1:5 What James just explained is divine wisdom, God's view of life. However the world, which does not have or accept this revealed wisdom, generally fails to appreciate the value of enduring trials. The Christian is apt to take the world's view toward his or her trials rather than God's and try to escape them at any cost.
James used the word "wisdom"(Gr. sophia) in the sense in which the Old Testament wisdom literature used it. There it refers to what God has revealed about His will for human life. Wisdom denotes "a fixed, righteous order to which the wise man submits his life."31The New Testament writers often regarded wisdom as the supreme gift of the Holy Spirit and sometimes identified it with the Holy Spirit.32Consequently the wise Christian is the one who views life in the light of God's revelation (i.e., His written Word).
If we do not understand God's view of life, James urged that we ask God to enable us to understand it. Every Christian lacks this wisdom to some extent.33Wisdom is seeing life realistically from God's perspective. The unwise Christian who repeatedly asks God to open his or her eyes and heart can count on God granting his or her request repeatedly. He will give this wisdom freely and graciously, as often as we need it (cf. Isa. 42:3; Matt. 12:20). This description contrasts God with the double-minded man in verse 8.
We must read this verse in context to understand it correctly. This is not a promise that God will give everyone who asks Him for wisdom a higher IQ. What God promises in this context is the ability to see the importance of enduring trials and persevering in them faithfully.
1:6 In Scripture asking in faith always means one of two things. It means either believing God willdo what He has promised or, if He has not promised, believing that He cando what the person requesting asks (cf. Matt. 8:1-4; Mark 4:35-41).
"James teaches that faith is the essential condition of prayer."34
Lack of confidence in God's faithfulness or power manifests a lack of consistency in the believer's life. James compared the instability that this inconsistency produces to the surf of the sea. Something other than itself drives it. The surf corresponds to the Christian who by not submitting consistently to the will of God is driven by forces outside himself or herself rather than by the Holy Spirit within. The surf (Gr. kludon) may refer to the tops of the waves that the wind blows off (cf. Luke 8:24). The low and high pressure conditions of life tend to blow us around in a similar fashion.
1:7 Such a person's problems are not only subjective, feeling circumstances are directing him or her rather than God, but they will also be objective. He or she really is at the mercy of circumstances and events beyond our control. This type of inconsistent person resists God's work in his or her life. Rather than simply perfecting maturity in the person through his trials, God now also has to discipline (educate) him regarding his attitude toward his trials.
In the context "anything"(v. 7) refers primarily to wisdom (v. 5). If a person is not going to trust God ("ask in faith,"v. 6) he or she will fail to enjoy the confidence that comes from knowing that God is in control of his or her trials. In a larger sense, of course, our failure to trust God can rob us of the confidence that comes when we know that all of what God has revealed is true.
1:8 In this context the "double-minded"man is one who trusts and obeys God part of the time but not consistently. A double-minded person is one who has a divided opinion or allegiance (e.g., Lot; cf. 1 Clem. 11:2).
". . . the man is a walking civil war in which trust and distrust of God wage a continual battle against each other."35
In summary, God will help us take His view of trials, which James explained in verses 3 and 4, if we ask Him to do so in prayer. We can be joyful while experiencing trials that constitute temptations to depart from God's will. We can do so because we know that if we remain faithful to God He will use these trials to produce what is glorifying for Him and what is good for us.
