Skip to content

My Daily Thoughts–James 1:12-18

  • by

James 1:12-18 (NKJV) Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. 18 Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

V12 “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” Blessed means God’s blessings. We all face temptation (enticement to sin), disbelieve, disobey, treat others not according to the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), and temptation from persecution, doubts, etc. We must remember who the instigator of these troubles is (1 Peter 5:8). We need to stand firm (with God’s help) as Job and Daniel did. We use the Armor of God (Ephesians 6:13-18). After the temptation (enticement) or trial (faithfulness in trial) is over, we have been approved as in Revelation 2:10, Revelation 12:11, and Matthew 10:22 (endures = faithful and saved = deliverance). How do we remain faithful? 

  • We must feed our faith the food for our soul—the Scriptures.
  • We must have an attitude of loyalty.
  • We must pray for God’s help.
  • We must avoid sin. We will sin but must avoid situations that would lead to temptation.
  • We must have faithful pastor-teachers to encourage and equip the saints.
  • We must have fellowship so we can encourage and stimulate each other in our faith.
  • We must always have God as our first love. If something or someone replaces Him to the effect that He becomes second place, bad consequences often follow.

V13 “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.” God does not entice to commit sin. God can be provoked to anger but cannot be tempted to sin. All sin arises from our hearts, which are evil. See Jeremiah 17:9 and Matthew 15:18-19.

V14 “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.” The  heart’s desires are the source leading to enticement. Following one’s heart is poor philosophy. Compare Jeremiah 16:12, Jeremiah 17:9,  and Proverbs 28:26.

V15 “Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” Our fleshly desires → to do evil→sin→death (the punishment). This is the consequences of sin. It leads to a seared conscience without guilty feelings. Our conscience is defiled by sin (Titus 1:15). Sin without confession and asking for forgiveness leads to a hard heart (Ephesians 4:18, Exodus 9:34, Jeremiah 17:1 with Jeremiah 17:9). God created the law in people’s heart (Romans 2:15). When we believe the Gospel, we receive a cleared and undefiled conscience (Hebrews 10:22 and 1 Timothy 1:5). A believer can have a weak conscience (1 Corinthians 8:7). When the Holy Spirit convicts us of a sin, we can have the conscience reset and clear (1 John 1:9). 

V16 “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” One of the strongest warnings in the Scriptures concerns deception. There is truth and non-truth. Truth is reality (Psalm 51:6). How does one believe non-truths? We either deceive ourselves or others deceive us. Why do we allow ourselves to be deceived? Cleverness, authoritative manner and “credentials,” wishful thinking, illusions, lying, flattery, threats, etc. To avoid being deceived we must be aware (Jeremiah 50:24, Ecclesiastes 9:12), alert (Mark 13:33, Luke 21:36, 1 Peter 5:8), and know the truth (John 14:6, John 17:17, and John 8:31-32). We also have the Armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-13).

V17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” Good refers to a standard showing good and evil. The Bible reveals both. The Greek word for “perfect” is (G5046) τέλειος téleios, which means brought to completion. So, meets the standards and/or plan exactly. If something is good and perfect, it is from God (Matthew 19:17). We must use God’s definitions of good and perfect not ours. Good is based on God and His standard. See Genesis 1:31 (God’s standard for creation), Psalm 14:3 (there is no good, by God’s standards, in us sinners), John 5:29 (good as God defines it, for this to happen one must be a believers in Jesus), and 1 Thessalonians 5:21 (we test to see if it meets God’s standard). The Father of lights refers to the stars and other light emitting objects in the universe. The Father is God, the creator of the lights. God is immutable and does not change in character or beliefs/actions/being. Light is revealing (John 3:18-21).

V18 “Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.” The Greek word for “brought” is (G616) ἀποκυέω apokyéō, which means bearing/begetting/birthing something. Lust/desire brings forth/births death (v15). In this passage, it refers to spiritual birth as a result of the Gospel. The gospel conceives, faith believes, and God is the creator (John 3:3 and John 3:7).

We learn:

  • How to stay faithful to God.
  • God does not tempt anyone.
  • The source of sin
  • The fruit/result/consequences of sin
  • The fruit/result/consequences of remaining faithful
  • A warning not to be deceived
  • The type of gifts God gives