If someone tells the truth in the wrong way, at the wrong time, it can bring dismay rather than help. Imagine, for example, that a man has for a year planned a week-long wilderness hike in the mountains, only to break a small bone in his foot just before departure. His doctor reports no permanent damage, but he must cancel the trip and stay off the foot for two weeks. Word of the injury spreads through his church, and soon a man arrives at this doorstep, wielding a Bible. “Cheer up,” the visitor says. “I found a passage in James, some Scripture that addresses your very situation.” He then reads James 1:2-4.

“So,” the meddler continues, “be glad this happened, for God intends to strengthen your character through it.” At this point, the would-be hiker might be seized by an urge to snatch the Bible from his counselor’s hands and use it as a blunt object to knock some sense into him while quoting Job’s speech about “miserable comforters” (Job 16:1-5). Of course, God can use all of life’s sorrows – and all its joys – to bring believers to maturity. But it is misleading to use James 1 as the word in grief counseling.

When James says believers should rejoice in trials because they test our faith and develop maturity, he addresses more than the hour of crisis or sorrow. James wants the church to live out its faith in the crucible of life, in all its tests. This includes tests born of hardship, such as accidents, sickness, poverty, and anxiety, but it also includes trials that spring from prosperity such as wealth, knowledge, skill, and high position. Both hardship and prosperity test our faith. Either one can prove a profession of faith to be genuine or specious. Hardship brings obvious trials, but success sifts us too.

When immersed in intense trials, people commonly ask the wrong questions: Why is this happening to me? Whose fault is this? Is it the result of my sin and folly? A result of satanic opposition? Instead, we should ask how we can grow to maturity through our trial. The greatest trial can at least teach us to seek God afresh. Severe suffering can break us down, and terminal illness hardly strengthens us for this life, but they still prepare believers for eternity. We rejoice in trials because our faith becomes mature through them.

So, James promises believers that trials will produce maturity (v. 4). But he adds conditions to his promise. First, we need wisdom to discern the meaning of the trial. Second, we must believe that God intends our good, that He allows trials because we need them (vv. 5-6). James says the goal of trials is “that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God” (vv. 4-5). The goal, says James, is that we “lack nothing” spiritually. God intends trials to produce endurance and maturity. But trials do not always lead to spiritual growth. Suffering can create fear, despair, a determination to “look out for number one,” or anger toward God. Abundance (which is also a trail) can lead to selfish indulgence. Therefore, James now says, we need to ask God for wisdom, so we can gain from trials (v. 5).

After James exhorts the church to view trials as a blessing and to seek wisdom to make them so, he briefly addresses the trials of riches and poverty (vv. 9-11). When James says, “The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his position. But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position” (v. 9), he presents a riddle. James calls the poor man a brother, but the second man is simply “one who is rich.” The “low position” of the rich believer is the same low position every Christian shares. We all bow to request mercy and forgiveness of our sin. The rich believer knows the ground is level at foot of the cross.

If this is right, then riches and poverty are indeed both trials. The poor man is little noted in this age, but he knows God. He is an heir of the kingdom; he possesses eternal life. The rich believer, however, knows he must take no pride in his social position, his worldly status. He may “fade away,” that is, die, in the midst of the business that makes him prominent. He knows he is no greater than any other man. He is a sinner, saved by grace alone. He boasts in God, not in his wealth (Jer 9:23-24).

James’s opening statement was a surprise: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials” (v. 2). But now James returns to the theme of trials: “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him” (v. 12). This confirms that James’s first theme is the trials of life. We face short-term temptations and long-term tests. Some, such as illness, are obvious. Others, such as prosperity, are not. Yet God uses trials to reveal our spiritual flaws and to test our love for Him. So then, in time of trial, let us seek not simply to escape, but to find godly maturity.

We may look to Christ in two ways as we pursue this goal. First, Jesus faced trial after trial in this life. Satan tried Him directly in the wilderness temptations (Matt. 4:1-11). Jesus had “no place to lay his head,” so He faced the trial of poverty. Later, He faced hatred, verbal abuse, and physical abuse of every kind. Above all, He endured the trial of crucifixion before God the Father raised Him to life and to glory. Thus, He became the prime example of “the man who perseveres under trial” and receives “the crown of life” (James 1:12). Second, if we fail to persevere in trials and do not deserve to receive the crown of life, the gospel remains. Indeed, when we fail to persevere and we honestly take our failure to the Lord Jesus, confessing our sin, He will “give us birth through the word of truth” – that is, the gospel (1:18).

The Jewish Christians who read James needed to hear this teaching, and so do we. Many are strong in knowledge of faith, but weak in the life of faith. James brings a corrective. The trials of this life test our faith, pushing us to act, not just to think. If we withstand the tests of life, we see that our faith in Christ is genuine. Then, when God has confirmed our faith, He will grant us the crown of life eternal. Then we who love Him and grow in maturity toward Him will dwell with Him forever.

James 1:2-12 Study Questions:

Look through verses 1-12 and identify the main imperatives in these opening verses. What do these commands tell you about James’s goals for his audience as they endure “trials of various kinds”?

What are the intended results of trials and testing, according to James (vv. 3-4)? Why does James say that his readers “know” this? Why might James not have been overly specific in his identification of these “trails,” and what does this tell us about the kinds of trials he has in mind?

What conditions are attached to the God-intended results of trials (vv. 5-8)? What is necessary for us, as believers, to grow and persevere through trouble? How does James in these verses call for believers to seek wisdom, and what warnings does he offer?

How can verses 9-11 help us understand both poverty and wealth from a more biblical perspective? What do James’s commands tell us about the dangers, and the spiritual opportunities, of both situations?

If we understand verse 12 as the conclusion of this first section of James’s letter, how does this verse confirm the main theme of these opening verses? What does this verse suggest about the reward that is ahead for believers in Christ? Who receives this reward, and what is it, exactly? How should the hope of reward motivate Christians?