Double-Mindedness
Category: Failure of faith
Could endure: Ask God in faith without doubting.
“But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt.” (James 1:6)
Cross-Refs: Mark 11:24; Hebrews 11:6.
Chose wrongly: Wavered between faith and doubt.
“Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.” (James 1:8)
Cross-Refs: Matthew 6:24; 1 Kings 18:21.
Endured (negatively): Received nothing from the Lord.
“That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” (James 1:7)
Cross-Refs: Isaiah 59:2; Hebrews 3:19.
Why (wrong motive): Divided loyalties between God and the world.
“Come near to God and he will come near to you… purify your hearts, you double-minded.” (James 4:8)
Cross-Refs: Matthew 15:8; 2 Timothy 3:5.
Result: Spiritually unstable, ineffective in prayer.
“You do not have because you do not ask God.” (James 4:2)
Cross-Refs: Proverbs 28:9; 1 John 5:14.
Favoritism
Category: Failure of love
Could endure: Keep the royal law, love your neighbor.
“If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right.” (James 2:8)
Cross-Refs: Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:39.
Chose wrongly: Showed favoritism to the rich.
“But if you show favoritism, you sin.” (James 2:9)
Cross-Refs: Proverbs 28:21; Galatians 2:6.
Endured (negatively): Became judges with evil thoughts.
“Have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?” (James 2:4)
Cross-Refs: John 7:24; Micah 3:11.
Why (wrong motive): Desire for status, human approval.
“If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes…” (James 2:3)
Cross-Refs: Matthew 23:5–7; John 12:43.
Result: Transgressors of the law.
“If you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.” (James 2:9)
Cross-Refs: Romans 2:11; 1 Peter 1:17.
Uncontrolled Tongue
Category: Failure of self-control
Could endure: Speak with wisdom from above.
“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” (James 1:19)
Cross-Refs: Proverbs 10:19; Colossians 4:6.
Chose wrongly: Spoke with cursing, boasting, and fire of hell.
“The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body.” (James 3:6)
Cross-Refs: Proverbs 18:21; Matthew 12:36.
Endured (negatively): Defiled whole body, set life on fire.
“…it corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire.” (James 3:6)
Cross-Refs: Psalm 52:2–4; Romans 3:13–14.
Why (wrong motive): Pride, anger, selfish ambition.
“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings.” (James 3:9)
Cross-Refs: Proverbs 12:18; Ephesians 4:29.
Result: Condemned by words.
“The tongue… is itself set on fire by hell.” (James 3:6)
Cross-Refs: Matthew 15:11; Revelation 21:8.
Quarrels and Worldliness
Category: Failure of submission
Could endure: Submit to God, resist the devil.
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)
Cross-Refs: 1 Peter 5:8–9; Ephesians 6:11.
Chose wrongly: Quarreled and fought out of selfish desires.
“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?” (James 4:1)
Cross-Refs: Galatians 5:15; Proverbs 13:10.
Endured (negatively): Became friends with the world, enemies of God.
“Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” (James 4:4)
Cross-Refs: 1 John 2:15–17; Matthew 6:24.
Why (wrong motive): Coveting, selfish pleasure.
“You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.” (James 4:2)
Cross-Refs: Romans 7:23; 2 Timothy 3:2–4.
Result: Resisted by God.
“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” (James 4:6)
Cross-Refs: Proverbs 3:34; Luke 14:11.
Faith Without Works
Category: Failure of authenticity
Could endure: Demonstrate living faith by deeds.
“I will show you my faith by my deeds.” (James 2:18)
Cross-Refs: Matthew 7:16–20; 1 John 3:18.
Chose wrongly: Claimed faith without action.
“Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (James 2:17)
Cross-Refs: Titus 1:16; Matthew 25:42–43.
Endured (negatively): Empty profession, useless faith.
“You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?” (James 2:20)
Cross-Refs: 1 Corinthians 13:2; Revelation 3:1.
Why (wrong motive): Self-deception, laziness.
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (James 1:22)
Cross-Refs: Matthew 7:26; Ezekiel 33:31.
Result: Condemned as dead faith.
“As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” (James 2:26)
Cross-Refs: John 15:6; Romans 2:6–8.