1:2 Temptations and contradictions come in different shapes, sizes, and intervals; their intention is always to suck you into their energy field. However, my friends, your joy in who you know you are 1leads you out triumphantly every time. (The word, 1hegeomai, comes from a strengthened form of ago, to lead, thus, to officially appoint in a position of authority; to lead with distinguished authority. Joy is the official voice of faith. “Count it all joy,” make a calculation to which joy can be the only logical conclusion.)

1:3 Here is the secret: joy is not something you have to fake, it is the fruit of what your faith knows to be true about you. You know that the proof of faith results in a persuasion that remains constant in contradiction.

1:4 (Just like a mother hen patiently broods over her eggs,) steadfastness provides you with a consistent environment, and so patience prevails and proves your perfection; how entirely whole you are and without any shortfall.

1:5 The only thing you could possibly lack is wisdom. [One might sometimes feel challenged beyond the point of sanity.] However, make your request in such a way that you draw directly from the 2source. [Not filtered through other opinions] God is the origin and author of wisdom; he 1intertwines your thoughts with good judgment. His gifts are available to all, without regret. (The word, 1haplos, from ha, particle of union; hama, together with + pleko, meaning to plait, braid, weave together. See Luke 11:34 "The eye is the lamp of the body; if the eye is "single" [entwined with light], the whole body is full of light." Entwining our eyes with Papa's eyes is what enlightens our entire being. Which is exactly what the word קוה Kawa in Hebrew means in Isa 40:31, they that entwine with the Lord's thoughts mount up with wings like eagles. We are wired by design to entwine. Also, Matthew 6:22. See 2 Cor 1:12. Wisdom that comes from above remains unaffected by the contradictions of the senses. The word, 2didomi, to give, to be the author or source of a thing — Wesley J. Perschbacher.)

1:6 Your requests give voice to faith. Faith is the stabilizing factor; otherwise you become driven by emotions (inconsistent judgments) that get out of control like rough seas tossed by tempest winds.

1:7 A haphazard request makes it impossible to interpret God’s wisdom accurately. (Faith is the grace that reveals one’s capacity to receive from God. The Greek word, para, with the Genitive, indicates source or origin, “coming from” — [Wesley J. Perschbacher] and the word, lambano, to receive, to comprehend.)

1:8 Someone of two opinions remains jittery in all their judgments and seems always lost for direction.

1:9 (Adverse circumstances can make or break you, depending on how you respond under pressure and allow these conditions to influence your judgment.) Let the down and out brother boast in his elevation in the Lord. (God’s wisdom makes you see things differently. Begin by seeing yourself co-seated together with Christ in heavenly places. Col 3:1-3.)

1:10 The rich should boast with confidence when things seem to threaten their position of financial strength. Flowers fade; so does fame when wealth is lost. (Neither poverty nor wealth is a true measure of your life; faith is.)

1:11 A severe sun combined with scorching eastern winds can completely destroy a harvest before it ripens; something that looked so beautiful and promising the one day, can be gone the next day; even so a wealthy person can suddenly perish in his pursuits. (We are defined by a reference that is more stable than changing conditions.)

1:12 Blessed is the one who does not lose their footing when temptation strikes; they are 1crowned the victor; their lives prove the 2currency and character of their 3design. The 4verdict: No contradiction can distract from the love of the Lord. (Love inspires faith. [Galatians 5:6] The word, 1stephanos, means a mark of royal rank, or a wreath or garland, which was given as a prize to victors in public games. Yet life as God sees it is a gift, not a reward. [James 1:17-25] Thus even our reward is a gift because our enduring and steadfastness is not something we engage in with our diligence and willpower, but the energy ignited within us by the revelation of the Word of truth. The word, 2dokimos, means accepted, particularly of coins and money; thus, currency. The Greek word for 3birth, ginomai. The verdict, 4epaggello, official announcement.)

1:13 Do not say, “I am scrutinized by God” when you feel enticed. He is not in the teasing business; evil offers no attraction to God for God to be tempted by it, neither is he experimenting with your design. (God cannot be both the source of light and darkness. Every temptation is an attempt of darkness to intercept light. [James 1:17])

1:14 Temptation employs lust to 1lure someone into a trap (just like in hunting or fishing), one is deceived by the attraction of the 2bait. Your own private desires can snare you. (The word, 1exelko, means to lure as in hunting or fishing, and 2deleatzo comes from the word, dolos, to deceive by bait.)

1:15 When passion conceives, it becomes the parent of sin. Sin’s mission is to murder you.

1:16 My dear friends, do not go wandering off into deception. (By giving credit to temptation, thinking that it could possibly be God’s way of speaking to you. So what about the Lord's prayer? "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." This sounds like God had temptation on today's agenda for you, but if you pray this prayer then maybe he’ll change his mind. 'To lead' in this sentence is the Greek word eisphero, to carry inward, to reach within; and temptation is the word peiratzo, to test thru piercing, to examine closely, from peira, to pierce; a test to determine the hidden value of something; also from the word peras, which speaks of extremity or the furthest boundary. But as James clearly points out in verse 13, God is not in the teasing business. He is not the source of good and evil. The deliverance from evil, poneros, is the intent of this sentence; that hidden alignment to the law of works will not be found within me, giving evil a foothold as it were. The word poneros, translated, evil, means full of hardships, annoyances and labors. Sounds like the wrong tree to me. Rather pray, “Father, you know me inside-out. Free me thoroughly from any hidden alliance with the old system of performance based living. Remove any trace of the fruit of the "I am not-tree system".)

1:17 Without exception God’s 1gifts are only good; its perfection cannot be flawed. They come from 2above (where we originate from); proceeding like light rays from its source, the Father of lights, with whom there is no distortion, or even a shadow of shifting to obstruct, or intercept the light; nor any hint of a hidden agenda.

[1] The principle of a 1gift, puts "reward-language" out of business.

[2] The word, 2anouthen, means, from above. John 3:3, 13.

1:18 We were brought forth by the Word of truth. Our true origin is preserved in God's resolve. It was according to the Father's 1delight that he 2birthed us; giving 3authentic, incarnate expression to the Word. [The face to face-ness of the Logos that was before time was. Jn 1:1] Just like the first-fruits mirror the harvest, so we mirror the 4conclusion of his 5workmanship in the core of our 6being.

[1] The word, 1boulomai, means the affectionate desire and deliberate resolve of God.

[2] Only James uses the word, 2apokueō from apo + kuma; from apo, away from and kuo, to swell with young; bend or curve. Same word in v 15, where sin's passion parented death, vs God's passion parenting authentic life in us. Thus, the effect of a mindset embracing temptation rather than truth. [The Father's resolve stands in total contrast to the perverted passions of sin, claiming it's illegitimate parenthood of mankind. Js 1:2; Js 1:12-16.]

[3] Truth, 3alethea, from a, negative + lanthano, meaning hidden; that which is unveiled; the Word [logos] of truth is the 3unveiled logic of God.

[4] The Preposition 4eis, points to conclusion.

[5] The word, κτίσμα 5ktisma meaning creation with reference to the proprietorship of the manufacturer - God owns the idea of our invention - he holds the copyright.

[6] The words, εἰς τὸ εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἀπαρχήν - 6einai hemas - our beingness from eimi, I am.

See Rom. 8:29, He pre-designed and engineered us from the start to be jointly fashioned in the same mold and image of his Son according to the exact blueprint of his thought. We see the original and intended pattern of our lives preserved in his Son. He is the firstborn from the same womb that reveals our genesis. He confirms that we are the invention of God. Also, John 1:1-18; 1 Pet. 2:9,10.

1:19 Consequently my beloved friends, [when you are faced with temptation,] give your immediate attention to the Word that reveals your true origin; do not ponder the contradiction. Rather remain silent, than to quickly give your vote and voice to the 1emotions that arise in the heat of the moment. (Quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to 1anger. The word ὀργή 1orgay from oregomia, means the excitement of the mind; to stretch one’s self out in order to grasp something, to reach after or desire.)

1:20 These outbursts of emotion would typically distort the picture, and bring no credit to compliment God’s 1righteousness. (1What God achieved in redeeming our identity and innocence.)

1:21 Therefore, by embracing the 1infused word, you discover how thoroughly freed you already are from any kind of perverted passion that spirals out of control, polluting your lives like a filthy garment; your 2gentle abandonment to this logic, powerfully 2realizes the full 3extent of your salvation from the dictates of the soul ruled realm. (Again, a word only James uses, ἔμφυτος 1emphutos impregnated. The words, 2en prauteti - in gentleness are used in contrast to orgay. Rescuing you from negative thought patterns and depressing emotional traits. The verb σωσαι 3soosai is the Aorist Infinitive tense, which presents the action expressed by the verb as a completed unit with a beginning and end.)

1:22 Give the mirror-word your 1undivided attention; do not underestimate yourself. 3Make the calculation. There can only be one logical conclusion: your authentic origin is mirrored in the word. You are God’s poem; 2let his voice make poetry of your life. (The word, 1akroate, means intent listening. James is not promoting the doing of the law of works; he is defining the law of perfect liberty. Doing the word begins with your undivided attention to the face of your birth. 2A doer of the Word, poetes, means poet. Make the calculation, 3paralogizomai, from para, a Preposition indicating close proximity, union, and logizomai, to reckon the logic in any calculation.)

1:23 Anyone who hears the word, sees the face of their birth, as in a mirror. The difference between a mere spectator and a participator is that both of them hear the same voice and perceive in its message the face of their own genesis reflected there;

1:24 they realize that they are looking at themselves, but for the one it seems just too good to be true; this person departs [back to the old way of seeing themselves], and immediately forgets what manner of person they are; never giving another thought to the one they saw there in the mirror.

1:25 The other is 1mesmerized by what they see; 2captivated by the effect of a law that frees them from the obligation to the old written code that restricted them to their own efforts and willpower. No distraction or contradiction can dim the impact of what is seen in the mirror concerning the law of perfect 3liberty [the law of faith] that now frees one to get on with the act of living the life [of their original design.] They find a new 3spontaneous lifestyle; the poetry of practical living.

The law of perfect liberty is the image and likeness of God revealed in Christ, now redeemed in human form, as in a mirror. Look deep enough into the face of your birth, reflected in Christ, that you may see there in its perfection, a portrait that so resembles the original, that he becomes distinctly visible in the spirit of your mind and in the face of every person you behold.

[1] I translated the word, 1parakupto, with mesmerized from para, a Preposition indicating close proximity, originating from, denoting the point from which an action originates; intimate connection, and kupto, to bend, stoop down to view at close scrutiny;

[2] Then, 2parameno, to remain captivated under the influence of; again the Preposition para, with meno, to continue to be present.

[3] The word often translated as freedom, 3eleutheria, means without obligation; spontaneous.)

1:26 Meaningless conversation is often disguised in religious eloquence. Just because it sounds sincere, doesn’t make it true. If your tongue is not bridled by what your heart knows to be true about you, then you cheat yourself.

1:27 The purest and most uncompromising form of religious expression is found at its 1source. God is the Father of mankind. He inspires one to take a genuine interest in helping the fatherless and the widows in their plight and to make sure that one’s own life does not become blemished in the process. (The word 1para, is a Preposition indicating close and immediate proximity, intimate connection.)