James 1:3

γινώσκοντες : “recognising”; this seems to be the force of the word γιγνώσκω in Hellenistic Greek (see Lightfoot, Ep. to the Galatians, p. 171); if so, it comes very appositely after ἡγήσασθε. τὸ δοκίμιον ὑμῶν τῆς πίστεως : according to instances of the use of the word δοκίμιον given by Deissmann (Neue Bibelstudien, pp. 187 ff.) it means “pure” or “genuine”; it is the neuter of the adjective used as a substantive, followed by a genitive; the phrase would thus mean: “That which is genuine in your faith worketh …”; this meaning of δοκίμιον makes 1 Peter 1:7 clearer and more significant; cf. Proverbs 27:21 (Sept.); Sir 2:1 ff. On πίστις see James 1:6. κατεργάζεται : emphatic form of ἐργάζεται, “accomplishes”. ὑπομονήν : the word here means “the frame of mind which endures,” as distinct from the act of enduring which is the meaning of the word in 2 Corinthians 1:6; 2 Corinthians 6:4. Philo calls ὑπομονή the queen of virtues (see Mayor, in loc.), it is one which has probably been nowhere more fully exemplified than in the history of the Jewish race.