James Chap 1

1 ΙΑΚΩΒΟΣ θεοῦ καὶ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ δοῦλος ταῖς δώδεκα φυλαῖς ταῖς ἐν τῇ διασπορᾷ χαίρειν.

Jakobos.
Of God and the Lord Jesus Christ a slave.
To the twelve tribes which are in the diaspora.
Hello!

2 Πᾶσαν χαρὰν ἡγήσασθε, ἀδελφοί μου, ὅταν πειρασμοῖς περιπέσητε ποικίλοις

All joy count it my brothers, when you fall into trials of many kinds

Notes
Things NOT Said
* "Feel" Joyous.
* A) Again, God never expects the unreasonable. We may "perceive" His expectations as unreasonable because our hearts are hard, or our minds are not renewed by His word. But God generally does not expect people to operate outside the bounds of what is reasonable. So...James doesn't make a call saying "you should Feeel joy whenever your fall in to difficulties of any kind."
* Instead the call to action is to "count it as" or to "regard", or perhaps to "credit as." Not dissimilar to the way God "credited faith as righteousness."
* Did Rahab "feel" righteous? "Was" she righteous by any other standard? Either way, the belief was "counted as" righteousness.
*
At this point, around 44-46 AD, James would have been the accepted leading elder of the church in Jerusalem (assuming the "James" here is James, brother of Jesus, which would put the date of writing around that time - see Daniel Wallace: [20. James: Introduction, Outline, and Argument | Bible.org](https://bible.org/seriespage/james-introduction-outline-and-argument))

This also means that many new converts to the Christian faith had already begun to flee the persecution originally headed up by Saul (Paul) over the previous ten years or so, moving out to foreign territories. So, it makes sense that James would see the need to address them as the "scattered" and offer some encouragement.

Additionally, while the Christians in Jerusalem had direct and regular access to James, those who had gone elsewhere did not. And perhaps it was important that James let them know that the truth of the gospel was still being preached. The trials they were experiencing in Jerusalem had not weakened his faith or practice, nor that of the other apostles.

While he does not mention Paul or other apostles, he would have been quite familiar with Paul's ministry, travels and the issues Paul was facing in the Roman territories.

Herod had died in AD44. Times were a-changing. Herod's (Agrippa) death was sudden and unexpected. The Jews had enjoyed decades of stability. Herod was popular with them. A monarch who successfully balanced Jewish autonomy with Roman loyalty.

When he died, his son was deemed by Rome to be too young to take his place so Emperor Claudius pretty much just dissolved the semi-autonomos kingdom and Judea, Samaria and Galilee reverted back to direct Roman rule - a catastrophe economically which brought with it serious social upheaval. (See Michael Trotter, BYU Religious Studies dept on this topic: [Judea as a Roman Province, AD 6-66 | Religious Studies Center](https://rsc.byu.edu/new-testament-history-culture-society/judea-roman-province-ad-6-66)

Jerusalem immediately went from being the capitol of a stable and proud Jewish people, to merely a red-headed stepchild province of Rome. It ushered in a full decade of disaster for them as a nation.

Josephus noted that the Roman garrisons at the time openly clebrated Herod's death and mocked him. This made for poisonous relationships between the Jews and the Roman military.

Herod's immediate replacement was a guy named Cuspius Fadus. Notably, the first thing he ordered was that the high priest's vestments be taken away and handed over to custody of the Roman government in a fortress at Antonia.

This resulted in what was nearly a full-scale revolt. And brought about the rise of anti-Roman zealotry such as had not been seen in the previous 80 years. [https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/t2-my/my-prd/wp-content/uploads/sites/1281/2014/01/Chapter-Eleven.-Judaea-from-4BC-to-the-Death-of-Herodes-Agrippa-in-44-CE.pdf](https://cdn.vanderbilt.edu/t2-my/my-prd/wp-content/uploads/sites/1281/2014/01/Chapter-Eleven.-Judaea-from-4BC-to-the-Death-of-Herodes-Agrippa-in-44-CE.pdf)

If James wrote his epistle between 44-46, this would help explain some of his motivation for a diplomatic word of encouragement to the Jewish believers scattered around the region.

That he opens his letter with an acknowledgment of trials befalling them is informative in this regard.

Is This Applicative To Us/Me, And If So, Then How? And Then What Does It Look Like When MY Beliefs Align With This Truth?

Well, it is almost a default for men to complain and/or get frustrated and bitter when we encounter even small difficulties. "Why does EVERYTHING always have to go wrong?" " Can't I just catch a break?!"

Counting difficulty as joy is counterintuitive.

3 γινώσκοντες ὅτι τὸ δοκίμιον ὑμῶν τῆς πίστεως κατεργάζεται ὑπομονήν·

Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance

Notes
So, the opening nod to all kinds of trials actually starts with "count it all JOY." Impossible to consider this without also reading Paul's statement in Romans chap 5: "*And not only that, but we also BOAST (καυχάομαι - boast, as in "proudly") in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.*"

By the time James wrote this, Paul had been converted and later accepted as an apostle, and was in fellowship with the other apostles. He and James would have been very familiar with one another. Iron sharpening iron. No doubt, Paul's experience of trials and persecution would have been well-known to James.

Also see:
Galatians 1:19
Galatians 2:9
Acts 15:13 (James as defacto leader of Jerusalem church)
Acts 21:18 (Pauls returns to Jerusalem and meets with James and the other elders.

And Paul had declared that "we" (the apostles, but more inclusively, all of the righteous-by-faith) actually BOAST in sufferings and trials. And in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul had said: "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, (++[2 Corinthians 4:17](https://ref.ly/2Co4.17;nkjv)++). This, after he had spent the previous several paragraphs detailing how they were being persecuted and even executed, yet describes this as "light affliction for a moment."

Also see:
Galatians 1:19
Galatians 2:9
Acts 15:13 (James as defacto leader of Jerusalem church)
Acts 21:18 (Pauls returns to Jerusalem and meets with James and the other elders.

This is yet one more evidence of the harmony of scripture. Written by many men, but inspired by One Holy Spirit.

4 ἡ δὲ ὑπομονὴ ἔργον τέλειον ἐχέτω, ἵνα ἦτε τέλειοι καὶ ὁλόκληροι, ἐν μηδενὶ λειπόμενοι.

And now let endurance have maturative work, in order that you may be mature and whole, lacking in nothing.

The Present Participle (didontos): Instead of using a standard verb ("God who gives*"), James uses a present active participle with an article (*tou didontos). In Greek grammar, turning a verb into a participle like this turns an action into an enduring characteristic or identity. James is not just saying God performs an action; he is defining God by His very nature—He is fundamentally a giver.