Paragraph 1:16–18

This paragraph gives more reasons that show why it is not God who tries to make people do evil. Everything good comes from God, and he never changes. So it is unthinkable that any bad thing could come from him. God wants to give us new life.

1:16

Do not be deceived: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as Do not be deceived means “do not go astray” or “do not have false ideas.” We should not deceive ourselves into thinking that God is the one who tempts us to do evil.

This phrase is passive. Some ways to translate this phrase are:

• Use a passive verb. For example:

don’t be misled (New Living Translation (2004 Revision))
-or-
do not be fooled (New Century Version)
-or-
do not be deceived into thinking that God tempts us

• Use an expression that is not passive. For example:

do not deceive yourselves
-or-
do not have false/wrong ideas

This expression is used elsewhere in the New Testament to warn Christians against ideas that are dangerously wrong (1 Corinthians 6:9, 15:33; Galatians 6:7). (See also Luke 21:8; 1 John 3:7. See also Davids (1982), page 86; Martin, page 37, and see the note on the word “wander” in 5:19a.)

my beloved brothers: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as my beloved brothers refers to believers in Christ to whom James was writing. It refers to both men and women. The similar phrase “my brothers” occurs in 1:2a.

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

my dear fellow believers
-or-
my dear brothers and sisters (NET Bible)
-or-
my beloved relatives/siblings in Christ
-or-
my beloved Christian friends

James used the term of address my beloved brothers to soften his command “Don’t be deceived.” You may have another way in your language to soften a command. If you do, you may be able to use it instead of the phrase my beloved brothers.

Notice that the Berean Standard Bible places the phrase my beloved brothers at the end of 1:16. This follows the Greek text. In some languages, it is more natural to place it at the beginning of 1:16 before the command or after 1:17. For example:

My dear brothers and sisters, do not be fooled about this. (New Century Version)

beloved: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as beloved is used because James was telling his fellow believers that he cared about them.

© 2012 by SIL International®

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.