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Introduction
The author of this letter is James the brother of Jesus and Jude. It’s the only writing we have from him.
James’ letter initially appears to be like the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament – a string of wise sayings, straight no chaser. But the more familiar you become with the letter, the more you realize how interconnected are its various parts. And the more you come to appreciate James’ purpose for the letter, which to bolster the belief of believers.
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James 1
Jas 1:1 – James is a humble man. He could have mentioned his familial connection to Jesus, but instead just identifies himself briefly as “a bond-servant” (bond-slave) of God and Jesus…and keeps on writing. (Strong’s Concordance says “bond-servant” is a translation of the Greek word “doulos,” which is most often translated simply as “slave.”) Slavery to Jesus Christ is infinitely more enjoyable than freedom from Him. ***** James’ reference to “the twelve tribes” is, of course, a reference to Israelites (Jews), and “dispersed” is a reference to the Diaspora. Given the way James speaks in his letter (such as Jas 2:1) it is obvious that he is using the term “twelve tribes” metaphorically, just as Jesus did.
Matt 19:28 And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
That is, James is speaking to Christians, whether Jew or Gentile.
Jas 1:2-4 – If we ever thought our faith would go untested in this world, we thought wrong. We have to endure with God like Job and Jacob did. And if we do, we’ll be glad we did.
Jas 1:5-8– We need help to endure, and that help comes in the form of wisdom from above. We mustn’t doubt that God will give us wisdom, for doubt is the absence of faith. And the absence of faith is the very outcome that the trial is designed to bring about. We mustn’t let the devil have his way. He wants to frustrate us, but wisdom from above will enable us to frustrate him.
Jas 1:9-11 – Circumstances are like the weather – they’re always changing. James is reminding us that faith must be an all-weather garment. Is your circumstantial weather fair? It will deteriorate. Is it stormy? That, too, will pass. The one sure thing you can say about circumstances is the same one sure thing you can say about the weather – it’s always changing. Therefore, we need to have a strategy for holding on to our faith that works in both fair and foul weather circumstances. Paul made the same point, and said it was something that did not come naturally to him – instead, he had to learn it. If he had to learn how to be content, how much more do we!
Phil 4:11 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.
Phil 4:12 I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.
Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
The strengthening agent is wisdom – God’s ideas popping up in our minds.
Is 55:6 Seek the LORD while He may be found;
Call upon Him while He is near.
Is 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return to the LORD,
And He will have compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.
Is 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.
Is 55:9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
This is why we have daily devotional times – reading the Bible and praying. Whether as individuals or family, we are seeking a thought exchange with the Lord. That is, we’re turning in our useless thoughts for His useful ones, our unwise thoughts for His wise ones.
Jas 1:12 – The terms “perseverance,” “patience,” and “endurance” are synonymous. The quality that those three words are describing are what get us through “tests” and “trials” (these two words likewise being synonymous with each other). Recognize that Peter is giving below practically identical advice to that which James is giving – the main point for both men being that there’s a blessing waiting for us on the other side of the trial we’re enduring. Remember that Job came out with double what he had before!
1 Pet 1:6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,
1 Pet 1:7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
1 Pet 1:8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
1 Pet 1:9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.
Of course, the thing we want most in this world is not more stuff – but rather a soul that’s blessed with with righteousness, peace, and joy (Rom 14:17). Bliss of soul is better than a fat wallet.
Jas 1:13-16 – The devil is the source of the problem.
Jas 1:17-18 – God is the source of the solution.
Stated another way, the problems are from earth; the solutions are from heaven. That’s why we seek “the kingdom of heaven.” Earth was never mean to be run without the authority of heaven. Satan sought to sever the two in his temptation of Eve. And his goal is to keep them separated; Jesus came to bring them back together, to unify heaven and earth.
Jas 1:18 – This sentence has quite a little phrase nestled in it: “first fruits among His creatures.” We know that the Second Coming of Christ was to include a “new heavens and new earth” (2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1; Is 65:17; 66:22). By referring to the New Testament church as “a kind of first fruits,” James is saying that his generation of believers is an example of how God wants to the human race to behave in the age to come. We’ve got a lot to live up to!
Jas 1:19-21 – This “word implanted” is God’s wisdom (Jas 1:5-8), God’s thoughts (Is 55:6-9). James will return to the subject of God’s wisdom, contrasting it with earthly wisdom, in Jas 3.
Jas 1:22-25 – James adds the essential point that unless we act on the wisdom God gives us, it does us no good. (I’m told that Burpee seeds do not grow while still in the packet.)
Jas 1:26-27 – Fleshly ambition pushes men to build monuments to themselves. By contrast, godly ambition – the kind that drove Jesus of Nazareth – pushes a man to have compassion on the weak. Whatever great thing the good Samaritan was intending to accomplish in Jericho, he got there a day late and a dollar short; the world may not have been impressed, but the Lord sure was (Lk 10). James will return to this subject – (the subject of “doing good deeds to meet pressing needs” – Tit 3:14) in Jas 4.
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James 2
Although James had no part in dividing the chapters of his letter (Chapter and verse divisions post-date the authors), this chapter focuses from beginning to end on faith – the subject with which James began the letter.
James 1:3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
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James 1:6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting…
At the beginning of Jas 1, James was focused on feeding faith with wisdom from above. By the end of that chapter, he was focused on the importance of acting on that wisdom as it’s received. This second chapter, therefore, is a continuation of that theme of acting on wisdom-enriched faith.
In this chapter, James examines faith from three different angles.
Jas 2:1-7 – Angle 1: You cannot judge a man’s faith by his circumstances. This is the mistake that Job’s friends made. They thought: “Job used to be on top of the world but now he’s scrapping bottom; therefore, he must’ve done something wrong.” Jesus’ tormentors thought the same way.
Matt 27:39 And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads
Matt 27:40 and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”
It was also the way Satan tempted Jesus Himself. (Notice the common refrain “If You are the Son of God…”)
Matt 4:3 And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
In our naïveté, we think that bad things shouldn’t happen to good people. But living long enough teaches us that good men can experience bad circumstances; and bad men can experience good circumstances. In fact, all men experience changing circumstances as they experience changing weather. Yes, living godly should improve our trend line, but there will still be up and downs in a trend line that is overall upward – as with the graph of a stock’s price. And then there are the occasional crashes, even for especially good men like Jesus, Job, and others we see in the Bible. But that doesn’t mean there can’t be resurrections of the trend line – and indeed there are. But the moral from James is: Don’t judge a man’s faith – yours or anyone else’s – by his circumstances.
Jas 2:8-13 – Angle 2: In this passage, James uses a term he used in the first chapter – “the law of liberty.”
James 1:25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.
Now, let’s connect this law with the wisdom about which James wrote earlier.
James 1:5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
Therefore, the “wisdom” about which James is speaking is the wisdom to understand how “the law of liberty” applies to the specific circumstances a man is facing. Since we face new circumstances every day, we read the Bible and pray every day. As the wise Solomon taught, there’s a time for this and a time for that (Eccl 3:1-8). The sons of Issachar understood this as well.
1 Chr 12:32 Of the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do…
As people are increasingly asking, “Do you know what time it is?”
In other words, knowing what “the law of liberty” requires of us on a given day requires wisdom.
But exactly what is this the law of liberty? The “law of liberty” (Jas 1:25; 2:12) = “the perfect law” (Jas 1:25) = “the whole law” (Jas 2:10) = “the law” (Jas 2:9, 11) = “the royal law” (Jas 2:8) = “love” (Jas 2:8).
In the kingdom of God, Jesus is the king. That’s why His commandment to love is the “royal” law. That commandment encompasses all the others. (If you need help to arrive at this conclusion, read the book The Ten Commandments According to Jesus.) Therefore, as we seek wisdom from above each day by reading the Bible and praying, we are seeking to know how the commandment to love applies to the circumstances we face that day – not myopically focusing on this particular aspect of love or that one (such as “Do not commit adultery” or “Do not murder”). Rather, we take an all-encompassing view of what love requires us given the circumstances in which we find ourselves. It is “faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ” that gives rise to that love.
1 John 4:19 We love, because He first loved us.
To sum up, James is saying in this passage what Paul said in Galatians: faith works through love.
Gal 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.
Jas 2:14-26 – Angle 3: In this last passage of the chapter, James hammers home the point that faith is active not in what we think and feel but rather in what we do.
Some people think that James and Paul viewed faith differently, but that’s not the case at all. To demonstrate, compare this passage with Heb 11. You can even find Abraham and Rahab in both passages, praised for the same thing: action. Faith acts. Faith does.
Inactive faith = inert faith = dead faith (Jas 2:26).
(Even if your faith dies every day, you can raise it from the dead every day with the Bible and prayer.)
All those members of faith’s “hall of fame” in Heb 11 are honored for the actions their faith caused them to take. They did a lot of different things – very different things. What does being willing to sacrifice your son have to do with harboring foreign spies? Faith working through love.
We read the Bible and pray every day because both are necessary for interaction with God. The Bible is His word to us; prayer is our word to Him. We start with the Bible because He deserves to speak first in every conversation. When He speaks, it creates faith in our hearts.
Rom 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
The word of Christ not only creates faith, it recreates it. Therefore, once we have faith in Christ, we refresh it every time we hear the word of God. And the wisdom of God helps us know how love would have us live out that faith that day. And once we know what wisdom calls for, we do it.
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James 3
As Jas 2 was a revisiting of subject matter that James introduced in Jas 1, so also is Jas 3. For as Jas 2 returned to, and expounded further on, the subject of faith (Jas 1:3, 6), so Jas 3 returns to, and expounds further on, the subjects of speaking (Jas 1:19) and wisdom (Jas 1:5).
Speaking
…everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak… – Jas 1:19
(Jas 3:1-12)
Jas 3:1 – When you tell someone else what they should do, you put yourself on the hook with God to be doing it yourself. Otherwise, you’re a hypocrite. That’s how teachers incur stricter judgment, and that’s how the Pharisees earned the label “hypocrites.” ***** Some people stumble over the supposed contradiction between “by this time you ought to be teachers” in Heb 5:12 and “Let not many of you become teachers” here. Yet reading each exhortation in its context, accompanied with a little thought, should bring to light that this is simply an example of Solomon’s paradigm that there’s a time for this and a time for that (Eccl 3). That is, there’s such a thing as jumping too quickly into the role of teaching, and there’s also such a thing as failing to step up when it’s your time. One thing’s for sure: if God gives you children, He expects you to teach them. Though your children may at times act as if you don’t don’t know what you’re doing, they have no say in the matter. If you lack wisdom in the moment, God can get it to you. That was the point in Jas 1:5, the point James is going to expand on in the second section of this chapter (wisdom). As for teaching other adults, make sure you have a divine calling before you make a practice of that. If you don’t know what a divine calling is, you don’t have one. (I’m letting you learn from my mistakes.)
Jas 3:2-12 – James is saying that 1) the most difficult part of the body to control is the mouth, but the good news is that 2) if you can control your mouth, you’ll be able to control your entire body. Here’s how this fits into a process for getting a grip on your life.
You control your life by controlling your body.1
You control your body by controlling your mouth.2
You control your mouth by controlling your heart (that is, your mind – which includes your thoughts and emotions).3
You control your heart by controlling your will.4
You control your will by submitting it to God’s.5
You know God’s will by reading the Bible and praying.6
1 (1 Th 4:1-8; 1 Cor 9:24-27)
2 (Jas 3:2)
3 (Luke 6:45)
4 (Luke 22:41-42)
5 (Matt 6:10)
6 (Luke 6:46; Matt 26:39)
Okay, so James wants us to know just how hard it is to get a grip on the tongue, but he himself gave us a good start when he put “be quick to hear” right before “slow to speak” in Jas 1:19. We cannot do two things at once, so listening well is a good prevention technique against excessive speech. We usually feel compelled to speak because we want so much to be understood by other people – but maybe our neighbor wants the same thing. Why not put him first – especially if your neighbor is a family member? As what is called the St. Francis prayer puts it, “Lord, grant that I may seek rather to…understand, than to be understood.”
Wisdom
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God… – Jas 1:5
(Jas 3:13-18)
Jas 3:13-18 – James wants us to be aware that there are two kinds of wisdom – the wisdom that comes from above and the so-called wisdom that circulates down here. Paul made the same distinction in his letters (1 Cor 1:18-31; 3:18-20; 2 Cor 1:12; Col 2:20-23). It would be too much to copy and paste them all here, but this sample is representative of the rest. (Paul is quoting Isaiah 29:14.)
1 Cor 1:18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1 Cor 1:19 For it is written,
“I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE,
AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE.”
1 Cor 1:20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
1 Cor 1:21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
In other words, if the world’s wisdom was really wise, then all PhD’s would be believers and all illiterate people would be unbelievers. Yet, as James himself said, it’s often the other way around.
James 2:1 My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.
James 2:2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes,
James 2:3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,”
James 2:4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?
James 2:5 Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?
And James had learned this from his older brother.
Matt 19:23 And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Therefore, let us partake fully of the wisdom that comes from above and be wary of whatever gets called wisdom by mere men.
To sum up the chapter, if we want to receive the wisdom James promised in Jas 1:5 and described more fully in Jas 3:13-18, then we should practice listening more and speaking less as he directed in Jas 1:19 and emphasized in Jas 3:1-12.
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James 4
This chapter is a continuation of what James has been saying in the previous chapter about speaking and wisdom, points he originally brought up in his first chapter. His entire letter was written to bolster the belief of believers – that is, to fortify their faith. Therefore, let us read this chapter with those thoughts in mind.
Jas 4:1-3 – The spiritual environment James describes here is the direct result of the dynamics he was describing in the previous chapter: talking too much and speaking according to worldly, rather than godly, wisdom. The environment described here actually repels the wisdom from above. James is describing “the perfect storm” of talking too much and thinking in fleshly rather than spiritual terms. It is, as he said in the previous chapter, the place where “disorder and every evil thing” can be found (Jas 3:16). The King James Version of Jas 3:16 says “envying and strife” are the key elements of this environment. If idle hands are the devil’s workshop, strife is much more so!
Prov 17:1 Better is a dry morsel and quietness with it
Than a house full of feasting with strife.
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Prov 17:14 The beginning of strife is like letting out water,
So abandon the quarrel before it breaks out.
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Prov 20:3 Keeping away from strife is an honor for a man,
But any fool will quarrel.
The book of Proverbs speaks against strife 18 different times. Strife is the very opposite of the environment James was urging in the previous chapter, which was peace.
James 3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.
James 3:18 And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
Peace is the environment in which God works; strife is the environment in which the devil works. The choice is clear, but where do we start?
Jas 4:4 – We start with admitting that we’re spiritual crybabies because we’re fleshly, worldly, and altogether ungodly. We’re playing for the wrong team. The problem James is describing is just that fundamental. If a man cannot remove strife from his house and make it a place of relative peace, he cannot hope to accomplish much good with his family. I say “relative” because the more members in a family the more noise, but noise is not necessarily strife.
Jas 4:5 – The word “jealousy” here is tied to the word “adulteresses” in the previous verse. There are two kinds of jealously: one godly, the other ungodly. For example, when a man wants another man’s wife, that’s ungodly jealousy; when he wants his own, that a godly jealousy. The Lord betrothed us; He therefore has a right to preferential and exclusive devotion. Yet again, Paul agrees with James.
2 Cor 11:2 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.
2 Cor 11:3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.
We are either pursuing Jesus’ interests or our own. The barometer that tells us which is whether we are peacemakers or strife-makers.
Matt 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
What do we suppose the strife-makers are called?
Jas 4:6 – James keeps putting things in black or white terms…because the matter is just that simple. Our homes are either places of chaos or order, peace or strife, godly wisdom or fleshly foolishness. We must cultivate our homes as we do a garden. It takes hard work.
Jas 4:7 – Again, either/or. What are you striving for that is worth the strife? You’re only striving because you believe that attainment of your goal will bring peace. But can’t you see you’re losing peace in continued pursuit of it? God promises a peace for the soul independent of achieving your goal.
Jas 4:8 – We can’t remove strife from our homes until we remove it from ourselves. A “double-minded man” is a man striving against himself.
Jas 4:9-10 – We would never quarrel in the Lord’s presence. Why then are we quarreling in the Lord’s presence? (Jesus Christ Has Already Come Again)
Jas 4:11-12 – If we’re both standing in front of the judge, why are we acting like we’re the judges?
Jas 4:13-17 – In this passage, James is getting at the root of all he’s been describing as wrong in this and the previous chapter: deep down, we’re pursuing our will, not His. This is so fundamental. It goes back to the daily prayer the Lord taught us (“Thy will be done”) and that He Himself prayed, even when He was staring death in the face (“Nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be done”). The good Samaritan set out on his journey to Jericho thinking, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit,” but he set that all aside when faced with an opportunity to “do a good deed to meet a pressing need” because he knew that was the will of the Lord (Lk 10). Are we living for self or for Him?
2 Cor 5:14 For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died;
2 Cor 5:15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
James’ exhortation in this passage can also be tied back to what he wrote in Jas 1:26-27. James’ letter is a back-to-basics letter from beginning to end.
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James 5
Jas 5:1-11 – This marks at least the tenth time James has mentioned rich or poor in this letter. He sees things in a simple, straightforward way. People either lived in comparatively pleasant or unpleasant circumstances; and, of course, that’s still the case today. Throughout the letter, James is encouraging his readers to disengage from the world’s rat race and live contentedly just as Paul was encouraging his churches to do.
1 Tim 6:6 But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.
1 Tim 6:7 For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.
1 Tim 6:8 If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.
1 Tim 6:9 But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction.
1 Tim 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
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1 Tim 6:17 Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.
1 Tim 6:18 Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,
1 Tim 6:19 storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.
Both James and Paul are making their points about rich and poor in the context of the Second Coming; this would be obvious if I quoted the verses that intervened between the two passages of Paul that I did quote. As for James, I presume you have your Bible open to Jas 5 and can see the references to the Second Coming in verses 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, and 12. The Second Coming is relevant to the discussion because it was a day of judgment – the greatest judgment day of all, for that matter, because it judged heaven as well as earth. (It’s when Satan was thrown out of heaven and deceased humanity was raised to it; for more explanation, see The Biblical Case for the Second Coming as Accomplished Fact.) The apostles, including the Lord’s brother James, were preparing people for that day of judgment. We in America, likewise are headed for a day of judgment, and we, too, should be preparing for it. It won’t be as bad as the one experienced by the apostles’ generation, but it will be the worst one we’ve ever seen.
Jas 5:12 – Where have we heard this before?
Matt 5:33 “Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS, BUT SHALL FULFILL YOUR VOWS TO THE LORD.’
Matt 5:34 “But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,
Matt 5:35 or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING.
Matt 5:36 “Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.
Matt 5:37 “But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.
Jesus, too, was preparing people for the judgment when He was teaching them how to enter the kingdom of heaven, which was the central theme of His ministry and especially of the Sermon on the Mount from which the excerpt above comes. (The coming of the kingdom of God is the same event as the Second Coming of Christ.) Everything in the New Testament was about preparing people for the Second Coming; it was the very purpose of the church’s existence. The church had no reason for being other than that. Today’s churches have a vested interest in denying that the Second Coming has already taken place: self-preservation. They should be remembering this:
Matt 16:25 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
When I as a pastor stopped seeking to save the life of my church, I found the kingdom of God.
Jas 5:13-18 – I used to try to find a church that could heal like this, but couldn’t find one. I even tried to be a pastor of a church that could heal like this, but couldn’t be one. No church today is like the apostolic church we see in the New Testament because that was the church with the Lord’s anointing because it was the bridge from the old covenant to the new covenant. We’re in the kingdom of God now – we no longer need a bridge to it. That’s why I encourage you to read and teach the Bible to your children instead of packing them into a car and taking them somewhere else for a stranger to do it.
Jas 5:19-20 – The church was teaching the principles of the kingdom of God in order to prepare the people to enter it when it came. James was even practicing this principle by writing this letter. This principle has more application that just childrearing – but it does indeed apply to childrearing. The reason our society is falling apart at the seams is that so few adults were raised according to this principle by God-fearing parents. That’s why repentance is the only solution for Americans. However little or however much you know about Jesus, teach it to your children with all your heart!
The Duty of a Man 