Passage

James 1.4

Book: James · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

2. Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations; 3. Knowing that the proving of your faith worketh patience.

4. And let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.

But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6. But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. (James 1:2-6, ASV)

WEB

2. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, 3. knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

4. Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him. 6. But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed. (James 1:2-6, WEB)

KJV

2. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; ^{temptations: or, trials} 3. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

4. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. (James 1:2-6, KJV)

YLT

2. All joy count [it], my brethren, when ye may fall into temptations manifold; 3. knowing that the proof of your faith doth work endurance,

4. and let the endurance have a perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, in nothing lacking;

and if any of you do lack wisdom, let him ask from God, who is giving to all liberally, and not reproaching, and it shall be given to him; 6. and let him ask in faith, nothing doubting, for he who is doubting hath been like a wave of the sea, driven by wind and tossed, (James 1:2-6, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: James (Iakōbos), identified by the great majority of interpreters as the brother of Jesus (Galatians 1:19; Mark 6:3), leader of the Jerusalem church (Acts 15:13; Acts 21:18). He introduces himself simply as "a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" (James 1:1), never as a relative.
Audience: Jewish believers outside Palestine, addressed as "the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad" (James 1:1). The congregations meet in a synagōgē (James 2:2) and include both poor members and wealthy visitors.
Location: Jerusalem, from which James led the mother church.
Time period: Date disputed. An early date (c. AD 44-49) would make this the earliest surviving Christian writing; a later one places it before James's death, which Josephus dates to AD 62 (Antiquities 20.200). The letter shows no awareness of the Gentile-circumcision controversy settled in Acts 15, which many take as evidence for the early date.

Theological reading

"And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

The context is trials. Verses 2-3: consider it all joy when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Verse 4 states the goal that makes the sequence intelligible.

"Endurance." Hypomonē, remaining under, is not passive resignation but sustained bearing-up. James makes it a productive agent here, with its own "perfect result" (ergon teleion), which is the same verbal root as the "perfect" the reader is to become.

"Perfect and complete." Teleioi kai holoklēroi. Teleios (G5046 - teleios) means brought to its intended end, mature, functioning as designed; it is not the English "flawless", and reading it that way makes the verse a counsel of despair. Holoklēros means whole in every part, with nothing missing, and is used of a sacrificial animal without defect and of a body with all its members.

"Lacking in nothing." En mēdeni leipomenoi, which sets up verse 5 by a word-link: "if any of you lacks wisdom" uses the same verb. The letter's Greek is more carefully constructed than its abrupt style suggests.

The claim being made. Trials are not merely survivable; James says they are the process by which the intended maturity arrives, which is why he can open with "consider it all joy". Compare Romans 5:3-5 and 1 Peter 1:6-7, which run the same argument with the same vocabulary.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G5046 - teleios, teleios, Strong's G5046

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Soul-Making Theodicy, via James 1.2-4
Survivorship Bias, via James 1.2-4

Lexicon:

G5046 - teleios

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.