James 1:5

Jam_1:5

If any of you lack wisdom

Wisdom to be obtained from God alone

I.

THE CASE SUPPOSED. If any of you lack wisdom. Although the case, is stated hypothetically, it contains an exact description of the real situation of every human being.

1. There are those who are familiar with the history of nations, who can speak many languages, who can expatiate on the sublimest sciences, who can philosophise on the causes of natural appearances and on the principles of the human mind, who are versed in almost every department of human knowledge; and yet are strangers to those simple truths, an acquaintance with which is necessary to their final happiness. Hear how Augustine expresses himself when addressing God, in reference to his applauded acquisitions, but real blindness in early life. I was fond of learning, not indeed the first rudiments, but such as classical masters teach. But I attended to the wanderings of AEneas, while I forgot my own. Of what use was it to deplore the self-murdering Dido, while yet I could bear unmoved the death of my own soul, alienated from Thee during the course of these pursuits--from Thee, my God, my life? I loved Thee not, and (such the spirit of the world) I was applauded with, Well done, on all sides. Alas! the torrent of human custom! who shall resist thee? How long will it be ere thou be dried up? Let it not be supposed that this is to undervalue a learned education. Augustine had no such intention, as is clear from what he subjoins, That literature which they wished me to acquire, with whatever intention, was yet capable of being applied to a good use. O my King, and my God, may whatever useful thing I acquired serve Thee. Still, O Lord, in my youth I have much to praise Thee for. Many, many were Thy gifts; the sin was mine that I sought pleasure, truth and happiness, not in Thee, but in the creature. But let us not overlook the far greater number who can make no pretension to a learned education, and yet fancy they have no lack of wisdom.

2. There are your men of prudence, who escape the difficulties which perplex others, and whose well-laid schemes for worldly prosperity succeed to their most sanguine expectation. Every such person is commonly reckoned wise; but surely his wisdom, if thus limited, will not stand the test.

3. There are, again, in every class of society, men of ability, good sense and natural shrewdness, who are often in danger of forgetting the necessity of a higher species of wisdom. Nay, who at all acquainted with the scriptural view of human nature, does not perceive that fallen as we are, darkened as is our reason, and corrupted as are our affections, mere natural ability, if left to its own unrestrained influence, will certainly lead men astray from the path of truth?

4. Again, there are your minute reasoners, who either profess themselves to be already wise, or, if they allow their ignorance, expect light only from their own minds: these form another class who with many pass for wise men, but who are altogether destitute of the wisdom of salvation. Far be it from our intention to express any disrespect for the right use of reason; we speak of those who expect more from it than it can give. Pride is one very general cause of the rejection of salvation. This works in a variety of ways; but the two most striking are the pride of self-righteousness, and the pride of intellect. Alas! for those, who, thus walking in the light of their own fire, and compassing themselves about with sparks of their own kindling, carefully shut out the beams of the Sun of Righteousness! All these descriptions of persons, then, lack wisdom; but they are not all sensible of it. A great point is gained when men are brought to a knowledge of their own blindness, for those who know this are already in part taught of God.

5. But, are those who truly know, love, and serve the Lord, to be exempted from the list of those who lack wisdom? The more enlightened any man is, the more humble he invariably becomes. We are all included, then, in this description, either as being entirely destitute of any true wisdom, or as having still much to learn.

II. THE DIRECTION GIVEN, Let him ask of God. Mans natural ignorance of all true religion being ascertained, the inquiry suggests itself, To whom shall he apply for instruction? Have there been no uncommonly able and enlightened men whose discoveries suffice to lead to safety and true goodness? In vain has it ever been to apply to philosophers, or to the priests of heathen temples. They did not so much as know the true God; how then could they lead others to His knowledge? The world by wisdom knew not God. As to any way of restoration to the Divine favour, they were totally in the dark. As to any change of heart, they knew not their need of it. And would there be more success in applying to sceptical writers of modern date? Not the least. Whom can the sick cure? whom can the blind direct? Hither, then, let all of us who regard wisdom betake ourselves. Shall we wait till Socrates know something, or Anaxagoras find out light in darkness, or Democritus draw up truth from the bottom of his well? Lo! a voice from heaven teaching the truth, and showing us a light brighter than the very sun. Why are we so unjust to ourselves as to hesitate to adopt this wisdom?--a wisdom which learned men have wasted their lives in seeking, but never could discover. If we lack wisdom, we must apply to God Himself; how then are we to know that His will is? He speaks to us in His Word. Yet this is not to be understood as if the mere perusal of Scripture would of itself bring to true practical wisdom, or even necessarily lead to the formation of correct theoretical opinions. Human teaching and the reading of the Scriptures in a spirit of self-dependence, may lead to orthodox notions; but they may lead far astray from them. Divine teaching is the only certain way of leading even to a correct line of thinking. This revelation is not a miraculous discovery of new truths, for in that sense they are all already revealed in Scripture; but it is the enabling of humbled persons to understand, to believe, to love, to obey, and to take a personal and lively interest in these truths. It is a work on the mind itself. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. If, then, we allow the necessity of this teaching, we ought next to inquire how it is to be obtained. To this inquiry the answer is direct--Ask of God. Prayer is the grand means of attaining this wisdom.

1. Comply with this direction in order to obtain just views of doctrine.

2. This suggests the use of this method to ascertain your religious state. You are enjoined to examine yourselves. But your hearts are deceitful. Ask, then, of God that He would be pleased to guide you to the right conclusion.

3. Ask wisdom of God to know and to avoid whatever is wrong.

4. Attend to this direction, too, that you may be led to the practical knowledge of positive duties.

5. In a state of uncertainty, as to the steps you should take in the important pursuits and changes of life, implore providential direction. I will instruct thee. saith the Lord, and teach thee in the way that thou shouldest go; I will guide thee with Mine eye.

6. If blessed with prosperity and affluence, you have the utmost need to pray that you may not forget God, but may attain wisdom to render your salvation certain, which would otherwise be impossible.

7. If pressed with severe afflictions, it is only when they are accompanied with Divine teaching, that you can so bear and so improve them as to reap any benefit from them. Nay, the direction itself cannot be properly complied with, unless we obtain, in the very attempt, wisdom to comply with it; for we cannot pray aright of ourselves. Let us, therefore, say with the disciples, Lord, teach us to pray.

III. The encouraging PROMISE held forth to every one who will comply with the direction, God giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. God is here represented as the hearer of prayer; yet with a particular reference to His answering of prayers for saving wisdom. In short, there is an express promise that whoever applies to God in cases of doctrine, or duty, shall be guided aright. But some will be disposed to say, Is not this to set aside common sense and rational argument, and to open up the floodgates of fanaticism? or, if it must be so, how can these things be? Tell us precisely in what way this overruling influence is exerted. This promise disclaims all regard to extraordinary voices, visions, impressions, and, in short, everything apart from the written Word. It calls on men to be found in the use of the ordinary means, and, sensible of their own liability to error, to implore that God would guide them. Now, how Gods directing the mind should be considered as impossible, or involving any absurdity, we are at a loss to conceive. We pretend not, indeed, to explain the precise manner of His operations; nay, we readily confess our inability to do so; but we ask whether this difficulty be not common to almost every inquiry of a similar nature. It meets, with equal force, all who allow a Providence, but who are obliged to confess that they cannot unravel its mysteries. What more irrational than to exclude the eternal Spirit Himself from all access to those spirits which owe their very being to His will?

1. That God has made this promise, should of itself convince us of its certainty; yet, perhaps, the best illustration of it which can be given is to show its fulfilment in fact. And here it may be remarked, that many of the most celebrated characters in Scripture have left evidence of its being fulfilled in their cases. O God, Thou hast taught me from my youth. I have not departed from Thy judgments, for Thou hast taught me Psa_71:17; Psa_119:102). A most striking instance is furnished in the history of Solomon

(1Ki_3:1-28.). When the Apostle Peter uttered the believing declaration, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, our Lord answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed is unto thee, but My Father who is in heaven (Mat_16:17). Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things (1Jn_2:20). Nor has this teaching, in so far as it relates to a personal apprehension of Divine truth, been confined to the ages of inspiration.

2. Another proof of the fulfilment of this promise is exhibited in the uniformity of sentiment, of practice, and of heart, among truly humble, praying persons of every name. It is evident that those scholars who follow any one master who understands the science he professes to teach, will resemble each other in their ideas of that science, But, let it be observed, that we do not say that this promise extends to those who continue merely nominal Christians; nor ought any one to expect that it will be fulfilled in those who neglect the distinctly marked and the absolutely necessary prerequisites. It requires humility, a disposition of implicit submission to the dictates of Scripture, and dependence on Divine instruction. I have said there is a remarkable harmony of views among truly humble, praying persons. Do not oppose to this the differences of various denominations. As in the scholars of the same master we expect only a general agreement, and not a complete identity of sentiment; as in the children of the same family we expect to see only a general likeness, and not an absolute sameness of features; so is is among the disciples of the Lord Jesus--among the children of God. But there are some peculiarities of expression in this promise well deserving of attention, as directly calculated to remove every sentiment which would discourage you from applying to God. One may be ready to say, It is true that the Lord thus instructs those who serve and honour Him; but it would be vain presumption, in so unworthy and sinful a creature as I am, to make application. In reply to this, none are excluded but those who think themselves too wise to need His aid; but you are sensible of your need, therefore you are by no means excluded, for God giveth to all men--or all who ask. A second may be ready to say, Were there only a few things in which I needed guidance, I could expect to be heard; but I am so very ignorant, there are so many questions which I need to ask, that I fear God would be offended with my importunity. Hear, however, the encouraging declaration: God giveth liberally. All His communications are on a scale of liberality worthy of Himself, David testified that the Lord had dealt bountifully with his soul. And, finally, there are some who, if they do not speak out their minds, yet feel in this way; conscious of their ignorance, they are kept back from availing themselves of instruction by a fear that, in the very application, their ignorance will be detected, and that they themselves will be exposed to ridicule and contempt. There may be reason to apprehend such treatment from some of their fellow-creatures; but there is no reason to fear such treatment from their heavenly Teacher, for God up-braideth not.

To sum up the whole in a few practical exhortations.

1. See that you all use the external means of acquiring saving wisdom. It is a general rule that blessings are promised only when you are in the way of corresponding exertions. Let, then, the Word of God be your daily study. Attend on the preaching of the Gospel, because it is enjoined, and because experience proves it to be one great means of enlightening the mind.

2. Let me expostulate with you who have not followed the direction in the text. It is to be feared there are some of you who have never been brought to humble dependence on Divine teaching, but are under the lamentable deception of trust in your own minds.

3. Improve whatever light you already possess. But, more particularly, this subject speaks in encouraging language to those pious persons who are not possessed of human learning. Look up, then, thou taught of God, to Him who guides thee, lift up thy voice aloud and stag. The range of thy idea is limited, extending, perhaps, but a short way beyond the spot which gave thee birth; but, in much human wisdom there is often much sorrow; while the light that shall bless thee in heavenly mansions, already irradiates thy humble dwelling. Nor would it be the part of gratitude, or of benevolence, to keep all this precious wisdom to yourselves. Endeavour to diffuse it in your more immediate circle, on every side. And, to say no more, sensible of your remaining ignorance, continue in the same humble supplication for farther teaching, and abide all your lifetime in the school of Christ; so shall you, undoubtedly, obtain a clearer light--a light which will cheer you in the darkest night of sorrow, and turn even the shadow of death into the morning. (J. Foote, M. A.)

Asking wisdom in trial

I. WHO IS TO ASK? If any of you lack --evidently the lacking man. A man who is full does not feel the need of asking: he has no necessity for seeking. Now, we know as a matter of fact and of experience, that as long as we are living an even, prosperous life, even though we may be Christians, there is great danger lest we should fancy that we lack not. There is great danger lest we should be satisfied with our faith, with our Christian standing, with our conduct in the world, and with our general deportment. Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing. But presently trial comes, and we know that trial very soon searches us out, and makes us feel that there is that in our faith which is lacking, that in our love which is lacking, that in our obedience which is lacking, that in our separation from the world which is lacking, that in many parts and phases of our Christian character and conduct, which comes far short of that to which it ought to have attained.

II. FOR WHAT? If any of you lack--now what are we to ask for? The case supposed is that of a Christian under trial. You will observe that the apostle does not direct us to pray for deliverance from the trial; he does not direct us to ask that the trial may be removed--this is a very common prayer; but it is rarely a wise or a safe prayer; and it is not often a successful prayer. St. Paul, when the thorn in the flesh was sent to him, sought the Lord thrice, that it might be taken from him; but it was not taken from him; his prayer was not answered as he had offered it. Neither, you will see, does the apostle direct us to pray for patience, for a stronger faith, for an entire submission; all that is most important. But what we want when the trial comes is, first and foremost, Divine wisdom, that we may be able first rightly to understand the true meaning of God in the discipline that we may be able to see what His purpose is in thus dealing with us. Then, having that wisdom, we shall receive the trial submissively and with resignation. I believe that one of the causes why men murmur so much against Gods discipline is because they do not understand it. And thus we shall use it rightly; we shall make use of it for our sanctification, and the perfecting of the work of God in the soul.

III. OF WHOM IS this wisdom to be sought? Obviously of God; and very emphatically is the giving character of God brought out in this verse, If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask--literally it is, of the giving God; of the giver God, who giveth to all men. Our Lord has taught us that it is more blessed to give than to receive, and it is one of the attributes of the Divine character that He delights in giving--He is God, the Giver. But the Christian under trial, feeling the impenitence and the hardness of his own heart, feeling how he has rebelled against God, feeling how little he deserves any blessing from God, may ask, Is this for me? Have I any right to look for it? Observe how large are the terms of the promise--that giveth to all men--there is no exception there. God gives, and He gives simply. There is no complexity in His giving. When man gives, he gives from a variety of motives, and he very often makes the person who receives feel that he is receiving a favour, and to receive that which is given to him with very unpleasant feelings; but there is nothing of this kind in Gods gifts. When He gives, He gives simply; as the word is further explained in what follows, And upbraideth not. There are things for which God does upbraid us. He rebukes us for our sins and our shortcomings, that we do not come and ask simply, as He is willing to give simply; but God never upbraids us for asking for wisdom; He never finds fault with us for seeking this great blessing and gift at His hands.

IV. THE MANNER HOW are we to ask? The apostle does not say, Let him ask with humility--that is implied, I think. Every man who really feels his need will come to God in a humble spirit. Neither does he say, Let him ask with reverence; that, I think, is implied. Every man who feels his need and lifts up his thoughts to the great God must come before Him with more or less of reverence and abasement of self. That which is placed before us as the essential qualification of the prayer which is to receive air answer, is simply this, Let him ask in faith, with a full and certain persuasion that God can and that God will answer such petition. And it is this spirit of doubting which is condemned by the apostle, as that which absolutely disqualifies the person who prays for the reception of the promised grace. There are, I think, three reasons which are adduced in the verses which follow.

1. In the first place, the doubting man offers no firm heart, and no firm mind, for the reception of the Divine gift, and, therefore, God cannot deposit that gift, so to speak, upon that heart and mind. He that wavereth, he that doubteth, is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed.

2. But secondly, the doubting man dishonours God. If God makes a distinct promise, God declares that if we come before Him and ask for the fulfilment of that promise, He will grant it, and we come before Him doubting whether He wilt fulfil the promise and carry out His Word or not, do we not dis-honour Him?

3. But then there is another and a third reason given, namely, that the doubting man is unable to retain and to profit by the gift even if it were granted. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. We know that double-mindedness is of the very essence of weakness. (E. Bayley, B.D.)

Religious wisdom

1. This wisdom may be said to consist in a knowledge of the truth of religion, at least of the principal and common proofs of it.

2. It consists in a knowledge of the things which a Christian ought to believe and to do.

3. And because to know our duty avails nothing, unless we practise it, religious wisdom consists in a lively sense of the possibility, reasonableness, obligation, and advantage of performing what God requires, which will excite us to persevere in the observation of it.

I. To WANT WISDOM, if we consider the words by themselves, MAY MEAN, EITHER TO HAVE NONE AT ALL, OR NOT TO HAVE A SUFFICIENT MEASURE OF IT. And here, if we consider the many frailties and defects which stick close to the best of men, and the violent assaults of some temptations, and the great faults into which the most religious have sometimes fallen, we may reasonably conclude that few, if any Christians, during this their state of probation, are so accomplished in this true wisdom as to need no further improvement.

II. If any of you lack wisdom, LET HIM ASK OF GOD. This must have seemed strange advice to those who ascribed too much to their own reason and relied too much on their own understanding. Men are often slow to give, and glad of any plausible excuse for witholding their hand: they often accompany their acts of kindness, when they condescend to perform them, with reluctance, haughtiness, and insolence, and upbraid at the same time that they relieve; they set too high a value upon the good offices which they have done: they expect most unreasonable submissions and compliances; and upon any failure this way, they make loud complaints of the ingratitude of the obliged person: they often bestow their favours, not according to the wants or to the deserts of those whom they assist, but either with a view to some return, or as mere unthinking capricious fancy directs. They will give to those who humour and flatter them, to the bold and importunate, against their inclination, purely to purchase repose, and with slights and forbidding coldness they will receive the person who hath everything that ought to recommend him to their esteem. A state of dependence upon God is liable to none of these inconveniences. If we lay open our wants to men, perhaps they will not believe us, or will charge them to our own fault; but the things of which we stand in need are known to God before we ask Him. Such encouragement we have to ask wisdom of God. One condition indeed there is, from which we cannot be excused, and that is a belief that we shall obtain our requests. Let him ask of God, and it shall be given him; but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. It ought to be observed that, in the gospel, a firm persuasion of Gods good will towards us is perpetually represented as absolutely necessary to make us capable of obtaining any favours from Him. In the case of miracles, faith, that is a belief that the miracle should be performed, was often required both of the person who wrought the miracle, and of the person on whom it was wrought. When any came to our Saviour to be cured by Him, and declared their belief of His power, He always healed them, and usually added these words, As thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee; Thy faith hath made thee whole; According to your faith be it unto you; Thy faith hath saved thee. In prayer, also, the same condition is required, and without it we must not expect to obtain our petitions. Upon which it is natural to make these two inquiries: Why doth God so strictly require this faith? and, Why is it so acceptable to Him, that He rewards it with conferring upon us all that we ask?

1. God requires of us a belief that we shall obtain our petitions, because He hath given us abundant reason to believe it.

2. Another reason why God demands such faith is, because upon a belief of His paternal care and kindness all religion is founded.

The other question is, Why is this faith so acceptable to God that He rewards it with granting our petitions? If it be asked, Why so? the answer is, because it produceth many good moral effects; because it is the greatest honour which we can pay to God; and because it is one of the best proofs of a well-disposed mind.

1. A firm faith in God is the guardian of all other virtues, and suffers us not to be seduced by worldly hopes, or deterred by worldly fears from the performance of our duty; and as it is stronger or weaker, such will be its influence on our practice.

2. We cannot honour any man more than by placing an entire confidence in him.

3. A steady faith is also a victory over many doubts which the world and the flesh usually raise in vicious minds. (J. Jortin, D. D.)

Wisdom--how to be obtained

I. THE WANT SUPPOSED. Wisdom is far more than knowledge or understanding. We may have vast stores of information, we may even have high powers of mind, and after all be little if any better than the merest simpletons. It is a peculiar combination of the intellectual and the moral. It dictates the choice of worthy ends, and the employment of the most suitable means for the accomplishment of these ends. As a gracious thing, a spiritual gift, it is an enlarged acquaintance with the Divine revelations and dispensations, an insight into the meaning of the Word and the plan of Providence, especially as they bear on character and conduct, with a state of feeling and a course of action in harmony with their teaching. It consists in seeing what is the mind of God, what He would have us believe and do, and in yielding ourselves up to His will as thus ascertained, in the face of all opposition from without and from within, in defiance alike of frowns and flatteries fitted to turn us aside. He says here, If any of you lack wisdom. The present exhortation is closely connected with what precedes, and is to be viewed accordingly. Believers are to count it all joy when they fall into divers temptations; but how is that possible? Under these trials they are to let patience have its perfect work; they are to endure without fretting or fainting, without grasping at questionable expedients or premature deliverances, seeking through all and above all the attainment of a spiritual maturity, a Christian completeness, in which nothing shall be wanting. We can well imagine them saying, Who is sufficient for these things? How are we to pierce the darkness of the Divine dispensations and get at the meaning of His dealings? How can we thread our way through the perplexities of these manifold temptations? Wisdom, what wisdom, is needed for every part of it--for the regulation alike of our views, feelings, words, and actions in seasons of trial! Well, says the apostle, if any of you realise this in your own cases, if you are sensible of your want of wisdom, if you feel unable to cope with these divers temptations, to solve such problems, escape from such snares, then here is the remedy--go and have your lack supplied, go and be Divinely fitted for the fiery ordeal.

II. THE REMEDY PRESCRIBED.

1. It is asking of God (Jam_1:5). It is not let him study, let him speculate, let him search human systems, let him ransack the recesses of his own being, let him cultivate and strain his intellectual powers to the utmost. It is thus men left to themselves have engaged in the pursuit of wisdom. Far simpler and more effective is the Scriptural method--Let him ask; that is all, only ask. But of whom? Is it of philosophers and sages so called, of the Aristotles and Platos of antiquity, or of their applauded successors in modern times, whether home or foreign? No; however wonderful the attainments of some of these have been--and we are far from depreciating them in their own place--they cannot bestow this gift, for they have not had it in any high and holy sense themselves. Is it of priests and prophets, of those holding sacred offices and possessing special spiritual speculations? No; they cannot effectually impart it, however much of it they may have received and manifested in their teaching. It is of God--the omniscient, all-wise, only wise God. He has it as one of Hisinfinite perfections; it is an essential attribute of His nature. He can communicate it to creatures truly, efficaciously, savingly, by His inspired Word and His Holy Spirit; and He is not less willing than able to do it, as His promises testify and His dealings demonstrate. God that giveth. It is literally the giving God--that God of whom this is characteristic, to whom giving specially, distinctively belongs. He is infinitely full, all-sufficient of and for Himself. He neither needs nor can receive anything, properly speaking. With Him there is only imparting, constant, unwearied communicating; and where there is a rendering back to Him, it can only be of what He has previously bestowed, both as regards the disposition and the offering. He giveth to all men. The term men is supplied by the translators. The statement, wide as it is in this form, admits of extension. His goodness reaches far beyond human beings (Psa_145:15-16). But while we are not the only, we are the chief objects of His care and recipients of His bounty. How manifold the blessings which are showered down on men of every country, condition, and character--men without any distinction or exception whatever! But while thus true in the largest, most absolute sense of the expression, still we are most probably to regard the statement as limited to genuine suppliants, the giving in question being conditioned by the asking. His ear and hand are open to all who come in the manner here set forth. His grace is dispensed without partiality or distinction. He listens not merely to favoured classes or particular individuals, but to as many as call on His name in spirit and in truth. The one requisite is asking. Where there is that, the giving is never wanting. No real seeker is sent empty away. And now mark His mode or style of giving. He does it liberally; more literally and exactly, He does it simply. God confers blessing really and purely, without stint and without condition. There is nothing partial or hesitating about it, as there often is when performed by men. Theirs is generally a mixed and modified giving, a giving and a withholding--the one with the hand, the other with the heart--a giving and a taking; that is, doing it from a regard to certain returns tobe made, certain benefits to be received in consequence--a giving accompanied by terms that detract from the graciousness of the act and impose no light burden on those who accept the favour. God does it not thus; no, it is a free, single, simple thing in His case: it is giving, and that without mixture, that entire and alone--giving from the pure native love of giving. He says, Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. Nor does He confine Himself to what is asked. Often He far exceeds His people s requests (1Ki_3:11-18). And upbraideth not. He indulges in no reproaches. He connects His bestowal of gifts with no recriminations. He might point to the past, and ask, How much have I given you already, and what use have you made of these My former favours? or, keeping to the present, He might say, Think of your weakness and unworthiness--how unfit you are to appear before Me, how ill-prepared to receive any such blessing; or, directing the view forward, He might chill our hearts and shut our mouths by declaring, I know the miserable improvement you are sure to make of whatever I bestow--how you will break all these promises, falsify all these professions. He does indeed seem at times thus to chide suppliants, as witness our Lords language to and His treatment of the Syro-Phoenician woman; but He does it only to stir up desire, try faith, and prepare the soul for appreciating more highly and receiving more gratefully what for the moment He appears to withhold. He does it to furnish new arguments, which the heaven-taught petitioner takes up and urges with irresistible effect. The apostle adds, And it shall be given him. There is here no peradventure, no mere chance or probability of success. There is absolute certainty. Many dig for treasure, and never find it; but in this field there is no possibility of failure. James may have had before his mind, when thus writing, that most precious passage (Mat_7:7-11).

What encouragement is there here for those who lack wisdom, or indeed any blessing, to have recourse to this quarter for the needed supply I

2. It is asking in faith. Not only go to the right quarter, but also go in the right manner. Faith is absolutely essential in all our religious exercises Heb_11:6). It is specially insisted on as requisite to the success of our approaches to the mercy-seat (Mat_21:22; Jam_5:15). We must draw near, confiding in the ability and willingness of God to grant our requests, resting in the truth of His Word, the certainty of His promises, and pleading for all through the infinite merits of the adorable Redeemer, having respect to His finished work, and it alone, as the ground of our acceptance and our expectations. Nothing wavering. We are to ask without doubting, fluctuating, vacillating--not carried hither and thither by conflicting influences. It refers first and chiefly to prayer. It is not to be irregular, inconstant, fitful--urgent to-day, formal, perhaps neglected altogether, to-morrow, it is not to be for this and the other thing by turns--now for one blessing, then for a different, as if we knew not what we lacked or desired, as if neither our wants nor wishes had any fixed, definite character, had any real and deep hold of our spirits. Above all, we are not to oscillate, like a pendulum, between faith and unbelief, distrust and confidence, at one time pleading with boldness, filling our mouths with arguments, bringing forth our strong reasons, and anon, it may be, saying or thinking there is no use of asking; we are too unworthy to be heard--we have been, and still will be sent empty away. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. What more unstable, restless, changeable! Such a wave is now carried toward the shore, then hurled back from it; now it mounts to heaven, then it goes down into the depths. It is in ceaseless motion, and yet, with all its rising and falling, there is in reality no progress. So it is with many persons. Borne along by strong feelings at certain seasons, you would think them decidedly, even ardently, religious. But while their emotions have been deeply stirred, their principles have not been thoroughly changed. The world retains its old hold of their hearts, and soon you may find them as eagerly devoted to its interests and as entirely conformed to its ways as those who made little or no profession. Believers have their fluctuations also. They have many ups and downs in their condition and their experience. Often are they in the midst of tumult; and the confusion around may be little in comparison with the confusion within. But still faith is the ruling, predominant power in them; it guides them through these tempestuous tossings, and under its influence the storm is changed into a calm. Having told us what wavering is like, the apostle now explains and enforces the warning against it by declaring that it must be fatal to success in prayer--For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord (verse 7). In point of fact he does receive from Him many a thing. He is constantly cared for and supported by that Lord whom he distrusts, He is fed, clothed, protected, blessed with countless temporal and not less with high spiritual privileges. But he need expect nothing in answer to prayer, as the fruit of his asking. He has no good reason to look for the least portion or any kind of favour by coming to the footstool of mercy. Why? His wavering hinders God from giving. Such a suppliant dishonours, insults God to His face, by doubting the truth of His Word, by treating Him as unworthy of confidence, by not drawing near in the way He has prescribed as that in which alone access can be had and benefits obtained. It unfits us for receiving, as well as hinders the Lord from giving. What use could we make of the blessing sought if it were granted? The unsteady hand cannot hold the full cup, but spills its contents. Those who have no stability, no fixed principles and plans, are little the better for anything they obtain. We often see this in temporal matters. Some persons are so changeable, irresolute, unreliable, that any help you give them is of little service. It is practically very much the same whether they have or want, for whatever they may get soon disappears. This feature of the ease is brought out strongly in what is added--A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways (verse 8); or, continuing the account of the waverer who is to receive nothing, James says of him, He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Double-minded--that is, he has a divided spirit; he is drawn in two opposite directions--now heavenward, then earthward; now he goes forward, then backward; now to the one side, then to the other. It is not only in prayer that his divided mind appears; that is but a manifestation of what comes out in every department of his conduct. It is only an index of his character generally. He is unsteady, uncertain, not to be depended on in his whole course of action. He wants the resolute will, the fixed purpose; he wants strength of mind and deep religious principle.

1. Let us realise our need of wisdom. Without it we will not discern the hand or the purpose of God in our divers temptations. Without it we will not see either the source of support under them or the door of deliverance from them. Without it we will flee to false refuges, and perhaps adopt means of cure worse a great deal than the disease itself. And we need it not only for the bearing and improvement of trial, but for the whole of our Christian work and warfare. We require the wisdom of the serpent amidst the snares and perils by which at every step we are surrounded. Not restrained and regulated by it, zeal often defeats its own ends, and injures the cause which it seeks to advance.

2. Let us see how this and every want is to be supplied. We must go out of ourselves, and rise far above all creatures. We must repair to the only good, the only wise God. Ask of Him--ask largely. We please not Him by coming with narrow and poor requests. Ask boldly. Not in a presumptuous or self-sufficient, but in a hopeful, confiding, filial manner. Be humble, but not timid; be lowly, but not fearful, desponding in spirit. Lay hold of the exceeding great and precious promises which are all yea and amen in Christ Jesus. (John Adam.)

Loving advice for anxious seekers

This verse has a special reference to persons in trouble. Much tempted and severely tried saints are frequently at their wits end, and though they may be persuaded that in the end good will come out of their afflictions, yet for the present they may be so distracted as not to know what to do. How seasonable is this word! However, the promise is not to be limited to any one particular application, for the word, If any of you, is so wide that whatever may be our necessity, whatever the dilemma, this text consoles us. This text might be peculiarly comforting to some of you who are working for God. You cannot work long for your heavenly Lord without perceiving that you need a greater wisdom than your own. To every honest Christian worker this text speaks with all the soft melody of an angels whisper. Thy lips shall overflow with knowledge, and thy tongue shall drop with words of wisdom, if thou wilt but wait on God and hear Him before thou speakest to thy fellow-men. Thou shalt be made wise to win souls if thou wilt learn to sit at the Masters feet, that He may teach thee the art which He followed when on earth and follows still. But the class of persons who just now win my hearts warmest sympathies are those who are seeking the Saviour; and, as the text says, If any of you, I thought I should be quite right in giving seekers a share of it.

I. THE GREAT LACK OF MANY SEEKERS, NAMELY, WISDOM. This lack occurs from divers reasons.

1. Sometimes it is their pride which makes them fools. Like Naaman, they would do some great thing if the prophet had bidden them, but they will not wash and be clean. If this be thy difficulty--and I believe in nine cases out of ten a proud heart is at the root of all difficulty about the sinners coming to Christ--then go to God about it, and seek wisdom from Him. He will show you the folly of this pride of yours, and teach you that simply to trust in Jesus is at once the safest and most suitable way of salvation.

2. Many persons also are made foolish, so that they lack wisdom through their despair. Probably nothing makes a man seem so much like a maniac as the loss of hope. When the mariner feels that the vessel is sinking, that the proud waves must soon overwhelm her, then he reels to and fro, and staggers like a drunken man, because he is at his wits end. Ah! poor heart, when thou seest the blackness of sin, I do not wonder that thou art driven to despair! You lack wisdom because you are in such a worry and turmoil. As John Bunyan used to say, you are much troubled up and down in your thoughts. I pray you, then, ask wisdom of God, and even out of the depths, if you cry unto Him, He will be pleased to instruct you and bring you out into a safe way.

3. No doubt many other persons lack wisdom because they are not instructed in gospel doctrine. The window of the understanding is blocked up with ignorance; if we could but clean away the cobwebs and filth, then might the light of the knowledge of Christ come streaming in, and they might rejoice in His salvation. Well, if you are be-mired and be-puzzled with difficult doctrine, the text comes to you and says, If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God.

4. Ignorance also of Christian experience is another cause for the lack of wisdom. The way of life is a new road to you, poor seeking soul, and therefore you lack wisdom in it and make many mistakes about it. The text lovingly advises, Ask of God; Ask of God.

5. Very likely, in addition to all this which may well enough make you lack wisdom, there are certain singularities in the action of Providence towards you which fill you with dismay. It is not at all an uncommon thing for the Lord to add to the inward scourgings of conscience the outward lashings of affliction. These double scourgings are meant for proud, stubborn hearts, that they may be humbly brought to Jesuss feet. Then it is that eternal mercy will take advantage of your dire extremity, and your deep distress shall bring you to Christ, who never would have been brought by any other means.

6. Many lack wisdom because, in addition to all their fears and their ignorance, they are fiercely attacked by Satan. He it is who digs that Slough of Despond right in front of the wicket-gate and keeps the big dog to howl before the door so that poor trembling Mercy may go into a fainting fit and find herself too weak to knock at the door. Now, in such a plight as that, with your foolish heart, and the wicked world, and the evil one, and your sins in dreadful alliance to destroy you, what could such a poor timid one as you do if it were not for this precious word? If any of you--that must mean you--If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not.

II. THE PROPER PLACE OF A SEEKERS RESORT--Let him ask of God. Now you perceive that the man is directed at once to God without any intermediate object or ceremony or person. Above all, do not let the seeker ask of himself and follow his own imaginings and feelings. All human guides are bad, but you yourself will be your own worst guide. Let him ask of God. When a man can honestly say, I have bowed the knee unto the Lord God of Israel, and asked Him, for Jesuss sake, to guide me by His Spirit, and then I turned to the Book of God, asking God to be my guide into the book, I cannot believe but what such a man will soon obtain saving wisdom.

III. THE RIGHT MODE IN WHICH TO GO TO GOD.

1. The text says, Let him ask, which is a method implying that ignorance is confessed. No man will ask wisdom till he knows that he is ignorant. Make a full confession, and this shall be a good beginning for prayer.

2. Asking has also in it the fact that God is believed in. We cannot ask of a person of whose existence we have any doubt, and we will not ask of a person of whose hearing us we have serious suspicions.

3. There is in this method of approaching God by asking also a clear sight that salvation is by grace. It does not say, Let him buy of God, let him demand of God, let him earn from God. Oh, no!--let him ask of God. It is the beggars word.

4. Observe here what an acknowledgment of dependence there is. The man sees that he cannot find wisdom anywhere else, but that it must come from God. He turns his eye to the only fountain, and leaves the broken cisterns.

IV. The text has in it ABUNDANT ENCOURAGEMENT for such a seeker. There are four encouragements here.

1. Let him ask of God, who giveth to all men. What a wide statement--who giveth to all men! I will take it in its broadest extent. In natural things God does give to all men life, health, food, raiment. Now, if God hath gifts for all men, how much more will He have gifts for that man who earnestly turns his tearful eye to heaven and cries, My Father, give me wisdom, that I may be reconciled to Thee through the death of Thy Son!

Why, the grass, as Herbert says, never asked for the dew, and yet every blade has its own drop; and shall you daily cry for the dew of grace and there be no drop of Heavens grace for you? Impossible. Fancy your own child saying, My father, my father, I want to be obedient, I want to be holy; and suppose that you have power to make your child so, could you find it in your heart to refuse? No; it would be a greater joy to you to give than it could be to the child to accept. But it has been said the text ought not to be understood in that broad sense. I conceive that there is implied the limitation that God giveth to all who seek. There are some men who live and die without the liberal favours of grace, because they wickedly refuse them; but He gives to all true seekers liberally.

2. The next comfort is, He gives to all men liberally. God does not give as we do, a mere trifle to the beggar, but He bestows His wealth by handfuls.

3. It is added as a third comfort, and upbraideth not. That is a sweet word.

4. Then comes the last encouragement: It shall be given him. Looking through my text, I asked the question, Is that last sentence wanted? Let him ask of God, which giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not. Now, if the Lord gives to all men, He will certainly give to the seeker. Is that last promise wanted? And I came to this conclusion, that it would not have been there if it was not required. There are some sinners who cannot be contented to draw obvious inferences; they must have it in black and white. Such is the fearfulness of their nature, they must have the promise in so many express words. Here they have it--it shall be given him. But to whom shall it be given? If any of you lack wisdom. Well, says one, I am quite out of all catalogues; I am one by myself. Well, but you are surely contained in this any of you. Ah! says one, but I have a private fault, a sin, an offence which I would not dare to mention, which I believe has damned me for ever. Yet the text says, If any of you. Let him ask of God, and it shall be given him. But, says one, suppose my sins should prove to be too great! I cannot, will not, suppose anything which can come in conflict with the positive Word of God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Wisdom to be sought from God

1. What this wisdom is. It is the doctrine of the Cross here specified, namely, to endure patiently whatsoever God layeth upon us, and to know that God in singular love correcteth all those with the rod of affliction whom He purposeth to make heirs of His eternal glory. This to know is wisdom far greater than the wisdom of men. This wisdom standeth in two things--

(1) In knowledge, that we wisely understand the causes for which we are thus afflicted of God as that partly for the punishment of our sins, partly for the more manifestation and plain trial of our faith, partly for the advancement of Gods greater glory, that thereby in the deliverance of men from their calamities He might be more glorified; finally, that hereby we being touched might repent, lest we perish with the world. Hereof to have true understanding is a great point of wisdom.

(2) As the wisdom how to bear the cross consisteth in knowledge of the ends wherefore it is inflicted, so also it consisteth in an inward feeling and judgment when in our hearts and consciences we have sense of the comfort of the Spirit which in afflictions of this life supporteth us and with assured hope of safe deliverance in due season under-proppeth us.

2. This wisdom is not a quality in nature, but a grace and an excellent girt of God; therefore of Him only is this wisdom to be sought, which the apostle to intimate willeth that if any man lack this wisdom he should ask it of God. To bear the cross patiently, to know the use of afflictions truly, to feel the comfort of the Spirit inwardly--this is wisdom not of man, but of God, not of ourselves, but from His heavenly goodness, from whom all wisdom floweth as from a fountain.

3. Patiently to bear the cross, wisely and well to behave ourselves in our afflictions, being a gift from God, what hope have we to obtain it by asking of Him? Three ways are we here to conceive hope of obtaining this wisdom from God.

(1) From the promise we have from God that He will hear when we call, open when we knock, give when we ask it of Him. Almighty God assureth us of this hope by His prophet, by whom He willeth us in the days of tribulation to call upon Him, with promise that He will hear us. In fine, He protesteth that He is more ready to hear us than we to call upon Him, and more willing to supply our need than we desirous to ask it at His hands.

(2) As from the promise that is made us that we shall obtain, so from the liberality of God we must conceive hope of obtaining the thing we pray for. God giveth to every man liberally. Shall He not give us wisdom who is liberal to all men? Shall we distrust His goodness who is rich to all that call upon Him? Shall we suspect His bountifulness which poureth out plentifully His blessings upon all flesh?

(3) We have hope to obtain this wisdom at the hands of God from the goodness of His nature. He giveth His gifts liberally to all men, and He upbraideth none, neither casteth any man in the teeth either with His benefits so plentifully poured upon us or with our beggarliness and miserable want whereunto we are subject; therefore is there great hope of obtaining the wisdom we pray for.

4. But how shall we ask this wisdom? How shall we pray for the gift of patience that we may obtain it? Ask it in faith, and waver not! Faith in all the prayers of Gods saints is necessary, neither is there anything which more hindereth the grants of God towards man than when they doubt or waver in their prayers, distrusting either the power of God, as not able, or His goodness, as not willing to hear us in the days of our necessities, which distrustfulness is no small evil in the sight of God; neither is it a light matter to doubt of obtaining that thou desirest, whereby thy double heart and wavering mind is descried. Who in asking pretendest hope, in wavering distrustest either the power or promptness or readiness of God to give thee the desire of thy heart and to doubt either of His power or promptness and readiness of mind is great impiety, disloyalty, and ungodliness. (R. Turnbull.)

The discipline of need

1. All men are concluded under an estate of lacking. Dependence begetteth observance. If we were not forced to hang upon Heaven, and live upon the continued supplies of God, we would not care for Him.

2. Want and indigence put us upon prayer, and our addresses to Heaven begin at the sense of our own needs.

3. There is need of great wisdom for the right managing of afflictions.

(1) To discern of Gods end in it, to pick out the language and meaning of the dispensation (Mic_6:9). Our spirits are most satisfied when we discern Gods aim in everything.

(2) To know the nature of the affliction, whether it be to fan or to destroy; how it is intended for our good; and what uses and benefits we may make Psa_94:12). The rod is a blessing when instruction goeth along with it.

(3) To find out your own duty; to know the things of obedience in the day of them (Luk_19:41). There are seasonable duties which become every providence; it is wisdom to find them out--to know what to do in every circumstance.

(4) To moderate the violences of our own passions. He that liveth by sense, will, and passion is not wise. Skill is required of us to apply apt counsels and comforts, that our hearts may be above the misery that our flesh is under. The Lord giveth counsel in the reins, and that calmeth the heart. Well, then--

(a) Get wisdom if you would get patience. Men of understanding have the greatest command of their affections.

(b) To confute the worlds censure; they count patience simplicity and meekness under injuries to be but blockishness and folly. No; it is a calmness of mind upon holy and wise grounds; but it is no new thing with the world to call good evil and to baptize graces with a name of their own fancying. As the astronomers call the glorious stars bulls, snakes, dragons, &c., so they miscall the most shining and glorious graces. Zeal is fury; strictness, nicety; and patience, folly! And yet James saith, If any lack wisdom--meaning patience.

(c) Would ye be accounted wise? Show it by the patience and calmness of your spirits. We naturally desire to be thought sinful rather than weak. Are we blind also? (Joh_9:40).

4. In all our wants we must immediately repair to God.

5. More particularly observe, wisdom must be sought of God. He is wise, the fountain of wisdom, an unexhausted fountain. His stock is not spent by misgiving (Job_32:8). Men have the faculty, but God gives the light, as the dial is capable of showing the time of day when the sun shines on it.

6. God will have everything fetched out by prayer (Eze_36:37). Prayer coming between our desires and the bounty of God is a means to beget a due respect between Him and us; every audience increaseth love, thanks, and trust (Psa_116:1-2). We usually wear with thanks what we win by prayer; and those comforts are best improved which we receive upon our knees.

7. Asking yieldeth a remedy for the greatest wants. Men sit down groaning under their discouragements because they do not look further than themselves. Oh! you do not know how you may speed in asking. God humbleth us with much weakness that He may put us upon prayer. That is easy to the Spirit which is hard to nature.

8. Gods dispensations to the creatures are carried in the way of a gift. Usually God bestoweth most upon those who, in the eye of the world, are of least desert and least able to requite Him. Both not He invite the worst freely? (Isa_55:1).

9. To all men. The proposals of Gods grace are very general and universal. It is a great encouragement that in the offer none are excluded. Why should we, then, exclude ourselves? (Mat_11:28).

10. Gods gifts are free and liberal. Many times He giveth more than we ask, and our prayers come far short of what grace doth for us.

(1) Do not straiten God in your thoughts (Psa_81:10). When Gods bounty is not only ever-flowing, but overflowing, we should make our thoughts and hopes as large and comprehensive as possibly they can be.

(2) Let us imitate our heavenly Father, and give liberally--with a free and a native bounty; give simply, not with a double mind.

11. Men are apt to upbraid, but not God.

(1) God gives quite in another manner than man doth. It is our fault to measure infiniteness by our last, and to muse of God according as we use ourselves. Let us learn not to do so. Whatever God doth He will do as a God, above the measure of the creatures, something befitting the infiniteness and eternity of His own essence.

(2) God does not reproach His people with the frequency of their addresses to Him for mercy, and is never weary doing them good.

13. One asking will prevail with God. (T. Manton.)

Needed wisdom

I. FOR WHAT THE WISDOM IS NEEDED. TO achieve Christian perfection. Materials for building a house are nothing without the requisite constructive ability. Recollect what abundant material the willing-hearted people brought for the making of the tabernacle; they had even to be stayed at last; but all the willing-heartedness would have done nothing without Bezaleel and Aholiab to make use of the materials.

II. THE WISDOM TO BE SOUGHT OF GOD. Thus there is relief from all need to attempt definitions of wisdom. The Father of Jesus knows what is needed toward perfection.

III. We are helped in asking by recollecting THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN GOD AND MEN IN RESPECT OF GIVING.

1. God is the giving God. That can be set forth as an element in His character. He is not part of the energy of life, which has to receive before it can give.

2. He is the God giving liberally. His giving is pure giving, giving for the need, giving uncomplicated by considerations of whether it will pay to give.

3. The God giving without reproach. Gods giving is ever gladsome giving. The more we ask for, of the right sort, the more He has to give and the better He is pleased. (D. Young, B. A.)

Wisdom to be asked of God

In one of Ciceros moral books, in speaking of the things which we could properly ask of the gods, he enumerates such things as wealth, honour, and health of body, but he adds, it would be absurd to ask wisdom of any god, for it would be totally out of his power to give such a thing to his worshippers; whereas we Christians, and even the sincere and faithful Jews in the old times, believed that it was the first thing we have to ask of the true God. Of course we may not ask it under the name of wisdom, but it is the same practically if we ask for repentance, or for faith, or for obedience; for all these are a part of true wisdom, which may be described as the godly, the spiritual, the Christian mind. (M. F. Sadler, M. A.)

Religion the highest wisdom

It is evident that if the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever, then wisdom in the highest sense is simply another name for religion; and indeed that, looking at the matter from the point of view which an immortal creature ought to take, there is no real wisdom at all where religion is wanting. Suppose the owner of a factory for the making of some delicate and expensive fabric were to bestow great attention on certain departments of the manufacture, and exhibit much ingenuity in devising improvements on the machinery and processes connected with these departments, but neglected other branches, and, above all, gave little heed to the grand purpose of the whole, so that he produced unsatisfactory and unsaleable material, none of us would say that this was a wise man of business. An actual case of the kind is not very common, for the interests of this world keep men from such outrageous folly; but, alas! it is by no means rare to see a man of much worldly sagacity, heedless of the great ends of his being--diligent in the twisting of a certain thread, or the preparation of a certain dye, for the web of life, whilst yet the web itself, looked at in the light of the Lord, is worthless. True wisdom lies in the subjection of all our capacities and energies and affections to the control of high moral principles, and the consequent faithful application of them all to noble moral uses; and the fear of God is the beginning--the foundation--of this wisdom. (R. Johnstone, LL. B.)

Right judgment

This heaven-sent wisdom, discretion, right judgment, is that of which the Psalmist speaks (Psa_32:9; Psa_48:13). This is a part of the endowment of Pentecost. This is that gift of right estimate and practical wisdom which we need so much, and seek so little; and for the want of which all our lives through we make most lamentable and hurtful mistakes. Surely it was not Joshua only who erred when he made peace with the Gibeonites without seeking counsel from God. It was not David only who erred, when following his own opinion against the remonstrances of such a man as Joab, he numbered the people; but Christians who have received the Spirit, and who may always have larger and larger gifts of wisdom only for the asking; and amongst those foolish Christians, ourselves also, are continually falling into grievous errors for want of a right judgment. How happy would that country be, how peaceful and prosperous, if the citizens used a right judgment in all things. Far more would this possession be to them than rich mines, or fertile fields--a much greater endowment. Would parents indulge their children, to those childrens future misery, if they exercised a sound judgment? Now, they spoil their children, and too late use that most sad lament, The more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved. Would parents place their children in places of temptation, in which, whilst their bodies perhaps grow, their souls shrink up and die, if by an exercise of right judgment they perceived that this world is not their childrens best prospect, nay, that it is their worst, if by misuse it mars the everlasting future? How about the parents own souls? Would it be possible for Christians with any real judgment, any show of wisdom and understanding, to value things temporal more than the unseen and the eternal? Knowing what they do of the value of education, of practising the powers of the mind and the body, could they dream that their present scanty devotions, stinted worship in the sanctuary, communions, if any, rare and ill-prepared for; few and hurried readings of Scripture, could they dream, I say, that their souls can thus be prepared for the presence of God? There is such a thing as a natural judgment, part of that endowment of reason which remains to us after the Fall, although often clouded and overpowered by passions. And even this we are often not at the trouble to use. We speak upon impulse, and act upon impulse; speak unadvisedly with our lips, and act hastily and unwisely. How few go to God, and ask for His guidance in their difficulties, and in every perplexing turn of their lives! How few pray earnestly for right judgment in all things. Few, few indeed. Oh what a privilege it is, what a happiness, to be able to commit our way to the Lord! What a comfort to be able to repair to Him and lay our burden down at His feet! When we cannot decide for ourselves, and when we cannot trust any man to decide for us, we can resort to the Ear which is ever open to our cry, the Eye ever watchful to guide us. And observe that the answer to our prayers is not simply good advice, or good influence. It is nothing less than the gift of the Holy Sprat Himself, which God bestows upon those that ask Him; nothing less than God the Holy Ghost, the Third Person in the ever-blessed Trinity, living wisdom, light, truth, holiness; disposing as well as directing, enabling as well as suggesting. (W. E.Heygate M. A.)

What is wisdom?

The wisdom we are to seek may be that wisdom which will enable us to turn every trouble to a good account. He is a great merchant who can make a great commercial disaster the foundation of a fortune. He is a great general who can wrench victory from defeat. He is a wise man who grows stronger in the midst of troubles which break weaker men. Or it may be that exalted nobility of spirit which James describes Jam_3:17) as produced by the wisdom which cometh down from above. Or it may be that same religiousness which is named in Scripture as the fear of the Lord, which fear the Psalmist (Psa_111:10) calls the beginning of wisdom, and (Psa_112:1) describes as great delight in the commandments of the Lord (see also Job_18:28). (C. F. Deems, D. D.)

God will give wisdom

If you honestly crave wisdom to make His will your will, to aim at that maturity and perfection of character which He knows to be your supreme good, He will as surely give you that wisdom as the sweet, pure, sun-warmed air will flow into your room when you throw open your window to the day. (S. Cox, D. D.)

Prayer for wisdom

Before he went into the school-life each day, Dr. Arnold prayed for himself this prayer, O Lord, I have a busy world around me. Eye, and ear, and thought will be needed for the work to-day done amidst that busy world. Now I enter upon it, I would commit eye, ear, thought, and wish to Thee. Do Thou bless them, and keep their work Thine, that, as through Thy natural law my heart beats, and my blood flows, without any thought of mine for them, so my spiritual life may hold on its course at those times when my mind cannot consciously turn from my absorbing work to Thee. I commit each particular thought to Thy service. Hear my prayer, for my dear Redeemers sake.

Asking wisdom from God

On assuming the governorship of the Soudan, a province half as large again as France, desolated by the slave-traders, whom it was to be his work to put down, Gordon wrote, No man ever had a harder task than I, unaided, have before me, but it sits as a feather on me. As Solomon asked, I ask wisdom to govern this great people; and not only will He give it, but all else besides. (J. F. B. Tinling, B. A.)

In search of the highest wisdom

Justin Martyr wanders in search of the highest wisdom, the knowledge of God. He tries a Stoic, who tells him his Search is in vain. He turns to a second philosopher, whose mercenary tone quenches any hope of assistance from him. He appeals to a third, who requires the preliminary knowledge of music, astronomy, and geometry. Just think of a soul thirsting after God and pardon and peace being told, You cannot enter the palace and have access to the fountain until you have mastered music, astronomy, and geometry. What a weary climb for most I what a sheer inaccessible precipice for many of us! In his helplessness he applies to a follower of Plato, under whose guidance he does begin to cherish some hope that the road leading to the desired summit may some day be struck. But in a memorable hour, when earnestly groping after the path, he is met by a nameless old man, who discourses to him about Jesus the Christ. Without any more ado, he is at the end of his quest. Straightway, says Justin, a flame was kindled in my soul, and if not in the actual words, yet in spirit he sang--

Thou, O Christ, art all I want, More than all in Thee I find.

Wisdom and prayer

Bengel having observed, respecting the ways of Providence, how much often depends upon a single minute circumstance; look, for instance, he said, how frequently all the events relating to a young clergymans marriage and future condition in life, and perhaps the destinies of many hundreds of souls, may be traced up to the apparent accident of a vacancy in some pastoral charge. Here a friend replied, This is what renders it so serious a matter to decide for ones self; that one is perplexed to know whether one ought to proceed according to ones best judgment immediately, or take more time to wait. This, said Bengel, is the very thing which makes it so desirable to pray without ceasing. (Bengels Life.)

The characteristic of real wisdom

It belongs to true wisdom to meditate, hit upon, and mind whatever is to the purpose at the right time. (Bengels Life.)

Humility of wisdom

I have heard of a young man who went to college; and, when he had been there one year, his parent said to him, What do you know? Do you know more than when you went? Oh, yes! said he; I do. Then he went the second year, and was asked the same question. Do you know more than when you went? Oh, no! said he; I know a great deal less. Well, said the father, you are getting on. Then he went the third year, and was asked the same question, What do you know now? Oh! said he, I dont think I know anything. That is right, said the father; you have now learned to profit, since you say you know nothing. He who is convinced that he knows nothing of himself, as he ought to know, gives up steering his ship, and lets God put His hand on the rudder. He lays aside his own wisdom, and cries, O God! my little wisdom is cast at Thy feet: my little judgment is given to Thee. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Giveth to all men liberally

The amazing kindness of God

I. IN HIS BESTOWMENT OF THE HIGHEST SPIRITUAL GIFT. Wisdom consists in choosing those ends which are Worthy of our nature, which are the highest within the reach of our faculties, and in the employment of the best means in the best way for the attainment of those ends. It stands, in one word, for moral excellence or religion--the chief good.

II. In His bestowment of the highest spiritual gift ON THE SIMPLEST CONDITION. Let him ask. This means soul-asking, an earnest, importunate, persistent yearning.

1. The man who does not intensely desire this wisdom, or religion, will never have it.

2. The man who does intensely desire it is sure to have it.

III. In His bestowment of the highest spiritual gift, on the simplest condition, IN A SPIRIT OF SUBLIME GENEROSITY. He gives in a spirit of--

1. Impartiality;

2. Genuine liberality;

3. Unreproaching affection. (Homilist.)

The giving God

The writer seems to hear some of his readers say, But it requires much wisdom to live thus in the midst of trials. Very true I But the supply is at hand, Ask of God. If any of you come short of wisdom, let him ask of the giving God. What an encouraging epithet, the giving God--the God who is accustomed to give, who is known amongst men and ages as The Giver! And that there may be the utmost encouragement, James gives three characteristics of His giving: It is universal, abundant, unselfish. One may say, I am so insignificant; another, I am so sinful; another, I have so little faith; another, I am so hard. But you are a human being, and He gives to all. But I am so fearfully lacking, my need of wisdom is so great. If I had any sense whatever, I might apply to Him. But He giveth liberally. He longs to have great things asked of Him. Go to little men for little things. It is as easy for a great man to do a great thing, as for a small man to do a small thing. God, the Father, King of the world, may be asked for the largest gifts, since no giving can possibly render Him poorer. A humane monarch once said, The greatest advantage of being a king is, that the king has the power to make so many happy. The advantage which God has over all His children--even earthly monarchs--is that He has more power to make mere people happy. The unselfishness of the Divine Giver is seen in that He never upbraids. Human givers are so interested in their part of any giving transaction that a much-solicited person is apt to do or say something which shall remind the receiver of his obligation, and to make former gifts a reason for withholding that which is now sought; and, more especially, if good use has not been made of former benefactions, to upbraid the ungrateful or thriftless receivers. Even human parents sometimes do this. It requires the greatest nobility to rise above such inclinations. Our Father never upbraids. He never prints to the misuse we have made of any former gifts. He never tires of giving. He is so delighted to have us ask, that He Would have us more ashamed of not coming to Him for needed wisdom than for any other fault or sin. (C. F. Deems, D. D.)

Gods manner of giving

To all sincere petitioners He giveth liberally--with unstinted hand, with glorious munificence. Jacob asked for bread to eat and raiment to put on, and God makes him two bands. Solomon prayed for an understanding heart, and God said (1Ki_3:11-14). The prodigal thinks of the position of an hired servant, and his father Luk_15:22-24). Sweet and beautiful, however, as this word liberally is, the apostles own word is something even more comprehensive and encouraging. It is the adverbial form of the term employed in Rom_12:8, and Eph_6:5. The exact meaning here is, that God gives with simplicity, with singleness of spirit: He does not as men often do, give and yet in effect not give; He does not give, and yet by an unkind manner, or by subsequent ungenerous exactions, neutralise the benefit of His giving; His kindness in giving does not, as so often with men, fold in upon another motive of a selfish nature; His giving is without any duplicity, with singleness of aim to bless the recipient, to reveal the love of His own nature for the happiness of His creatures. And upbraideth not is pretty nearly an expansion, in a negative form, for the sake of clearness and emphasis, of the thought already giver in liberally, with simplicity. We may easily weary human benefactors. Those who have often shown no kindness are apt to feel continuing it a burden; and even if they do continue it, there is much chance of our hearing painful references to the frequency and largeness of our applications. Under these circumstances a suppliant may well enter the house even of one whom he has good cause to acknowledge as friend with hesitation and fear. But God, in His giving, upbraideth not. He makes no mention of our past folly and abuse of His kindness. He always employs His past kindness as an argument to induce us, through trust in His love, to ask for more and greater blessings (Psa_81:10). (R. Johnstone, LL. B.)

Every trite prayer answered

How positive is the assurance of an answer to this prayer for wisdom! You may pray for a change of circumstances, for more land or money, or for success in some undertaking, or for deliverance from some trouble; and the Father may see that it is better to leave you just as you are, and answer your prayer in some other way. In some way for good every true prayer is answer, d. There could not possibly be an unanswered prayer without something greater than a miracle--without a revolution of the whole system of the universe. Until attraction repels, and heat makes cool, and effects produce their own causes, there cannot be an unanswered prayer, because God has ordained the connection between the real prayer, intellectually meant and heartily felt prayer, with the production of some spiritual good. The law of gravity is not more sure in its existence, or more unerring in its action, than the law of spiritual prayer. But, as in physical, so in spiritual operations, the result does not always come in the anticipated mode; but it comes somehow. The law of equivalents is unfailing. But there is one prayer which we know the Father will answer. There is no perchance here.

There are no conditions in asking God for wisdom. He that seeks it shall find. The petitioner may present his prayer as a claim, and demand the answer of this special prayer as the fulfilment of Gods special promise. All the more may he do so, because this wisdom is something no man can have by inheritance, and no man can acquire by any study under the best teachers and amidst the best circumstances, and no man can impart to his fellowman. For this wisdom we must ask of God. (C. F. Deems, D. D.)

The liberality of God

What abundant testimony we have to the liberality of God! The very winds proclaim it, as they sweep with tumultuous haste from shore to, shore all round the world. The sunshine utters it, as in silent majesty it ascends the heavens, and fills immensity with its glorious presence. The dew whispers it, as it steals softly down, until not a blade, or leaf, or flower but glitters with its vivifying beauty. The stars announce it, as they, the unnumbered host of God, come forth to shine in the inmeasurable depths of heaven. This is the testimony that He giveth to all men liberally. And yet there is testimony yet more conclusive still, although it would be strange to meet such signs of liberality even to lavishness here, and to meet with parsimony in a realm which encircles a life more precious and more permanent. The winds may cease, the sun may be obscured, the stars may fall, and the earth with all its works may be burnt up, but His Word shall not fail, and this His assurance and appeal--He that spared not, &c. (T. Stephenson.)

Divine liberality

Alexander the Great said to one overwhelmed with his generosity, I give as a king. Jehovah gives as the Infinite God.

Liberal gifts

A pasha once made one of his councillors open his mouth, and he filled it with diamonds and jewels. We may be sure he opened his mouth as wide as he could. So let us open our mouths wide that they may be filled. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Gods giving

His giving is not the cover of any unavowed purposes; it conceals no secret policy; it is frank, open, genuine. He gives for the sake of giving, and because He delights in it. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)

Liberal answers to prayer

When poor men make requests to us, we usually answer them as the echo does the voice: the answer cuts off half the petition. We shall seldom find among men Jaels courtesy, giving milk to those that ask water, except it be as this was, an entangling benefit, the better to introduce a mischief. There are not many Naamans among us, that, when you beg of them one talent, will force you to take two; but Gods answer to our prayers is like a multiplying glass, which renders the request much greater in the answer than it was in the prayer. (Bp. Reynolds.)

God gives without upbraiding

This is a very interesting feature in the character of the Divine Being as a Giver. Not a little of the value of a gift--I mean, of course, not the intrinsic value, but the pleasure imparted bythe reception of it--arises from the manner of its bestowal. We feel this, in receiving from a fellow creature. Even a poor man, of any sensibility, would many a time rather be without the alms he seeks, than have it with the ill-natured or the contemptuous scowl with which it is given--thrown to him, it may be, to send him about his business and get rid of his troublesome importunity. How wide the difference of his emotions, when the same or even a less a his is bestowed with open-handed cheerfulness, or the tear of tender pity! Even in higher cases than that of the mere beggar, a gift is often bestowed with what we calf a bad grace; with a manifest grudge; with some reflection against the petitioner for his folly, or for the trouble he causes. This is not Gods way. He upbraideth not. In the first place, He upbraids not the petitioner who comes to Him for wisdom, with his want of it--with his stupidity and folly. On the contrary, He is pleased with that sense of deficiency--that humble consciousness of proneness to err which brings the suppliant to His footstool. In the second place, He does not upbraid the petitioner for his importunity; for it is by making importunity necessary that He tries faith--tests its reality and its strength. He is never wearied with the frequency, or displeased with the pressing earnestness of the petitions presented. He receives all graciously. He rejects none. When they embrace His very feet in the earnestness of desire, He spurns them not from Him. Nor does He send them away empty. (R. Wardlaw, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jas 1:5-7. If any of you — In whole or in part; lack wisdom — To understand whence and why temptations come, and how they are to be improved, or for any other purpose. Wisdom, in the common acceptation of the word, denotes a sound practical judgment concerning things to be done or avoided: but here the expression seems to mean wisdom to know how to conduct ourselves under afflictions, or how to make a right use of them. Patience is in every pious man already; let him exercise this, and ask for wisdom. The sum of wisdom, how to conduct ourselves in the trial of poverty, on the one hand, and riches, on the other, is described in the 9th and 10th verses. The connection between the second and following verses of this chapter will be easily discerned by him who reads them while he is suffering wrongfully. He will then readily perceive why the apostle mentions all these various affections of the mind. Let him ask of God — The eternal fountain of wisdom, as well as of grace; that giveth to all — That ask aright; liberally — Freely and richly; and upbraideth not —

Either with their past sinfulness or present unworthiness. But let him ask in faith — With a firm confidence in the power, love, and faithfulness of God. St. James also both begins and ends with faith, Jas 5:15; the hinderances of which he removes in the middle part of his epistle; nothing wavering — Or doubting, as διακρινομενος frequently and properly signifies; or not divided in his mind, between the desires of obtaining and the fears of not obtaining the grace he asks; or not questioning God’s willingness to bestow it. For he that wavereth — Or doubteth, and therefore is divided in his mind, as just observed, and who does not firmly confide in the goodness and faithfulness of God, can have no other solid and substantial support, but is like a wave of the sea — Restless and inconstant; driven with the wind to and fro, and tossed about at its mercy; is unsettled and irresolute. Let not that man — Who thus yields to diffidence and distrust; think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord — While he continues in such an unstable and wavering state of mind, and dares not rely on God for those supplies of grace which he professes to seek. Such unreasonable doubts and suspicions, as they wrong the divine goodness, so they may, in many instances, prevent the communication of those favours which might otherwise be obtained.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2. Wisdom for such Christian perfection obtainable for all classes by faithful prayer, whether poor or rich, from a gracious God, Jas_1:5-11.

5. Lack wisdom—The wisdom necessary to possess and to manifest this perfection.

Ask of God—For it is the wisdom of Jas_3:17, that is from above. He will not attain it by human effort alone, but there is a rich and bountiful source from which it may be obtained.

Liberally—Literally, simply, in contrast with giving with the upbraiding, as follows. There are givers that insult and rebuke while they give, and whom it is an agony to approach with a request. And often those who kindly give find it wise to administer lessons of reproof. But to those who ask aright God is ready; there need not be any fear that he will refuse or give with contumely. The more we ask the better he likes us. It—The needed wisdom for the desired perfection.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

Jas_1:5. Wisdom.—Here, the wisdom of the book of Proverbs; practical skill in the ordering and management of life (Pro_19:20). Liberally.—With single heart, frankly, freely; without searchingly taking account of our dulness, or slowness, or limited anxiety concerning it. God wants us to have the wisdom more than we ever want to have it. Upbraideth not.—In Sir_20:15 the “gift of a fool” is thus described: “He giveth little, and upbraideth much.”

Jas_1:6. Wavering.—Doubting (see Mat_21:21). The term indicates that debating with oneself which implies doubt. Wind and tossed.—Better, “winds and blasts,” the latter term suggesting the effect of sudden squalls. There is no play on the Greek words, as in the English text—“wavering,” “wave.”

Jas_1:8. Double-minded.—Connect with Jas_1:7, “being a double-minded man.” Compare the “double heart” (Heb. “a heart and a heart”) of Psa_12:2. “A mad unsteady in his opinions is inconstant in all his actions.”

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Jas_1:5-8

Commonplace, practical wisdom.—St. James wrote to persons who were placed in difficult circumstances, partly through their own national characteristics, and partly through the events that were transpiring in public life. The Jews of every age, but peculiarly of that age, were of a contentious and quarrelsome disposition, and this made them a troublesome section of the people wherever they settled. It came indeed to be pretty generally understood, that if there was a revolt anywhere, the Jews were mixed up with it, if they were not at the bottom of it. The usual feeling towards Jews in the time of St. James is fairly represented by that towards the Russians in our own day. And the Jews were as contentious in private family life, and in their local synagogue life, as in their public life. St. James evidently has these characteristic elements of the Jewish nature fully in view. When the Jew became a Christian, it might not come to him at once that the Christian tone and spirit, which should characterise him in all forms of intercourse, was altogether different. Very easily could the faith of Christ as Messiah be taken up; and since it was not inconsistent with attendance at the Temple, observance of circumcision, and obedience to the law, it might not strike many of the Judæo Christians that it necessitated any change of temper, or toning of relationships. And then there were others who were called to suffer much in consequence of acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah; and they too were perplexed concerning the spirit with which their trials and persecutions should be met. It is in application to both such cases that St. James gives the advice of this passage, though the latter case appears to be the more prominent one. The wisdom which some may feel that they lack is “practical wisdom”—what we properly mean by “common sense,” or skill in the wise ordering of life, and in estimating and duly meeting all our various obligations. By “wisdom” St. James does not mean “learning,” or “knowledge,” or “science.” He was evidently a great Bible student, as all earnest Jews were, and seems to have been especially influenced by the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, the later sapiential writings, and by the practical writings of the prophets; and it is in the book of Proverbs that we must seek for the sense in which he uses the term “wisdom” in his epistle. Dean Stanley points out that the book of Proverbs is not on a level with the Prophets or the Psalms: “It approaches human things and things Divine from quite another side. It has even something of a worldly, prudential look. It is the philosophy of practical life. It is the sign to us that the Bible does not despise common sense and discretion. It impresses upon us in the most forcible manner the value of intelligence and prudence, and of a good education. The whole strength of the Hebrew language, and of the sacred authority of the book, is thrown upon these homely truths.” It is planned so as to provide the young man, who has no life-experience to guide him, with “sound knowledge and discretion.” It directs him amid the pitfalls, difficulties, and duties on which he must enter with the simplicity of youth still upon him. It was this kind of practical skill, to meet aright the unexpected and almost overwhelming responsibilities of kingship, that Solomon asked in his prayer at the outset of his reign. Kitto says: “The wisdom which Solomon craved was that of which he had already enough to be able to appreciate the value of its increase—practical wisdom, sagacity, clearness of judgment and intellect in the administration of justice, and in the conduct of public affairs.” Taking wisdom then in this simple and practical sense, there is point in the counsel of St. James for us all. Precisely what thoughtful and devout people feel that they lack, especially when trials and misunderstandings seem to attend their endeavour to live the godly life, is the practical wisdom that would enable them to think aright of these trials, and would enable them so to control themselves under them, and so to order their conduct in relation to them, as to be patient under all circumstances, and fully maintain everywhere the Christian spirit.

I. Practical wisdom for the ordering of life is a common requirement of Christian disciples.—Life is distinctly a new thing to a man when he becomes a Christian. “He has not passed that way heretofore.” He has no experiences in the self and worldly life that can be any really practical help to him. He is in much the condition of the young man who, with good principles, but very limited and often unsuitable experiences, goes out into life to meet the surprise of its varied trials and temptations. And we think there is hope for a young man if, on thus entering upon untried scenes, he is humble enough to recognise that he “lacks wisdom.” Whether a man came over from Judaism to Christianity or from Paganism, he could never find it an easy thing to adjust himself to the new conditions and responsibilities. It may be questioned whether even now any man finds it an easy thing to adjust himself to the claims of a really earnest religious life. Practically we all find out, sooner or later, that we “lack wisdom”—precisely the wisdom which would enable us to fit our Christian conduct and relationships perfectly and pleasantly to our Christian principles and to the Christian spirit. Look at this “practical wisdom” in some of its more evident spheres.

1. The Christian discovers that he has a new standard for the management of himself. Every man finds out that he needs wisdom for the skilful ordering of his own bodily faculties and powers, his mind and abilities, and his temper and passions. “Knowing ourselves” is the intense work of early life; wisely ordering ourselves, according to our knowledge of ourselves, is the even more intense work of early manhood. But the Christian has another, a new, and a higher standard of self-management. It needs to be set before us much more forcibly than it is, that the human example of our Divine Lord is that of a man who, with practical skill, ruled and ordered His own bodily life, mastering all its weaknesses, and putting it always into wise restraints. It may very well be that we all feel to “lack wisdom” in this, the first sphere of a self-rule. “The body for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”

2. But practical wisdom is needed for ordering the commonplace and every-day associations of life. A man has to be distinctively and unquestionably Christian, in tone and spirit, everywhere, every day, and in everything. For the man who is not a Christian always is not a Christian at all. And yet what practical wisdom he needs! So easily he can undervalue the home-sphere, and say, “It does not much matter what I do there.” So easily he can make a distinct sphere of business, and say, “Business is business; we do not want religion there.” So easily he can be carried away by party feeling, and then but unworthily share in the witness of public life. Facing the commonplace obligations of home and business and society, we may all feel that in our effort to find full and adequate expression of the Christian spirit we all “lack wisdom.” Is there a satisfied, or self-satisfied, Christian man or woman? It can only be that by them the claim of the Christian religion to tone and rule the every-day life of relations is not duly estimated.

3. And as the unexpected is “the thing that happens” even in the Christian life, practical wisdom is needed for rightly meeting the anxieties, trials, temptations, and calamities that come as surprises in every life. Of these St. James was thinking; and it was concerning the securing of the right preparedness for such scenes, and the right response to such circumstances, that he wrote to these Christian Jews. “Let patience [under trials] have her perfect work.” “And if any of you feel that you lack the wisdom which would enable you so to order your lives as to win for patience her perfect work, then let him ask for the needed wisdom from God.” Surely it comes home to us all, that in our effort to tone our lives with the Christian spirit, and to fill our daily lives with the Christian principles, we do “lack wisdom,” we do need practical skill.

II. Practical wisdom for the ordering of every-day life and relations is a Divine gift.—“Let him ask of God.” Wisdom, as the learning of the schools, can be thought of as a purely human acquisition. It is not indeed so regarded by the Christian, who seeks Divine help and blessing even in the acquisition of knowledge. But this practical wisdom, which adjusts the Christian principles to the relations of life, as if a man had passed through an actual experience, and had well learned the lessons of it, is distinctly a gift of God, a Divine bestowment upon the humble, open-souled, prayerful, obediently-toned man. It would be pleasant to philosophise about this, and to show that what we really need is to put God—God in Christ—into vital relation with each scene and duty and struggle; that we cannot get God save as He gives Himself to us; and that putting Himself into, keeping Himself in, our lives, is His answer to prayer, and His supply of wisdom. Plato has a very striking sentence on the importance of associating God directly with the every-day duties and relations of life: “The best and noblest action which a virtuous man can perform, and that which will most promote his success in life, is to live, by vows and prayers, in continual intercourse with the gods; nay, all who would act with due consideration ought, before beginning any undertaking, whether great or small, to invoke God.” We need not deny that practical skill in the wise ordering of our life of duty and relations is mainly gained by experience. We grow into it with the advancing years. There is a familiar saying, with reference to our physical health, that a “man is a fool or a physician at forty.” By that time the daily experience of dealing with his frailties and tendencies ought to have made him understand himself, and secure a fair share of health. And it is also true of our mental and moral life, though in these matters we have to bring in some new and important considerations. Given the case of a man who knows what is good for his bodily health, and the assumption is that he will do it. But given the case of a man who knows what is for his moral good, and there is no security at all that he will do it; there is indeed every probability, or every fear, that he will not. Froude cleverly hits off the weakness of experience, if we treat his sentence as applying to morals. He says, “Experience is like the stern lights of a ship, which cast their rays over a path which has been taken.” In relation to the moral and religious ordering of the moral and religious life, we have to take into account the disturbing element of the biassed, self-pleasing will. Use experience how well soever we may, that disturbing element has to be reckoned with: and that makes us feel that we “lack wisdom”; and that drives us to seek the help of God, whose supreme work is in and on man’s will. God strengthens with “strength in the soul.” Wherein then lies the difference between every man’s life and the Christian man’s life? Just here—Every man is learning by experience how to live. But his learning is seriously affected and biassed by the uncertainty of his self-willedness. The Christian man too is learning by experience; but he has asked God to set, to steady, to guide, and to control his will; and consequently, for him, the lessons of experience are in the Divine sanctifying. Feeling his lack of wisdom, he asks of God. God may not change any of the circumstances of the man’s life; but God does set him and keep him rightly related to the circumstances; and therefore his life-experience does its best for him. St. James wrote to Christian Jews. It was a good and hopeful sign that they were conscious of “lacking wisdom.” From the Christian point of view, then and now, there is no peril like that of the man who is quite sure that he can go alone. “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” The inspiration of a life of trustful prayer is the daily renewed conviction that we “lack wisdom.” Prayer is our expression of the sense of need.

III. Practical wisdom for the ordering of life is obtained only on conditions.—“Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.” Here we are led to think of distinctions among professing Christians, rather than of distinctions between the worldly and the Christian. Even when we ask we may miss the response, by failing to meet the arranged conditions. We must ask for this daily Divine help in faith; but that faith required cannot possibly mean the acceptance of certain doctrines. Answer to prayer is never assured in God’s word on the ground of the correctness of our intellectual beliefs. Faith in relation to prayer is seen by St. James as steady single-mindedness. The man of faith feels quite sure of what he needs. He has no questioning whatever about it. He gives way to no uncertainties, no doubts. He knows that he “lacks wisdom.” He does not waver as to that, and there is consequently point and force in his prayer. And faith in prayer also includes confidence in Him to whom the prayer is addressed. This is indeed the very essence of Christian prayer. To be a Christian at all is to know God so as to trust Him thoroughly. And this confidence has for its sphere everything pertaining to the practical life of godliness. Concerning everything the Christian prays with submission; but it may be said that in praying about material things submission is stronger than expectancy; but in praying about moral and religious things, in which the Christian man should be in full sympathy with God, expectancy ought to be stronger than submission. With an unquestionable and unhesitating confidence we may ask for everything that pertains to the holy life. The positive condition is active faith, full confidence, assured hope of gracious response. The negative condition is, that there shall be no wavering,—no feeling as if we did want wisdom, and then feeling as if we did not; no disputing with ourselves, as if we could be sure about nothing; no half-heartedness in our praying. Sometimes the ship, swayed about on the waters, is taken as the type of instability; but St. James knew that whatever the appearances, the ship was really answering its helm, and moving towards the desired haven. So he took his figure from the surging waves themselves. For these have no control of their own movements, and are under no apparent external control. They surge this way or that, they rise high or low, according as they are played upon by the ever-varying winds. And so even God can hardly get at the man who wavers, for there are no steady moods to which he can respond. “Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.” The waverer, the doubter, the man who is always uncertain, is a proverbially difficult man to deal with. He is never quite sure what he wants; he never knows how to ask; and before you can get him what he asks, he wants something else. Both God and man are compelled to give up the waverers as hopeless people. “Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth [doubteth] is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.… A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

Let me gather up the points of St. James’s teaching into a few brief but connected sentences.

1. It is one thing to lack practical wisdom for the ordering of our lives, and another thing to know that we lack it.

2. It is one thing to know that we lack, and quite another to be willing to ask for a supply.

3. It is one thing to be willing to ask, and quite another to ask properly. Of one thing we may be absolutely sure, and we may act on our assurance. If God makes conditions, He lovingly responds to them. “He giveth to all liberally [just the skill for life that they lack], and upbraideth not.”

SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES

Jas_1:5. The Spirit of God’s Giving.—“Giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not.” When and under what circumstances do we men upbraid one another?

1. When we can recognise no claim in the asker.

2. When we feel that too much is asked.

3. When we expect too much from the asker.

I. Asking in faith is asking in full trust of the person from whom we ask.—It need not be trust that we shall get precisely what we ask, and exactly at the time that we want to have it. It must be trust that He of whom we ask will use His judgment in the matter, and give, delay, withhold, or alter as He may see to be for the best.

II. Asking in faith is setting our heart upon what we ask.—Our Lord on more than one occasion taught that persistency and importunity were specially acceptable features in all petition. We can never rightly offer any request to God if we doubt whether the thing that we ask is desirable for us. Our heart cannot be in our request if we are uncertain whether God is willing to give, or fear that He may upbraid us. Failure of prayer can usually be traced to the man who prays. It may be that God cannot when He would.

Asking from God.—Here is something in answer to every discouraging turn of the mind, when we go to God, under a sense of our own folly and weakness, to ask for wisdom. He to whom we are sent, we are sure, has it to give; and He is of a giving disposition, inclined to bestow on those who ask. Nor is there any fear of His favours being limited to some in this case, so as to exclude others, or any humble, petitioning soul; for He gives to all men. If you should say you want a great deal of wisdom, a small portion will not serve your turn, the apostle affirms He gives liberally; and lest you should be afraid of going to Him unseasonably, or being put to shame for your folly, it is added, “He upbraideth not.” Ask when you will, and as often as you will, you will meet with no upbraidings.—Matthew Henry.

Plato’s Idea of Wisdom—Perfect wisdom hath four parts: viz. wisdom, the principle of doing things aright; justice, the principle of doing things equally in public and private; fortitude, the principle of not flying danger, but meeting it; and temperance, the principle of subduing desires and living moderately.

The “Wisdom” of Christianity.—All that the schools of Greece and Egypt and the East had been saying for a course of ages was, Let no man think that he lacks wisdom, for he has it in himself—or at most, If any man lack wisdom, let him come to us. But when the voice of the evangelising angel, whom John saw in his apocalyptic vision, became audible, the schools were silent, and the oracles were dumb, before that simple precept, to which we attach so little value, “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God.” But this asking of God was to the Greeks a mockery. Even those who believed in God had no conception of immediate spiritual intercourse with God, still less of intellectual illumination sent directly from Him. They knew what it was to work out wisdom for themselves, or to seek for wisdom at the hands of human sages; but this was a new idea, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.” And that not as a ceremony, but a means, a certain means of acquisition—not of God the unknown and the unapproachable, but God the Giver, God who gives, who actually gives, has given, will give again, will give for ever—not to certain favoured nations or castes or individuals, but to all men—not to Greeks or Jews alone, not to philosophers or priests alone, but to all men, all who ask, all who really desire it, all who ask aright.—J. Addison Alexander, D.D.

Knowledge and Discretion.—Learning falls far short of wisdom.… Knowledge is the treasure of the mind, but discretion is the key to it, without which it is useless. The practical part of wisdom is the best.—Feltham.

Wisdom, whence shall she be gotten?—That which is of supreme importance to us, that which endures through all the changes and decays of nature, that which really determines our fate in life, in death, and after death, is the character which has been framed and developed in us during these fleeting hours of time, and by all the chances and changes of this mutable world. Our highest wisdom, the one true secret of life, is self-training, self-culture, the development of a complete and noble character. Character is supremely important in business and in homes; he whose character is well balanced and well developed, who is not only manly, but a mature and complete man, is equal to any conditions, and rises superior to them all. Into the next world, all we can take is the character we have built up. The ruling bent of our character will determine our fate. Our main task in the world is the formation of character; it is our highest wisdom to endeavour after a character which shall be noble and complete, a character which will fit us both to live and die. Is the highest wisdom within our reach? St. James, writing to Christian Jews under persecution, tells them that patient and faithful endurance, which God sent, and intended adversity to produce, would gradually work out in them that manly and noble character which is our highest good. Trials bravely met search out and carry away faults and defects of character, as the acid bites out the alloy from the gold. They make, or tend to make, us of so complete and entire a manliness that nothing is lacking to us. Some, however, might lack wisdom to see that this is the highest wisdom; so St. James says, “If any of you lack [this] wisdom,” which holds the hope of becoming perfect in character above all other aims, let him ask it of God, and it shall be given him. He will teach and help you to put a pure and noble character before the happiest outward conditions. He will help you to welcome the trials by which He is seeking to make you steadfast, to brace you to a mature and complete manliness, to supply what is lacking in you, until you lack nothing. If you cannot see that to be His purpose, ask Him to show it to you, and He will show it. If you ask Him for wisdom to see His purpose in afflicting you, you will try to see it. As you pray you grow sincere. You can see more clearly what your life has been given you for, for what high and noble ends. You so relate yourself to the Father of lights that He is able to shed light into your soul. If God is able, surely He is willing. Where God finds an open and prepared, a seeking and receptive, heart, He enters in, and enters to make it wise and good. If you honestly crave wisdom to make His will your will, to aim at that maturity and perfection of character which He knows to be your supreme good, He will as surely give you that wisdom as the sweet, pure, sun-warmed air will flow into your room when you throw open your window to the day. God will never keep His word of promise to the ear, but break it to the hope it has inspired. He is not of two minds, as men often are. He gives because He loves to give and loves you. You need not fear to ask of Him, either because you have so often asked before, or because you have never asked before. “He upbraideth not.” And whatever forms trials may take, you may be sure of this: God intends them for your good, for the discipline and growth of character—intends them to spur and brace you to fortitude, courage, patience; and therefore He would have you count them all joy, since they will bring you joy at the last if you meet them with a constant spirit. If you care most for character, the trials that brace, refine, and elevate your character should not be unwelcome to you. And if as yet you lack the wisdom which sees in every trial a discipline of character and perfection, ask this wisdom of God the Giver, and it shall be given you.—S. Cox, D.D.

Who are the Wise?—

Who are the wise?

They who have govern’d with a self-control

Each wild and baneful passion of the soul—

Curb’d the strong impulse of all fierce desires,

But kept alive affection’s purer fires.

They who have pass’d the labyrinth of life,

Without one hour of weakness or of strife:

Prepared each change of fortune to endure,

Humble though rich, and dignified though poor.

Skill’d in the latent movements of the heart—

Learn’d in the lore which nature can impart;

Teaching that sweet philosophy aloud

Which sees the “silver lining” of the cloud;

Looking for good in all beneath the skies:

These are the truly wise.

Prince.

True Prayer and True Answer.—Our truest prayers are but the echo of God’s promises. God’s best answers are the echo of our prayers. As in two mirrors set opposite to each other the same image is repeated over and over again, the reflection of a reflection, so here, within the prayer, gleams an earlier promise, within the answer is mirrored the prayer.—A. Maclaren, D.D.

Jas_1:6. Two Kinds of Doubting.—Intellectual is not moral doubt. The unorthodox are not as the adulterous. Nevertheless, intellectual doubt may spring from an evil habit of carping criticism and self-opinion, for the foundation of which, in so far as a man himself has been either the wilful or the careless cause, he must bear the curse of its results.—Ellicott’s Commentary.

Winds and Waves.—“Like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.” The wind represents outside circumstances—something distinct from the sea itself—acting on the waters. When men are not established in principles, and well exercised in self-control, they are easily swayed to and fro by changing outward circumstances. “Each puff of wind catches hold of the water, and heaps it up into a little hill with the face to the leeward; then the crest falls, and the water sinks down into a trough, as deep below the mean surface as the hill was high above it; but the next column of water is then forced up, only, however, to be pulled down again, and in this way the motion of the wave may be propagated across a broad expanse of water. Let the breeze freshen, and the ‘little hills’ of course become higher; the wind now catches the particles of water on the crest of the wave, and carries them away, scattering them as spray, or water dust, forming foam—‘white horses,’ as the children call it. Increase the breeze to a gale, and the spray becomes a shower of salt water, until far away sea and sky seem to mingle, and the horizon-line is lost to our sight. Again, as the wind seizes the top of the wave, it makes it move faster than the lower part, and we see it bend over in a curve, whose edge is scattered into foam. If the wind be intermittent, as mild breezes usually are, we get a few small waves running in, followed by a larger, higher one, which breaks on the shore.”—Worsley-Benison.

Jas_1:7-8. Single-minded and Double-minded.—The double-minded man halts between belief and unbelief, with inclination towards the latter. The single-minded man does not halt at all; but having a distinct aim before him, moves toward it with a resolute and persistent endeavour. “Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.” St. James is dealing with characteristic dispositions in prayer. Some give force to prayer. Some so weaken prayer that it cannot reach God with any persuasive power. There is—

1. The single-mindedness of conscious need. The man is quite sure that what he asks he wants.

2. The single-mindedness of a resolute purpose. What the man wants he sets heart and effort upon attaining.

3. The single-mindedness of faith in God. As the Prayer-hearer, who takes heed to the expressed desires of His people, and waits to bless.

4. The single-mindedness of a loyal submission, which always goes with faith in God.

5. The single-mindedness of importunity, which speaks after the manner of Jacob: “I will not let Thee go, unless Thou bless me.” The man of a single mind in prayer may reasonably expect to “receive something of the Lord.” There is the double-mindedness—

1. Of uncertainty as to what is to be asked. A man may not know exactly what he wants, or may have no confidence that what he asks is a good thing.

2. Of uncertainty whether the matter had better be taken to God, or managed by the man himself.

3. Of uncertainty whether God will take such things into consideration.

4. Of uncertainty whether, after all, prayer is of any real use—whether good and evil things do not come to us just the same whether we pray or not.

5. Of uncertainty caused by never letting a decision rest, but going over it again and again, until opportunity is lost, and nothing is done. The man of a double mind need not expect to “receive anything of the Lord,” for the truth is that, in his uncertainty, he never really asks. The “unstable” can neither “excel” nor “attain.”

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 1

Jas_1:6. Surging Sea and Placid Lake.—Trust Christ, and so thy soul shall no longer be like “the sea that cannot rest,” full of turbulent wishes, full of passionate desires that come to nothing, full of endless moanings, like the homeless ocean that is ever working, and never flings up any produce of its work but yeasty foam and broken weeds; but thine heart shall become translucent and still, like some land-locked lake, where no winds rave nor tempests ruffle, and on its calm surface there shall be mirrored the clear shining of the unclouded blue, and the perpetual light of the sun that never goes down.—A. Maclaren, D.D.

Blessed through Humiliations.—

Then grudge not thou the anguish keen

Which makes thee like thy Lord,

And learn to quit with eye serene

Thy youth’s ideal hoard.

Thy treasur’d hopes and raptures high—

Unmurmuring let them go,

Nor grieve the bliss should quickly fly

Which Christ disdained to know.

Thou shalt have joy in sadness soon;

The pure, calm hope be thine,

Which brightens, like the eastern moon,

As day’s wild lights decline.

Thus souls, by nature pitch’d too high,

By sufferings plung’d too low,

Meet in the Church’s middle sky,

Half-way ’twixt joy and woe,

To practise there the soothing lay

That sorrow best relieves;

Thankful for all God takes away,

Humbled by all He gives.

Keble.

The Mission of the Rich.—When rain from heaven has filled a basin on the mountain-top, the reservoir overflows, and so sends down a stream to refresh the valley below. It is for similar purposes that God in His providential government fills the cup of those who stand on the high places of the earth, that they may distribute the blessing among those who occupy a lower place in the scale of prosperity.—Rev. William Arnot.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

James

DIVINE WISDOM, AND HOW TO GET IT

Jas 1:5.

‘IF any of you lack.’ James has just used the same word in the previous verse, and it is to be regretted that the principle upon which our authorised translators went of varying the rendering of identical expressions, masks the repetition here. James has just been telling his brethren that their aim should be to be ‘perfect and entire, lacking nothing.’ And that thought naturally suggests the other one of how great the contrast is between that possible completeness and the actual condition of Christians in general. So he gently and courteously puts, as a hypothesis, what is only too certain a fact in those to whom he is speaking; and says, not as he might have done, ‘since you all lack,’ but, with gracious forbearance, ‘if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.’

Now, it seems to me that, in this hypothetical exhortation there are three points to be noted, two of them being somewhat unlike what we should have looked for. One is the great deficiency in the average Christian character - wisdom; another is the great means of supplying it - ask; and the third is the great guarantee of the supply - the giving God, whose gifts are bestowed on all liberally and without upbraiding.

I. The great deficiency in the average Christian character - wisdom.

Now, that is not exactly what we should have expected to be named as the main thing lacking in the average Christian. If we had been asked to specify the chief defect we should probably have thought of something else than wisdom. But, if we remember who is speaking, we shall understand better what he means by this word. James is a Jew, steeped through and through in the Old Testament. We have only to recall the Book of Proverbs, and what it has to say about ‘wisdom’ and ‘folly,’ by which it means something a great deal deeper and more living than knowledge and ignorance or intellectual strength and feebleness, or practical sagacity and its opposite. That deeper conception of wisdom which bases it all on ‘the fear of the Lord,’ and regards it as moral and spiritual and not as merely or chiefly intellectual, pervades the whole New Testament. This Epistle is more of an echo of the earlier revelation than any other part of the New Testament, and we may be quite sure that James uses this venerable word with all the associations of its use there, and in all the solemn depth of meaning which he had learned to attach to it, on the lips of psalmists, prophets, and teachers of the true wisdom. If that were at all doubtful, it is made certain by his own subsequent description of ‘wisdom.’ He says that it is ‘from above,’ and then goes on to ascribe all manner of moral and spiritual good to its presence and working on a man. It is ‘pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits.’ You cannot say such glowing things about the wisdom which has its seat in the understanding only, can you? These characteristics must apply to something a great deal more august and more powerful in shaping and refining character.

What, then, does James mean by ‘wisdom’? He means the sum of practical religion. With him, as with the psalmist, sin and folly are two names for the same thing, and so are religion and wisdom. He, and only he, has wisdom who knows God with a living heart-knowledge which gives a just insight into the facts of life and the bounds of right and wrong, and which regulates conduct and shapes the whole man with power far beyond that of knowledge however wide and deep, illuminating intellect however powerful. ‘Knowledge’ is poor and superficial in comparison with this wisdom, which may roughly be said to be equivalent to practical religion.

The use of this expression to indicate the greatest deficiency in the average Christian character, just suggests this thought, that if we had a clear, constant, certain, God-regarding insight into things as they are, we should lack little. Because, if a man habitually kept vividly before him the thought of God, and with it the true nature and obligation and blessedness of righteous, loving obedience, and the true foulness and fatalness of sin - if he saw these with the clearness and the continuity with which we may all see the things that are unseen and eternal, if he ‘saw life steadily, and saw it whole,’ if he saw the rottenness and the shallowness of earthly things and temptations, and if he saw the blessed issue of every God-pleasing act - why! the perfecting of conduct would be secured.

It would be an impossibility for him, with all that illumination blazing in upon him, not to walk in the paths of righteousness with a glad and serene heart. I do not believe that all sin is a consequence of ignorance, but I do believe that our average Christian life would be revolutionised if we each carried clear before us, and continually subjected our lives to the influence of, the certain verities of God’s word.

And, brethren, I think that there is a practical direction of no small importance here, in the suggestion that the thing that we want most is clearer and more vivid conceptions of the realities of the Christian revelation, and of the facts of human life. These will act as tests, and up will start in his own shape the fiend that is whispering at our ears, when touched by the spear of this divine wisdom. So, brethren, here is our root-deficiency; therefore instead of confining ourselves to trying to cure isolated and specific faults, or to attain isolated and specific virtues, let us go deeper down, and realise that the more our whole natures are submitted to the power of God’s truth, and of the realities of the future and of the present, of Time and Eternity, the nearer shall we come to being ‘perfect and entire,’ lacking nothing.

II. We have next to note the great means of supplying that great deficiency - ‘let him ask.’

Thai direction might at first sight strike one as being, like the specification of the thing lacking, scarcely what we should have expected. Does James say, If any of you lack ‘wisdom,’ let him sit down and think? No! ‘If any of you lack wisdom,’ let him take a course of reading? No! ‘If any of you lack wisdom,’ let him go to pundits and rabbis, and get it from them? No! ‘If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask.’ A strange apparent disconnection between the issue and the means suggested! Very strange, if wisdom lives only up in the head! not so strange if it has its seat in the depths of the human spirit. If you want to learn theology you have to study. If you seek to master any science you have to betake yourself to the appropriate discipline. It is. of no use to pray to God to make you a good geologist, or botantist, or lawyer, or doctor, unless you also take the necessary means to become one. But if a man wants the divine wisdom, let him get down on his knees. That is the best place to secure it. ‘Let him ask’; because that insight, so clear, so vivid, so constant, and so perfectly adequate for the regulation of the life, is of God. It comes to us from the Spirit of God that dwells in men’s hearts.

I believe that in nothing is the ordinary type of Christian opinion amongst us, in this generation, so defective as in the obscurity into which it has pushed that truth, of the Spirit of God as actually dwelling in men’s hearts. And that, I believe, is to a large extent the reason why the other truths of Christianity have so little power upon people. It is of little use to hold a Christianity which begins and ends with the fact of Christ’s death on the Cross. It is of less use, no doubt, to hold a Christianity which does not begin with that death. But if it ends there, it is imperfect because, as the Apostle put it, our Christ, the Christ who sends wisdom to those who ask it, is the ‘Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us,’ and sends down His Spirit on us.

And to receive that spirit of wisdom, the one thing necessary is that we should want it. That is all. Nothing more, but nothing less. I doubt very much whether hosts of the average Christian people of this generation do want it, or would know what to do with it if they had it; or whether the gift of a heart purged from delusions, and of eyes made clear always to behold the God who is ever with us, and the real importance of the things around us, is the gift that most of us pray for most. ‘If any man lack wisdom, let him ask.’ It is a gift, and it is to he obtained from that Holy Spirit who dwells and works in all believers. The measure of their desire is the measure of their possession. That wisdom can be had for the asking, and is not to be won by proudly self-reliant effort.

But let us not think that any kind of ‘asking’ suffices to put that great gift into our hearts. The petition that avails must be sincere, intense, constant, and accompanied by corresponding conduct.

It is not dropping down on your knees for two minutes in a morning, before you hurry out to business, and scrambling over a formal petition; or praying after you have gone to bed at night, and perhaps falling asleep before you get to ‘Amen.’ It is not asking, and then not waiting long enough to get the answer. It is not faint and feeble desire, but one presented with continuity which is not shameless importunity, but patient persistence. It must breathe intense desire and perfect confidence in the willingness of the Giver and in the power of prayer.

If our vessels are empty or nearly so, while the stream is rolling its broad, flashing flood past our doors, if we sit shivering beside dying embers while the fire blazes high on the hearth, let us awake to recognise the tragic difference between what we might be and what we are, and let us listen to James’s other word, ‘Ye have not because ye ask not.’ ‘If any of you lack wisdom’ - and, alas! how many of us do, and that how sorely! - ‘let him ask of God.’

III. The great guarantee that such petitions shall be answered.

James has an arrangement of words in the original which can scarcely be reproduced in an English translation, but which may be partially represented thus: ‘Let him ask of the giving God.’ That represents not so much the divine giving as an act, but, if I may so say, as a divine habit. It is just what the Prayer-book says, ‘His nature and property is to have mercy.’ He is the giving God, because He is the loving God; for love is essentially the impulse to impart itself to the beloved, and thereby to win the beloved for itself. That is the very life-breath of love, and such is the love of God. There is a must even for that heavenly nature. He must bestow. He is the ‘giving’; and He is the blessed God because He is the loving and the giving God. Just as the sun cannot but pour out his rays, so the very activity of the divine nature is beneficence and self-impartation; and His joy is to grant Himself to His creature, whom He has made empty for the very purpose of giving all of Himself that the creature is capable of receiving.

But not only does James give us this great guarantee in the character of God, but he goes on to say, ‘ He giveth to all men. ‘I suppose that all’ must be limited by what follows - viz., ‘He gives to all who ask.’

‘He gives to all men liberally. ‘ That is a beautiful thought, but it is not the whole beauty of the writer’s idea. The word translated ‘liberally,’ as many of you know, literally means ‘simply, without any by-ends,’ or any underlying thought of what is to be gained in return. That is the way in which God gives. People have sometimes objected to the doctrine of which the Scripture is full from beginning to end, that God is His own motive, and that His reason in all His acts is His own glory, that it teaches a kind of almighty and divine selfishness. But it is perfectly consistent with this thought of my text, that He gives simply for the benefit of the recipient, and without a thought of what may accrue to the bestower. For why does God desire His glory to be advanced in the world? For any good that it is to Him, that you and I should praise Him? Yes! good to Him in so far as love delights to be recognised. But, beyond that, none. The reason why He seeks that men should know and recognise His glory, and should praise and magnify it, is because it is their life and their blessedness to do so. He desires that all men should know Him for what He is, because to do so is to come to be what we ought to be, and what He has made us to try to be; and therein to enjoy Him for ever. So ‘liberally,’ ‘simply,’ for the sake of the poor men that He pours Himself upon, He gives.

And ‘without upbraiding.’ If it were not so, who of us dare ask? But He does not say when we come to Him, ‘ What did you do with that last gift I gave you? Were you ever thankful enough for those other benefits that you have had? What is become of all those? Go away and make a better use of what you have had before you come and ask Me for any more.’ That is how we often talk to one another; and rightly enough. That is not how God talks to us. Time enough for upbraiding after the child has the gift in his hand! Then, as Christ did to Peter, He says, having rescued him first, ‘Oh! thou of little faith; wherefore didst thou doubt?’ The truest rebuke of our misuse of His benefits, of our faithlessness to His character, and of the poverty of our askings, is the largeness of His gifts. He gives us these, and then He bids us go away, and profit by them, and, in the light of His bestowments, preach rebukes to ourselves for the poverty of our askings and our squandering of His gift.

Oh, brethren! if we only believed that He is not an austere man, gathering where He did not straw, and reaping where He did not sow, but a ‘giving God!’ If we only believed that He gives simply because He loves us and that we need never fear our unworthiness will limit or restrain His bestowments, what mountains of misconception of the divine character would he rolled away from many hearts! What thick obscuration of clouds would he swept clean from between us and the sun! We do not half enough realise that He is the ‘giving God.’ Therefore, our prayers are poor, and our askings troubled and faint, and our gifts to Him are grudging and few, and our wisdom woefully lacking.

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Chapter 6

THE RELATION OF THIS EPISTLE TO THE BOOKS OF ECCLESIASTICUS AND OF THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON-THE VALUE OF THE APOCRYPHA, AND THE MISCHIEF OF NEGLECTING IT.

Jam_1:5-8

THE previous section led us to the question as to the relation of this Epistle to certain Christian writings, and in particular to the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans, and to the First Epistle of St. Peter. The present section, combined with the preceding one, raises a similar question-the relation of our Epistle to certain Jewish writings, and especially the Books of Ecclesiasticus and the Wisdom of Solomon.

The two sets of questions are not parallel. In the former case, even if we could determine that the writer of one Epistle had certainly seen the Epistle of the other, we should still be uncertain as to which had written first. Here, if the similarity is found to be too great to be accounted for by common influences acting upon both writers, and we are compelled to suppose that one has made use of the writing of the other, there cannot be any doubt as to the side on which the obligation lies. The Book of Ecclesiasticus certainly, and the Book of Wisdom possibly, had come into circulation long before St. James was born. And if, with some of the latest writers on the subject, we place the Book of Wisdom as late as A.D. 40, it nevertheless was written in plenty of time for St. James to have become acquainted with it before he wrote his Epistle. Although some doubts have been expressed on the subject, the number of similarities, both of thought and expression, between the Epistle of St. James and Ecclesiasticus is too great to be reasonably accounted for without the supposition that St. James was not only acquainted with the book, but fond of its contents. And it is to be remembered, in forming an opinion on the subject, that there is nothing intrinsically improbable in the supposition that St. James had read Ecclesiasticus. Indeed, the improbability would rather be the other way. Even if there were no coincidences of ideas and language between our Epistle and Ecclesiasticus, we know enough about St. James and about the circulation of Ecclesiasticus to say that he was likely to become acquainted with it. As Dr. Salmon remarks on the use of the Apocrypha generally, "The books we know as Apocrypha are nearly all earlier than the New Testament writers, who could not well have been ignorant of them; and therefore coincidences between the former and the latter are not likely to have been the result of mere accident."

But it will be worth while to quote a decided expression of opinion, on each side of the question immediately before us, from the writings of scholars who are certainly well qualified to give a decided opinion. On the one hand, Bernhard Weiss says, "It has been incorrectly held by most that the author adheres very closely to Jesus Sirach…But it must be distinctly denied that there is anywhere an echo of the Book of Wisdom." On the other hand, Dr. Edersheim, after pointing out the parallel between Ecclus. 12:10, 11, and Jam_5:3, concludes, "In view of all this it cannot be doubted that both the simile and the expression of it in the Epistle of St. James were derived from Ecclesiasticus." And then he gives some more coincidences between the two writings, and sums up thus: "But if the result is to prove beyond doubt the familiarity of St. James with a book which at the time was evidently in wide circulation, it exhibits with even greater dearness the immense spiritual difference between the standpoint occupied in Ecclesiasticus and that in the Epistle of St. James." And Archdeacon Farrar quotes with approval an estimate that St. James "alludes more or less directly to the Book of the Wisdom of Solomon at least five times, but to the Book of Ecclesiasticus more than fifteen times…The fact is the more striking because in other respects St. James shows no sympathy with Alexandrian speculations. There is not in him the faintest tinge of Philonian philosophy; on the contrary, he belongs in a marked degree to the school of Jerusalem. He is a thorough Hebraiser, a typical Judaist. All his thoughts and phrases move normally in the Palestinian sphere. This is a curious and almost unnoticed phenomenon. The "sapiential literature" of the Old Testament was the least specifically Israelite. It was the direct precursor of Alexandrian morals. It deals with mankind, and not with the Jew. Yet St. James, who shows so much partiality for this literature, is of all the writers of the New Testament the least Alexandrian and the most Judaic."

Let us endeavor to form an opinion for ourselves; and the only way in which to do this with thoroughness is to place side by side, in the original Greek, the passages in which there seems to be coincidence between the two writers. Want of space prevents this from being done here. But some of the most striking coincidences shall be placed in parallel columns, and where the coincidence is inadequately represented by the English Version the Greek shall be given also. Other coincidences, which are not drawn out in full, will be added, to enable students who care to examine the evidence more in detail to do so without much trouble. Two Bibles, or, still better, a Septuagint and a Greek Testament, will serve the purpose of parallel columns.

It will be found that by far the greater number of coincidences occur in the first chapter, a fact which suggests the conjecture that St. James had been reading Ecclesiasticus shortly before he began to write. In the middle of the Epistle there is very little that strongly recalls the son of Sirach. In the last chapter there are one or two striking parallels; but by far the larger proportion is in the first chapter.

ECCLESIASTICUS.ST. James.1. A patient man will bear for a time, and afterward joy shall spring up unto him (i. 23).

My son, if thou come to serve the Lord, prepare thy soul for temptation (πειρασμον). Set thy heart aright, and constantly endure. . . . Whatsoever is brought upon thee take cheerfully, and be patient when thou art changed to a low estate. For gold is tried (δοκιμαζεται) in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of adversity (ii. 1-5).Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations (πειρασμοις), knowing that the proof (τομιον) of your faith worketh patience. And let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing (Jas_1:2-4).

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation (πειρασμον); for when he hath been approved (δοκιμος γενομενος), he shall receive the crown of life (Jas_1:12).

2. If thou desire wisdom (σοφιαν), keep the commandments, and the Lord shall give her unto thee (i. 26).

I desired wisdom (σοφιαν) openly in my prayer. . . . The Lord hath given me a tongue for my reward (li. 13, 22).

Thy desire for wisdom (σοφιας) shall be given thee (vi. 37. Comp. xliii. 33). [A fool] will give little, and will upbraid (ονειδισει) much (xx. 15).

After thou hast given, upbraid (ονειδιζε) not (xli. 22. Comp. xviii. 18).But if any of you lacketh wisdom (σοφιαν), let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not (μηζοντος) ; and it shall be given him (Jas_1:5)

3. Distrust not the fear of the Lord; and come not unto Him with a double heart (i. 28).

Woe be to fearful hearts, and faint hands, and the sinner that goeth two ways (ii. 12).

Be not faint-hearted when thou makest thy prayer (vii. 10. Comp. xxxiii. 2 ; xxxv. i6, 17).

But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord; a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (Jas_1:6-8. Comp. Jas_4:8).

4. Exalt not thyself, lest thou fall, and bring dishonour upon thy soul (i. 30).

The greater thou art, the more humble thyself, and thou shalt find favour before the Lord (iii 18. Comp. xxxi. 1-9).But let the brother of low degree glory in his high estate; and the rich in that he is made low (Jas_1:9-10).5. Say not thou, It is through the Lord that I fell away : for thou oughtest not to do the things that He hateth. Say not thou, He hath caused me to err; for He hath no need of the sinful man (xv. 11, 12).

Let no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempteth no man (Jas_1:13).6. Be swift in thy listening {ταχυς εν ακροασει σου) ; and with patience give answer (v. II).

Let every man be swift to hear (ταχυς εις το ακουσαι), slow to speak, slow to wrath (Jas_1:19).7. Thou shalt be to him as one that hath wiped a mirror (εσοπτρον), and shalt know that it is not rusted (κατιωται) for ever (xii. 11).

Like asbronzerusteth (ιουται), so is his wickedness (xii. 10).

Lose money through a brother and a friend, and let it not rust (ιωθητω) under the stone unto loss (xxix, 10).

He is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror (εν εσοπτρω). . . . Your gold and your silver are rusted (κατιωται); and their rust (ιος) shall be a testimony against you (Jas_1:23; Jas_5:3).

8. He that looketh in (ο παρακυπτων) through her windows, i.e. the windows of wisdom (xiv. 23).

A fool peepeth in (παρακυπτει) at the door (xxi. 23).

He that looketh into (ο παρακυψας) the perfect law (Jas_1:25).9. A prey of lions are wild asses in the wilderness ; so the fodder of the rich are the poor (ουτω νομπτωχαι πλουσιων πτωχοι} xiii. 19. Comp. xiii. 3, 17, 18).

But ye have dishonoured the poor man (τον πτωχον). Do not the rich (οιπλουσιοι) oppress you, and themselves drag you before the judgment-seats? (Jas_2:6).

It will be observed that of these nine examples all come out of the first two chapters of St. James; and six are from the first two chapters of Ecclesiasticus. This fact is worth considering in estimating the probabilities of St. James being under the influence of this earlier and popular book. Owing to recent reading, or some other cause, he seems to have been specially familiar with the opening chapters of Ecclesiasticus. Probably most persons who study these coincidences will be of the opinion that Bernhard Weiss is needlessly cautious and skeptical when he refuses to assent to the common opinion that in some portions of the Epistle St. James closely follows the Wisdom of Jesus, the son of Sirach. The strongest coincidence is the seventh in the table. The word for "to rust" (κατιοω) occurs nowhere else either in the Septuagint or in the New Testament, and the passages in Ecclesiasticus and St. James "are the only Biblical passages in which the figure of rust as affecting unused silver and gold occurs" (Edersheim). The fifth instance is also very striking.

Let us now look at some of the coincidences between the Book of the Wisdom of Solomon and the Epistle of St. James.

WISDOM.ST. JAMES.1. The hope of the ungodly is like thistle-down carried away by the wind ; like a thin froth that is driven away by the blast, and Uke smoke is dispersed by the wind (v. 14. Comp. μαρανθηναι in ii. 8).

He that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. ... As the flower of the grass he shall pass away. . . . So also shall the rich man fade away (μαρανθησεται) in his ways (Jas_1:6, Jas_1:10, Jas_1:11).

2. In eternity it weareth a crown and triumpheth (iv. 2).

When he hath been approved he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to them that love Him (Jas_1:12).

3. The alterations of the solstices and the change of seasons (τροπων αλλαγας και μεταβολας καιρων: vii. 18).

With whom can be no variation, neither shadow of turning (παρ ω ουκ ενι παραλλαγη ή τροπης αποσκίασμα: (Jas_1:17).

4. Let us oppress (καταδυναστευουσιν ) the poor righteous man. . . . Let us examine him with despitefulness and torture (ii. 10, 19).Ye have dishonoured the poor man. Do not the rich oppress (καταδυναστεύουσιν) you, and themselves drag you before the judgment-seats? (Jas_2:6).

5. For the lowest is pardonable by mercy; but mighty men shall be mightily chastised (vi. 6).For judgment is without mercy to him that hath showed no mercy: mercy glorieth against judgment (Jas_2:13).

6. What hath pride profited us? or what good hath riches with our vaunting (αλαζονειας) brought us? All those things are passed away like a shadow, and as a post that hasted by, etc. etc.; even so we, as soon as we were born, cattle to an end (5:8-14).

Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into this city, and spend a year there, and trade and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. What is your life? For ye are a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away…But now ye glory in your vauntings (σαλαζονιαις): all such glorying is evil. {Jas_4:13-16}7. Let us lie in wait for the righteous (τόν δίκαιον) …Let us condemn   him (καταδικάυωμεν) with a shameful death (ii. 12, 20).

Ye have condemned (κατεδικασατε), ye have killed the righteous one (τον δικαιον); he doth not resist you. {Jas_5:6}

It will at once be perceived that these parallels are neither so numerous nor so convincing as those which have been pointed out between Ecclesiasticus and the Epistle of St. James; but they are sufficient to make a prima facie case of considerable probability, whatever date we assign to the Book of Wisdom. This probability is strengthened by the fact that this book, with the rest of the Apocrypha or deutero-canonical writings, constituted to a large extent the religious literature of the Jews of the Dispersion; and therefore in writing to such Jews St. James would be likely to make conscious allusions to writings with which his hearers would be sure to be familiar; a consideration which strengthens the case as regards the coincidences with Ecclesiasticus, as well as regards those with the Wisdom of Solomon. Even if the probability as to the Alexandrian origin of Wisdom were a certainty, and if the conjectural date A.D. 40 were established, there would be nothing surprising in its becoming well known in Jerusalem within twenty years of its production. It is, therefore, far too strong an assertion when Weiss declares that "it must be distinctly denied that there is anywhere [in the Epistle of St. James] an echo of the Book of Wisdom." All that one can safely say is that the evidence for his acquaintance with the book does not approach to proof.

But the use of these two books of the Apocrypha by writers in the New Testament does not depend upon the question whether St. James makes use of them or not. If this were the place to do it, it might be shown that other coincidences, both of language and thought, far too numerous and too strong to be all of them accidental, occur in the writings of St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. John. Such things also occur outside the New Testament in the Epistles of Clement and of Barnabas; while Clement of Alexandria frequently quotes Ecclesiasticus with the introductory formula, "The Scripture saith."

These facts go a long way towards proving that the neglect of the Apocrypha which is so prevalent among ourselves is a thing which cannot be defended, either by an appeal to Scripture or by the practice of the primitive Church; for both the one and the other show a great respect for these deutero-canonical writings. That the New Lectionary omits a good deal of what used to be read publicly in church is not a thing to be lamented. We gladly sacrifice portions of the Apocrypha in order to obtain more of Ezekiel and Revelation. It is the neglect of them in private reading that is so much to be deplored. Passages which are too grotesque and too unspiritual to be edifying when read to a mixed congregation are nevertheless full of instruction, and throw most valuable light both on the Old and on the New Testament. The Apocryphal writings, instead of being a worthless interpolation between the Old Testament and the New, like a block of paltry buildings disfiguring two noble edifices, are among our best means of understanding how the Old Testament led up to the New, and prepared the way for it. They show us the Jewish mind under the combined influences of Jewish Scriptures, Gentile culture, and new phases of political life, and being gradually brought into the condition in which it either fiercely opposed or ardently accepted the teaching of Christ and His Apostles. A huge chasm yawns between Judaism as we leave it at the close of the Old Testament canon, and as we find it at the beginning of the Gospel history; and we have no better material with which to bridge the chasm than the writings of the Apocrypha. This is well brought out, not only in the commentary on the Apocrypha already quoted more than once, but also in a valuable review of the commentary from which some of what follows is taken.

The neglect of the Apocrypha has not been by any means entirely accidental. It is partly the result of a deliberate protest against the action of the Council of Trent in placing these books on a level with the books of the Old and New Testament. In the seventeenth century we find the learned John Lightfoot writing, "Thus sweetly and nearly should the two Testaments join together, and thus Divinely should they kiss each other, but that the wretched Apocrypha doth thrust in between." And the fact that many people are now unable to recognize or appreciate an allusion to the Apocrypha is by no means the most serious result of this common neglect of its contents. Appreciation of the Bible in general, and especially of those books in which the Old and New Testaments come most in contact, is materially diminished in consequence. The Apocrypha is not a barrier, but a bridge; it does not separate, but unite the two Covenants. What thoughtful reader can pass from the Old to the New Testament without feeling that he has entered another world? He is still in Palestine, still among the Jews; but how different from the Palestine and the Judaism of Ezra, and Nehemiah, and Malachi! He "finds mention of persons, and sects, and schools of which he can find no trace in the Old Testament. He comes upon beliefs and opinions for which the earlier canon does not even furnish a clue. He discovers institutions long settled, and dominating the religious life of the people, of which the Old Testament supplies not even the name. He find popular ideas, religious terms and phrases in current use wholly unlike those of ancient psalmists and prophets." And there is no literature that can explain all these changes to him either so surely or so fully as the Apocrypha. It supplies instances of the early use of New Testament words, of old words in new senses. It throws light upon the growth of the popular conception of the Messiah. It illuminates still more the development of the doctrine of the Logos. Above all, it helps us to see something of the evolution of that strange religious system which became the raw material out of which the special doctrines of Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes were formed, and which had a powerful influence upon Christianity itself.

The neglect of the Apocrypha has been greatly increased by the widespread practice of publishing Bibles without it, and even of striking out from the margins of these mutilated Bibles all references to it. And this mischief has lately been augmented by the fact that the Revised Version omits it. Yet no portion of the Bible was in greater need of revision. The original texts used by the translators of 1611 were very bad; and perhaps in no part of the Authorized Version are utterly faulty translations more abundant. A comparison of the quotations given above with the text of the Authorized Version of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus will show that considerable changes have been made in order to bring the quotations into harmony with the true readings of the Greek text, and thus give a fair comparison with the words of St. James.

Books which the writers of the New Testament found worthy of study, and from which they derived some of their thoughts and language, ought not to be lightly disregarded by ourselves. We cannot disregard them without loss; and it is the duty of every reader of the Bible to see that his apprehension of the Old and New Testaments is not hindered through his ignorance of those writings which interpret the process of transition from the one to the other. Neglect of the helps to understanding His Word which God has placed easily within our reach may endanger our possession of that wisdom which St. James here assures us will be given to every one who asks for it in faith:

A discussion of that heavenly wisdom, and of the efficacy of prayer offered in faith, will be found in the expositions of later passages in the Epistle.

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

1:5-8 James introduces wisdom as a recurring theme (cp. 3:13-18).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Jas 1:5. Εἰ, if) The connection of the subjects mentioned in the first and following verses, and in the first and following verses of ch. 4, will be evident to him, who, while he suffers wrongfully, directs his attention to this passage. For the good and the bad affections are alternately and variously brought forward according as the train of thought suggests.—δὲ, but) There is an antithesis between the preceding clause and this: “wanting nothing,” and “if any man lack” (want).—σοφίας, wisdom) by means of which we understand whence and why temptation comes, and how it is to be borne, and how, for example, sickness (ch. Jas 5:14) is to be met. Patience is more in the power of a good man than wisdom; the former is to be exercised, the latter to be asked for. The highest wisdom, which governs patience in the trial of poverty and riches, is described in Jas 1:9-10.—αἰτείτω, let him ask) James strongly urges the prayer of faith. Comp. ch. Jas 5:13, and following verses.—πᾶσιν, to all) who ask aright.—ἁπλῶς, simply) To be taken with the sentence “who gives to all.” Divine simplicity is an admirable excellence. He gives simply, to the more and the less worthy, whether they are about to make a good or a bad use of His gift. To this simplicity that of the faithful answers, not that of the double-minded (διψύχων).—μὴ ὀνειδίζοντος, who upbraideth not) He gives no repulse: when He gives good things, He neither upbraids us with our past folly and unworthiness, nor with future abuse of His goodness.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jam_1:5. εἰ δέ τις ὑμῶν λείπεται σοφίας] is chiefly connected with ἐν μηδενὶ λειπόμενοι. εἰ is not = quoniam, quandoquidem (Estius, Laurentius), but the thought is hypothetical; εἴ τις = ὅστις; see Wahl on the word εἰ.

λείπεται σοφίας is to be explained as κτεάνων λειφθεὶς καὶ φίλων, in Pindar i. 2. 11, without wealth and friends, properly left behind of, or falling short of; accordingly without wisdom. Usually the meaning wanting, lacking, is given to λείπομαι, which, however, is not linguistically justified. James by σοφία, as Wiesinger correctly observes, does not mean an arbitrary part of Christian perfection, but the essential foundation of Christian conduct, τὸ αἴτιον τοῦ τελείου ἔργου (Oecumenius); for σοφία is here the living insight, rooted in the πίστις, i.e. the insight compelling to action in what is the Christians duty, both in whole and in its particular parts, especially in the πειρασμοῖς (Jam_1:2) (comp. the praise of wisdom in the Proverbs of Solomon, in the Wisdom of Solomon, and in the Book of Ecclesiasticus). Wisdom can only be given by God (κύριος δίδωσι σοφίαν καὶ ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ γνῶσις καὶ σύνεσις, Pro_2:6), and as a divine χάρισμα it has an impress definitely distinguishing it from the wisdom of the world; see chap. Jam_3:15; Jam_3:17.[44] The connection does not constrain us, with Bouman and others, to conceive the idea of σοφία only in reference to the πειρασμοί (Jam_1:2), and to understand by it only the doctrine concerning the Christian conduct in the πειρασμοῖς, expressed in Jam_1:2 (Calvin: Sapientiae nomen ad circumstantiam praestantis loci restringo, acsi dicerete. si haec doctrina ingenii vestri captu altior est, petite a Domino, ut vos Spiritu suo illuminet), or that conduct itself. The idea of σοφία is rather to be understood in its completeness (Theile, de Wette, Kern, Wiesinger). The reason why James here mentions it is because it was especially necessary to the Christian in his πειρασμοῖς; Brückner: James thinks here of wisdom (in itself of a more general acceptation), inasmuch as it is necessary rightly to estimate and rightly to resist the trial, in order that it might not be converted into an internal temptation, instead of being the path to perfection.[45]

ΑἸΤΕΊΤΩ ΠΑΡᾺ Κ.Τ.Λ.] the same construction in Mat_20:20; Act_3:2; 1Jn_5:15.

ΤΟῦ ΔΊΔΟΝΤΟς ΘΕΟῦ] instead of ΤΟῦ ΘΕΟῦ ΤΟῦ ΔΊΔΟΝΤΟς, as Codex A reads. By the selected order of the words here, not only is the idea of giving emphatically placed near to the request, but also the participle almost becomes an attributive adjective; God is indicated as the Giver absolutely. Accordinglyas Baumgarten, Gebser, and others correctly remarkno definite object as ΤῊΝ ΣΟΦΊΑΝ (Bouman) is to be supplied.

ΠᾶΣΙΝ and ἉΠΛῶς are added as a more detailed statement; ΤΟῖς ΑἸΤΟῦΣΙΝ is from the context to be supplied to ΠᾶΣΙΝ (Calvin, Estius, Piscator, Laurentius, etc.); or, better still, ΟἾς ΔΊΔΩΣΙ. The adverb ἉΠΛῶς, only here in the N. T., is either to be understood as an ethical additional statement of ΔΊΔΟΝΑΙ = ἘΝ ἉΠΛΌΤΗΤΙ (Rom_12:8) (so Pott, Hottinger, Kern, Theile, Bouman, uncertainly Wiesinger), or = simply, without further ceremony (so de Wette).[46] In the latter case it is prominently brought forward that God in the giving had only this in view. It is incorrectly rendered benigne (Bede, Vorstius, and others), affluenter (Erasmus, Grotius, and others), or as equivalent to συντόμως, καθάπαξ (Hesychius). By μὴ ὀνειδίζοντοςas καί shows

ἁπλῶς is not more closely defined, but a new point in the mode of the divine giving is added, and so that He does not reproach him to whom He gives, does not abuse him. ὀνειδίζειν is generally taken in the more special sense of upbraiding (Luther: and upbraideth no man); for which the expression in Demosthenes is appealed to: τὸ τὰς ἰδίας εὐεργεσίας ὑπομιμνήσκειν καὶ λέγειν μικροῦ δεῖν ὅμοιόν ἐστι τῷ ὀνειδίζειν; still more surely does Plutarch, de aud. 33, speak for this meaning: πᾶσα ὀνειδιζομένη χάρις ἐπαχθὴς καὶ ἄχαρις; also in Sir_18:18; Sir_20:15; Sir_41:22, the word appears to have this more special reference.[47] Still there is no proof that James did not take it in its more general sense. Semler: non tantum significat molestam commemorationem beneficiorem, sed etiam qualemcunque reprehensionem (so also Schneckenburger, de Wette).[48] It is incorrect to explain ὀνειδίζειν as equivalent to aliquem ignominose cum repulsa dimittere (Morus, Zachariae, Carpzov, Storr, Augusti, Stolz, Hottinger); the refusal of a petitioner may be considered as a ΚΑΤΑΙΣΧΎΝΕΙΝ of the same, but ὈΝΕΙΔΊΖΕΙΝ never occurs in this sense, not even in Sir_20:15. The reason why James subjoins the particular statement ἉΠΛῶς Κ.Τ.Λ. is by it to encourage to ΑἸΤΕῖΝ (Zwinglius: ut mentes alliciat, ut ad hunc unum in omni necessitate adcurrant); perhaps also with a side glance to the rich (Jam_1:10, chap. Jam_5:9 ff.), who do not give ἉΠΛῶς, and when they do give, give only ὈΝΕΙΔΊΖΟΝΤΕς (Wiesinger).

ΚΑῚ ΔΟΘΉΣΕΤΑΙ ΑὐΤῷ] impersonal: it shall be given him; namely, what he asks; here, wisdom. It is erroneous directly to supply Ἡ ΣΟΦΊΑ to ΔΟΘΉΣΕΤΑΙ as the subject (Lange), because James here evidently wishes to emphasize the relation of the giving to the asking, and accordingly the object is suppressed; comp. on this thought particularly 1Ki_3:9-12 (2Ch_1:10-12).

[44] The Etymologicum magnum thus gives the distinction between σοφία and γνῶσις: γνῶσις μέν ἐστι τὸ εἰδέναι τὰ ὄντα· σοφία δὲ καὶ τὸ τὰ ὄντα γινώσκειν, καὶ τὸ τὰ γνωστὰ πράττειν.

[45] Lange, indeed, defends the explanation of Calvin, but he interprets the idea of σοφία differently from Calvin, defining it as the right perception of the signs of the times, and of the christological fulfilment of the theocracy in the church as well as in the faith of individuals.

[46] Both of these explanations come essentially to the same thing, for he that giveth with simplicity will simply give; it will be a pure, unmingled giving, without any admixture (Stier). Lange, without reason, maintains that in this commentary ἀπλῶς will refer not to the giving, but to the gift.

[47] In this sense exprobare is used in Latin, e.g. Cicero, de amic.: Odiosum sane genus hominum officia exprobantium.

[48] Eustathius: ὀνειδίζειν οὐ μόνον τὸ εὐεργεσίας ἀναφέρειν τοῖς εὐεργετημένοις … ἀλλὰ καὶ ἁπλῶς ἀνοστά τινα καὶ ἐπίμομφα λέγειν. The assertion of Lange is unfounded, that James, according to this exposition, would utter an untenable sentiment, because God, notwithstanding those who ask, often inflicts injuries on men. Lange has not considered that the passage treats only of asking.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jas 1:5 . There is no thought-connection between this verse and what has preceded, it is only by supplying something artificially that any connection can be made to exist, and for this there is no warrant in the text as it stands (see Introduction III.). In Jas 1:4 ὑπομονή has as its full result the making perfect of men, so that they are lacking in nothing; when, therefore, the next verse goes on to contemplate a lacking of wisdom, there is clearly the commencement of a new subject, not a continuation of the same one. The occurrence of λειπόμενοι and λείπεται , which is regarded by some as a proof of connection between the two verses, denotes nothing in view of the fact that the subject-matter is so different; moreover, there is a distinct difference in the sense in which this word is used in these two verses; coming behindhand in what one ought to attain to is quite different from not being in possession of the great gift of wisdom; this difference is well brought out by the Vulgate rendering: “… in nullo deficientes . Si quis autem vestrum indiget sapientia …” εἰ δέ τις ὑμῶν λείπεται σοφίας Cf. Jas 3:13-17 ; the position assigned to Wisdom by the Jews, and especially by Hellenistic Jews, was so exalted that a short consideration of the subject seems called for, the more so by reason of the prominence it assumes in this Epistle. It is probable that the more advanced ideas of Wisdom came originally from Babylon; for, according to the Babylonian cosmology, Wisdom existed in primeval ages before the creation of the world; it dwelt with Ea, the god of Wisdom, in the depths of the sea ( cf. Pro 8:22-30 ); Ea the creator was therefore guided by Wisdom in his creative work (see Jeremias, Das alte Testament im Lichte des alten Orients , pp. 29, 80); in Biblical literature Wisdom became the all-discerning intelligence of God in His work of Creation; as it was needed by God Himself, how much more by men! Hence the constant insistence on its need which is so characteristic of the book of Proverbs. This laid the foundation for the extensive Ḥokmah (or Wisdom) literature of the Hellenistic Jews, which exercised also a great influence upon the Jews of later times. Under the influence of Greek philosophy Wisdom became not only a divine agency, but also assumed a personal character ( Wis 7:22-30 ). According to the Jerusalem Targum to Gen. i. 1 Wisdom was the principle whereby God created the world. Generally speaking, in the later Jewish literature Wisdom refers to worldly knowledge as distinct from religious knowledge which is all comprised under the term Torah (“Law”); and therefore Wisdom, unlike the Torah, was not regarded as the exclusive possession of the Jews, though these had it in more abundant measure, e.g. , it is said in Kiddushin , 49 b : “Ten measures of wisdom came down from heaven, and nine of them tell to the lot of the Holy Land”. On the other hand, Wisdom and the Torah are often identified. αἰτείτω : for the prayer for Wisdom, cf. Pro 2:3 f .; Wis 7:7 ; Wis 9:4 ; Sir 1:10 ; Sir 51:13 ; in the Epistle of Barnabas xxi. 5, it says: ὁ Θεὸς δῴη ὑμῖν σοφίαν … ὑπομονήν παρὰ τοῦ διδόντος θεοῦ πᾶσιν ἁπλῶς : there is an interesting parallel to this thought in the opening treatise of the Talmud, Berachoth , 58 b : “Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, Who hast imparted of Thy wisdom to flesh and blood”; the point of the words “flesh and blood” is that the reference is to Gentiles as well as Jews, corresponding thus to the πᾶσιν in the words before us. The force of ἁπλῶς lies in its sense of “singleness of aim,” the aim being the imparting of benefit without requiring anything in return; the thought is the same as that which underlies Isa 55:1 , Ho, every one that thirsteth … come, buy wine and milk without money and without price, i.e. , it is to be had for the asking. μὴ ὀνειδίζοντος : the addition of this is very striking; it is intended to encourage boldness in making petition to God; many might be deterred, owing to a sense of unworthiness, from approaching God, fearing lest He should resent presumption. The three words which express the method of Divine giving πᾶσιν , ἁπλῶς , μὴ ὀνειδίζοντος must take away all scruple and fear; cf. Heb 4:16 , Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace .… καὶ δοθήσεται αὐτῷ : Cf. Mat 7:7 .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

By wisdom he meaneth the knowledge of that doctrine whereof mention was made before, to wit, wherefore we are afflicted of God, and what fruit we have to reap of affliction.

An answer to a privy objection: It is easily said, but it is not so easily done. He answereth that we need in this case a far other manner of wisdom, than the wisdom of man, to judge those things best for us, which are most contrary to the flesh: but yet we shall easily obtain this gift of wisdom, if we ask it rightly, that is, with a sure confidence of God, who is most bountiful and liberal.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

English Version omits "But," which the Greek has, and which is important. "But (as this perfect entireness wanting nothing is no easy attainment) if any," &c.

lack--rather, as the Greek word is repeated after James's manner, from Jam 1:4, "wanting nothing," translate, "If any of you want wisdom," namely, the wisdom whereby ye may "count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations," and "let patience have her perfect work." This "wisdom" is shown in its effects in detail, Jam 3:7. The highest wisdom, which governs patience alike in poverty and riches, is described in Jam 1:9-10.

ask-- (Jam 4:2).

liberally--So the Greek is rendered by English Version. It is rendered with simplicity, Rom 12:8. God gives without adding aught which may take off from the graciousness of the gift [ALFORD]. God requires the same "simplicity" in His children ("eye . . . single," Mat 6:22, literally, "simple").

upbraideth not--an illustration of God's giving simply. He gives to the humble suppliant without upbraiding him with his past sin and ingratitude, or his future abuse of God's goodness. The Jews pray, "Let me not have need of the gifts of men, whose gifts are few, but their upbraidings manifold; but give me out of Thy large and full hand." Compare Solomon's prayer for "wisdom," and God's gift above what he asked, though God foresaw his future abuse of His goodness would deserve very differently. James has before his eye the Sermon on the Mount (see my Introduction). God hears every true prayer and grants either the thing asked, or else something better than it; as a good physician consults for his patient's good better by denying something which the latter asks not for his good, than by conceding a temporary gratification to his hurt.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 5. If any of you lack wisdom] Wisdom signifies in general knowledge of the best end, and the best means of attaining it; but in Scripture it signifies the same as true religion, the thorough practical knowledge of God, of one's self, and of a Saviour.

Let him ask of God] Because God is the only teacher of this wisdom.

That giveth to all men liberally] Who has all good, and gives all necessary good to every one that asks fervently. He who does not ask thus does not feel his need of Divine teaching. The ancient Greek maxim appears at first view strange, but it is literally true: -

Αρχη γνωσεως της αγνοιας ἡ γνωσις.

"The knowledge of ignorance is the beginning of knowledge."

In knowledge we may distinguish these four things: -

1. INTELLIGENCE, the object of which is intuitive truths.

2. WISDOM, which is employed in finding out the best end.

3. PRUDENCE, which regulates the whole conduct through life.

4. ART, which provides infallible rules to reason by.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5 If any of you lack wisdom. As our reason, and all our feelings are averse to the thought that we can be happy in the midst of evils, he bids us to ask of the Lord to give us wisdom. For wisdom here, I confine to the subject of the passage, as though he had said, “If this doctrine is higher than what your minds can reach to, ask of the Lord to illuminate you by his Spirit; for as this consolation alone is sufficient to mitigate all the bitterness of evils, that what is grievous to the flesh is salutary to us; so we must necessarily be overcome with impatience, except we be sustained by this kind of comfort.” Since we see that the Lord does not so require from us what is above our strength, but that he is ready to help us, provided we ask, let us, therefore, learn, whenever he commands anything, to ask from him the power to perform it.

Though in this place to be wise is to submit to God in the endurance of evils, under a due conviction that he so orders all things as to promote our salvation; yet the sentence may be generally applied to every branch of right knowledge.

But why does he say If any one, as though all of them did not want wisdom. To this I answer, that all are by nature without it; but that some are gifted with the spirit of wisdom, while others are without it. As, then, all had not made such progress as to rejoice in affliction, but few there were to whom this had been given, James, therefore, referred to such cases; and he reminded those who were not as yet fully convinced that by the cross their salvation was promoted by the Lord, that they were to ask to be endued with wisdom. And yet there is no doubt, but that necessity reminds us all to ask the same thing; for he who has made the greatest progress, is yet far off from the goal. But to ask an increase of wisdom is another thing than to ask for it at first.

When he bids us to ask of the Lord, he intimates, that he alone can heal our diseases and relieve our wants.

That giveth to all men liberally. By all, he means those who ask; for they who seek no remedy for their wants, deserve to pine away in them. However, this universal declaration, by which every one of us is invited to ask, without exception, is very important; hence no man ought to deprive himself of so great a privilege.

To the same purpose is the promise which immediately follows; for as by this command he shews what is the duty of every one, so he affirms that they would not do in vain what he commands; according to what is said by Christ,

“Knock, and it shall be opened.” (Matthew 7:7; Luke 11:9.)

The word liberally, or freely, denotes promptitude in giving. So Paul, in Romans 12:8, requires simplicity in deacons. And in 2 Corinthians 8 and 2 Corinthians 9, when speaking of charity or love, he repeats the same word several times. The meaning, then, is, that God is so inclined and ready to give, that he rejects none, or haughtily puts them off, being not like the niggardly and grasping, who either sparingly, as with a closed hand, give but little, or give only a part of what they were about to give, or long debate with themselves whether to give or not.

And upbraideth not. This is added, lest any one should fear to come too often to God. Those who are the most liberal among men, when any one asks often to be helped, mention their formal acts of kindness, and thus excuse themselves for the future. Hence, a mortal man, however open-handed he may be, we are ashamed to weary by asking too often. But James reminds us, that there is nothing like this in God; for he is ready ever to add new blessings to former ones, without any end or limitation.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(5) If any of you lack wisdom.—The Apostle passes on to the thought of heavenly wisdom; not the knowledge of the deep things of God, but that which is able to make us wise unto our latter end (Pro_19:20). Few may be able, save in self-conceit, to say with Isaiah (Isa_50:4), “The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned;” and, on the other hand, the wisest and most gifted of men may truly be wanting in the wisdom descending from above.

Let him ask of God.—But whoever, learned or unlearned, feels in his heart the need of the knowledge of God, since to know Him “is eternal life” (Joh_17:3), “let him ask” for it in all purity of intention, simply, i.e., for His honour and service, “and it shall be given him.”

That giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not.—“Liberally” had better, perhaps, be changed to simply—i.e., God gives fully and directly, and reproacheth (or, “upbraideth”) not the utterance of such a prayer, in no way detracting from the graciousness of His gifts. How wide the difference from any generosity of man I “Yea,” wrote Dante, in exile at Verona,

“. . . thou shalt learn how salt his food, who fares

Upon another’s bread.—how steep his path,

Who treadeth up and down another’s stairs.”

“The fool,” said the wise son of Sirach, “giveth little, and upbraideth much . . ., and is hated of God and man” (Sir_20:15).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5–8. Wisdom, and the Prayer that gains it

5. If any of you lack wisdom] As before, in Jas_1:1-2, the prominent word of the preceding clause suggests the opening of the next, the word for “lack” being the same as the “wanting” in the previous verse. The prominence thus given to wisdom is characteristic of the teaching of St James (comp. ch. Jas_3:13-17). It is as though he had largely fashioned his thoughts of the spiritual life on the teaching of the Book of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, perhaps also on the Wisdom of Solomon and Ecclesiasticus. Wisdom, in its good sense, stands, in New Testament language, as implying both a wider range of thought and a more direct influence on conduct than knowledge (1Co_12:8; Col_2:3).

that giveth to all men liberally] Literally, simply, but as to give simply, without reserve or arrière pensée, is to give freely, both the adverb and the corresponding noun often carried with them the idea of liberality (comp. Rom_12:8; 2Co_9:11; 2Co_9:13). The thought is that God gives absolutely all good gifts to those that ask Him (Mat_6:11), and the highest gift, that of the Spirit that imparts wisdom, is included in the promise (Luk_11:13).

and upbraideth not] The word implies a contrast with human givers who too often, at the time or afterwards, mar their bounty with bitter and reproachful speeches. There seems here a direct allusion to the description in Sir_20:15, of “the gift of a fool,” “He giveth little and upbraideth much,” to the counsel “after thou hast given, upbraid not” (Sir_41:23). Not so, St James implies, does God give, though we are more open to His reproaches than any who are the objects of our bounty can be to ours.

and it shall be given him] An obvious echo of our Lord’s promise in Mat_7:7; Luk_11:9.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If any of you lack wisdom,.... This shows that the perfection before spoken of is not to be understood as in this life, since the apostle immediately supposes lack of wisdom in them; for this is not said in a form of doubting, whether they wanted it or not, but rather as supposing, and taking it for granted that they did; and in the first, and primary sense of the words, it intends wisdom to behave aright under temptations or afflictions. Saints often want wisdom to consider God as the author of them, and not look upon them as matters of chance, or impute them merely to second causes; but to regard them as coming from the hand of God, and as his hand upon them, as Job did; who does not ascribe his calamities to the thieving Chaldeans and Sabeans, to the boisterous wind, and to the malice of Satan, but to God: they want wisdom to observe the sovereignty of God in them, and bow unto it, and be still, and know that he is God, who does all things well and wisely; and likewise to see and know that all are in love, and in very faithfulness, and for good; as well as to see his name, to hear his rod, and him that has appointed it, his voice in it, his mind and meaning, and what he designs by it; as likewise to learn the useful lessons under it, and particularly to take the cross well, to bear it patiently, and even to count it all joy, and reckon it to be right, necessary, and useful: it requires much wisdom to learn all this, and act up to it. Moreover, this may be applied to all other cases, in which wisdom is wanted; men want wisdom to conduct them in the common affairs of life, and especially the people of God; for the children of the world are wiser in their generation, for themselves and posterity, and in the management of worldly affairs, than the children of light; and also to observe the providences of God, and the footsteps of Providence, and to follow them; and likewise to make a right use of providences, and behave suitably under them, and not be lifted up too much in prosperity, nor be cast down, and too much distressed in adversity; but to consider, that the one is set against the other, and both work together for good. Saints have need of wisdom in things spiritual; they want more grace, which is the truest wisdom, and a larger knowledge of the Gospel, which is the wisdom of God, the hidden wisdom of God; and they lack wisdom to know how to walk towards them that are without, and towards them that are within, so as becomes the Gospel of Christ: and as this is more or less the case of everyone

let him ask of God wisdom; of God the Father, who is the only wise God, who has abounded in creation, in providence, and, above all, in redemption and grace, in all wisdom and prudence; and of his Son Jesus Christ, who is the wisdom of God, and has all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in him; and of the Spirit of God, who is a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ, and all divine things:

that giveth to all men liberally; God is the giver of all good things, in nature, providence, and grace; every good and perfect gift comes from him, and therefore he, and he only, should be applied unto: and he gives to "all men" the bounties of his providence; and to all that ask, and call upon him in sincerity, the riches of his grace; even to Jews and Gentiles, high and low, rich and poor, greater or lesser sinners; all which he gives "liberally", readily, and at once, freely and cheerfully, and largely and abundantly; not grudgingly, sparingly, and with a strait hand, but with an open one, and in a very extensive manner.

And upbraideth not; with former sins and transgressions, with former miscarriages and misconduct; or with former kindnesses, suggesting that he had given largely already, and his favours had been despised or abused; or he had been treated with ingratitude and neglect; in which manner sometimes men put off those that apply unto them, but so does not God; wherefore every word here used is encouraging to go to God for wisdom: yea, it follows,

and it shall be given him; God has said it, Christ has promised it, and the apostle might, with certainty, say it after them, and all experience confirms the truths of it; See Mat 7:7.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Ver. 5. If any of you lack wisdom] That is, patience to bear afflictions as he ought, cheerfully, thankfully, fruitfully, so as to be able to say, "Well for the present, and it will be better hereafter," which is the patient man’s motto, Qui placide sortem ferre scit, ille sapit. I thank thee, O Lord, for all my pain (said Francis of Assisi, in all his extremity), and I beseech thee, if thou think good, to add to it a hundred-fold more. Feri Domino, feri, said Luther; a peccatis enim absolutus sum: Smite, Lord, smite on, my sins are pardoned; all shall be for the best. Mr William Perkins, when he lay in his last and killing torment of the stone, hearing the bystanders pray for a mitigation of his pain, willed them not to pray for an ease of his complaint, but for an increase of his patience. (Dr Hall, Rein. of Profaneness.)

Let him ask it of God] It hath been questioned by some whether a man can have patience, sine auxilio gratice, without the help of God’s grace. (Aquinas.) But Christians know they cannot. It is not patience but pertinacy in godless men, that call not upon God; it is stupidity of sense, not a solidity of faith; a reckless desperation, not a confident resolution: such was that patience put forth by Mithridates of old, and by Baltasar Gerardus the Burgundian, that slew the Prince of Orange, 1584, and for the same endured very grievous torments. True patience is the fruit of prayer; this wisdom from above is one of those perfect gifts that cometh down from the "Father of lights," who is therefore called the "God of patience and consolation." God, as he is skilful in dirigendo, pitiful in corrigendo, so will he be bountiful in porrigendo.

That giveth to all men liberally] Not scantily, sparingly, or with an ill will. He is no penny father (as they say), but rich in mercy to all that call upon him. Αξιωματικωτατος μεν εστιν ο βασιλευς ημων, saith Basil. (Consil. Mon. i.) Our king gives like himself, and according to his state; he is angry with those that ask him small matters. He doth not shift off his suitors as Antigonus did the philosopher; who first asked him a groat; he answered, that was too little for a king to give; he requested the king then to give him a talent; who replied, that that was too much for a beggar to crave. {a} God solicits suitors, Joh 4:23, and complains (as the Emperor Severus once did of his courtiers), "Hitherto ye have asked me nothing." He gives also according to his excellent greatness; as Alexander the Great gave a poor man a city; and when he modestly refused it as too great for him, Alexander answered, Non quaero quid te accipere deceat, sed quid me dare, The business is not what thou art fit to receive, but what it becometh me to give. (Sen. de Benef. ii. 16.)

And upbraideth not] Neither with present failings, nor former infirmities. Qui exprobrat, reposcit. (Tacit.) So doth not God; unless in case of unthankfulness. For then he will take his own, and be gone, Hos 2:8-9.

{a} ου βασιλικον το δομα. ου κυνικον το λημμα.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If any of you lack wisdom - Probably this refers particularly to the kind of wisdom which they would need in their trials, to enable them to bear them in a proper manner, for there is nothing in which Christians more feel the need of heavenly wisdom than in regard to the manner in which they should bear trials, and what they should do in the perplexities, and disappointments, and bereavements that come upon them; but the language employed is so general, that what is here said may be applied to the need of wisdom in all respects. The particular kind of wisdom which we need in trials is to enable us to understand their design and tendency; to perform our duty under them, or the new duties which may grow out of them; to learn the lessons which God designs to teach, for he always designs to teach us some valuable lessons by affliction; and to cultivate such views and feelings as are appropriate under the peculiar forms of trial which are brought upon us; to find out the sins for which we have been afflicted, and to learn how we may avoid them in time to come. We are in great danger of going wrong when we are afflicted; of complaining and murmuring; of evincing a spirit of rebellion, and of losing the benefits which we might have obtained if we had submitted to the trial in a proper manner. So in all things we “lack wisdom.” We are short-sighted; we have hearts prone to sin; and there are great and important matters pertaining to duty and salvation on which we cannot but feel that we need heavenly guidance.

Let him ask of God - That is, for the specific wisdom which he needs; the very wisdom which is necessary for him in the particular case. It is proper to bear the very case before God; to make mention of the specific want; to ask of God to guide us in the very matter where we feel so much embarrassment. It is one of the privileges of Christians, that they may not only go to God and ask him for that general wisdom which is needful for them in life, but that whenever a particular emergency arises, a case of perplexity and difficulty in regard to duty, they may bring that particular thing before his throne, with the assurance that he will guide them. Compare Psa 25:9; Isa 37:14; Joe 2:17.

That giveth to all men liberally - The word men here is supplied by the translators, but not improperly, though the promise should be regarded as restricted to those who ask. The object of the writer was to encourage those who felt their need of wisdom, to go and ask it of God; and it would not contribute anything to furnish such a specific encouragement to say of God that he gives to all men liberally whether they ask or not. In the Scriptures, the promise of divine aid is always limited to the desire. No blessing is promised to man that is not sought; no man can feel that he has a right to hope for the favor of God, who does not value it enough to pray for it; no one ought to obtain it, who does not prize it enough to ask for it. Compare Mat 7:7-8. The word rendered “liberally” haploos - means, properly, “simply;” that is, in simplicity, sincerity, reality. It occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, though the corresponding noun occurs in Rom 12:8; 2Co 1:12; 2Co 11:3, rendered simplicity; in 2Co 8:2; 2Co 9:13, rendered “liberality,” and “liberal;” 2Co 9:11, rendered “bountifulness;” and Eph 6:5; Col 3:22, rendered “singleness,” of the heart. The idea seems to be that of openness, frankness, generosity; the absence of all that is sordid and contracted; where there is the manifestation of generous feeling, and liberal conduct. In a higher sense than in the case of any man, all that is excellent in these things is to be found in God; and we may therefore come to him feeling that in his heart there is more that is noble and generous in bestowing favors than in any other being. There is nothing that is stinted and close; there is no partiality; there is no withholding of his favor because we are poor, and unlettered, and unknown.

And upbraideth not - Does not reproach, rebuke, or treat harshly. He does not coldly repel us, if we come and ask what we need, though we do it often and with importunity. Compare Luk 18:1-7. The proper meaning of the Greek word is to rail at, reproach, revile, chide; and the object here is probably to place the manner in which God bestows his favors in contrast with what sometimes occurs among men. He does not reproach or chide us for our past conduct; for our foolishness; for our importunity in asking. He permits us to come in the most free manner, and meets us with a Spirit of entire kindness, and with promptness in granting our requests. We are not always sure, when we ask a favor of a man, that we shall not encounter something that will be repulsive, or that will mortify us; we are certain, however, when we ask a favor of God, that we shall never be reproached in an unfeeling manner, or meet with a harsh response.

And it shall be given him - Compare Jer 29:12-13; “Then shall ye call upon me, and go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with your whole heart.” See also Mat 7:7-8; Mat 21:22; Mar 11:24; 1Jo 3:22; 1Jo 5:14. This promise in regard to the wisdom that may be necessary for us, is absolute; and we may be sure that if it be asked in a proper manner it will be granted us. There can be no doubt that it is one of the things which God is able to impart; which will be for our own good; and which, therefore, he is ever ready to bestow. About many things there might be doubt whether, if they were granted, they would be for our real welfare, and therefore there may be a doubt whether it would be consistent for God to bestow them; but there can be no such doubt about wisdom. That is always for our good; and we may be sure, therefore, that we shall obtain that, if the request be made with a right spirit. If it be asked in what way we may expect he will bestow it on us, it may be replied:

That it is through his word - by enabling us to see clearly the meaning of the sacred volume, and to understand the directions which he has there given to guide us; By the secret influences of his Spirit.

(a) Suggesting to us the way in which we should go, and,

(b) Inclining us to do that which is prudent and wise; and,

By the events of His Providence making plain to us the path of duty, and removing the obstructions which may be in our path. It is easy for God to guide his people; and they who “watch daily at the gates, and wait at the posts of the doors” of wisdom Pro 8:34, will not be in danger of going astray. Psa 25:9.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And upbraideth not. That is, God does not think much, nor reproach us with the multitude of his benefits and favours: and if he puts sinners in mind of their repeated ingratitude, it is for their good and conversion. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

If any of you lack wisdom; if, doth not imply a doubt, but supposeth something which they themselves would grant; viz. that they did lack wisdom, either in whole or in part. It is as if he had said, Since, or seeing, ye lack, &c. See the like, Mal 1:6. Though this hold true of wisdom taken more generally, yet wisdom here is to be restrained, according to the circumstances of the text, and taken for wisdom or skill to bear afflictions so as to rejoice in them.

Let him ask of God; by believing, fervent prayer.

That giveth to all men; either to all sorts of men, Jew or Gentile, bond or free, &c., or to all that so ask, as appears by the next verse.

Liberally; or simply, Rom 12:8, i.e. with an open, free, large heart, in opposition to the contracted, narrow spirits of covetous misers. Our translation renders it well liberally; and so the word is used, 2Co 8:2; 9:13.

And upbraideth not; doth not twit them with their importunity, or frequency in asking, (as men often do), however he may upbraid them with their unthankfulness for, or abuse of, what they have received.

And it shall be given him: see Mat 7:7,8; Joh 16:23. The promise is here added to encourage faith in asking.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Digression suggested by the thought of perfection.

There can be no true perfection without wisdom, which is the gift of God, and must be sought from him. It is possible that the thought and connection of the passage is due to a reminiscence of RAPC Wis 9:6, "For though a man be never so perfect (teleiov) among the children of men, yet if thy wisdom be not with him, he shall be nothing regarded." But whether this be so or not, the teaching is manifestly founded on our Lord"s words with regard to prayer, Mat_7:7, "Ask, and it shall be given you;" and Mar_11:23, "Have faith in God. Verily I say unto you, Whoever shall say and shall not doubt (diakriqh) in his heart," etc. Tou didontov Qeou. The order of the words shows that God"s character is that of a Giver: "the giving God." His "nature and property" is to give as well as to forgive. Man often spoils his gifts,

(1) by the grudging way in which they are given, and

(2) by the reproaches which accompany them.

God, on the contrary, gives to all

(1) liberally, and

(2) without upbraiding

JAplwv: only here in the New Testament, but cf. aJplothv in 2Co_8:2 2Co_9:11, 2Co_9:13. Vulgate, affluenter; A.V and R.V, "liberally." It is almost equivalent to "without any arriere pensee. " Mhzontov: cf. Ecc 41:22, Meta to dounai mhdize Vers. 5-8.

The need of wisdom,

which Holy Scripture never, without a touch of irony, ascribes to any but God and good men, and which, therefore, is not merely intellectual wisdom, but rather that practical knowledge of things Divine which can enable a man to say with the psalmist, "I am wiser than the aged, because I keep thy commandments." This it is, and not intellect and brilliancy, which is here promised to be given to all that ask in faith. (All through Scripture the use of the terms "wise" and "foolish" should be noticed. It is the "fool" who said in his heart, "There is no God." They are fools" who make a mock at sin. The "wise" who shall "shine as the brightness of the firmament" are parallel with those "who turn many to righteousness," etc.).

2. The reason why so many prayers remain unanswered. Man too often betakes himself to prayer as a dernier ressort when all other means have failed, hoping against hope, not entirely disbelieving and yet not entirely believing; now buoyed up for a moment with hope, and now again sinking into the depths of despair. To such a one there is not merely no promise; we are especially told that be is not to think that he will receive anything from the Lord. "A doubtful petitioner offers not to God a steady hand or heart, so that God cannot deposit in it his gift" (Stier).

Faith and unfaith can ne"er be equal powers; Unfaith in aught is want of faith in all. (Tennyson.)

Vers. 5-8.

Wisdom for those who ask it.

The apostle has just been saying that the trials and burdens of life should conduce, if wisely borne, to the purifying of the believing soul, the bracing of its moral energies, and the perfecting of its spiritual life. But how hard it is to bear severe afflictions thus wisely! Every one needs a wisdom above his own, who would "count manifold trials all joy," and "let patience have its perfect work.

I A UNIVERSAL WASTE. (Ver. 5.) Wisdom means the right use of knowledge. A man may know a very great deal, and yet not be a wise man. Wisdom classifies the materials of knowledge, and studies to use them so as to build up and beautify the life. It proposes right ends, and chooses the best means by which to reach them. It shows itself not so much in doing the right thing, as in doing it at the proper time. In the highest use of the word, "wisdom" is just another name for piety. It is that state of mind and heart which is produced by the believing reception of gospel truth. The one fool of the Bible is the sinner. The only wise man is he who regards the glory of God as the end of his life, and who makes his acts and habits means to that end. Now, we all naturally lack wisdom, and a thoughtful man realizes this lack most thoroughly in the time of trial. What a rare and difficult attainment is that holy discretion which can welcome even the contrary winds of calamity, and the driving storms of tribulation, because it can make them helpful in steering joyfully towards the desired haven!

II AN ABUNDANT SOURCE OF SUPPLY. "God, who giveth to all" (ver. 5); literally, "the giving God." The living, loving Jehovah is the one Source and Fountain of wisdom. That is one of his essential attributes; and it is his prerogative to impart it to his creatures. He gives the Holy Spirit to work wisdom in the hearts of believers. Now, the God of wisdom is the Giver of all good things. His resources are infinite, and his gifts are universal and unceasing. In his common providence he imparts blessings to all his creatures to the barnacle that clings to the rocks, and to the archangel that ministers before the throne. And he is "the giving God" in grace also. "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things?" So he is ready to bestow wisdom at all times, and especially in the day of trial; he waits to impart to every devout sufferer a wealth of holy patience and of spiritual joy. And the giving God gives liberally and unreproachingly. It is his characteristic habit to be exceedingly bountiful.

III AS EASY METHOD OF OBTAINING. "Let him ask, and it shall be given him" (ver. 5). Holy wisdom is not the result merely of thought or speculation. No Aristotelian or Baconian method can produce it. No habit of sullen, dogged Stoicism reveals its presence. It is to be had from God, and for the asking. God is the living God, and he is very near us; and we, his children, have the freest access to him. He gives "simply" to those who pray simply. He bestows "liberally" upon those who petition liberally. It is his way "to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." When Solomon asked only for wisdom, God gave him riches and honor too. When the prodigal requests only the place of a hired servant, his Father assures him of the station and honor of a beloved son. The Lord always gives liberally; never with a grudge never ungraciously. He always gives with his heart when he opens his hand. Does the consciousness of much personal guilt make any of us slow to "ask of God"? Does our past neglect or abuse of his gifts deprive us of childlike confidence in coming to him? Then let us remember that he "upbraideth not." What a sweet word is that! It limns for our comfort a most touching trait of the character of the giving God. How unlike he is to human benefactors! Instead of reproaching the returning prodigal, he welcomes him with kisses of love. God upbraids no one for his great ignorance, or for his enormous guilt, or for his repeated backslidings, or for his long delay, or for making himself a last resource, or for coming too often, or for asking too much. How easy this God-appointed method of obtaining wisdom! We have only to "ask, and it shall be given" us. And how great the encouragement! "God giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not.

IV AN INDISPENSABLE REQUISITE TO SUCCESS. (Vers. 6-8.) Prayer is not real unless it be the expression of faith. It must issue "from a living source within the will," and be inspired by perfect confidence in God"s readiness to help. How much unbelief prevails in our time on the subject of prayer! The scientific temper of the age merely allows a man to "pray to God, if there be a God to save his soul, if he have a soul." And the forcible words of James, in these three verses, suggest that still, in the case of very many Christians, an imperfect faith in God"s readiness to respond to their prayers is one of the greatest defects of their spiritual life. We are apt, even, to speak of evident answers to prayer as unusual, and when they do occur as remarkable. Now, the gift of wisdom is promised only to him who asks it with a steady faith, and who evinces the reality of his faith by a life of consistent purpose. God our Father demands the confidence of his children. "Nothing doubting" should be the Christian"s motto in prayer. The petitioner must not shift backwards and forwards between faith and doubt, like a tumbling billow of the sea. He must not swing like a pendulum between cheerful confidence and dark suspicion. It must be his fixed persuasion that God is, and that he is the Hearer of prayer. He must expect an answer to his supplications, and be ready to mark the time and mode of it; else he may rest assured that no answer will come. Transient emotions are not religion. It is the men and women within whom faith is the dominant power who take the kingdom of heaven by force. God is all simplicity himself, and he gives with simplicity; so he can have no sympathy with an unstable, double-souled man. A mind that continually vacillates in its choice will be prone in the end to fail in both the purposes between which it has hesitated. Certainly it will not obtain that Divine wisdom which every human heart so greatly needs for the exigencies of adversity. Steadfast faith, and that alone, will give a man singleness of eye, make him strong to keep hold of the angel of the covenant, and draw down upon him the richest blessings of gospel grace.-C.J.

Vers. 5-8.

The prayer of faith.

In the former verses the writer, after the apparent paradox of wishing "joy" (ver. 1) to those so persecuted and tried, proceeded (vers. 2-4) to urge, not merely joy in spite, but joy by reason, of these things. For, said he, by these things the faith, which is of so great price, is developed and perfected. It might seem, however, that, with God so purposing, and man thankfully concurring in the Divine purpose, yet, from lack of true discernment, of wise judgment, man might fail to realize the profit of the Divine purpose; might lose, not gain, by the testings. For surely it requires much Christian judgment so to meet temptation, and so to bear trial, that the continued testing, instead of depressing and damaging our life, shall be evermore bearing us upward and onward. And now, in the verses before us, this is provided for. "If any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God." In order that at last we may be lacking in nothing," God will supply this present lack, which is so urgent. And the general principle, which gives force to this special application, is here set forth. The main thoughts are two God"s giving; man"s receiving.

I GOD"S GIVING. An essential element of God"s nature is self-impartation, if we may reverently speak of him as he has revealed himself. So the inmost significance of the doctrine of the Trinity; so the great fact of the creation. And so to all created things there is a constant streaming forth of God"s goodness. Like the shining of the sun. But the streaming forth of God"s goodness is conscious, deliberate, free. We may have regretfully to relinquish the etymology which identifies the words "God" and "good;" but never need we relinquish the truth that God is essentially the Good One. "God giveth:

1. Our life, including existence itself, so sacred as being thus from him; our appetencies and their satisfactions; our powers and scope for use; our ideals and their realization; our idiosyncrasy of life, and of life-history.

2. Our redemption, including the gift of the Son; the Spirit; our penitence; our faith; the blessedness of the new life in God.

3. And now the blended life, in the world and in God; all "good things". (Mat_7:11) "Liberally;" i.e. simply, absolutely, disinterestedly. Out of the abundance of his goodness. Hence, "to all;" no caprice in such a One. And hence, "upbraideth not." Selfishness gives, grudges, and rebukes; he gives with a perfect love, and hence delights to give. Let us realize this conception of God. How it alters the complexion of life! what effect it has upon character! We may not, indeed, forget his inflexible holiness, his absolute demands on our obedience. This, indeed, the fundamental relationship; so probably the true etymology of "God," as meaning "Ruler." This the one deep significance of the cross, which shows God"s holy love. And this the meaning of the absolute call to repent, as preceding the gift of life; an unconditional surrender. Yes, remember that, realize it, act upon it the truth that God is holy. But, so soon as the barrier of unrepented sin is removed, realize all the infinite affluence of his love that he delighteth in mercy, that he is emphatically the Good Being, whose goodness is ever surging and streaming forth that it may lavish itself upon his creatures, upon me! As regards your life-history realize God"s yearning love; the boundless possibilities of your future. As regards your salvation all grace, in a world of conflict; all glory, in the world of perfected conquest.

II MAN"S RECEIVING. The higher the nature of any creature, the more are its development and growth conditional upon its own appropriation of the material of development and growth. Consider, in this respect, mere existences and forces; vegetation; animal life; man. Hence the life of man, the creature of freedom, is at once a life of the greatest perils and of the greatest possibilities. Lordship over the world; mental acquisitions. He may climb so high; he may sink so low! Is it not well thus? Does not our manhood dwindle in proportion as we become mere passive recipients? Illustrate the high manhood of personal achievement by artist and his work would he care to find his picture finished by an unseen hand? also byenterprise of a people, which calls forth their powers and goes to make them what they are. So the glory of our spiritual life is that it is not necessitated, but free. And so the supreme glory of the kingdom of heaven, as a kingdom of redemption, is that, humanly speaking, it "suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." Hence, we would become possessors of spiritual blessings, we must possess ourselves of them. If God gives grace freely to free beings such as we are, his giving is conditional upon our asking, and asking in faith. In the nature of things this is reasonable and right. "Let him ask;" that he may realize more fully his own dependence and need; that he may value more truly the blessings sought; that he may learn God"s large, free love. Could anything be simpler, more natural? Because of the creaturely relationship, a recipient of the bounty of the Creator; because a conscious, intelligent, free creature, a conscious, free recipient, a suppliant. Ask, and have. "In faith." This the active element in the asking, the appropriating power. To truly realize God"s power and blessing, we must have a trustful appreciation of God"s purposes of love. So for a wise endurance of trial; so for a wise meeting of temptation. It is better to endure, better to resist; this must be our assurance of faith. Contrast with this the waverer, or doubter; doubting in the sense of hesitating between God and the world, halting between two opinions; most miserable. A double-minded man, to his own cost; unstable; like the surge of the sea. He shall receive nothing, for the true spirit of recipiency is altogether vitiated. The man is shutting his soul towards God even while professing to open it. No, "the just shall live by faith;" by a constant aliveness to spiritual realities; by an earnest, trustful appropriating of spiritual blessings.

The two great lessons: God is single-minded in giving; we are to be single-minded in receiving. But how does this bear on the special gift in question here spiritual wisdom? This is largely an intuitive faculty of the spiritual life, and it is educated by communion with God"s mind and will, which brings our spiritual wisdom into harmony with his own. So the very prayer itself is the instrumentality of the answer to the prayer. And such wisdom, let us remember, is wisdom "unto salvation." A constant choosing between good and evil, which results at last in the total abolition of evil and triumph of good. May we thus prove to the uttermost "what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God"! T.F.L.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If any want - The connection between the first and following verses, both here and in the fourth chapter, will be easily discerned by him who reads them, while he is suffering wrongfully. He will then readily perceive, why the apostle mentions all those various affections of the mind. Wisdom - To understand, whence and why temptations come, and how they are to be improved. Patience is in every pious man already. Let him exercise this, and ask for wisdom. The sum of wisdom, both in the temptation of poverty and of riches, is described in the ninth and tenth verses. Who giveth to all - That ask aright. And upbraideth not - Either with their past wickedness, or present unworthiness.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Observe here, 1. A truth necessarily supposed, that every man, more or less, lacketh wisdom to enable him patiently to bear, and prudently to manage, the afflictions of this life; and that there is need of great wisdom to enable us to glorify God in a sufffering hour.

Observe, 2. The person directed to, in order to the obtaining of divine wisdom, of the patient bearing of afflicitons; Let him ask it of God. He that wants wisdom let him go to the fountain of wisdom. God gives not his blessings ordinarily without asking, and the best of blessings may be had for asking; of the two it is much better to ask and not receive, than to receive and not ask.

Observe, 3. A great encouragement for all that lack wisdom to go unto God for it, drawn first from the bountiful manner of his giving, He giveth liberally, without upbraiding.

Secondly, from the certainty of the gift, It shall be given him. God’s liberality in giving what we ask, and many times more than we ask, yea, more than we can either ask or think, is a mighty encouragement to faith and fervency in prayer, to perseverance and importunity in praying; especially if we consider what is added, that as God giveth liberally, so he upbraideth not; that is, he neither upbraids them with their frequency and importunity in asking, nor yet with their great unworthiness of receiving; but instead thereof, subjoins an assurance of granting. It shall be given him. It is a mighty encouragement to pray, when we consider there is not only bounty in God, but bounty engaged by promise.

Observe, 4. The condition required on our part must be observed and fulfilled, as well as the promise made on God’s part: But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.

Quest. What is it to ask in faith?

Ans. The person praying must be in a state of believing: the petitioner must be a believer; the thing asked for must be an object of faith, by being the subject matter of some promise; a fervent prayer for that which God never promised is a foul sin.

Again, the manner of asking must be faithful, with a pure intention of God’s glory, with cheerful submission to God’s will, with fiducial recumbency upon God’s promise with great fervency and warmth of spirit; he that will prevail with Jacob, must wrestle with Jacob for a blessing.

Observe, 5. The evil and danger of wavering and doubting in the matter of prayer; the evil of it is this, that it is perplexing and tormenting of the mind: He that wavereth is driven and tossed like a wave of the sea; an elegant similitude to set out the nature of doubting, when upon our knees in duty. And the danger of it is expressed, Let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

Note, that doubtful and unbelieving persons when they pray, though they receive something, yet they can expect nothing. Let him not think to receive any thing; if he does, it is more than could be expected, because more than God has promised. Doubting in prayer is a provocation, how can he expect his prayer should be either heard or answered? Let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. Wisdom here is generic for the gracious economy, and means experimental religion. When Solomon says, “Get wisdom,” he means to get God’s religion. Heaven is full of salvation; you have nothing to do but tap the ocean by faith and you will get full. You need not be afraid of asking too frequently, nor for too much. You have nothing to pay but your sins.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5–8. If any of you lack wisdom. This may be one of the wants. If so, go to God for it, that giveth to all men liberally. His people will hear, and in answer to their requests he giveth liberally, and never upbraideth on account of their requests as men so often do.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

5. The clauses are connected, λειπόμενοι … λείπεται.

σοφίας, a term far wider in signification than the Greek conception of σοφία. A whole cycle of Hebrew literature is devoted to the praise and definition of Wisdom. According to the author of the Wisdom of Solomon σοφία is the most perfect principle of guidance in human action: λαμπρὰ γὰρ καὶ ἀμάραντός ἐστιν ἡ σοφία (Wis 6:12); it is won by those who seek it: εὐχερῶς θεωρεῖται ὑπὸ τῶν ἀγαπώντων αὐτήν, καὶ εὐρίσκεται ὑπὸ τῶν ζητούντων αὐτήν—an expression closely bearing on this passage. Step by step σοφία leads to union with God: προσοχὴ δὲ νόμων (giving heed to her laws) βεβαίωσις ἀφθαρσίας, ἀφθαρσία δὲ ἐγγὺς εἶναι ποιεῖ θεοῦ· ἐπιθυμία ἄρα σοφίας ἀνάγει ἐπὶ βασιλείαν, Wis 6:19; 20; … τιμήσατε σοφίαν ἵνα εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα βασιλεύσητε. Again ch. Wis 7:25 ἀτμὶς γάρ ἐστιν τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ δυνάμεως … ἀπαύγασμα γάρ ἐστιν φωτὸς ἀϊδίου, καὶ ἕσοπτρον ἀκηλίδωτον τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ ἐνεργείας. Human wisdom is conceived of as an emanation from the divine wisdom which was with God at the creation of the world, πὰσα σοφία παρὰ κυρίου καὶ μετʼ αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, Sir 1:1.

This exalted view of σοφία gives force to the description of the Lord’s growth: καὶ Ἰησοῦς προέκοπτεν τῇ σοφίᾳ, Luk 2:52: τὸ δὲ παιδίον ηὔξανεν καὶ ἐκραταιοῦτο πληρούμενον σοφία, Luk 2:40.

αἰτείτω. In the Wisdom of Solomon prayer is indicated as the effectual means of attaining σοφία. διὰ τοῦτο ηὐξάμην καὶ φρόνησις ἐδόθη μοι, ἐπεκαλεσάμην καὶ ἦλθέν μοι πνεῦμα σοφίας, Wis 7:7. Comp. also Sir 51:13 ἐξήτησα σοφίαν προφανῶς ἐν προσευχῇ μου. In St Mat 11:19 (Luk 7:35), ἐδικαιώθη ἡ σοφία ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων αὐτῆς, the meaning of σοφία seems to be the plan of divine wisdom which rules and governs all things. For the construction comp. γνώμας λειπομένα σοφᾶς, Soph. El. 474.

In the prominence which St James gives to σοφία we trace the surpassing influence of the Wisdom literature in this age. In a question of completeness or perfection of religions equipment it would be natural to treat of σοφία as the highest religious excellence, without which perfection was inconceivable.

So also St Paul places σοφία at the head of spiritual gifts. 1Co 12:8 ᾦ μὲν γὰρ διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος δίδοται λόγος σοφίας, ἄλλῳ δὲ λόγος γνώσεως κ.τ.λ.

αἰτείτω. αἰτεῖν, Lat. peto, generally, though not always (see Luk 1:63; Joh 4:9), used of requests made by an inferior to a superior. See Mat 7:9 τίς ἐστιν ἐξ ὑμῶν ἄνθρωπος ὃν αἰτήσει ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ ἄρτον κ.τ.λ.; Act 3:2 to ὂν ἐτίθουν … τοῦ αἰτεῖν ἐλεημοσύνην; Act 12:20 ᾐτοῦντο εἰρήνην. Hence our Lord never uses αἰτεῖν of His own requests to the Father, but ἐδεήθην (Luk 22:32) and ἐρωτήσω (Joh 16:26). See Trench, N.T. Syn. sub voc. on the important passage Joh 16:23 ἐμὲ οὐκ ἐρωτήσετε οὐδέν … ἄν τι αἰτήσητε τὸν πατέρα δώσει ὑμῖν ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου.

ἁπλῶς, with simplicity, without secondary motive, simpliciter, O.L., rather than affluenter, V. Comp. ὁ μεταδιδοὺς ἐν ἁπλότητι, Rom 12:8; δοξάζοντες τὸν θεὸν ἐπὶ τῇ ὑποταγῇ … καὶ ἁπλότητι τῆς κοινωνίας εἰς αὐτοὺς καὶ εἰς πάντας, 2Co 9:13. In the classics ἁπλοῦς is opposed to what is deceitful, ἁπλᾶ τῆς ἀληθείας ἕπη—ἁπλοῦς ὁ μῦθος, Aesch. Cho. 554; ἁπλοῖ τρόποι opp. to δόλος, At. Plut. 1158.

καὶ μὴ ὀνειδίζοντος, not reproaching, for ingratitude. The two elements to be avoided in giving are: (1) secondary motives on the do ut des principle; (2) complaint on account of favours unreturned, τοῖς εὖ παθοῦσιν ὀνειδίσαι τὴν χάριν, Libernus, D. XXXIII. (quoted by Wet stein): Odiosum sane genus hominum beneficia reprobantium, quae meminisse debet is in quem collata sunt, non commemorare qui contulit, Cic. Lael. 20.

From these two human defects divine gifts are absolutely exempt. (1) Interested motive is impossible with God; and (2) man’s ingratitude is no barrier to divine love: ὅτι αὐτὸς χρηστός ἐστιν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀχαρίστους καὶ πονηρούς, Luk 6:35.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5.] But (q. d. but this perfection and entireness, this defect in nothing, will not be yet attained; and you will find, when you aim at it, that you are lacking in the very first requisite) if any of you (εἰ is not “quandoquidem,” as Estius, but εἴ τις is as usual ‘if any,’ and nearly = ὃστις ἄν) is deficient in (of, gen. as in ch. 2:15) wisdom (τὸ αἴτιον τοῦ τελείου ἔργου σοφίαν λέγει, Œc. Huther quotes from the Etym. Mag., γνῶσις μὲν ἐστὶ τὸ εἰδέναι τὰ ὄντα· σοφία δέ, καὶ τὸ τὰ ὄντα γινώσκειν καὶ τὸ τὰ γνωστὰ πράττειν. For what is meant by wisdom here, see ch. 3:15-17), let him ask (either supply ‘it,’ or take the verb absolutely, which is better: so E. V., see below) from God who giveth (the part. is put first because it is that which is to be brought out in the sentence: q. d. ‘from the giver, God.’ Thus asking and giving are put forward as belonging to us and God in the abstract, and we do not want any Object, as τὴν σοφίαν, supplied) to all men simply (so Rom 12:8, ὁ μεταδιδούς, ἐν ἁπλότητι: but perhaps ἁπλότης may also signify liberality. See note on that place. It is not however necessary here to render “benigne,” as Bede, Casaubon, al.: nor “affluenter,” as Erasm., Grot., Est., al.; nor “candide,” “sincere,” as Pott, Theile, al.; nor = συντόμιος, καθάπαξ, as Hesychius: but we must interpret by what follows, and understand it of simply giving, and adding nothing afterwards which may take off from the graciousness of the gift) and upbraideth not (in what sense is rather doubtful. Many (Morus, Carpzov, Storr, al.) interpret it of sending away with a refusal: but as Huther remarks, though καταισχύνειν may bear this meaning, ὀνειδίζειν is never found so used: certainly not in Sir. 20:15, ἄφρων … ὀλίγα δώσει καὶ πολλὰ ὀνειδίσει. By far the greatest part of Commentators understand it of reproaching by the recounting of benefits bestowed. But this again does not reach the full and general nature of the expression here: nor does it find any justification in that of Demosthenes, p. 316. 10, ὑπομιμνήσκειν τὰς ἰδίας εὐεργεσίας μικροῦ δεῖν ὅμοιόν ἐστι τῷ ὀνειδίζειν: for it is one thing to say that such reminding is almost equivalent to ὀνειδίζειν, and another and a widely different one to use ὀνειδίζειν in this sense, which is never done. The real meaning here is just as in Sir. 20:15 above, and in Sir. 41:22, μετὰ τὸ δοῦναι μὴ ὀνείδιζε, viz. upbraiding with any kind of reproaches, as God might well do, so unworthy are we to approach Him with any request. This of course would include that other: but as Semler, “Non tantum significat molestam commemorationem beneficiorum, sed etiam qualemcunque reprehensionem.” So De Wette and Huther), and it shall be given to him (viz. σοφία, see 3 Kings 3:9-12. The whole verse seems to be written in remembrance of Mat 7:7-12).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5-8. Divine aid to this perfectness is gained through Prayer. But blessings come only in answer to the prayer of steadfast loyalty in faith.

The external connection is made here by λείπεται (v. 4 λειπόμενοι); cf. vv. 1, 2 χαίρειν, χαράν, v. 4 τέλειον, τέλειοι, vv. 5, 6 αἰτείτω, etc. The main topic of the section is prayer (not wisdom), the point being that real prayer requires unwavering faith. The marked resemblance between these verses and Hermas, Mand. 9, shows that behind both lie current homiletical language and ideas.

5. σοφία (cf. Jas 3:13, Jas 3:15, Jas 3:17) is not to be taken in the popular Stoic sense of “Science,” ἐπιστήμη θείων καὶ ἀνθρωπίνων καὶ τῶν τούτων αἰτιῶν (references in Lightfoot on Col 1:9), which is reflected in Paul’s use, e. g. 1Co 1:20, 1Co 1:22 Ἕλληνες σοφίαν ζητοῦσιν, 2:1, 4, 6, 3:19, and (with reference to the Christian substitute for the world’s wisdom) 1Co 1:30, 1Co 2:6 f. 1Co 2:3:18, Eph 1:8, Eph 3:10, Col 2:3, ἐν ᾧ εἰσὶν πάντες οἱ θησαυροὶ τῆς σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως ἀπόκρυφοι. It is rather “Wisdom,” the supreme and divine quality of the soul whereby man knows and practises righteousness.* Of this Hebrew idea of wisdom Solomon was the great exemplar,† cf. 2Ch 1:10-12, Wisd. 7:7 ff. 8:7, 9:10-18, and of this Proverbs (e. g. ch. 2, see Toy on Pro 1:2-4), Ecclesiasticus (cf. ch. 1, especially vv. 14-20, 51:13-22), and the Wisdom of Solomon treat.

Abundant passages in this literature refer to this wisdom as coming from God, and him alone, Pro 2:6 κύριος δίδωσιν σοφίαν, καὶ ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ γνῶσις καὶ σύνεσις, Ecclus. 1:1 πᾶσα σοφία παρὰ κυρίου, 39:5, 6, 51:17, Wisd. 8:21, 9:6 τῆς ἀπὸ σοῦ σοφίας ἀπούσης εἰς οὐδὲν λογισθήσεται. The basis of the passage in James is thoroughly Jewish.

πᾶσιν διδόντος. God’s readiness to give is a motive to prayer.

On the idea of God as ready and desirous to give to all, cf. Psa 145:15-19, Ps. Son 4:13-15, Test. XII Patr. Gad 7:2, Philo, De cher. 34, Leg. alleg. i, 13 ὅτι φιλόδωρος ὢν ὁ θεὸς χαρίζεται τὰ ἀγαθὰ πᾶσι καὶ τοῖς μὴ τελείοις, Mat 5:45, Mat 5:7:7, Mat 5:11.

ἁπλῶς. Properly means “simply,” but here clearly shown by what follows to have a moral sense, “graciously,” “bounteously,” “generously.”

The adverb is found only here in the N. T., but the noun ἁπλότης is not uncommon. In Rom 12:8 ὁ μεταδιδοὺς ἐν ἁπλότητι, 2Co 8:2, 2Co 8:9:11, 2Co 8:13 τῇ … ἁπλότητι τῆς κοινωνίας εἰς αὐτούς, Jos. Antiq. 7, 13:4 τῆς ἁπλότητος καὶ τῆς μεγαλοψυχίας, it means “liberality,” “generosity,” “single-minded attention to the gift with no thought of self”; cf. Ecclus. 20:14, “The gift of a fool shall not profit thee; for his eyes are many instead of one”; also Plut. De adulat. p. 63 F, τὸ δὲ τοῦ κόλακος ἔργον οὐδὲν ἔχει δίκαιον, οὐδʼ ἁπλοῦν, οὐδʼ ἐλευθέριον. Sanday, on Rom 12:8, quotes the important passages from Test. XII Patr. Issach. (περὶ ἁπλότητος) in which the various qualities of the single-minded man are set forth; note especially Issach. 3:8, on generosity, and see also Charles’s valuable notes in his English translation, 1908, pp. 102-105.

The adverb ἁπλῶς itself is used in this sense (“freely,” “liberally”) by Hermas, Mand. ii, 4 and 6.

For various unacceptable senses given to ἁπλῶς here, see Beyschlag, and for full references, see Hort, ad loc.

μὴ ὀνειδίζοντος describes God’s giving as full and free, in contrast to the meanness which after a benefaction calls it unpleasantly to the mind of the one benefited. That this disagreeable trait of human nature was prominent in ancient times is attested, e. g. by Ecclus. 41:22 μετὰ τὸ δοῦναι μὴ ὀνείδιζε, 18:15-18, 20:14-16 (cf. also, for a slightly different aspect, 29:22-28), Plut. De adulat. p. 64 A, πᾶσα ὀνειδιζομένη χάρις ἐπαχθὴς καὶ ἄχαρις, Schol. on Eur. Orest. 1238 ὀνείδη, τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν τὰς ὑπομνήσεις; see further Wetstein and Mayor.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But. Omitted in A. V. In pursuing this perfection you will find yourselves lacking in wisdom. One may say, "I know not how to become perfect;" but, if any man, etc.

Lack. Note the repetition.

Of God that giveth [του διδοντος θεου] . The Greek puts it so that giving is emphasized as an attribute of God. Lit., "Ask of the giving God," or of "God the giver."

Liberally [απλως] . Only here in New Testament. Literally the word means simply, and this accords with the following negative clause, upbraiding not. It is pure, simple giving of good, without admixture of evil or bitterness. Compare Rom 12:8, where a kindred noun is used : " He that giveth let him do it with simplicity [εν απλοτητι] Compare, also, Pro 10:22. Men often complicate and mar their giving with reproach, or by an assumption of superiority.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.