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.
— James 1:12
And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
— Romans 5:3-4
Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
— James 5:7-11
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.
— James 1:17
An Introduction to Patience and Its Perfect Work Enduring Sudden and Sore Trials with Joy, An Exposition of James 1:1–5, by Thomas Goodwin.
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered abroad, greetings. My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various trials; knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him. — James 1:1–5
Christian patience is my subject—especially the perfect work of patience mentioned in verse 4. But before addressing that directly, I must first open up several matters from verses 1 and 2.
I. Preliminary Observations
1. As for the persons to whom he writes: They were “the twelve tribes scattered abroad,” those who had been dispossessed of their inheritance in their native land. Having abandoned that, they had resorted to exile. A great number of them—not all, as we learn in Acts 8:1—had left, for there it is written,“At that time there was a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.” And in Acts 11:19, we find that they traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch—some of them eventually journeying into more distant lands. Another apostle, writing to the same people, comforts them with this in 1 Peter 1:4: they had been born again to a better inheritance than that of Canaan, which they had now lost.
2. Although they had already been made desolate and homeless, forced to seek a livelihood for themselves and their families in foreign countries, still further and greater troubles continued to follow them—like one wave rolling in after another. They were constantly encountering various trials of every kind. God, as it says in Job 7:18,“tests us every moment.” We are “chastened every morning” (Psalm 37:13), and “killed all the day long” (Romans 8). God had not yet finished His work in them.
3. In this context, James utters one of the strangest paradoxes ever expressed: “My brothers, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations.” He states this directly and abruptly, without softening the blow—except by the affectionate address,“my brothers.” The opening command, “count it all joy,” seems at first to contradict what follows,“when you fall into various temptations.” The latter appears to render the former impossible. Yet this is the very duty to which they are exhorted.
Let us then examine carefully eight particular aspects of this strange and challenging exhortation:
II. Detailed Consideration of the Paradox
1. Were they merely commanded to rejoice, it would already seem unnatural, considering their afflicted state. But James says more: “count it joy.” Not merely moderate or suppress your sorrows—which was the highest aspiration of philosophy or Stoicism—but the gospel calls us to rejoice precisely because of these trials. That is the first step: “count it joy.”
2. Not merely joy, but “all joy.” That is, the highest and fullest joy. “All joy” must be understood to include every degree and expression of rejoicing.
3. And this joy must be counted beforehand. Not only once they have seen the glorious outcome of these trials, but before they see any benefit. They are to consider it joy in anticipation— as if they already possessed what God has promised will certainly result, just as in Jeremiah 29:11, where He declares,“I know the plans I have for you…to give you a future and a hope.”
4. It is not merely when afflictions are looming, but when they have actually fallen upon them, and they are under the weight of them.
5. Nor is it a slow descent into suffering, as if they were led step by step. No, James speaks of a sudden “falling into” trials— an unexpected plunge into suffering, like falling into a pit.
6. Nor are they dealing with a single hardship, but with many. The word translated “various” is rendered elsewhere “manifold” (1 Peter 1:6), which suggests multiplicity and abundance.
7. And these trials are not all of one kind. They are diverse: afflictions upon their reputations through slander and reproach; upon their bodies and souls; upon their families—wives, children, and friends. These are both internal and external trials.
8. Finally, the word “fall into” (περιπέσητε) implies being surrounded—like falling into a pit or trap, with snares on every side. All supports are gone; everything collapses under and around them. They appear utterly sunk and overwhelmed in ruin.
To “count it all joy”—to shout as those do in harvest, or as those who have seized great spoils—when their miseries are so severe that they seem unbearable, and yet their joy must be so great that no greater joy could be expressed: this is the hardest duty ever required of the afflicted hearts of men. Yet God would not require it if it were not attainable; and it is attainable only by the principles of Christianity. This reveals that our Christian faith, which is the only true wisdom (verse 5), possesses such a spirited and sovereign power that it can lift the soul to such a height of glorious perfection even in this life.
But some might say,”You have presented to us this difficult and extraordinary duty—what reason or foundation is there that could persuasively and effectively move our hearts to it? What considerations could stir up this joy, and how can we be brought to it?” For God never gave any commandment without also providing a full and sufficient reason to enforce it.
James gives them two grounds for this joy. The first is in verses 3 and 4: “Knowing this, that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” This is a reason drawn from what results in this life. The second ground is found in verse 12: “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life.” This is the reward that follows in the life to come; and in the hope and expectation of that, you may count it all joy when you are now tried—for the end and outcome of such trials is a crown of glory, as in 2 Corinthians 4:17: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, produces for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”
I will begin with the first reason—what ground there is in this life that should cause us to rejoice in such trials. This is stated in verses 3 and 4: “Knowing”—that is, deeply considering and reflecting upon this principle of our Christian profession—“that the testing of your faith produces patience.” This is the first reason, in which the Apostle silently assumes a foundational maxim and builds upon it. It lies at the root, though not explicitly stated. It is this: that to have our graces—especially faith and patience—tried, exercised, and drawn forth in us to the glory of God is the greatest blessedness a Christian can enjoy in this life.
That this is the foundational reason is evident. Why else would he present this above all others, with a “for,” a conjunction that introduces the reason for what he has just said? Since their faith and other graces, such as patience, will be exercised through these trials, they should therefore “count it all joy.” My brothers, if we had spiritual eyes to see and consider it rightly, we would recognize that just as possessing grace that accompanies salvation is the greatest mercy anyone can receive in this world, so to have that grace tried, exercised, and drawn out to the fullest is among the most significant spiritual privileges we can experience after having received grace. Therefore, when trials arise, we should say within ourselves,“Now my graces will be tested; now has come that which will exercise them.” This ought to be the cause of the greatest joy for us. For it is from this very reason that the Apostle exhorts them to count it all joy. He mentions no other reason here, for this alone is the greatest advantage a Christian can attain in this life—and this life alone is the time in which grace is exercised.
The reason for this lies in the fact that for grace to prove itself to God in a manner most pleasing to Him—and thus to receive His approval and commendation—and for a man’s sincerity to be acknowledged by God (as was said to Abraham,“Now I know that you fear Me”)—this is the highest privilege a saint can have, and it should be the source of his greatest comfort. This is our highest glory, according to 2 Corinthians 10:17: “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord,”which Paul says in connection with verse 18: “For not he who commends himself is approved, but he whom the Lord commends.” These statements were Paul’s own comfort and even his boast—that the Lord had approved him. Job likewise found comfort in this: Job 23:10,“When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” The Apostle says,“The testing of your faith is more precious than gold,” and he refers even to the very means by which your graces are tested —the refining fire itself. The Greek word he uses—τὸ δοκίμιον— refers to the crucible or the fire used for testing. Even that testing process is more precious than gold. How much more, then, are the graces themselves, which are tested through it? Therefore, by τὸ δοκίμιον the Apostle means the very afflictions and temptations through which we are tried. These are the crucible, the refiner’s fire.
You would rejoice if someone gave you a quantity of gold. Then rejoice even more that you have received afflictions to test your gold —that is, your faith. That your graces are so highly esteemed by God is the reason He subjects them to trial; He would not go to the trouble and cost of doing so otherwise. And once they are tried, and are proven to be genuine and true gold, then they receive His approval through that testing. He places upon them His royal mark and seal, secretly in this life—and this same approval will be made public to all the world on the last day.
So it is written in 1 Peter 1:6–7: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you are grieved by various trials, so that the testing of your faith—being much more precious than gold that perishes, even though tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” It will indeed be found to bring praise then, but even now it brings praise before God, just as truly as it will then.
He mentions faith—“for the testing of your faith”—in the first and foremost place, as that grace which is most frequently tried, and as that which, when tested, sets all the other graces into motion. I need not dwell long on this. It is faith that will be accounted for honor and glory in that day, having been tested. It is faith which bears up under, and by which we endure, the weight of all temptations. It is by faith that we overcome: as it is written in 1 John 5:4–5,“This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcomes the world? He who believes,” and so on.
A second and more specific principle or maxim, pertaining to this life and which ought to move us to rejoice, is that faith, when tested, produces patience; and that if patience is allowed its full effect, it will render us perfect Christians. “But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
He does not further expand on faith, except to bestow upon it the honor of being the mother grace—especially of patience—when it itself is tested. But as soon as he mentions patience, he proceeds at length, and pours forth the highest commendation and praise of it: “Let patience have its perfect work, and it will make you perfect.” Now there is no opportunity, nor any field for the exercise of patience, except where there are trials. And the work of patience can extend only as far as the affliction presses. Thus, his second argument is built upon this principle: that the full and complete operation of patience in our souls is, among all other graces, the highest form of Christian maturity; and therefore,“count it all joy when you fall into various trials.” For by them you will have that grace—patience—brought forth to its fullest expression, elevated to its highest point; which cannot happen unless the trials are suitably weighty. And in all your afflictions, if patience is allowed to move freely and fully, it will render your character perfect—that is, as perfect as one can become in this life.
Question.—In what way does it make us perfect?
Answer.—Not merely in this sense—though there are two possible meanings to the phrase—that if a person has exercised all other graces but has lacked the opportunity to exercise this one, then upon adding this, he becomes a perfect Christian. But that is not the meaning here, for the same could be said of any other grace: that if a person has been active in all but one, and now begins to exercise a new one, then in that sense he is perfected. As Paul says to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 8:7,“As you abound in everything else, see that you also abound in this grace.”
But the sense here is different. The Apostle’s intent is not to extol a perfection that patience shares in common with other graces, but rather to assert a unique and singular perfection that belongs to patience alone: “Let patience have its perfect work, and that alone will make you eminently perfect.” His aim here is to comfort them against the greatest trials and afflictions of their lives—“various temptations.” Therefore, a special and distinctive commendation is given to patience, which is the shield by which we endure such trials.
My brothers, to express the full meaning of this, I will present a supposition. Imagine a Christian who has enjoyed the privilege of living in the exercise of all the graces in an active manner—that is, he has lived in sweet communion with God, and has walked in the light of God’s countenance all day long, as in Psalm 89:15. Moreover, he has had many opportunities to do good, and has accordingly done much good in an active way, having been abundant in good works, holy duties, prayer, reading, godly conversation, and so on. Yet all this time he has been free from suffering, so that there has been no call for or exercise of patience.
Now suppose another Christian who has been hindered and obstructed from such an active life, lacking the liberty to do good in the way just described. God, in His providence, has appointed him to a life of suffering, and all his days he has been confined to it. In that condition, his patience has been exercised under all kinds of trials. Moreover, suppose that patience—with all its gracious tendencies and inward dispositions, which I shall describe later—has been allowed free and full expression in his heart. It has operated in all directions and under all the various shapes of affliction he has experienced. That alone would so activate and develop all the graces, and bring them into unity and strength, that one might rightly say, “This man is a perfect Christian.” May I say, even more perfect than the former? At the very least, the text declares that this makes him a perfect man. Or again, imagine someone who has been very active in earlier periods of life, having served God with a large and willing heart; and then, at the end, after having fulfilled the will of God, he is, as a final adornment and crowning of his character, subjected to great sufferings through which his patience is drawn forth and exercised. That person is perfect in every way. Until then, he lacked what constitutes the highest perfection. He was not yet fully equipped and complete in the sight of God.
For proof that patience is the eminent perfection of a Christian:
1. Consider the example of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What constituted Christ’s perfection? He had already been perfect in all active obedience, complete in every grace, yet the glory of His perfection is ascribed to His sufferings and His patience. Hebrews 2:10 says,“For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” This patient endurance is what elevated and magnified His obedience: Philippians 2,“He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death,” and so on. This endurance in suffering was the obedience He learned: Hebrews 5:8,“Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience through what He suffered.” The active part of obedience was natural to Him, being the natural Son and the Holy One of God, having the law of God within His heart; it was His delight—His food and drink—to do the will of God (Psalm 40:8; Hebrews 10). This was natural to Him. But to suffer, being the Son, and to be patient in suffering, being so great a person—this was something to be learned, as it was not proper to such a person as the Son to suffer. And yet, this, I may say, is what perfected His natural excellence. It was a lesson beyond the usual course, entirely foreign and extraordinary. He therefore had to go to school to learn it, for so the text implies. This was the lesson He must learn—one that would perfect Him above all others.
And indeed, to this end it is added in verse 9,“And being made perfect”—that is, by what He suffered, as the previous verse and chapter 2 have already stated—and as that which perfected Him more than all His other obedience and rendered Him more acceptable to the Father. Now it was in His patience and endurance that His obedience chiefly lay. Accordingly, this is often spoken of Him, as in Hebrews 12: “He endured the cross” (verse 2), and “He endured such hostility from sinners” (verse 3). The same word is used here as is used for patience; the verb and the noun are of the same root. “Enduring” is used throughout the New Testament— especially in this epistle—to express patience, as in James 1:12, and chapter 5:8, 10, 11. Christ thus endured: “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and He opened not His mouth.” Hogs cry out, but sheep make no noise when led to the slaughter or when their throats are cut. And this was Christ’s own peculiar and transcendent perfection. Therefore, He is set forth as an example of suffering and patience for us, and also as an example of the glorious end and result of such suffering. As it says in James 5:11,“You have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord”—that is, the Lord Christ— whose sufferings many of these Jews, to whom the Apostle wrote, had either seen with their own eyes or known as events of their time. They saw Him suffer, and now they behold Him crowned with glory and honor (Hebrews 2). That was the end of our Lord and of His sufferings, which made Him perfect.
2. And as patience was Christ’s perfection, so also it was the mark of the most eminent saints. Look again into this epistle at James 5:11, and you will find the prevailing principle among them to be this: “Behold, we count them happy who endure.” It is again the same word used for patience, as mentioned earlier. That is, we Christians commonly judge those to be the happiest people in the world who are most afflicted with sufferings and yet are armed with patience to endure them. They are happy to the point of a “Behold!”—and so, in our shared estimation, they are perfectly blessed. “Behold, we count them happy!” It was a well known and celebrated maxim among them at that time, and the reality itself was held in highest regard. Then—
3. “Take the prophets as an example,” he says in James 5:10. He commends them not only for their prophecies but also for their patience. Though he describes them by the phrase,“who spoke in the name of the Lord,” that serves only to magnify their example in suffering and patience all the more. He places the crown on the head of that grace. He does not mention any of the good they accomplished—nothing of that—but highlights solely their sufferings. He then specifically names Job. God had boasted of Job to Satan for his former active life of holiness, but the Apostle makes no mention of that, nor does the New Testament anywhere. Instead, Job is celebrated for his suffering and his patience alone, as that which endeared him to God more than all the prior part of his life.
Lastly, consider the apostles. The Apostle John in Revelation includes it in his coat of arms, as a mark of spiritual nobility and a part of his divine heraldry: “I, John, your brother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:9).
For proof that patience is the eminent perfection of a Christian—
Now, upon all these grounds, if you are genuine and sincere Christians, and if you understand—as the Apostle’s word signifies— how to place a right and proper value upon that which is your greatest privilege and interest in this life, namely, the proving and testing of your graces, and particularly this grace of patience above all, as the highest perfection of a Christian, even of Christ Himself, and that which was the most eminent commendation of prophets and apostles—then, if you desire to be rendered most pleasing to God, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations.
For now you have God and Christ—the supreme, sovereign Lord and the chief architect and ordainer of these spiritual contests—setting His most gracious eye upon you, taking delight in observing how valiantly, wisely, and faithfully you conduct yourselves and discharge your duty. He sits in heaven as the great spectator of these spiritual combats, these jousts and tournaments, which are to Him as spectacles—just as earthly games and displays are to us. The Apostle alludes to this in 1 Corinthians 4:9,“For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, as those appointed to death; for we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.”
Rejoice, therefore, as good soldiers would, to enter into these contests in the sight of their great general and king, to whom they have wholly devoted themselves and whom they long to please. Thus it is said in 2 Timothy 2:4,“No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, so that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” Therefore, free your hearts and loosen them from all those entanglements that arise from attachment to the things of this world, and from the inordinate affections that cling to the matters of this life, which will only hinder and weaken your ability to patiently endure the losses and trials you encounter in it. Know also that you cannot more fully please the Captain of your salvation, nor more commend yourselves to Him, than by patient endurance. This is what the Apostle exhorts in the previous verse to that same passage in Timothy—verse 3: “Therefore endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” And, in its context, this follows because “it pleases your general to see it.”
In Colossians 1, the Apostle first offers a general prayer in verse 10, “that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him.” This pleasing of the Lord consists, first, in fruitfulness in good works—the active obedience of the Christian life—“being fruitful in every good work,” as the same verse states. But also, and especially, in “being strengthened with all might, unto all patience and long-suffering,” as the second and chiefest, and most glorious part which the Christian must perform to complete the former. For this reason, it requires a more excellent and glorious power to effect it than the active obedience did, as verse 11 shows: “Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and long suffering.”
Thus far for the explanation of these words, in preparation for that which I shall more deliberately address in what follows.
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