Trials and Tribulations in James 1:12-18

The target audience for the book of James is the early practitioners of Christianity or the early church, in particular, those persecuted for their faith and scattered in the Diaspora are of particular importance in James. Non-believers are not addressed in this passage. James forcefully corrects what he perceives to be a misunderstanding concerning the cooperative relationship between faith and works. The Gospels and other epistles are directed at informing those who have not yet heard the message of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast (Eph. 2:8-9).” Commentator Kent Hughes helpfully points out that “Paul’s teaching about faith and works focuses on the time before conversion, and James’s focus is after conversion”

As stated in John 16:33 (NKJV), “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” This passage clearly illustrates that in life and as a leader there will be trials and tribulations. “Be of good cheer” is to be confident and courageous. By trusting in God, He will give you peace in the midst of pressure. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:58 (NIV), “Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain”. Paul was telling the Corinthians to continue steadfast in the work of Christ. Many reject God’s word, but we must be faithful and have the courage to continue His work.

Persevering trials bring purpose, and God’s love is evident in His chastening which should never be despised (Job 5:17; Hebrews 12:5).

James contends in his fourth and fifth addresses that finding and keeping up satisfaction is the motivation behind life. A religious ordeal, then, might be created by the experience of maintained bliss. This ought not be interpreted as meaning through epicurean living, but rather through accomplishing an inward joy. A few people are conceived with an inalienable hopeful point of view and don 't for the most part consider the shades of malice of the world. He terms such people as 'once-conceived '. A confidence in this idealistic mental way to deal with life is the thing that propelled the

James 1:2-3 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”

So If you ask others have I struggled well, they would probably tell you yes. Looking at my life from the outside, I seems to have it pretty together. I take on many task a father, a youth leader, a surgeon, an administrator (and now student) and remarkably get it all done. If you ask me, have I struggled well, I’d have to say, “ I am not so sure” I have many doubts and question. Sometimes God and I have some talks and they are not so nice from my end. But what does it mean to struggle well? I think of Corrie Ten Boone, what an amazing woman. She struggled well. She was a Christian survivor of the Concentration camps (read the Hiding Place to know more about her story) She wasn’t perfect. She certainly saw life in the concentration camps different than her sister Betsy who was much more accepting of God's will. In the end though she came to the realization that God was in control of all things and she was able to trust in him. While my life and struggles pail in comparison, I believe that life is a journey and it the struggles of life that help us to ultimately bring us around to full obedience and trust in God. Why did James in verse 2 of chapter one say to “count it Joy when you face trial of many kinds.” It is no because they are fun or enjoyable, but because of what the outcome will be. In the following verses. He goes on to say that trials develope patients and through patients we are made complete. It is when we realize this that we then can

Depression is a fast growing epidemic in America, claiming the lives of an estimated one in eight people in our country; and several thousand in that number express faith in Jesus Christ (“Depression Statistics”) . But if God loves us, why does he allow us to feel this way? Where do we turn for up-to-date answers about this issue when the Bible was written over 2000 years ago? Believe it or not, the Bible contains some of the most compelling stories of painful and crushing depression, and the plan and purpose God had for those people who felt that way. You won’t find the word “depression” in the Bible, but you will find many biblical characters described as forlorn, downcast, heavy-laden, or brokenhearted. These are characters such as Job,

UNLIKE THE TWELVE, he never left Jerusalem. History says he was appointed as overseer there by the apostles. Not only did he not leave Jerusalem, but surely he was the most Jewish of the apostles. (James is called an apostle in Scripture—e.g., Gal. 1:19—but he was not one of the twelve.)

Our source of knowledge of the apostolic work of Paul comes first from the Book of Acts. The epistles written by Paul serve to further our knowledge of his mission. These letters were written to churches that he had founded or churches that were known to him. Luke’s account of Paul introduces us to the basic facts about this important biblical figure. A more complete understanding of Paul’s journeys can be gleaned from his letters. These epistles were written almost at the time they occurred and they comprise some of the earliest works contained in the New Testament.

The book of James is not very tidy when it comes to fitting into any of the other genres of literature. Some consider it to more of a circular rather than an epistle and it is quite possible that both Paul and Peter had read the Epistle of James, at least there are several coincidences between them.7 Because it was written to such a broad audience and because it contains many references to the Old Testament, James hardly fits into any category very neatly. Therefore, it may be best to see James as a literary circular since it does not address any particular needs at a given moment. James was apparently teaching the victims of the Diaspora.

This leads interpreters to believe that the epistle of James was written prior to the events of Acts 15 and before the Jerusalem Council dating the epistle of James in the mid-30’s-40 (Hodges 10).

James the Just, was the successor of Peter as leader of the Jerusalem Church around AD 44 and maintained the position until he was martyred in AD 62 (127). As the man who was reasoned to be the first real bishop of the Christian Church, it is obvious that he would have been a well-known figure amongst early Christians and would not have needed to use his full name in order to establish his literary authority. Furthermore, the idea that James the Just was the author would also fit with the content of the book of James, which assumes much of Jesus' teachings and whose author seems to have a great understanding of events and situations regarding the oral traditions and life of Jesus, despite the fact that the Gospels had not yet been amassed

The genre of Ephesians 2:1-10 is an Epistle. The Epistles were letters teaching specific churches or groups of people; often inspired by God. They are split into two categories: Pauline Epistles, written by Paul and traditionally Paul was the first word of the book in Greek, and General Epistles, often referred to as the Catholic epistles and were written to the universal Church. The Pauline Epistles consist of: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. The General Epistles consist of: Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, and Jude. The interpretive principles of this genre are that it is meant to be read as a whole and in one sitting in order to get the main idea of the passage, one must view the paragraphs as the main unit of thought in the passage, one must know the structure to understand the letter, and one must do background reading to fully comprehend the main concept and the history and culture of the setting.

The concept of faith and suffering in the Hebrew Bible has filled worshippers with fraught throughout the ages of its existence. The crux of the matter is that there is no definition of what exactly these things are and what they mean, leading to many different theories to emerge on the concept of whether suffering is necessary for faith in God. This has historically caused strife between many populations of worshippers, and continues to be a point of bitter disagreement between people. Wildly contradicting itself between various books, the Hebrew Bible is at best ambiguous in many of these concepts, but when analyzing small passages, certain themes can be argued for with much more strength. In the Book of Job, loyalty to God is questioned, and ultimately the theme of free will in faith is addressed through the pain and suffering of its characters.

The New Testament is a collection of books which contains the writings concerning the significant events in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. These books appeared after the physical death of Jesus Christ. In this regard, Jesus had left no records concerning him, and all that is written about him depends wholly on what other people have written about him. The first four books of the New Testament are part of the several biographies of Jesus which were written by the end of the first century of the era of Christianity. Then before any of these biographies have been drafted, there were Christian communities which were being instructed through epistles on how to live like Jesus and how to solve their problem like Christians. A good number of these letters were written by a man called Paul. After Paul death, some other new leaders of the Christian movement continued to write letters to the churches to encourage and strengthen them. As Christians grew in number persecution arose, and some letters have been drafted to support them and also to counter the false doctrines. These letters are part of the New Testament. The twenty-seven books of the New Testament were selected from the list of writings in that period (Bruce, 1988)