Jas 1:1-8 AMP 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].

• Who is James writing to?
• See also Romans 5:3 as it relates to verses 2-4? Is this how we see struggles, temptations, trials in our lives – as a way to bring about endurance, steadfastness and patience?
• Where does James suggest we go during these trials and temptations?
• What will be given to him who asks? Is there a requirement? (Mat 22:21, Mar 11:22-24, Mar 9:20-24) What does this passage and Mark 9:20-24 teach you about belief?
• Verse 5 – where does wisdom come from? What do you think this wisdom means? (Proverbs 3:5-8, Proverbs 2:3-6)
• Verse 6: See also Mat 7:7 and Heb 11:6. What does this reveal about God\’s will for us? What are the consequences of being uncertain in your faith? Why might someone be uncertain in their faith and what would that indicate about their relationship with God?
• Where do we go first when we are facing trials and difficulties (e.g., financial, sin struggles, relationships, leadership challenges)? The answer may indicate where our hope lies? If we look to God and seek Him, what is his response? How is your faith/trust in God? What do you expect from Him when you ask? What should you expect from Him?

Jas 1:9-15 NASB But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; (10) and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. (11) For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away. (12) Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. (13) Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. (14) But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. (15) Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

2Ti 4:7-8 NASB I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; (8) in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.

• Can you summarize God\’s view of humility and endurance that James describes in verses 9-11?
• What is the promise for those who persevere under trial? Who are those who will receive the crown?
• Where does temptation come from? Why can’t God tempt us into sin? If this is true, what do you make of the following verses: Mark 6:13, Mat 26:41, Luke 22:42.
• What does this reveal about God’s nature?

Jas 1:16-20 NASB Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. (17) Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. (18) In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures. (19) This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; (20) for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.

• Contrasting the misconception that temptation comes from the Father, what does come from the Father?
• What attributes of God do you see in these verses?
• What do you thin James meant when he referred to us as a “kind of first fruit”?
• How should those who are the “first fruits” of creation behave?
• What come first in order to be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger? What is the value of the “first fruit” and when is this phrase used?
• Does James suggest that we cannot be angry? What is it about anger that we must be wary?

Jas 1:21-27 AMP 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.

• What does James mean by being a “doer of the Word”.
• How does his example of looking at your face and then walking away and then forgetting fit with being a listener of the word rather than a doer?
• Does James a person’s motivation from external religious worship? How does James’ teaching compare with the teachings of the other apostles? (Gal 6:3, 1Peter 3:10, Eph 4:29, Luke 8:17-18) Why do you think there is so much emphasis placed on what we say?

REFERENCES TO FIRST FRUIT

(Gen 49:3 AMP) Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the beginning (the firstfruits) of my manly strength and vigor; [your birthright gave you] the preeminence in dignity and the preeminence in power.

(Exo 23:16 AMP) Also you shall keep the Feast of Harvest [Pentecost], [acknowledging] the firstfruits of your toil, of what you sow in the field. And [third] you shall keep the Feast of Ingathering [Booths or Tabernacles] at the end of the year, when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field.

(Exo 23:19 AMP) The first of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother\’s milk.

(Exo 34:22 AMP) You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year\’s end.

(Exo 34:26 AMP) The first of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a kid in his mother\’s milk.

(Lev 2:12 AMP) As an offering of firstfruits you may offer leaven and honey to the Lord, but they shall not be burned on the altar for a sweet odor [to the Lord, for their aid to fermentation is symbolic of corruption in the human heart].

(Lev 2:14 AMP) If you offer a cereal offering of your firstfruits to the Lord, you shall offer for it of your firstfruits grain in the ear parched with fire, bruised and crushed grain out of the fresh and fruitful ear.

(Lev 23:10 AMP) Tell the Israelites, When you have come into the land I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.

(Lev 23:17 AMP) You shall bring from your dwellings two loaves of bread to be waved, made from two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven, for firstfruits to the Lord.

(Lev 23:20 AMP) The priest shall wave the two lambs, together with the bread of the firstfruits, for a wave offering before the Lord. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest.

(Lev 23:39 AMP) Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month [nearly October], when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days, the first day and the eighth day each a Sabbath.

(Lev 23:40 AMP) And on the first day you shall take the fruit of pleasing trees [and make booths of them], branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick (leafy) trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.

(Num 13:20 AMP) And what the land is, whether it is fat or lean, whether there is timber on it or not. And be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.

(Num 18:12 AMP) All the best of the oil, and all the best of the [fresh] wine and of the grain, the firstfruits of what they give to the Lord, to you have I given them.

(Num 28:26 AMP) Also in the day of the firstfruits, when you offer a cereal offering of new grain to the Lord at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy [summoned] assembly; you shall do no servile work.

(Deu 12:11 AMP) Then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause His Name [and His Presence] to dwell there; to it you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes and what the hand presents [as a first gift from the fruits of the ground], and all your choicest offerings which you vow to the Lord.

(Deu 18:4 AMP) The firstfruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first or best of the fleece of your sheep you shall give the priest.

(Deu 26:10 AMP) And now, behold, I bring the firstfruits of the ground which You, O Lord, have given me. And you shall set it down before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God;

(2Ki 4:42 AMP) [At another time] a man from Baal-shalisha came and brought the man of God bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and fresh ears of grain [in the husk] in his sack. And Elisha said, Give to the men that they may eat.

(2Ch 31:5 AMP) As soon as the command went abroad, the Israelites gave in abundance the firstfruits of grain, vintage fruit, oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe of everything.

(Neh 10:35 AMP) And [we obligate ourselves] to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the first of all the fruit of all trees year by year to the house of the Lord,

(Neh 10:37 AMP) And we shall bring the first and best of our coarse meal, our contributions, the fruit of all kinds of trees, of new wine, and of oil to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God. And we shall bring the tithes from our ground to the Levites, for they, the Levites, collect the tithes in all our rural towns.

(Neh 12:44 AMP) On that day men were appointed over the chambers for the stores, the contributions, the firstfruits, and the tithes, to gather into them the portions required by law for the priests and the Levites according to the fields of the towns, for Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who served [faithfully].

(Neh 13:31 AMP) And I provided for the wood offering at appointed times, and for the firstfruits. O my God, [earnestly] remember me for good and imprint me [on Your heart]!

(Pro 3:9 AMP) Honor the Lord with your capital and sufficiency [from righteous labors] and with the firstfruits of all your income; [Deut. 26:2; Mal. 3:10; Luke 14:13, 14.]

(Jer 2:3 AMP) Israel was holiness [something set apart from ordinary purposes, dedicated] to the Lord, the firstfruits of His harvest [of which no stranger was allowed to partake]; all who ate of it [injuring Israel] offended and became guilty; evil came upon them, says the Lord.

(Eze 20:40 AMP) For on My holy mountain, on the mountain height of Israel, says the Lord God, there all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, shall serve Me. There will I [graciously] accept them, and there will I require your offerings and the firstfruits and the choicest of your contributions, with all your sacred things.

(Eze 44:30 AMP) And the first of all the firstfruits of all kinds, and every offering of all kinds from all your offerings, shall belong to the priests. You shall also give to the priest the first of your coarse meal and bread dough, that a blessing may rest on your house.

(Eze 48:14 AMP) And they shall not sell any of it or exchange it; they shall not convey or transfer this the firstfruits of the land, for it has been offered to the Lord and is holy to Him.

(Hos 9:10 AMP) I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the first ripe fruit on the fig tree in its first season, but they went to Baal-peor and consecrated themselves to that shameful thing [Baal], and they became detestable and loathsome like that which they loved.

(Mic 6:7 AMP) Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

(Mic 7:1 AMP) WOE IS me! For I am as when the summer fruits have been gathered, as when the vintage grapes have been gleaned and there is no cluster to eat, no first-ripe fig for which my appetite craves.

(Rom 8:23 AMP) And not only the creation, but we ourselves too, who have and enjoy the firstfruits of the [Holy] Spirit [a foretaste of the blissful things to come] groan inwardly as we wait for the redemption of our bodies [from sensuality and the grave, which will reveal] our adoption (our manifestation as God\’s sons).

(Rom 11:16 AMP) Now if the first handful of dough offered as the firstfruits [Abraham and the patriarchs] is consecrated (holy), so is the whole mass [the nation of Israel]; and if the root [Abraham] is consecrated (holy), so are the branches. [Num. 15:19-21.]

(Rom 16:5 AMP) [Remember me] also to the church [that meets] in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was a firstfruit (first convert) to Christ in Asia.

(1Co 15:20 AMP) But the fact is that Christ (the Messiah) has been raised from the dead, and He became the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep [in death].

(1Co 15:23 AMP) But each in his own rank and turn: Christ (the Messiah) [is] the firstfruits, then those who are Christ\’s [own will be resurrected] at His coming.

(1Co 16:15 AMP) Now, brethren, you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts and our firstfruits in Achaia (most of Greece), and how they have consecrated and devoted themselves to the service of the saints (God\’s people).

(Eph 1:14 AMP) That [Spirit] is the guarantee of our inheritance [the firstfruits, the pledge and foretaste, the down payment on our heritage], in anticipation of its full redemption and our acquiring [complete] possession of it–to the praise of His glory.

(Col 1:6 AMP) Which has come to you. Indeed, in the whole world [that Gospel] is bearing fruit and still is growing [by its own inherent power], even as it has done among yourselves ever since the day you first heard and came to know and understand the grace of God in truth. [You came to know the grace or undeserved favor of God in reality, deeply and clearly and thoroughly, becoming accurately and intimately acquainted with it.]

(2Th 2:13 AMP) But we, brethren beloved by the Lord, ought and are obligated [as those who are in debt] to give thanks always to God for you, because God chose you from the beginning as His firstfruits (first converts) for salvation through the sanctifying work of the [Holy] Spirit and [your] belief in (adherence to, trust in, and reliance on) the Truth.

(2Ti 2:6 AMP) [It is] the hard-working farmer [who labors to produce] who must be the first partaker of the fruits.

(Jas 1:18 AMP) 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].

(Jas 3:17 AMP) But the wisdom from above is first of all pure (undefiled); then it is peace-loving, courteous (considerate, gentle). [It is willing to] yield to reason, full of compassion and good fruits; it is wholehearted and straightforward, impartial and unfeigned (free from doubts, wavering, and insincerity).

(Rev 14:4 AMP) These are they who have not defiled themselves by relations with women, for they are [pure as] virgins. These are they who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These are they who have been ransomed (purchased, redeemed) from among men as the firstfruits for God and the Lamb.