Augustine of Hippo

In his own words on James

• James 1:2

  And think not that, because we are bishops, it is impossible for unjust passionate resentment to gain secretly upon us; let us rather remember that, because we are men, your life in the midst of temptation's snares is beset with the greatest possible dangers.

  LETTERS 250

• James 1:5

  Because, although wisdom is obtained from faith, even as James himself, when he had said, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given," immediately added, "But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering:" it is not, nevertheless, because faith is given before it is asked for by him to whom it is given, that it must therefore be said not to be the gift of God, but to be of ourselves, because it is given to us without our asking for it! For the apostle very plainly says, "Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." From whom, therefore, are peace and love, from Him also is faith; wherefore, from Him we ask not only that it may be increased to those that possess it, but also that it may be given to those that possess it not.

  ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE 44

• James 1:5

  Why, then, does he not listen to the Spirit of his Father, speaking through Christ's apostle, or even Christ Himself, who says in His gospel, "Seek and ye shall find;" and who also says to us, speaking by His apostle: "If any one of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given to him. Let him, however, ask in faith, nothing wavering?" This is the faith by which the just man lives; this is the faith whereby he believes on Him who justifies the ungodly; this is the faith through which boasting is excluded, either by the retreat of that with which we become self-inflated, or by the rising of that with which we glory in the Lord. This, again, is the faith by which we procure that largess of the Spirit, of which it is said: "We indeed through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith."

  ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER 56

• James 1:5

  Remember what the Scriptures say: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given to him." Wisdom itself cometh down from above, as the Apostle James himself tells us.… What blessing, then, will that man not have who has prayed for this wisdom and obtained it of the Lord? And from this you may understand what grace is; because if this wisdom were of ourselves, it would not be from above; nor would it be an object to be asked for of the God who created us.

  ON GRACE AND FREE WILL 24

• James 1:7

  Purely human merits are evil, and God does not crown them. Any good merit is a gift of God.

  ON GRACE AND FREE WILL 6

• James 1:13

  By temptation in this context, James meant the bad sort by which we are deceived and subjected to the devil. There is another kind of temptation [mentioned in Deuteronomy 13:3] which is really a kind of testing that comes from God.

  SERMONS 57.9

• James 1:14

  The one giving birth is lust, the thing born is sin. Lust does not give birth unless it conceives, and it does not conceive unless it entices and receives willing consent to commit evil. Therefore our battle against lust consists in keeping it from conceiving and giving birth to sin.

  AGAINST JULIAN 6.15.47

• James 1:14

  Against this fault medicinal aid is sought from him who can heal all illnesses of this sort, not by separating an alien nature from us but by healing our own nature.

  On Continence 7

• James 1:15

  Each one of us is tempted by our own lust, so let us fight and resist and not give in nor allow ourselves to be lured by it, nor allow it to conceive anything to which it might then give birth. It is like this—lust coaxes and coddles you, it excites and urges you on, positively encouraging you to do something wrong. Do not give in and it will not conceive. If you ponder it willingly and with pleasure, then it will conceive and give birth, and you will die.

  SERMONS 77A.3

• James 1:17

  Man's merit is a free gift, and no one deserves to receive anything from the Father of lights, from whom every good gift comes down, except by receiving what he does not deserve.

  LETTERS 186

• James 1:17

  And I am never so much delighted in my treatment of a subject as when Scripture comes most copiously to my aid; and when the question to be discussed requires that "he that glorieth should glory in the Lord;" and that we should in all things lift up our hearts and give thanks to the Lord our God, from whom, "as the Father of lights, every good and every perfect gift cometh down." Now if a gift is not God's gift, because it is wrought by us, or because we act by His gift, then it is not a work of God that "a mountain should be removed into the sea," inasmuch as, according to the Lord's statement, it is by the faith of men that this is possible. Moreover, He attributes the deed to their actual operation: "If ye have faith in yourselves as a grain of mustard-seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, 'Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and it shall be done, and nothing shall be impossible to you.'" Observe how He said "to you," not "to Me" or "to the Father;" and yet it is certain that no man does such a thing without God's gift and operation.

  ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER 63

• James 1:17

  You, therefore, ought also to hope for that perseverance in obedience from the Father of Lights, from whom cometh down every excellent gift and every perfect gift, and to ask for it in your daily prayers; and in doing this ought to trust that you are not aliens from the predestination of His people, because it is He Himself who bestows even the power of doing this. And far be it from you to despair of yourselves, because you are bidden to have your hope in Him, not in yourselves. For cursed is every one who has hope in man.

  ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE 22.62

• James 1:19

  Truth is more safely heard than preached. For when it is heard, lowliness is preserved, but when it is preached some bit of boastfulness may steal in almost unawares, and this brings corruption.

  TRACTATES 57.2, 3

• James 1:22

  James did not say "of the words" but "of the Word," in spite of the fact that there are so many words from the Holy Scriptures which are venerated in the church.

  SERMONS 71.22

• James 1:22

  Neither I nor any other preacher can see into your hearts … but God is looking, for nothing can be hidden from him.… Do not deceive yourselves by coming eagerly to hear the Word and then failing to do it. If it is a good thing to hear, it is a much better thing to do. If you do not hear, you cannot do, and therefore you will build nothing. But if you hear and do not do, then what you are building will be a ruin.

  SERMONS 179.7-8

• James 1:25

  The law of liberty is one of love, not fear. Paul too was no longer terrified by the law of God as a slave would be but was delighted with it, even though he saw another law in his members which was at war against the law of his mind.

  ON NATURE AND GRACE 57 (67)

• James 2:2

  Far from me is the notion that in your tabernacle, Lord, the rich should be more highly regarded than the poor, or the noble than the less well-born. You have chosen the weak things of this world to put the strong to shame, and you have chosen things which are dishonorable, despised and of no account, in order to bring to nothing the things which are.

  Confessions 8.4.9

• James 2:4

  Nor, indeed, in my opinion, are we to esteem it a trifling sin "to have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with respect of persons," if we take the difference between sitting and standing, of which mention is made in the context, to refer to ecclesiastical honours; for who can bear to see a rich man chosen to a place of honour in the Church, while a poor man, of superior qualifications and of greater holiness, is despised? If, however, the apostle speaks there of our daily assemblies, who does not offend in the matter? At the same time, only those really offend here who cherish in their hearts the opinion that a man's worth is to be estimated according to his wealth; for this seems to be the meaning of the expression, "Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?"

  LETTERS 167.18

• James 2:5

  It is by choosing the poor that God makes them rich in faith, just as he makes them heirs of the kingdom. It is rightly said that he chose this faith in them, since it was in order to bring it about that he chose them.

  ON THE PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS 17 (34)

• James 2:10

  How, then, I beseech you, are we to understand the words: "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all"? Does this affirm that the person who shall have committed theft, nay, who even shall have said to the rich man, "Sit thou here" and to the poor man, "Stand thou there," is guilty of homicide, and adultery, and sacrilege? And if he is not so, how can it be said that a person who has offended in one point has become guilty of all? Or are the things which the apostle said concerning the rich man and the poor man not to be reckoned among those things in one of which if any man offend he becomes guilty of all?

  LETTERS 167.3

• James 2:13

  He who judges without mercy will be judged without mercy. And in this sense only is the "same measure" to be understood, that the mercy which he did not show will not be shown to him, and that the judgment which he makes will be eternal, even though the thing judged cannot be eternal.

  LETTER 102.4

• James 2:14

  In order to help them, God has put fear in the hearts of believers, lest they think that they might be saved by faith alone, even if they continue to practice these evils.

  On Continence 14.13

• James 2:17

  I do not understand why the Lord said, "If you want to enter into eternal life, keep the commandments," and then mentioned the commandments relating to good behavior, if one is able to enter into eternal life without observing them.

  ON FAITH AND WORKS 15.25

• James 2:19

  Those who believe and act according to true faith do live and are not dead, but those who do not believe, or else who believe like the demons, trembling but living evilly, proclaiming the Son of God but not having love, must rather be accounted dead.

  TRACTATES 22.7.2

• James 2:19

  Will the devils see God? Those who are pure of heart will see him, and who would say that the devils are pure of heart? Nevertheless, they believe and tremble.

  COMMENTARY ON THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 53.10

• James 2:20

  Holy Scripture should be interpreted in a way which is in complete agreement with those who understood it and not in a way which seems to be inconsistent to those who are least familiar with it. Paul said that a man is justified through faith without the works of the law, but not without those works of which James speaks.

  ON THE CHRISTIAN LIFE 13

• James 2:23

  That Abraham believed God deep in his heart is a matter of faith alone, but that he took his son to sacrifice him … is not just a great act of faith but a great work as well.

  SERMONS 2.9

• James 3:2

  Who then would ever dare to call himself perfect?

  SERMONS 23

• James 3:3

  Note that the comparison is taken from the beasts which we are able to tame. The horse does not tame itself, nor does a man do so. A man is needed in order to tame a horse, and in the same way, God is needed in order to tame a man.

  COMMENTARY ON THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 55.2

• James 3:8

  I do not believe that this passage can bear the interpretation which Pelagius wants to put on it. He says that this is stated as a reproach, as if one were to say: "Is no one therefore able to control his tongue?" As if it were easier to tame the tongue than to tame wild beasts. But I do not believe that this is the meaning. If James had wanted to say that, he would have done so, but instead he was determined to show what a great evil a man's tongue can be, so great that it cannot be tamed by anyone, even though that is not true of wild beasts. He said this not in order that we should tolerate this evil but in order that we should ask for divine grace to tame our tongue.

  ON NATURE AND GRACE 15 (16)

• James 3:17

  This is the wisdom which tames the tongue, descending from above, not springing from the human heart. Would anyone dare to snatch it away from the grace of God and, with overweening pride, place it in the power of man?

  ON NATURE AND GRACE 16 (17)

• James 4:3

  If someone intends to misuse what he receives, he will not receive it. Instead, God will pity him.

  TRACTATES 73.1

• James 4:4

  It was because of these enmities toward God that not even his only-begotten Son was spared.

  TRACTATES 101.2

• James 4:6

  Give me someone professing perpetual continence, who is free from all vices and blemishes of conduct. For her I fear pride—I dread the swelling of self-conceit from so great a blessing. The more there is in her which she is satisfied with, the more I fear that in pleasing herself she will displease the one who resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

  On Holy Virginity 34

• James 4:14

  Restoring health for a time to a man's body amounts to no more than extending his breath for a little while longer. Therefore it should not be considered of great importance, because it is temporal, not eternal.

  SERMONS 124.1

• James 4:17

  Does the one who does not know how to do good and does not do it commit a sin? He certainly does, but the one who knows what is good and does not do it sins more grievously.

  ADULTEROUS MARRIAGES 9

• James 5:11

  James means: "Bear your temporal misfortunes as Job did, but do not hope for temporal goods as a reward for your patience, such as were returned to him double. Rather hope for the eternal goods which the Lord went before us to secure."

  LETTERS 140.10

• James 5:16

  Everyone claims this consideration from others whenever possible, for what each of us would punish if it occurred in our house, we want to leave unpunished in someone else's house. For if we are called to a friend's house and find him about to punish someone over whom he has power, it is considered most inhumane for us not to intervene.

  LETTERS 153

• James 5:16

  Let us listen to the Apostle James, who states this precept with the greatest clearness when he says, "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another." For of this also the Lord gave us the example. For if He who neither has, nor had, nor will have any sin, prays for our sins, how much more ought we to pray for one another's in turn! And if He forgives us, whom we have nothing to forgive; how much more ought we, who are unable to live here without sin, to forgive one another!

  TRACTATES 58.2