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Pentecost Season · Proper 17 · Year B

James 1:17-27

Trials and Temptations

August 29, 2027

Orphans, Thomas Benjamin Kennington
Orphans, Thomas Benjamin Kennington, 1885Tate Britain, London
A Victorian social-realist painting of two children alone in a bare room, made in the years when London's charities were arguing about what to do with them.Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.Thomas Benjamin KenningtonAn English painter of social subjects and a founder of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.Tate Britain, LondonThe national collection of British art from 1500, on Millbank, including the Turner Bequest of nearly thirty thousand works the artist left to the nation.Tate Britain, London
Revised Common Lectionary
GospelMark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
EpistleJas. 1:17-27Jas 1:17-27
Old TestamentSong 2:8-13Sg 2:8-13Alt. OTDeut. 4:1-2, 6-9Dt 4:1-2, 6-9
PsalterPs. 45:1-2, 6-9Ps 45:1-2, 6-9Alt. PsalmPs. 15Ps 15

Overview & Insights

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.” (James 1:17)

The letter from James opens with a simple and direct greeting. The writer identifies himself simply as James, a servant of God . There was only one James so well known in the early church that he would need no other form of identification, and that was James the Just, brother of Jesus, leader of the church in Jerusalem. The readers are expected to recognize the name.

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Commentary

Working Preacher: Commentary on James 1:17-27Working Preacher: Commentary on Jas 1:17-27 Working Preacher

Lutheran lectionary commentary on doers of the word for Proper 17.

Enduring Word: James 1Enduring Word: Jas 1 Enduring Word · David Guzik

David Guzik's verse-by-verse evangelical notes on the whole chapter.

Precept Austin: James 1 CommentaryPrecept Austin: Jas 1 Commentary Precept Austin

Detailed study gathering many commentators on the opening chapter of James.

CEP: James 1:17-27 CommentaryCEP: Jas 1:17-27 Commentary Center for Excellence in Preaching

Reformed preaching commentary on hearing and doing the word.

BibleHub: Commentaries on James 1:17BibleHub: Commentaries on Jas 1:17 BibleHub

Parallel classic commentaries keyed to every good and perfect gift.

Background & Word Study

BibleProject: James OverviewBibleProject: Jas Overview BibleProject

Animated overview of the message and structure of the letter of James.

BibleHub: James 1 InterlinearBibleHub: Jas 1 Interlinear BibleHub

Greek-English interlinear for word-level study of the chapter.

The Church Fathers

Catena: James 1Catena: Jas 1 Catena

Patristic comments gathered verse by verse on James 1.

Questions preachers ask

What does James teach about trials?

Blessed is the one who remains steadfast under trial; temptation comes not from God but from our own desire, while every good gift comes down from the Father of lights.

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