What Does Genuine Faith Look Like? Lesson 1 James 1:1-12

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James: Living a Life of Genuine Faith

James 1:1-12

Lesson 1

Please read before completing study:

       Imagine yourself receiving a letter in the mail. The envelope is hand-written, but you don’t glance at the return address. Instead you tear open the envelope, flip to the second page, read two paragraphs near the bottom, and set the letter aside. Knowing that if someone bothered to send it to you, you should act on its contents in some way, you spend a few minutes trying to figure out how to respond to what the section you just read had to say. What are the odds you will be successful?

No one would read a letter this way. But this is precisely the way many of us read our Bibles. We skip past reading the “envelope”- who wrote this? To whom is it written? Where was is written? and then try to determine the purpose of its contents from a portion of the whole. What if we took time to read the envelope? What if, after determining the context for its writing, we started at the beginning and read to the end? Wouldn’t that make infinitely more sense? 

 In our study we will take this approach to Scripture. We will begin by placing our text in its historical and cultural context. We will “read the envelope.” Then we will read through the entire text multiple times, so that we can better determine what it wants to say to us. This repetition will help us move through three critical stages of understanding:

1. Comprehension  When we read for comprehension we ask ourselves, “What does it say?” A person who comprehends the account of the six days of creation can tell you specifically what happened on each day. This is the first step towards being able to interpret and apply the story of creation to our lives. 

2. Interpretation  Interpretation asks, “What does it mean?” A person who interprets the creation story can tell you why God created in a particular order or way. She is able to imply things from the text beyond what it says. 

• What does this passage teach me about God?

• How does this aspect of God’s character change my view of self? 

• What should I do in response?

3. Application  After doing the work to understand what the text says and what the text means, we are finally ready to ask, “how should it change me?” Here is where we draw on our God-centered perspective to ask three supporting questions:

A person who applies the creation story can tell us that because God creates in an orderly fashion, we too should live well-ordered lives. Knowledge of God gleaned through comprehension of the text and interpretation of its meaning can now be applied to my life in a way that challenges and changes me. 

Matt. 22:37 Says, “Love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” 

The heart cannot love what the mind does not know. To know God is to know His Word. 

Lesson 1

Reading the envelope:

1. Who wrote the book of James?

2. When was it written?

3. To whom was it written?

4. In what style was it written?

5.   What are the central themes of these verses so far? 

      

6. What term of endearment does James use when addressing his readers?________________

    

7. What do you think it means when he says to "count it all Joy" when we meet trials?

    What if James had written verse 2 as follows: "Feel joyful when you meet trials of various  

    kinds..."? How is this meaning different than the meaning expressed above?

8. According to 1:3, what is the purpose of trials?

     Look up the definition to the word patients. What are some other synonyms for it. Or look 

     up different translations.

9. What do you think it means to be perfect through suffering? What does it not mean?

10. Look up the following verses and note what each teaches about trials or suffering. We 

      will read these during the study.

     John 16:33; Romans 5:3-5; 2 Corinthians 1:3-4; 2 Corinthians 4:16-18; Hebrews 12:11

   What can you conclude from these verses?

11. What does James assure us we can ask for?__________________

12. What word picture does James use to illustrate what a doubter is like? How is this an 

      accurate illustration?

13. James says that the one who doubts is double-minded. What do you think he means by 

      this?

14. Read Proverbs 3:5-6. How do its words offer a wise way to avoid double-mindedness?

15. In 1:9-11, James points out two specific kinds of trials we can face: the trial of 

      possessing little and the trail of possessing much. In what ways can each of these 

      circumstances be trials? 

                   Poor Man                                          Rich Man

                  

16. In 1:12, how does James describe the one enduring trials? _______________

      Whose teachings do you think James is remembering when he says this? Look up 

      Matthew 5:11-12 to help with your answer.

Look at Deuteronomy Chapter 27. What contrast do you see between these verses and James 1:11-12?