James 1:13-18 – No Longer Be Deceived into Sin

Sermon & Translation by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 19 Mar. 2023

Introduction

v.13 False Thoughts About God To Reject

vs. 14-15 The Truth About The Deadly Progression of Sin

v.16 Do not be deceived/led astray

vs. 17-18 Life-giving Truths About God To Fight Temptation

James 1:12-18 – Comparison Of Textual Traditions & Versions

Byzantine Greek NT

NAW

KJV

Vulgate

Murdock Peshitta

12 Μακάριος ἀνὴρ ὃς ὑπομένει πειρασμόν· ὅτι δόκιμος γενόμενος λήψεται τὸν στέφανονA τῆς ζωῆς, ὃν ἐπηγγείλατοB ὁ Κύριος τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτόν.

12 A man who is steadfast in a trial is blessed, because, after he has proved himself genuine, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord promised to those who love Him.

12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord [hath] promised to them that love him.

12 beatus vir qui suffert temptationem quia cum probatus fuerit accipiet coronam vitae quam repromisit Deus diligentibus se

12 Blessed is the man who endureth temptation[s]; so that when he is proved he may receive a crown of life, which God hath promised to them that love him.

13 Μηδεὶς πειραζόμενος λεγέτω ὅτι ἀπὸ Θεοῦ πειράζ­ομαι· ὁ γὰρ Θεὸς ἀπείρασ­τόςC ἐστι κακ­ῶν, πειράζει δὲ αὐτὸς οὐδένα.

13 And no one should say while being tested that it is from God that I am being tempted, for God is not tempted by evil, and He Himself tempts no one.

13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God [can]not be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he X any man:

13 nemo cum temptatur dicat quoniam a Deo temptor Deus enim intempt­ator malorum est ipse autem neminem temptat

13 Let no one when he is tempted, say, I am tempted of God: for God is not tempted with evil[s], nor doth he X tempt any man.

14 ἕκαστος δὲ πειράζεται ὑπὸ τῆς ἰδίας ἐπι­θυμίας ἐξελκ­όμενοςD καὶ δελεαζόμενοςE·

14 Rather, each one is tempted when carried away and enticed by his own lust,

14 But every man is temp­ted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

14 unusquisque vero temptatur a concupi­scentia sua abstractus et inlectus

14 But every man is tem­pted by his own lust; and he lusteth, [and] is drawn away.

15 εἶτα ἡ ἐπι­θυμία συλλαβ­οῦσα τίκτειF ἁμαρτίαν, ἡ δὲ ἁμαρτία ἀπο­τελεσθεῖσαG ἀποκύει θάνατον.

15 then, after the lust has con­ceived, it bears sin, and the sin, after it has been accomplished, gives birth to death.

15 Then when lust hath con­ceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is fin­ished, bringeth forth death.

15 dein concu­piscentia cum conceperit parit peccatum peccatum vero cum consum­matum fuerit generat mortem

15 And this [his] lust con­ceiveth, and bringeth forth sin; and sin, when mature, bringeth forth death.

16 Μὴ πλανᾶ­σθε, ἀδελφοί μου ἀγαπητοί.

16 My dear bro­thers, no longer be led astray!

16 Do not err, my beloved brethren.

16 nolite itaque errare fratres mei dilectissimi

16 Do not err, my beloved brethren.

17 πᾶσα δόσιςH ἀγαθὴ καὶ πᾶν δώρημα τέλειον ἄνωθένI ἐστι καταβαῖνον ἀπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς τῶν φώτωνJ, παρ᾿ ᾧ οὐκ ἔνιK παραλλαγὴLτροπῆς ἀποσκίασμαM.

17 Every good gift and every perfect endow­ment is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights, in the presence of whom there is no fluctuation or shading due to revolution.

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

17 omne datum optimum et omne donum perfectum desursum est descendens a Patre luminum apud quem non est transmutatio nec vicissitud­inis obumbratio

17 Every good X and X per­fect gift cometh down from above, from the Father of lights, with whom is no mutation, not [even the] shadow of change.

18 βουληθεὶς ἀπεκύησεν ἡμᾶς λόγῳ ἀληθείαςN εἰς τὸ εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἀπαρχήν τινα τῶν Oαὐτοῦ κτισμάτων.

18 After plan­ning it, He gave birth to us by means of the word of truth in order for us to be a particular firstfruit out of His creations.

18 [Of] his [own] will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

18 voluntarie genuit nos verbo veritatis ut simus initium aliquod creaturae eius

18 He saw fit, and begat us by the word of truth; that we might be the first-fruit[s] of his creatures.


1In the Pillar Commentary, Douglas Moo added to this list Israel (Judges 2:22) & Hezekiah (2 Chron. 32:31/2 Kings 20:12-19). He also pointed out the striking similarity of this verse in James to the Apocryphal Sirach 15:11-20.

2This also seems to be the consensus of the commentaries I read later. For instance Calvin: “Here, no doubt, he speaks of another kind of temptation. It is abundantly evident that the external temptations, hitherto mentioned, are sent to us by God. In this way God tempted Abraham, (Genesis 22:1) and daily tempts us, that is, he tries us as to what are we by laying before us an occasion by which our hearts are made known. But to draw out what is hid in our hearts is a far different thing from inwardly alluring our hearts by wicked lusts.”

3Most commentators I read took this position.

4And there are several other passages which teach the same doctrine using the word “elect/predestine” such as 2 Thess. 2:13, Eph. 1:4, Rom. 8:28-30, etc.

5Rev. 14:4 and Rom. 16:5 also seem to use “firstfruits” in the sense of an initial batch of converts to Christianity. John Owen agreed with me here, but all the other commentators I read considered all Christians, not just the first ones, to be the “firstfruits.”

A Faussett: “...not in allusion to the crown or garland given to winners in the games; for this, though a natural allusion for Paul in writing to the heathen, among whom such games existed, would be less appropriate for James in addressing the Jewish Christians, who regarded Gentile usages with aversion.” (Vincent agreed, suggesting it denoted a priest’s mitre. Moo disagreed, as did Gill, who even suggested that it referred to the “Olympic games.”)

BThis verb is Aorist tense (“promised”), not Perfect (“has promised”). As for its subject, the majority of the oldest-known manuscripts (followed by the majority of Coptic and Russian versions) do not include a subject for this verb (“he promised”), and for this reason, the NASB almost brought itself to omit the subject, but couldn’t quite. The Latin and Syriac traditions, however, follow a dozen Greek minuscule documents which state “God” as the subject, and this is followed by the NIV (and the ESV followed the NIV as usual). But the vast majority of Greek manuscripts and lectionaries follow a minority of the oldest-known manuscripts which state “the Lord” as the subject, and this was followed by a minority of the Russian and Syriac versions as well as the KJV. I’m inclined to follow the latter, as it has the most Greek manuscripts and has been used from earliest times down to the present. But it doesn’t ultimately make a difference which is correct because “He,” “God,” and “the Lord,” all point to the same divine entity.

CNot used anywhere else in the Bible, but presumed to be an alpha privative of the word for test/trial/temptation. James Moo in the Pillar commentary noted that...

DJames Moo noted that these are fishing words in backwards order: “lured” and “reeled in.” Although not elsewhere in the NT, this word occurs in the Greek Old Testament and Apocrypha (Gen. 37:28; Jda. 20:31; 3 Ma. 2:23; Prov. 30:33; Job 20:15; 36:20)

E2 Pet. 2:14 & 18 are the only other places this word occurs in the Bible.

FAlthough there are figurative uses of these words in the New Testament, the Greek text of Genesis 4 clearly establishes that sullambanw + tiktw refers to biological conception and birth.

GOnly here and Luke 13:32 in the Bible (Jesus said, “...I accomplish healings today and tomorrow...”)

HPhil. 4:15 (the Philippians’ financial support of Paul in prison in Rome) is the only other occurrence of this noun in the NT.
Faussett: “‘gift ... gift’ — not the same words in Greek: the first, the act of giving, or the gift in its initiatory stage; the second, the thing given, the boon, when perfected.”
Later commentators noted that since this line is in a poetic meter, perhaps the three-syllable dorema was chosen to fit the meter and not because of a difference in meaning.

IThis adverb usually means “top” (like the temple curtain ripping from “top” to bottom), or “beginning” (like Luke investigated the Gospel from “the beginning”), or “again” (as in, “you must be born again”), but there is one other place outside of James in the N.T. where it is translated “from above,” and that is John 19:11 (“you would have no authority except it has been given to you from above”). James 3 goes on to use it in the same sense, and it is often used that way in the Greek O.T., especially in conjunction with “heaven”: Genesis 27:39 (“ the dew of heaven from above”), 49:25 (“blessings of heaven above”), Isaiah 45:8 (“Let the heaven rejoice from above”), Jeremiah 4:28 (“...let the sky be dark above”), cf. Job 3:4 (“...let not the Lord regard it from above”). (Brenton)

JThe plural form of “lights” occurs only four other times in the Greek Bible, half referring to a multiplicity of oil lamps ( 1 Maccabees 12:29, Ezek. 42:11), and the other half referring to the sun, moon, and stars (Jeremiah 4:23 and Psalm 136:7), which is probably why the NIV added the word “heavenly.” Two other possibilities are suggested in the three other N.T. passages which mention both “father” and “light”: 1) “Light” could be a metaphor for “life” as it is in Ps. 48:20 and Matt. 5:16, meaning “the Father who created human life,” or 2) “Light” could be a euphemism for “heaven” as it is in Col. 1:12 (“the saints in light”).

KSinaiticus and a handful of miniscules instead read estin (“it is”) which means practically the same thing.

LLit. “transition to otherness” Only here and 2 Kings 9:20 (describing Jehu’s “crazy” driving).

M Hapex Legomenon. Sinaiticus and Vaticanus, two of the oldest-known manuscripts spell this in the genitive case (“turn­ing of shadow”), but all the other manuscripts spell it in the nominative case. Together with the previous word, it appears to be denoting the way we get shades of light and darkness due to the rotation of the earth and due to its revolution around the sun. Trope is not used anywhere else in the NT, but it is in the O.T. in Exod. 32:18; Deut. 33:14; 1 Ki. 22:35; 1 Ma. 4:35; 5:61; 2 Ma. 12:27, 37; Job 38:33; Wis. 7:18; Sir. 45:23; Jer. 30:27. The Deut. 33 instance seems to be denoting seasonal changes, but all the rest have to do with political “revolutions” where one leader loses in battle to another.
Vincent: “This is popularly understood to mean that there is in God not the faintest hint or shade of change, like the phrase, ‘a shadow of suspicion.’ But the Greek has no such idiom… Compare Plato, Republic, vii., 530: ‘Will he (the astronomer) not think that the heaven and the things in heaven are framed by the Creator in the most perfect manner? But when he reflects that the proportions of night and day, or of both, to the month, or of the month to the year, or of the other stars to these and to one another, are of the visible and material, he will never fall into the error of supposing that they are eternal and liable to no deviation (οὐδὲν παραλλάττειν) - that would be monstrous.”

N“word of truth” is in the LXX of Ps. 118:43, 160 (that’s Psalm 119 in English versions); Prov. 22:21; and Eccl. 12:10.

OThis is the reading of half of the oldest-known manuscripts (That is, the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus) as well as of the overall majority of manuscripts. The other half (That is, the Alexandrinus and Ephraemi Rescriptus) add an emphatic epsilon prefix (“his own” instead of “his”), which doesn’t substantially change the meaning.

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