1:2-4
Consider it all joy, my brethren,
when you encounter various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces
endurance.
And
let endurance have [its] perfect result,
that you may be perfect
and
complete,
lacking in nothing.
The first sentence the author wants them
to have a change of perspective about suffering/trials that the recipients are
experiencing. Suffering is the testing of faith that produces endurance. The
command make sense that facing trials of any sort should be considered joy
because it is a testing of faith that produces endurance. Trials are tests of
faith. It is only through trials that perseverance will come into existence.
Conversely, perseverance can only be applied whenever there is a test of faith.
Therefore, trial and perseverance are inseparable entity. However, why is it
important to endure under trials.
The word "and" at the beginning
of the second sentence shows the progression of idea coming from the first
sentence. The link between these two sentences is the idea of endurance.
Endurance is the capability of a person to stay and continue on the course of testing of faith (trial).
The idea is that Christians must endure the test of faith until the test is
over. However, that is not the end of itself. Endurance, when the test of faith
is over, there is something that will happen to the person who endured, and
that is the perfect result. The perfect result is to be perfect and complete,
lacking in nothing. To accomplish this perfect result one must endure the test
of faith.
The idea of being perfect and complete
deals with maturity and wholeness of a person respectively. This is why the
author wants them to consider facing various trials as their joy. They will
become mature and whole when they endure the test of faith. In addition, he
added the idea of lacking in nothing. It is another way to express the idea of
being perfect and complete. The question more likely to ask is how to endure
the test of faith. Is it possible to endure the test of faith until it is over?
The next two passages will answer how to endure till the end of the test of
faith.
5-11
But
if any of you lacks
wisdom,
let him ask of God,
who gives to all [men] generously
and
without reproach,
and
it will be given to him.
But
let him ask in faith without any doubting,
for the one
who doubts is like the surf of the sea
driven
and
tossed by the
wind .
For
let not that man expect
that he will receive anything from the Lord,
being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
But
let the brother of humble circumstances glory in his high position;
and
[let] the rich man [glory] in his humiliation,
because like flowering grass he will pass
away.
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.
In the previous passage, there is a command
to let endurance have its perfect result, which is perfection and completeness.
Since it is important to endure in order be mature and whole (perfect and
complete). The next two passages will present what must a person should do to
endure in the midst of trials.
The word "but" connects the
previous passage to this passage in contrasting way. While the former passage
expresses the idea of lacking in nothing, in this passage the author gives a
situation wherein someone is lacking of wisdom. Wisdom is one of the essential
elements that will keep the person to endure throughout the test of faith.
Without wisdom a person amidst trial can never endure at all. For this very
reason, the author commanded his recipients to ask God for wisdom. Further, the
author assures the recipients in the second sentence that God will grant the
prayer by virtue of God's characters in relation to giving (generously and
without reproach). The conjunction "end" expresses the idea of
progression from asking to giving. By including the characters of God in
giving, the author's intention wants them to ask of wisdom and God will grant
it because it is very important in passing through the test of faith.
The second important key to endure trials
is about asking in faith. What connects the previous sentences to this sentence
is the idea of asking and receiving. In the previous sentences, the author
commands them to ask of wisdom and God will grant it while in this sentence he
commands them to ask in faith because if not they will not receive anything
from the Lord. To highlight the idea of asking in faith, the author explains
the otherwise; doubting. He compares the one who doubts to the surf of the sea
being driven and tossed by the wind. It is a picture of being double-minded and
unstable. For this reason, the author commands the one whoever is doubting who
is double-minded and unstable to cease from expecting something from God amidst
the testing of faith.
The third important key to endure trials is
humility. The idea that connects is the character of being double-minded and
unstable. Trials make a person unstable. In the midst of trial, a person is
more likely losing his sense of direction because his mind is divided to the
things of the God and the world. In order to avoid double-mindedness the author
commands to boast or to glory in their
spiritual status. The lowly circumstance and the rich refers to their social
status while the exaltation and humiliation refers to spiritual status. In
order for the brother of lowly circumstance (poor) to have a sense of
direction, he should not focus on his condition as a poor, rather to glory in
his exaltation. In the same manner, the object of glory/boasting of the rich
should not his status of being rich but his humiliation. This echoes the
principle that God exalts the humble and humbles the proud. The proud here are
the rich people. The focus of the passage here is the humiliation of the rich.
The next sentence is a description of the fading away of the rich depicted by
the flowering grass. However, the word humiliation must first be understood in
the context.
Humiliation is the reverse idea of
exaltation. While exaltation has something to do with salvation and every good
things from God, humiliation has something to do with condemnation and
judgment. The rich must know and understand their spiritual status, or else,
his riches will be his boasting. When the rich understand his spiritual status
of being in the condemned state, he will weigh whether he will continue to live
with his wealth or he will consider his status of being condemned, which is his
humiliation. It is evident in the epistle that there are rich people in the
congregation of the believers who are still lovers of their social status (2:3;
5:1). The rich, because of suffering, are not able to give up their wealth and
not able to live wholeheartedly for God. They are much prone to
double-mindedness. For this reason, the author calls their attention to boast
in their humiliation. This means that they must consider their condemned state
in order to have a single devotion to God by giving up their boasting in their
social status as rich people. By giving up their social status of being rich
despite the suffering means they are humbling themselves before the Lord and
that would be the beginning of their exaltation (spiritual status). Whenever
suffering hits them, their glory will no longer their possession but their
status before God. In conclusion, to let
the endurance have its perfect result, a person must endure the trial. In order
to endure the trial, one must ask wisdom from God, have faith in asking wisdom,
and to humble himself before God by boasting in humiliation.
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.
In verses 2 to 4 the author explains the
relationship between endurance and trials where in the latter produces the
former. Trial is the very test of faith that produces endurance. In verses 5
to11, since endurance makes one perfect an complete, the author provides three
significant keys to endure the test of faith: asking for wisdom; asking in
faith and; having sense of direction through humility. This statement (Blessed
is a man who perseveres under trial) is the summary of the discussion from
verse 2 to 11. It is clearly stated that
only those who endure or persevere under trial are the blessed ones. The
following clause provides explanation of the claim in the summary statement.
The clause for the basis of the summary statement is eschatological. The author
gives the snippet of what will happen to those will be approved because of
their endurance under trial. They will receive the promised of the Lord to
those who love Him and that is, the crown of life. While this verse sums up the
previous passages, it opens the next section of the epistle in relation of
blessedness.
