<p>1:6 <i>But let him ask in faith, never doubting. For he that doubts is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed- </i>A half hearted 'Dear God please keep me from this sin I think I may well commit soon' is no good. It is easy to conceive of faith as a sense of hope and trust in God in time of physical trial. But far more is it a totality of belief that God will hold us back from sinning as the temptation starts to develop- surely the supreme way of showing faith.</p><p>There must be a connection with the later description of a controlled tongue being the force that overcomes fierce winds (3:2-4). Words being a reflection of the mind (Mt. 12:34), controlled words show a controlled mind, which is through the influence of the word. Such a man is a &quot;perfect man&quot; (3:2)- i.e. matured by the word (2 Tim. 3:16,17; 1 Cor. 13:10). Thus the only way to ask for spiritual strength is if the mind is firmly controlled by the word, which thus generates an upwards spiritual spiral- &quot;unto every one that hath (of spiritual strength) shall (more) be given... but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath&quot; (Mt. 25:29). This parable of the talents must refer to spiritual knowledge and strength, and the need we have to develop (trade) the spiritual gifts we have been given. Notice how we are given the talents/ gifts of spirituality, totally at the discretion of the Master. In a similar way, the gift of wisdom in James 1:5 equates with the &quot;good and perfect gift... from the Father... the word of truth&quot; of 1:17,18 and the wisdom that descends from above that is pureness, peace, gentleness, mercy etc. in 3:17.</p><p>&quot;Doubts&quot; comes from a root meaning 'division', giving the idea of inner debate. We will see that time and again James is warning us against having a semi-spirituality, whereby only part of our mind is totally influenced by the word, whilst other parts still retain the thinking of the flesh.&nbsp; James being so shot through with allusions to the Gospels, it is tempting to think that James is as it were taking a snapshot of Peter, wavering both in his physical movement and in faith as he stood on the water. Jesus did not upbraid Peter (cp. 1:5) for his request for strength and support, but was eager to satisfy it. There is also a possible connection with Eph. 4:13,14, which says that the miraculous Spirit gifts were to be possessed <i>until</i> the church reached the &quot;perfect man&quot; state, i.e. when the canon was completed (1 Cor. 13:8-10 cp. 2 Tim. 3:16,17), and that through being in that state they would &quot;henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine... and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive&quot;. The primary reference is doubtless to the doctrine of the Judaizers. This would liken the brother in James 1 whose faith in the Lord's protection from temptation is weak, to the brother in Ephesians 4 who will not make full use of the word to remain in the &quot;perfect man&quot; state, and is therefore liable to be influenced by false teaching. Both brethren are weak for the same reason- not making full use of the Spirit's gift in the word. Eph. 4:13,14 implies that firmly grasping the basic doctrines of the one faith results in us not being blown about by winds. This connection with James teaches that true doctrine will have a very practical effect upon our lives; in this case, by developing a firm faith.</p><p>It's significant and instructive that the other leaders of the early church not only accept Peter's authority, but do so exactly because of how he had dealt with his weaknesses and failures. It's as if they see in his humanity a reason to elevate him in their own estimations. Thus Peter&rsquo;s wavering when walking on the water is picked up by James, in one of the earliest of the New Testament letters note the allusions to Stephen, John the Baptist, the references to Christians as still meeting in the synagogue, etc.- it has been argued by John Robinson that James was in fact the first of the epistles. It seems that the &ldquo;scattered abroad&rdquo; audience of James 1:1 refers to the scattering abroad of the Jewish believers in Acts 8:1. James warns that we shouldn&rsquo;t waver in faith, like a wave on the water, blown and tossed around by the wind (James 1:6). James of course had seen Peter wavering on the water; and he holds up Peter, who at that time was the senior elder of the very early church, as an example of how<i> not</i> to be. My point is that the greatness of Peter was in his example of failure and how he overcame it.</p>