James 1:8

8 [he is] a double-minded man, ^[a] unstable in all his ways.

James 1:8 Meaning and Commentary

James 1:8

A double minded man
A man of two souls, or of a double heart, that speaks and asks with an heart, and an heart, as in ( Psalms 12:2 ) who halts between two opinions, and is at an uncertainty what to do or say, and is undetermined what to ask for; or who is not sincere and upright in his requests, who asks for one thing, and means another, and asks amiss, and with an ill design; does not call upon God in truth, and in the sincerity of his soul; draws nigh to him with his mouth, and honours him with his lips, but his heart is far from him. Such an one is

unstable in all his ways;
he is confused in his mind; restless in his thoughts, unsettled in his designs and intentions; inconstant in his petitions; uncertain in his notions and opinion of things; and very variable in his actions, and especially in matters of religion; he is always changing, and never at a point, but at a continual uncertainty, both in a way of thinking and doing: he never continues long either in an opinion, or in a practice, but is ever shifting and moving.

James 1:8 In-Context

6 but let him ask in faith, nothing doubting. For he that doubts is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed about;

7 for let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord;

8 [he is] a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

9 But let the brother of low degree glory in his elevation,

10 and the rich in his humiliation, because as [the] grass's flower he will pass away.

Footnotes

• [a]. 'Double-minded man' is an apposition, not with 'that man,' but with 'he that doubts' (ver. 6); and ver. 7 is practically a parenthesis. I do not think the sense of ver. 8 bears a direct connection with ver. 7; it is rather a moral explanation of the figure of ver. 6. The style of James is characterized by these proverbial sentences: see ver. 20 as an example.