The book of James is a balance to those who are unbalanced in their Christian life. Perhaps in your Christian life you are wholly for God’s economy. However, in your daily personal life you may be very short in the way you speak and handle matters. Concerning a number of things you may lack wisdom. Although you are a good soldier fighting for God’s economy, in your daily life you may not be complete and entire. You may not trust in God very much, and you may not pray to Him concerning your needs. Because you are good in the major things but lacking in certain practical things, you need balance in your Christian life. The first thing the Epistle of James provides us with is this needed balance.
As we have indicated, the book of James also serves as a warning. James was outstanding in the matter of practical Christian perfection; he was a godly man who knew God, who loved God, and who prayed to God. But James was hindered by his godliness and veiled by his religion from seeing a thorough vision concerning God’s New Testament economy.
In 1:27 James speaks of “pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father.” As far as proper human behavior is concerned, we may need to be religious. We may be absolutely for God’s economy, and yet we may be wrong in the way we speak to others or deal with them. Suppose a brother says, “Don’t you know that I am utterly for God’s economy? I have sacrificed everything for this. Day by day, I give my future to the Lord for His economy. Don’t you appreciate this?” Yes, such a brother may be for God’s economy, but he still needs practical Christian perfection in his daily life. Once again we see that we need to be balanced: we need a clear vision concerning God’s economy, and we need practical Christian perfection.
We should be warned from the Epistle of James that we may be very godly, yet still lack a clear view concerning God’s economy. Someone may be godly, humble, and meek in his daily life. But he may not be able to fight for God’s economy. In order to fight for God’s economy, we must learn the proper strategy. Paul was a person who was balanced. On the one hand, he was an excellent fighter; on the other hand, he was a godly person. Paul even encouraged Timothy, his younger co-worker, to exercise himself unto godliness (1 Tim. 4:7). In paying attention to the major things of God’s economy, we should not neglect the practical details of our personal daily life.
The vast majority of today’s Christians pay more attention to minor matters in their daily life than they do to the major matters of God’s New Testament economy. In fact, many seeking Christians take care of very few of the things that are truly major. These Christians may be religious and godly, they may pray a great deal, they may have faith and endurance, and they may love God. In their Christian life they are imitators of James. But they have not seen God’s economy.
Because it is possible for us to be this kind of Christian, we need the warning that we may be godly and yet not see God’s economy. We may be complete and entire concerning Christian conduct, but we may not know how to fight the battle to carry out God’s economy. Therefore, I am burdened to emphasize the importance of being balanced in our Christian life. We need to see God’s economy, and we need to be perfected in our daily personal life so that we may be complete and entire. We need both the balance and the warning found in the book of James. Regarding this book, we need to be fair, recognizing that the “entrance” of Paul’s Epistles still needs the help of the “door” of the book of James.
In 1:2-12 we considered the first item of the practical virtues of Christian perfection covered in this book—enduring trials by faith. In 1:13-18 we come to a second item—resisting temptation as God-born ones.
In verses 13 through 18 the first matter is resisting temptation, and the second is God’s bringing us forth through regeneration. God has caused us to have a new birth. Through any kind of birth, life is always imparted. When God regenerated us, causing us to have a divine birth, the divine life was imparted to us. In these verses there is the implication that we resist temptation by the divine life we received in our divine birth. Therefore, the title of this section is “Resisting Temptation as God-born Ones.”
Because we have been born of God, we are now the children of God possessing God’s life. This divine life is the means, the “capital,” for us to resist temptation. The divine life has been deposited into us, and thus we have the ability, energy, strength, and power to resist temptation.