the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
ways
ὁδοῖςhodois
G3598
a road · noun — dative plural feminine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Kings 18:21 And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then foll…
Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Y…
James 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Isaiah 29:13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their he…
2 Peter 2:14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices…
2 Kings 17:41 So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers,…
2 Peter 3:16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned…
2 Kings 17:33 They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on James 1:2-12
We now come to consider the matter of this epistle. In this paragraph we have the following things to be observed: -
I. The suffering state of Christians in this world is represented, and that in a very instructive manner, if we attend to what is plainly and necessarily implied, together with what is fully expressed. 1. It is implied that troubles and afflictions may be the lot of the best Christians, even of those who have the most reason to think and hope well of themselves. Such as have a title to the greatest joy may yet endure very grievous afflictions. As good people are liable to be scattered, they must not think it strange if they meet with troubles. 2. These outward afflictions and…
double-minded--literally, "double-souled," the one soul directed towards God, the other to something else. The Greek favors ALFORD'S translation, "He (the waverer, Jam 1:6) is a man double-minded, unstable," &c.; or better, BEZA'S. The words in this Jam 1:8 are in apposition with "that man," Jam 1:7; thus the "us," which is not in the original, will not need to be supplied, "A man double-minded, unstable in all his ways!" The word for "double-minded" is found here and in Jam 4:8, for the first time in Greek literature. It is not a hypocrite that is meant, but a fickle, "wavering" man, as the context shows. It is opposed to the single eye (Mat 6:22).
Adam Clarke on James 1:8
A double-minded man - Ανηρ διψυχος· The man of two souls, who has one for earth, and another for heaven; who wishes to secure both worlds; he will not give up earth, and he is loth to let heaven go. This was a usual term among the Jews, to express the man who attempted to worship God, and yet retained the love of the creature. Rabbi Tanchum, fol. 84, on Deu 26:17, said: "Behold, the Scripture exhorts the Israelites, and tells them when they pray, לא יהיה להם שתי לבבות lo yiyeh lahem shetey lebaboth, that they should not have two hearts, one for the holy blessed God, and one for something else." A man of this character is continually distracted; he will neither let earth nor heaven go, and ye…
We who do not follow our Lord with complete and perfect faith but yet have withdrawn from foreign gods dwell in a no-man's land. We are cut down by the foreign gods as deserters, but because we are unstable and unreliable, we are not defended by our Lord.
Put away doubting from you and do not hesitate to ask of the Lord, saying to yourself, "How can I ask of the Lord and receive from Him, seeing I have sinned so much against Him?" Do not thus reason with yourself, but with all your heart turn to the Lord and ask of Him without doubting, and you will know the multitude of His tender mercies; that He will never leave you, but fulfil the request of your soul. For He is not like men, who remember evils done against them; but He Himself remembers not evils, and has compassion on His own creature. ... For those who doubt regarding God are double-souled, and obtain not one of their requests. But those who are perfect in faith ask everything, trusting in the Lord; and they obtain, because they ask nothing doubting, and not being double-souled. For every double-souled man, even if he repent, will with difficulty be saved.
A man of double mind is unstable in all his ways. In all his ways, in adversity and prosperity, he says. A man, however, is double-minded, who both kneels to pray to the Lord and utters prayerful words, yet inwardly doubts, due to his accusing conscience, that he can obtain. A man is double-minded who wants to rejoice here with the world and reign there with God. Likewise, a man is double-minded who seeks not inward reward in the good things he does but outward favor. Hence, it is well said by a certain wise one: Woe to the sinner who enters the land on two paths (Eccli. II). For the sinner enters the land on two paths, when what he shows in action belongs to God, and what he seeks in thought belongs to the world. However, all these are unstable in all their ways, because they are easily deterred by worldly adversities and entangled by prosperities, so that they stray from the path of truth.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Decision · Opposed to: Double-mindedness — Opposed to: Double-mindedness
Instability · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Steadfastness · Commanded — Commanded
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Gill on James 1:8
A double minded man,.... A man of two souls, or of a double heart, that speaks and asks with an heart, and an heart, as in Psalm 12:2 who halts between two opinions, and is at an uncertainty what to do or say, and is undetermined what to ask for; or who is not sincere and upright in his requests, who asks for one thing, and means another, and asks amiss, and with an ill design; does not call upon God in truth, and in the sincerity of his soul; draws nigh to him with his mouth, and honours him with his lips, but his heart is far from him. Such an one is
unstable in all his ways; he is confused in his mind; restless in his thoughts, unsettled in his designs and intentions; inconstant in his p…
James 1:5-8
5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
5 Porro si quis autem vestrum destituitur sapientia, postulet a Deo, qui dat omnibus simpliciter, nec exprobrat; et dabitur ei.
6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
6 Postulet autem in fide, nihil haesitans; nam qui haesitat similis est fluctui maris, qui a vento agitur et circumfertur.
7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
7 non ergo existimet homo ille quod sit quicquam accepturus a Domino.
8 A double minded man is unsta…
Their loyalty is divided between God and the world (literally They are double-minded): James might have created the Greek word used here. He emphasizes the need for confidence in God alone.
