James 1:12

When he is tried] RV' when he hath been approved.' Crown] the wreath that crowns the victor (2 Timothy 4:8; Revelation 2:10).

13-15. Trials from within (= temptations). The Jews seem to have sometimes believed (from a mistaken interpretation of passages like 2 Samuel 24:1) that God sent temptations, and that it was therefore impossible to resist them (Romans 9:19). This error was fatal alike to any true conception of God and to any realisation of human responsibility. It made the one God inconsistent with Himself. God is insusceptible to evil, and never tempts to sin, though He may permit temptation, in order that we may be made stronger by resisting it. Temptation comes from a man's own heart, with its evil desire, that draws him from the right path. Desire becomes the mother of sin. Sin grows up and has a child—death.