St James's 
 objection to the faith of which he speaks. It is, while alone (literally, by 
 itself), with no promise or potency of life, and it is, therefore, dead, and 
 being so, as we scarcely call a corpse a man, is unworthy of the name 
 of faith. The assent to a dogma, beginning and ending in itself, has 
 no power to justify or save. St Paul's language in Rom. ii. 13 shews 
 that he was in substantial agreement with St James, 
 
 18. Yea, a man may say...] The objector thus introduced, after the 
 same manner as by St Paul in i Cor. xv. 35, is here the representative 
 neither of an opponent to be refuted, nor yet of the writer's own 
 thoughts, but rather, as we should say, of an outsider, the man of 
 common sense and practical piety, in this instance, of the Gentile 
 convert whom the orthodox Jew or Jewish Christian despised, who 
 
72 ST. JAMES, II. [w. 19, 20. 
 
 thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith 
 
 19 by my works. Thou believest that there is one God ; thou 
 
 20 doest well : the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt 
 thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead ? 
 
 might be less expert in formulating the Truth, but lived by the Truth 
 which he beheved. 
 
 shew me thy faith without thy works] The reading followed by the 
 English version is at once more intelligible and supported by better MS. 
 authority, than the alternative * * by thy works, " which, in fact, destroys 
 the whole point of the antithesis. The man who relied on faith is 
 challenged to exhibit it, if he can, apart from works, as a distinct entity 
 by itself. It is assumed that no such exhibition is possible. If he is to 
 give any evidence that he has the faith that saves, it must be by having 
 recourse to the works which he neglects, and, it may be, disparages. 
 On the other hand, the challenger, starting with works, can point to them 
 as proofs of something beyond themselves. Deeds of love, implying a 
 victory over self, could not have been wrought without, not a dead 
 faith in the dogma of the Divine Unity, but a living trust in God. 
 
 19. Thou believest that there is one God...] The instance of the faith 
 in which men were trusting is important as shewing the class of Soli- 
 fidians (to use a term which controversy has made memorable) which St 
 James had in view. They were not those who were believing in the Son of 
 God, trusting in the love, the blood, in the language of a later age, the 
 merits, of Christ, but men who, whether nominally Christians or Jews, 
 were still clinging to their profession of the Creed of Israel as the 
 ground of all their hopes. It is scarcely probable that a writer in- 
 tending to correct consequences drawn from St Paul's teaching as to 
 faith would have been content with such a far-off illustration. 
 
 thozi doest zvell] The words have the character of a half-ironical con- 
 cession. Comp. note on verse 8. It is well as far as it goes, but the 
 demons can claim the same praise. 
 
 the devils also believe and tremble] Better "shudder." The general 
 bearing of the words is plain enough, but there is a special meaning 
 which is commonly passed over. The "devils" are the "demons" 
 or "unclean spirits" of the Gospels, thought of, not as in their prison- 
 house of darkness (Jude v. 6), but as "possessing" and tormenting 
 men. As such, they too acknowledged the Unity and Sovereignty of 
 God, but that belief, being without love, led only to the "shudder" of 
 terror, when the Divine Name was uttered in the formulae of exorcism. 
 (Comp. Matt. viii. 29; Mark ix. 20, 26.) Here then was an instance in 
 which belief in a dogma, as distinct from trust in a person, brought 
 with it no consciousness of peace or pardon, and what was true of the 
 " demons " might be true also of men. 
 
 20. wilt thou know, O vain ma7i...] The term, as applied to men, is 
 not found elsewhere in the New Testament, but is used with something of 
 the same significance in the LXX. of Judg. ix. 4. The idea is primarily 
 that of "emptiness," and the Greek adjective is almost literally the 
 
vv. 21, 22.] ST. JAMES, II. 73 
 
 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had 21 
 offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith 22 
 wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? 
 
 equivalent of our empty-headed, as a term of contempt. It answers 
 clearly to the Raca of Matt. v. 12. 
 
 that faith without works is dead] The MSS. vary between "dead " 
 and the adjective rendered "idle" in Matt. xii. 36, xx. 3. The meaning 
 is substantially the same. That which is without life is without the 
 activity which is the one proof of life. 
 
 21. Was not Abraham our father justified by works] The close"^ 
 correspondence of phraseology with Rom. iv. 2 at first seems to favour 
 the view that St James is correcting or modifying St Paul's statement 
 
 It is obvious, however, that the agreement equally admits of the 
 
 explanation that St Paul is correcting or modifying the language of ^ 
 
 St James. He presses the fact that "Abraham believed God,"^ and' 
 that this "was counted to him for righteousness," i. e. that he was justi- 
 fied prior to any act but that of simple trust. And the impression 
 left by a careful study of the passage referred to is that St Paul is there 
 referring to something that had been urged, as having a high authority, 
 against his teaching that a man is justified by faith. It is clear, at all 
 events, that no inference can be dra^vn from the two passages in favour 
 of the assumption that the Epistle of St James was later than that of St 
 Paul to the Romans. , ^^ 
 
 The use of the word "justify" shews that its meaning is to "acquit' 
 or "count as righteous" (Matt. xii. 37 ; Acts xiii. 39-; Ecclus. xxvi. 29, 
 xxiii. 11). 
 
 The preposition used in the Greek points to "works" as being the 
 source rather than the instrument of justification. 
 
 7vhen he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?] Better, when he ^_ 
 Offered Isaac, the two acts being thought of, not as successive, buf" 
 simultaneous. It is remarkable that the only scriptural references, 
 after Gen. xxii., to the sacrifice of Isaac, are found in Wisd. x. 5 
 and Heb. xi. 17. It is hardly likely that the latter could have been 
 known to St James, the internal evidence pointing to a later date ; 
 but the former, whether, as some have supposed, by the same author 
 as the Epistle to the Hebrews, or written fifty or sixty years earlier, 
 might well have come under his notice. In relation to St Paul's 
 teaching, as noticed above, it must be remembered that the_ one writer 
 speaks of the beginning of Abraham's course, the other of its consunr- 
 mation. St James might well urge that if Abraham had not shewn his 
 faith by his works, up to the crowning work of the sacrifice of his son, 
 it would have proved that his faith too was dead. 
 
 22. Seest thou how faith wrought with his works... ?] Better, per- 
 haps, not as a question. Thou seest that... Attention is called, not 
 as the English "how" suggests, to the manner of co-operation, but 
 only to the fact. The tense of the verb emphasises the continued 
 co-operation of Abraham's faith with his works. The one was all 
 along working together with the other. What St James presses is, not 
 
74 ST. JAMES, II. [vv. 23, 24. 
 
 23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham 
 believed God, and it was imputed unto him for 
 righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. 
 
 84 Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not 
 
 that works can justify without faith, but that faith cannot justify unless 
 it includes "the promise and the potency" of the life that shews itself 
 ^ in acts. 
 
 by works was faith made perfect?] Here the tense is changed to that 
 which denotes completion in a single act. It was " by works" (i. e. otct 
 of as from the originating cause) that faith was brought to its completion. 
 The interpretation which sees in the words nothing more than that 
 faith was shewn to be perfect, must be rejected as one of the after- 
 thoughts of controversy. It may be added, however, as pointing to the 
 true reconciliation of St James and St Paul, that the very form of the 
 statement implies that the faith existed prior to the works by which it 
 /was made perfect. 
 
 23. And the scripture was fulfilled..^ The use of the words com- 
 monly applied to the fulfilment of prophetic utterances implies that St 
 lames saw in the statement of Gen. xv. 6 that which, though true at the 
 time, was yet also an anticipation of what was afterwards to be realised 
 more fully. Of that prophecy, as of others, there were, to use Bacon's 
 phrase, "springing and germinant accomplishments." What was then 
 reckoned as righteousness continued to be reckoned, as with an ever- 
 increasing value, which reached its maxi?num in the sacrifice of the son 
 who was the heir of the promise. 
 
 ajid he was called ike Friend of God] The words seem to refer, in the 
 English version of the Bible, to 2 Chron. xx. 7 and Isai. xli. 8, where 
 the term "my friend" is applied to Abraham by Jehovah. Singu- 
 larly enough, however, the term is not found in the Hebrew, nor in the 
 LXX. version, with which St James, writing in Greek, must have been 
 familiar, and which gives, in the first of the two passages, "Abraham thy 
 beloved," and in the second, "whom I loved." The distinctive title 
 first appears in Philo's citation of Gen. xviii. r {De resipisc. Noe, c. 11), 
 and, after St James, in Clement of Rome {Epist. ad Cor. i. 10). It was 
 probably the current phrase in the Jewish schools, and has descended to 
 the Arabs, with whom the name of El Khalil Allah (the friend of God), 
 or more briefly El Khalil, has practically superseded that of Abraham. 
 Even Hebron, as the city of Abraham, and so identified with him, has 
 become El Khalil, ' ' the friend. " 
 
 24. Ye see then] The better MSS. omit the then. The Greek 
 verb may be indicative, imperative, or interrogative. The English 
 Version is probably right in giving the preference to the first. 
 
 not by faith only] There is, it is obvious, a verbal contradiction 
 between this and St Paul's statement in Rom. iii. 28, but it is verbal 
 only. St James does not exclude faith from the work of justifying, i. e. 
 winning God's acquittal and acceptance, but only a faith which stands 
 "by itself," "alone," and therefore "dead," and assumes that 
 •' works" have their beginning in the faith which they ripen and com- 
 
V. 25.] ST. JAMES, II. 75 
 
 by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot 25 
 justified by works, when she had received the messengers, 
 
 plete. St Paul throughout assumes that faith will work by love and be 
 productive in good acts, while the works which he excludes from the 
 office of justifying are "works of the law," i.e. works which, whether 
 ceremonial or moral, are done as by a constrained obedience to an 
 external commandment, through fear of punishment, or hope of reward, 
 and are not the spontaneous outcome of love and therefore of faith. It 
 will be felt that St James presents the more practical, St Paul the 
 deeper and more mystical aspect of the Truth, and this is in itself a 
 confirmation of the view maintained throughout these notes, that the 
 latter was the later of the two, and therefore that so far as one corrects 
 or completes the popular version of the teaching of the other, it was to 
 St Paul and not to St James that that task was assigned. 
 
 25. was not Rahab the harlot...'] The question meets us, What led 
 St James to select this example ? St Paul does not refer to it, as he 
 probably would have done, had he been writing with St James's 
 teaching present to his thoughts, in any of the Epistles in which 
 his name appears as the writer. In the Epistle to the Hebrews 
 (xi. 31) it appears as one of the examples of faith, but this was most 
 probably after St James had given prominence to her name. In 
 the mention of Rahab by Clement of Rome (i. 12) we have an obvious 
 echo from the Epistle just named, with the additional element of 
 a typical interpretation of the scarlet thread as the symbol of the 
 blood of Christ, by which those of all nations, even the harlots and 
 the unrighteous, obtained salvation. A more probable explanation is 
 found in the connexion of St James with the Gospel according to St 
 Matthew. The genealogy of the Christ given in ch. i. of that Gospel 
 must have been known to "the brother of the Lord," and in it the 
 name of Rahab appeared as having married Salmon, the then " prince" 
 of the tribe of Judah (Matt. i. 5; i Chron. ii. 50, 51 ; Ruth iv. 20, 21), 
 The prominence thus given to her name would naturally lead him and 
 others to think of her history and ask what lessons it had to teach them. 
 If ' ' harlots " as well as ' ' publicans " were among those who listened to 
 the warnings of the Baptist and welcomed the gracious words of Christ 
 (Matt. xxi. 31, 32), she would come to be regarded as the typical repre- 
 sentative of the class, the Magdalene (to adopt the common, though, it 
 is believed, an erroneous view) of the Old Testament. A rabbinic 
 tradition makes her become the wife of Joshua and the ancestress of eight 
 distinguished priests and prophets, ending in Huldah the Prophetess 
 (2 Kings xxii. 14). Josephus [Ant. v. i. § 2), after his manner, tones 
 down the history, and makes her simply the keeper of an inn. Another 
 ground of selection may well have been that Rahab was by her position 
 in the history the first representative instance of the deliverance of one 
 outside the limits of the chosen people. In this instance also, St James 
 urges, the faith would have been dead had it been only an assent to 
 the truth that the God of Israel was indeed God, without passing into 
 action. _ The "messengers" are described in Josh, vi. 23 as "young 
 men," in Heb. xi. 31 as "spies". 
 
1^ ST. JAMES, IT. [v. 26. 
 
 26 and had sent the7n out another way ? For as the body with- 
 out the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. 
 
 26. For as the body withotct the spirit is dead...'] Some MSS. omit 
 the conjunction, but the evidence for retaining it preponderates. The 
 reasoning seems to refer Rahab's justification by works to the wider 
 law that faith without works is dead (as in verse 17) and therefore can- 
 not justify. Our usual mode of thought would lead us to speak of 
 works, the outward visible acts, as the body, and of faith as the spirit or 
 vivifying principle. From St James's standpoint, however, faith "by 
 itself" was simply the assent of the intellect to a dogma or series of 
 dogmas, and this seemed to him to be "dead" until it was vitalised by 
 love shewing itself in act. St Paul reproves the deadness of mere mo- 
 rality, St James that of mere orthodoxy. St James, it will be noted, 
 adopts the simple division of man's nature into "body and spirit," 
 rather than St Paul's more philosophical trichotomy of "body, soul 
 and spirit." i Thess. v. -23. Comp. note on ch. iii. 13. 
 faith without works'] More literally, faith apart from works. 
 
 ON THE TEACHING OF ST PAUL AND ST JAMES. 
 
 The view which has been given in the notes seems to the writer 
 clear and coherent in itself, consistent with what we know as to the 
 relations between the two Apostles, and involving less violence of in- 
 terpretation than any other hypothesis. Two other views have, how- 
 ever, been maintained with arguments more or less plausible, and it will 
 be well to notice them briefly. 
 
 (i) There is the position assumed by some of the bolder critics of the 
 French and German Schools, that there was a real antagonism in the 
 Apostolic Church, not only between the Judaizing teachers and St Paul, 
 but between that Apostle and the three, Peter, James, and John, to whom 
 the Church of the Circumcision looked as its natural leaders. On this 
 assumption, the writer of the Acts of the Apostles strives to gloss over 
 the divergence of the two parties, and to represent an unreal unity. 
 The messages to the Seven Churches are "a cry of passionate hate 
 against St Paul and his followers" (Renan, St Paid, p. 367). When 
 St James says, "Wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without 
 works is dead,'" he is probably pointing at St Paul himself. From 
 the point of view of those who hold this theory it is, perhaps, a 
 small thing that it is inconsistent with the belief that the teaching 
 of St James and of St Paul had, as its source, the inspiration of 
 the Eternal Spirit, who, though working in many different ways and 
 with wide diversity of gifts, is yet the Spirit of the Truth which is 
 essentially one. But on simply historical grounds the theory is, it 
 is believed, untenable. St Paul himself acknowledges that after he 
 had privately laid before them the sum and substance of the Gospel 
 as he preached it, James, Cephas, and John gave to him the right hands 
 of fellowship (Gal. ii. 9). James appears as giving a public sanction to 
 that Gospel at the Council at Jerusalem (Acts xv. 13 — 21). Long after 
 
ST. JAMES, II. 77 
 
 the Judaizing teachers had been doing their worst for years, the "right 
 hand of fellowship" is still held out by the one teacher to the other (Acts 
 xxi. 17 — 25). The question whether this hypothesis is as satisfactory an 
 explanation of the facts with which it deals, as that which I have here 
 given, I am content to leave to the judgment of the reader. 
 
 (2) The other theory has at least the merit of accepting the teaching 
 of each of the two writers as in itself inspired and true. It assumes that 
 St James wrote after St Paul, and aimed at correcting inferences that 
 had been wrongly drawn from his doctrine, that a man is justified by 
 faith without the deeds of the law. How to reconcile their statements 
 on this assumption is a problem which has been variously solved, {a) It 
 has been said that St Paul speaks of man's justification before God, 
 St James of the proof of that justification before the eyes of men ; but of 
 this there is not a shadow of proof in the language of either writer. 
 {b) It has been maintained that St Paul speaks of a true faith, St James 
 of that which is false or feigned ; but nothing in the language of the 
 latter, though he stigmatizes the faith which is without works as dead, 
 suggests the thought that it did not mean a real acceptance of the 
 dogma which it professed to hold. {c) It has been held that the 
 "works" of which St Paul speaks as unable to justify, are the ceremonial 
 works of the law of Moses, those on which the Pharisees laid stress; 
 but the width of St Paul's teaching as to the nature and office of 
 the law in Gal. iii., Rom. vii. scatters this view to the winds at once. 
 id) There is a nearer approximation to the truth in the solution which 
 finds in St James's faith the intellectual acceptance of a dogma, in St 
 Paul's the trust in a living Person as willing and able to save, and 
 therefore the confidence that salvation is attainable by him who so 
 trusts. This is, in the main, the view that has been taken in these 
 notes, with the exception of the point on which stress has been laid 
 above, that the Antinomianism which St James condemned was that of 
 ultra-Jewish teachers, who taught a justification by faith in Monotheism, 
 and not of an ultra-Pauline party. It agrees practically with the 
 distinction drawn by the Schoolmen that St James speaks of a fides 
 inforjnis, rudimentary and incomplete, St Paul of a fides formata, de- 
 veloped or completed by Love. Errors, however, assume subtle dis- 
 guises. Those who used St James's name in the Apostolic age dwelt so 
 much on outward acts apart from the motive that gives them life, as 
 sufficient for man's acceptance with God, that it was necessary for 
 St Paul to revive the truth which had been first distorted and then 
 denied, that "the just by faith shall live" (Hab. ii. 4; Rom. i. 17; 
 Gal. iii. 11). His teaching again, in its turn, led men to think that they 
 might be justified by faith, not in God who justifies, but in a dogma 
 about justification. It was well that both aspects of the truth should 
 have been presented then, and have been preserved for the guidance 
 of the Church in all ages, as completing each the other. We need not 
 fear to be as varied in our teaching as were those who were taught 
 of God, and to tell men, according to their variations in character, as 
 they require more deepening of the spiritual life, or more strengthening 
 for practical activity, now that they must be justified by faith, and now 
 that they must be justified by works. 
 
78 ST. JAMES, III. [vv. 1—4. 
 
 I — 12. Si?is of Speech^ and their condemnation. 
 
 3 My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we 
 
 2 shall receive the greater condemnation. For in many things 
 we offend all. If any fnan offend not in word, the same is a 
 
 3 perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Be- 
 hold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey 
 
 4 us ; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the 
 
 Ch. III. I— 12. Sins of Speech, and their condemnation. 
 
 1. be not many masters] Better, **do not become, or do not get 
 into the way of being ;;m;z;/ teachers." The English word " master," 
 though perhaps conveying the idea of a "schoohiiaster" in the sixteenth 
 century, and therefore used in all the versions from Wycliffe and 
 Tyndale onward, is now far too general in its meaning. What St 
 James warns his "brethren" against is each man's setting himself 
 up to be a teacher, and in this he echoes our Lord's command, (Matt, 
 xxiii. 8 — 10). In the Christian Church, as in the Jewish, there was 
 the peril of a self-appointed Rabbi-ship. The sages of Israel had 
 given the same caution, as in the maxim, Love the work, but strive 
 not after the honour, of a Teacher, [Pirke Aboth, I. 10). 
 
 knoiving that we shall receive the greater condemnatioti] The change 
 from the second person to the first is characteristic of the writer's 
 profound humility. He will not give others a warning without at 
 the same time applying it to himself. The Greek word for "con- 
 demnation", though literally meaning "judgment" only, is yet almost 
 always used in the New Testament for an adverse judgment, (e. g. 
 Matt, xxiii. 14 ; Rom. ii. 2, xiii. 2 ; i Cor. xi. 29, 34). The very 
 form of St James's phrase is as an echo of our Lord's words in the 
 first of the passages referred to. 
 
 2. we offend all] The word is the same as that in ch. ii. ro. 
 See note there. 
 
 a perfect man...] One who has attained the fulness of moral gi-owth, 
 as in I Cor. xiv. 10, Heb. v. 14, the same word denotes that of 
 physical growth. Control of speech is named, not as in itself con- 
 stituting perfection, but as a crucial test indicating whether the man 
 has or has not attained unto it. 
 
 able also to bridle the whole body] St James returns to the besetting 
 sin of those to whom he writes, uses the same phrase as in ch. i. 26, and 
 then proceeds to develope the metaphor which it suggests. The "whole 
 body" is used to sum up the aggregate of all the temptations which 
 come to us through the avenues of sense. 
 
 3. Behold, we put bits in the horses^ jnotiths] The thought of man's 
 power over brute creatures and natural forces, and of his impotence 
 in the greater work of self-government, present a singular parallelism 
 to that of the well-known chorus in the Antigone of Sophocles. 
 (332—350) : 
 
V. 5.] ST. JAMES, III. 79 
 
 ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce 
 winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, 
 whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is s 
 a Httle member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how 
 
 Many the forms of life 
 Full marvellous in might, 
 But man supreme stands out 
 Most marvellous of all. 
 **«**♦ 
 
 He with the wintry gales, 
 O'er the foam-crested sea, 
 'Mid wild waves surging round, 
 Tracketh his way across. 
 ****** 
 
 He fastens firm the yoke 
 
 On horse with shaggy mane, 
 
 Or bull that walks untamed upon the hills. 
 
 So in another passage of the same drama : 
 
 "And I have known the steeds of fiery mood 
 With a small curb subdued." {Antig. 475.) 
 
 4. Behold also the ships. ..^ General as the thought is, we may 
 perhaps connect it, as we have done ch. i. 6, with personal recollections 
 of storms on the Galilean lake. It will be seen that this also has its 
 counterpart in Sophocles. The two images are brought together by 
 a writer more within St James's reach than the Greek tragedian. 
 With Philo, Reason in man, the Divine Word in Creation, are com- 
 pared both with the charioteer and the pilot. {De Conjf. ling. p. 
 336. De Abr. p. 360). In the latter the very word which St James 
 uses for "governor" is employed also by Philo. The same thoughts 
 appear in the beautiful hymn of Clement of Alexandria as describing 
 the work of Christ as the true Teacher. {Faedag. ad Jin.) ; 
 
 ' * Curb for the stubborn steed 
 Making its will give heed. 
 * * * * * 
 
 Helm of the ships that keep 
 Their pathway o'er the deep. 
 
 whithersoever the governor listeth'] Better, the pilot or steersman. 
 This, which, the reader will hardly need to be reminded, is the primary 
 meaning of "governor", has, in the modern use of the word, all but 
 dropped out of sight. Literally the sentence runs, "wMthersoever 
 the impulse of the steersman may wish. 
 
 5. and boasteth great things'] The Greek verb is a compound word, 
 which does not occur elsewhere, but is used not unfrequently by 
 Philo. The fact is not without interest, as indicating, together with 
 
8o ST. JAMES, III. [v. 6. 
 
 6 great a matter a little fire kindleth. And the tongue is a 
 fire, a world of iniquity : so is the tongue amongst our mem- 
 
 the parallelisms just referred to, St James's probable acquaintance 
 with that writer. 
 
 h(m) great a matter a little fire kindletkl The form of the Greek 
 is somewhat more emphatic. A little fire kindles how great a 
 mass of timber. The word translated "matter" means primarily "a 
 forest — wood in growth ;" and with this meaning, which is adopted 
 in the Vulgate ^^ silvam^\ the illustration would stand parallel to 
 Homer's simile : 
 
 "As when a spark scarce seen will set ablaze 
 The illimitable forest." Jliad II. 455. 
 
 So in Virgil, Geoj-g. II. 303, we have a fuller description of the spark 
 which, dropped at hazard, kindles the bark, and the branches, and 
 the foliage : 
 
 **And as in triumph seizes on the boughs, 
 And reigns upon the throne of pine-tree tops. 
 And wraps the forest in a robe of flame." 
 
 The word, however, had gradually passed into the hands of the 
 metaphysicians, and like the Latin materia, which originally meant 
 "timber" (a meaning still traceable in the name of Madeira, "the 
 well-tivibered island "), had come to mean matter as distinct from 
 form, and then passing back, with its modified meaning, into common 
 use, had been used for a pile, or heap of stuff, or materials of any 
 kind. On the whole then, while admitting the greater vividness of 
 the Homeric similitude, St James is likely to have meant a mass of 
 materials rather than a forest. Comp. Prov. xvi. 27, and Ecclus. xxviii. 10, 
 where we have exactly the same comparison. The Authorised Version 
 may be accordingly received as not far \vrong. Here again it may be 
 noted that Philo employs the same similitude to illustrate the growth 
 of goodness in the soul: "As the smallest spark will, if duly fanned, 
 kindle a vast pyre, so is the least element of virtue capable of growth 
 till the whole nature of the man glows with a new warmth and bright- 
 ness," (Philo, de Migr. Abr. p. 407). But he also frequently uses 
 the comparison in reference to the rapid extension of evil. 
 
 6. And the tongtie is a fire, a zuorld of iniqicity] The last words 
 are in apposition with the subject, not the predicate, of the sentence. 
 The tongue is described as emphatically that world — we should per- 
 haps say, that microcosm — of unrigMeousness. As uttering all evil 
 thoughts and desires, no element of unrighteousness was absent from 
 it, and that which includes all the elements of anything well deserves 
 the name of being its Cosmos. 
 
 so is the tongue among our members'] The particle of comparison 
 is not found in the best MSS., but is clearly implied, and is therefore 
 legitimately inserted in the translation, as it is in some later MSS. 
 The sentence strictly runs. The tongue is set in our members, 
 
V. 7.] . ST. JAMES, III. 8i 
 
 bers, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the 
 course of nature ; and it is set on fire of hell. For every 7 
 
 referring of course not to a Divine appointment, but to its actual 
 position. It is, as a fact, that which "defiles", better perhaps spots 
 or stains, the whole body. Every evil word is thought of as leaving 
 its impress, it may be an indelible impress, as a blot upon the whole 
 character. 
 
 and setteth on fire the course of tiature\ The last words have no 
 parallel in any Greek author, and are therefore naturally somewhat diffi- 
 cult. Literally, we might render, the wheel of nature or of birth, just 
 as in ch. i. 23 we found "the face of nature," for the "natural face," 
 that with which we are bom. The best interpretation seems to be 
 that which sees in the phrase a figure for "the whole of life from 
 birth;" the wheel which then begins to roll on its course, and con- 
 tinues rolling until death. The comparison of life to a race, or course 
 of some kind, has been familiar to the poetry of all ages, and in a 
 Latin poet, Silius Italicus (vi. 120), we have a phrase almost identical 
 with St James's, 
 
 "Talis lege Deum clivoso tramite vitae 
 Per varies praceps casus rota volvitur cBvii''' 
 
 ** So. by the law of God, through chance and change, 
 The wheel of life rolls down the steep descent." 
 
 What is meant, if we adopt this view, is that from the beginning 
 of life to its close, the tongue is an ever-present inflammatory element 
 of evil. 
 
 As an alternative explanation it is possible that there may be a 
 reference to the potter's wheel, as in Jerem. xviii. 3, and Ecclus. xxxviii. 
 29, in the latter of which the same word for "wheel" is used. On 
 this view the tongue would be represented as the flame that by its 
 untempered heat mars the vessel in the hands of the potter. The 
 frequent parallelisms between St James and the Wisdom of the Son 
 of Sirach, are, as far as they go, in favour of this view, but the former 
 seems to me, on the whole, preferable. A third view, that the 
 words have the same kind of meaning as orbis terrai'um, and mean, 
 as in the English Version, the whole order or course of nature, i. e. 
 of human history in the world at large, has, it is believed, less to 
 recommend it. 
 
 and it is set on fire of hell\ The Greek participle is in the present. 
 The tongue that speaks evil is ever "being set on fire of Gehenna. St 
 James does not shrink from tracing sins of speech to their source. 
 The fire of man's wrath is kindled from beneath, as the fire that 
 cleanses is kindled from above. Bearing in our minds the wonder 
 of the day of Pentecost, it is hardly too bold to say that we have to 
 choose whether our tongue shall be purified by the fire of the Holy 
 Spirit or defiled by that of Gehenna.. The latter word is that em- 
 ployed in the Gospels, as here, for "Hell", wherever that word means, 
 not simply the place of the dead, which is expressed in the Greek 
 
 ST JAMES 6 
 
82 ST. JAMES, III. [vv. 8, 9. 
 
 kind of beasts, *and of birds, and of serpents, and of thitigs 
 
 8 in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind : but 
 the tongue can no man tame ; it is an unruly evil, full of 
 
 9 deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father ; 
 
 by Hades, the unseen world, but the place of torment. Primarily, 
 the word is a Hebrew one, signifying the Valley of Hinnom.- As that 
 valley had been in the days of the idolatries of Judah the scene of 
 the fires of Moloch worship (2 Kings xxiii. 10; Jerem. vii. 31, xix. 5, 6), 
 and had in later times become the cloaca where the filth and offal 
 of the city were consumed in fires kept continually burning (so it is 
 commonly said, but the fact is not quite certain), it came to be among 
 the later Rabbis what Tartarus was to the Greeks, the symbol of the 
 dread penalties of evil. Comp. Matth. v. 22, Mark ix. 43. 
 
 7. every kind of beasts] Better, Every nature. This was, proba- 
 bly, intended by the translators, as being the old meaning of the word 
 "kind," as in the "kindly fruits" (=" natural products") of the Litany. 
 So Chaucer, "A beautie that cometh not of kinde,'" Rom. of Rose, 2288, 
 i. e. that is not natural. It may be noted that the Authorised Version in 
 this instance returns to Wycliffe, who used the word in its old sense, and 
 that all the intermediate versions give "nature." The fourfold classifi- 
 cation is obviously intended to be exhaustive — and "beasts" must there- 
 fore be taken in its common familiar meaning of "quadruped." 
 
 serpents'] is too specific for the third word, and it would be better to 
 give the rendering which it commonly h^ elsewhere, of "creeping 
 things." 
 
 is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind] Better, the word being 
 the same as in the first clause, "by the nature of man." The tense of 
 the first verb implies "is continually being tamed." The assertion may 
 seem at first somewhat hyperbolical, but the well-known cases of tame 
 rats and tame wasps, the lion of Androcles and the white fawn of 
 Sertorius, furnish what may well be termed "crucial instances" in 
 support of it. The story related by Cassian {Coll. xxiv. 2), that 
 St John in his old age kept a tame partridge, makes it probable that 
 St James may have seen, among his fellow- teachers, such an instance of 
 the power of man to tame the varied forms of animal life around him. 
 
 8. but the tongtie can no man tame] There is a special force in the 
 Greek tense for "tame", which expresses not habitual, but momentary 
 action. St James had learnt, by what he saw around him, and yet 
 more, it may be, by personal experience, that no powei's of the "nature 
 of man " were adequate for this purpose. He had learnt also, we must 
 believe, that the things which are impossible with man are possible 
 with God. 
 
 an um-uly evil] Literally, uncontrollable. Many of the better MSS., 
 however, give the adjective which is rendered "unstable" in ch. i. 8, 
 and which carries with it, together with that meaning, the idea of 
 restlessness and turbulence. So in the Shepherd of Hermas (il. 2) calumny 
 is described as a " restless demon." 
 
 full of deadly poison] Literally, death-bringing. For the idea comp. 
 
vv. lo— 12.] ST. JAMES, III. 83 
 
 and therewith curse we men, which are made after the simi- 
 litude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing 
 and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. 
 Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water 
 and bitter ? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive ber- 
 ries ? either a vine, figs ? so can no fountain both yield salt 
 water and fresh. 
 
 *' the poison of asps is under their lips," Ps. cxl. 3. The adjective is 
 found in the LXX. version of Job xxxiii. 23, for *' angels or messengers 
 of death." 
 
 9. Therewith bless we God, even the Father. . . ] Many of the better MSB. 
 give "the Lord" instead of "God". The fact dwelt on comes in to 
 illustrate the strange inconsistency, even of men who professed faith in 
 God, in their use of speech. General as the words are, they pointed, we 
 may believe, especially to the feelings of Jews towards Christians, or of 
 the more bigoted section of Jewish Christians towards the Gentiles. 
 Such men were loud in their benedictions of the Eternal, the Blessed 
 One, yet they had not learnt to reverence humanity as such, as made 
 after the likeness of God. They cursed those who worshipped or be-, 
 lieved after a different manner from their own. The annals of Christen- 
 dom shew that the necessity for the warning has not passed away. 
 Councils formulating the faith, and uttering their curses on heretics; 
 Te Deums chanted at an Auto da F^, or after a Massacre of St Bar- 
 tholomew, the railings of religious parties who are restrained from other 
 modes of warfare, present the same melancholy inconsistency. 
 
 10. these things ought not so to be'] The verb, strictly speaking, 
 denotes not so much a state, as the coming into a state : these things 
 ought not to occur hi this way, 
 
 11. Doth a fountain] The Greek gives the article, the fountain, as 
 more emphatically generalising the question. 
 
 send forth at the same place .. .] Both verb and noun in the Greek are 
 more vivid. Our word spurt or gush, if it could be used transitively, 
 would answer to the former; our mouth, or ''source", or "orifice", to the 
 latter. The comparison, was a natural one in a country like Palestine, 
 where springs more or less salt or sulphureous are not uncommon. 
 Most of those on the eastern slope of the hill-country of Judah and 
 Benjamin are indeed brackish. Comp. the sweetening of the spring 
 which supplied the college of the Sons of the Prophets in 2 Kings, ii. 19, 
 and the symbolic healing of the waters in Ezek. xlvii. 9. 
 
 12. Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries ?...] The comparison 
 here also has an eminently local character. The court-yard of well- 
 nigh every house had its vine and fig-tree (2 Kings xviii. 31). The 
 Mount of Olives supplied the other feature. The idea, as a whole, is 
 parallel to that of Matt. vii. 16, 17, and may well have been suggested 
 by it. 
 
 so can no fountain both yield salt water andfresK] The better MSS. 
 give a somewhat briefer form. Neither can a salt (spring) jdeld sweet 
 
 6—2 
 
84 ST. JAMES, ITT. [vv. 13, 14. 
 
 13 — 18. The false Wisdom and the true. 
 
 13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge amongst 
 you ? let him shew out of a good conversation his works 
 
 14 with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying 
 
 (the same adjective as in the preceding verse) water. The comparison 
 seems at first to break down, as the fact which it was meant to illustrate 
 was that " blessing and cursing." did issue from the same mouth. What 
 is meant, however, is that in such a case, the "blessing" loses its cha- 
 racter, and is tainted with the bitterness of the cursing. The prayers 
 and praises of the hypocrite who cherishes hatred in his heart, are worse 
 than worthless. 
 
 13 — 18. The false Wisdom and the true. 
 
 13. Who is a wise man and endtied with knowledge among you ?\ The 
 adjective corresponding to "endued with knowledge" (literally knowing 
 or understanding) is not found elsewhere in the New Testament, but 
 occurs in the LXX. of Deut. i. 13, 15; iv. 6; Isai. v. 21. So far as a 
 distinction is intended, it expresses the intellectual, as "wise" does the 
 moral, aspect of wisdom. Both qualities were required in one who 
 claimed to be, as in verse i, a " Master " or "Teacher," and St James, in 
 strict sequence of thought, proceeds to point out how the conditions may 
 be fulfilled. 
 
 out of a good conversation"] The tendency of modem usage to restrictthe 
 meaning of the substantive to "talk" is in this instance, where the im- 
 mediate context suggests some such meaning, specially unfortunate, as 
 lowering the range of the precept. Better by, or otct of, Ms good (the 
 word expresses the nobler form of goodness) conduct. Comp. the use of 
 the word in Gal. i. 13 ; i Pet. i. 15, 18, and elsewhere. 
 
 with meekness of wisdom] Better, in meekness, as expressing not some- 
 thing super-added, but the very form and manner in which -the noble 
 conduct was to be shewn. The "meekness" thus defined is thought of 
 as belonging to " wisdom " as its characteristic attribute. St James is 
 hence led back to the thought with which the Epistle opened, that wis- 
 dom is the crown and consummation of the character of a true believer ; 
 and lest a counterfeit wisdom should be taken for the true, he proceeds 
 to give the notes of difference between them. 
 
 14. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts] Better, 
 envy and rivalry. The latter substantive, formed from a word which 
 means a "day-labourer", expresses primarily the temper of competition 
 that characterised the class, and then more generally, faction and party- 
 spirit of any kind. It is significant that the word for "envy" is used by 
 St Luke as specially characterising the temper of the jews towards the 
 Gentile converts (Acts xiii. 45), and this, together with what we have 
 seen of the true bearing of ch. ii. 14 — 26, leads to the conclusion that 
 St James's warning is specially addressed to those of the Circumcision 
 who displayed that feeling. He is shewing himself not the antagonist, 
 
vv. 15, 16.] ST. JAMES, III. 85 
 
 and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against 
 the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, 15 
 but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and 16 
 
 tut the supporter of St Paul's work, condemning the factious spirit 
 which was then, as afterwards at Corinth (2 Cor. xii. 20), in Galatia 
 (Gal. V. 20), and at Rome (Phil. i. 15), his chief hindrance. The word 
 "bitter" is perhaps added to "envy" because the Greek word "zeal" 
 was neutral, and admitted of a good meaning. 
 
 glory not\ The word expresses a relative, not an absolute glory- 
 ing, a glor5dng over some one, on the ground of superior privileges. 
 This was, it is obvious, likely to be the besetting sin of the party of the 
 Circumcision in relation to the Gentiles, and was therefore checked by 
 St James, just as afterwards, when the prospect of the rejection of 
 Israel was becoming a certainty, it became, in its turn, the sin of the 
 Gentile converts, and was then checked by St Paul (Rom. xi. 18). 
 
 lie not against the trutK\ It is clear that if the word "truth" were 
 only subjective in its meaning,- as meaning "truthfulness," the precept 
 would be open to the charge of tautology. We must therefore assume 
 that it is used with an objective force, as the truth of God revealed in 
 Christ. We ask what special truth thus revealed those to whom St 
 James wrote were most in danger of denying, and the answer lies on 
 the surface. They were claiming God as the God of the Jews only 
 (Rom. iii. 29), denying the brotherhood of mankind in Christ, "lying 
 against " the very truth of which they fancied that they were the exclu- 
 sive possessors. 
 
 15. This wisdom descendeth not from above'] St James returns to the 
 thought of chap» i. 5, that true wisdom was the gift of God, coming, 
 like every other good and perfect gift, from above (ch. i. 17). But this 
 was not "the wisdom" of which the "many teachers" of the party of 
 the Circumcision were boasting. It was, however, that of the Proverbs 
 of Solomon, and of the Wisdom of the Son of Sirach, on which so 
 much of St James's teaching was modelled. (Comp. Ecclus. i. i — 10.) 
 It was that which had been manifested to mankind in all its fulness in 
 Christ. 
 
 earthly, sensual, devilish"] Each word is full of meaning, (i) The 
 counterfeit wisdom is "earthly" in its nature and origin as contrasted 
 with that which cometh from above. (Comp. St Paul's "who mind 
 <?arM/)/ things, " Phil. iii. 19). (2) It is "sensual." The word is used 
 by classical writers for that which belongs to the "soul" as contrasted 
 with the "body." This rested on the twofold division of man's nature. 
 The psychology of the New Testament, however, assumes generally the 
 threefold division of body, soul, and spirit, the second element answer- 
 ing to the animal, emotional life, and the third being that which 
 includes reason and will, the capacity for immortality and for knowing 
 God. Hence the adjective formed from "soul" acquired a lower 
 meaning, almost the very opposite of that which- it once had, and 
 expresses man's state as left to lower impulses without the control of 
 the spirit. So St Paul contrasts the natural man with the spiritual 
 
86 ST. JAMES, III. [v. 17. 
 
 17 strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the 
 wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, 
 gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy _and good 
 
 (i Cor. ii. 14), the natural and the spiritual body (1 Cor. xv. 44, 46). 
 So St Jude describes the false teachers, whom he condemns as ''sen- 
 sual, having not the Spirit." "What St James says then of the false 
 wisdom is that it belongs to the lower, not the higher, element in man's 
 nature. It does not come from the Spirit of God, and therefore is not 
 spiritual. (3) In "deviUsh" we have yet a darker condemnation. 
 Our English use of the same word, "devil," for the two Greek words 
 diabolos and dcemonion, tends, however, to obscure St James's meaning. 
 The epithet does not state that the false wisdom which he condemns 
 came from the devil, or was like his nature, but that it was demon-like, 
 as partaking of the nature of the "demons" or "unclean spirits," who, 
 as in the Gospels, are represented as possessing the souls of men, and 
 reducing them to the level of madness. Such, St James says, is the 
 character of the spurious wisdom of the "many masters" of verse i. 
 Met together in debate, wrangling, cursing, swearing, one would take 
 them for an assembly of demoniacs. Their disputes were marked by 
 the ferocity, the egotism, the boasting, the malignant cunning of the 
 insane. St Paul's account of the " doctrines of devils," i. e. proceeding 
 from demons (i Tim. iv. 1), not from the Spirit of God, presents a 
 striking parallel. St James's previous allusion to "demons" (see note 
 on ch. ii. 19) confirms the interpretation thus given, as shewing how 
 much his thoughts had been directed to the ph?enomena of possession. 
 
 16. envying and strife'] Better, as before, envy and rivalry. See note 
 on verse 14. " 
 
 there is conficsion and every evil worh} On the first word see note on 
 verse 8. It describes here the chaotic turbulence of such an assembly as 
 that indicated in the preceding verse. Comp. Prov. xxvi. 28, where the 
 Greek word in the LXX. answers to the "ruin" of the English version. 
 The word for "evil" is not the common one, and expresses contempt as 
 well as condemnation. Better, every vile deed. It is the word used in 
 John iii. 20, v. 2 9. 
 
 17. Bz(t the wisdom that is from above is first ptire, then peaceable'] 
 The sequence is that of thought, not of time. It is not meant, i. e. that 
 purity is an earlier stage of moral growth in wisdom than peace, but 
 that it is its foremost attribute. The "purity" indicated is especially 
 that of chastity of flesh and spirit (comp. 2 Cor. vii. 11, xi. 2; Tit. ii. 5), 
 and as such is contrasted with the "sensual" character of the false 
 wisdom. Here again we have the tone of one who has learnt from the 
 Masters of those who know, among the teachers of his own people, that 
 wisdom will not "dwell in the body that is subject unto sin " (Wisd. i. 
 4). The sequence which places " peaceful " after " pure " has its counter- 
 part in the beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. v. 8, 9). 
 
 gentle\ and easy to be intreated] The word for "gentle "means literally, 
 forbearing. It describes, as in Aristotle [Eth. x. 6), the temper that 
 does not press its rights, that is content to suffer wrong (comp. Phil. iv. 
 
V. i8.] ST. JAMES, III. 87 
 
 fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the 
 fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make 
 peace. 
 
 5 ; I Tim. iii. 3). The second adjective is used by classical writers, 
 both in a passive sense as liere, and active, (i) as meaning ^^" per- 
 suasive," "winning its way by gentleness," or (a) as '* obedient." Our 
 choice between the three meanings must depend on our view of what is 
 most likely to have been the sequence of St James's thoughts. . On the 
 whole, the second seems to me to have the most to commend it. True 
 wisdom shews itself, St James seems to say, in that subtle yet gentle 
 power to persuade and win, which we all feel when we come in contact 
 with one who is clearly not fighting for his own rights, but for the cause 
 of Truth. 
 
 full of mercy and good fruit s\ The train of thought is carried on. 
 Wisdom is suasive because she is compassionate. In dealing with 
 the froward she is stirred, not by anger, but by pity, and she over- 
 flows, not with ** every vile deed," but with the good fruits of kindly 
 
 without partiality] Here again we have a Greek word which admits 
 of more than one sense. The English version gives it an active sense, as 
 describing the temper which does not distinguish wrongly, which is no 
 respecter of persons. The sense in which the verb, from which the 
 adjective is formed, is used in ch. i. 6, ii. 4, is, however, that of "doubt- 
 ing," or "wavering;" and it seems, therefore, probable that St James 
 means to describe true wisdom as free from the tendency which he thus 
 condemns. That freedom goes naturally with the freedom _ from un- 
 reality which the next word expresses. Without vacillation is the con- 
 dition of ''without hypocrisy.'' Where the purpose is single there is no 
 risk of a simulated piety. 
 
 • 18. And the fruit of righteousness is so%vn in peace.. i\ It is commonly 
 said that "the fruit of righteousness" means "the fruit which is 
 righteousness." The analogy of a like structure, however, in Luke iii.^8 
 ("worthy fruits of repentance"), Eph, v. 9 ("the fruit of the Spirit "), 
 and other passages, is in favour of taking it as the fruit which righteous- 
 ness produces. Every good deed is a fruit produced by the good seed 
 sown in the good soil, and not choked by thorns. And every such deed 
 is, in its turn, as the seed of a future fruit like in kind. It is " soAvn in 
 peace" (we must remember all the fulness of meaning which the Hebrew 
 mind attached to peace as the highest form of blessedness) either "by" 
 or " for " (the former is, perhaps, meant, but the phrase may have been 
 used to include both) those that make peace. We cannot fail to con- 
 nect these words with the beatitude on the peace-makers in the Sermon 
 on the Mount (Matt. v. 9). We can as little fail to note the resemblance 
 between this portraiture of the true wisdom and the picture which St 
 Paul draws in i Cor. xiii. of the excellence of Charity or Love. Differ- 
 ing, as the two teachers did, in many ways, in their modes of thought 
 and language, one fastening on the more practical, the other on the 
 more spiritual, aspects of the Truth, there was an essential agreement in 
 
88 ^T. JAMES, IV. [vv. i, 2. 
 
 I — 7. God's giving aftd the World^s getti?ig. 
 
 4 From whence come wars and fightings among you? 
 
 co?ne they not hence, eveji of your lusts that war in your mem- 
 
 2 bers ? Ye lust, and have not : ye kill, and desire to have, 
 
 their standard of the highest form of the Christian character. A com- 
 parison of the two helps us to understand how the one teacher held out 
 the right hand of fellowship to the other (Gal. ii. 9), and to hope for a 
 like accord now among men who seem to differ in their conception of 
 Christian Truth, if only they agree in their ultimate aim and standard, 
 and feel, in the depth of their being, that Love is Wisdom, and that 
 Wisdom is Love. 
 
 Ch. IV. 1 — 7. God's giving and the World's getting. 
 
 1. whence cofne wars and fightings among yoti?...'\ One source of 
 discord had been touched in the "Be not many masters " of Chap. iii. i. 
 Sectarianism and all its kindred evils were destructive of peace, and 
 therefore of all true wisdom. Another besetting sin of the race which 
 St James addressed, from which indeed no race or nation is exempt, 
 now comes in view. "Wars," protracted or wide-spread disputes : 
 "fighting," the conflicts and skirmishes of daily life, which make up 
 the campaign, — "What do they come from?" the writer asks, and then 
 makes answer to himself A question so like in form to this as to 
 suggest the thought that it must be a conscious reproduction, is found in 
 the Epistle of Clement of Rome {c. 45). 
 
 eveji of your lusts that war in your members .?] Literally, from your 
 pleasures. The noun- is used as nearly equivalent to "desires." Com- 
 mon as the word "pleasure " was in all Greek ethical writers, it is com- 
 paratively rare in the New Testament. In the Gospels it meets us in 
 Luke viii. 14, and with much the same sense as in this passage. These 
 " lusts "or " pleasures " are, the next word tells us, the hosts that carry 
 on the conflict and perpetuate the warfare. They make our "members," 
 each organ of sense or action, their camping ground and field of 
 battle. Hence, to extend the metaphor one step further, as St Peter 
 extends it, they "war against the soul" (i Pet. ii. 11). 
 
 2. Ye lust, and have not.,.] The genesis of evil is traced sornewhat 
 in the same way as in ch. i. 15. The genn is found in desire for what 
 we have not, as e.g. in the sins of David (2 Sam. xi. i) and Ahab 
 (i Kings xxi. 2 — 4). That desire becomes the master-passion of a 
 man's soul, and hurries him on to crimes from which he would, at 
 first, have shrunk. 
 
 ye kill, and desire to have...] The order strikes us as inverted, put- 
 ting the last and deadliest sin at the beginning. The marginal alterna- 
 tive of "envy" would doubtless give an easier sense, but this cannot 
 possibly be tlie meaning of the Greek word as it stands, and comes from 
 ..a conjectural reading, suggested, without any MS. authority, by Erasmus 
 and Beza. If we remember, however, the state of Jewish society, the 
 bands, of robber- outlaws of whom Barabbas was a type (Mark xv. 7 : 
 
vv. 3, 4.] ST. JAMES, IV. 89 
 
 and cannot obtain : ye fight and war, yet ye have not, be- 
 cause ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask 3 
 amiss, that ye may consume // upon your lusts. Ye adul- 4 
 terers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of 
 
 John x^^ii. 39), the "four thousand men that were murderers" of Acts 
 xxi. 38, the bands of Zealots and Sicarii who were prominent in the 
 tumults that preceded the final war with Rome, it will not seem so start- 
 ling that St James should emphasise his w arning by beginning with the 
 words " Ye murder.''^ In such a state of society, murder is often the first 
 thing that a man thinks of as a means to gratify his desires, not, as with 
 us, a last resource when other means have failed. Comp. the picture 
 of a like social condition in which "men make haste to shed blood" 
 in Prov. i. 16. There was, perhaps, a grim truth in the picture which 
 St James draws. It was after the deed was done that the murderers 
 began to quarrel over the division of the spoil, and found themselves as 
 unsatisfied as before, still not able to obtain that on which they had set 
 their hearts, and so plunging into fresh quarrels, ending as they began, 
 in bloodshed. There seems, at first, something almost incredible in the 
 thought, that the believers to whom St James wrote could be guilty of 
 such crimes, but Jewish society was at that time rife with atrocities of 
 like nature, and men, nominally disciples of Christ, might then, as in 
 later times, sink to its level. See note on next verse. 
 
 ye have not, because ye ask not\ This then was the. secret of the 
 restless cravings and the ever-returning disappointments. They had 
 never once made their wants the subject of a true and earnest prayer. 
 Here again we note the fundamental unity of teaching in St James and 
 St Paul. Comp. Phil. iv. 6. Prayer is with each of them the condition 
 of content or joy. 
 
 3. Ye ask, and receive not.. 7^ The words are obviously written as 
 in answer to an implied objection : "Not ask," a man might say ; "come 
 and Rsten to our prayers ; no one can accuse us of neglecting our de- 
 votions." Incredible as it might seem that men plundering and mur- 
 dering, as the previous verses represent them, should have held such 
 language, or been in any sense, men who prayed, the history of 
 Christendom presents but too many instances of like anomalies. Cornish 
 wreckers going from church to their accursed work, Italian brigands 
 propitiating their patron Saint before attacking a company of travellers, 
 slave-traders, such as John Newton once was, recording piously God's 
 blessing on their traffic of the year; — these may serve to shew how 
 soon conscience may be seared, and its warning voice come to give but 
 an uncertain sound. 
 
 that ye may consume it upon your lusts'] Better, that ye may spend it 
 in your pleasures. This then was that which vitiated all their prayers. 
 They prayed not for the good of others, nor even for their own true good, 
 but for the satisfaction of that which was basest in their nature, and 
 which they, as disciples of Christ, were specially called on to repress. 
 
 4. Ye adiilterers and adulteresses..^ The better MSS. give ye 
 adulteresses only. The use of the feminine alone in this cormexion. 
 
90 ST. JAMES, IV. [v. 5. 
 
 the world is enmity with God ? whosoever therefore will be 
 
 5 a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think 
 
 that the scripture saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us 
 
 where the persons referred to are primarily men, is at first startling. It 
 has a partial parallel in our Lord's words " a« evil and adulterotis gene- 
 ration " (Matt. xii. 39), but it finds its best explanation in the thought, 
 not without its bearing on what follows, that the soul's unfaithfulness 
 towards God is like that of a wife towards her husband. It is as though 
 St James said '* Ye adulterous souls." There is, it may be, in the use of 
 such a term, a touch of indignant scorn not unlike that in Homer, 
 *Axct"5es, ovK€T 'Axacol. "Women, not men of Achsea " (//. II. 235), 
 or Virgil's '*0 vere Phrygise, neque enim Phryges " {A£jz. ix. 617). 
 In this subserviency to pleasures, St James sees that which, though 
 united with crimes of violence, is yet essentially effeminate. 
 
 the friendship of the world is enmity with God ?'\ Once more we have 
 a distinct echo from the Sermon of the Mount (Matt. vi. 24; Luke xvi. 
 13). Here, also, as in chap. i. 8, stress is laid on the fact that the 
 neutrality of a divided allegiance is impossible. In that warfare, there- 
 fore, we must choose our side. We take it, even if we think that we 
 do not choose it. 
 
 whosoever therefore will be a frieftd of the world...'] Literally, 
 Whosoever, wishes to he a friend. The inference is not a mere 
 repetition, but lays stress on the fact that the mere wish and inclination 
 to be on one side involves, ipso facto, antagonism to the other. 
 
 5. the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?] The words pre- 
 sent a two-fold difficulty : (i) They are quoted as Scripture, and yet no 
 such words are found either in the Canonical or even in the Apocryphal 
 Books of the Old Testament. (2) It is by no means clear what they 
 mean in themselves, or what is their relation to the context. If we can 
 determine the latter point, it may, perhaps, help us in dealing with the 
 former, {a) The better MSS., it may be noted, to begin with, give a 
 different reading of the first words : The Spirit which he planted (or 
 made to dwell) in us. If we adopt this reading, it makes it all but 
 absolutely certain that what is predicated of thef Spirit must be good, 
 and not, as the English version suggests, evil, {p) The Greek word for 
 "lusteth" conveys commonly a higher meaning than the English, and 
 is rendered elsewhere by "longing after " (Rom. i. 11 ; Phil, i. 8, ii. 26; 
 2 Cor. ix. 14), or "earnestly desiring" (2 Cor. v. 2), or "greatly desiring" 
 (2 Tim. i. 4). New .Testament usage is accordingly in favour of giving 
 the word such a meaning here. The verb has no object, but it is 
 natural to supply the pronoun "us." Taking these data we get as 
 the true meaning of the words. The Spirit which He implanted yearns 
 tenderly over us. (<r) The words that remain, "to envy," admit of 
 being taken as with an adverbial force. "In a manner tending to envy," 
 enviously. The fact that ' ' envy " is elsewhere in the New Testament and 
 elsewhere condemned as simply evil, makes its use here somewhat startling. 
 But the thought implied is that the strongest human affection shews itself 
 in ajealousy which is scarcely distinguishable from "envy." We grudge 
 
V. 6.] ST. JAMES, IV. 91 
 
 lusteth to envy ? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he 6 
 saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace 
 
 the transfer to another of the affection which we claim as ours. We 
 envy the happiness of that other. In that sense St James says that the 
 Spirit, implanted in us, yearns to make us wholly His and is satisfied 
 with no divided allegiance. He simply treats the Greek word for 
 "envy" as other writers treated the word "jealousy," which though 
 commonly viewed as evil, was yet treated at times as a parable of the 
 purest spiritual affection (2 Cor. xi. 2; Gal. iv. 17, 18). The root- 
 idea of the passage is accordingly identical with that of the jealousy 
 of God over Israel as His bride (Jer. iii. i — 11 ; Ezek. xvi. : Hos. ii. 3), 
 of His wrath when the bride proved faithless. Those who had been ad- 
 dressed as "adulteresses" (verse 4), were forgetting this. All that 
 they read of the love or jealousy of God was to them as an idle tale. 
 For t'in vain" read idly, emptily. 
 
 There remains the question, in what sense does St James give these 
 words as a quotation from " the Scripture " ? No words at all like them 
 in form are found anywhere in the Old Testament, and we have to sup- 
 pose either ( i.) that they were cited from some lost book that never 
 found a place in the Hebrew Canon, a supposition, which, though not 
 absolutely impossible, is yet in a very high degree unlikely ; or, which 
 seems the more probable explanation, that St James having in his mind 
 the passages above referred to, and many others like them, and finding 
 them too long for quotation, condensed them into one brief pregnant 
 form, which gave the essence of their meaning. A like manner of 
 quoting as Scripture what we do not find in any extant book, is found 
 in Clement of Rome (c. 46), "It has been written, 'Cleave to the saints, 
 for they who cleave to them shall be sanctified.'" As points of detail it 
 may be noted (i). that the Greek word for "yearning" or "longing" 
 occurs in the LXX. version of Deut. xxxii. r r, and is followed in verses 
 13 — 19 by an account of the manner in which the love so shewn had 
 been turned to jealousy by the sins of Israel ; and (2) that Gen. vi. 5, 
 as in the LXX., "My spirit shall not abide for ever with men," may 
 have suggested the "indwelling" of which the first member of the 
 sentence speaks. 
 
 1 have given, what seems on the whole, the most tenable explanation 
 of a passage which is admitted on all hands to be one of extreme diffi- 
 culty. It does not seem desirable to discuss other interpretations at any 
 length, but two or three may be very briefly noticed, (i) The words 
 have been rendered "The Spirit (i.e. the Holy Spirit) that dwelleth in 
 us lusteth against envy," the contrast being assumed to be parallel to 
 that between the works of the Spirit and those of the flesh in Gal. v. 1 7. 
 There is no sufficient authority, however, for giving this meaning to the 
 preposition. (2) The " spirit " has been referred to man's corrupt will, 
 as "lusting to envy," in its bad sense, but the description of the 
 Spirit as* "implanted" or "dwelhng" in us, is against this view. 
 (3) In concurrence with the last interpretation, the question "Do ye 
 think that the Scripture speaks in vain?" has been referred to what 
 precedes the statement, that the friendship of the world is enmity with 
 
92 ST. JAMES, IV. [w. 7, 8. 
 
 7unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. 
 Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 
 
 8 — 10. The Call to Repentance. 
 
 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse 
 your hands, ye sinners ; and purify your hearts, ye double 
 
 God ; but this is at variance with the usual way in which quotations 
 from the Old Testament are introduced in the New. 
 
 6. But he giveth more grace] Following the explanation already 
 given, the sequence of thought seems to run thus : God loves us with a 
 feeling analogous to the strongest form of jealousy, or even envy, but 
 that jealousy does not lead Him, as it leads men, to be grudging in His 
 gifts ; rather does He bestow, as its result, a greater measure of His 
 grace than before, or than He would do, were His attitude towards us 
 one of strict un impassioned Justice. 
 
 Wherefore he saith...'] The nominative to the verb is not expressed, 
 and we may, with almost equal fitness, supply the Scripture, the Spirit, 
 or God. 
 
 God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the htcmble] The point 
 of the quotation lies in the last clause, as containing the proof of what 
 St James had just asserted, that God gave His grace freely to those who 
 thought themselves least worthy of it. It is to be noticed (i) that we 
 again find St James quoting from one of the great sapiential books of 
 the Old Testament (Prov. iii. 34), and (2) that St Peter also quotes it 
 (r Pet. v. 5). That maxim of the wise of old had become, as it were, a 
 law of life for the Community at Jerusalem. Clement of Rome follows 
 their example (c. 30). 
 
 7. Submit yotirselves the7'efore to God\ The forms of the Greek verbs 
 express a somewhat sharper antithesis than the English. God settetli 
 liimself against the proud, therefore, set yourselves as under God. 
 
 Resist the devil, and he will Jiee from yoji] ■ The nde seems to -point to 
 the true field for the exercise of the combative element which enters into 
 man's nature. Not in - strife and bitterness against each other, not in 
 setting themselves against the will of God, but in taking their stand 
 against the Enemy of God and man were the disciples of Christ to shew 
 that they were indeed men. We may, perhaps, trace in the form of the 
 precept an indirect reference to the histoiy of the Temptation in 
 Matt. iv. I— II. 
 
 8 — 10. The Call to Repentance. 
 
 8. Draw nigh to God, and he will dratv nigh to yoti\ The "near- 
 ness to God," to which the promi'Se is attached, is primarily that which 
 is involved in all true and earnest prayer, but it should not be forgotten 
 that it includes also the approximation of character and life. We are 
 to walk with God as Enoch walked (Gen. v. 24). The former sense is 
 prominent in the LXX. use of the verb employed by St James, as in 
 Hos. xii. 6, where in the English we have ^^wait on thy God con- 
 
w. 9— ii.J ST. JAMES, IV. 93 
 
 minded. .Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep : let your 9 
 laugliter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 
 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall Uft =0 
 you up. 
 
 II — 12. Rebuke of Evil-speaki7ig, 
 
 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh " 
 evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of 
 
 tinually," and Ps. cxix. 169. An illustration of its meaning in the second 
 clause is found in Job xix. 21, where it answers to the English "have 
 pity on me." 
 
 Cleanse your hands, ye sinners.. !\ The words contrast, with an 
 impHed reference to our Lord's teaching in Matt. xv. i — 9, the true 
 cleanness of hands, which consists in abstinence from the evil that defiles 
 (Ps. xxiv. 4 ; I Tim. ii. 8), with the merely ceremonial cleanness on 
 which the Pharisees laid stress. Comp. Ch. i. 27. 
 
 purify your hearts... '\ The verb implies the same kind of purity as 
 the adjective used in Ch. iii. 17, primarily, that is, chastity of heart and 
 life. It has here a special emphasis as contrasted with the "adul- 
 teresses " in verse 4, and with the special aspect of the " double-minded- 
 ness" which that word implied. See note on Ch. i. 8. 
 
 9. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep..."] The words are nearly sy- 
 nonymous, the first pointing to the sense of 'misery (as in "O wretched 
 man that I am " in Rom. vii. 24), the second to its general effect on. 
 demeanour, the last to its special outflow in tears. The two last verbs 
 are frequently joined together, as in Mark xvi. 10 ; Luke vi. -25 ; 
 Rev. xviii. 15. The words are an emphatic call to repentance, and 
 the blessedness which follows on repentance. Here, as so often in the 
 Epistle, we trace the direct influence of the teaching of the Sermon on 
 the Mount (Matt. v. 4). The contrast between the "laughter" and the 
 "mourning" in the clause that follows, makes the connexion all but 
 absolutely certain. The "laughter" is that of the careless, selfish, 
 luxurious rejoicing of the world, the "sport" of the fool in Prov. x. 23. 
 
 ■ your joy to heaviness'\ The Greek for the latter word expresses literally 
 the downcast look of sorrow, and is as old in this sense as Homer, 
 "Joy to thy foes, but heavy shame to thee." 
 
 Iliad III. 51. 
 
 It exactly describes the attitude of the publican, who would not "lift up 
 so much as his eyes unto heaven " (Luke xviii. 13). 
 
 10. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you 
 up] Better, he shall exalt, so as to preserve the manifest allusion to 
 our Lord's words as recorded in Matt, xxiii. 12 ; Luke xiv. 12, xviii. 14. 
 Here again we have another striking parallel with St Peter's language 
 (i Pet. V. 6). There is, however, a difference as well as an agi-eement 
 to be noticed. While the other passages speak mainly of humility in 
 its relation to man, this dwells emphatically on its being manifested in 
 relation to God. 
 
94 ST. JAMES, IV. [vv. 12, 13. 
 
 the law, and judgeth the law : but if thou judge the law, 
 
 12 thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one 
 lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy : who art thou 
 that judgest another ? 
 
 13 — 17. Man proposing^ God disposing. 
 
 13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to jnorrow we will go into 
 such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and 
 
 11, 12. Rebuke of Evil-speaking. 
 
 IIJ Speak not evil one of another, brethref{\ The last word indicates 
 the commencement of a new section. It scarcely, however, introduces 
 a new topic. The writer dwells with an iteration, needful for others, and 
 not grievous to himself, (Phil. iii. i) on the ever-besetting sin of his 
 time and people, against which he had warned his readers in Ch. i. 19, 
 20, 26, and throughout Ch. iii. 
 
 speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law..."] The logical train of 
 thought seems to run thus. To speak against a brother is to condemn 
 him ; to condemn, when no duty calls us to it, is to usurp the function 
 of a judge. One who so usurps becomes ipso facto a transgressor of the 
 law, the royal law, of Christ, which forbids judging (Matt. vii. i — 5). 
 The "brother" who is judged is not necessarily such as a member of 
 the Christian society. The superscription of the Epistle includes under 
 that title every one of the family of Abraham, perhaps, every child of 
 Adam. 
 
 12. There is otie lawgiver^ who is able to save and to destroy...'] Here 
 again we have to trace a latent sequence of thought. The Giver of 
 the Law is, St James implies, the only true and ultimate Judge 
 (comp. I Cor. iv. 4, 5), able to award in perfect equity the sentence 
 of salvation or destruction. Men who are called by His appointment 
 to exercise the office of a judge do so as His delegates. ■ Those who 
 are not so called do well to abstain altogether from the work of judging. 
 The description of God as "able to destroy" presents a striking parallel 
 to Matt. X. 28 ; the question "Who art thou that judgest another?" 
 to Rom. xiv. 4. On this point at least St Paul and St James were of 
 one heart and mind. The word "destroy" does not necessarily either 
 include or exclude the idea of annihilation. 
 
 13 — 17. Man proposing, God disposing. 
 
 13. Go to no7v, ye that say...] The warnings pass on to another 
 form of the worldliness of the double-minded ; the far-reaching plans 
 for the future such as our Lord had condemned in the parable of the 
 Rich Fool (Luke xii. 16). It is significant that that parable follows 
 in close sequence upon our Lord's disclaimer of the office of a Judge. 
 The opening formula, "Go to," which meets us again in ch. v. i, 
 is peculiar to St James in the New Testament. It appears in the LXX. 
 in Judg. xix. 6; 2 Kings iv. 24. It is obvious that the warning is 
 
vv. 14, 15.] ■ ST. JAMES, IV. 95 
 
 get gain : whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow : ^^ 
 for what is your life ? It is even a vapour, that appeareth 
 for a Httle time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought is 
 to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. 
 
 addressed to Christians as well as Jews, so far as they were infected 
 by the taint of worldliness. The MSS. vary between "to-day or 
 to-morrow" and "to-day and to-morrow," the latter implying the 
 contemplation of a two days' journey. 
 
 into such a city^ Literally, into this city, that which was present 
 to the mind of the speaker. 
 
 14, Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow'] Literally, 
 the thing, or the event of to-morrow, the phrase being parallel to 
 "the things of the morrow" in Matt. vi. 34. St James partly repro- 
 duces that teaching, partly that of Pro v. xxvii. 1. 
 
 what is your life .?...] Literally, of what n2iXyxrQ your life is. The com- 
 parison that follows was one familiar to all the wise of heart who had 
 meditated on the littleness of man's life. It meets us in Job vii. 7 ; 
 Ps. cii. 3. A yet more striking parallel is found in Wisd. v. 9 — 14, 
 with which St James may well have been familiar. The word for 
 "vanishing away" occurs, it may be noted, in Wisd. iii. 16. It is 
 not without interest to note at once the agreement and the difference 
 between St James' counsel and that of the popular Epicureanism. 
 
 " Quid sit futurum eras, fuge quserere ; et 
 Quem Fors dierum cumque dabit, lucro 
 Appone." Horace, Od. i. 9. 
 
 "Strive ndt the morrow's chance to know, 
 And count whate'er the Fates bestow, 
 As given thee for thy gain." 
 
 It was not strange that those who thought only of this littleness, 
 should deem that their only wisdom lay in making the most of that 
 little in and by itself, and take "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow 
 we die " (i Cor. xv. 32) as their law of life. St James had been taught 
 to connect man's life with. a Will higher than his own, and so to take 
 the measure of its greatness as well as of its littleness. 
 
 15. For that ye ought to say...] Literally, Instead of saying, but 
 the English may be admitted as a fair paraphrase. 
 
 If the Lord will, we shall live...] This is the reading of the better 
 MSS. The Received Text gives "If the Lord will, and we hve, we 
 will do this or that." The sense is substantially the same with either, 
 but it is perhaps, more expressive to refer both life and action to 
 the one Supreme Will. It is better here to refer the word "Lord" 
 to God in His Absolute Unity, without any thought of the distinction 
 of the Persons. The reference of all the contingencies of the future to 
 one supremely wise and loving Will has been in all ages of Christendom 
 the stay and strength of devout souls. It has left its mark, even where 
 it has not always been received as a reality, in familiar formulae, such as 
 
96 ST. JAMES, IV. V. [vv. 16, 17; i, 2. 
 
 16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings": all such rejoicing is 
 
 17 evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth 
 // not, to him it is sin. 
 
 I — 6. Warnings for the Rich; 
 
 5 Go to now^ ye rich nien^ weep and howl for your 
 2 miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are cor- 
 
 **God willing," Deo Volente, or even the abbreviated D. V. There 
 is, perhaps, a special interest in noting that St Paul uses the self-same 
 formula as St James in reference to his plans for the future (i Cor. 
 iv. 19). 
 
 16. Btit now -ye rejoice in your boastingsl Better, ye exult in your 
 vain glories. If the words were not too familiar, ye glory in your 
 braggings Avould, perhaps, be a still nearer equivalent. The noun 
 is found in i John ii. 16 ("the pride of life"), and not elsewhere in 
 the New Testament. It is defined by Aristotle {Etk. Nico?n. iv. 13) 
 as the character of the man who lays claim to what will bring him credit 
 when the claim is either altogether false or grossly exaggerated. He 
 contrasts it with the "irony" which deliberately, with good or bad 
 motive, understates its claims. The "now" is more or less emphatic, 
 = "as things are." 
 
 17. Therefore to him that, knoweth to do good...'\ The law of 
 conscience is here enforced in its utmost width. To leave undone 
 what we know we ought to do, is sin, even though there be no outward 
 act of what men call crime or vice. The bearing of the general axiom 
 on the immediate context is obviously that though men assented then, 
 as we too often assent, to the abstract truth of the shortness of life and 
 the uncertainty of the future, they went on practically as before with 
 far-stretching calculations. Such men need to be reminded that this 
 inconsistency is of the very essence of sin. 
 
 Ch. V. 1 — 6. Warnings for the Rich. 
 
 1. Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl] The words are nearly 
 the same as those we have met with before in ch. iv. 9, but there 'is 
 in them less of the call to repentance, and more of the ring of prophetic 
 denunciation. The word for "howl," not found elsewhere in the 
 New Testament, is found in three consecutive chapters of Isaiah (xiii. 
 6, xiv. 31, XV. 3), which may well have been present to St James' 
 thoughts. 
 
 for your miseries that shall come upon yoti\ Literally, tliat are coming 
 upon you, in the very act to come. The context points to these as 
 consisting not merely in the cares and anxieties that come in the 
 common course of things upon the rich, but in the special troubles 
 that were to usher in the advent of the Judge. Historically, the words 
 had their primary fulfilment in the woes that preceded the destruction 
 of Jerusalem, but these were but the first in the series of "springmg 
 
vv. 3, 4.] ST. JAMES, V. 97 
 
 rupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and 3 
 silver is cankered ; and the rust of them shall be a witness 
 against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire : ye have 
 heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire 4 
 of the labourers which have reaped down your fields, which 
 
 and germinant accomplishments " which will attain their completeness 
 before the final Advent. 
 
 2. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten\ 
 The union of the two chief forms of Eastern wealth in this and the 
 following verse, reminds us of the like combination in Matt. vi. 19, 
 "where moth and rust doth corrupt." Comp. St Paul's **I have coveted 
 no man's silver, or gold, or apparel" (Acts xx. 33). 
 
 3. Your gold and silver is cankered] Literally, rusted, the 
 word being used generically of the tarnish that sooner or later comes 
 over all metals that are exposed to the action of the air. 
 
 shall be a witness against you... '\ Better, for a witness to you. The 
 doom that falls on the earthly possessions of the ungodly shall be, 
 as it were, the token of what will fall on them, unless they avert it 
 by repentance. 
 
 _ shall eat your flesh as it were fire\ The last words have been some- 
 times taken as belonging to the next clause, "as fire ye laid up 
 treasure," but the structure of the English text is preferable. The 
 underlying image suggested is that the rust or canker spreads from 
 the riches to the very life itself, and that when they fail, and leave behind 
 them only the sense of wasted opportunities and the memories of 
 evil pleasures, the soul will shudder at their work as the flesh shudders 
 at the touch of fire. We may perhaps trace a reminiscence of the 
 "unquenchable fire" devouring the carcases in Gehenna, as in Mark 
 ix. 44. 
 
 Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days] Better, Ye laid (or, ye 
 have laid) up treasure in the last days. The preposition cannot possibly 
 have the sense of "for." St James shared the belief of other New Testa- 
 ment writers that they were living in ' * the last days " of the world's history, 
 and that the "coming of the Lord" was nigh (i John ii. 18 ; i Cor. xv. 51 ; 
 I Thess. iv. 15). For those to whom he wrote the words had a very 
 real truth. They were actually living in the "last days" of the polity 
 of Israel. In the chaos and desolation of its fall their heaped-up 
 treasures would avail but little. They would be marked out in pro- 
 portion to their wealth, as the first to be attacked and plundered. 
 
 4. Behold, the hire of the labourers... "] The evil was one of old 
 standing in Judaea. The law had condemned those who kept back 
 the wages of the hired labourer even for a single night (Lev. xix. 13). 
 Jeremiah (xxii. 13) had uttered a woe against him "that useth his 
 neighbour's service without wages." Malachi (iii. 5) had spoken of 
 the SNvift judgment that should come on those who "oppressed the 
 hireling in his wages." The grasping avarice that characterized the 
 latter days of Judaism shewed itself in this form of oppression among 
 others. 
 
 ST JAMES •• 
 
98 ST. JAMES, V. [vv. 5, 6. 
 
 is of you kept back by fraud, crieth : and the cries of them 
 which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of 
 
 5 sabaoth. Ye have hved in pleasure on the earth, and been 
 wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of 
 
 6 slaughter. Ye have condemned atid killed the just ; and he 
 doth not resist you. 
 
 are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaothi The divine Name 
 thus used was pre-eminently characteristic of the language of the 
 Prophets. It does not appear at all in the Pentateuch, nor in Joshua, 
 Judges, or Ruth ; and probably took its rise in the Schools of the 
 Prophets, founded by Samuel. Whether its primary meaning was that 
 Jehovah was the God of all the armies of earth, the God, as we say, 
 of battles, or that He ruled over the armies of the stars of heaven, 
 or over tie unseen hosts of angels, or was wide enough, as seems 
 probable, to include all three ideas, is a question which cannot be very 
 definitely answered. It is characteristic of St James that he gives 
 the Hebrew form of the word, as also St Paul does in citing Isai. i. 9 
 in Rom. ix. 29. For the most part the LXX. renders it by "Almighty" 
 (Pantokrator), and in this form it appears in Rev. iv. 8, where "Holy, 
 holy, holy, Lord God Almighty" answers to " Lord God of sabaoth," 
 or "of hosts" in Isai. vi. 3. This title is specially characteristic of 
 Malachi, in whom it occurs not less than 23 times. 
 
 5. Ye have lived in pleasiire on the earth, and been wantonl Better, 
 Ye lived luxuriously and spent wantonly, the latter word emphasising 
 the lavish and profligate expenditure by which the luxury which the 
 former expresses was maintained. 
 
 ye have nourished your hearts^ as in a day of slaughter'] Many of the 
 best MSS. omit the particle of comparison, ye nouristied your heart 
 in the day of slaughter. With this reading, the "day of slaughter" 
 is that of the carnage and bloodshed of war, such a "sacrifice" as 
 that which the Lord of Hosts had, of old, by the river Euphrates 
 (Jerem. xlvi. 10), or the "great slaughter" in the land of Idumsea 
 (Isai. xxxiv. 6). The "rich men" of Judaea, in their pampered luxury, 
 were but fattening themselves, all unconscious of their doom, as beasts 
 are fattened, for the slaughter. The insertion of the particle of 
 comparison suggests a difi'erent aspect of the same thought. A sacrifice 
 was commonly followed by a sumptuous feast upon what had been 
 offered. Comp. the union of the two thoughts in the harlot's words 
 (" I have peace-offerings with me ; this day have I paid my vows") 
 in Prov. vii. 14. Taking this view St James reproaches the self- 
 indulgent rich with making their life one long continuous feast. The 
 former interpretation seems preferable, both on critical and exegetical 
 grounds. 
 
 6. Ye have condemned and killed the just] The words have been 
 very generally understood as referring to the death of Christ, and on 
 this view, the words "he doth not resist you " have been interpreted 
 as meaning, "He no longer checks you in your career of guilt; He 
 leaves you alone (comp. Hos. iv. 17) to fill up the measure of your sin." 
 
V. 7.] ST. JAMES, V. 99 
 
 7 — II. Comfort and Counsel for the Poor. 
 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the 7 
 Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious 
 
 St James, it has been inferred, uses the term "the Jvist One" as 
 Stephen had done (Acts vii. 52), as pointing emphatically to "Jesus 
 Christ the righteous" (i John ii, i). Fuller consideration, however, 
 shews that such a meaning could hardly have come within the horizon 
 of St James's thoughts, (i ) That single evil act of priests, and scribes, 
 and the rnultitude of Jerusalem, could hardly have been thus spoken of 
 in an Epistle addressed to the Twelve Tribes of the dispersion, without 
 a more distinct indication of what was referred to. To see in them, 
 as some have done, the statement that the Jews, wherever they were 
 found, were guilty of that crime, as accepting and approving it, or as 
 committing sins which made such an atonement necessary, is to read 
 into_ them a non-natural meaning. (2) The whole context leads us to 
 see in the words, a generic evil, a class sin, characteristic, like those 
 of the previous verse, of the rich and powerful everywhere. (3) The 
 meaning thus given to "he doth not resist you" seems, to say the least, 
 strained and unnatural, especially as coming so soon after the teaching 
 (ch. iv. 6) which had declared that "God does resist the proud. " (4) The 
 true meaning of both clauses is found, it is believed, in taking " the just " 
 as the representative of a class, probably of the class of those, who as 
 disciples of Christ the Just One, were reproducing His pattern of 
 righteousness. Such an one, like his Master, and like Stephen, St James 
 adds, takes as his law (note the change of tense from past to present) the 
 rule of not resisting. He submits patiently, certain that in the end he 
 will be more than conqueror. It is not without interest to note that that 
 title was afterwards applied to St James himself (Euseb. Hist. 11. 33). 
 The name Justus, which appears three times in the New Testament 
 (Acts i.^ 23, xviii. 75 Col. iv. 11), was obviously the Latin equivalent of 
 this epithet, and it probably answered to the Chasidi?n or Assideans 
 (i Mace. ii. 42, vii. 13, 2 Mace. xiv. 6) of an earlier stage of Jewish re- 
 ligious history. It is as if a follower of George Fox had addressed the 
 judges and clergy of Charles II. 's reign, and said to them, "Ye persecuted 
 the Friend, and he does not resist you." (5) It is in favour of this in- 
 terpretation that it presents a striking parallel to a passage in the 
 "Wisdom of Solomon," with which this Epistle has so many affinities. 
 There too the writer speaks of the wealthy and voluptuous as laying 
 snares for "the just" who is also "poor," who calls himself "the 
 servant of the Lord," and boasts of God as his Father (Wisd. ii. 12—16). 
 Comp. also the description of the ultimate triumph of the just man in 
 Wisd. V. I — 5. 
 
 7 — 11. Comfort and Counsel for the Poor. 
 
 7. Be patient therefore\ More literally. Be long'-suffering'. The 
 
 logical sequence implied in "therefore" is that the "brethren" whom 
 
 St James addresses should follow the example of the ideal "just man" 
 
 of whom the previous verse had spoken. There is a terminus ad quern 
 
ST. JAMES, V. [vv. 8- 
 
 fniit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he 
 8 receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; 
 
 stablish your hearts : for the coming of the Lord draweth 
 9 nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye 
 
 be condemned : behold, the judge standeth before the 
 ro door. Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken 
 
 for that long-suffering, and it is found in "the coming of the Lord." 
 Here, with scarcely the shadow of a doubt, it is the Lord Jesus who is 
 meant. St James had learned from the discourse recorded in Matt, 
 xxiv. 3, 37, 39, to think of that Advent as redressing the evils of the 
 world, and he shared the belief, natural in that age of the Church, that 
 it was not far off. It had already drawTi nigh (verse 8). The patient 
 expectation of the sufferers would not be frustrated. We see that the 
 hope was not fulfilled as men expected, but we may believe that even 
 for those who cherished it, it was not in vain. There was a judgment 
 at hand, in which evil-doers received their just reward, and which 
 made glad the hearts of the righteous. 
 
 hath long patience for it] The verb is the same as that just 
 translated *'be patient." Better, perhaps, is long-suflFering over it, as 
 implying a kind of watchful expectancy. The prevalence of a long-con- 
 tinued drought in Palestine when St James wrote (see note on verse i6) 
 gave, we can scarcely doubt, a very special emphasis to his words of 
 counsel. 
 
 until he receive the early and latter rain] The MSS. present a singu- 
 lar variety of readings, some giving "rain," some "fruit," and some no 
 substantive at all. "Rain" gives the best meaning. The "early 
 rain" fell in the months from October to February; the latter, from 
 March to the end of April. Comp. Deut. xi. 14; Jer. iii. 3, v. 24; 
 Joel ii. 23. An ingenious allegorising interpretation finds in the "early" 
 rain the tears of youthful repentance; in the "latter," those of age. 
 
 8. Be ye also patient] Better, long-suflFering ; as before. 
 
 stablish your hearts] Better, strengthen. The strength is to come 
 from the thought that the great Advent has come near, that there will be 
 a great Court of Appeal from all man's injustice. Here, as before, we 
 note a hope which was not fulfilled as men expected its fulfilment, and 
 yet was not frustrated. The promise of the second Advent has been 
 to believers in Christ what the promise of the first Advent was to 
 Abraham and the patriarchs. They saw the far-off fulfilment, knowing 
 not the times and seasons, and it made them feel that they were strangers 
 and pilgrims (Heb. xi. 13), and so purified and strengthened them. 
 
 9. Grudge not one against another...] Better, perhaps, complain 
 not. The primary meaning of the verb is "to groan." To indulge in 
 such complaints was to assume the office of the Judge, whose presence 
 they ought to think of as not far off, even "at the door," and so brought 
 with it the condemnation which He himself had pronounced (Matt 
 vii. i). The standing before the door presents a point of comparison 
 with Rev. iii. 20. 
 
 10. Take^ my brethren^ the prophets.. !\ Better, as representing the 
 
vv. II.] ST. JAMES, V. 
 
 loi 
 
 in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering 
 affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy i, 
 which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and 
 have seen the end of the Lord ; that the Lord is very pitiful, 
 and of tender mercy. 
 
 emphatic order of the Greek, As an example of affliction and long- 
 suffering take, my "bretliren, the prophets The first of the nouns 
 
 expresses simply the objective affliction, not the manner of enduring it. 
 
 the prophets zvho have spoken...'] Better, who spake. The words 
 point, perhaps, chiefly to the prophets of the Old Testament, as having, 
 with scarcely an exception, suffered persecution (Matt. v. 12), But we 
 must not forget that there were prophets also in the Christian Church 
 (i Cor. xii. 10, xiv. 24, 29; Eph. ii. 20, iv. 11 ; Rev. xxii. 9), and that 
 these were exposed to the same trials as their predecessors. It is to 
 their sufferings that St Paul probably referred in i Thess. ii. 15, and 
 St James may well have included them in his general reference. Stephen 
 and his own namesake, the son of Zebedee, may have been specially 
 present to his thoughts. 
 
 11. we count them happy which endure.. !\ Better, we call them 
 Wessed, the verb being formed from the adjective used in ch. i. 12. 
 Comp. Luke ii. 48. The words may contain a reference to Dan. xii. 12. 
 
 Ye have heard of the patience of Jobi Better, endurance, to keep 
 up the connexion with the verb. It is singular that, though the book is 
 once quoted (i Cor. iii. 19, Job v. 13), this is the only reference in the New 
 Testament to the history of Job. Philo, however, quotes from Job xiv. 4 
 {deMutat. Norn, xxiv.), and he is referred to by Clement of Rome (i. 17. 
 26). The book would naturally be studied by one whose attention had 
 been drawn, as St James's manifestly had been, to the sapiential Books 
 included in the Hagiographa of the Old Testament. It is obvious that 
 he refers to the book as containing an actual history, as obvious that his 
 so referring to it throws no light on the questions which have been 
 raised, but which it would be out of place to discuss here, as to its 
 authorship and date. 
 
 and have seen the end of the Lord] The words have received two 
 very different interpretations. (1) They have been referred to the 
 ••end" which the "Lord" wrought out for Job after his endurance had 
 been tried, as in Job xliL 12. (2) The •'end of the Lord" has been 
 understood as pointing to the death and resurrection of Christ as the 
 Lord who had been named in verse 7, the highest example of patience 
 in the Old Testament being brought into juxtaposition with the Highest 
 of all Examples. On this view the passage becomes parallel with 
 I Peter ii. 19—25. The clause that follows is, however, decisively in 
 favour of (i), nor is there any instance of a New Testament writer using 
 the term ''end" of the passion and death of Christ. Matt. xxvi. 58, 
 which is the nearest approach to such a use, is scarcely in point. 
 
 that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy'] The first of the two 
 adjectives, of which the nearest English equivalent would be large- 
 hearted or perhaps tender-hearted, is not found in any other writer, 
 
102 ST. JAMES, V. [w. 12, 13. 
 
 12. Oaths. 
 
 12 But above all things ^ my brethren, swear not, neither by 
 heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but 
 let your yea be yea ; and your nay, nay ; lest ye fall into 
 condemnation. 
 
 13 — 16. Affliction — Sickness — Confession. 
 
 13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? 
 
 and may have been a coinage of St James's. The latter occurs in 
 Ecclus. ii. II, in close juxtaposition with a passage which we have 
 already found referred to in the Epistle (Ecclus. ii. 11), and which may 
 therefore have been present to St James's thoughts. In this instance 
 "the Lord" is clearly used in the Old Testament sense, and this, as 
 has been said, determines the meaning of the previous clause. 
 
 12. Oaths. 
 
 12. above all things, my brethren^ swear not...] The passage presents 
 so close a parallel with Matt. v. 33 — 37 that it is almost a necessary in- 
 ference that St James, if not himself a hearer of the Sermon on the 
 Mount, had become acquainted with it as reported by others. Comp. 
 Introductio7i, p. 8. The words condemn alike the rash use of oaths 
 in common speech, and the subtle distinctions drawn by the Scribes 
 as to the binding force of this or that formula (Matt, xxiii. 16 — 2-2). 
 That the condemnation does not extend to the solemn judicial use 
 of oaths we see in the facts (i) that our Lord answered when questioned 
 as on oath by Caiaphas (Matt, xxvi, 63, 64), and (2) that St Paul at times 
 used modes of expression which are essentially of the nature of an oath 
 (2 Cor. i. 23; Romans i. 9; Gal. i. 20; Phil. i. 8). It is not without 
 interest to note that in this respect also the practice of the Essenes, in 
 their efforts after holiness, was after the pattern of the teaching of 
 St James. They, too, avoided oaths as being no less an evil than 
 perjury itself (Joseph. Wars. II. 8. 85). They, however, with a some- 
 what strange inconsistency, bound the members of their own society by 
 "tremendous oaths" of obedience and secresy. 
 
 13—16. Affliction — Sickness— Confession. 
 
 13. Is any among you afflicted, let him pray...] The precepts point 
 to the principle that worship is the truest and best expression of both 
 sorrow and joy. In affliction men are not to groan or complain against 
 others, or murmur against God, but to pray for help and strength and 
 wisdom. When they are "merry" (better, of good cheer) they are 
 not to indulge in riotous or boastful mirth, but to "sing psalms." 
 The verb is used by St Paid (Rom. xv. 9; i Cor. xiv. 15; Eph. 
 V. 19). Primarily it was used of instrumental string music, but, as in the 
 word " Psalm," had been transferred to the words of which that music 
 was the natural accompanunent. It is, perhaps, specially characteristic 
 
vv. 14, I5-] ST. JAMES, V. 103 
 
 let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you ? let him call 14 
 for the elders of the church j and let them pray over him, 
 anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord : and the is 
 
 of St James that he contemplates what we may call the individual 
 use of such music as well as the congregational, as a help to the spiritual 
 life. We are reminded of two memorable instances of this employment 
 in the lives of George Herbert and Milton. Compare also Hooker's 
 grand words on the power of Psalmody and Music {Eccl. Pol. v. 38). 
 
 14. Is any sick atnongyoti ? let him call for the elders of the chtirch'\ The 
 rule is full of meaning, (i) As regards the functions of the Elders of* the 
 Church. Over and above special gifts of prophecy or teaching, they 
 were to visit the sick, not merely for spiritual comfort and counsel, but 
 as possessing "gifts of healing" (i Cor. xii. 9). (2) The use of the term 
 "Elders" exactly agrees with the account of the Jewish Church in 
 Acts xi. 30, XV. 6, xxi. 18. In the Gentile Churches the Greek title of 
 Bishop {Episcopos=o\ex%etx) came into use as a synonym for "Elder" 
 (Acts XX. 28 ; Phil. i. i ; i Tim. iii. i ; Tit. i. 5, 7), but within the limits 
 of the New Testament the Church of Jerusalem has only "Apostles and 
 Elders." It may fairly be inferred from the position which he occupies 
 in Acts XV. that St James himself was reckoned as belonging to the first 
 of the two classes. St Paul's way of mentioning him naturally, though 
 not necessarily, implies the same fact (Gal. i. 19). 
 
 anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord] The context shews 
 that this was done as a means of healing. It had been the practice of 
 the Twelve during part, at least, of our Lord's ministry (Mark vi. 13). 
 The Parable of the good Samaritan gives one example of the medical 
 use of oil (Luke x. 34), another is found in Isai. i. 6. Friction with 
 oHve oil was prescribed by Celsus for fever. Herod the Great used oil- 
 baths (Joseph. Ajtt. XVII. 6. § 5). The principle implied in the use of 
 oil instead of the direct exercise of supernatural gifts without any medium 
 at all, was probably, in part, analogous to our Lord's employment of 
 like media in the case of the blind and deaf (Mark vii. 33, viii. 23; 
 John ix. 6). It served as a help to the faith of the person healed; 
 perhaps also, in the case of the Apostles, to that of the healer. The 
 position of the disciples was not that of men trusting in charms or 
 spells and boasting of their powers, but rather that of those who used 
 simple natural means of healing in dependence on God's blessing. A 
 sanction was implicitly given to the use of all outward means as not 
 inconsistent with faith in the power of prayer, to the prayer of faith as 
 not excluding the use of any natural means. "The Lord" in whose Name 
 this was to be done is here, without doubt, definitely the Lord Jesus. 
 Comp. Matt, xviii. 5 ; Mark ix. 39; Luke ix. 49; Acts iii. 16, iv. 10, 18, 
 30. The subsequent history of the practice is not without mterest. It 
 does not seem to have been ever entirely dropped either in the West or 
 East. In the latter, though miraculous gifts of healing no longer 
 accompanied it, it was, and still is, employed ostensibly as a means of 
 healing, and the term *' extreme unction" has been carefully rejected. 
 Stress is laid on the words of St James as pointing to the collective 
 
I04 ST. JAMES, V. [v. 15. 
 
 prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise 
 him up ; and if he have committed sins, they shall be for- 
 
 action of the elders, not to that of a single elder, and the legitimate 
 number ranges from three as a minimum to seven. It is evident that 
 here the idea of united prayer working with natural means has, in theory 
 at least, survived. In the West, on the other hand, a new theory grew 
 up with the growth of Scholasticism. If bodily healing no longer 
 followed, it was because the anointing had become the sign and sacra- 
 ment of a spiritual healing, and the special grace which it conveyed 
 was thought of as being specifically different from that which came 
 through other channels, adapted to the needs of the soul in its last 
 struggles. So the term "Extreme Unction" came into use in the 
 twelfth century, and the Council of Trent {Catech. vi. 1. 9) limited its 
 use to those who were manifestly drawing near unto death, and gave it 
 the title of ^''sacramenhini exetmtium.^'' In the First Prayer Book of 
 Edward VI. the rite was retained, partly, it would seem, by way of 
 compromise ("if the sick person desire to be anointed"), partly, as the 
 language of the prayer that was to accompany the act seems to indicate 
 ( ** our heavenly Father vouchsafe for His great mercy (if it be His 
 blessed will) to restore to thee thy bodily health"), with a faint hope of 
 reviving the original idea. In the Prayer Book of 1552, the "unction" 
 disappeared, and has never since been revived. 
 
 15. and the prayer of faith shall save the sick'\ The context leaves 
 no doubt that the primary thought is, as in our Lord's words to men and 
 women whom He healed, "Thy faith hath saved thee" — "thy faith 
 hath made thee whole" (Matt. ix. 22 ; Mark v. 34, x. 52 ; Luke vii. 50, 
 viii. 48, xvii. 19, xviii. 42), that the sick man should in such a case 
 "recover his bodily health." The "prayer of faith" was indeed not 
 limited to that recovery in its scope, but the . answer to that prayer in 
 its higher aims, is given separately afterwards in the promise of for- 
 giveness. 
 
 and the Lord shall raise him up} Here, as in verse 14, we have to 
 think of St James as recognising not merely the power of God generally, 
 but specifically that of the Lord Jesus, still working through His servants, 
 as He worked personally on earth. So Peter said to ^neas, "Jesus 
 Christ maketh thee whole" (Acts ix. 34). 
 
 if he have committed sins...] The Greek expresses with a subtle dis- 
 tinction, hard to reproduce in English, the man's being in the state pro- 
 duced by having committed sins. Repentance, it is obvious, is pre- 
 supposed as a condition, and the love of God in Christ as the fountain of 
 forgiveness, but the prayer of the elders of the Church is, beyond question, 
 represented as instrumental, as helping to win for the sinner the grace 
 both of repentance and forgiveness. It is noticeable that the remission 
 of sins thus promised is dependent not on the utterance of the quasi- 
 iudicial formula of the Absolvo te (that, indeed, was not used at all until 
 the 13th century) by an individual priest, but on the prayer of the elders 
 as representing the Church. Comp. John xx. 23, where also the promise 
 is in the plural, " Whosesoever sins ji? remit." 
 
i6, 17.] ST. JAMES, V. 105 
 
 given him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray 16 
 one for another, that ye may be healed. 
 
 16 — 20. Prayer and Conversion. 
 The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth 
 much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, 17 
 
 16. Confess your faults one to an other.. :\ Better, with the old MSS. 
 Therefore confess — and transgressions instead of faults. The noun 
 includes sins against God as well as against men : the words refer 
 the rule of this mutual confession to the promise of forgiveness as its 
 ground. In details the precept is singularly wide. The confession is 
 not to be made by the layman to the elder, more than by the elder to 
 the layman. In either case the question whether it was to be public or 
 private, spontaneous or carried on by questions, is left open. Examples 
 such as those of Matt. iii. 6 ; Acts xix. 18, 19, suggest the thought of the 
 public confession of individual sins, which was, indeed, the practice of 
 the Church of the third and fourth centuries, as it was afterwards that 
 of many Monastic orders. A later revival of the custom is found in the 
 "class-meetings" of the followers of John Wesley. The closing words, 
 that ye may be healed, have been thought to limit the counsel thus given to 
 times of sickness. It may be admitted that the words are to be taken 
 primarily of bodily healing, but on the other hand, the tense of the 
 imperatives implies continuous action. The writer urges the habit of 
 mutual prayer and intercession, that when sickness comes, there may be 
 a quicker work of healing in the absence of spiritual impediments to 
 the exercise of supernatural powers working through natural media. 
 
 16 — 20. Prayer and Conversion. 
 
 The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much"] The 
 words "effectual fervent" represent a single participle {energumenl), 
 which is commonly rendered (as in 2 Cor. i. 6 ; Gal. v. 6 ; i Thess. ii. 
 13) by "working." That accordingly may be its meaning here: A 
 righteous man's supplication is of great might in its working. The later 
 ecclesiastical use of the word, however, suggests another explanation. 
 The Energumeni were those who were acted, or worked, on by an evil 
 spirit, and the word became a synonym for the "demoniacs" of the New 
 Testament. It is possible that a like passive meaning may be intended 
 here, and that the participle describes the character of a prayer which is 
 more than the utterance of mere human feeling, in which the Spirit 
 itself is making intercession with us (Rom. viii. 26). 
 
 17. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are] The word is 
 the same as that used by St Paul in Acts xiv. 15. The reference to the 
 history of Elijah (i Kings xvii. i, xviii. i) is noticeable, as one of the 
 coincidences on which stress has been laid as suggesting the inference 
 that the Epistle was written by the son of Zebedee, whose thoughts had 
 been directed to the history of Elijah by the Transfiguration, and who 
 
io6 ST. JAMES, V. [vv. 18—20. 
 
 and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain : and it 
 rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six 
 
 18 months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, 
 and the earth brought forth her fruit. 
 
 19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one 
 
 20 convert him ; let him know, that he which converteth the 
 
 had himself referred to that history when he sought to call down fire from 
 heaven on the village of the Samaritans (Luke ix. 54). The inference 
 is, at the best, uncertain. It is, perhaps, more to the purpose to note that 
 the son of Sirach, with whose teaching that of the Epistle presents so 
 many parallels, had dwelt with great fulness on the history of Elijah 
 (Ecclus. xlviii. i — 12). It is remarkable that the Old Testament 
 narrative does not directly state that the drought and the rain came as 
 an answer to Elijah's prayer, and that this is therefore an inference 
 drawTi by St James from the fact of the attitude of supplication de- 
 scribed in I Kings xviii. 42. An interesting coincidence in connexion 
 with this reference to Elijah's history presents itself in the nan-ative 
 given in Josephus [A7it. xviii. 8, § 6) of the troubles caused by Caligula's 
 insane attempt to set up his statue in the Temple at Jerusalem. Pe- 
 tronius, the then Governor of Judaea, was moved by the passionate 
 entreaties of the people, and supported the efforts made by Agrippa I., 
 who remained at Rome, to turn the Emperor from his purpose. It was 
 one of the years of drought that brought about the great famine foretold 
 by Agabus (Acts xi. 28). No rain had fallen for many weeks, and the 
 people — Christians, we may well believe, as well as Jews, though 
 Josephus, of course, makes no mention of the former — were " instant in 
 prayer," calling upon the Lord God of Israel to send rain upon the 
 earth. Suddenly rain fell in a plenteous shower from an almost cloud- 
 less sky. The earth w^as refreshed, and the pressing danger averted. 
 Petronius, Josephus relates, was much moved by this manifestation, this 
 Epiphaity, of the Divine Power, and looked upon it partly as an answer 
 to the prayers of the people, partly as the reward of the equity which he 
 had shewn in dealing with them. According to the date which, on 
 independent grounds, has here been assigned to St James's Epistle, the 
 event referred to must have happened but a few months before, or but 
 a few months after, it. If before, he may well have had it in his 
 thoughts. If after, it may well have been in part the effect of his 
 teaching. Students of Church History will remember the strikingly 
 parallel instance of the prayers of the soldiers of the Thundering Legion 
 in the Expedition of Marcus Aurelius against the Marcomanni (Euseb. 
 Hist. v. 5. Tertull. Apol. c 5). 
 
 19. if any ofyoic do err from the truth, and ofte convert hint.. .] Better, 
 as the verb is passive, if any of you be led astray. The *' truth " here 
 is obviously not the faith which was common to Jews and Christians, 
 but specifically "the truth as it is in Jesus," the truth which the 
 ** brethren," who held the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ " (ch. ii. i), 
 had received as their inheritance. To convert one who had so strayed, 
 in thought or will, in belief or act, was to bring him back to the truth. 
 
V. 20.] ST. JAMES, V. 107 
 
 sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from 
 death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. 
 
 20. from the error of his way} The noun always involves the 
 idea of being deceived as well as erring. Comp. 2 Pet. ii. 16, iii. 17; 
 I John iv. 6. 
 
 sha// save a sotil from death] The soul is obviously that of the 
 sinner who is converted. Death, bodily and spiritual, would be the 
 outcome of the error if he were left alone, and in being rescued from 
 the error he is therefore saved also from death. 
 
 arid shall hide a. fmdtittide of sins'] The phrase is one of those which 
 St James has in common with St Peter (i Pet. iv. 8). It occurs also in 
 the LXX. of Ps. Ixxxv. 2, and in a nearly identical form in Ps. xxxii. i. 
 The Hebrew, and English version, of Prov. x. 12 present a still closer 
 parallel, but the LXX. seems to have followed a different text, and gives 
 "Friendship covers all those that are not contentious." The context 
 leaves hardly any room for doubt that the "sins" which are thought 
 of as covered are primarily those of the man converted, and not those 
 of the converter. There is, however, a studied generality in the form 
 of the teaching, which seems to emphasise the wide blessedness of love. 
 In the very act of seeking to convert one for whom we care we must 
 turn to God ourselves, and in covering the past sins of another our own 
 also are covered. In such an act love reaches its highest point, and 
 that love includes the faith in God which is the condition of forgive- 
 ness. 
 
 The absence of any formal close to the Epistle is in many ways 
 remarkable. In this respect it stands absolutely alone in the New 
 Testament, the nearest approach to it being found in 1 John v. 21. 
 It is a possible explanation of this peculiarity, that we have lost the 
 conclusion of the Epistle. It is, however, more probable that the 
 abruptness is that of emphasis. The writer had given utterance to a 
 truth which he desired above all things to impress on the minds of 
 his readers, and he could not do this more effectually than by making 
 it the last word he wrote to them. 
 
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THE CAMBRIDGE BIBLE FOR 
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2 CAMBRIDGE BIBLE FOR SCHOOLS ^ COLLEGES. 
 
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4 CAMBRIDGE BIBLE FOR SCHOOLS ^ COLLEGES. 
 
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OPINIONS OF THE PRESS 
 
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 English Churchman. 
 
 The Epistle to the Ephesians. By Rev. H. C. G. Moule, D.D. 
 " It seems to us the model of a School and College Commentary — 
 comprehensive, but not cumbersome; scholarly, but not pedantic."— 
 Baptist Magazine. 
 
 The Epistle to the PhiUppians. "There are few series more valued 
 by theological students than ' The Cambridge Bible for Schools and 
 Colleges,' and there will be no number of it more esteemed than that 
 by Mr H. C. G. Moule on the Epistle to the PhiUppians:'— Record. 
 
 Thessalonians. "It will stand the severest scrutiny, for no volume 
 in this admirable series exhibits more careful work, and Mr Findlay is 
 a true expositor, who keeps in mind what he is expounding, and for 
 whom he is expounding it." — Expository Times. 
 
 "Mr Findlay maintains the high level of the series to which he has 
 become contributor. Some parts of his introduction to the Epistles to 
 the Thessalonians could scarcely be bettered. The account of Thessa- 
 lonica, the description of the style and character of the Epistles, and the 
 analysis of them are excellent in style and scholarly care. The notes 
 are possibly too voluminous ; but there is so much matter in them, and 
 the matter is arranged and handled so ably, that we are ready to forgive 
 their fulness. ...Mr Findlay's commentary is a valuable addition to 
 what has been written on the letters to the Thessalonian Church."— 
 
 Academy. . ■, -r^ -k/t i 
 
 "Mr Findlay has fulfilled in this volume a task which Dr Moulton 
 was compelled to decline, though he has rendered valuable aid in its pre- 
 paration. The commentary is in its own way a model— clear, forceful, 
 scholarly— such as young students will welcome as a really useful guide, 
 and old ones will acknowledge as giving in brief space the substance of 
 all that they knew." — Baptist Magazine. 
 
 The Epistles to Timothy and Titus. "This is another contribution 
 to 'The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges,' and one that is 
 entirely true to the general idea of that excellent series. The pastoral 
 
6 CAMBRIDGE BIBLE FOR SCHOOLS &- COLLEGES. 
 
 epistles have unusual difficulties, if they have also a very peculiar 
 ecclesiastical interest. They are well handled on the whole in both 
 
 these respects by Mr Humphreys The book is a good piece of work, 
 
 quite worthy of the place it occupies in the series." — TAe Daily Free 
 Press. 
 
 **The series includes many volumes of sterling worth, and this last 
 may rank among the most valuable. The pages evince careful scholar- 
 ship and a thorough acquaintance with expository literature; and the 
 work should promote a more general and practical study of the Pastoral 
 Epistles." — The Christian. 
 
 Hebrews. " Like his (Canon Farrar's) commentary on Luke it 
 possesses all the best characteristics of his writing. It is a work not 
 only of an accomplished scholar, but of a skilled teacher." — Baptist 
 Magazine. 
 
 The Epistles of St John. By the Rev. A. Plummer, D.D. 
 "This forms an admirable companion to the 'Commentary on the 
 Gospel according to St John,' which was reviewed in The Churchman 
 as soon as it appeared. Dr Plummer has some of the highest qualifica- 
 tions for such a task ; and these two volumes, their size being considered, 
 will bear comparison with the best Commentaries of the time." — The 
 Churchnian. 
 
 Revelation. "This volume contains evidence of much careful 
 labour. It is a scholarly production, as might be expected from the pen 
 of the late Mr W. H. SiMCOX. ...The notes throw light upon many 
 passages of this difficult book, and are extremely suggestive. It is an 
 advantage that they sometimes set before the student various interpre- 
 tations without exactly guiding him to a choice." — Guardian. 
 
 "Mr SiMCOX has treated his very difficult subject with that con- 
 scious care, grasp and lucidity which characterises everything he 
 wrote." — Modern Church. 
 
 W^i S>niaUer Ql^ambritrge iUibk for ^cftools. 
 
 ' ' We can only repeat what we have already said of this admirable 
 series, containing, as it does, the scholarship of the larger work. For 
 scholars in our elder classes, and for those preparing for Scripture exami- 
 nations, no better com?nentaries can be put into their hands." — Sunday- 
 School Chronicle. 
 
 ''Despite their small size, these volumes give the substance of the 
 admirable pieces ofwoi'k on which they are founded. We can only hope 
 that in many schools the class-teaching will proceed on the lines these com- 
 mentators suggest." — Record. 
 
 " We should be glad to hear that this series has been introduced into 
 many of our Stcnday-Schools, for which it is so admirably adapted." — 
 Christian Leader. 
 
 ''All that is necessary to be known and learned by pupils in junior 
 and elementary schools is to be found in this series. Indeed, much more 
 is provided than should be required by the examiners. We do not know 
 what more could be done to provide sensible, interesting, and solid Scrip- 
 tural instruct ioti for boys and girls. The Syndics of the Cambridge 
 
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 University Press are rendering great services both to teachers and to 
 scholars by the publication of such a valuable series of books, in which 
 slipshod work could not have a //a... "-Literary World 
 
 ''For the student of the sacred oracles who utilizes hours of travel or 
 moments of waiting in the perusal of the Bible there is nothing so handy, 
 and, at the same time, so satisfying as these little books Nor ^^t anyone 
 
 suppose that, because these are f ^''^^■'^^^^^' /^^^<f %^^f /7 ^XX 
 the adult reader. They contain the very ripest results of the best Biblical 
 scholarship, and that in the very simplest form. -Chnstian Leader. 
 
 «' Altogether one of the most perfect examples of a Shi ling New Tes-^ 
 tament commentary which even this age of cheapness is likely to produce. 
 — Bookseller. 
 
 Samuel I. and II. ' ' Professor Kirkpatrick's two tiny volumes on 
 the First and Second Books of Samuel are quite model school-books ; 
 the nites elucidate every possible difficulty with scholarly brevity and 
 clearness and a perfect knowledge of the ^^.^^c^..^ -Saturday Review. 
 
 - They consist of an introduction full of matter, clearly and succinctly 
 given, and of notes which appear to us to be admirable, at once full and 
 hrvt'i''— Church Times. , , 
 
 KinffS I. " We can cordially recommend this little book. The Intro- 
 auction discusses the question of authorship and date_ in a plain but 
 scholarly fashion, while the footnotes throughout are bnef, pointed, and 
 
 helpful."— i?^^^^''?/"^^^^'^^-^- , ^ ,. 1 r 1 A V v^vc 
 
 St Matthew. "The notes are terse, clear, and helpful, and teachers 
 and students cannot fail to find the volume of great service. - 
 Publishers^ Circular. . r c*- ato-i, 
 
 St Mark St Luke. "We have received the volumes of St Mark 
 and St Luke in this series.... The two volumes seern, on the whole, well 
 aSapted for school use, are well and carefully printed., and have maps 
 and good, though necessarily brief, introductions. There is little doubt 
 ^hatfws series Inll be found as popular and useM as the well-known 
 larger series, of which they are abbreviated editions -6^«ar«^.a;^. 
 
 St Luke. " We cannot too highly commend this handy little book 
 to all teachers."— Wesleyan Methodist Sunday-School Record. 
 
 St John "We have been especially interested in Mr Plummer's 
 treatment of the Gospel which has been entrusted to his charge. He is con- 
 cse,Tomprehensive, interesting, and simple. Youngstudentsofthismim- 
 itab e book, as well as elder students, even ministers and teachers may 
 use it with Advantage as a very serviceable handbook. "-Zz/.rary World. 
 "A model of condensation, losing nothing of its clearness and force 
 from its condensation into a small compass. Many ^^'ho have long sm^^^ 
 completed their college curriculum will find it an invaluable handbook. 
 
 Methodist Times. ,. , •> ' 
 
 Acts. "The notes are very brief, but exceedingly comprehensive 
 comprising as much detail in the way of explanation as would be needed 
 by young students of the Scriptures preparing for examination. We 
 again give the opinion that this series furnishes as much real h£lp as 
 would usually satisfy students for the Christian mmistry, or even mmis- 
 ters themselves."— Zz/^rarj/ World. 
 
THE CAMBRIDGE GREEK TESTAMENT 
 
 FOR SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES 
 
 with a Revised Text, based on the most recent critical authorities, 
 
 and English Notes. 
 
 *' Has achieved an excellence which puts it above criticism.^'' — Expositor. 
 
 St Matthew. *' Copious illustrations, gathered from a great variety 
 of sources, make his notes a very valuable aid to the student. They 
 are indeed remarkably interesting, while all explanations on meanings, 
 applications, and the like are distinguished by their lucidity and good 
 sense."— /'a// Mall Gazette. 
 
 St Mark. ' ' Dr M aclear's introduction contains all that is known 
 of St Mark's life; an account of the circumstances in which the Gospel 
 was composed, with an estimate of the influence of St Peter's teaching 
 upon St Mark ; an excellent sketch of the special characteristics of this 
 Gospel ; an analysis, and a chapter on the text of the New Testament 
 generally. " — SatJtrday Review. 
 
 St Luke. **0f this second series we have a new volume by 
 Archdeacon Farrar on St Luke, completing the four Gospels. ...It 
 gives us in clear and beautiful language the best results of modern 
 scholarship. We have a most attractive Introductio}i. Then follows 
 a sort of composite Greek text, representing fairly and in very beautiful 
 type the consensus of modem textual critics. At the beginning of the 
 exposition of each chapter of the Gospel are a few short critical notes 
 giving the manuscript evidence for such various readings as seem to 
 deserve mention. The expository notes are short, but clear and helpful. 
 For young students and those who are not disposed to buy or to study 
 the much more costly work of Godet, this seems to us to be the best 
 book on the Greek Text of the Third Gospel." — Methodist Recorder. 
 
 St John. **We take this opportunity of recommending to ministers 
 on probation, the very excellent volume of the same series on this part 
 of the New Testament. We hope that most or all of our young ministers 
 will prefer to study the volume in the Cambridge Greek Testament for 
 Schools," — Methodist Recorder. 
 
 The Acts of the Apostles. "Professor Lumby has performed his 
 laborious task well, and supplied us with a commentary the fulness and 
 freshness of which Bible students will not be slow to appreciate. The 
 volume is enriched with the u»ual copious indexes and four coloured 
 maps." — Glasgow Herald. 
 
 I. Corinthians. "Mr Lias is no novice in New Testament exposi- 
 tion, and the present series of essays and notes is an able and helpful 
 addition to the existing books." — Guardian. 
 
 The Epistles of St John. "In the very useful and well annotated 
 series of the Cambridge Greek Testament the volume on the Epistles 
 of St John must hold a high position.... The notes are brief, well 
 informed and intelligent." — Scotsman. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE: PRINTKD BY J. AND C. F. CLAY, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 
 
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