ἁπλῶς

From the study of James 1:5

Range of meaning

From haplous, 'single, simple, not folded'. The adverb means simply, plainly, openly, without complication. It can also mean 'without qualification, absolutely'. The related noun haplotēs means singleness of heart and sincerity, and in giving contexts it means open-handed generosity (Romans 12:8; 2 Corinthians 8:2; 9:11, 13).

Against the English

'Generously' (BSB, NIV, ESV, NASB) and 'liberally' (KJV, WEB, YLT) capture the open hand. They lose the root idea of singleness: God gives without mixed motives, without hesitating, and without attaching conditions. That root sets up James's contrast in 1:6–8 with the asker who is 'divided' (diakrinomenos) and 'double-minded' (dipsychos, literally 'two-souled').

How it drifted

The English is not wrong, only narrower. 'Generously' measures the amount given. The Greek describes the giver's undivided manner of giving.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Shepherd of Hermas (Mandate 2.4), an early Christian text from Rome, uses the word the same way: 'give to all who lack, simply (haplōs), not hesitating as to whom you should give'. It also deals at length with double-mindedness (Mandate 9), in close parallel to James 1:5–8. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, a Jewish work in Greek, praise haplotēs as single-hearted integrity, and especially open-handed giving (Testament of Issachar 3:8). Matthew 6:22 uses the adjective haplous ('single/healthy eye'), and in Jewish idiom a 'good eye' meant generosity.