James 1

1  JAMES, A servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered abroad [among the Gentiles in the dispersion]: Greetings (rejoice)!2  Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations.3  Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience.4  But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.5  If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him.6  Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind.7  For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord,8  [For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides].9  Let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his elevation [as a Christian, called to the true riches and to be an heir of God],10  And the rich [person ought to glory] in being humbled [by being shown his human frailty], because like the flower of the grass he will pass away.11  For the sun comes up with a scorching heat and parches the grass; its flower falls off and its beauty fades away. Even so will the rich man wither and die in the midst of his pursuits. 12  Blessed (happy, to be envied) is the man who is patient under trial and stands up under temptation, for when he has stood the test and been approved, he will receive [the victor’s] crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him.13  Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted from God; for God is incapable of being tempted by [what is] evil and He Himself tempts no one.14  But every person is tempted when he is drawn away, enticed and baited by his own evil desire (lust, passions).15  Then the evil desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death.16  Do not be misled, my beloved brethren.17  Every good gift and every perfect (free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all [that gives] light, in [the shining of] Whom there can be no variation [rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [as in an eclipse].18  And it was of His own [free] will that He gave us birth [as sons] by [His] Word of Truth, so that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures [a sample of what He created to be consecrated to Himself].19  Understand [this], my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear [a ready listener], slow to speak, slow to take offense and to get angry.20  For man’s anger does not promote the righteousness God [wishes and requires].21  So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble (gentle, modest) spirit receive and welcome the Word which implanted and rooted [in your hearts] contains the power to save your souls.22  But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth].23  For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror;24  For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like.25  But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience).26  If anyone thinks himself to be religious (piously observant of the external duties of his faith) and does not bridle his tongue but deludes his own heart, this person’s religious service is worthless (futile, barren).27  External religious worship [religion as it is expressed in outward acts] that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world.

Jakob 1

1 Jakob, Guds og Herren Jesu Kristi tjener, hilser de tolv stammer som lever ute i fremmed land.t t

Tro i prøvelse og fristelse

4 Men utholdenheten må vise seg i fullført gjerning, så dere kan være fullkomne og hele og ikke stå tilbake i noe.t
5 Dersom noen av dere mangler visdom, skal han be til Gud, og han skal få; for Gud gir til alle, villig og uten bebreidelser. t 6 Men han må be i tro, uten å tvile. For den som tviler, ligner en bølge på havet, som drives og kastes hit og dit av vinden. t 7 Ikke må et slikt menneske vente å få noe av Herren,

8 splittet som han er og ustø i all sin ferd.
9 Den bror som står lavt i verden, skal være stolt av sin høye stilling, 10 men den rike skal være stolt av sin lave stilling; for som blomsten i gresset skal han forgå. t

11 Solen stiger med sin brennende hete, gresset visner, blomsten faller av, og all dens skjønnhet er borte. På samme måte skal den rike visne midt i alt sitt arbeid.
12 Salig er den som holder ut i fristelser. For når han har stått sin prøve, skal han få livets krone, som Gud har lovt dem som elsker ham. t 13 Ingen som blir fristet, må si: «Det er Gud som frister meg.» For Gud fristes ikke av det onde, og selv frister han ingen. 14 Den som blir fristet, lokkes og dras av sitt eget begjær. t 15 Når begjæret er blitt svangert, føder det synd, og når synden er moden, føder den død. t

16 Ta ikke feil, mine kjære brødre!
17 All god gave og all fullkommen gave kommer ovenfra, fra lysenes Far; hos ham er det ingen forandring eller veksling mellom lys og mørke. t t

18 Av sin frie vilje har han født oss ved sannhets ord, for at vi skal være en første frukt blant dem han har skapt.t

Hør Ordet og gjør etter det!

25 Men den som ser inn i frihetens fullkomne lov og fortsetter med det, han blir ikke en glemsom hører, men en gjerningens gjører. Han skal være lykkelig i sin gjerning.t
26 Den som mener at han dyrker Gud, men ikke holder tungen i tømme, han bedrar seg selv, og hans gudstjeneste er uten verdi. t 27 En gudstjeneste som er ren og feilfri i Gud vår Fars øyne, er å hjelpe enker og foreldreløse barn i deres nød, og ikke la seg flekke til av verden.t