The book of James was written by Jesus’ physical brother. Mary was mother of both. However, Joseph was James’ father. God was Jesus’ father. Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus. James became leader of the Jerusalem Church after Jesus was crucified, and he wrote the book of James.
In these beginning passages, James wrote about sin and how sin manifests itself in human beings. He wrote, “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.” When a person becomes a believer, the Holy Spirit of God enables them to avoid sin. Believers are still tempted and capable of sinning, but they have been freed from the bondage to sin. They can turn away from sin.
However, temptations to sin can be very strong and difficult to resist. The only way to avoid sinning is to fight against temptations. An effective way to do this is to think about the consequences of the sin we are considering. For example, think about the marriage or family that will be destroyed as a result of committing adultery. That one act could destroy two marriages and two families.
Think about a person’s reputation that may be harmed by gossip or sharing harmful information with others. It might be fun to degrade another, but it could cause irreparable harm. Again, to avoid sinning we must fight it in the temptation stage. If we don’t do that, we will sin and suffer the consequences.
