Blessed [is the] man who endures temptation; for, having been proved, he shall receive the crown of life, which He has promised to them that love him.
In James's letter, trials are the setting for a promise. The verse calls the person who endures blessed, and it names the reward — a crown of life, promised to those who love God.
Blessing now, glory later
God calls the one who endures blessed while the trial is still on, not only when it is over. One writer sets this in the wider shape of the Christian life:
The believer is blessed when he passes through temptations and bears them with patience. This is the normal state of the Christian (1 Peter 4:12). The desert is his pathway; his calling is patience here and glory hereafter. He is tested here. By grace he stays faithful and steady in temptation and trial. Afterwards he will inherit the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him. The life that has no trials is no life, but the one who is tried is blessed.
Two different things called temptation
James now turns to a second kind of trial. One writer marks the line clearly:
The Apostle moves on to warn us of another character of trial. He has been speaking of the trial of faith that comes from circumstances outside us (verses 2, 3). Now he warns us not to confuse that trial with the trials that come from the flesh within. God can try us with outward circumstances. But God cannot be tempted with evil, and He does not tempt anyone to do evil.
Knowing which one you are in changes who you are dealing with:
Trial (or temptation) may come to us from two sources. It comes from God when He tests our heart and faith — "God tested Abraham" (older translations read "tempted"). It comes from the enemy when it reaches us through wrong desire, and the flesh joins in. How much better it is to have to do with God in the trial than with Satan!
Proved, then crowned
"When he has stood the test" points to something already examined and approved. The verse places today's reader in a long line of tested people:
Happy is the man who endures trial. So it was with men of marked faith long ago — Job, Abraham, David, and the prophets; so it is now for every believer, and it is made plain by Him who endured more than all, and as He alone could... "Because, having been put to proof (or approved), he shall receive the crown of life, which He promised to those that love Him." ... How sweet, while we are pilgrims and strangers, to have so cheering a promise in the trial we endure!
What the crown of life is
The crown answers the very thing trial threatens: life itself. One writer draws out the reversal:
The Lord delights to own the faith of His saints; and if they have shown that they did not love their life in this world, even to death, it will be as though they had gained it in the world to come. Life will be a crown to them there, as the glorious reward of their not having cared for it here.
Who receives it
Commentators differ here. Some read the crown as belonging to every believer, since the promise names those who love God:
It is called "the crown of life." James says God promises it to all who love Him (1:12). All who are born of God do this, so it is hereditary — not through our first birth, but the second. In Revelation 2:10, in days when believers were being killed for Christ, the First and the Last, who died and came to life, spoke of that crown to encourage those who suffered.
Others, reading the same Revelation passage, tie the crown specifically to dying for Christ:
We must see what being faithful to death means here. It is not simply staying faithful all through our natural lives. It means dying for the sake of Christ and His word. It is a call to be faithful even at the cost of life.
Love, not self
The promise speaks to those who love God. That love changes how we take a trial:
We often rebel in trials because we love ourselves and want to defend and vindicate ourselves. But if we love Him, we should endure for His sake.
Summary
- Blessed — God calls the one still under trial happy. The desert is the Christian's road, and glory comes after it.
- Tested — the pressure comes from outside, from God's hand. The pull from within is a different thing, and it is not from Him.
- Approved — the crown follows a test already passed. Job, Abraham, David and, above all, Christ walked that path.
- Crowned — life becomes the reward of those who did not cling to life. Commentators differ over who receives it — every believer who loves God, or those who die for Him.
- Loving — self-love makes us rebel in trial. Love for Him makes us endure for His sake, and that love is the only thing the promise asks for.