The Gospel of James – also called the Book of James – is one of the most overlooked canonical gospels. Historians have found clear evidence that James was a devoted disciple of Jesus. There is also clear evidence that he was born into Jesus’ physical family as the brother of Jesus. He was esteemed as the principal teacher in Jerusalem and surrounding regions following the passing of Jesus.
CHAPTER ONE
1:1 James, a servant of God and servant of the Master Jesus, Anointed of God [Messiah, Christ], to the twelve nations dispersed abroad: Greetings.
1:2 Proceed joyously, my fellow believers, whenever you face various challenges,
1:3 for you know the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
1:4 Let perseverance finish its job so that you may become perfected and complete, lacking nothing.
1:5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, ask God – who gives generously to all without blame – and it will be given to you.
1:6 But you must ask with faith, without any doubt; for those who doubt are like waves of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
1:7 For such a person should not expect to receive anything from the LORD –
1:8 Being uncertain and unstable in everything they do.
1:9 Yet the companion of humility will rejoice in his position,
1:10 and the materialist will glory in humiliation as they pass away like the grass flower.
1:11 For the sun rises with a scorching heat and withers the grass, and its flower falls and its beauty is destroyed. Like this, the materialist will fade away even in the midst of their pursuits.
1:12 Blessed is one who perseveres through challenges, for having withstood the tests, that person will receive the wreath of life promised to those who love Him.
1:13 Let no one say, when tempted, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by wickedness, nor does he tempt anyone;
1:14 Rather, each person is tempted when they are carried away and enticed by their own wicked desires.
1:15 Then, once desire is conceived, it gives birth to sin. And when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.
1:16 Don’t be deceived, my beloved fellow believers.
1:17 Every good thing and every perfect gift is from above – coming down from the Creator of light, of whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
1:18 In His pleasure He nurtured us through the Teachings of Truth, so that we might be like first offerings among His creation.
1:19 My beloved fellow believers, take heed that everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger,
1:20 for human anger doesn’t achieve the devotion that pleases God.
1:21 Therefore, put aside all defilement and the wickedness that remains and humbly accept the Teachings given to you, which can save your spirit-person.
1:22 And commit to the practice of the Teachings and not merely listeners who delude themselves.
1:23 For anyone who listens to the Teachings and does not practice them is like one who looks at their face in a mirror –
1:24 and after looking at themselves, leaves and immediately forgets what they look like.
1:25 But one who seeks the perfect instruction that renders liberation and abides by it – not becoming a forgetful listener but a practical doer – will be blessed by what they do.
1:26 Those who think themselves religious yet do not bridle the tongue deceive their own heart: Their religion is worthless.
1:27 Pure and faultless religion that pleases God our Creator means looking after those who in distress have strayed and are bereft of protection – while keeping ourselves from being polluted by the material world.
CHAPTER TWO.
2:1 Fellow believers, don’t withdraw your trust in our glorious Master Jesus the Anointed of God [Messiah, Christ].
2:2 For should a man come into your presence wearing fine clothing and a golden ring, and a poor man arrives in dirty old clothes,
2:3 and you show special attention to the one wearing fine clothes and tell him, “Here’s a good seat for you,” yet you say to the poor man, “Stand over there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet” –
2:4 have you not become prejudiced, having become a judge with wicked intentions?
2:5 Listen, my dear fellow believers: Did God not choose the humble of this world to be full of faith and heirs to the sanctuary which He promised to those who love Him?
2:6 Yet you ignore the humble. Is it not the proud who exploit you and drag you into court?
2:7 Do they not blaspheme the Holy Name of Him you have called upon?
2:8 If however, you fulfill what is holy according to the instruction, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” then you are doing excellently.
2:9 But if you show prejudice, you perpetuate wickedness and by the instruction you will be charged guilty.
2:10 For whoever keeps all the instructions yet stumbles in one way is guilty of breaking all of them.
2:11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.”1 If you don’t commit adultery but commit murder, you still become a criminal.
2:12 Therefore say and do like those who will be judged by the instruction that gives freedom.
2:13 For judgment without mercy will be given to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
2:14 What use is it, my fellow believers, if someone claims to have faith but takes no actions? Can their faith save them?
2:15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and is in need of their daily food –
2:16 and one of you says to them, “Go with peace – be warmed and satisfied,” yet you don’t give them what they need to keep their body, what use is that?
2:17 Similarly, faith alone – if not supported by action – is dead.
2:18 Yet one might say, “You have faith and I take action.” Show me your faith without action and I will show you my faith through my actions.
2:19 You believe there is one God. That is good! Yet even demons believe and tremble.
2:20 But will you recognize, oh foolish one, that faith without action is worthless?
2:21 Was not our master Abraham justified when he was prepared to offer his son Isaac on the Altar?
2:22 You can see that his faith with action worked together and his faith was made perfect by his actions.
2:23 And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “and Abraham trusted God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”2 and he was called the friend of God.
2:24 You see, one is considered righteous by their actions and not by faith alone.
2:25 Similarly, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she received the messengers and sent them out the back way?
2:26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without actions is dead.
CHAPTER THREE.
3:1 My fellow believers, perhaps many of you will not become teachers, because you know we are judged more strictly.
3:2 For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone doesn’t stumble in what he says, he is a person of perfection – indeed, able to guide the entire society.
3:3 Similarly, if we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we will also direct their entire body.
3:4 Or consider the ships. While they are very large and are driven by strong winds, a pilot can steer them to wherever he wants to go by a very small rudder.
3:5 Likewise, the tongue is only a small part of the body, but it can boast exceedingly. This is like a great forest being set on fire by a small spark.
3:6 And the tongue is a fire that sets wickedness in the world among our members, just as it corrupts the entire body. It sets on fire the whole path of one’s life, this is the fire set by hell.
3:7 For all species of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea have been and are tamed by humans,
3:8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless wickedness, and filled with deadly poison.
3:9 With it we praise our LORD and Creator, and with it we curse humans, who were made in the likeness of God.
3:10 From the same mouth comes both praise and cursing. My fellow believers, these things should not take place.
3:11 Does a fountain send out from the same hole both fresh and rancid water?
3:12 My fellow believers, can a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
3:13 Who among you is wise and knowledgeable? Then show it by your devoted activities performed with the humility that arises from wisdom.
3:14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfishness in your heart, don’t be arrogant and contradict the Truth.
3:15 That type of knowledge does not descend from above – rather, its nature is materialistic and wicked.
3:16 Because from envy and selfishness come disorder and all wickedness.
3:17 Yet the wisdom that comes from above is first of all pure; then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, merciful – being unwavering good fruits with no hypocrisy.
3:18 And the seed of the fruit of devotion is sown with tranquility by those who create tranquility.
CHAPTER FOUR.
4:1 What causes quarrels and conflicts among you? Do they not arise from the desires that wage war within you?
4:2 You desire what you don’t have, so you kill. You are envious and cannot get what you want, so you fight and argue. You can’t get what you want because you don’t ask.
4:3 Should you ask you don’t receive, it is because you ask with the wrong motives: So that you can apply it towards your pleasures.
4:4 You faithless people: don’t you realize that friendship towards the world is hostility towards God? Therefore, one who wants to be a friend of the world ends up being hostile to God.
4:5 Or do you think Scripture speaks with no purpose? That the Spirit He caused to dwell within us has jealous longings?
4:6 Rather, He gives us a greater grace. Therefore, it says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”1
4:7 Therefore, submit yourselves to God. Resist wickedness, and it will flee from you.
4:8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, duplistic ones.
4:9 Be miserable, and mourn and weep. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.
4:10 Humble yourselves before the LORD, and He will lift you up.
4:11 Fellow believers, don’t speak against one another. Anyone who speaks against a fellow believer or judges them speaks against the instructions and judges them. When you judge the instructions, you are not keeping them, but sitting in judgment on them.
4:12 There is only one Instructor and Judge – the One who is able to save and destroy. So who are you to judge your neighbor?
4:13 Come on now – listen – you who say, “Today or tomorrow we’ll travel to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”
4:14 Yet you don’t even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a breath that appears for a little while and then disappears.
4:15 Rather, you should say, “If it is the LORD’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
4:16 But currently, you boast in your arrogance. All this boasting is wicked.
4:17 Therefore, if anyone knows the good they should do and doesn’t do it, for him it is wicked.
CHAPTER FIVE.
5.1 Come on, materialists! Soon you will weep and lament, for suffering will come.
5:2 Your wealth will rot and your clothing will be eaten by moths.
5:3 Your gold and silver will corrode. That corrosion will bear witness against you and consume your heart like fire. Your treasure will haunt you at the time of death.
5:4 Just consider – the wages you withheld from workers who harvested your fields cry out against you, and that outcry of the farm workers has reached the ears of the LORD Almighty.
5:5 You have lived luxuriously off the land and have led a decadent life. Your hearts have grown fat for the day of slaughter.
5:6 You condemn and murder the devoted one who does not fight you.
5:7 Therefore my fellow believers, be patient for the presence of the LORD. The farmer waits for the special harvest from the land. He patiently waits for after the early and late season rains.
5:8 You too must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, because the presence of the LORD is readily available.
5:9 Fellow believers, don’t complain about each other, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing right in the doorway.
5:10 Fellow believers, show your patience in the face of hardship: Accept the Prophets who spoke in the Name of the LORD.
5:11 Those who endure are blessed. You have heard of the devotion of Job and have seen what resulted from the LORD. The LORD is full of compassion and mercy.
5:12 But above all, my fellow believers, do not do not make promises by heaven or earth or by any other oath. Rather, your assurance is your assurance and your opposition is your opposition – in order to not succumb to judgment.
5:13 Is anyone among you suffering? They must offer prayers. Is anyone joyful? They must sing praises.
5:14 Is anyone among you in need? They should call on those advanced in devotion who should pray for them and anoint them with oil in the Name of the LORD.
5:15 And the prayer offered with trust will restore the weary. And the LORD will awaken them. And if they have committed offenses, they will be forgiven.
5:16 Therefore, acknowledge your offenses to one another and pray for each other, so that you can be healed. The earnest prayer of a devoted person is very effective.
5:17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. He prayed in earnest that rain would not fall upon the land, and rain did not fall upon the land for three years and six months.
5:18 Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the land produced food.
5:19 My fellow believers, if anyone wanders from the Truth and someone turns him back:
5:20 Understand that one who turns a sinner from the error of their ways will save that soul from death and procure a pardon for a multitude of sins.
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