James 1:12Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

This refers to one who has sufficiently advanced in enduring temptations with joy, so that the work may be tested and patience made perfect. This comes about in itself, and is not effected through something else.

By another exhortation he seeks to dispose them toward fulfilling the task before them. He says that the one who endures temptation is blessed according to the promise. Thus the one who has contended courageously will be a proven man, tested in all things.

To the one who has come forth radiant out of darkness, the crown of life will be given, prepared by God for those who love Him. Thus the one who endures temptation, despising labors and death itself, will receive the crown of eternal life.

We have said that temptations are of two kinds, and that patience is useful in each kind.

The Apostle, mindful of the Lord’s Prayer, which teaches us what is safest, namely, that we should pray not to fall into temptation, returns to explaining which temptation is from God and which is from us, from our own choice.

Yet the following is also good. The Lord and God, seeing the great weakness of human nature, proposed that we pray for temptations to be removed from us, since His disciples were still far from perfect.

But when our weak nature was strengthened by knowledge of His Resurrection and by His Ascension into heaven, His brother according to the flesh teaches us no longer to fear temptations.

If we pray that we not be subjected to temptation, how can we prove the firmness of our virtue, which Scripture requires? "Blessed is the man who endures temptation." Thus the words of the prayer, "and lead us not into temptation"; Mt 6:13, do not mean, "Never permit us to be tempted." Rather, they mean, "Do not allow us to be overcome in temptation."

In the Apocalypse there is something similar: "Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life"; Rev 2:10. James adds that the Lord promised this to those who love Him. The Apostle clearly shows that one should rejoice in temptations, because God often lays the burden of temptations on those whom He loves more. He does this, of course, so that through training in temptations He may show their perfection in faith. Therefore those who have been tested are truly faithful, that is, perfect and blameless, lacking nothing. They receive by right the promised crown of eternal life.

As we have already said above with Saint Theophylact, temptations are of two kinds. Some are permitted because of our sins. Others come as a trial from God alone. Therefore it is profitable for us to have patience with both the first and the second.

Here the brother of God speaks without qualification, saying that blessed is the one who endures temptation. That means either one kind, permitted by God because of sins, or another kind, permitted as a trial from God Himself.

Thus we are tested and become worthy of eternal life through patience in these two kinds of temptation.

Before temptation, however, one must pray not to fall into it, as the Lord said. But if we do fall into temptations, even once, and even by necessity, we must still endure them courageously and with thanksgiving.

The path of our life is like a voyage across a vast sea. On this sea there is sometimes calm, and sometimes a favorable wind blows. But most often there is a storm.

When we see a storm approaching, and when we see the storm itself, we must not be troubled, fall into despondency, or despair. We must resist the waves and the contrary wind.

Otherwise the ship of the soul may be shattered, and even sunk. If during the storm something in the ship of the soul happens to break or be damaged, again we must not despond or be troubled.

We must find a reliable harbor, enter it, repair and restore what is damaged, and then continue the voyage in hope in almighty God.

"Blessed is the man who endures temptation." The Savior also calls blessed those who endure sufferings and promises them the Kingdom of Heaven as their reward; Mt 5:10-12. The Apostle calls this reward the crown of life. That is, life will be crowned with rewards, glorious and royal; cf. Rev 4:4.

"Blessed is the man," and so forth. Having shown the high dignity of temptations patiently endured in the perfecting of moral life, the Apostle draws from this the necessary conclusion concerning blessedness.

He uses blessedness in the same sense in which Christ used it, Mt 5:3; cf. Ps 1:1. It belongs to those who endure temptation in this way. The singular is used, but under the general idea of temptation he undoubtedly includes all the various temptations of which he began to speak in Jas 1:2.

Explaining more directly the blessedness of those who are tempted, the Apostle points to its foundation. Such a man has passed through trial by temptation, Jas 1:3. By this trial he has been morally purified, as gold is purified through fire.

In concluding his teaching on the high significance of Christian patience, the Apostle blesses all who patiently endure temptations to the end. For, he says, the true Christian wise man, who has acquired perfect patience, "when he has been tested, will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love Him." Should not such a lofty reward strengthen and inspire us amid our temptations and the afflictions of life?

Returning to his principal thought, the Apostle again exhorts them to endure temptations. He counsels the humbled poor not to lose heart because of the temptations that befall them, since after their visible humiliation there follows their invisible moral height and the crown of heavenly glory.

The same counsel is also given to the rich, because they may be even more often subjected to humiliation through the swift decay and destruction of wealth; cf. Mt 6:19.

The Apostle James counsels giving praise to the height of humility and to the riches of poverty. The Apostle Paul makes a promise to boast in his weaknesses, because he sees in this a pledge of the power of God made perfect in weaknesses; see 2 Cor 12:9.

Heavy struggles are needed in order to preserve faithfulness to Christ amid temptations, or trials through the sorrows of persecutions for the faith. Such trials were common in the first times of the Christian Church. Yet the reward for these struggles is great. To the one who is faithful to Christ unto death, the crown of life will be given; Rev 2:10. This means the eternally blessed life prepared for all who love Christ and, out of love, remain faithful to Him.

James had already sufficiently urged that temptations should be endured with joy, so that the fulfilled labor and absolute patience might be attained. These are accomplished for their own sake, not for the sake of other deeds. Now, by another exhortation, he seeks to persuade by promises, so that they may be corrected in the present. Having said that the one who endures temptation is blessed, he says that everyone who has competed courageously becomes like a perfect man, skilled in every respect. Whoever appears such after sorrow will deserve, as a reward, the crown of life prepared by God for those who love Him.