James 5
v.1
Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you.
Hard Sayings of the Bible lays out the context for the rich people James says here: they are not believers, they will be judged for failing to obey the gospel, they have practiced injustice, they have been self-indulgent, and they have oppressed the righteous.
These individuals are not addressed as “brothers” (cf. 1:2, 16, 19; et al.). Furthermore, they are not called on to repent and change their ways but only to “weep and wail” because of the judgement they are going to undergo. It is, therefore, more reasonable to understand this section as similar to OT prophetic declarations of coming judgement against pagan nations, which are interspersed among sections addressed to God’s people (e.g., Isa 13-21, 23; Eze 25-32).
v.3
Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.
The NT regards the whole period between Christ’s first and second comings as the last time or “last days” (cf. Heb 1:1-2; 1Jn 2:18).
v.4
Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.
God hears their cries, as he always hears the voice of his suffering people (cf. Ex 3:7).
v.5
You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.
v.7-8
Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming, See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. 8You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.
Souls may not be won to God the first time you pray for them, nor the first time you exhort them, nay, nor the twentieth time. If you have gone to a sinner once on Christ’s errand, and he has rejected you, go again seven times. Nay, go again seventy times seven. For if you should at last succeed by your Master’s gracious help, it will well repay you. The long, tedious winter of your waiting will appear as a short span to look back upon when you have reaped the field of your labor. The little patience that you had to exert for a while will seem as nothing, like the travail of the mother when the man-child is born into the world. Hush, then, your sad complaints, and still your petulant wailings.
This exhortation is addressed to the “brothers,” indicating that James is turning his attention from the unbelieving rich back to the believing Jewish Christians to whom the letter was sent. The word “then” suggests that the oppression of the righteous poor described in vv.1-6 is what gives rise to the message of vv.7-11. James has just warned the oppressing rich of coming judgement; now he encourages the oppressed poor to “be patient” (GK 3428).
v.9
Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!
What is forbidden here is not the loud and bitter denunciation of others but the unexpressed feeling of bitterness or the smothered resentment that may express itself in a groan or a sigh.
Give thanks for someone whenever you feel tempted to grumble about them.
jj 12/13/2023
v.11
As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
v.12
Above all, my brothers, do not swear—not by heaven or earth or by anything else. Let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” be no, or you will be condemned.
James is echoing the words of Jesus in Mt 5:34-37, which forbid swearing altogether. It should be obvious that what is referred to in Matthew and James is the light, casual use of oaths in informal conversation—not formal oaths in such places as courts of law. God himself is said to have taken an oath (Ps 110:4), and Paul sometimes called God to witness (2Co 1:21; Gal 1:20).
v.13
Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.
v.14
Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
v.15
And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
v.16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
If you sin secretly, confess secretly, admitting publicly that you need the victory but keeping details to yourself. If you sin openly confess openly to remove stumbling blocks from those whom you have hindered. If you have sinned spiritually (prayerlessness, lovelessness, and unbelief as well as their offspring, criticism, etc.) then confess to the church that you have been a hindrance.
Nothing has been more clearly demonstrated in the history of the world than that prayer is effectual in obtaining blessings from God, and in accomplishing great and valuable purposes. It has indeed no intrinsic power; but God has graciously purposed that his favor shall be granted to those who call upon him, and that what no mere human power can effect should be produced by his power in answer to prayer.
And is not the reason perhaps for our countless relapses and the feebleness of our Christian obedience to be found precisely in the fact that we are living on self-forgiveness and not a real forgiveness? Self-forgiveness can never lead to a breach with sin; this can be accomplished only by the judging and pardoning the Word of God itself.
Who can give us the certainty that, in the confession and the forgiveness of our sins, we are not dealing with ourselves but wish the living God? God gives us this certainty through our brother. Our brother breaks the circle of self-deception.
v.17
Elijah was man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.
“He prayed with prayer” - a Hebraism, to denote that he prayed earnestly. Compare Luke 22:15. This manner of speaking is common in Hebrew.
v.19-20
My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover a multitude of sins.
When we come to die, as we shall soon, it will give us more pleasure to be able to recollect that we have been the means of saying one soul from death, than to have enjoyed all the pleasures which sense can furnish, or to have gained all the honor and wealth which the world can give.
Some Jews (Dead Sea Scrolls, some rabbis) regarded some forms of apostasy as unforgivable, but James welcomes the sinner back. In this context, he might among other things invite revolutionaries to return to the fold. “Covering a multitude of sins” comes from Proverbs 10:12. In that text, it probably refers to not spreading a bad report (cf. 11:13; 20:19), but Judaism often used similar phrases for securing forgiveness. One may compare the Jewish idea that one who converted another to the practice of Judaism was as if he or she had created that person.