May I offer this exposition by one of my favorite authors, Spiros Zodhiates-
The Blessing of Temptation
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
—James 1:12
This verse should definitely be connected linguistically and in thought to verses 2, 3, and 4 of this chapter where James speaks of life’s trials and temptations. These we are to meet with all joy, for their effect upon this life, which is patience, perfection, maturity, and wisdom. But that is not all. There is a life to come and it is then that the real reward of the patient and victorious Christian is obtained. It is joy here and blessedness there. Praise be unto God.
Our verse starts with a familiar word in the New Testament, the word makários, the same word the Lord used when He sat on the Mount of Olives and taught His disciples who the “blessed” are in this world. It is significant that this word is used by the Apostle Paul in describing God, as in 1 Timothy 1:11, in which he says: “according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God.” This, according to Paul, is an attribute of God. And yet the Christian is characterized by it, the Christian who has learned patiently to endure temptations and trials in this life. Surely we possess the inherent happiness of God since we are partakers of His nature. That explains the secret of the Christian’s happiness. No matter what happens in the outside world, the Christian is happy because God is within, because he is a partaker of the divine nature.
But who is so happy? It is not every Christian. Unfortunately there are unhappy Christians, plenty of them. Happy or blessed is the man, James says, who endureth temptation. That word translated “endureth” is the verb from which the noun “patience” is derived. Hupomonḗ is “patience” and hupoménō is “to be patient.” Let us analyze the word a little more. It is made up of the preposition hupó which means “under,” and the verb ménō, which means “to abide, to stay.” Here are the trials and temptations of life seemingly having the upper hand over us. We are under them. What can we do? One thing that we are tempted to do is to escape temptation, to run away from the trials of life. But that is not what we are supposed to do as warriors of Jesus Christ. We are supposed to hold our ground, to stand firm, remembering that He who is within us is greater than he who is without. The load can never be so great that it will crush us. Since He who made the whole world is in us, with us, and for us, who can be against us, who can take away our happiness? Absolutely no one or nothing. We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.
The word “temptation” here in our verse has the meaning of “trial” rather than temptation as we usually understand it. It refers to the adverse circumstances of life and not to something for which you are responsible, as we saw was the case in verse 2 of this same chapter. If we were to translate the first part of verse 12 we should say, “Happy is the man who stands his ground in the face of temptations.”
Now why should the Christian who has been under the fire of testings consider himself happy? Because of what he will receive after the testing period is over. “For having been proved or tested, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him.” What did James mean by “the crown of life”? There has been much theological discussion concerning the meaning of the phrase. I shall give you the two main meanings.
The Greek word stephanos actually means “that which surrounds or encompasses,” and it is usually the head that is encircled or encompassed. Therefore, the applied meaning is a crown, a wreath or garland placed on someone’s head as a sign of honor in victory. All along James speaks about the struggle of life, about the Christian holding his ground in the face of temptations. While here on earth the Christian is engaged in war, but if he participates in the divine nature, he cannot but be a victor.
This word also describes the Christian’s final reward in heaven. For James it is a crown of life; for Paul it is a crown of righteousness (2 Tim. 4:8), and for Peter it is a crown of glory. What is that final reward? It is that we shall reign together with Jesus Christ and with Him shall judge the world. Read the fourth chapter of Revelation and see how apparent this is. Think of it, those who now persecute us, revile us, tempt us, try us, and speak all manner of evil against us, shall one day be judged by us. We are now taken advantage of, but wait a while and you shall see what will happen.
When James speaks of the promise of the Lord, I do not believe that he refers to any particular promise or any special passage, but to all the Lord’s promises of the crown of the victor and of the regal glory that awaits him. The Word of God is full of such promises, so there is every reason for you and me to exercise patience as we go through the fiery furnace of trials. It is worthwhile being unpopular here for the sake of being popular with Him up there. It is like the gatekeeper at the railroad station who demanded that everybody present his ticket before going through the gate to the train. From those who could not find their tickets readily there was much grumbling and swearing. One watching the scene said to the gatekeeper, “You don’t seem to be very popular with the crowd.” He just cast his eyes upward to the floor above, where the superintendent’s office was, and said, “I don’t care anything about being popular with this crowd; all I care for is to be popular with the man up there.” All that matters is to please the Lord who shall one day crown us with glory and everlasting blessedness.
James has spoken of faith and endurance in tribulation. But now he introduces something else and that is love. To whom is God going to give this crown of life? To those who love Him. The actual translation from the Greek is “to those loving Him.” There is here the quality of continuity. It is not those who loved the Lord at one time, but those who love Him to the very end of their lives under all circumstances.
A young man spent an entire evening telling a girl how much he loved her. He said that he could not live without her and that he would go to the ends of the earth for her; yes, go through fire for her, or die for her. But when leaving, he said, “I’ll see you tomorrow night, if it does not rain.” How often we say we love God, yet deny it by our actions. Christ will give His crown of life only to those who love Him in deed and in truth. Do you?
Zodhiates, Spiros. 1999.
Faith, Love, & Hope: An Exposition of the Epistle of James. Electronic ed. Logos Library System; Exegetical Commentary Series. Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.
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