John Calvin Commentary James 1:5

"But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." — James 1:5 (ASV)

If any of you lack wisdom. Since our reason and all our feelings are averse to the thought that we can be happy in the midst of evils, he directs us to ask the Lord to give us wisdom.

For wisdom here, I limit to the subject of the passage, as if he had said, "If this doctrine is beyond what your minds can grasp, ask the Lord to illuminate you by His Spirit; for since this consolation alone is sufficient to mitigate all the bitterness of evils (namely, that what is grievous to the flesh is beneficial for us), so we must necessarily be overcome with impatience unless we are sustained by this kind of comfort."

Since we see that the Lord does not require from us what is above our strength, but that He is ready to help us if we ask, let us, therefore, learn, whenever He commands anything, to ask from Him the power to perform it.

Although in this place to be wise is to submit to God in the endurance of evils, under a proper conviction that He so orders all things as to promote our salvation, yet the sentence may be generally applied to every branch of right knowledge.

But why does he say If any one, as though all of them did not lack wisdom?

To this I answer that all are by nature without it, but some are gifted with the spirit of wisdom, while others are without it.

Since, then, not all had made such progress as to rejoice in affliction, and few there were to whom this had been given, James, therefore, referred to such cases. He reminded those who were not yet fully convinced that their salvation was promoted by the Lord through the cross, that they were to ask to be endowed with wisdom.

And yet there is no doubt that necessity reminds us all to ask the same thing, for he who has made the greatest progress is still far from the goal.

But to ask for an increase of wisdom is another thing than to ask for it at first.

When he directs us to ask of the Lord, he intimates that He alone can heal our diseases and relieve our wants.

That giveth to all men liberally. By all, he means those who ask, for those who seek no remedy for their wants deserve to languish in them. However, this universal declaration, by which every one of us is invited to ask without exception, is very important; therefore, no one ought to deprive himself of so great a privilege.

To the same purpose is the promise which immediately follows. For as by this command he shows what is the duty of everyone, so he affirms that they would not do in vain what He commands, according to what is said by Christ: Knock, and it shall be opened (Matthew 7:7; Luke 11:9).

The word liberally, or freely, denotes promptness in giving. So Paul, in Romans 12:8, requires simplicity in deacons. And in 2 Corinthians 8 and 2 Corinthians 9, when speaking of charity or love, he repeats the same word several times.

The meaning, then, is that God is so inclined and ready to give that He rejects no one, nor haughtily puts them off. He is not like the stingy and grasping, who either sparingly, as with a closed hand, give very little, or give only a part of what they were about to give, or debate with themselves for a long time whether to give or not.

And upbraideth not. This is added so that no one should fear to come too often to God. Those who are the most liberal among men, when anyone often asks to be helped, may recount their past generosity and thus excuse themselves for the future. Therefore, we are ashamed to weary a mortal man by asking too often, however open-handed he may be. But James reminds us that there is nothing like this in God, for He is always ready to add new blessings to former ones, without any end or limitation.