19 You have knowledge of this, dear brothers. But let every man be quick in hearing, slow in words, slow to get angry;
He who has knowledge says little: and he who has a calm spirit is a man of good sense.
Where there is much talk there will be no end to sin, but he who keeps his mouth shut does wisely.
He who keeps a watch on his mouth keeps his life; but he whose lips are open wide will have destruction.
He who is slow to be angry has great good sense; but he whose spirit is over-quick gives support to what is foolish.
He who is slow to be angry is better than a man of war, and he who has control over his spirit than he who takes a town.
Be angry without doing wrong; let not the sun go down on your wrath;
Be not unwise with your mouth, and let not your heart be quick to say anything before God, because God is in heaven and you are on the earth--so let not the number of your words be great. As a dream comes from much business, so the voice of a foolish man comes with words in great number. When you take an oath before God, put it quickly into effect, because he has no pleasure in the foolish; keep the oath you have taken.
The end of a thing is better than its start, and a gentle spirit is better than pride. Be not quick to let your spirit be angry; because wrath is in the heart of the foolish.
An angry man makes men come to blows, but he who is slow to get angry puts an end to fighting.
Let all bitter, sharp and angry feeling, and noise, and evil words, be put away from you, with all unkind acts;
Knowledge is dropping from the tongue of the wise; but from the mouth of the foolish comes a stream of foolish words.
A man's good sense makes him slow to wrath, and the overlooking of wrongdoing is his glory.
And let the peace of Christ be ruling in your hearts, as it was the purpose of God for you to be one body; and give praise to God at all times.
But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be in danger of being judged; and he who says to his brother, Raca, will be in danger from the Sanhedrin; and whoever says, You foolish one, will be in danger of the hell of fire.
And for this cause we still give praise to God, that, when the word came to your ears through us, you took it, not as the word of man, but, as it truly is, the word of God, which has living power in you who have faith.
Now these were more noble than the Jews of Thessalonica, for they gave serious attention to the word, searching in the holy Writings every day, to see if these things were so.
And would not do them, and gave no thought to the wonders you had done among them; but made their necks stiff, and turning away from you, made a captain over themselves to take them back to their prison in Egypt: but you are a God of forgiveness, full of grace and pity, slow to wrath and great in mercy, and you did not give them up.
But they were not able to do anything, because the people all kept near him, being greatly interested in his words.
And when they went out, they made a request that these words might be said to them again on the Sabbath after. Now when the meeting was ended, a number of the Jews and of the God-fearing Gentiles who had become Jews, went after Paul and Barnabas: who put before them how important it was to keep on in the grace of God. And on the Sabbath after, almost all the town came together to give hearing to the word of God.
And they kept their attention fixed on the Apostles' teaching and were united together in the taking of broken bread and in prayer.
And a great number had come together, so that there was no longer room for them, no, not even about the door: and he gave them teaching.
A man of great wrath will have to take his punishment: for if you get him out of trouble you will have to do it again.
Give ear to me then, my sons: for happy are those who keep my ways. Take my teaching and be wise; do not let it go. Happy is the man who gives ear to me, watching at my doors day by day, keeping his place by the pillars of my house. For whoever gets me gets life, and grace from the Lord will come to him.
And for a fourth part of the day, upright in their places, they were reading from the book of the law of their God; and for a fourth part of the day they were requesting forgiveness and worshipping the Lord their God.
And day by day, from the first day till the last, he was reading from the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast for seven days: and on the eighth day there was a holy meeting, as it is ordered in the law.
And Ezra the priest put the law before the meeting of the people, before the men and women and all those who were able to take it in, on the first day of the seventh month. He was reading it in the wide place in front of the water-doorway, from early morning till the middle of the day, in the hearing of all those men and women whose minds were able to take it in; and the ears of all the people were open to the book of the law.
I have not sent you this letter because you have no knowledge of what is true, but because you have knowledge, and because that which is false has nothing in common with that which is true.
If a man seems to have religion and has no control over his tongue but lets himself be tricked by what is false, this man's religion is of no value.
Worship of images, use of strange powers, hates, fighting, desire for what another has, angry feelings, attempts to get the better of others, divisions, false teachings, Envy, uncontrolled drinking and feasting, and such things: of which I give you word clearly, even as I did in the past, that they who do such things will have no part in the kingdom of God.
And the Gentiles, hearing this, were glad and gave glory to the word of God: and those marked out by God for eternal life had faith.
Now all the tax-farmers and sinners came near to give ear to him.
And all the people went away to take food and drink, and to send food to others, and to be glad, because the words which were said to them had been made clear. And on the second day the heads of families of all the people and the priests and the Levites came together to Ezra the scribe, to give attention to the words of the law. And they saw that it was recorded in the law that the Lord had given orders by Moses, that the children of Israel were to have tents for their living-places in the feast of the seventh month:
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on James 1
Commentary on James 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of
The General Epistle of James
Chapter 1
After the inscription and salutation (v. 1) Christians are taught how to conduct themselves when under the cross. Several graces and duties are recommended; and those who endure their trials and afflictions as the apostle here directs are pronounced blessed and are assured of a glorious reward (v. 2-12). But those sins which bring sufferings, or the weakness and faults men are chargeable with under them, are by no means to be imputed to God, who cannot be the author of sin, but is the author of all good (v. 13-18). All passion, and rash anger, and vile affections, ought to be suppressed. The word of God should be made our chief study: and what we hear and know of it we must take care to practise, otherwise our religion will prove but a vain thing. To this is added an account wherein pure religion consists (v. 19-27).
Jam 1:1
We have here the inscription of this epistle, which consists of three principal parts.
Jam 1:2-12
We now come to consider the matter of this epistle. In this paragraph we have the following things to be observed:-
Jam 1:13-18
Jam 1:19-27
In this part of the chapter we are required,