Deem it nothing but an occasion for joy, my brothers, whenever (on each occasion when ) you encounter trying assaults of evil in their various forms (The Epistle of James 1:2, translated by Adamson, p. 52).
James includes verses 2 through 4 in this section but this article will only discuss his commentary on verse 2. I think it’s important to include the citations and notes relevant to his arguments. If I include all three verses in this article it will be too long. I’ll discuss Jame 3-4 in the next article.
Peirasmos
According to Adamson, the dominant ideas of the Epistle are the duty and the reward of endurance under peirasmos, a ‘certain and not distant victory’. The words and example of Jesus inspire this approach. He cites Luke 6:22.
Peirasmos roughly means temptation or temptations. (The KJV translation, Strong’s translation, and an outline of Biblical usage can be seen here.)
In the following paragraph, Adamson discusses the concept of joy. Christian joy is a kind of activity. He compares it to Aristotle’s notion of happiness. However, the word ‘happiness’ falls short of Aristotle’s thought in Greek, and ‘joy’ in English falls short of the Christian’s thought.
Christian joy is a man’s pleasure in his (and his brothers’) progress toward Christian salvation; and it is not undiluted pleasure. Judaism also ‘baptized moral joy into religion’ (p. 53).
Adamson cites the rabbis (b. San. 101a and Exod R. i.1); and R. Joshua B. Levi (Ta’an. 8a), who declared that ‘He who gladly accepts the sufferings of this world brings salvation to the world’.
Pagan philosophy understood this concept in much the same way: ‘True joy is an exacting business’ (the Stoic Seneca, p. 53).

Internal and External Temptations
Some commentators have argued that James distinguishes between internal and external temptations. But Adamson tells us that in the Christian life, there is no effective difference. Both external and internal stimuli can goad a man into sin. This is due to the defects inherent in human nature.
When it comes to sexual lust, for example, the temptation of straying thought is no less real or potent than a provocative woman. (Adamson’s term was ‘ provocative temptress’. I am aware of the importance of words and meanings when it comes to Bible verses and commentary, so I’m making you aware of this change. I changed it because I believe Adamson’s commentary on the Epistle of James is worthwhile and I prefer not to lose readers in the first chapter. This particular word choice is not representative of Adamson’s work.)
The Greek Version Regarding Internal and External Temptations
I’m afraid I don’t understand Adamson’s point here well enough to summarize the rest of the paragraph. It was obviously important to him because he provided his argument in careful detail so, I’ve included the following as a direct quote. Don’t be discouraged. Most of the book is enjoyable to read.
In the Greek of this verse, the picturesque adjective ‘various’, or ‘varied’, (ποικίλος) is in an emphatic position; and it would not have been wasted here by a master of the language on a tepid armchair dichotomy to signify or emphasize such difference as may exist between ‘external’ and ‘internal’ temptations. There are no otiose adjectives in James’s style; in 1:2 (against Ropes, one of the sources listed in his bibliography) ‘varied’, as the order shows to the discerning, is as emphatic as the noun ‘endurance’ in the next verse and the adjectives and participial phrase in v. 4, and the noun’ wisdom’ and the adverb ‘simply’ in v. 5. If James had wanted to use peirasmos in a selective sense he would scarcely have given it the expansive and emphatic ‘varied’ in hyperbaton without any indication that the sense of the noun was restricted. It is only in a clear context that peirasmoi has the narrower meaning. (Here he provides technical detail and Greek translations in a note, #17, which is pasted below. I apologize. Most of this type of detail is in his excursus, which I ignore. I decided it was worth the effort because of the last sentence.) The Greek verb, encounter, #18 below, is apt for both kinds of temptation (Hort, against Mayor). Like the Latin incido it can have a deliberate meaning, as in a memorable passage in Xenophon, but it often indicates an unplanned and frequently, as here, an undesired incident. Much of the strength of temptation lies in our never knowing what it is going to do next.
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