The reason why Christians are told to consider “trials” as an occasion for happiness is that they may become the means through which better Christian qualities may develop.

For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness is a participial phrase in Greek. The participle “knowing” has a causal force, giving the reason for “joy,” and so most modern translations have brought this out. “Knowing” in biblical usage is more than mere intellectual perception; it is something that is gained through daily experience in life; and so it may be translated as “for you have found out that…” or “for you have ascertained that….”

There are several problems in the phrase the testing of your faith. The first is the meaning of testing. The Greek word for testing here is different from the word discussed above in verse 2. The word here is sometimes used for “testing” the purity or genuineness of gold or silver. It appears elsewhere in the New Testament only in 1 Peter 1.6-7, where Peter speaks about “various trials” (verse 6) to prove “the genuineness of faith” (verse 7). In 1 Peter the focus seems to be on the result of testing, namely “the proven genuineness or test-worthiness of faith.” Some interpreters are of the opinion that the same focus is in view in the present context and have rendered it accordingly; for example, “your faith is proved” (Translator’s New Testament [Translator’s New Testament]—as reflected also in its translational notes on this verse). However, most translations take the word in the sense of the means of testing, namely “various trials” by which faith is tested. It is probably for this reason that Good News Translation renders the word also as “trials,” even though in Greek it is different from the one used in verse 2.

The second problem has to do with the rather abstract and ambiguous construction the testing of your faith. Obviously we have here a case of objective genitive; “faith” is the object “tested.” We can therefore restructure the phrase as “when your faith succeeds in facing such trials” (Good News Translation), or “when faith has passed through the ordeal of testing” (Barclay). Note that the word faith here, as in verse 6, does not mean acceptance of or giving intellectual assent to the teachings of the church. Rather, in agreement with the predominant meaning used elsewhere in the New Testament, it means a confident trust in Jesus Christ. So this clause may also be translated as “when you have passed through such trials [or, difficulties] and you still believe [in Jesus] as strongly as before.”

The word produces has the meaning of “brings about,” “works,” “achieves,” “develops.” It indicates that the “faith” that can withstand “trials” is bound to “produce” some positive result, namely the ability to endure. Steadfastness is the intended result of this “testing” process. In Greek the word steadfastness, rendered “endurance” by King James Version and “the ability to endure” by Good News Translation, does not mean a passive submission to circumstances as the English word “endurance” tends to suggest. It is rather an active quality that enables a person to persevere steadfastly through the most difficult and trying circumstances. This is the same word used in 5.11 to describe Job’s steadfastness in spite of most distressing disasters. In Rom 5.4 Paul identifies “endurance” as the heroic quality that “produces character” (RSV). In certain languages this will be expressed idiomatically; for example, “have a heart [or, liver] that endures,” or even “have a big heart.” This quality of “steadfastness,” “fortitude” (New English Bible), and “perseverance” (New International Version) is the direct result of the ability of faith withstanding testing and “trials.” For this reason produces steadfastness is rendered as “the result is the ability to endure” (Good News Translation), or more graphically as “the result is the ability to pass the breaking-point and not to break” (Barclay). It may also be rendered “going all the way without falling [or, giving in].”

An alternative translation model for this verse may be:
• For when you have found out [or, experienced] that you have passed through such trials [or, difficulties] and you still believe in Jesus as strongly as before, the result will be that you will be able to continue on without falling [or, giving in].

Quoted with permission from Loh, I-Jin and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Letter from James. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .