1:19 James' readers already knew what he had just reminded them of in the preceding verses (vv. 17-18; cf. Prov. 10:19; 13:3; 14:29; 15:1; 17:27-28; 29:11, 20; Eccles. 7:9). Nevertheless they needed to act in harmony with this knowledge.
"He [James] drives home the teaching about our death-bound, sinful nature with the cry Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren(16); he drives home the teaching about the new birth with the cry Know this, my beloved brethren(19a)."58
We may respond to trials by complaining about them and becoming angry over them. James advised his readers to remain silent and calm and to listen submissively to the Word of God (v. 23).
"It is possible to be unfailingly regular in Bible reading, but to achieve no more than to have moved the book-mark forward: this is reading unrelated to an attentive spirit."59
Many people have observed that we have two ears and one mouth, which ought to remind us to listen twice as much as we speak (cf. Prov. 10:19; 17:27).60
"Ceaseless talkers may easily degenerate into fierce controversialists."61
"The great talker is rarely a great listener, and never is the ear more firmly closed than when anger takes over."62
1:20 An angry response to temptations does not advance the righteousness in character and conduct that God is seeking to produce in the believer.
"The policy James condemns is one of seeking to promote the cause of freedom by politically motivated and engineered violence (an endeavor to be brought into the discussion at 4:1-3)."63
