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14 But each [one] is tempted by his own lusts, being drawn away and being seduced [by them].
14 Yet truly, each one is tempted by his own desires, having been enticed and drawn away.
14 But every man is tempted by his own lust; and he covets and is enticed.
15 Then lust, when it conceives, gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
15 Then the lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin: and the sin, when it is fullgrown, bringeth forth death.
15 Thereafter, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. Yet truly sin, when it has been consummated, produces death.
13f tried Polysemous Verb See (Vocabulary 1:2).
14 dragged away Hapax NT The Greek verb exelkô "to drag away" is not found anywhere else in the NT; it is present in G; e.g. Madianites dragging Joseph in Gn 37:28.
14 desire Connection with the Rabbinic Concept of the “Evil Inclination” in Humanity? Some commentators identify epithumia with the rabbinic concept of the evil inclination (yṣr hrʽ) placed by God in the human heart :
This teaching developed from the "two ways" tradition :
Given James' strong emphasis that God gives only good gifts (Jas 1:17), this identification is not very plausible (Jewish Tradition 1:8; Peritestamental Literature 1:8).
For example, →b. Sûk. 52a compares the righteous winning their struggle against temptation to one who conquers a mountain; →b. Sûk. 52b advises that one can melt and smash the evil urge by engaging in Torah study. God will help defeat it.
12–18 Use in Lectionary →RML : Tuesday, Week 6, Year 2
13ff desire Repeated Theme: The Danger of Desire James' criticism of unrestrained desire (epithumia) and passion in the community recurs in Jas 4:1–5. There James blames the vices of envy and strife on selfish desires, using the closely related term hêdonê (desire for pleasure) and the verbal form epithumeô (Jas 4:2).
14f by his own desire + when desire has conceived: Sorites James again uses the device of sorites to highlight the continuity of action: having conceived, desire gives birth to sin, sin when fully grown gives birth to death (Literary Devices 1:3-5).
14 dragged away and lured Fishing Imagery an Ancient Topos The verb deleazô literally refers to baiting or luring an animal or fish; exelkô can refer to reeling in a fish (Ancient Texts 1:14; Christian Tradition 1:14).
14 dragged away and lured Passion Controlling a Person Philo parallels James' vocabulary and imagery in several passages:
15b when it is fully grown Etymology and Connotations: A Perfect Sin Our translation renders here a single word: the passive participle apotelestheisa, from the verb apoteleô. With its tel root and the prefix ana it conveys the sense of "perfection" or completion, namely "an accomplished sin", "fully matured sin." Its positive connotation, therefore, contrasts the negative meaning of the whole phrase (Literary Devices 1:15b).
14 lured The Lure of Desire 2Pt 2:18 echoes James' vocabulary, speaking of false teachers luring (deleazô) people through desires (epithumiai; Literary Devices 1:14; Peritestamental Literature 1:14).
14 desire Epithumia: Good and Bad Desire
In the NT, epithumia may refer to a natural desire (e.g., of a hungry man for food at Lk 16:21) or a positive desire: "If anyone aspires to the position of a bishop, he desires a good work" (1Tm 3:1).
Generally, however, it refers to the desire for a negative object (e.g, Eph 2:3: "desires of the flesh") or is simply characterized as negative in itself (e.g., Tt 3:3; 1Pt 4:3).
Opposed to God's Law and God's Will
15b sin ...gives birth to death: Connection between Sin and Death The connection between sin and death is a consistent biblical theme.
See also Ez 18:4; Ws 2:23–24; Rom 5:12,21; 1Cor 15:21,56.
14 desire Epithumia a Negative Passion The Jewish Hellenistic tradition in general takes desire (epithumia) as a destructive passion, not neutral desire:
Paralleling James → 142 sees desire as intrinsic to the person: desire is the worst of the passions, for other passions seem to be involuntary and attack the sould from the outside, but Decal. epithumia “alone originates with ourselves, and is voluntary" (tên archên ex hêmôn autôn lambanei kai estin hekousios; 1937, 7:76–79).
James' use of sexual and birth imagery for desire is paralleled in Philo,
15a desire...bears sin Desire as the Source of Sin Second Temple texts agree with James in identifying epithumia as the primary source of sin:
14 dragged away and lured Amplification: The Bait of Pleasure
15b sin …death: Connection of Sin and Death →Conc. Vat. II. Gaud. Spes 18 cites this passage in support of the teaching that humans would have been preserved from bodily death if they had not sinned.
14 desire Desire (Epithumia) in Greco-Roman Philosophical Traditions
In → 4 [440–41], Plato divides the soul into three "parts": the "appetitive" ( Resp.epithumêtikon), the "spirited (thumoeides), and the rational (logistikon); cf. → 21. Desires ( Conf.epithumiai) are generally associated with the lower part of the soul, the epithumêtikon. → 8 [558 D–559], however, also speaks of "essential" (or "necessary": Resp.anagkaiai) and non-essential desires. The necessary desires are desires for food and good health; the unnecessary are desires which go beyond these natural, healthy desires.
→2.5 [1105 B] classes Eth. Nic. epithumia as one of the passions (pathê), along with anger (orgê), fear (phobos), envy (phthonos), joy (chara) and others. A person cannot be praised or blamed for his passions, since they are not a matter of choice. People go astray (hamartanô) when they pursue desires in excess or in the wrong way (→4.11 [1118b]). Eth. Nic.
James, then, concurs with the Stoic tradition's understanding epithumia as a negative passion that leads to sin, strife, and ultimately death.
14 dragged away and lured Fishing Imagery an Ancient Topos The words exelkô, deleazô, and their cognates are frequently combined:
See also:
15 conceived …gives birth to sin…fully grown: Stages of Temptation and Sin
The tradition focuses on the developmental sense of James' passage, identifying stages of temptation.
Bede's commentary describes the process.
→ also describes different stages. Iac. Par.
The same stages are evident in other authors.
Compare Dietrich Bonhoeffer's 20th century explication of James.
The moral lesson (moraliter) of James' teaching here, writes →, is that desires are to be resisted at the earliest stage of temptation; the most efficacious remedy against temptation is prayer (20:58). Augustine also refers to this passage in exhorting his listeners to fight against desire ( Comm.→ 59.9; Serm. → 77A.3) Serm.
13ff he himself tries no one ...tried by his own desire: Temptation and the Cause of Evil
→CCC 2846 references Jas 1:13 in its insistence that the petition in the Lord's Prayer ("lead us not into temptation") does not imply that God actively tempts anyone to sin—rather sin always involves a free choice. The petition means, "We ask him not to allow us to take the way that leads to sin" (Christian Tradition 1:13-14).
Following a clear line in the tradition (Christian Tradition 1:2), →CCC 2847 distinguishes between trials that can be spiritually beneficial and temptations towards sin. "The Holy Spirit makes us discern between trials, which are necessary for the growth of the inner man (referencing Lk 8:13–15; Acts 14:22; Rom 5:3–5; 2Tm 3:12) and temptation, which leads to sin and death (referencing Jas 1:14–15).
13–18 Divisio Textus
See further →James: Medieval Divisio Textus.
15b when it is fully grown An Ironic Use of Perfection / Wholeness The participle apotelestheisa, conveys the basic sense of "perfection" or completion (→James: Perfection / Wholeness in James). Here the sense of becoming fully grown is primary. In this instance, James' usual practice of identifying "perfection" and "completeness" as qualities associated with God and virtue is reversed: sin is "perfect" and "complete."
The prefix apo- is repeated in the next word, apokuei, creating assonance and adding to the rhetorical insistence of the sentence.
13–17 Teaching About That Which Does (not) Come from God
1:1–5:20 James Depictions of the Author Depictions of James, the author of the epistle, in paintings, statues, manuscript illustrations, engravings, woodcuts, and embroidery on liturgical vestments are particularly prominent in the Middle Ages. A common consensus of the artists is that the author of the epistle is James the Just, leader of the Jerusalem church; he is typically further identified with James, son of Alphaeus, one of Jesus' Twelve (Mk 3:18), and "James the Less" (Mk 15:40). The iconography of James draws particularly on accounts of James recorded in → 23 and Hist. eccl.→ 2, who in turn draw on accounts from Clement of Alexandria and Hegesipus. See also Vir. ill.→James: Introduction.
Several prominent features of these portrayals may be noted:
The following images are noteworthy:
James Among Other Apostles (sculpture on limestone, early 13th c.), South Portal, Chartres Cathedral, France
© D.R. Photo Mary Ann Sullivan→
James holds a club.
(1495–1549), The Last Supper (oil on canvas, ca. 1520, after Leonardo da Vinci [1452–1519], The Last Supper [1495-1498]), 298 cm x 770 cm
Royal Academy of Arts, London, exhib. Magdalen College, Oxford
Public Domain © Wikicommons→
James, who resembles his brother Jesus, is second from his left. This full-scale copy was the main source for the— unfortunate—twenty-year restoration of the original (1978–1998). It includes several lost details such as Christ's feet, the transparent glass decanters on the table, and the floral motifs of the tapestries that decorate the room's interior. It was first mentioned in 1626 by the author Bartolomeo Sanese as hanging in the Certosa di Pavia, a monastery near Pavia, Italy, but it is unlikely that it was intended for this location. At some point, the upper third of the picture was cut off, and the width was reduced. Giampietrino is thought to have worked closely with Leonardo when he was in Milan. A very fine, full-size copy of this painting, before it was cut down, is installed at Tongerlo Abbey in Westerlo, near Antwerp, Belgium.
Lucas
(1472–1553), The Holy Kinship, (mixed media on lime, Wittenberg, 1509), Altarpiece, central panel: 100.4 × 121.1 cm; wings: 40 × 120 cmStädel Museum — 1398, Frankfurt am Main
Public Domain © Wikicommons→
The side and central panels describe a a great hall with blue grey walls and three-colored tiles. In the side panels are depicted the half sisters of Virgin Mary, called after their fathers Mary Cleophas (left) and Mary Salome (right) together with their husbands.
Left panel: St. Mary Cleophas and Alphaeus (with the features of Friedrich the Wise with their two sons, the Apostles St. James the Less (at her breast) and Joseph Justus, called St. Barnabas, as annunciator of the Gospel of Matthew depicted with a book.
Central panel: Joseph, who seems to seems to sleep, the Virgin, dressed in blue with yellow lining, Anna and the Christ Child on her knee, who is stretching out his hand towards an apple given to him by Virgin Mary. Anna's three husbands following → are shown in the background in the matroneum: on the left Joachim, who is attracted by the holy women in front of him and whose relation is also shown by the corresponding blue and yellow color of his dress, Cleophas (with the physiognomy and chain of Emperor Maximilian I and Salomas, with the physiognomy of Sixtus Oelhafen von Schöllenbach, secretary of Friedrich III, Maximilian I and Karl V), who are talking to each other. There is an architectural structure by a great stone bench in the foreground of the central panel with two marble columns on the sides, over which is strectched a cloth of gold. On the right column is a tablet with date and signature: [LVCAS CHRONVS FACIEBAT ANNO 1509. The parapet of the matroneum is decorated by a sculptured frieze with dancing putti holding six escutcheons with the six fields of Electorate of Saxony. In the hall are shown the 17 members of the Holy Kinship. In the central panel are shown two more children of Mary Cleophas and Alpheus, the Apostles Simon, patron saint of weavers, dyers, tanners and saddlers and Jude, who went on mission and suffered their martyrdom together and therefore are regularly depicted together. Leg. aur.
Right panel: St. Mary Salome and Zebedee (with the features of Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, and his brother Herzog Johann der Beständige). St. Mary Salome, dressed in gold with dark red lining, is combing her son Saint James the Greater and while Saint John the Evangelist is hiding in her dress.
Paolo
Cagliari (1528-1888), Saint James, (oil on canvas, ca. 1578), 200 X 85 cm, One of the volets of the organ of the church of San Jacopo, Murano, Venice — the other is a portrait of St. Augustine.Burghley House Collection, Lincolnshire, UK, © A Graduate of Pomona→
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(Domenikos Theotokópoulos) 1541-1614, The Apostle James the Greater, (Oil on canvas, 1610-1614), 100 cm X 80 cm
Museo de El Greco→ (Toledo, Spain), © Wikicommons,
James is shown holding a Bible, symbolizing his status as a scriptural writer, in one hand. James is depicted in the Mannerist style with elongated form and without any of the traditional iconographic symbols
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Nicolò Chorus Venezia→
(1651-1736), San Giacomo Minore (Oil on canvas, 1722-1723), Communion of St James (Series of the Twelve Apostles), Presbytery: right wall, center, Saint Stae,Venezia, ©The risen Jesus appears to James and breaks bread with him (based on an account recorded in → 2, said to be drawn from the Gospel according to the Hebrews). Vir. ill.
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(1671 – 1715), Jacobus Minor (Sculpture on marble, 1710-1711), Gli Apostoli, (h: 424 cm), Nef, San Giovanni in Laterano, Roma, © Wikicommons
James holds a book and club.
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James
(French, 1836-1902), James the Lesser, (Opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper, 1886-1894), 30.6 x 23.5 cm, Brooklyn Museum, 00.159.237, © Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2008James, resembling Jesus, prayers on his knees with outstretched arms. It perhaps reflects Hegesippus' statement that James spent so much time in prayer that his knees were as hard as a camel's.
, James the Just, (pigments on wood, mid. 16th c.), icon, Novgorod or Moskow, Novgorod
Public Domain © Wikicommons→,
The inscription bearing the name of the saint has disappeared, but the iconography—facial features and beard shape —suggest that the icon is of James. Byzantine art places him among the founding fathers of the Church. As the creator of the first liturgy containing memorial services and the author of the message, which speaks of the healing power of prayer (Jas 5:14-16), he was also worshipped in ancient times as a healer. In Novgorod, James is prayed for the end of the epidemics. In sacred iconography, the representations of James of Jerusalem alone are very rare. We know the icons of Novgorod in which he is represented with other saints: Nicholas the Thaumaturgist, James the brother of God, Ignatius the bearer of God, end of the 15th c.; James the brother of God, Cosmas and Damian, 2nd quarter of the 16th c. The icon comes from the best workshops in Moscow or Novgorod.
15a when desire has conceived PERSONIFICATON: Sexual Imagery James personifies the forces of desire, sin, and death (see Rom 7:10–11). His feminine imagery may allude to the portrayal in Prv 5 of folly as a woman who seduces a young man away from the righteous path. The sexual imagery also builds on the sexual connotation of epithumia ("desire"). E.g., Ex 20:17: "You shall not covet (epithumeô) your neighbor's wife").
13ff God cannot be tried Active or Passive? V takes the Greek apeirastos in an active sense, "God is not a tempter of evil things/ bad people" (intemptator malorum); S take it as a passive expression: "God is not tempted by the evil (things)" (l’ mnsy bbyšt’; Grammar 1:13b).
13f tried by his own desire Proof-text for Free Will and a Unified Human Nature
15a bears sin Providing an Example and Specifying the Metaphor
15b gives birth to death Earning Eternal Death
→ points out the parallel in James' thought. Ep. cath.
The interpretative tradition understands James' reference as a spiritual death:
14 desire Concupiscense V and the Latin tradition translate desire (epithumia) with concupiscentia.