James 1:5
Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
Now if any of you lacks wisdom
The phrase "Now if any of you lacks wisdom" introduces a conditional statement that applies universally to believers. The Greek word for "lacks" is "leipō," which implies a deficiency or need. Wisdom, in this context, is not merely intellectual knowledge but a practical, spiritual insight that enables one to live a life pleasing to God. Historically, wisdom has been highly valued in Jewish tradition, as seen in the Proverbs and the teachings of Solomon. This wisdom is essential for navigating trials and living out one's faith effectively.

he should ask God
The directive "he should ask God" emphasizes the importance of prayer and dependence on God for wisdom. The Greek word for "ask" is "aiteō," which conveys a sense of earnestness and humility. This reflects a posture of faith and trust in God's ability to provide. In the historical context of the early church, believers faced persecution and needed divine guidance to persevere. Asking God for wisdom is an acknowledgment of His sovereignty and a recognition that true wisdom comes from Him alone.

who gives generously to all
The phrase "who gives generously to all" highlights God's nature as a benevolent and gracious provider. The Greek word for "generously" is "haplōs," which can also mean "sincerely" or "without reservation." This indicates that God is not stingy or reluctant in His giving. The historical context of the early Christian community, which often faced scarcity and hardship, underscores the significance of God's generous provision. This assurance of God's generosity is meant to encourage believers to approach Him with confidence.

without finding fault
The phrase "without finding fault" reassures believers that God does not reproach or criticize them for their lack of wisdom. The Greek word "oneidizō" means to reproach or upbraid. This is significant because it contrasts with human tendencies to judge or belittle others for their shortcomings. In the scriptural context, this reflects God's grace and mercy, as He welcomes those who seek Him with a sincere heart. It is a reminder that God's love is unconditional and His desire is to help, not to condemn.

and it will be given to him
The promise "and it will be given to him" is a definitive assurance of God's response to the prayer for wisdom. The Greek verb "didōmi" means to give, and it is used here in the future tense, indicating certainty. This promise is rooted in the faithfulness of God, who honors His word. In the broader scriptural context, this reflects the consistent biblical theme that God rewards those who diligently seek Him. It is an encouragement for believers to trust in God's promises and to rely on His provision for their spiritual needs.

Persons / Places / Events
1. James
The author of the epistle, traditionally identified as James, the brother of Jesus and a leader in the early Jerusalem church. He writes to encourage believers in their faith and conduct.

2. God
The central figure in this verse, depicted as the generous giver of wisdom. His nature is highlighted as generous and non-judgmental.

3. Recipients of the Epistle
Early Christians, likely Jewish believers scattered among the nations, facing trials and needing guidance.
Teaching Points
The Need for Wisdom
Recognize that wisdom is essential for navigating life's challenges and making godly decisions. Acknowledge your need for it.

God's Generosity
Trust in God's character as a generous giver. He provides wisdom without reproach, meaning He does not criticize us for our lack of wisdom.

The Act of Asking
Approach God in prayer with confidence, knowing that He is willing to provide wisdom. This requires humility and faith.

Faith in God's Promise
Believe in the promise that wisdom will be given. This faith is crucial in receiving what God has promised.

Practical Application of Wisdom
Once received, apply the wisdom in daily life, making decisions that align with God's will and reflect His character.
Bible Study Questions
1. What does it mean to "lack wisdom," and how can we identify areas in our lives where we need more wisdom?

2. How does understanding God's generous nature affect our approach to prayer, especially when asking for wisdom?

3. In what ways can we cultivate a habit of seeking wisdom from God in our daily lives?

4. How does the promise of receiving wisdom from God encourage us during times of trial and decision-making?

5. Reflect on a time when you asked God for wisdom. How did He respond, and what impact did it have on your situation? How can this experience encourage others?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Proverbs 2:6
This verse emphasizes that the Lord gives wisdom, and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding, reinforcing the idea that God is the source of true wisdom.

Matthew 7:7-11
Jesus teaches about asking, seeking, and knocking, promising that God will give good gifts to those who ask, paralleling the promise of wisdom in James 1:5.

1 Kings 3:9-12
Solomon's request for wisdom from God and God's generous response serves as a historical example of God granting wisdom to those who ask.
Asking Wisdom from GodJ. F. B. Tinling, B. A.James 1:5
Asking Wisdom in TrialE. Bayley, B.D.James 1:5
Divine LiberalityJames 1:5
Every Trite Prayer AnsweredC. F. Deems, D. D.James 1:5
God Gives Without UpbraidingR. Wardlaw, D. D.James 1:5
God Will Give WisdomS. Cox, D. D.James 1:5
God's GivingR. W. Dale, LL. D.James 1:5
God's Manner of GivingR. Johnstone, LL. B.James 1:5
Humility of WisdomC. H. Spurgeon.James 1:5
In Search of the Highest WisdomJames 1:5
Liberal Answers to PrayerBp. Reynolds.James 1:5
Liberal GiftsC. H. Spurgeon.James 1:5
Loving Advice for Anxious SeekersC. H. Spurgeon.James 1:5
Needed WisdomD. Young, B. A.James 1:5
Prayer for WisdomJames 1:5
Religion the Highest WisdomR. Johnstone, LL. B.James 1:5
Religious WisdomJ. Jortin, . D. D.James 1:5
Right JudgmentW. E. Heygate M. A.James 1:5
The Amazing Kindness of GodHomilistJames 1:5
The Characteristic of Real WisdomBengel's LifeJames 1:5
The Discipline of NeedT. Manton.James 1:5
The Giving GodC. F. Deems, D. D.James 1:5
The Liberality of GodT. Stephenson.James 1:5
What is WisdomC. F. Deems, D. D.James 1:5
Wisdom -- How to be ObtainedJohn Adam.James 1:5
Wisdom and PrayerBengel's LifeJames 1:5
Wisdom to be Asked of GodM. F. Sadler, M. A.James 1:5
Wisdom to be Obtained from God AloneJ. Foote, M. A.James 1:5
Wisdom to be Sought from GodR. Turnbull.James 1:5
The Prayer of FaithT.F. Lockyer James 1:5-8
Wisdom for Those Who Ask itC. Jerdan James 1:5-8
People
James
Places
Dispersion
Topics
Deficient, Fault, Finding, Freely, Generously, Gives, Giveth, Giving, Lack, Lacketh, Lacks, Liberally, Open, Reproach, Reproaches, Reproaching, Request, Unkind, Upbraideth, Upbraiding, Wisdom
Dictionary of Bible Themes
James 1:5

     1180   God, wisdom of
     5325   gifts
     5815   confusion
     5832   desire
     6650   finding
     8128   guidance, receiving
     8224   dependence
     8227   discernment, nature of
     8261   generosity, God's
     8281   insight
     8351   teachableness
     8366   wisdom, source of

James 1:2-5

     8349   spiritual growth, means of

James 1:5-6

     8409   decision-making, and providence
     8636   asking

James 1:5-7

     8024   faith, and blessings

James 1:5-8

     8604   prayer, response to God
     8612   prayer, and faith
     8720   double-mindedness

Library
February 28. "Count it all Joy" (James i. 2).
"Count it all joy" (James i. 2). We do not always feel joyful, but we are to count it all joy. The word "reckon" is one of the key-words of Scripture. It is the same word used about our being dead. We do not feel dead. We are painfully conscious of something that would gladly return to life. But we are to treat ourselves as dead, and neither fear nor obey the old nature. So we are to reckon the thing that comes as a blessing. We are determined to rejoice, to say, "My heart is fixed, O God, I will
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Fourth Sunday after Easter Second Sermon.
Text: James 1, 16-21. 16 Be not deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. 19 Ye know this, my beloved brethren. But let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20 for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

George Buchanan, Scholar
The scholar, in the sixteenth century, was a far more important personage than now. The supply of learned men was very small, the demand for them very great. During the whole of the fifteenth, and a great part of the sixteenth century, the human mind turned more and more from the scholastic philosophy of the Middle Ages to that of the Romans and the Greeks; and found more and more in old Pagan Art an element which Monastic Art had not, and which was yet necessary for the full satisfaction of their
Charles Kingsley—Historical Lectures and Essays

October the Eighteenth Unanimity in the Soul
"A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." --JAMES i. 1-8. If two men are at the wheel with opposing notions of direction and destiny, how will it fare with the boat? If an orchestra have two conductors both wielding their batons at the same time and with conflicting conceptions of the score, what will become of the band? And a man whose mind is like that of two men flirting with contrary ideals at the same time will live a life "all sixes and sevens," and nothing will move to purposeful
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

May the Fifth Healthy Listening
"Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only." --JAMES i. 21-27. When we hear the word, but do not do it, there has been a defect in our hearing. We may listen to the word for mere entertainment. Or we may attach a virtue to the mere act of listening to the word. We may assume that some magical efficacy belongs to the mere reading of the word. And all this is perverse and delusive. No listening is healthy which is not mentally referred to obedience. We are to listen with a view to obedience,
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

An Address to the Regenerate, Founded on the Preceding Discourses.
James I. 18. James I. 18. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. I INTEND the words which I have now been reading, only as an introduction to that address to the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, with which I am now to conclude these lectures; and therefore shall not enter into any critical discussion, either of them, or of the context. I hope God has made the series of these discourses, in some measure, useful to those
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration

On Patience
"Let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." James 1:4. 1. "My brethren," says the Apostle in the preceding verse, "count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations." At first view, this may appear a strange direction; seeing most temptations are, "for the present, not joyous, but grievous." Nevertheless ye know by your own experience, that "the trial of your faith worketh patience:" And if "patience have its perfect work, ye shall be perfect and
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

On Charity
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." 1 Cor. 13:1-3. We know, "All Scripture is given by inspiration
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

Loving Advice for Anxious Seekers
However, the promise is not to be limited to any one particular application, for the word, "If any of you," is so wide, so extensive, that whatever may be our necessity, whatever the dilemma which perplexes us, this text consoles us with the counsel, "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God." This text might be peculiarly comforting to some of you who are working for God. You cannot work long for your heavenly Lord without perceiving that you need a greater wisdom than you own. Why, even in directing
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 13: 1867

All Joy in all Trials
Beginning with this word "brethren," James shows a true brotherly sympathy with believers in their trials, and this is a main part of Christian fellowship. "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." If we are not tempted ourselves at this moment, others are: let us remember them in our prayers; for in due time our turn will come, and we shall be put into the crucible. As we would desire to receive sympathy and help in our hour of need, let us render it freely to those who are
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 29: 1883

The Days of the Week
JAMES i. 17. Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is neither variableness, nor shadow of turning. It seems an easy thing for us here to say, 'I believe in God.' We have learnt from our childhood that there is but one God. It seems to us strange and ridiculous that people anywhere should believe in more gods than one. We never heard of any other doctrine, except in books about the heathen; and there are perhaps not three people
Charles Kingsley—The Good News of God

Sermon on a Martyr's Day
Of three sorts of spiritual temptation by which holy men are secretly assailed; to wit: spiritual unchastity, covetousness, and pride. James i. 12.--"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. ALL our life (says Job), so long as we are upon earth, is full of struggle and temptation, insomuch that this life is not called a life by the Saints, but a temptation. When one temptation is over,
Susannah Winkworth—The History and Life of the Reverend Doctor John Tauler

The Sixth Petition Corresponds as we have Observed to the Promise of Writing the Law...
The sixth petition corresponds (as we have observed) to the promise [26] of writing the law upon our hearts; but because we do not obey God without a continual warfare, without sharp and arduous contests, we here pray that he would furnish us with armour, and defend us by his protection, that we may be able to obtain the victory. By this we are reminded that we not only have need of the gift of the Spirit inwardly to soften our hearts, and turn and direct them to the obedience of God, but also of
John Calvin—Of Prayer--A Perpetual Exercise of Faith

The Deepest Need of the Church Today is not for any Material or External Thing...
The deepest need of the Church today is not for any material or external thing, but the deepest need is spiritual. Prayerless work will never bring in the kingdom. We neglect to pray in the prescribed way. We seldom enter the closet and shut the door for a season of prayer. Kingdom interests are pressing on us thick and fast and we must pray. Prayerless giving will never evangelise the world.--Dr. A. J. Gordon The great subject of prayer, that comprehensive need of the Christian's life, is intimately
E.M. Bounds—Purpose in Prayer

Biographical Preface.
"The Church! Am I asked again, What is the Church? The ploughman at his daily toil--the workman who plies the shuttle--the merchant in his counting-house--the scholar in his study--the lawyer in the courts of justice--the senator in the hall of legislature--the monarch on his throne--these, as well as the clergymen in the works of the material building which is consecrated to the honour of God--these constitute the Church. The Church is the whole congregation of faithful men, in which the pure word
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Antecedents of Permanent Christian Colonization --The Disintegration of Christendom --Controversies --Persecutions.
WE have briefly reviewed the history of two magnificent schemes of secular and spiritual empire, which, conceived in the minds of great statesmen and churchmen, sustained by the resources of the mightiest kingdoms of that age, inaugurated by soldiers of admirable prowess, explorers of unsurpassed boldness and persistence, and missionaries whose heroic faith has canonized them in the veneration of Christendom, have nevertheless come to naught. We turn now to observe the beginnings, coinciding in time
Leonard Woolsey Bacon—A History of American Christianity

The Puritan Beginnings of the Church in virginia ---Its Decline Almost to Extinction.
THERE is sufficient evidence that the three little vessels which on the 13th of May, 1607, were moored to the trees on the bank of the James River brought to the soil of America the germ of a Christian church. We may feel constrained to accept only at a large discount the pious official professions of King James I., and critically to scrutinize many of the statements of that brilliant and fascinating adventurer, Captain John Smith, whether concerning his friends or concerning his enemies or concerning
Leonard Woolsey Bacon—A History of American Christianity

The Neighbor Colonies to virginia-Maryland and the Carolinas.
THE chronological order would require us at this point to turn to the Dutch settlements on the Hudson River; but the close relations of Virginia with its neighbor colonies of Maryland and the Carolinas are a reason for taking up the brief history of these settlements in advance of their turn. The occupation of Maryland dates from the year 1634. The period of bold and half-desperate adventure in making plantations along the coast was past. To men of sanguine temper and sufficient fortune and influence
Leonard Woolsey Bacon—A History of American Christianity

Directions to Church-Wardens, &C.
CHURCH-WARDENS are officers of the parish in ecclesiastical affairs, as the constables are in civil, and the main branches of their duty are to present what is presentable by the ecclesiastical Jaws of this realm, and repair the Church [1] . For the better information of Church-wardens as to those particulars, which they are to present, [2] articles are to be given them extracted out of the laws of the Church, according to which they are to make their presentments, Can. 119. They are obliged twice
Humphrey Prideaux—Directions to Church-Wardens

Theological Controversies and Studies
(a) Baianism. Schwane, /Dogmengeschichte der neuren zeit/, 1890. Turmel, /Histoire de la theologie positive du concile de Trente au concile du Vatican/, 1906. Denzinger-Bannwart, /Enchiridion Symbolorum/, 11th edition, 1911. Duchesne, /Histoire du Baianisme/, 1731. Linsenmann, /Michael Baius/, 1863. The Catholic doctrine on Grace, round which such fierce controversies had been waged in the fifth and sixth centuries, loomed again into special prominence during the days of the Reformation. The views
Rev. James MacCaffrey—History of the Catholic Church, Renaissance to French Revolution

The Downfall, 1616-1621.
The dream of bliss became a nightmare. As the tide of Protestantism ebbed and flowed in various parts of the Holy Roman Empire, so the fortunes of the Brethren ebbed and flowed in the old home of their fathers. We have seen how the Brethren rose to prosperity and power. We have now to see what brought about their ruin. It was nothing in the moral character of the Brethren themselves. It was purely and simply their geographical position. If Bohemia had only been an island, as Shakespeare seems
J. E. Hutton—History of the Moravian Church

Knox and the Book of Discipline
This Book of Discipline, containing the model of the Kirk, had been seen by Randolph in August 1560, and he observed that its framers would not come into ecclesiastical conformity with England. They were "severe in that they profess, and loth to remit anything of that they have received." As the difference between the Genevan and Anglican models contributed so greatly to the Civil War under Charles I., the results may be regretted; Anglicans, by 1643, were looked on as "Baal worshippers" by the
Andrew Lang—John Knox and the Reformation

Whether Sacred Doctrine is a Practical Science
Whether Sacred Doctrine is a Practical Science We proceed to the fourth article thus: 1. It seems that sacred doctrine is a practical science. For "the end of practical knowledge is action," according to the philosopher (2 Metaph., Text 3), and sacred doctrine is concerned with action, according to James 1:22: "Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only." Sacred doctrine is therefore a practical science. 2. Again, sacred doctrine is divided into the Old and the New Law, and the Law has to do with
Aquinas—Nature and Grace

Wherefore Let this be the First Thought for the Putting on of Humility...
42. Wherefore let this be the first thought for the putting on of humility, that God's virgin think not that it is of herself that she is such, and not rather that this best "gift cometh down from above from the Father of Lights, with Whom is no change nor shadow of motion." [2172] For thus she will not think that little hath been forgiven her, so as for her to love little, and, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and wishing to establish her own, not to be made subject to the righteousness
St. Augustine—Of Holy Virginity.

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