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Jam 1:8. Ἀνὴρ δίψυχος, a double-minded man) The same word (δίψυχος) is applied, ch. Jam 4:8, to those who have not a heart pure and simply given up to God. The word does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament, or in the Septuagint. It may be translated “having two souls,” as we speak of “a double-tongued”[7] man. Hesychius, διψυχία ἀπορία, “a state of doubt or perplexity. It is therefore connected in meaning with the word οιακρινόμενος, “the wavering.” Such a man has, as it were, two souls, of which the one holds one opinion, the other holds another. Sir 2:12, ΟὐΑῚ ΚΑΡΔΊΑΙς ΔΕΙΛΑῖς, ΚΑῚ ΧΕΡΣῚ ΠΑΡΕΙΜΈΝΑΙς, ΚΑῚ ἉΜΑΡΤΩΛῷ ἘΠΙΒΑΊΝΟΝΤΙ ἘΠῚ ΔΎΟ ΤΡΊΒΟΥς: “Woe be to fearful hearts, and faint hands, and the sinner that goeth two ways!”-ἀκατάστατος, unstable) For he does not obtain Divine direction by prayer: and being destitute of wisdom, he is at variance with himself and with others. Comp. ch. Jam 3:16.
[7] Both these meanings are contained in the German falsch.