James 1:9
The brother in humble circumstances should exult in his high position.
The brother
The term "brother" in this context refers to a fellow believer in Christ, emphasizing the familial bond among Christians. The Greek word used here is "adelphos," which signifies not just a biological brother but a spiritual kinship. This highlights the early Christian understanding of the church as a family, united by faith rather than blood. Historically, this reflects the communal nature of the early church, where believers supported one another as family.

in humble circumstances
The phrase "in humble circumstances" translates from the Greek "tapeinos," which means lowly or of low status. This could refer to economic poverty or social marginalization. In the historical context of the early church, many believers were from lower social classes, often facing persecution and hardship. This phrase acknowledges their earthly struggles while setting the stage for a deeper spiritual truth.

should exult
The word "exult" comes from the Greek "kauchaomai," meaning to boast or glory. This is a call to rejoice, not in material wealth or social status, but in spiritual realities. The use of this word is countercultural, as it encourages believers to find joy and pride in their spiritual identity and future hope, rather than in worldly measures of success.

in his high position
The "high position" refers to the believer's status in the kingdom of God. Despite earthly circumstances, Christians are elevated through their relationship with Christ. The Greek word "hypsos" implies elevation or exaltation. This reflects the biblical theme that God often reverses worldly values, lifting the humble and bringing down the proud. Scripturally, this echoes Jesus' teachings in the Beatitudes, where the meek and poor in spirit are blessed.

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 Jewish Christians scattered among the nations.

2. The Brother in Humble Circumstances
Refers to believers who are experiencing poverty or low social status. James addresses their spiritual status and encourages them to find joy in their exalted position in Christ.

3. The Early Church
The context in which James writes, where many believers faced persecution and economic hardship, making his message particularly relevant.
Teaching Points
Spiritual Exaltation in Humility
The Greek word for "exult" (kauchaomai) implies boasting or taking pride. Believers in humble circumstances are encouraged to take pride in their spiritual status, not their worldly condition.

True Riches in Christ
Earthly status does not determine one's value in God's kingdom. Believers are called to recognize their true riches in Christ, which surpass any material wealth.

Perspective Shift
James challenges believers to shift their perspective from worldly measures of success to spiritual realities. This involves seeing trials as opportunities for growth and deeper reliance on God.

Community Support
The church is called to support and uplift those in humble circumstances, recognizing their value and encouraging them in their spiritual journey.

Joy in Trials
Embracing joy in difficult circumstances is a testament to faith and trust in God's promises. This joy is rooted in the assurance of God's love and eternal inheritance.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does understanding our spiritual position in Christ help us navigate humble circumstances in life?

2. In what ways can the church better support those who are in humble circumstances, both spiritually and materially?

3. How can we cultivate a perspective that values spiritual riches over material wealth in our daily lives?

4. What are some practical ways to find joy in trials, as encouraged by James and other New Testament writers?

5. How does the message of James 1:9 challenge our cultural views on success and status? How can we apply this in our personal and community life?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Matthew 5:3
Jesus' teaching on the Beatitudes, where He blesses the poor in spirit, promising them the kingdom of heaven. This connects to the idea of finding spiritual richness despite earthly poverty.

1 Peter 1:6-7
Peter speaks about rejoicing in trials, which refines faith. This complements James' message of finding joy in humble circumstances.

Philippians 4:12-13
Paul discusses contentment in all circumstances, whether in need or in plenty, through Christ who strengthens him. This echoes the theme of spiritual contentment and strength in humility.
Chastening and RewardThe Christian World PulpitJames 1:9-11
Christian BrotherhoodU. R. Thomas.James 1:9-11
Delusive Nature of RichesJames 1:9-11
Discipline of ChangeW. Fox.James 1:9-11
Dying RichJames 1:9-11
Exaltation and HumiliationA. Plummer, D. D.James 1:9-11
Fading SplendourT. Manton.James 1:9-11
Grave Reverses a Decisive Test of CharacterS. Cox, D. D.James 1:9-11
How to be RichBp. Phillips Brooks.James 1:9-11
Human Exaltation and HumiliationJ. Briggs.James 1:9-11
Humiliation and ExaltationR. Wardlaw, D. D.James 1:9-11
Improved by AdversityJames 1:9-11
Poor and Rich BelieversJohn Adam.James 1:9-11
Rejoicing in GodR. Turnbull.James 1:9-11
RichesT. Manton.James 1:9-11
The Blade of GrassS. Cox, D. D.James 1:9-11
The Glory of Manhood in ChristT.F. Lockyer James 1:9-11
The Gospel Exalting the Humble Christian and Abasing the RichW. Hancock, B. D.James 1:9-11
The Metaphors of St. JamesA. Plummer, D. D.James 1:9-11
The Poor and the Rich BrotherC. Jerdan James 1:9-11
The Rich BrotherA. S. Patterson, D. D.James 1:9-11
The True Christian TemperT. Manrope.James 1:9-11
People
James
Places
Dispersion
Topics
Boast, Brother, Circumstances, Degree, Elevation, Estate, Exaltation, Exalted, Glad, Glory, Higher, Humble, Lifted, Low, Lowly, Ought, Position, Pride, Raised, Rejoice
Dictionary of Bible Themes
James 1:9

     5450   poverty, spiritual

James 1:9-10

     5554   status
     8276   humility
     8340   self-respect

James 1:9-11

     4446   flowers
     8780   materialism, and sin

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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