James 1:2
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Study Note
Study Note
The counterintuitive command 'consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds' inaugurates one of the New Testament's most distinctive treatments of suffering. The Greek 'hegeomai' (consider/count) is a deliberate cognitive act, not a spontaneous emotion — James calls for a chosen interpretation of trials rather than a felt reaction. 'Pure joy' (pasan charan, all joy) is extravagant: not joy alongside the trial but joy fully, grounded in the knowledge (verse 3) that testing produces endurance. The verse introduces a developmental theology of suffering: trials are not obstacles to maturity but instruments of it, ultimately producing the 'mature and complete' person described in verse 4.
Other Translations
Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations;
All joy count <FI>it<Fi> , my brethren, when ye may fall into temptations manifold;
Let it be all joy to you, my brothers, when you undergo tests of every sort;
Cross References
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Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
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