Verse twelve: Here James is telling the church that His true saints will be severely tried, tested and tempted, and that the result of “enduring to the end” (Mat.10:22) will be to receive the crown of life which Jesus promised to those who love him. Notice in the Matthew reference that salvation will come at the return of Jesus Christ, not in this age. Notice several key words in the James 1:12 verse: temptation, tested, tried, endure, crown, love. In order to find the Truth of God we must do as we are commanded in Isaiah 28:9,10,13–we must combine ALL the Truths relative to a subject in order to find THE Truth. Like a picture puzzle, every Scripture must fit with all the others in order to find God’s Truth.

For the true saint of God, testing, etc. often comes in the form of persecution from those in professing Christendom. See Persecution. But there are other types of testing. Satan knows our vulnerabilities and attacks us accordingly. He hopes that we will yield to him and sin, thereby separating ourselves from God (Isa. 59:2) which leaves us powerless before him (Satan). This inevitably leads to other sins which removes us farther from the Lord and spiritually weaker.

If one is not a true “line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little” student of the Bible, one will misunderstand many Scriptures such as “for when he is tried he will receive the crown of life.” The Scripturally deficient reader might assume that being tested automatically results in salvation. However, if one continues to read the passage one will find these Words relative to the crown of life: “which the Lord has promised to them that LOVE HIM.” “I love the Lord” is often heard when church people speak. Jesus gives us THE test to determine who actually does and who does not love Him. The test is found in John 14:15, Matthew 19:17 and 1 John 5:3 respectively: “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” … if you would enter into (eternal) life, keep the commandments.” “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” Here Jesus ties together love for Him, obeying the Ten Commandments (see The Mark of the Beast) and receiving eternal life. To the above Scriptures the Lord adds:  “Whosoever keeps (obeys) His Word, in him verily is the love of God perfected; hereby we know that we know Him.” Note that we know God only if we obey His Words–all of them. By this we we know that love for Him and obedience to His Word are necessary for receiving the promised crown. Recall that God said through James (2:10) that to break one commandment (#4 for example–see The Mark of the Beast) is to break all ten of them, making one a “worker of iniquity” (a Lawless person) to whom Jesus will say on Judgment Day, “I never knew you, depart from Me ….” (Mat. 7:23).

In 2 Timothy 4:19 the Lord goes further in His commandments concerning the reception of the CROWN of salvation. As is the case with every promise of God, there are requirements that must be met. Note this doctrine in the following passage: “Henceforth there is laid up for me (the Apostle Paul) a CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me AT THAT DAY (of judgment), and not to me only, but to all who LOVE His appearing (Second Coming).” Notice that to receive a future life with the Lord one must live his present life in a state of righteousness. God shows us how we must live our life in 1 John 2:6: “If we profess to be His (Christ’s) we must WALK EVEN AS HE WALKED” (1 Jn. 2:6). To receive salvation we must emulate the earthly life of Jesus Christ, Who obeyed God’s Word perfectly. Jesus also said in Revelation 3:16 that to join Him in the Kingdom of God we must OVERCOME (TEMPTATION, ETC.) EVEN AS HE OVERCAME. Let us do so by obeying God’s Word with faith that John 17:17 is true. L.J.