James 1:4Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

“And let patience have its perfect work.” Note that the Apostle did not say in the indicative, “patience has its perfect work,” but in the imperative: “let it have.” For he does not announce a virtue already complete, but commands one that must now be accomplished. “That you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” He names wisdom as the cause of perfect work. For he knows that the testing of faith and patience in temptations is not the portion of all people, but of those who are wise in God. Therefore he stirs those who desire to show faith and patience to prayer for wisdom.

The perfect work is love for God and neighbor. This is also perfect love, which casts out fear, that is, the fear of trial. The perfect work is patience. Patience is the protection of souls, as the Truth says: “By your patience save your souls” (Lk 21:19).

How, then, does testing produce patience? Only that faith is pure which patiently and steadfastly endures all the temptations to which it is subjected.

When temptations come upon you, he says, let your virtuous deeds not become deficient. Rather, let the perfection of virtue also be added to patience.

For a man is not perfected through what does not depend on his will, taken by itself. What depends on his will must also be joined to it.

Such things are prudence, righteousness, love for God and neighbor, and the manifestations of this love. These too are necessary for our perfection.

Therefore this divine Apostle, in his epistle to us, adds: "But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."

He says this plainly, as if saying: if you desire to show your faith in God perfect, then do not only nobly endure outward afflictions that come upon you.

Also do God-pleasing works from yourselves, even if they are bound up with much labor. For when activity goes hand in hand with suffering for the sake of good, they make a man perfect in God.

"But let patience have its perfect work."

Do you see, my beloved brother, how Theophylact, with Oecumenius, says that the divine James does not speak here in the indicative, saying that patience has a perfect work? Rather, he speaks in the imperative: "let it have," that is, let it have a perfect work.

He does not have in mind a virtue of perfection already prepared. Rather, he now lays down a law: this virtue of perfection is to be cultivated by Christians as is fitting.

I think that "let patience have its perfect work" indicates that patience must be perfect, whole, and to the end. It must not be damaged, imperfect, or temporary, enduring some temptations and not others.

"Let patience have its perfect work." By patience he does not mean a dull, Stoic indifference toward the afflictions that overtake us.

Such indifference flows from the awareness that neither by murmuring nor by resistance can we change our condition or avert misfortunes.

Rather, he means patience penetrated by complete submission to the will of God. It is joined with the assurance that our afflictions and deprivations are sent to us by God.

As Father, He will not allow us to suffer beyond our strength. But with the temptation He will also give relief, so that we may be able to bear the trial (1 Cor 10:13).

Such patience, according to the Apostle, has a perfecting action. It makes people perfect, as if full and complete: "that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."

The one who patiently bears sufferings and deprivations shows himself higher than afflictions and lacking nothing. Afflictions do not strike him. Deprivations take nothing away.

He is whole and invulnerable, and therefore perfect.

"But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be," and so forth. That is, the virtue of patience is so important that in the work of moral perfection it has, and necessarily must have, a decisive effect.

Through it every perfection is attained in all fullness, without any deficiency. By patience every obstacle in the work of moral perfection is overcome.

Consequently, every virtue can be attained and perfected in the soul. This power can hold them in the soul of the Christian in all their fullness, not allowing them to be scattered and dispersed.

It preserves the whole body of man's moral life in unity and wholeness. This is why without Christian patience there is no perfection of moral life.

By these words the holy Apostle characterizes Christian patience itself. It must be a perfect work, that is, full and uninterrupted, according to the Savior’s commandments: “He who endures to the end shall be saved” (Mk 13:13). For there have been, and still are, many people who begin their life well and patiently perform Christian ascetic labors, but end very badly. According to the Lord’s word, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God” (Lk 9:62).

Temptations are a test of the strength of faith. Having endured temptations, a man can become more patient, and this can lead him to the fulfillment of the work of salvation, to complete perfection and spiritual wealth. This makes the Christian capable of every good work and also worthy of all the good things prepared for those who endure everything for Christ. Or, as the Apostle Peter says, “that the tested genuineness of your faith may prove more precious than gold which perishes though it is tested by fire” (1 Pet 1:7).

In order to explain the essence of the Christian moral law, the Apostle James, in the first chapter of his epistle, exhorts us to bear patiently the trials sent by God.

Trials temper our faith and morally perfect us. If in the struggle with temptations a man feels his weakness, he must not grow despondent or fainthearted.

He must ask God for wisdom to overcome temptations, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, without doubting at all, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.

Let such a man not think that he will receive anything from the Lord. A man of divided thoughts is unstable in all his ways (vv. 5-7).

One filled with truly Christian wisdom joyfully bears all trials and reversals of fortune, whether he is rich or poor.

What is needed for patience to be fully pleasing to God? It must be joined with other spiritual virtues. Only in union with them can it be a perfect work. All who practice patience must strive toward such perfection, so that in no respect they may be lacking. They must be alien to those deficiencies which diminish the worth of patience and make it unstable and unreliable. Chief among these deficiencies is the lack of Christian wisdom, of which the following verse speaks.