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PROPRIETY, PATIENCE, & PRAYERS
When a person we’re talking to uses the phrase “trust me” in every other sentence, more likely than not that person is untrustworthy. A person with little trustworthiness and legitimacy needs something to back himself or herself with a speech that people can believe in. A simple “trust me,” they think, would help.
In the same manner, people in James’s time use something to the likeness of “swear to god” or “honest to God” to make themselves believable. Probably it was a common thing in those days to swear but James is warning Christ followers to not do a such thing. He pleads to their honest and trustworthy conduct. As a new faith in the community, their speech and their testimony need convincing and James is simply instructing to not swear by heaven or earth, or anything else. Be simple, direct, and honest.
Scripture
About this Plan
For James, Christians (that is, followers of his half-brother) should reflect the character of their God. And what we find in this letter is not works and more works as sometimes thought to be. On the contrary it is a letter infused by God’s character, with the intention of making God-shaped people living in the world.
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We would like to thank International English Service Jakarta for providing this plan. For more information, please visit: http://iesjakarta.org/
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