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By Dr Peter Pett BA BD(Hons-London) DD
The Letter of James.
James’ Biblical Foundations.
Before looking at the letter as a whole, which is very much an exhortation to godly living and has a number of parallels with the Sermon on the Mount, we should perhaps consider its Biblical foundations. For it is important to see that this was not just moral exhortation. Like the Sermon on the Mount it was firmly grounded in theology. Among the Godward doctrines which are basic to its teaching are the following:
It will be noted that all this is very much in accord with the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount (ethical instruction underpinned by references to doctrine), which James very much has in mind, and would have been wholly approved of by Paul, Peter and John. It is in the light of these teachings that we must read his exhortations to genuineness of faith and obedience.
The General Pattern Of The Letter.
James, as an experienced teacher, knows how to obtain his reader’s attention from the beginning, and at each point when interest might be slackening. Thus he commences with the idea of testing and trial, and the joy that they should have in it, and then moves on both with vivid illustration and carefully prepared questions, the latter often put equally vividly (e.g. 4.1). He is determined to keep the interest of his readers and those who hear the letter read.
In general the letter moves step by step dealing alternately with what is good, followed by what is not good. Thus 1.1-12 is positive, 1.13-15 is negative, 1.16-18 is positive, 1.19-20 is negative, 1.21-22 is positive, 1.23-24 is negative, 1.25-27 is positive and so on. While not rigid the pattern is on the whole maintained throughout.
The Specific Pattern of the Letter.
The letter has, however, a more specific pattern. For while we must not restrict James too closely to a pattern, such a pattern is clearly discernible in that the basic ideas with which he is going to deal in the letter are laid down in chapter 1 and are then dealt with in detail in reverse order in the following chapters. The whole is based on James’ main premise, the need for genuineness and ‘true faith’ in our response to God. We may see these basic ideas as follows:
Analysis of the Letter.
However we must not simply straitjacket James by a simple pattern, for his ideas recur again and again. For the idea of patient endurance see 1.2-3; 5.7-11. For faith see 1.2, 6; 2.1, 5; 2.14-24; 4.4; 5.15 and consider 4.7-8; 5.7-11. For receiving wisdom see 1.5-6, 21-25; 3.13-18. For the idea of doublemindedness see 1.7-8; 3.9-12; 4.8. For the contrast of poor and rich see 1.9-11; 2.1-7; 4.13-5.6. For response to God’s word and Law see 1.18-21, 25; 2.8-13; 4.11-12. For the need to ask with faith see 1.6; 4.2-4; 5.13-18. For the saving of the soul see 1.21; 5.20. For watching the tongue see 1.9-10, 13, 19, 26; 2.3, 12, 13-16, 18; 3.5-12, 14; 4.11, 13; 5.6, 9, 12. For judging and judgment see 2.12-13; 4.11-12; 5.3, 9; but the idea of judgment also lies behind such verses as 1.4, 11, 12, 21; 5.7-10 and indeed the whole of the letter.
COMMENTARY.
Chapter 1. The Main Essence Of The Letter.
In this chapter James introduces the main facets that he intends to deal with:
Introduction.
Note here the standard formula for a letter, that is, name of the sender, name of the recipient, and greeting. This was a typical opening to a letter in ancient times.
1.1a ‘James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.’
The majority evidence points to this as being James, the Lord’s brother. Through the death of Jesus he has become the heir to the throne of David, but to him that is as nothing compared with the privilege of being a servant of the Lord, Jesus Christ.
There are two ways of looking at the word ‘servant’ here. The first as indicating that he is, in privilege, in the line of the great men and prophets of old, the ‘servants of YHWH’. And the second as indicating a servant in relation to his ‘lord’.
If we see it in terms of the first the term ‘My servant’ or ‘The Servant of YHWH’ was used in various ways, with various degrees of honour. Only Moses and Joshua were actually given the title of ‘the servant of YHWH’, and in both cases it was posthumously. For Moses as the servant of the Lord (YHWH: Greek - Kurios, ‘Lord’) see Deuteronomy 34.5 Joshua 1.1 and often; 2 Kings 18.12; 2 Chronicles 1.3; 24.6. For Joshua (Greek Jesus) as the servant of the Lord (YHWH) see Joshua 24.9; Judges 2.8. Thus we have here the great Lawgiver and the great Deliverer who each had bestowed on them after their death the title ‘the servant of YHWH’. Both were types of the great Servant of YHWH (Isaiah 42.1; 49.3, 5; 52.13) of Whom it was said that the coastlands would wait for His Law (Isaiah 42.4), and that He would restore Israel (Isaiah 49.6) and be a light to lighten the Gentiles in bringing them deliverance (Isaiah 42.6-7) taking YHWH’s salvation to the ends of the earth (Isaiah 49.6). He was to be both Lawgiver and Deliverer. It is not likely that James had this in mind.
However, Abraham was spoken of by YHWH as ‘My servant’ (Genesis 26.24; compare Psalm 105.6, 42) as were Jacob and his ‘descendants’ (Isaiah 41.8, 9; 44.1, 2, 21; 45.4; 48.20; Jeremiah 30.10; 46.28; Ezekiel 28.25), and Moses (Numbers 12.7, 8; Joshua 1.2, 7) and Caleb (Numbers 14.24).
David the king (2 Samuel 3.18; 7.5, 8; 1 Kings 11.32, 36, 38; 14.8; 2 Kings 19.34; 20.6; 1 Chronicles 17.4, 7; Psalm 89.3, 20; Ezekiel 34.24) and Zerubbabel, the ruler of ‘Israel’ after the exile (Haggai 2.23) were also spoken of by YHWH as ‘My servant’ and the prophets were described as ‘My servants the prophets’ (2 Kings 17.13; Jeremiah 25.4, 9; 29.19; Ezekiel 38.17; Zechariah 1.6, compare Daniel 9.10; Amos 3.7). See also the use of ‘My servant’ of Job (Job 1.8; 2.3; 42.8); of Isaiah (Isaiah 20.3); of Eliakim (Isaiah 22.20) and of Nebuchadrezzar, in his case by ‘YHWH’ as ‘the God of Israel’ (Jeremiah 43.10; 46.26). But the people in general who were true to Him were also called ‘My servants’ (Isaiah 43.10; 65.8, 13; compare Psalm 34.22 and often; Isaiah 56.6; 65.15; 66.14) and ‘the servants of YHWH (Psalm 113.1; 134.1; 135.1; Isaiah 54.17). And, of course, Isaiah spoke of the coming great Servant as ‘My Servant’ (Isaiah 42.1; 49.3, 5, 6; 52.13 compare 50.10).
It will be noted how many inflections there are to the idea. With Moses and Joshua it was especially a posthumous title of great honour as the potential introducers of the Kingly Rule of God. David was unique in that YHWH paralleled him as His servant with Himself (2 Kings 19.34), He would act ‘for His own Name’s sake and for David’s sake’. Again the thought is of ensuring the maintenance of the Kingly Rule of God established by David. In other cases it indicated the privilege of serving YHWH, and the intimate concern that YHWH had for His servants. Thus if James had this in mind, and it must surely have been in the back of his mind, he was putting himself in line with all who served YHWH in the Old Testament.
On the other hand it is also probable that, while having this background in mind, it is the humbling emphasis of the title that he was mainly thinking of. He was not by it seeking to exalt himself as some great one (others did that for him). He was seeking to express his heartfelt gratitude to God and the Lord Jesus Christ for ‘His’ goodness towards him as his Master, aiming to indicate the seriousness of his purpose. He was writing as the Lord’s servant, and indicating what his attitude of mind was to his readers. He was the slave of His God and Lord, Jesus Christ, and all that he wrote had in mind pleasing Him and accomplishing His will among His people.
‘Of the God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.’ In the Greek the phrase is emphasised by its position in the sentence, and there are no definite articles in it, although we should bear in mind that with such nouns as ‘God’ and ‘Lord’ the article was often to be assumed. It therefore leaves it open to ambiguity. We can translate in a number of ways. But in which ever way we do it, it is impossible to avoid the fact that James is equating the two titles in such a way that they are seen as parallel. We can compare here Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 8.6, ‘we have one God, the Father -- and one Lord, Jesus Christ’. Given the fact that ‘Lord’ is the translation of YHWH’s name in the Old Testament, and that in the Greek world it was used in parallel with ‘gods’ as describing ‘gods’ this is a clear indication of deity. There is no question but that the Rabbis would have seen it as blasphemous.
It could signify:
Whichever way we see it there can be no doubt that taken in its natural meaning this is an indication of deity. James is recognising the great gap between himself and his ‘Lord’, and putting his Lord on the divine side of reality. (How then could he also at the same time have said ‘the brother of the Lord’? It would have been incongruous).
We should also note the significance of the other names. ‘Jesus’ means YHWH is salvation’, and was given because He would ‘save His people from their sins’ (Matthew 1.21). Indeed the story of His naming was presumably regularly told in the household of Joseph and Mary, something which would have gained new significance after His death and resurrection. ‘Christ’ means literally ‘Messiah’. Thus James is also stressing His Messiahship. These inflections would be obvious to all his readers.
It is sometimes suggested that the letter is somewhat short on references to Jesus Christ who is named only here and in 2.1. But that is to ignore a number of things. Firstly it is to ignore what we see here. For James often speaks of ‘the Lord’, and certainly in 5.7, 8, where we read of ‘the coming of the Lord’, that can only mean the Lord Jesus Christ. It is apparent that, to James, God and ‘the Lord’, Jesus Christ, can be spoken of almost in the same breath. Thus the letter could be seen as having a number of references to Him (at least 1.1; 2.1; 4.15; 5.7, 8, 14, 15). Furthermore he also refers to ‘the worthy/honourable Name by which you are called’ (2.7). The idea of the Lord, Jesus Christ thus underlies the whole narrative.
1.1b ‘To the twelve tribes who are of the Dispersion.’
For a detailed argument indicating that ‘the twelve tribes’ means the whole church, including ex-Jews and ex-Gentiles (Galatians 3.28) as in the new ‘Israel’ in Christ, the ‘Israel of God’ (Galatians 6.16), see the introduction. The phrase is also used in the Shepherd of Hermas to indicate the same, when Hermas (Similitudes 9. 17) explains that the twelve mountains in his vision ‘are the twelve tribes who inhabit the whole world, to whom the Son of God was preached by the apostles’. Hermas had evidently read James. Compare also its use in Matthew 19.28; Luke 22.30, for which see our commentaries. There too in our view it means the whole church. James had a strong sense that the church was the true Israel (not what some call the ‘spiritual Israel’ in contradistinction to Israel, but the actual continuation of the real Israel, made holy by cutting off and engrafting as had always been the case), founded on Jesus as the new Vine (John 15.1-6), and then on the Apostles (Matthew 16.18; Ephesians 2.20). He saw it as the ‘new nation’ of Matthew 21.43, established first in Jerusalem (Acts 1-9) but then spreading outwards to take in the Jews who became Christians, many of whom were then dispersed by persecution (Acts 8.1), which James saw as the new Dispersion, and ‘grafting in’ the huge number who turned from being Gentiles to enter the new Israel as followers of the Messiah, who were also dispersed around the world. This was Israel as God had always intended it to be, an Israel throbbing with spirituality and life.
Many scholars see it as indicating all Christian Jews but this is unlikely in view of the fact that the writer, while stressing inter-church behaviour, never deals with the question of how the Gentiles fit in. To have written just to Jews worldwide, and to totally ignore the Gentiles who shared with them the same synagogues and churches, without dealing with that question, would have been to be seriously divisive, and certainly unlike the ever considerate compromiser (in a good sense) James is revealed to be in Acts 15 and 21. It would have been a separatist letter suggesting a division in the church. Some therefore, recognising this, argue that it is written to the Christian Jews in Judaea, but that is to give a totally new meaning to the term ‘the Dispersion’, which in fact regularly indicates Jews outside Palestine. Why not also then give a new meaning to ‘the twelve tribes’, one already used by Jesus?
1.1c ‘Greeting.’
It is noteworthy that this greeting only occurs elsewhere twice in the New Testament. The first is as used by James, the Lord’s brother and the elders in Acts 15.23, in a letter to the churches, and the second is as used in Acts 23.26 of the greeting from the Roman tribune in a letter to the Procurator about Paul. It has been seen as support for the idea that the writer was James, the Lord’s brother. On the other hand it might be seen as a common non-Biblical greeting. Either way it is an opening greeting intended to indicate oneness and love/loyalty with those to whom it is written.
Those Who Face Trial for The Sake Of Their Faith in God and the Lord Jesus Christ Will Be Blessed (1.2-12).
The letter commences by outlining the basic themes that will be dealt with later (see Analysis above), for as we have seen the whole letter is in the form of a chiasmus based on those themes. But it is also interesting that the opening verses of the letter after the greeting may also be seen as a chiasmus, coming between the two inclusios of verses 2 and 12. Verse 2 commences with the overwhelming joy that they should have as they face up to trials for His sake, trials which will strengthen them and enable them to endure, while verse 12 speaks of the blessedness of those who face up to those trials because it will result in their receiving the crown of life which God has prepared for those who love Him.
Analysis of 1.2-12.
Note that in ‘a’ they will fall into temptation and testing which will result in patient endurance and in the parallel they will be blessed by enduring temptation and testing. In ‘b’ the one who endures will have an abundance and lack nothing, while in the parallel the rich man who does not overcome his riches will be left with nothing. In ‘c’ wisdom will be given to those who ask, and in the parallel both rich and poor are to learn wisdom from their experience. In ‘d’ the believer and the doubter are compared, and the doubter is like the sea as stirred up by the wind, and in the parallel the doubleminded man is unstable in all his ways. Centrally in ‘e’ those who are lacking in faith and are doubleminded will receive nothing from the Lord.
We might also see these verses as a summary, within the wider outline shown above, of the whole letter. It commences with testing (‘a’, compare 1.1-11), which will result in patient endurance (‘b’, compare 1.17, 25-27), which will lead on to true faith and wisdom (‘c to e’ compare 2.14-26; 3.13-18), which leads on to how the rich and poor are to behave in the face of that persecution (‘d to b’ compare 4.1 to 5.6), which finally leads on to the Lord’s final coming and judgment (‘a’, compare 5.7 onwards).
Testing Produces Patient Endurance Which Finally Results In Being Made Perfect (1.2-4).
In these words that follow James sums up the essence of the Christian life. He speaks of the joy of a vibrant faith, which boldly faces up to tests and trials, and results in patient endurance, and final spiritual completeness and maturity (compare Romans 5.3-5). It underlines the fact that we must ‘through much tribulation enter under the Kingly Rule of God’ (Acts 14.22).
Christians Are To Rejoice When They Are Tested Because They Know That It will Teach Them How To Endure And Will Result In Their Becoming Spiritually Mature (1.2-4).
We should note that there is no suggestion here that Christians should seek to experience trials and tests. Indeed Jesus taught us to pray, ‘Do not lead me into testing’. What James is rather dealing with is the fact that in the course of life the Christian can expect to be tested in various ways, for it is by such testing that he can be weaned away from the world and can become strong.
Certainly such testing was true in the early days. The Jews were beginning to hate the Christians, seeing them as heretics and blasphemers. Gentiles were beginning to be suspicious of them. The net result was that they often had to face up to niggling persecution and ridicule, with it sometimes even growing more severe. We have various examples of it in the book of Acts. Certainly James knows that that is what God’s people must expect.
1.2 ‘Count it all joy, my brothers, whenever you find yourself involved with many kinds of temptations,’
James begins by calling on all Christians (‘my brothers’) to rejoice in trials and temptations whenever they are faced up with them, seeing all testing as a means for exercising faith and confidence in the Lord, Jesus Christ, and in His promises, whether those trials be in terms of persecution, problems of life, or inward temptations. They should thus rejoice in them, as they rise above them hand in hand with Him, with their eyes fixed on things above where Christ is seated on the right hand of God (Colossians 3.1-3), looking not at the things that are seen, but at the things which are unseen (2 Corinthians 4.18). For in the light of what is unseen, the things that are seen are unimportant, and can be seen in their proper perspective. And in the process of experiencing these tests and trials they should continually rejoice because they know that their successful enduring of their trials is accomplishing much good in them.
‘Count it all joy.’ That is reckon on it as the most delightful and joyous thing in the world. ‘Reckon it as a thing of unreserved joy’, almost hilarity, because of the blessing that is going to result. We can compare Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount, ‘blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and speak all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account, rejoice and be exceeding glad’ (Matthew 5.12). And why are we to rejoice? Because it is the evidence that we are acceptable to God, and that God is treating us as His children who need to learn the lessons of life (Hebrews 12.3-11). And it is evidence that we have got Satan worried (Luke 22.31). And it is evidence that through our Lord Jesus Christ we have been reconciled to God, and have been made at one with Him (Romans 5.11), which has resulted in men turning against us because they see us as presumptious. See also for this joy John 16.20-24; 17.13; Acts 13.52; 15.3; 20.24; Romans 14.17; 15.13; Philippians 2.29; 1 Peter 1.8.
It was the response of Christians to trials and persecution in the early church that often resulted in many becoming Christians. They knew that men who had such joy in the midst of suffering must have something worth having. And the early church saw it as a privilege, a favour granted by God, which is why Paul could say, “it has been granted to you … to suffer for the sake of Christ” (Philippians 1.29). Thus far from being seen as a matter for discouragement, it was seen as a grounds for thanksgiving. Peter indicated the same thing, ‘if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but under that name let him glorify God’ (1 Peter 4.16). That is why the early Christians went away “rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name” (Acts 5.41). They were honoured to be dishonoured for His sake.
Note the emphasis on ‘my brothers’ which will continue. He wants them to see that they are all one family, that he loves them as a brother (later ‘my beloved brothers’), and that they are brothers to each other.
1.3 ‘Knowing that the proving of your faith works patient endurance,’
For this ‘testing’ will prove the genuineness of their faith and confidence in Christ and make it strong and sure, and once they are confident that they can truly trust Christ in all circumstances, it will result in continuing patient endurance in the face of all that the future will hold. We learn to trust Him as we go along, and the more we trust Him the more He is able to ‘try’ us so that we may grow more and more. The child who is protected from all that life deals out will never grow into an adult.
‘Knowing.’ That is ‘coming to the knowledge of’ the fact that once their faith is ‘proved’ they will find rest and be able to continue on in further patient endurance (compare Hebrews 3-4).
‘Proving (dokimion).’ Only found here in the New Testament and in 1 Peter 1.7. The idea is of something tested in the fire and coming out refined.
1.4 ‘And let patient endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.’
And the final result of enduring these testings and trials with patient endurance, and of rejoicing in the privilege of suffering for Him, will be the sanctification (making holy, setting apart to God) and building up of their lives that will result in their coming to maturity of faith and love. It will accomplish a ‘perfect work’. They will become ‘perfect even as their Father in Heaven is perfect’ (Matthew 5.48), loving their enemies (5.44) and behaving towards them in ways that are right and good (Matthew 5.44-48; 7.12). In view of the close connection with riches (verse 9) James may well have in mind the rich young man who was called on to be ‘perfect’ by yielding up all his worldly goods and following Christ (Matthew 19.21). It is a ‘perfection’ that is the result of being released from the grip of the world and from the grip of riches. Compare 1.10; 4.4; 1 John 2.15-17.
‘Patient endurance.’ The word hupomone expresses the active courage and firm resolution that is to be found in Christians, as they are indwelt by Christ and go forward with Him (Galatians 2.20). Compare for its use Luke 21.19; Romans 2.7; 5.3-4; 15.4-5; 2 Corinthians 6.4.
‘Entire (holokleroi).’ The word came to mean ‘total and complete, without defect’. They will become whole and without blemish, so that their lights will shine in the world bringing glory to God (Matthew 5.16).
‘Lacking in nothing.’ They will not ‘lose the race’ through lack of training. They will be undefeated in whatever they face. They will triumph. For it is God Who will give them the victory. And though those who are like this may lack physical riches which will eventually fade away (verses 9-11), they will enjoy the riches of faith and will be heirs of the Kingly Rule of God (2.5). They will not lack anything that is worthwhile, both in the quality of their lives and with regard to what is truly important. They will not fall short in any way. If they wait patiently they will have everything that is truly worthwhile, all that they have waited for, and will have it in abundance when their Lord comes (1.12; 5.7-8).
Towards the end of his letter James will illustrate this again, this time from men’s past experience, declaring, ‘Behold we call happy those who were steadfast’ and illustrating it in the person of Job who knew what suffering really meant. He too learned through his suffering and ended up fully restored and perfected (5.11).
In The Face Of Temptation And Testing Christians Are To Seek Wisdom From God Without Doubting, For Then They Will Know That They Will Receive It And Thus Be Able To Overcome In His Strength And Wisdom (1.5-8).
1.5 ‘But if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and does not upbraid, and it will be given him.’
In the face of many trials and temptations they may often be brought to a standstill. They may wonder what they should do in the light of them, and may need wisdom and guidance along the way. God therefore tells them that if they need wisdom in the light of trials they should ask it of Him and He promises that He will give it to them, for He is the One Who gives to all men liberally. As Jewish tradition (Ecclesiasticus 1.1) declares, "All Wisdom comes from the Lord and is with him for ever". If we are to have true wisdom it must come from Him, and especially so when that wisdom comes through the Holy Spirit as ‘wisdom from God’ which is found in Christ resulting in His becoming to us righteousness, sanctification and redemption (1 Corinthians 1.30).
Nor will He will upbraid them for asking for what is good for them. No one is so unimportant that God will begrudge enlightening his heart and life. Indeed in matters like needing spiritual wisdom He declares, ‘ask and it will be given you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you -- how much more will your Father in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him’ (Matthew 7.7-11). And His promise is that He will bring home to them the truths that will enable them to overcome. ‘For the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of testings’ (2 Peter 2.9). And He does it by giving spiritual discernment in the things of God (1 Corinthians 2.5-16).
James is often accused of not mentioning the Holy Spirit, but it is the Holy Spirit, the giver of wisdom (1 Corinthians 2.8-10), the Spirit of truth (John 14.17, 26; 15.28; 16.13), Whom he has in mind here. See for this idea of wisdom Jesus’ words in Luke 11.49. ‘The wisdom of God says --’, in comparison with ‘the Spirit says --’ (Matthew 24.23; Revelation 2.7, 11, 17, 29; 3.6). Compare also 1 Corinthians 2.4 where the wisdom of men is contrasted with the power of God, and with the demonstration of the Spirit and power, the latter indicating the powerfully effective true wisdom which is greater than that of men. Wisdom is thus found in the word of God illuminated and applied by the Holy Spirit (1.18, 21; 4.5, 11) which has to be lived out in life (1.22), and is revealed in true goodness of life (3.13).
‘Lack wisdom.’ This has little to do with gaining worldly knowledge. To the Jews wisdom was found in knowing the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 1.7; 3.7). The man who thus finds wisdom and gets understanding will truly be able to rejoice, for it will be better for him than a multitude of riches (Proverbs 3.13-18). That is why the wise man builds his house on a rock by hearing Jesus’ words and doing them, then he knows that the storms and tempests cannot move him (verse 6; Matthew 7.24-25). He responds to the Spirit and His wisdom.
There have been many times in history when religious leaders have sought to prevent common people from seeking wisdom on the grounds that any wisdom must be seen as coming through them. Perhaps James knew of some Rabbis and Pharisees who were doing precisely that, men such as the Judaisers who were travelling around trying to imprison men’s minds in rites and ceremonies, and bringing them into subjection to their own ideas and ultimately to themselves. But he wants God’s people to know that God will freely give His true wisdom to those who ask Him and will enlighten them with spiritual truth (1 Corinthians 2.11-18) so that they will be delivered from such perversions. This wisdom is found through ‘the implanted word which is able to save your souls’ (1.21). It is ‘from above’ (3.17), and is real and genuine, resulting in hearts that are at peace (3.18).
1.6 ‘But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting, for he who doubts is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and troubled.’
But those who would receive God’s wisdom must come to God with full confidence in His willingness to respond. They must ‘ask in faith, nothing doubting’. And as the writer in Proverbs tells us, they must do it by ‘choosing the fear of the Lord’ (Proverbs 1.29). In other words it requires a single eye (Matthew 6.22). For ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and of true knowledge’ (Proverbs 1.7; Job 28.28), and results in riches beyond imagining (Proverbs 3.13-18). They must thus set their minds to experience this wisdom with hearts full of faith. For if they doubt (revealing it by the course they choose in their thinking and in their lives) they will be tossed to and fro like the waves in the wind, swirling this way and that, never at rest (Isaiah 57.20). They must therefore rather look to God with a single eye and a full assurance of faith, and not with one that turns this way and that, for they cannot serve God and Mammon (Matthew 6.22-24).
1.7 ‘For let not that man think that he will receive anything of the Lord.’
And this constancy of heart and mind is required for any who would receive God’s wisdom, and indeed anything from God. The one who is tossed this way and that by doubt and inconstancy will receive nothing from the Lord. Such things come only to those whose eyes are set on God. Let them then go into their inner chamber and pray to the Lord in secret, and the Lord Who sees in secret will reward them openly (Matthew 6.6).
1.8 ‘A doubleminded man, unstable in all his ways.’
For the man who is looking both ways at once will be prone to accidents. He will not know whether to do this or that. He will be ‘unstable (disordered) in all his ways’, first moving one way and then another, never quite sure what to do next. And the only way in which to avoid such double-mindedness is to draw near to God, to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts, and to mourn over our sin, humbling ourselves before God (4.8-10). It is as we do this that we will learn true wisdom, and become fixed in our minds.
The letter will end with a similar requirement for steadfast faith and an expression of confidence in God’s willingness to answer prayer as we see in 5.13-18.
Trials Combined With Wisdom Are Intended To Bring Home To Men What Is Important To Them.
1.9-11 ‘But let the brother of low degree glory in his high estate, and the rich, in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun arises with the scorching wind, and withers the grass: and its flower falls, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in his goings.’
James now first introduces what is to be one of his themes, the contrast between rich and poor. The majority of Christians were poor, often made even poorer by becoming Christians, but there were inevitably rich people among them. And James could see that these people both often had a wrong attitude which was unhelpful, and were also in most danger of wandering from the truth, because their eyes and thoughts were fixed on other things which were in danger of taking possession of their lives. He thus makes it apparent that he is especially concerned about the way that the wealthy see life (see 2.2-7, 14-16; 5.1-6) because it is clear that they do not recognise how temporary life and its riches are. This foolish attitude of men towards wealth was a constant theme of Jesus (Matthew 6.19-21; Luke 12.13-21, 32-33; 16.19-31), and James clearly saw it as affecting many in the churches. It was an ever present danger, and had been so from the beginning (Acts 5.1-11), for the problem is that possessions possess men, and if not controlled can absorb their whole attention. Later his concern will expand to treating the question of their attitude towards the poor. But here his concern is that if they are not wary they will fade away and die without having had proper regard for God’s ways because they are so tied up in their wealth. So his hope is that by such people being brought low by testings and trials they will be made aware of their transience.
The Christian brother who is poor, he says, can glory in his happy position. (Note the emphasis on ‘brother’. Both rich and poor are to remember that they are brothers in Christ). He is in a state which should be envied. For it is the poor in spirit who will receive the Kingly Rule of God (Matthew 5.3). And he can glory in trials, for he has little to lose, and through them he is gaining a great reward (Matthew 5.12). He is thus in line to receive the crown of life, that is, to inherit eternal life (verse 12). For the believing poor all is gain. His way can only be upwards. James does not feel that the danger of backsliding is quite as great for him. All he must do is keep his eye on the goal.
But how different it is for the rich, for they can so easily be dragged down by their riches. They have so many things that may attract them away from Christ. They should indeed rejoice therefore when trials bring them low, for it will make them aware of the transience of riches, and remind them not to allow their riches to control their lives. For if they do not beware their riches will take over their souls, and will induce them to live accordingly, only for them to discover in the end that those riches are perishing and that they themselves will ‘fade away’ in their pursuit of them, rather than like the believing poor entering in triumph into the everlasting glory. So the rich who are wise will glory in their being made humble and being brought low, for in that lies their hope of escaping from the control and snare of their riches into the arms of Christ, and as a consequence receiving the crown of life. The detail provided demonstrates the fears that James has about the rich. He is fearful that their faith might not prove to be genuine and able to stand up to the snares of wealth. It is they whom he sees as in the greatest danger of being insincere.
‘In that he is made low.’ The rich man rejoices in being brought low because it reminds him of his transience. It reminds him that like ‘the flower of the grass’ he will pass away (compare Psalm 103.15; Isaiah 40.6). For the sun arises with the scorching wind, and withers the grass, and its flower falls, and ‘the grace of the fashion of it’ (its blooming beauty) perishes. Instead of continuing to bloom, it withers and dies. ‘So also will the rich man fade away in his goings.’ He too will ‘fade away and wither and die as he goes about his business’, that is he will if he fails to heed the message brought to him by his trials. His riches will not enable him to prevent it.
By "the flower of the grass" may be meant the blaze of gorgeous blossoms which accompany the first shooting of the grass in spring in Palestine, which soon dies away in the hot summer. Or it may simply signify the blooming of the grass itself, only for it to wither in the summer heat and die leaving nothing behind but the barren earth.
A similar picture of the vulnerability of the rich is found in 4.13-5.6, although there it inveighs against their behaviour towards the poor. So the believing poor rejoice in the blessings that are to be theirs, and the believing rich rejoice that God is keeping their eyes in the right direction by constantly bringing them low.
1.12 ‘Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love him.’
The passage then ends with a description of the blessedness of the one who endures temptation, whether rich or poor, and who as a result of it is ‘approved’ because he has allowed it to be effective in his life. Such a man or woman will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. That is in the end why they face testing with such joy. It is because they know what its result will be. And that is why the believing poor will be able to boast in their anticipated exaltation, while the rich are to ensure that they prove ‘worthy’ of it by their responsiveness to God. This idea of receiving future reward will be dealt with in more detail in 5.7-11.
‘Blessed.’ Literally ‘A blessed one by God is he who (successfully) endures testings.’ Compare Matthew 5.3-10. They are those who have been blessed by God.
‘Approved.’ Found to be pure after testing. Revealed as pure gold with the dross removed.
‘The crown of life.’ In Proverbs 4.9 it is said of wisdom that ‘she will place on your head a fair crown, she will bestow on you a beautiful crown’. For true wisdom brings men to God. In the same way here the reception of the crown results from having received wisdom (verse 5), and having responded to it. And this wisdom has produced in them true life which is eternal (verse 18) so that they receive the crown ‘of life’. This crown is probably to be seen as a crown of honour rather than an athlete’s crown, for James would probably have looked on the latter with disfavour. They are to inherit eternal life through the resurrection, and that is to be their crown. They are ‘crowned with eternal life’. In Revelation 2.10 ‘the crown of life’ is the martyr’s crown, which guarantees to him resurrection life following death. In both cases it is their ‘reward’ for faithfulness. So all who have endured trials for His sake, and have thereby been shown to be approved, will receive from Him the crown of eternal life.
‘To those who love him.’ See Psalm 145.20, ‘YHWH preserves all who love Him.’ And compare Deuteronomy 6.5-6. The idea is thus firmly rooted in the Old Testament. God will never fail those who love Him, but will preserve them to the end. This love was, of course, what was commanded of all Jews (Deuteronomy 6.5) but sadly in most it had become mere outward recognition of God and a remote reverence which did not affect their daily way of life. But such true love was being revealed by those who suffered for His Name’s sake (verse 2).
The theme of Jesus’ coming is further expanded on towards the end of the letter in 5.7-10, as His people await the fruits of their labours, and are to do it without grumbling in the light of the coming judgment.
There Is One Kind Of Testing That Is Not To Be Seen As Of God And That Is The Temptation To Sin. That Springs From The Lusts Of The Human Heart And Leads To Death (1.13-15).
James now moves from the trials of life to the idea of a particular trial, that of temptation to sin. It would seem that some were blaming their temptations to sin, and even their sinfulness, on God, so he assures them that it is not God Who tempts men to sin, but men who are tempted because of what they are. They are led astray by their own sinful desires. And they are to be aware that this kind of testing does not lead to the crown of life, but to the dust of death (verse 15).
Analysis.
Note how this is presented in the form of a sequence. First what is not the cause of temptation (it is not God who causes man to be tempted), then what is the cause of temptation (temptation is caused by man’s own desires and lusts), then the consequence of temptation, (man’s lust ‘conceives’ and like a pregnant woman ‘bears’ sin), then the consequences of that sin (sin comes to completeness and, again like a pregnant woman, ‘brings forth’ death).
1.13 ‘Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no man.’
There is a play on the meaning of temptation here. James has been speaking about testings and trials, and he may well have heard some blame them on God. And he has indeed made clear that that is partly true, for God allows His people to be tested for their good. But Now he wants to make clear that while God may test men He does not subject them to temptation to sin. Where temptation to sin occurs it is not God Who is doing it.
One reason why that is so is because sin is foreign to God as He is by nature. Thus He cannot be tempted with evil. He is above and beyond it as ‘the Holy One’. Thus temptation to sin would be outside the sphere of His holiness. It is something which He could not conceivably do. But that then brings out another remarkable fact, and that is that in becoming man in Jesus God did subject Himself to temptation. ‘He was tempted in all points as we are, and yet without sin’ (Hebrews 4.15, compare also 2.18). But that does not apply to God as Creator and Sustainer of the Universe.
‘And He Himself tempts no man.’ James categorically denies that God tempts men. It would be foreign to what He is. Thus we can never seek to blame our sinfulness on God. It is all of man. Jewish tradition concurs with this conclusion, ‘Do not say, “it is through the Lord that I fell away -- it is He Who caused me to err” (Ecclesiasticus 15.11, 12). For if someone did they would be putting the blame in the wrong place.
1.14 ‘But each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.’
What then is it that causes men to be tempted? And the answer is that it is as a result of his own fallen desires. It is the result of his lustful nature. He is tempted, he is drawn by the temptation, he is then enticed into sin. He sees something, or hears something or becomes aware of something and then his desires take over and he seeks to make it his own, especially if it is something forbidden. This was what happened in Eden. The woman saw and desired. She wanted the fruit with all her heart and was tempted. And as she continued to gaze at it she was enticed. She saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food, was a delight to the eyes, and was to be desired to give her greater wisdom (Genesis 3.6). And that is why she fell. In the end her failure was due simply to her failure to resist temptation by running away, followed by a period when she allowed enticement. Had her heart been filled with love for God she would have turned away immediately, but as it was she lingered, considering the temptation and weighing it up, and as a result she was enticed and fell (see 2 Timothy 2.22 for what she should have done, ‘flee from youthful desires’).
There are three main types of sin, the sin of the flesh (Ephesians 2.3; 1 John 2.16), the sin of the mind (Ephesians 2.3; 1 John 2.16), and the sin of seeking worldly status (‘the pride of life’, 1 John 2.16). The first is to be fought by running (2 Timothy 2.22), the second by setting the mind on things above (Colossians 3.2), and the third by humble submission to God (James 4.7).
1.15 ‘Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin, and the sin, when it is fullgrown (‘has come to completeness’), brings forth death.’
But sin does not stop there. Once lust has conceived and produced sin, that sin will grow within men and produce death. For once we have let sin in, it remains within and produces its own effect and we are never rid of it. So while response to testings and trials (‘peirasmoi’) might lead to receiving the crown of life, yielding to temptation (‘peirasmos’) to sin can only produce death. This is the story of sin. And it is one that can be laid at no other door than our own. Whatever the interference of others, even of Satan, man is thus ultimately responsible for his own sin.
All Things Come To Men Through The Unchanging Creator Including Our Begetting Through The Word of Truth. Thus Men Should Be Silent Before Him And, Rather Than Speaking Angrily And Unbefittingly, Receive The Implanted Word With Meekness. (1.16-18).
But while temptation may not come from God (verse 13), all good giving and every perfect gift certainly do so, something which they must not be deceived about. And this in context includes the gift of wisdom (verse 5). And it also includes the gift of His word through which He has begotten us (verse 18), and the gift of the sun which causes the flower of the grass to wither (verse 11), and shines on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5.45), for He is the Father of lights. In the light of this we should be silent before Him, listening rather than speaking, and eschewing anger which is not consonant with His working, receiving meekly His implanted word which is able to save our souls..
Analysis.
We may see this either as a chiasmus or as comparative successive verses. Treating it as a chiasmus we see that in ‘a’ all good giving and every perfect gift comes from above, and in the parallel that they are to be received meekly to the saving of the soul. In ‘b’ God is the benevolent and unchanging Father in His splendour and glory, and therefore in the parallel all that is unworthy of Him must be put away. In ‘c’ He has acted sovereignly to beget us through His word of truth, and in the parallel we should therefore listen in awe rather than mouthing off and displaying human temper, neither of which assist the word of truth.
If we see it as comparative successive verses we have references to his beloved brothers in each A together with a warning to take heed because His perfect gifts sit ill with our sinfulness. In B God is the benevolent and unchanging Father in His splendour and glory, and therefore in the parallel all that is unworthy of Him must be put away. In C He has begotten us sovereignly through His word of truth, and in the parallel we are meekly to receive that implanted word to the saving of our souls.
1.16 ‘Be not deceived, my beloved brothers.’
He is concerned that his readers as ‘my beloved brothers’ are not ‘deceived’. The expression of deep affection stresses the importance of what he is saying. It is something that he really wants them to appreciate. He wants them to recognise that while riches are but temporary and fleeting (verse 11), God’s gifts are what are truly true and permanent. And apart from wisdom as described in verse 5, and the crown of life in verse 12, this includes His begetting of His own people through the word of truth, which is a personal ‘begetting’ by the Father of the glorious created lights, something which contrasts powerfully with the temptations ‘born of’ Madame Desire, and the sin ‘born of’ Madame Temptation (verse 15).
1.17 ‘All good (beneficial) giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning.’
For the source of all truly beneficial giving is God, and the source of every gift which is perfect in its entirety, is God. And these are gifts that come ‘from above’. (Compare verse 18 that follows with John 3.3, ‘You must be born from above’). They are heavenly in origin, and therefore outweigh all else. And the Giver of all such good and perfect gifts is no unreliable and ever changing man, but is the Creator, the Father of lights, the One Who created the great and the lesser lights and created the stars also (Genesis 1.14-16), the One Who is so unchanging that unlike sun and moon He does not vary in form and shape, nor does He cast an everchanging shadow as a result of His movement, but rather He remains constant and ever the same (compare Malachi 3.6). He is totally dependable and His spiritual provision ever sure. The sun and the rain produce the harvests and bring life to the earth (Matthew 5.45), but far, far better are the giving and gifts from above which are totally reliable, and this especially includes the word of truth which produces a spiritual harvest in the hearts of men (verse 18, see Isaiah 55.10-13), for this is to truly to receive the true wisdom of God (verse 5), that will result in their endowment with the crown of life (verse 12). Thus the gift that he is about to describe must be seen as the gift beyond all gifts.
We must not undervalue the phrase ‘the Father of lights’. The sun was the most glorious and splendid thing known to man, and the moon brought light to earth at times of darkness such that men rejoiced at the new moon (compare Job 31.26). And thus the Father of lights was to be seen as both glorious in splendour and a bringer of light in the darkness. He is the One Who is better than sun and moon and Whose light outshines them both (compare Isaiah 60.19-20). He is the One Who ‘alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, Whom no man has ever seen or can see’ (1 Timothy 6.16). And nothing was more splendid and more enlightening than His word of truth brought by the Sun of Righteousness Who has come from above with His healing and restoring power (Malachi 4.2).
(With regard to the heavenly lights, men regularly saw the moon change its shape, and experienced the loss of its light through the days, before it began to grow brighter again, seemingly waxing and waning, while the shadows cast by the sun regularly moved, even if according to a pattern. Nor was the sun always there, for it deserted them at night, and could be hidden behind the clouds. So while both were glorious they were subject to constant change and not fully reliable).
1.18 ‘Of his own will he begat us (‘brought us forth’) by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.’
For while the sustaining of Creation was left to the glorious heavenly lights and the sustaining seasons, the begetting of His own people occurred directly through His own determined will and purpose, a begetting which took place through the word of truth. And He brought it about by His own divine action at the time of His own planning (Galatians 4.4-7). Behind this statement is the thought of the One Who has recently walked the earth and brought God’s truth to men. Here was God’s will very much in action, manifesting His glory (John 1.14), a glory greater far than that of sun or moon, and producing His new creation (Galatians 6.15; 2 Corinthians 5.17).
Here is the essence of what James is telling us. The Almighty, the great Creator, has acted in the world of His own will and has given His sustaining and divine life (2 Peter 1.4) to all who have received the word of truth through His Son. That is why these people that he is writing to are as they are. It is because He has chosen to beget them by planting His word in them (verse 21).
And this begetting was in order that they might be the firstfruits of His creatures. This may indicate that then the full harvest of His creatures will also be redeemed (Isaiah 11.6-9; 65.25), so that full restoration has taken place, or simply that His people are seen as ‘the firstfruits’ out of all creation, as those who are especially set aside for Him. Or it may indicate that His people stand out from all men (His creatures) as those who are separated to God and belong to Him, just as was true of the firstfruits. We thus have here an emphasis on His sovereign act of redemption and salvation resulting in the new birth for His own.
For ‘the word of truth’ compare Ephesians 1.13; Colossians 1.5. It is ‘the good news of their salvation’.
(Those who would see the begetting here as referring to the creation of man by a word overlook the fact that that is never called a begetting. Nor could man who came last in creation, be seen as a firstfruits of it).
1.19 ‘You know this, my beloved brothers. And let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,’
And his beloved brothers are aware of this, or are told to be aware of it (the verb could be imperative) and therefore they should be silent in awe before Him, listening and taking heed to His word. For ‘God is in Heaven and you are on the earth, therefore let your words be few’ (Ecclesiastes 5.2). This is no time for self-opinionation and humanly expressed anger, but a time for hearing and teaching and putting into practise the righteousness of God. Compare Proverbs 13.3, ‘he who guards his mouth preserves his life. He who opens wide his lips comes to ruin’ (see also Proverbs 10.19; 29.20).
God is at work and so they should be swift to hear. God is at work and so they should think before they speak. God is at work and so they should put aside human anger. Who are they so to express God? Here all this is seen in the light of God at work, but the false and angry use of words will be expanded on in 3.1-12, when his readers will be strongly warned against such misuse. For by their words they will be justified, and by their words they will be condemned (Matthew 12.37).
1.20 ‘For the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God.’
1.21 ‘For which reason, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.’
‘For which reason’ may apply to the previous verse, with the emphasis being on the fact that rather than behaving angrily they are to receive the implanted word with a meek and gentle spirit, or it may look back to the whole passage and the fact that they are dealing with heavenly and glorious Creator. In this case the emphasis is on the need to do away with sin and all that offends God, and this would fit well with verses 13-15.
But either way it is important that filthiness and overflowing of wickedness should be ‘put away’. It is a call to repentance in the light of the new revelation (compare ‘repent and believe in the good news’ - Mark 1.16). They are to ‘take off, as they would a garment, all that is wrong and impure, all that defiles, including their false words, responding rather to the implanted word of truth, and putting it on in the way that they live their lives. Compare Paul’s ‘put off the old man -- which is corrupt through deceitful lusts -- and put on the new which is created after the likeness of God in righteousness and true holiness’ (Ephesians 4.22-24).
‘Overflowing (excess) of wickedness.’ This may refer to the wickedness that still remains even after their first reception of the word of truth which has now also to be put off (as he will go on to demonstrate), or it may refer to the way in which wickedness can flow up from our lives, something which must be fully dealt with.
‘The implanted word.’ And instead of these things they are to delight in God’s word, the powerful word that He has implanted within them (verse 18), receiving it and responding to it, for it is able to save their souls. It is like a seed planted in their hearts which grows and flourishes (Matthew 13.18-23). It will bring them to eternal life (verse 12), to the eternal Kingly Rule (Matthew 13.43). This ‘saving of souls’ is important to James, for he will close off his letter with the idea (5.20). It is what all their trials are intended to achieve. The idea here of ‘saving’ is not of once for all salvation, that occurred when they were begotten of God by the word of truth, but of the constant need to experience God’s saving power so that His end might be achieved. They are undergoing a process of spiritual healing, of ‘sanctification’. They are being made like Him as a result of the carrying out of His will (Romans 8.29; Ephesians 1.4; 1 John 3.2-3). They are being changed from glory into glory (2 Corinthians 3.18). God is at work in them to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2.13). And they are to take heed and receive the implanted word, which, like healing medicine, will restore them and make them whole.
‘Receive with meekness (that is, with ‘a teachable spirit’).’ The word here is describing the quality of the man whose feelings and emotions are under perfect control and who is ready to learn. There will be no harsh words.
It Is Not Sufficient Only To Be A Hearer, It Is Necessary Also To Be A Doer (1.22-27).
Having laid a careful foundation in demonstrating that God’s People are those whom He has sovereignly begotten, in whose hearts his word of truth has been received and implanted, and is to grow, (their side has been through the response of faith both to His word and to His begetting), James now emphasises that that truth must be carried out into practise. It was very necessary that they hear His word, and receive it with due solemnity (verse 19), but now they must also ensure that they carry it through into action.
Analysis.
Note that in ‘a’ we have the command to be a doer and a picture of the deluded religionist, and in the parallel we have the description of what is true religion which results in doing. In ‘b’ we have the picture of the man who looks into his mirror in vain because he does not act on what he sees, and in the parallel we have the picture of the man who thinks himself fine but in fact his religion is in vain, because he does not bridle his tongue. Both are self-deceived. Centrally in ‘c’ we have the man who looks in the perfect law of liberty who acts on what he sees and is thereby blessed.
1.22 ‘But be you doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves.’
James is very conscious of the danger of hearing and not doing. He had previously been like this himself, and he had seen among the Jews how easy it was to be a hearer in the synagogues every Sabbath and yet not be a doer. He had seen it also among the Pharisees. He does not want this repeated among the new Israel. So he calls on them not only to be hearers of the word which is proclaimed to them, as those who have received the truth, but also to be doers of it. They must be like the wise man who built his house on a rock, who heard and did the word of Jesus, and not the foolish man who built his house on sand and heard but did not do (Matthew 7.24-27). For they must recognise that if they hear but do not do they are deluding themselves about being a Christian. The message is a very important one. The New Testament as a whole has no place for those who hear but do not do. As Jesus Himself said, ‘Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do the things which I say?’ (Luke 6.46, compare Luke 11.28).
1.23-24 ‘For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like to a man beholding his natural face in a mirror, for he beholds himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what manner of man he was.’
He then illustrates his argument by the picture of a man who goes and glances in a mirror. He sees himself, but does not weigh himself up, and he then goes away and forgets what little he has observed and what he is supposed to be, and does nothing about what he has seen. It has not affected his actions. And this is like a man who hears the word, and then conveniently forgets what he is supposed to be and does not do it. It does not affect his actions. It is supreme folly.
1.25 ‘But he who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and so continues, being not a hearer who forgets but a doer who works, this man will be blessed in his doing.’
But then in contrast James describes the one who is true at heart. He looks into the perfect Law, which is the Law of liberty and then goes on his way. He does not forget what he has ‘heard’ in the perfect law of liberty. He does not forget what he is supposed to be. But he does what the law of liberty requires. And he will be blessed in his doing.
The perfect law of liberty is the Law of God (Psalm 19.7, and consider Psalm 1.2 and Psalm 119) as released from its unnecessary restraints by Jesus, and expanded in the new covenant (Jeremiah 31.31 ff; Hebrews 8.8-13). It is the Sermon on the Mount and its equivalents (see Matthew 5.48), properly interpreted, being worked in their hearts by God. It has given men freedom from the restrictions of the Law laid down by the Elders, which have bound men with burdens grievous to be borne, and has brought out the deeper significance of that Law, bringing them into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Romans 8.21). Thus their righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees because they hear His words and do them. As Paul regularly does in the second half of his letters, James is insisting that faith and response to God must result in love and response to man. Faith must result in works. Their light is to so shine before men that they see their good works and glorify their Father Who is in Heaven (Matthew 5.16).
‘And he will be blessed in his doing.’ It was always the insistence of the Torah that the man who did what was required in it would live a full life as a result of it (Leviticus 18.5). And it is not just a coincidence that the Law ends in blessings on those who obey it (Deuteronomy 28.1-14, compare Luke 11.28). In Christ the religious ordinance of the Law have been fulfilled and no longer apply, but the heart of the Law continues to throb and be valid. That was why Paul was concerned that men fulfil the Law (Galatians 5.13-14) as Jesus Himself had taught.
1.26 ‘If any man thinks himself to be religious, while he does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this man’s religion is vain.’
It again becomes clear that there was much distress in the churches because of the way that people were speaking to each other or of each other (compare verse 19) for James now declares that those who do not bridle their tongues (backbiters, boasters, slanderers, tale-tellers, liars, gossips) and all who misuse their tongues must recognise that it is an indication that their religious practise is not genuine (Leviticus 19.16; Psalm 15.3; Romans 1.30; Galatians 5.15; etc). He is saying that what we say demonstrates what we really are.
By ‘religious’ James means practising their faith with its binding stipulations. But a man who does not bridle his tongue is not practising the Christian faith in any genuine way. Thus he is deceiving himself about his true spiritual position, and if he is not careful he will discover that his religion and his profession is vain. The seriousness of the problem in the churches is found in that he goes further into details on this in 3.1-12. Note how here his whole emphasis is on the failure of the tongue, reminding us again of Jesus’ similar words, ‘for every idle word that a man will speak he will give account of it in the Day of Judgment, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned’ (Matthew 12.36-37). It was clearly a major problem in the churches known to James. Perhaps the initial differences between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians were partly responsible for it which would suggest a fairly early date for James’ letter.
1.27 ‘Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.’
James is here giving his own meaning to the Greek word translated ‘religion’ which elsewhere indicated ‘following ceremonial requirements’. It is not intended to indicate the formation of a new religion. It is to be read in a similar light to Isaiah 58.5-14. Thus he is rather saying that in the eyes of One Who is both our God and Father such ceremonial requirements fall into the background besides our concern for the widows and fatherless and our being morally pure. That is true religion in God’s eyes. In other words our main concern in what we do should not be the observance of religious ceremonial but the caring for those who are close to the Father’s heart, the fatherless who have no other father and the widows who are their mothers. See Psalm 68.5 - ‘Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in His holy habitation’. Note that they are to be visited, not just tossed a few coins. It requires personal inconvenience. See Deuteronomy 27.19; Isaiah 1.17; and contrast Mark 12.40 which describes the way in which the Scribes visited widows.
‘Pure religion and undefiled.’ There is a dig here against those who considered that they could keep themselves pure and undefiled through religious rites. But the problem there is that they are concerned with external purity. But God’s people are to be concerned with the purity of the heart as revealed by God-likeness in their behaviour. That is how they will keep pure and undefiled.
‘To keep oneself unspotted from the world.’ There is in fact only one way to keep ourselves unspotted from the world, and that is to set our minds on things above and look to the Lord of glory (2.1). But it is not recommending withdrawal from the world, only from its aims. For we are to go out into the world to help the widows and fatherless. This is thus simply turning us again to the perfect Law of liberty, and to the One Who can enable us to fulfil it. It is calling on us to be perfect as our Father in Heaven in perfect (Matthew 5.48) by showing love to the unlovely, by loving God with all our hearts, and by loving our neighbour as ourselves. It is to avoid the attitudes and aims of the world. See 1 John 2.15-17. For the need to be ‘unspotted’ see 2 Peter 3.14.
And one of the things that is very characteristic of the world is respect of persons. We give great respect to the rich, to the powerful, and to the aristocratic. But James will now go on to point out that this respect of persons is heartily disapproved of by God Who requires that all be treated with the same love and respect.
Chapters 2-5.
Having dealt with subjects in a certain order in chapter 1 the remainder of the letter will now deal with those subjects in the reverse order. Thus:
Analysis of chapter 1.
The remainder of the letter then splits up as follows:
Analysis of chapter 2-5.
Chapter 2. Faith Without Works Is Dead.
The Fact That Faith Without Relevant Action Is Dead Is Illustrated (2.1-7). It Will Be Brought Into Judgment (2.8-13,) And The Case Is Argued Scripturally (2.14-26).
The passage is split up into three sections, commencing with an example of so-called believers revealing the falsity of their faith by showing partiality to the rich, continuing with an examination of why this is wrong having judgment in view, and finalising with the arguing of the case from Scripture.
Faith Without Works Illustrated In Action In The Treatment Of The Rich As Compared With The Poor In The Assembly (2.1-7).
Note that in ‘a’ emphasis is on Whom their faith is about, and in the parallel they are warned not to blaspheme His honourable Name. In ‘b’ the rich man is honoured, and in the parallel James reminds his readers that it is the same rich who oppress them. In ‘c’ the treatment of the poor is described, and in the parallel we have the indication that they have thereby dishonoured the poor man. Centrally in ‘d’ the true status of the poor in God’s eyes is revealed. They are rich in faith (the faith of our Lord, Jesus Christ) and heirs of the Kingly Rule of God.
2.1 ‘My brothers, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory, with respect of persons.’
James commences by drawing their attention to the fact that the glory of our Lord, Jesus Christ, is far above that of any other. He is our Lord, set above all things (Acts 2.36; Ephesians 1.20-22); He is Jesus Who will save His people from their sins (Matthew 1.21), He is the expected Messiah, the enthroned Christ (Acts 2.35), but above all He is the Lord of glory (compare 1 Corinthians 2.8 where it is closely associated with the poor and weak Christians of this world described in 1 Corinthians 1.18-31; Matthew 16.27; 25.31), the possessor of all things, the One Who is over all in splendour, the One Who will come as judge. It is a pointed reminder in the light of what is to follow. Beside Him the glory of the rich man fades into insignificance, and the true glory belongs to those who are rich in faith and heirs of the Kingly Rule of God over which He presides in glory. To them will be the glory. By this means the writer immediately set their minds on things above (Colossians 3.2).
In the Old Testament ‘the glory’ can have a number of meanings, but its prime significance is in describing the glory of the Shekinah, the revelation of YHWH in blinding light (Exodus 16.7, 10; 24.16, 17; 33.22; 40.34; Leviticus 9.6; 23; often in Numbers; Deuteronomy 5.24; and so on) Whom no man has seen or can see because He dwells in unapproachable light (1 Timothy 6.16). Indeed in the Psalms He is ‘the King of glory’ (Psalm 24.7, 8, 9, 10), and ‘the God of glory’ (Psalm 29.3), good parallels with ‘the Lord, Jesus Christ, of glory’, and YHWH’s glory is regularly referred to by the Psalmists. When the glory of YHWH left the Temple in Ezekiel it was a sign of His rejection of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 11.23) to which the glory would never return. When it would re-enter the Temple it would be to a heavenly Temple (there is no suggestion anywhere that it should be built. It was already there in vision. Only the altar was to be built in the new earthly Temple as a contact point with it) situated on a mountain outside Jerusalem in what was an idealised picture (Ezekiel 40.2; 45.1-6; see chapters 40-44). In Zechariah 7.13 it was the coming king, ‘the Branch’ who would ‘bear the glory’, that is, would enjoy royal honour as the representative of YHWH. Thus to be the Lord of glory was to represent YHWH, the King of glory, both as revealing Him to man and as ruling on His behalf. But it also meant more. It meant that He had returned to His Father to receive the glory that had been His before the world was (John 17.5)
A secondary meaning of ‘the glory’ was as indicating the possessions and prosperity of a man or a of nation (e.g. Isaiah 17.3-6; Jeremiah 13.18; 48.18). Thus the Lord ‘of glory’ might be seen as signifying Him as the Possessor of Heaven and earth (Genesis 14.22) and as over the angels. But no doubt the primary idea here is to relate Him to the glory of YHWH (compare John 17.5), and to act as a contrast to the ‘glory’ of the rich man with his golden ring and his fine clothes.
‘My Brothers.’ James wants them continually to realise that he writes not as a superior but as a brother to his beloved brothers and sisters. Compare 1.2, 9, 16, 19; 2.5, 14, 15; 3.1; 4.11; 5.7, 9, 12, 19. By this he stresses that they are all ‘sons of God’ and on an equality with each other. In other words they are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3.28).
2.2 For if there come into your synagogue (assembly) a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, and there come in also a poor man in vile clothing,’
He gives the example of two men entering the ‘synagogue’, that is the ‘assembly’ (compare Proverbs 5.14 LXX where sunagowgos (syanagogue) and ekklesia (church) are paralleled as ‘the congregation and the assembly’). The use of the term suggests an early date when the church and the synagogue were closely related. One of these two men is wearing a gold ring (indeed probably a number of gold rings) and fine clothing. He is displaying his ‘glory’ . But how pathetic it appears in comparison with the glory of the Lord, Jesus Christ, (and is intended to). It is as dust. Indeed in the eyes of YHWH he is wearing ‘filthy garments’ (Zechariah 3.3).
The other is wearing ‘vile clothing’. He is dirty, he smells of the field or the workshop or the tannery or even worse. He has taken an hour or so away from his labours to worship his God. (But he is rich in faith, and in God’s eyes he is clothed in ‘rich apparel’ with a ‘crown turban’ on his head - Zechariah 3.5-6).
2.3 ‘And you have regard to him who wears the fine clothing, and say, “You sit here in a good place”, and you say to the poor man, “You stand there, or sit under my footstool.” ’
But those whose eyes are not on the Lord of Glory, pay great regard to the rich man in his fine clothing, and lead him to a place of honour, while to the poor man they say, ‘you stand over there’ or ‘come and sit here by my footstool’. He is an ‘also ran’. He is not even given a seat. They cannot see in him what God can see. What a contrast with God’s dealings. He ‘brings down the mighty from their seats, and exalts those of low standing’ (Luke 1.52). That is God’s way, for He knows the heart.
The story is told of when the great English general, the Duke of Wellington, went to partake of Holy Communion (the Lord’s Supper). A private soldier was awaiting his turn, and as he began to move forward he saw the Duke coming and immediately stepped back. But the Duke said to him, ‘No, you go first. We are all equal here.’ And that is how it should be in the assembly of God’s people.
2.4 ‘Do you not make distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?’
James then makes his point. By doing this they are making distinctions among themselves and are judging with evil thoughts. They are looking from the point of view of the world, not from the point of view of God. And in the assembly of God’s people that was not to be. Outside the assembly one might be the Master and the other a slave. But in the assembly they were both vile sinners, in need of constant mercy.
It should in fairness be pointed out that in many such assemblies the slave might very often be made a bishop or a deacon, while the rich man was simply a hearer and a learner, but James clearly knew of some assemblies where this principle was not followed. But the idea here might be that these are newcomers, and even the slave bishop might sometimes fall into the trap of honouring the rich man who enters the church for the first time more than he was due. That is unquestionably what happens in many modern churches. It is human nature. Perhaps verses 1-6 should be posted up in all churches.
2.5-6a ‘Listen, my beloved brothers, did not God choose those who are poor as to the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingly Rule which he promised to those who love him? But you have dishonoured the poor man.
He then points out in what honour and high esteem that poor man is often held in the sight of God. For God sees the faith in his heart and sees there a richness unknown to the majority of rich men. Indeed God has chosen that man who is poor in the world’s eyes precisely in order to make him rich in faith, and he has thus become ‘rich towards God’ (Luke 12.21). For God has chosen the weak and the foolish to confound the mighty (1 Corinthians 1.18-31). By the word of truth He has begotten that man so that he might be clothed in spiritual splendour, in accordance with His own will (1.18). And He has made him an heir of the Kingly Rule of God. One day he will share the glory of the Father and the Son, the glory of the Lord of glory (Revelation 21.23; 22.3-5). Indeed he has already received something of that glory (2 Corinthians 3.18; John 17. 22). How foolish then for us not to recognise it. And all this is promised ‘to those who love Him’. For this phrase compare 1.12. James probably has in mind here Deuteronomy 6.5-6.
‘An heir of the Kingly Rule of Heaven’. In Matthew 5.3 Jesus said, ‘blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingly Rule of Heaven’ (compare Luke 6.20). They were of the ‘little flock’ to which His Father would give His Kingly Rule (Luke 12.32) which would become a multitude that no man could number (Revelation 7.9), with large numbers of them poor. They had become heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8.17). This idea looks back to Psalm 22.26, 28 where the poor are connected with YHWH’s Kingly Rule that reigns over the nations’. See also Daniel 7. 18, 27, ‘And the Kingly Rule and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Most High’.
‘But you have dishonoured the poor man.’ The words bring us down to earth with a bump. Here is a man whom God has chosen to honour, and whom God holds in high esteem, and the assembly have dishonoured him. It is a scandal. But it is because their eyes are on the world and not on God (compare 4.4). They have lost the ability to see things as God sees them. And spiritually they have brought on themselves great shame. They have dishonoured the man whom God has honoured.
2.6b Do not the rich oppress you, and themselves drag you before the judgment-seats?’
James then makes a further point. He is not necessarily saying that this is true of that particular rich man. But his point is that that rich man belongs to a class who, while they might be given honour by some in the church, are in fact, as a class, those who oppress Christians and even have them hauled before the courts on one pretext or another, often with the aim of them being severely punished and even put to death. He is not, of course, calling for discrimination against rich men. He is simply pointing out that as a class they are not to be especially honoured when they enter the assembly of God’s people, for their qualities are not necessarily such as God honours. All must be treated alike. If they are truly His all are one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3.28).
For examples of the rich persecuting God’s people see Acts 4.1-3 (the Chief Priests and most Sadducees were rich), 13.50; 16.19; 19.23-41.
Judgment seats.’ This could refer to synagogue courts as well as Greek and Roman courts. As we see from Acts it was not difficult to get strange people like the Christians before the courts, often with differing verdicts (Acts 8.3; 12.3; 13.50; 16.19-20; 18.12)..
2.7 ‘Do they not blaspheme the honourable name by which you are called?’
Indeed, he can go further. It is the rich and the powerful who more than any others bring the name of Jesus into disrepute. And they openly blaspheme (use abusive and scurrilous language) against His Name, insulting His Name in public, treating it with contempt, that Name ‘by which His people are called’ (whether as Messiah-nists, or as Christ-ians (1 Peter 4.14, 16; cf. Acts 26. 28), or as Jesus’ people, or whatever). But in the end to be ‘called by His Name’ was to be set aside as precious and under His care (see Amos 12.9, and compare Jeremiah 14.9). There may be the thought here that Jesus Name was called over them when they were baptised after coming to repentance.
The Reason That Their Treatment Of Rich And Poor Is To Be Condemned And Will Come Into Judgment Is Now Given (2.8-13).
Having opened with an illustration so as to seize the attention, James now applies it. The Law declares that they are to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’. This is a requirement of Leviticus 19.18, of Jesus (e.g. Mark 12.31; Luke 10.27), and of Paul (Galatians 5.14). But to show respect of persons is not to be so even-handed as this law requires, and it therefore makes those who do so ‘transgressors’. They have broken the ‘royal law’. And to break one Law is to be guilty of being a lawbreaker. They are thus now guilty before God of being lawbreakers and will come under judgment.
Note how in ‘a’ they are to love their neighbour as themselves, thus showing mercy and not judgment, and in the parallel mercy glories against judgment. In ‘b’ showing respect of persons by maltreating the poor is to break that law, and in the parallel the one who has not shown mercy to the poor will be judged unmercifully. In ‘c’ to break one law is to be guilty of all, and in the parallel, they have to have regard for they will be judged by the law, even though it is the law of liberty (not licentious freedom). Centrally in ‘d’ the principle is established by comparisons, establishing the fact that to break one law makes a man a transgressor, a law breaker.
2.8-9 ‘If you really (or ‘however, if you’) fulfil the royal law, according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself, you do well, but if you have respect of persons, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.’
The basic principle here is simple. If they keep the law which says, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’ by treating all impartially they ‘do well’. But if they show partiality and reveal respect of particular persons such as the rich then they fail to keep that law, and they therefore become lawbreakers. They do ill. The law then convicts them of breaking the law, of being transgressors. This is even more emphasised by the fact that the law forbade showing discrimination against the poor (e.g. Leviticus 19.15).
‘The royal law (nomon --- basilikon).’ The order of the words shows either that
basilikon is accessory to nomon ("a law, a royal one"), or that it has a special force, it is a law which merits being called "royal." But the question is, why is it royal? One answer may be because it was pronounced by the King as the guiding law with respect to our attitudes towards our fellowman (Mark 12.31; Luke 10.27). Another may be that it is because it is the ‘king of laws’. It rules over and takes in all the others. Indeed both meanings may be intended by it, for they both merge. As Paul says, whoever fulfils this law has fulfilled the whole law, for ‘the whole law is fulfilled in this word, You shall love your neighbour as yourself’ (Galatians 5.14). It is another way of saying, ‘do to others what you would have them do to you’ (Matthew 7.12).
‘If you really fulfil --.’ That is, in relation to what is in mind here. Thus it can be said of them that they ‘do well’ as compared with those who show respect of persons. Had it meant that they fulfilled that law in all its aspects he would have said, ‘you have done amazingly well’. It was one of the two commandments, of which Jesus said that on them hung all the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 22.40). A royal law indeed!
2.10 ‘For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is become guilty of all.’
This is a no escape clause which embraces us all. In order to back his argument up against anyone who might say that this behaviour is so human that it is not really all that bad James then points out a cardinal principle, and that is that ‘whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is become guilty of all,’ That is, he has become a lawbreaker. We are reminded here of God’s perfect standard, which is why Paul can declare, ‘all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3.23). This verse is extremely important because as a result of it the whole world becomes guilty before God (see Romans 3.19). Not one of us can say that we have always without exception so lived that all others have been treated by us in the same way as we would have treated ourselves under similar circumstances. And once we have failed to do so we have become Biblical criminals, a position from which there is no going back until the consequences of that sin have been fully met. It should be noted here that James is making quite clear that no one (apart from One Who did no sin - 2 Corinthians 5.21) can be accepted by God on the basis of his good works or personal merit. For he is making clear that all are sinners. From a legal standpoint they can never therefore be accepted by God on the basis of their works. Always the law will point at them and cry ‘guilty’.
To us some may seem more guilty than others, and the sins that others commit may appear as far worse than those we commit ourselves. But the fact is that before the bar of God we are all guilty. There we will be in no position to point the finger at others. There, unless we find mercy, we will be too busy unable to defend ourselves.
The Bible makes clear that we cannot pick and choose between the laws of God. Moses, after a series of curses, tells us in Deuteronomy 27.26, "Cursed be he who does not confirm (all) the words of this law to do them". The Hebrew omits ‘all’ but LXX, the Samaritan Pentateuch and Paul in Galatians 3.10 all include it and it is clearly to be implied. Compare Deuteronomy 11.32 where we read, “you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the ordinances that I set before you this day.” Jesus confirms it when He says that ‘not one jot or tittle of the Law shall fail until all is fulfilled’ (Matthew 5.18).
2.11 ‘For he who said, “Do not commit adultery”, said also, “Do not murder”. Now if you do not commit adultery, but do murder, you are become a transgressor of the law.’
He then illustrates this from two basic laws, the law against adultery (the breaking up of a marriage relationship and the stealing of a man’s wife), and the law against murder (the stealing away from a man of his life by death, and of someone’s beloved relation by the ending of the life of that relation. Everyone murdered is someone’s son or daughter). The laws were carefully selected. No one would have denied that in these cases any guilty party, at least theoretically, deserved death. In the ancient Law these two crimes carried the death penalty. They were seen as the most serious crimes of all. But James’ point is that it is equally as heinous in God’s eyes to act in a way that reveals that we do not love our neighbours as ourselves in lesser thing, as it is to reveal that lack of love by murder or commit adultery. And we should note in this regard that Jesus had made clear in the parable of the Good Samaritan that our neighbours were men of all races. Thus our love is to be shown towards all, and especially towards those of good will like the Good Samaritan, and to fall short of this requirement is to be as bad as an adulterer or a murderer.
2.12 ‘So speak you, and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of liberty.’
He then applies his words to the Christians who are hearing his letter read to them. They are to recognise this principle and speak and act accordingly, recognising that their words and their actions are to be judged by means of the perfect law, the law of liberty (1.25). But that law is not called the law of liberty because it frees men from the need to obey it and lowers God’s standards. It is called the ‘law of liberty’ because:
Thus we too must come to that law and read and study it. For it will show us what it means to be free from sin, and will drive us to call on the strength and power of Christ in order to overcome. And it will convict us of anything in which we go wrong. For studying that Law is ‘coming to the light’, and that will show us the sin from which we need to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus (1 John 1.7-10).
And the result of that cleansing is a constant new freedom. As Jesus said, If the Son shall make you free, you will be free indeed’ (John 8.36) and that by freeing us from our slavery to sin (John 8.34), so that we obey ‘the law of Christ’, God’s perfect Law as revealed especially in the two great commandments and in the Sermon on the Mount. For His service, which brings us under full obedience to Him, is perfect freedom, because it frees us from anything else that might bind us. From then on we need to live only in accordance with the will of our Father (Matthew 7.21). And we do this not out of fear (its power to finally condemn is broken) but out of love.
To use the illustration in 1.23-25, this law is like a mirror into which we can look so that it shows us the truth about ourselves. But once we have seen what we are the mirror has done its work, and we do not then scrub ourselves with the mirror (which would be of shining metal). Rather we turn from the mirror to the water and wash ourselves clean. In the same way when the Law reveals that we are ‘dirty’ we do not then use the Law as a cleansing agent (although they did under the old Law by turning to offerings and sacrifices). Rather it becomes our tutor to point us to Christ (Galatians 3.24). We allow the law to point us to Jesus Christ as the Saviour from sin Who was sacrificed for us (John 1.29; 1 Corinthians 5.7; 2 Corinthians 5.21; 1 Peter 1.18-19; Hebrews 8-10; Romans 8.3) and was put forth as the propitiation for our sins (Romans 3.24). And we come in order to be cleansed by His blood, that is, by His blood shed for us (1 John 1.7). James recognises this as well as Paul and Peter, for it is intrinsic in his argument here. Otherwise his words simply leave every man guilty before God. And he now expresses this point succintly.
2.13 ‘For judgment is without mercy to him who has showed no mercy. Mercy glories against judgment.’
He then finishes with two sayings which bring this out. The first is that the one who fails to show mercy will never find mercy. This is a reversal of Matthew 5.7, where Jesus said, ‘blessed (by God) are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy’. Here it is ‘cursed are the unmerciful, for they will obtain no mercy’. Or to put it another way, ‘if you do not forgive men when they sin against you, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you for your sins against Him’ (Matthew 6.14-15). The point is that those who are without compassion, thus revealing that they have not experienced God’s compassion, will be treated without compassion.
But in the second statement we have the remedy. It is that, ‘mercy glories against judgment.’ The point now is that when we find ourselves judged and are declared guilty as lawbreakers, there is a way of escape, a way of mercy. Judgment ‘glories’ against lawbreakers for it always prevails. But ‘mercy glories against judgment’ because it obtains the relief of lawbreakers from their position as lawbreakers, and releases them by forgiveness, and by the payment of a ransom by One Who has suffered in their place (Matthew 20.28; 1 Corinthians 6.20; Galatians 3.13; Titus 2.14; 1 Peter 1.18-19). And thus we become His as those who are bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6.20). James does not work this out, but his theology demands it. He is writing to those well versed in the truth of the Gospel.
Herein is the wonder of the cross. It brings rejoicing instead of judgment, because it brings mercy. Judgment is the stark fact that faces all. But mercy laughs joyously, and removes the fear of judgment.
The Reply Comes, ‘But Surely If We Have Faith That Is Enough. Will We Not Be Seen To Be Righteous Because We Have Faith In Christ? Then Surely It Does Not Really Matter How We Behave Towards Others’. The Reply Is That Faith Will Certainly Enable Us To Become Acceptable To God, But That The Only Way In Which It Will Be Seen That We have Been Made Acceptable To God Is By Our Subsequent Lives Which Demonstrate Godlikeness (2.14-26).
James is aware that some who have been reading his words will now be saying, ‘what is all this talk about our being found guilty because we have shown partiality to the rich. Are we not saved by faith? How then can we be found guilty? Will not God just look at our faith and declare us righteous?’ James reply is, ‘No He will look at your works to show whether they reveal the evidence that you really do have faith’. He might have added, ‘If you died the moment that you believed then God would look only to your faith, but if you lived, after believing, for more than a few minutes, God would look for the beginnings of the change within your life. For if you have really believed the changes will begin at once because you have become new creatures (2 Corinthians 5.17). You will have been begotten by the word of truth (1.18).’
Now James was perfectly well aware that not everyone who ever showed partiality would be condemned, otherwise where would any of us be? What he is seeking to bring home is that if we justify such partiality then the idea that we have been born again of the Spirit must be suspect. For no one who was truly seeking to follow Christ would deny that he must love his neighbour as himself.
It is important to recognise that James is not saying here that we can be made acceptable before God by our works. He is rather pointing out that the works which result from our believing in Christ will be the final evidence that God has truly begotten us (1.18). He is asking, ‘How can men be begotten by God in accordance with His will and not become gradually God-like?’ (2 Corinthians 3.18 - Paul would have cried out here, ‘God forbid that such a thing should happen’ - Romans 6.1-2, 15). It is parallel to the words of Jesus when He declares to His forgiven disciples, ‘by your words you will be accounted righteous, and by your words you will be condemned’ (Matthew 12.37). There Jesus was not saying that they would be saved by observing carefully the words that came from their mouths, but that those words would be evidence of whether God was at work within them or not.
Analysis.
Note that in ‘a’ faith without works cannot save, and in the parallel faith without works is dead. In ‘b’ the one who fails to help the needy is profitless, while in the parallel Rahab revealed her faith, and was justified because she helped the messengers and fed and protected them, and sent them to safety. In ‘c’ faith without works is dead, and in the parallel a man is therefore justified by works and not only by faith. In ‘d’ we have what a man will say, “I will show you my faith by my works”, and in the parallel the Scripture says, “Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness” and he was called ‘the friend of God’, that is the one who did His will. In ‘e’ we have the central point that a man is finally justified by his works as well as by his faith.
2.14 ‘What does it profit, my brothers (and sisters), if a man say he has faith, but does not have works? Can that faith save him?’
We should note carefully precisely what is said. The man ‘says’ he has faith. But the question is faith in what? If his faith does not make him active in doing good then it is not faith in the One Who went about doing good. Thus his faith will do him no good. For the only faith that is worthwhile, and that saves, is faith in our Lord, Jesus Christ, of glory (2.1). Those who have such faith cannot fail to be active in good works, for they will want to reveal His glory. Indeed He has specifically required it, They must let their light shine before men in order that men might see God’s glory and give glory to Him (Matthew 5.16). Thus it is pointless calling Him ‘Lord, Lord’, if we do not do what He says (Luke 6.46). It is a contradiction in terms.
2.15-16 ‘If a brother or sister be naked and in lack of daily food, and one of you say to them, “Go in peace, be you warmed and filled”, but you do not give them the things needful to the body, what does it profit (‘what is the benefit of that’)?’
Once again his thoughts turn for an illustration to the poor. He pictures a fellow Christian without proper clothing and short of nourishment, and the supposed Christian saying piously, ‘Go in peace.May God warm you and fill you’ (the passive tense regularly indicates God’s action). But of what use is that if God’s professed servant fails to warm and fill them? Who else can God use for the purpose? It is piously asking God to do what in fact He expects THEM to do. It is clearly making a mockery of God and demonstrating that they do not go along with Him either in His thoughts or in His purposes. Their faith is thus shown not to be genuine.
This accusation would fit Gentiles more than Jews, for if there was one thing that Jews were good at it was at giving alms and making provision for the poor, supporting the case that the letter is to the whole church.
2.17 ‘Even so faith, if it does not have works, is dead in itself.’
And that is why he can say that such faith is dead. It is unresponsive, it fails to act, and it reveals a closed mind and a closed heart. It in practise ignores the One Whom it claims as Lord. What then is it faith in? It is a moribund faith in an unknown god..
2.18 ‘Yes, a man will say, “You have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith.” ’
He then contrasts two men. One says he has faith. ‘OK,’ says the other. ‘Show me your faith. Let me see it, handle it, touch it, experience it.’ But the man is stumped. He has nothing to show for his faith. Then the other says, ‘Now I have faith, and I can show it to you in practise, for it is my faith that makes me act in obedience to Jesus Christ in letting my light so shine before men that they see my good works and glorify our Father Who is in Heaven. Look then at what I have done and give glory to God that He has worked true faith in me, by begetting me with the word of truth, so that I do His will.’
In other words he was known by his fruits (compare Matthew 7.20).
2.19 “You believe that God is one? You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder.’
‘Ah,’ says the first man solemnly, ‘I am a believer. I believe that God is One just as He told me to’ (in Deuteronomy 6.5-6). (Or ‘I believe that there is one God.’) ‘Well done,’ says the other. That puts you on a par with the Devil and his minions. For the demons also believe, and it makes them shudder.’ The thought is that it should make this man professing faith consider whether it should make him shudder too when he thinks how hypocritical he is being. We note that this man, like the Devil, is fully aware of the One God, but he makes no response to Him in his life. It makes him no different from those who have no faith at all. It actually make him no different from the Devil, for it produces nothing positive within him.
2.20 ‘But will you know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is barren?’
Thus he needs to recognise that he is living in vain and for nothing, because his faith is barren. Unless he does works and fulfils his Father’s will his faith will bear no fruit. It will be prove to be a useless faith. For how can anyone truly know and believe in God as He is, and yet not seek to please Him in any way by doing what He wants?
He is thereby demonstrating that the God he believes in is totally unlike God as he is portrayed in the Bible.
2.21 ‘Was not Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?’
He then takes the example of Abraham, the first man who is said to have had ‘faith’, the Abraham of whom it was said, ‘Abraham believed God and he counted it to him for righteousness’ (Genesis 15.6)). So we are told that He had faith, and that as a result of that faith he was accounted righteous. No mention of works there. It was pure, untrammelled faith. But how do we know with an absolute certainty that he truly believed in God? A major reason is because he was genuinely prepared to offer his son Isaac on the altar at God’s command, even to the point of raising the knife in order to do so, and was only restrained by a word from God. And what did this show, that Abraham was trying to earn God’s favour? No it revealed his full faith in God. Then all men knew the depths of Abraham’s faith. They knew that his faith in God was genuine, because it made him do something that all could see, something that few others would have done. They could not see his faith, but they could see that He had faith because of what He did. So Abraham was seen to be ‘righteous’ because of what he was prepared to do. But the important point is that he had been reckoned as ‘in the right’ long before in Genesis 15. He was not ‘put in the right’ by his offering of Isaac in chapter 22. He was put in the right by believing in God long before in chapter 15. What his action in chapter 22 did was make his faith clear to the world, and to the angels, and in a sense to God (although God knew all the time). From then on there was no doubt that Abraham had true faith. He was ‘seen as righteous’ and justified in the eyes of God and man by his works.
‘Justified by works.’ This does not mean that God accounted him as righteous because of his works, for he was already accounted as righteous. It means that the righteousness that he had already had accounted to him was now revealed to both heaven and earth. God saw it. The angels saw and wondered. The world of his day saw and were impressed. Here, they said, is a man who has faith in his God. When a man is justified by faith, it means that because of his response to God, God accounts him as righteous. When he is justified by works it means that he is seen to have been already accounted as righteous and that his works now prove that he is so. They are the icing on the cake which shows what the cake is all about.
There is a special poignancy here in that what Abraham believed in chapter 15 was, among other things, that he would beget a son. And now in chapter 22 he was being called on to sacrifice that son. Thus he was proving not only his willingness to obey God in whatever He asked, but his willingness to believe that in some way God would replace his son, whose birth in itself had seemed miraculous, once he had offered him. This ‘work’ was indeed a great act of faith. (God did not approve of most fathers who offered up their sons as sacrifices. Rather He condemned them because it was a kind of bribe and sop being offered to their god to avert their thirst for retribution on humans, or their anger against them. But Abraham was not acting to avoid retribution or God’s anger. He was an already recognised as righteous man acting in obedient love towards his God. Abraham was not attaining righteousness or diverting wrath by offering his son. Rather he was revealing his faith in God’s promises and his willingness to obey God because of that faith. He was seen as righteous because of the faith that he was revealing in offering to God the very one who was the reward of his previous faith, the child of promise, believing that God would still keep His promise. His works proved his faith, they did not supplement it.
‘Abraham our father.’ All who had become Christians saw Abraham as their father, and themselves as blessed through God’s promises made to Abraham (Galatians 3.6-7, 29). But there were very few, whether Christian or Jew who could trace their genuine ancestry back to Abraham (Jesus was one of the few exceptions). For most were not descended from Abraham, they were ‘adopted’ sons of Abraham.
2.22 ‘You see that faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect (brought to completeness).’
And not only did his works reveal that he really was righteous through faith, something that had been accounted to him long before, but it also made his faith grow stronger and more mature. His faith became complete. The more his faith was active, the more it grew. And the more he obeyed God the more his faith grew. Many a person asks, ‘how can I increase my faith?’. And God’s answer is, ‘Go out and witness for Me, and live for Me, and your faith will grow. But if you sit at home doing nothing your faith will die.’ Indeed sitting at home will reveal that it has really been dead all the time. It will be seen that it could not even stir a person out of his chair (or out of his comfortable prayer meeting. How often we pray, ‘Lord bring them in’, and God replies, ‘Go out and show how much you love them by what you do for them that no one else would do. Then they will come in. That is what will prove to them that you really believe’).
2.23 ‘And the scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness”, and he was called the friend of God.’
So Abraham’s action in offering Isaac in obedience to God’s command brought to completeness (fulfilled) his action of earlier believing in God and His promises, and thus being reckoned as righteous. It demonstrated to Heaven and earth that it was true that he really was righteous, and had become so those many years before when he believed. His action in offering Isaac had not made him righteous. It had simply demonstrated that he was righteous. It had capped many years of faithful response. Once Isaac had been delivered no one could ever again be in doubt about the fact that he was the friend of God, one on whom God smiled, and one who loved God, and it had all been made apparent because of his actions, his ‘works’.
For ‘the friend of God’ see 2 Chronicles 20.7, ‘did you not give -- this land for ever to Abraham your friend?’ Notice there that this demonstrates that he was called the friend of God on the basis of Genesis 15.18 where he was promised the land, and not on the basis of Genesis 22, where he was not promised the land. Again in Isaiah 41.8 Abraham is seen as Abraham’s friend, but in that case it was because he was specially chosen. Thus Abraham became God’s friend, first because he was chosen, and then because he believed God. His works simply proved that he recognised Him as his friend.
We can compare here the many who came to Jesus and said that they believed, and that they accepted Him as their Lord, and then went away smugly satisfied but unchanged. They felt that they had done their bit and that Jesus should be grateful. But Jesus said of them, ‘not every one who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter under the Kingly Rule of God, but only those who do the will of My Father Who is in Heaven’ (Matthew 7.21). For how can we be said to have entered under the Kingly Rule of God if we do not do His will? And how can we be said to have been ‘saved’ (‘made whole’) if we have in fact become no different? If we have become no different then the truth is that God has passed us by. But if that is so it is our fault not His.
2.24 ‘You see that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith.’
So James now reaches his conclusion. That having been recognised as righteous as a result of a response of faith towards God in Jesus Christ, a man will be seen to have been accounted righteous by what happens afterwards when as a result of it his life begins to reveal a new righteousness. And when he approaches the great throne of judgment his works will be examined and they will reveal that he was a person who really had been justified by faith, and had thus experienced the work of God within him. It would be clear from his works that he had been begotten by God through the word of truth (1.18) and that it had been effective.
2.25 ‘And in the same way was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works, in that she received the messengers, and sent them out another way?’
James then brings a second example out of the Old Testament, the example of Rahab who hid the spies when Joshua was about to invade Canaan. Here he is giving an example of a Gentile who also evidenced the same truth, for his message is to both ex-Jews and ex-Gentiles. There in Jericho there was one woman whose heart had been stirred to believe in the God of Israel. And as a result, when the spies came she fed then and hid them, and then arranged for them to escape. And what did this prove? That she believed in the God of Israel and trusted that He would have mercy on her. But how did Israel know that she was a believer, and that they must spare her, even though everyone living in Jericho apart from her and her family had to be killed? And the answer is, because of what she did, because of her works. By this she was seen as righteous (justified) in the sight of Israel. By this they knew of her faith.
2.26 ‘For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.’
Then he comes to his final conclusion. Just like the body is dead if it has no spirit (when the spirit has departed from it), so is faith dead if no life can be seen, if no works can be seen to be springing from it. Such a situation makes clear that that faith is totally unproductive, and is not genuine faith in ‘the God Who acts’ at all. It is moribund. The picture is a vivid one. He imagines looking down at the dead body, unmoving and lifeless with no reaction at all. And then he adds, and if faith is like that, producing no reaction and bringing about no movement and no living response, then it too is clearly dead.
Chapter 3. The Uncontrolled Tongue In Contrast With True Wisdom.
Having demonstrated that showing partiality and ignoring the requirements of the poor and needy are both evidences that a man lacks true faith in Christ, James now goes on to demonstrate that the same is true of anyone who has an uncontrolled tongue. For this too men will be judged and brought to account, and what is discovered will demonstrate whether they have true faith, and the wisdom which goes with it (1.5). Here James is expanding on his thought in 1.18-19. There it was in the light of the unchangeable Father who gives to men endowments and gifts as He begets men through the word of truth so that they may be His firstfruits. In response they are to be swift to hear and slow to speak in order that they might be what He requires and grow as a result of the implanted word. Now James will expand on that important injunction, slow to speak. If men are to respond to God’s goodness they must control their tongues, and be thoughtful in what they say. It is important that that word of truth be rightly dealt with and not be utilised rashly, carelessly and even harmfully. Here he now presses home that fact.
So he begins by warning Teachers to watch their words for which they will have to give account, and he then goes on to warn all against the dangers of a careless tongue. It is quite clear that what men and women were saying was causing great problems in the churches. Careless words were acting like the very fires of Hell, and like poison in men’s souls.
By this James is continuing the ideas broached in 1.19-21 where he warned against being too eager to speak, and against words spoken in anger and about thereby not working the righteousness of God. Much of the problem clearly lay in men revealing in their words verbal jealousy, for orators were treated with great respect and awe (verse 14), divisive argument, because people fought over minor interpretations (verse 14) and wordy arrogance, because some thought that they were superior to others (verse 14 - do not glory) resulting from or in great anger (1.19), to say nothing of their fawning on the rich (2.3) and showing contempt for the poor (2.3). And the solution to the problem was to be found in finding true wisdom from above.
This passage follows a remarkable sequence of key ideas which we have sought to bring out by the use of capital letters. Each idea is repeated in the next ‘verse’.
Analysis.
3.1-2a ‘Do not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we shall receive heavier judgment. For in many things we all stumble. ’
James’ initial warning is against the natural desire that many have to teach others. They feel that they have a truth worth passing on and want to convince others. That is all very well if they are well taught and truly understand the Scriptures, and have the right attitudes and are loving and caring. But in those early days there was no New Testament, and many who had been converted had little knowledge of the ‘new way’ and of the Apostles’ teaching. Thus James is warning of the danger of setting themselves up as Teachers, lest they turn out to be erring teachers. For to be a Teacher of the word brings great responsibility, and even the best stumble.
We get the impression from this that large numbers wanted to be Teachers, and very few to be listeners. So James warns them what a solemn thing it is to be a Teacher of the word. This was especially so when they only had the Old Testament to teach from. For by being Teachers, without a full knowledge of what Jesus had taught, or of what the Apostles taught, they could easily lead men astray into false ideas or unsatisfactory ways. Let them therefore be quick to hear and slow to speak (1.19). For it was one thing to teach others privately what they had learned, and what they believed, as they ‘gossiped the Gospel’, it was quite another to be set up as an official Teacher in the assembly and be responsible for the flock, or to stand up to teach or prophesy in the assembly without proper inspiration, prayer and spiritual preparation. It would seem that there were a number indeed who took up such a position for personal aggrandisement, or even in order to attack and criticise others. But in those early days not many would be qualified to be official Teachers, having neither heard Jesus, nor been taught by the Apostles, nor having become sufficiently knowledgeable about their teaching. It was good then that they be wary of making claims beyond their present ability, for the tongue was a powerful instrument, and by it they could do great harm. It was good therefore that the churches be careful whom they appointed, and that people themselves did not set themselves up to teach what they were in fact ignorant of, or themselves unfit to teach. In the same way Paul had to warn against those who taught without having any knowledge of what they were talking about (1 Timothy 1.6-7).
James therefore wants even those who have been appointed, and all who would aspire to teach alongside them, to be aware of the responsibility that they carried. For one day they would have to give account for what they had taught and would be judged accordingly. And he warns them that even an experienced teacher like himself, and like the Apostles, can stumble in teaching the word if they are not prayerful and watchful. How much more then those who have newly come to faith in Jesus, and have not been taught by Him, and are therefore still very much involved with their old ideas in spite of having become Christians. For he wants them to appreciate that to lead men into error or false ways would be a grievous sin.
And then there was the question of the way in which that teaching was being carried out. It could be done censoriously, or even with bitterness, or it could flail men as a result of a savage tongue. It could undermine confidence, and weaken faith, or even give false confidence. Its aim could simply be with the aim of self-aggrandisement. And it could stir up wrong emotions.
But on the other hand James would recognise that it could be life-giving and sustaining and encouraging. It could thus help to maintain unity of the people of God. He was not trying to prevent men from teaching, but warning that it was not a task to be taken on lightly. For the alternative was that it could destroy instead of building up. Many depended on the reliability of the Teacher of the word. It was therefore not a position to be taken up without due consideration. And all needed to be aware of their own inadequacy.
‘Knowing that we shall receive heavier judgment.’ In Ezekiel 34.1-10 the faithless leaders of the nation are condemned for being neglectful and abusive shepherds of God's people, and God declares that He will require it of them. In Matthew 5.19 the one who relaxed the commandments of God is least under the Kingly Rule of God, while those who teach what the Scribes and Pharisees teach will not even enter it. In Matthew 18.6 comes the warning of what will happen to those who cause the humblest believers to stumble. ‘For to him that has will more be given, but to him who has not, even what he has will be taken away’ (Luke 19.26).
‘For in many things we all stumble.’ James recognises man’s weakness, including his own. All, even the best, come short and fail. But that is all the more reason for men not to push themselves forward until they are spiritually adequate.
3.2 ‘If any stumbles not in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also.’
Taking up the thought of stumbling he now points out that if any Teacher never stumbles in what he says, or how he says it, then he is indeed a perfect man, and able to bridle the whole body, exercising total self control. He is a kind of paragon. This may be intended to be ironic, really indicating that ‘none of us Teachers are perfect, so that we all need to be very much aware of our weaknesses’. Or he may be indicating that such ‘perfect’ and mature teachers, who are mature in the faith, are rare, and it is they who should be sought for and appointed, for they will have control of both their tongues and their lives.
He then points out that the unwise or unruly tongue can affect the whole body, and/or is a manifestation of how that body will behave. Mouth and behaviour tend to go in tandem. What we say, unless we are being hypocrites, is what we do. The thought may either be that what a man says affects his behaviour, or alternately that what he says reveals what his behaviour will be like.
Being able to bridle the whole body may thus be saying:
4). That the tongue is such a clear manifestation of how the person will behave as a whole, that the ability to control the tongue indicates that such a person will be able to control their whole body.
The fact is that men’s tongues reveal their sinfulness and that is why none can teach without stumbling, for all men are sinful. As the Scriptures remind us, "None is righteous, no not one -- for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3.10, 23). "If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1.8). "There is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins," (Ecclesiastes 7.20).
One way or another then James is declaring that the way a man speaks and the way that he behaves go hand in hand, and that one who would teach must first ensure that he has control of himself, with of course the help of God. Otherwise being a teacher will bring him into grater condemnation.
3.3 ‘ Now if we put the horses’ bridles into their mouths that they may obey us, we turn about their whole body also.’
The thought of bridling the body now brings to his mind an illustration, and that is that the purpose of a bridle is in order to control the horse. The whole reason for putting a bridle (i.e. the bit) into their mouths is to make them obedient. And with that bridle the experienced rider can turn the horse in whichever direction he wants it to go. And that is what the good Teacher can do, always steer himself in the right direction and keep himself under control (as a result of God at work within him). A controlled tongue will mean a controlled person.
The tongue can be a beneficial bridle or a harmful one, and the Teacher has to ensure that he makes it beneficial. The idea comes from Psalm 32.9, ‘a horse or mule without understanding --must be curbed with a bit and bridle, or else it will not keep with you’. Compare also Psalm 39.1, ‘I will guard my ways that I might not sin with my tongue, I will bridle my mouth so long as the wicked are in my presence.’
The word for ‘turn about’ both here and in verse 4 is a strong one. The bridle and the rudder are, as it were, seen to take the horses and ship and treat them as prisoners being transported. The word is used for the "transferring" or "transporting" of prisoners, or a major ‘turning about’ in government. It is also used of turning men to having a better mind.
3.4 ‘Behold, the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by rough winds, are yet turned about by a very small rudder, wherever the will of the steersman directs.’
The thought of ‘turning about’ now brings to mind a second illustration and that is of a steersman steering a ship. He has but a small rudder, but with such a small rudder a good steersman can make the large ship do precisely what he wants, even when being driven by rough winds (that is, by what a landlubber like James thought were rough winds). So in spite of the largeness of the ship, and the fierceness of the winds, the small rudder is still able to control it.
His point is that the church too is large, and faces fierce storms, but if those who exercise authority in teaching do so wisely the whole church will move forward in the direction in which God wants it to go. But let their teaching once become marred, then the church will begin to suffer and begin to find itself at the mercy of wind and storm.
3.5 ‘So the tongue also is a little member, and boasts great things. See, how great a an area of brushwood is kindled by how small a fire!’
He now brings their thoughts back to the tongue. The ‘small’ rudder of that ship is like that other ‘little’ member, our tongue. Both are very similar. For like the rudder the tongue is only a small member of the body, but the problem is that it can boast great things (for ‘boasts’ compare 1.9. It can be positive or negative). For it can sway men to do its will, or it can lead them on a downward path. It can encourage them or destroy them. And how quickly men begin to boast about themselves and their own ideas (compare 2 Corinthians 11.12-13), offering people what is not really true. They can begin to make much of themselves and to lead men astray with their teaching, and begin to make out that they are some great one and thus go astray themselves. They become proud of their ability to sway men by their oratory (see 2 Corinthians 10.10) and offer them worldly wisdom and controversial ideas. And then before anyone knows what is happening fires of dissension and false teaching and partisanship and bitterness are lit, and kindled into a large flame, and the whole church is put in disarray. And all as a result of that little tongue! How dangerous the tongue is. (Compare 1 Corinthians 1.11-12; 1 Timothy 6.4; 1 Peter 3.9)
Its effect is similar to the way in which a small spark of flame can set off a great brushwood or woodland fire. (The word can mean timber and be used of woodland, but rarely, if ever, means forest). One moment a spark, and shortly afterwards it is as though the whole world were ablaze. And how often muttered words spoken behind people’s backs, or rash words that are spoken in haste and ignorance in public, have spread and spread, and have weakened the effectiveness and blessing of a whole church and have ‘set it on fire’ in a harmful way.
3.6 ‘And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity (or the article may suggest that we translates as ‘the world of the unrighteous’) among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the wheel of nature (or ‘the course of nature or existence, or of the genealogical sequence’), and is set on fire by hell.’
For following on from the picture of the brushwood and woodland fire lit by a spark, the tongue also is like a fire. It sets things aflame. "A worthless man plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire" (Proverbs 16.27). It is almost as though in that tongue lies hidden the sinful world outside the church (the world of iniquity, or of the unrighteous, is the world of greed and covetousness, of boasting and arrogance, of lust and dissension, of backbiting and gossip, and of envy and jealousy), only for it to be brought into the open when the tongue begins to speak, even within the assembly, through careless teachers. And by its words the tongue thus defiles the body of its owner by what it says, both because it reveals that it is sinful and because it arouses its owner to passion and lust and anger and folly as he exercises his tongue foolishly, and it defiles others by doing the same to them, (compare the phrase about the foul nature of malice in 1.21), and it thus sets on fire the ‘wheel of nature’ which is within each one of us and among us all, setting it rolling on its uncontrolled way. And when it does so, let us be in no doubt as to its source. It is set on fire by that very place of destruction that awaits all sinners, and just longs to bring Christians down into it (Gehenna - the place of the lost). That place is, as it were, seeking to bring the lust of the flesh or the mind into the Christian assembly so as to drag it back into the world, and finally into its own clutches.
Or there may be the idea that through the ages the tongue has set on fire men from one generation to another, affecting ‘the continuing wheel of existence’ that continues on through history, and that it is still true of our own generation. And if we are not careful such a tongue can even today bring into the assembly by its words the foolish and sinful world outside, ‘the world of the unrighteous’, with all its sinful ways. For nothing demonstrates more that our bodies are still subject to that world than our tongues. By them we give ourselves away. (You only have to stop and listen to church members talking to know which world is most important to some of them). And by them we introduce that world to others, when their minds should rather be set on Christ, forcing their minds back to the desirable things of the pleasure ridden world, or offering them what is not good for their souls. It may even be that Christian ‘prophets’ were saying such foolish things, and stirring up the feelings and emotions of the whole congregation in the wrong way.
Alternatively what follows in the next verse might be seen as suggesting that the ‘the cycle of existence’ (or wheel of nature) refers to the world of nature red in tooth and claw which has to be tamed (as Genesis 1.28 informs us), including all kinds of beasts and birds and creeping things and things in the sea which need to be subdued and dominated (see next verse), thus needing a tamer. But it is rather a world which has been stirred into being untamed by the activities of men within nature as a result of their unruly tongues. This might connect back with the great brushwood and woodland fires (verse 5), seeing them as caused by advancing armies as so vividly described in the Old Testament (e.g. Isaiah 8.18-19), with their devastating effects on nature as animals driven wild by fear, and totally uncontrolled, make for any haven that they can find. Thus instead of taming them, man by use of his tongue (giving instructions and inciting others to violence), has driven them wild. In the same way men’s foolish words can set ablaze the church making them similarly untamed, following the behaviour of untamed and unruly beasts (1 Corinthians 11.17-22; 2 Peter 2.1-3, 12-22; Revelation 2.20-22).
Or it may refer to the world of sinful man through the ages which alone out of all the round of nature has rebelled against its Creator, and indeed by use of its tongue has regularly set on fire that round of nature, sometimes literally by stirring up war which affects all living things (see 4.1-2), and more often by stirring up trouble and local dissension. And it does this because it itself has been set on fire by Gehenna.
Or it may refer to ‘the world in its sin’ which, stirred up in its ‘round of existence’ by foolish tongues, persecutes and harasses the people of God, being drawn in to its harmful activities by foolish things said by the tongues of unwise Christians.
Or the idea may be of the wheel of nature from birth to death with the idea that the tongue affects men through the whole of their lives, introducing them if they are not careful into a world of iniquity and sin.
But whatever way it is the tongue is seen as violently destructive and as being a causer of great distress and harm.
‘The cycle of nature.’ This was a concept found in Greek philosophy, but it was the kind of phrase that could easily be taken up and reinterpreted. Christians did not think in terms of a cycle of nature in the sense intended by some Greek philosophers, they believed in time stretching from the beginning to the consummation, and then on for ever. And they would see such a ‘cycle’ or ‘wheel’ or ‘course’ as controlled by God. We can compare how Paul regularly takes up philosophical concepts and gives them a new meaning in the light of the Gospel.
3.7 ‘For every kind of beasts and birds, of creeping things and things in the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind.’
This verse would favour interpreting ‘the round of existence’ in terms of the living creatures mentioned, for ‘every kind of beasts and birds, of creeping things and things in the sea’ is the key phrase looking back to the previous thought of the wheel of nature, just as ‘tamed’ looks forward to the next thought (see analysis above). Otherwise this verse is breaking the chain of connected ideas and forming a new one, which is unlikely.
But the writer draws the lesson from it that all these creatures are tameable in the end, and indeed have at times been tamed, whereas man’s tongue appears to be untameable, and can turn men, and even those creatures, wild again.
‘Every kind’ simply means many different kinds, whether large or small animals; differing kinds of birds, such especially as hawks and pigeons, or parrots; creeping things like snakes under their charmers and tamed snakes kept in Temples; and fish such as dolphins and porpoises and in ancient times even wider varieties, both sacred and otherwise. And even the wilder ones have been kept in place and restrained
3.8-9 ‘But the tongue can no man tame. It is a restless evil, it is full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God.’
For the one thing that is untameable is the tongue. It is a restless evil, ever at work doing harm and causing problems, and in the end making men spiritually ill and permeating their whole being with poison (compare Psalm 140.3 - ‘they make their tongue sharp as a serpent’s and under their lips is the poison of vipers’. See also Romans 3.13, "With their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips"). It may sometimes appear to be tamed, but its wildness will soon manifest itself if it is taken off the bridle.
And how inconsistent the tongue is. At one time it blesses ‘the Lord and Father’, the Lord of creation (Malachi 2.10; compare Malachi 1.6; Isaiah 64.8), and then at another time, sometimes very soon afterwards, it curses the very lords of creation whom God has set in place, who have been made in the very likeness of the God they bless (Genesis 1.27-28). They can even curse those who are the very representatives of God. James is using a powerful word in ‘curse’ but it covers anything which is said to the detriment of others, right up to the worst of all, the actual curse. Compare John 7.49. Here are doubleminded men indeed (see 1.8).
This idea of ‘blessing’ was especially relevant to a Jew, and therefore to many Jewish Christians. Whenever the name of God was mentioned, a Jew had to respond: "Blessed be He!" Furthermore three times a day the devout Jew had to repeat the Shemoneh Esreh, the famous eighteen prayers called Eulogies, every one of which begins, "Blessed be You, O God." God was indeed , The Blessed One, (‘eulogetos’), the One who was continually blessed. And yet the very mouths and tongues with which they frequently and piously blessed God, were the very same mouths and tongues with which they cursed their fellowmen. James found this quite unacceptable. He considered it as unnatural as for a spring to gush out both fresh and salt water or a tree to bear opposite kinds of fruit.
But note that it is man who is unable to tame the tongue (see also verses 14 -15). Once God steps into the equation things are very different (verses 13, 17-18). See also Ephesians 4.29-31, ‘let no evil communication come out of your mouths but only such as is good for edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those who hear --- let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour and slander be put away from you, with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.’
3.10 ‘Out of the same mouth comes forth blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.’
So the same mouth produces blessing and cursing. How treacherous the tongue is. One moment it is full of joy and praise, singing in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and the next it is spreading poison and doing dreadful harm. And the question is how can the same spring produce both life-giving water and brackish water? It is unnatural. As James says, ‘These things ought not to be!’
‘My brothers.’ Indicating that he is now coming to a kind of summary of what he has been saying.
3.11 ‘Does the fountain send forth from the same opening sweet water and bitter?’
The writer now illustrates the matter in different ways. The ‘coming forth’ from the mouth and the ‘blessing and cursing’ now leads on to the ‘sending forth’ from a fountain or spring, and the idea of ‘sweet, thirst-quenching water and bitter water’. Can a fountain or spring from the same opening (or crevice in the rock) produce both sweet water and bitter? Nature is not so inconsistent. Only man behaves in such a foolish way.
Not having water on tap all James’ hearers knew how important it was whether a spring was drinkable or not. The spring could be a thing of blessing or a thing of cursing, a thing of great joy and refreshment, or a huge disappointment. But it could never be both. So those from whom should come springs of living water (John 7.38) must not also be the means of poisoning the minds and hearts of their brothers and sisters.
3.12 ‘Can a fig tree, my brothers, yield olives, or a vine figs? Neither can salt water yield sweet.’
And he closes off the series with an illustration. Each thing in nature produces according to it nature. The fig tree produces figs, the olive tree olives. (Compare here Matthew 7.16). And salt water cannot produce sweet without treatment. So should the Christian from his mouth produce the good fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5.22) and not the inedible and poisonous fruit of the flesh. The salt water probably has in mind the salt water springs around the Dead Sea which were unusable to man. Note that here the contrasts have ceased. The final word is intended to bring out the bitter saltiness of the tongue
What Is Required Therefore Is Not Earthly Wisdom But Wisdom From Above (3.13-18)
Having warned against the unruly tongue, James now explains how men can ensure that their tongues are under control by receiving wisdom from above. We were informed in 1.17-18 of the giving and the gifts from above, and the effect of the word of truth, now these are to be expanded on and contrasted with what the earth offers. There is a wisdom from above which produces peace and righteousness, and is reasonable, full of mercy and productive of good fruits. It is a wisdom that will produce right teaching. But in contrast is the wisdom of the world, which produces selfish ambition, jealousy and disorder, and results in every useless and worthless practise.
Analysis.
a Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good life his works in meekness of wisdom (13).
Note that in ‘a’ reference is made to wisdom and understanding and the living of a good life, and in the parallel we have wisdom and good fruits and righteousness. In ‘b’ we have reference to jealousy and selfish ambition, and in the parallel we have the same. Centrally in ‘c’ is the contrast between the wisdom from above and that which is earthly and devilish
3.13 ‘Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good life his works in meekness of wisdom.’
These words take us back to verse 1 and to what is required of the ‘perfect’ Teacher, and also to 1.17-19 in considering God’s good giving and perfect gifts from above. Note the contrast in verses 13-14 between the wise one who reveals the truth through his good life (verse 13), and the one who as a result of bitter jealousy, selfish ambition and self-assertiveness, lies against the truth (verse 14). For those whose wisdom is from above (verses 15, 17 compare 1.5, 18) are wise and understanding. They reveal the fruit of their lives in wise humility and gentleness, living ‘good lives’, that is, lives that reveal goodness in their behaviour (kales anastrophes). For the effect of such good lives see 1 Peter 2.12. They ‘take thought for what is noble in the sight of all’ (Romans 12.17; compare 1 Corinthians 8.21).
‘Meekness of wisdom.’ This is probably a Hebraism signifying ‘wise meekness’, or meekness that arises out of wisdom. The word for meekness occurs in non-Biblical literature to describe a horse that someone has broken and has trained to submit to a bridle. It is ‘meek’ or ‘broken in’. But meekness here is not weakness (compare Matthew 5.5; 11.29). It is subjection to the Master and therefore the opposite of arrogance, of discord, of thrusting oneself forward, and of a desire to lord it over others. It is seeing the truth about oneself. It is being ‘meek and lowly in heart’, gentle, self-controlled, considerate, humble, peaceable, aware of spiritual inadequacy (dependent on the Holy Spirit Who gives wisdom from above), and thoughtful for the needs of others (Matthew 11.29). They are ‘eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace’ (Ephesians 4.3). It was John Calvin who said that there were three requirements for a preacher, humility, humility and humility. It is the people who recognise this and live by it who will reveal the wisdom of God.
Note that as ever in James it results in ‘works’. Those who are wise and understanding finally reveal it in their actions and their activities.
3.14 ‘But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not glory and do not lie against the truth.’
In contrast to this wisdom from above is man’s wisdom, which results in jealousy, discord, divisiveness, rivalry and selfish ambition (eritheia). Such people are not of the truth, and the word of truth (1.18) has not been effective in their hearts. They have nothing to glory in and any claims that they might make to truth are lies against the truth. For it is possible to destroy the truth of what is said by the spirit in which it is said. Note how those in verse 13 are basically swift to hear and slow to speak (1.19). Those in verse 14 hear little and speak much.
3.15 ‘This wisdom is not a wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.’
And the source of such wisdom is not the Father of lights (1.17) but earthly wisdom and even the Devil. Such people lack the fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge (Job 28.28; Proverbs 1.7; 9.10), and are unresponsive to the word of truth. For it is very possible to speak of heavenly things from an earthly motive, and to turn what is heavenly into what is base. ‘Earthly.’ Very much based on earthly values and aims. ‘Sensual.’ Resulting from the unrenewed mind, and determined by the values of the flesh. The attitude of the ‘natural man’. ‘Devilish.’ Deceitful and misleading, for he was a liar from the beginning.
3.16 ‘For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every worthless deed.’
For jealousy and selfish ambition and self-assertiveness simply produce confusion and worthless, useless and vain practises and a church at war with itself (contrast 1 Corinthians 14.33). Jealous people and people who are selfishly ambitious make the truth secondary to the fulfilment of their desires.
3.17-18 ‘But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without variance, without hypocrisy, and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.’
In total contrast to all this is the wisdom that has come from above, in those who have been born from above (1.5, 17-18; John 3.3). There is here an indirect reference to the Holy Spirit (compare 1 Corinthians 2.11-16). This wisdom is pure (hagnos) and free from all defilement, besmirchment and divisiveness, for its eyes are fixed on God and it seeks only to know His thoughts and His will (Matthew 5.8, compare 1.28).
‘The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.’ And this fruit of righteousness comes from a peaceable heart, and offers continual peace, to those who are peacemakers, that is, God’s true people (Matthew 5.9). Isaiah also similarly tells us that ‘the work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness quietness and peace for ever’ (Isaiah 32.17), while Hebrews speaks of ‘the peaceable fruit of righteousness’ (Hebrews 12.11). See also Proverbs 11.30; Amos 6.12. It comes from a heart at peace, and benefits all who are of a peaceful heart. Such are those who have been begotten from above through the word of truth (1.18). In Contrast To Those Who Have Received The Wisdom That Is From Above Are Those Who Yield To The Desires Of The Flesh And Seek To Be Friends Of A World Which Ignores Christ (4.1-5).
Having spoken of those who have received the wisdom from above, and through it have found peace, and a message of peace, James now turns to look at those who have refused the wisdom that is from above and are living by their own wisdom, following the endless search for pleasure. And he does it with powerful illustrations which, like many of those of Jesus, are deliberately exaggerated. He speaks of wars and battles, of murder and of adultery, but all as exaggerated pictures of their situation. The point is that they are gross sinners, and are to recognise the fact. He declares that the consequences for them of their false attitudes are ‘wars’, and ‘battles’, both nationally, locally and personally, together with an adulterous attitude towards God and the world which brings them into condemnation (compare Ezekiel 16). James is here using the strongest language possible in order to bring out their full involvement in bringing displeasure to God. They are willing to ‘go to war and murder’, even if for the most part what they actually do is only quarrel and squabble and fight verbally and spit hate, for war and murder is truly in their hearts. The passage is expanding on the idea of the desires that cause temptation and result in sin and death (1.13-15). It is a picture of those in the church who have lost their first love.
The ‘natural man’ in each failing church member longs for the pleasures that he desires, and then is ready to fight and quarrel for them. He is filled with desire for pleasure and then yields to the temptation (compare 1.13-15). But in spite of the fact that he squabbles and hates and ‘kills’, being filled with envy at others and coveting what they have, he does not obtain what he is looking for. For what he is looking for is elusive. It is not to be found in the world. Yet, if only he could see it, it is actually there waiting for him, for it is available from above. But the fact is that he does not have it because he does not ask for it from the One Who could give it to him (1.5). Indeed the last thing he thinks of is looking to God, for he does not consider that God can give him what he wants. And then if he does decide to ask for it from God he does not receive it, because he asks for it for the wrong reasons. He should thus pause and recognise that his problem is that what he wants is not what God wants, but what the world wants, and thus to want that is to be contrary to God. He should therefore ask himself, ‘Has God put my spirit within me so that I might just go on being filled with desires that simply result in envy of others, or has He done it in order that I might seek after Him?’
Analysis.
Note that in ‘a’ men’s pleasures are responsible for his wars and for his battles. And in the parallel his longings are contrary to the spirit that God has put within him. In ‘b’ the concentration and efforts of some of his readers are expended in order to obtain the things of this world, and in the parallel they are seeking to be friends with the world, which involves being at enmity with God. Central is the thought that if they do not look to God for His will then all their prayers will be in vain.
James is now probably speaking mainly to those in the churches who are mere enquirers, or onlookers, or hangers on, although there may even at this stage be more genuine believers who had become complacent in their faith, and thus lukewarm (as in Revelation 2-3 where it is even more apparent). These are the opposite of the genuine seekers after wisdom of 3.13, 15, 17. And he points out that because their spirits are not looking to God, they fail to receive what in their hearts they are looking for. The consequence is that they fight and squabble with each other, or even go to war, in order to obtain what they think will give them pleasure and satisfy their desires. But in fact they never receive it, because they are looking in the wrong direction.
4.1 ‘From where come wars and from where come squabblings among you? Do they not come from there, even from your pleasures that war in your members?’
He considers their wars and their squabbling and their belligerence with each other. From where, he asks, do they come? And then he answers his own question. They are the consequence of the wars within themselves, their wanting more and more of the pleasures and desires of the world, which, once having tasted, they cannot bear to be without. For those very pleasures are at war within every part of their bodies (‘their members’) pressing them on into further conflict. We can compare here the fleshly desires that war against the soul (1 Peter 2.11). They want satisfaction at all costs as the battle rages within them. The picture is of people in turmoil within because of their determination to have their pleasures, as each one battles with everyone else in order to get what he himself wants. The language is that of the battlefield, but in most cases what is in mind is probably the local ‘battlefield’ at work and in the household. For those who live like this there can be no peace.
The pleasures were no doubt of various kinds, for James does not specify them. They would include gaining the pleasure of recognition for its own sake, gaining pleasure in achieving status for reasons of personal vanity, gaining pleasure in getting their own way, gaining pleasure by getting revenge for imagined, or even real, slights, to say nothing of the more openly ‘sinful’ pleasures of engaging in sex or seeking monetary enhancement by improper methods. All these could cause ‘wars and battles’ among members of the congregation. And they are simply a few among many possibilities.
4.2 ‘You desire, and have not. You kill, and envy, and cannot obtain. You fight and war; you have not, because you ask not.’
He then builds up a picture which reveals how they go about obtaining what they want, for it is clear that they will do anything rather than ask God for it and fulfil His conditions. And yet in the end they desire in vain because they do not get what they want. They will even ‘kill’, with the mind even if not in reality, because they are green with envy, with their covetous eyes on what others have, or on other people’s positions, but they still do not really find what they are looking for, for they are never satisfied. So then they fight and ‘go to war’ in order to obtain what they think their enemies have. But all the time what they are looking for is elusive. They do not find it because they do not ask God for it. Notice the parallels, ‘you are at war -- and you desire, you kill and you covet’. The picture is of a continual activity. The need for pleasure leads on to squabbling, leads on to desire, leads on to murder, leads on to further coveting, leads on to further war, and so on in an endless sequence.
It should be clear by now that James is depicting this in deliberately strong language (note the fact that there is war in their members, hardly something intended literally). Most do not literally ‘go to war’ for what they want, they simply ‘battle’ with one another, or with those on another strata of their group. Most do not literally kill, although in the volatile world of the Middle East at that time some probably did. Rather they are murderers at heart. They hate and they threaten and they plot and they purpose harm (see Matthew 5.22; 1 John 3.15). After Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount most Christians would see hating and revealing contempt as being the equivalent of murder. (Recognising this takes away the difficulty of coveting following murder, even for those who find it a difficulty. For hatred and coveting go hand in hand).
Some find it difficult to have the envying following the killing and therefore punctuate differently (there is no punctuation in the Greek).
This is not so obvious a translation in view of where the conjunctions lie (although it is a possibility), but whichever way we take it the end result is the same, the endless cycle of pleasure, ‘war’, desire, ‘killing’, envying, ‘war’. And this goes on from the top downwards, whether it be by a would be ‘Caesar’ desirous of great position, or by a slave desirous of a more favoured position or a sinecure.
‘You have not, because you ask not.’ And all the time they fail to obtain their hearts desire because they do not go to the One Who alone can satisfy the heart. They do not ask God for it (contrast 1.5), or if they do it is with the wrong aims and the wrong motives. All their thoughts are on pleasure and desire and warring among themselves, and not on pleasing God. Here in practical terms is the working out of 1.13-15. Those who fall, having failed to be spiritually strengthened by the testings and trials that they have faced, are tempted by their own desires, are enticed and allured, and this gives birth to sin which finally results in death.
4.3 ‘You ask, and do not receive, because you ask for the wrong reasons, that you may spend (dissipate) it in your pleasures.’
And even when they do sometimes ask God for it they still do not receive satisfaction of heart. And that is because their motives are wrong. The failure is due to the fact that they ask for the wrong reasons, because their motives are totally selfish. Their sole aim is simply to enjoy the fulfilment of their earthy desires and aims. They want to dissipate whatever benefit that they obtain on pleasure. They reason that they want what they are asking for because it will enable them to use it up for their own worldly satisfaction. They are caught up in the vortex of the world. Their heart is not really on God.
There is an important lesson for us all here concerning prayer. It reminds us that God is not there just to give us whatever we decide that we want. His promises with respect to prayer are not open-ended but are given to those who are seeking to fulfil His will, and in order to help them in the fulfilment of that will. Thus, if I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me (Psalm 66.18), for the eyes of the Lord are towards the righteous, and His ear is open to their cry, while the face of the Lord is against evildoers (Psalm 34.15-16). For the fact is that He is only near to those who call on Him in truth (Psalm 145.18). It is if we ‘ask anything in accordance with His will’ that He hears us, so that we can know then that we will receive an answer to our prayers (1 John 5.14). For the promise ‘ask and you will receive, seek and you will find’ is not with regard to anything we choose, but has in mind the seeking of the good things of God, and especially the Holy Spirit (Matthew 7.7-11; Luke 11.9-13). Thus when we dare to pray ‘for Jesus’ sake’ we must ensure that we are praying for what Jesus would want us to have. We cannot ask in His Name for what is contrary to His will.
4.4 ‘You adulteresses. Do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore would be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.’
Thus they are also like adulteresses craving what will satisfy their thirst for pleasure. For adulteresses as a vivid metaphor see Matthew 12.39, and the vivid pictures in Ezekiel 16. They have turned from God Who gives to all men liberally, and are looking to the world for their pleasure. And they like what they see in the world, and so they concentrate their attention on it. The world is their friend, and they crave after it like a woman craves for a man and will do anything to get him, and they fail to realise that such things and such attitudes put them at loggerheads with God. For what the world is after is not what God is after. All that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the mind, and the search to be ‘someone’, is not of the Father but is of the world (1 John 2.16). Thus each one who makes himself a friend of the world, and its aims and ambitions, also thereby makes himself an enemy of God. The point is that we cannot always choose the environment in which we find ourselves, but we can always choose what we will set our hearts on, and James makes clear that to choose the way that the world chooses is to take up a position of opposition towards God. There is no question of having both God and the world. We cannot serve both God and Mammon (Matthew 6.24).
‘You adulteresses.’ The lack of ‘adulterers’ (later introduced by copyists), confirms that this is mainly metaphorical, for James was no doubt familiar with Jesus’ similar use of the term (Matthew 12.39). It goes along with the strong language about wars which was intended to cover all belligerence, and killing which was to include killing in the mind. Nevertheless Paul also gives the impression of ‘silly women’ connected with the church who indulged their passions with wayward preachers (2 Timothy 3.6), and James may have known of such cases. However, we must certainly see his term as going wider than that, for this is a general letter. The change from the male to the female sinner is deliberate in order to bring out that not all the fault lies with the men. While the women may not ‘go to war’ so much, they are equally likely to be ‘friends of worldliness’. But in the end both men and women are involved throughout.
‘A friend of the world.’ This is in stark contrast with Abraham who was the friend of God (2.23). All must choose whom they will serve. Abraham had his eyes on God. These ‘adulteresses’ have their eyes on the world. The question, therefore, for us is, Where are our eyes fixed?
4.5 ‘Or do you think that the scripture speaks in vain? Does the spirit which he made to dwell in us go on enviously longing (or ‘longing until it envies )?’
The second part of this verse can be translated variously, and it can be either a question or a statement. To give but five examples:
In the first and second cases the idea could be that the spirit that God has put within man was never intended to have these envious longings which have been described in verses 1-4, or there may be the hint of the danger that they are in because they are like the people in the days of Noah (see below). In the third case the idea is that the Holy Spirit Whom He has made to dwell within us would never yearn enviously like they have been doing (and it therefore raises the question as to whether they are indwelt by the Spirit). In the fourth case it refers to the fact of the Spirit’s yearning over us because of God’s love for us (which is why He can be ‘grieved’ - Ephesians 4.30). In the fifth case it is an expression of God’s love for us in that He yearns enviously after our spirit which He has put within us from the beginning (Genesis 2.7 - i.e. made to dwell within us), His offer of friendship being over against that of the world as it was to Abraham (2.23).
But we then have to ask how these descriptions relate to Scripture, for while in a similar way to Matthew 2.23 (note the plural ‘prophets’) James may be saying that it is the gist of these words that is in Scripture, the question still arises as to where that might be.
The main Scripture that may be in mind here is, ‘My spirit (Spirit) will not abide in man for ever’ (Genesis 6.3 RSV). Here we have the thought either of ‘God’s spirit (breath) dwelling in man’ or of ‘God’s Spirit dwelling in man.’ If we take the first and second cases the idea is that God’s spirit abides in them because He had breathed into them ‘the breath (spirit) of life (Genesis 2.7) and there may be a comparison with the people of Noah’s day who were desiring enviously (longing after ‘the sons of God’) and overflowing with sin. ‘Every imagination of the thoughts of his (man’s) heart was evil continually’ (Genesis 6.5) being interpreted in the context of what James has been saying. (There may well in fact have been a Targum (Jewish commentary) of Genesis 6 which had this phrase as used by James in it, for some consider that there is a parallel to it in the Manual of Discipline from Qumran column 4 line 9 ff which would also be from the Targum). In the case of the third and fourth cases it is a reminder of God’s Spirit dwelling in man.
But if James is referring to the Spirit or to God, how can it be said that He ‘yearns jealously’? The answer to that lies in the references in the Old Testament which speak of God’s jealousy over those who He has chosen as His own (e.g. Exodus 20.5; 34.14; Zechariah 8.2). It is a jealousy of love. He will not give up His own to others, neither to other gods nor to the world. In the same way Deuteronomy 32.11 LXX likens God to an eagle ‘yearning (same Greek verb) over its young’.
So the ‘citation’ is either demonstrating how contrary friendship with the world is to the spirit God has put within us, or indicating the strength of God’s love for us.
Note On The Jealousy Of God.
Some find it difficult to understand how God can be described as jealous. And if we mean by that upset because others who are His equal are being treated better than He is we would be right. But that is the point. God has no equal but Himself. The Father is not jealous of the Son. The Son is not jealous of the Father, or the Spirit. The Spirit is not jealous of Father and Son. But when any other seeks to receive the worship and praise that is due to God alone then God has to be concerned, for it would shortly result in the bringing of instability into the Universe as happened in the Garden of Eden. The whole of existence can only be stable if God is in His rightful place as its Lord and Creator.
For while jealousy can be a bad thing when it eats into people and makes them behave wrongly in cases where it is unjustified, it can also be a good thing. When a man is jealous for his marriage he is jealous for what is good. He is jealous to maintain one of the props of the Universe. When a man is jealous over the Name of God lest it be brought into disrepute he is thinking rightly. We should all be jealous over maintaining the good Name of God. And when God is jealous over His Name and status He is equally right.
And when God is jealous over His people lest harm or snares come upon them we can only applaud. It is indeed His responsibility as the Creator and Redeemer to so act towards those who have accepted His offer of salvation. He is therefore right to set His heart against all that could cause them harm, and all who are His can only rejoice in the fact.
End of note.
As A Consequence They Are To Subject Themselves to God, Resist the Devil, And Draw Near to God By Purifying Themselves And Truly Repenting (4.6-10).
The condition of some of God’s professed people having been revealed somewhat emphatically, James now calls on them to get back to God, responding to His jealous love which seeks to bring their spirit back to Him. It is a question of humbling themselves, submitting themselves to God, resisting the Devil, and then drawing near to God so that He can draw near to them. We can compare here how in Zechariah 3 Joshua the High Priest came humbly to God and was subject to Him (3.1, compare verse 6-7a) and was accused by Satan because of the sins of Jerusalem. On his behalf YHWH rebuked Satan, (3.2, compare verse 7b) had Joshua’s filthy clothing removed (3.3, compare verse 8b) and then clothed him in pure garments (3.4-5, compare verse 8b). Then he was called on to walk in God’s ways, so that he would have right of access to God, and could draw near to Him (3.7, compare verse 8a). And the result was that he was exalted (compare verse 10). Now James is calling on God’s professed people who have failed Him to follow a similar path.
Analysis.
Note that in ‘a’ God gives grace to the humble, and in the parallel they are to humble themselves that they might be exalted. In ‘b’ they are to be subject to God, and in the parallel this involves true repentance. In ‘c’ they are to resist the Devil, and in the parallel they do this by cleansing their hands and purifying their hearts (compare Zechariah 3 where Joshua’s resistance to Satan is accompanied by his being cleansed). Centrally in ‘d’ they are to draw near to God, Who will draw near to them.
We regularly discern in James’ letter that he has in mind quotations that he has heard, although he incorporates them into his text. There are indications in what we find in these verses that he is doing precisely that here. Alternately it might be himself who is the poet. For we note the couplets that now follow,
4.6 ‘But he gives more grace. Which is why the scripture says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble”.’
‘He gives more grace.’ The One Who jealously yearns over their spirits, offers them more than the world can ever do. If they humble themselves He promises that He will cause His grace, His undeserved love and favour, to overflow towards them. For while those who remain proud (having a sense of arrogant superiority over others) and continue to hold to the world will be resisted, He will give His undeserved favour to the humble in overflowing measure, as the Scripture has promised (see Proverbs 3.34 LXX; compare Psalm 138.6; 1 Peter 5.5). ‘More grace’ may indicate grace over and above His grace active in their initial conversion, or it may simply be saying that ‘He gives more and more grace as it is needed’.
The need for humility is regularly stressed in the Old Testament, especially when His people have sinned against Him. God dwells in the high and holy place, but it is with him who is of a humble and a contrite spirit (Isaiah 57.15). Compare 2 Kings 22.19; 2 Chronicles 7.14; 12.7; 34.27; Daniel 5.22. The word used here indicates those who are humbled and trodden down by others who think that they are superior.
4.7a ‘Be subject therefore to God.’
The phrase is possibly based on Psalm 37.7 LXX. ‘Submit yourself to YHWH’. They are therefore to subject themselves humbly to God, as Joshua the High Priest had done before them when he stood at the bar of God (Zechariah 3.1), submitted before Him so that He might determine his case and the case of the people, while they humbly awaited His verdict. They were to turn from the world and own His Lordship (see Zechariah 3.1-6). Submission was regularly the way in which wayward kings would find forgiveness from their overlord. They are to turn from their ways, submit to God, and thus resist the Evil One.
4.7b ‘And resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.’
As a consequence of this submission they will be resisting the Devil and he will flee from them, as Satan fled from before Joshua (after Zechariah 3.3 Satan drops out of sight and is heard of no more). Notice that the way in which we are always to resist Satan when it is a question of dealing with the pride of life and the friendship of the world is by submission to God. Then all Satan can do is run. While for His people all the glories of the world will seem as nothing when their eyes are on God.
4.8a ‘Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.’
Then they can once more approach God, and He will draw near to them. He will welcome them in friendship. Then they will be able to ask and He will give (contrast verse 3), because their hearts will be right towards Him. In the same way once Joshua had been cleansed he too was able to draw near to God (Zechariah 3.6). Drawing near to God continually will be the way by which they will be able to continue in their new walk of holiness.
Note the contrast with verse 7b. When they resist the Devil by submitting to God he will flee, when they draw near to God He will draw near to them. For the one thing that the Devil cannot stand is God, while those who submit to Him may come to Him without fear, knowing that they will be received. This picture is of a host welcoming his honoured guest.
4.8b ‘Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you doubleminded.’
And now the way by which they can submit to God and draw near to him is explained. It is first of all by being cleansed. They are to cleanse their hands by letting go of all that has defiled them and walking in the will of the Father (compare Isaiah 1.16; Psalm 26.6), and purify their hearts by fixing them firmly on God (see 1 John 3.3) and obeying the truth (1 Peter 1.22), no longer being doubleminded. For a doubleminded man is unstable in all his ways (1.8).
‘Cleanse your hands.’ The hands were the means by which men performed their actions. They were thus to make them clean by doing good and eschewing evil (Isaiah 1.16-17). The cleansing of the hands therefore indicates the cleansing of their personal, practical behaviour.
‘Purify your hearts.’ This emphasises the need for them to be cleansed within, in the inner man, which is responsible for men’s thoughts (Mark 7.21-23). The time for ceremonies is past. What is required now is genuineness of action and heart.
Alternately it might be saying, ‘do not just wash your hands, make sure that you wash your hearts as well’, but that weakens the statement and does not really fit in with the pattern which is of continual positive action in response to God’s commands.
4.9 ‘Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.’
Included within the way of cleansing is true repentance in tears. They are, as it were, to have their own Day of Atonement. The word for ‘affliction’ indicates ‘experiencing hardship’ (as a good soldier of Christ - 2 Timothy 2.3), thus connecting up with the purifying effects of the trials in 1.1-12. Note that the verb indicates that it is something done to them to which they are now to respond. And in response to that affliction (1.10) they are to mourn and weep over their sin and failure. All the pleasures and joys that so long they had sought for are to be mourned over and seen for what they are. He is not recommending a life lived like this continually, but an initial genuine repentance so as to clear the sin that has been besetting them out of their lives.
It will especially be noted that James makes no reference to the use of ritual. In spite of his being himself very much involved in Jewish ritual, he made no attempt to enforce it on others, especially the ex-Gentiles.
4.10 ‘Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.’
And the result of their humbling themselves before God is that ‘the Lord will exalt you.’ He will lift them up to share His glory (Isaiah 57.15). It is left open as to whether ‘the Lord’ is the Father (3.9) or ‘the Lord, Jesus Christ’ (1.1; 2.1; 5.7, 14). Jesus Himself repeatedly declared that it was the man who humbled himself who alone would be exalted (Matthew 23.12; Luke 14.11).
He Now Reminds Them That They Need To See Life In Terms Of The Last Day (4.11-5.12).
From this point on until 5.12 there will be an emphasis on judgment, and on seeing life in the light of it. The passage parallels 1.9-12, with its references to judgment, to the rich and poor and to the frailty of the rich. It proceeds in four stages:
There is also another interesting pattern. Commencing with the need not to judge others because it is God Who is the Lawgiver and Judge, and ending with the reminder that He will in His own time come to judge, he sandwiches in between them what the behaviour of the rich should be in the light of it. Those who go about seeking gain rather than doing good, and those who seek to exploit others and destroy the unresisting righteous, need to consider their ways. For life is uncertain, and riches corrupt. Neither can be relied on.
A Warning Against Being Judges Of Others And Thus Pre-empting God (4.11-12a).
The passage commences with a warning. Aware that his strong words and his appeal to repentance could now result in some members of the church judging others James issues a strong warning against their doing so. We can compare here Matthew 7.1-6. As Jesus says there it is one thing to seek to help one another, as they should, but it will be quite another to issue harsh and hypocritical judgments. For the one who so judges sets himself up in God’s place as lawgiver and judge, which ill accords with his cry for humility (verses 6, 10).
Note how these particular verses (11-12a) continue the thought of the previous verses, both in terms of the need to control the tongue, and the need to be humble, and within the whole pattern of the letter parallel 1.12, with its emphasis on those who, on being judged, will receive the crown of life.
Analysis.
Note that in ‘a’ he argues against brothers speaking against one another, and in the parallel only One is qualified to judge. In ‘b’ to speak against or judge a brother is to speak against and judge the Law, and in the parallel those who judge the Law are not doers of the Law. They rather set themselves up on the other side of the dock and become judges.
4.11a ‘Do not speak one against another, brothers.’
The idea here is that they ought not to speak against one another critically or in condemnation, often without being aware of the facts. Thereby they could do them great harm, both personally, and in the eyes of others. Many an innocent man has been personally destroyed, or has had his reputation destroyed, by malicious tongues. Once again we are being reminded of the importance of controlling the tongue (3.1-12), of what causes wars and fightings among men (4.1), and of the need to be humble (verse 10), that is, to be meek and lowly in heart (Matthew 11.29). For those who speak against their brothers are guilty of misuse of the tongue, and of stirring up a violent response and of exalting themselves in comparison. And as we shall see, he points out that it is also wrong because it is to put those who so speak in the place of God. The thought here is not that of avoiding giving loving assistance to a brother (Matthew 7.5; Galatians 6.1-2) but of being censorious and unhelpful and being guilty of harsh judgment and condemnation. It is a matter of balance and motive, and in such matters we are to be swift to hear, and slow to speak (1.19).
4.11b ‘He who speaks against a brother, or judges his brother, speaks against the law, and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.’
And one reason why no man should speak against another and set himself up as judge is because by doing so they are speaking against the Law and judging the Law. But we might ask, why should that be so? And the answer is, because of what the Law teaches which by their activities they are refuting. He has told us, for example, that we should not be ‘talebearers’ (Leviticus 19.10). If we then disobey this we are passing judgment on the Law that it is wrong and does not apply to us. The same applies to passing judgment on all those parts of the Law which stress love and mercy, such as, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’ (Leviticus 19.18). We would not like to be judged by others ourselves, and so we should also avoid judging others. And thus by judging others we are passing a verdict against that Law. We are saying that it is unworkable and not to be observed. But rather than doing that we should approach all with love and sympathy. (Of course if they are blatantly and unrepentantly openly scorning the Law that will be a different matter. Then it will be God Who is passing judgment. But that is not the question that is being dealt with here).
‘But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.’ The point here is that those who are doers of the Law and those who are judges of the Law take up a totally different attitude. The judge is concerned with judging, not with doing. But they have to be concerned with doing. Thus they exclude themselves from being judges. They are no longer impartial.
4.12a ‘One only is the lawgiver and judge, even he who is able to save and to destroy.’
For in the end they need to recognise that they have no right to set themselves up as judges because that is the prerogative of God alone. He alone is the One who both gives out and determines the Law and is finally responsible to judge those who break it. For He alone is the One Who is able to save and to destroy (compare Luke 12.4-5). Note here the intimation that the lawgiver and judge can be a Saviour as well as a Destroyer. God’s Law, having required the ultimate in justice, ever from the beginning leaves room for mercy through forgiveness and the shedding of the blood of a substitute.
Note On Human Judgment.
James was not, of course, talking about whether magistrates were needed. He was not talking about criminality but about the affairs of day-to-day life. The Scriptures themselves emphasise the need for magistrates, and emphasise that they must be impartial, independent and concerned to pass judgment as in the sight of God (Deuteronomy 1.16-18; 16.18-20; etc. Romans 13.1-5). But the last point is to be taken note of, for nothing brought down God’s wrath more than unjust judges (Isaiah 1.23; 3.14-15; Jeremiah 5.28; Amos 2.3; etc).
End of note.
Christians Need To Face Up To The Frailty Of Their Lives (4.12b-17).
The contrast between man in his inability to act as judge in contrast with the great Judge Himself, now leads up to the question of the frailty of life and the need to recognise that our lives are at God’s disposal. For men should recognise, especially those who are running round with the aim of building up wealth, that not only must they not judge each other, but that they are unable even to judge how long they will be here on the earth carrying on with their normal occupations. Rather then they should look to themselves and recognise that, being aware of the need to do good, if they fail to do so it is sin (which will, of course, be brought into judgment).
Analysis.
Note that in ‘a’ they are asked who they think they are to be able to judge their neighbour, and in the parallel they are reminded that rather they should judge themselves. In ‘b’ they airily declare what they are going to do, and in the parallel they are condemned for their arrogant words. In ‘c’ they do not know what will happen on the morrow, and in the parallel they are to recognise this and say ‘if the lord wills we will do this or that’. Centrally in ‘d’ they are to recognise that their live is a vapour which is brief and then vanishes away.
4.12b ‘But who are you who judge your neighbour?’
Now James finally faces them (and us) up with the truth about themselves. They are not important enough or sophisticated enough to behave like God and judge their neighbour. Indeed they are so frail that with all their big ideas they do not even know whether they will last another day (verse 13). What they should therefore do is recognise that all are in the same situation together, and should do what the Law says, and that is that they should love their neighbours as they love themselves (compare 2.8, where it is also linked with judgment), and therefore seek to do them good (verse 17). That is far more in accord with what they are than the idea that they have a right to pass judgment.
4.13-14a ‘Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this city, and spend a year there, and trade, and make ourselves gains”, whereas you do not know what will be on the morrow.’
‘Come now.’ This is the first of two ‘come now’s which introduce two scenarios, both of which are intended to make them face up to serious facts. The first of these reveals the frailty of businessmen whose main concern is monetary gain, in view of the fact that how long they go on living is in God’s hands, and the second reveals the frailty of businessmen’s riches, and the fact that God knows how they are behaving. What they should therefore rather be doing is concentrating on doing what they know to be right (verse 17).
This first case is of those who are so sure of how their lives will turn out that they make plans accordingly. They say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this city, and spend a year there, and trade, and gain wealth”. James would appear to have a special concern for those who travelled around and had no settled church home. It was easy for such men to lose touch with their faith. But they also provided a lesson for all.
Notice their arrogance as far as God is concerned. They believe that they can regulate their time as they wish (‘today or tomorrow’). They believe that they can choose their destination (‘into this city’). They believe that they have all the time in the world (‘spend a year there’). And they believe that they can do what they want without regard to God’s requirements (‘trade and gain wealth’), whereas what they should be doing is recognise the frailty of their lives, and that what they will be able to participate in depends totally on the will of God, thus recognising that the most important thing that they should do is what is good (verse 17). They should therefore ask themselves, ‘what is His will?’ But they do not do so. They forget that they are mortal, and the result is that they have big ideas about themselves. They forget the words of Proverbs 27.1, ‘do not boast yourself of tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth’. Compare also the rich fool who forgot that ‘tomorrow we die’ (Luke 12.16-21). That is why they think that they can judge their neighbour (verse 12b). It is also why they think that they can run their own lives just as they please (verse 13-14). But they are wrong on both counts.
4.14b ‘What is your life? For you are a vapour, which appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.’
For what they should remember is what their lives are. They are not substantial. They are rather like a puff of smoke which appears for a short while and then disappears. They are like an early morning mist that soon clears away (Hosea 13.3). For life is brief, and in the midst of life we are in death. So in view of that it is in this light that they should measure how they ought to live, both with regard to judging others (in the face of the fact that we might ourselves face judgment at any time), and with regard to doing good (verse 17). It is in this light that they should determine what they (or rather God) consider to be important. And if they truly recognise that their lives might disintegrate like a puff of smoke at any moment, they will undoubtedly put more consideration into looking at the things that are unseen, and building up treasure in Heaven (Matthew 6.17-18), for they will recognise that the things that are seen are temporal, and will soon pass away, while the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4.18).
4.15 ‘Because you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that”.’
They should therefore live each day as though it might be their last, and recognise that every day that they have after that, is a gift from God, (for the truth is that every day someone somewhere falls dead, with medical experts not knowing why it happened). They ought then to say, “If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that.” And if they do that they will not consider making gains so important. Note that he does not say, ‘if the Lord wills we will get gain’. For if they live in the light of eternity their perspectives will change. They will be more concerned with spiritual gain and with the Lord’s will, and with doing good to those in need (verse 17), because they will recognise that they may shortly have to give account.
(Paul writes to the Corinthians, "I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills" (1 Corinthians 4.19). "I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits" (1 Corinthians 16.7). On the other hand we must beware of simply saying, if the Lord wills’ or ‘DV’ in a way that results in it becoming a platitude. There is nothing wrong in it if it is sincere, but we must make sure that we really are taking it into account in what we do, otherwise it will lead to our own condemnation).
4.16 ‘But now you glory in your arrogant words. All such glorying is evil.’
But instead of doing that they glory in their arrogant words. They say ‘we will do this and that’ regardless of their mortality, and of God and eternity. But to glory in that way is evil. It is to be casual over what is very important. It is to follow the way of the world, and be a friend of the world. It is to indicate that their minds are not set on things above. It is to live in the light of this world, and not of eternity. It is to be earthly minded and not heavenly minded. It is to overlook the requirements of God, and His concern for their daily lives.
4.17 ‘To him therefore who knows to do good, and does not do it, to him it is sin.’
So there is really only one conclusion that they should come to. They should recognise their mortality and put their efforts into what they know that God wants them to do, and that is to ‘do good’. For if they know what He wants of them and do not do it, for them it is sin.
Thus the stress is on the fact that we should be putting our efforts into doing real good in the world, which is, after all, what we know that we ought to be doing. And for us also, knowing that this is what we ought to do means that it is sin if we do not do it. We should note that the emphasis here, as throughout his letter, is on what we should be doing, not on a negative ‘what we should not do’. For when anyone knows what they ought to do, (such as 1. Avoiding the judgment of others; 2. Being aware of frailty, and therefore looking at things that are unseen rather than having gain as their first concern, because they and it will soon pass away and they will leave it all behind, and especially 3. Doing good wherever possible), and yet does not do it, then that is sin. So he is bringing out that we can sin by what we do, by the attitude that we take up towards life, and by what we do not do, doing genuine good towards others. And it is that that should be our first consideration.
This was one of the stresses of Jesus. The good Samaritan did what was required for a person in need, while the Priest and Levite passed by on the other side (Luke 10.30-37). The rich man saw Lazarus at his gate and did nothing for him (Luke 16.19-31). The people brought before Jesus for judgment had failed in their responsibility to do good to His ‘brothers’, while those who were accepted had done so (Matthew 25.31-46). Thus He laid a similar stress on the need for positive goodness, and in the Last Day He will say, ‘inasmuch as you did not do if for the least of these My brothers, you did not do it for Me.’
Diatribe Against The Ungodly Rich (5.1-6).
Notice the complete contrast between the rich as described here and those who are being tested and tried in the opening words of the letter, ‘count it all joy when you enter into testing’ (1.2) compared with ‘weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you’ (5.1). In this contrast we come to the heart of James’ letter. Those who are looking to God have much to rejoice in, while those who are friends of the world have nothing at all to rejoice in.
James has very much in mind here the unrighteous rich (in contrast with the careless rich in 4.13) as seen in the light of the Old Testament, and his descriptions should be seen in that light, although he no doubt also drew on his experiences of what was happening in Jerusalem and Judea at that time. Certainly in the period between Jesus’ death and the destruction of Jerusalem the rich there had fleeced and ill-treated the people, as Josephus makes clear. And this was especially so in the time of the great famine and its aftermath, when many of the poor would be heavily in debt (Acts 11.28). But most vivid in his mind were the Old Testament pictures. And he points out that just as the Old Testament had declared that they will reap what they have sown, not in a good sense, but in the worst possible sense, so will it be.
He was aware that in synagogues where his words were read (for many Christian Jews still worshipped alongside other Jews) and in churches which had grown substantially among the Gentiles, there were many rich who were ignoring the teaching of Jesus and of the Old Testament. Some of them may even have claimed to be Christians. These words are addressed to all of them, for all are subject to the law written in the heart.
Analysis.
Note that in ‘a’ the rich are to have misery heaped on them, and in the parallel this is because they had heaped misery on the righteous. In ‘b’ their riches are corrupted and their clothing moth-eaten, (their riches are dying around them) and in the parallel this had occurred while they had lived delicately and taken their pleasure, when others had been dying around them. In ‘c’ the corrosion of their riches will be a testimony against them, and in the parallel the hire of their labourers will cry out against them. And centrally they should recognise that they have indeed ‘laid up their treasure’ in the last days, a treasure which is rotten and useless (for they have laid it up on earth and not in Heaven).
There is a kind of semi-poetic flavour to his words here which we may depict as follows:
5.1 James enjoins the rich to weep and howl at what is coming on them. People weeping and howling in this way is a regular Old Testament picture. The Moabites wept and howled at what was coming on them in Isaiah 15.2-3. The drunkards were to weep and howl in the coming time of judgment when the supplies of wine would dry up (Joel 1.5). Now the rich also were to weep and howl because of the miseries that were coming on them. It is a sign of total misery (in total contrast with those who rejoice because they suffer for Christ’s sake - 1.2). Compare also Isaiah 13.6; 14.31; 16.7; 23.1, 14; 65.14; Amos 8.3).
‘For your miseries that are coming on you.’ This is amplified later as, ‘Their corrosion will be for a testimony against you, and will eat your flesh as fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days.’
5.2-3 This was not, of course, literally true, although possibly partly so. Moths and corrosion wait for no man. It was rather as they were seen looking into the future. In God’s eyes it was already so. He was seeing things as they would be when their miseries came on them. All the wealth that they possessed would be marred in one way or another in such a way as to make it useless and undesirable. This contrasts with verse 5 where they have ‘lived delicately on the earth, and taken their pleasure’. They have been used to luxury and the very best. Now they will experience the very worst. Their riches will have spoiled (the corn, oil and wine), their garments will have been eaten by moths, and their gold and silver will have corroded, because instead of doing good with it in the present, they had stored it up as treasure for the future. It would thus act as evidence of their failure to do the Father’s will. It was not the wealth itself that was evil, it was the love of it (1 Timothy 6.10) and the failure to use it properly.
Silver and gold were normal means of investment for the future, and clothing was also another form in which the wealthy stored up their wealth. Fine clothing was much valued. Joseph gave changes of clothing to his brothers (Genesis 45.22). It was for a beautiful robe from Shinar that Achan brought judgment on Israel and death both to himself and his family (Joshua 7.21). Samson offered changes of clothing to anyone who could solve his riddle (Judges 14.12). Naaman brought a gift of clothing to Elisha, the prophet of Israel, to obtain which Gehazi, his servant, sinned grievously (2 Kings 5.5; 2Kings 5.22). Paul declared that he had coveted no man's money or clothing (Acts 20.33).
But all these things would suffer from the ravages of nature. James has in mind here the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus promised similar catastrophes (Matthew 6.19-21). But the general idea was initially based on the Old Testament, see Psalm 39.11; Isaiah 50.9; 51.8; Lamentations 4.1; Hosea 5.12, and compare also Ezekiel 7.19.
‘And will eat your flesh as fire.’ Because it would be damning evidence at the judgment their spoiled riches will be responsible for them suffering the flames of judgment. Thus it would ‘eat their flesh as fire’. The very corrosion of their silver and gold would also corrode them.
‘You have laid up your treasure in the last days.’ This connects to the previous line indicating that they have well and truly ‘laid up their treasure in the last days’, for it will eat their flesh as fire. Jesus had told men to lay up their treasure in Heaven (Matthew 6.19), but these men have foolishly laid theirs up on earth even though they knew that it was ‘the last days’. It will thus act as a judgmental fire to burn them. For Jews the coming of the Messianic Kingdom was expected and they thus considered themselves to be in the last days. For Christians the resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit in overwhelming power were indications of the last days (Acts 2.17) because the Messiah had already come. And the Messiah was to bring forth both a deluge of Holy Spirit and a deluge of fire (Matthew 3.11).
5.4 The rich were not only storing up their treasure for themselves, but they were doing it dishonestly. They were withholding the wages of those who mowed and reaped their fields, which meant that their families starved. This was something that was forbidden (Deuteronomy 24.14-15, compare Malachi 3.5). But what they had forgotten was, that while these men had no influence on the present corrupt courts, their cries had an influence in Heaven. Their cries for justice had reached the ears of God (compare Genesis 4.5; 18.20-21).
Day labourers were paid so little that they had no means of laying aside for the morrow. If they were not paid the same day their families went without. This is a constant concern of the Scriptures. "You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy.... You shall give him his hire on the day he earns it, before the sun goes down (for he is poor, and sets his heart on it); lest he cry against you to the Lord, and it be sin in you" (Deuteronomy 24.14-15). "The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning" (Leviticus 19.13). "Do not withhold goods from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbour, `Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it', when you have it with you" (Proverbs 3.27-28). "Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness and his upper rooms by injustice; who makes his neighbour serve him for nothing, and does not give him his wages" (Jeremiah 22.13). For God will judge "Those who oppress the hireling in his wages" (Malachi 3.5).
The Scriptures lay great emphasis on social justice. Amos condemns those who ‘store up violence and robbery in their strongholds’ (Amos 3.10). He attacks those who ‘trample on the poor’ while they themselves live in ‘houses of hewn stone’ and possess ‘pleasant vineyards’ (Amos 5.11). He speaks of those who, ‘trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end’, who ‘make the measure small and the cost great’, and who ‘buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of shoes’, selling them the rag ends of the wheat. Indeed God says, "I will never forget any of their doings," (Amos 8.4-7). Isaiah warns against those who ‘join house to house and add field to field until there is no more room’ as they build up their property portfolios to the detriment of the less well off (Isaiah 5.8). And so we could go on.
‘Have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.’ The title "Lord of Sabaoth", interpreted as signifying ‘the Lord of Hosts’, that is, of the armies of both Heaven and earth and of all the heavenly bodies, or ‘Almighty God’ (LXX) for that reason (see Isaiah 1.9; 5.9; Romans 9.29; 2 Corinthians 6.18), puts an emphasis on the all-embracing omnipotence of God. Thus although those who were being oppressed had no one to look to on earth, their cries affected the most powerful Judge of all. James has very much in mind Isaiah 5.8-9 LXX which reads, ‘Woe to those who join house to house, and add field to field, that they may take away something of their neighbour’s. Will you dwell alone upon the land? For these things have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, for though many houses should be built, many and fair houses will be desolate, and there will be no inhabitants in them.’
5.5 The rich had already received their consolation (Luke 6.24). They have enjoyed ‘soft luxury’. They have lived in extravagance and wantonly enjoyed many pleasures of overindulgence (compare 4.1). We can compare the rich man in Luke 16.19 who ‘was clothed in purple and fine linen and feasted sumptuously every day’ (and see Amos 6.1-6). Even at a time when many were dying around them, either as a result of the famine or as a result of violence, or even partly because they had not received their wages, the hearts of the rich continued to be nourished, and they fattened themselves up. In other words with death all around them, they have continued with their luxuries unconcerned. Alternately ‘in a day of slaughter’ may signify Judgment day so that we would then translate ‘in the face of the Day of Slaughter’ (compare Isaiah 34.6; Ezekiel 21.15).
5.6 ‘The Righteous One’ is a New Testament term for Jesus. See Acts 3.14; 7.52; 22.14. That does not, however, mean that we are to see this as a sudden direct reference to Jesus, although there certainly appears to be a good case for suggesting that Jesus is in mind, for James is probably recalling Peter’s sermon in which he cried out to the people in the Temple, ‘You denied the Holy and Righteous One ---and killed the Author of Life’ (Acts 3.14-15). Compare also Stephen’s words, ‘the Righteous One Whom you have now betrayed and murdered’ (Acts 7.52). James’ words are very similar, ‘You have killed the Righteous One’. What we should rather see here therefore is God’s people depicted in terms of being one with the Righteous One. The rich and powerful had killed the Righteous One, and now they had killed His people, thus ‘killing’ Him again (compare Acts 9.4). And the people, like the Messiah Himself, did not resist them. They did not think in terms of violent retaliation, but like their Master received it as from God. The phrase ‘he is not resisting you’ is a striking climax to the whole poem, bringing out the continual savage behaviour and false attitude of the rich, in stark contrast with the unresisting contentment of the poor. It took away any justification for their behaviour. It was a true picture of the churches’ response to persecution, intended to shame those who were responsible. And their very non-resistance emphasises the deserving of the rich to receive their deserts. Like their Master the righteous had said, ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.’ It was God Himself Who had determined the rich men’s destiny.
A Call To Patient Endurance In The Light Of The Lord’s Coming (5.7-11).
James now turns back to those who are true ‘brothers’ and exhorts them to patient endurance, and to watch their tongues, in the light of the Lord’s imminent coming. This is parallel to 1.2-3, 12 where he speaks of patient endurance and of the Crown of Life promised to all who love Him. ‘The Lord’ here clearly means ‘the Lord, Jesus Christ’ (1.1; 2.1). They are to wait patiently like a farmer waits patiently for his harvest, awaiting the first initial rain which enables sowing, and the later rain which helps to ripen the grain, and are to patiently endure, being careful to watch their tongues. For they must remember that the Lord is full of pity and merciful to those who remain faithful to Him.
Analysis.
Note that in ‘a’ we have the call to patience and in the parallel the example of the patience of Job. In ‘b’ we have a ‘Behold’, and the farmer is called on to wait patiently, and in the parallel another ‘Behold’, and a pronouncement of blessing on those who wait patiently and endure. In ‘c’ they are called on to patient endurance because the coming of the Lord is at hand, and in the parallel they are to look for an example of patient endurance to those who spoke in the name of the Lord. Centrally in ‘d’ they are to watch their tongues lest they be judged, because the Judge stands at the doors.
5.7 ‘Be patiently enduring, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receive the early and latter rain.’
The idea behind ‘patience’ here is ‘patient endurance’. It does not speak of a quiet waiting, but of a standing up to the trials that face them without wavering and without retaliation. It includes the idea of ‘longsuffering’, facing up to whatever men throw at them and loving them just the same (compare the longsuffering of God - Romans 2.4; 1 Peter 3.20). He makes clear that it will not always be easy. They are thus to praise the Lord through gritted teeth under all circumstances, and are to remember that the Lord is coming. Just as the farmer does year by year when he waits for the early and late rains which will produce his hoped for harvest, sometimes with great apprehension when there appears to be a delay, so are they to wait with patient endurance for what the Lord will do. But one thing they can be sure of. One day the great day of Harvest will come (Matthew 13.41-43), and great will be their rejoicing.
In Palestine the early and late rains were usually regular, and they were vital for food production. The early rain in around September/October would soften and refresh the ground ready to receive the seed. The later rain in March/April, coming before the long hot summer, would feed the roots and make the grain flourish. (See Deuteronomy 11.14; Jeremiah 5.24; Joel 2.23). But sometimes one or other did not come when expected, and so the farmer had to wait for it with patient endurance. This was therefore a reminder that the Lord’s coming, while certain, could not be tied down to a particular time. It might come on cue, or it might be delayed. But certainly there had to be a period during which the heavenly rain (Isaiah 44.1-5; 55.10-13 and often) would fall more than once in order to prepare a harvest.
5.8 ‘You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.’
So they are to await the Lord’s coming with patient endurance, and establish their hearts through prayer (1.5-6; 5.13), through the reading and hearing of the word (1.21; Colossians 3.16; 2 Timothy 1.13; 1 Peter 2.2), through doing good (1.22 and often; Hebrews 10.22-25) and through looking constantly to Him (Hebrews 12.1-2), so that they would be spiritually strong and enduring. There can be little doubt here that ‘the Lord’ here signifies ‘the Lord, Jesus Christ’ (1.1; 2.1). It was for His coming that men were told particularly to wait.
Note the requirement to ‘establish your hearts’. Waiting for the Lord’s coming requires not just patience but preparation. Compare Luke 12.35-40).
5.9 ‘Do not murmur, brothers, one against another, that you be not judged. Behold, the judge stands before the doors.’
But it is one thing to patiently endure external trials, it is quite another to endure the internal behaviour and attitude of various ‘brothers’. So once more James has to emphasise the need to control the tongue. They must nor murmur and complain against each other. This was clearly a constant problem in the early church, as it is in all churches. But they are to remember that they will be judged by the words that they have spoken (compare 1.9-10, 13, 19, 26; 2.3, 12, 13-16, 18; 3.5-12, 14; 4.11, 13; 5.6, 12; Matthew 12.36-37), and should be aware ‘the Judge stands at the door.’ This last phrase contains a regular Scriptural idea common on the lips of Jesus (see Mark 13.29; Matthew 24.33; Luke 12.36; Revelation 3.20). We are to see Jesus as ready to come at any time, so that we should be living in the light of, and in expectancy of, that coming, while at the same time recognising that His coming might be delayed (and therefore establishing ourselves). The one who ‘stands at the door’ may open the door and enter at any time. This was why the early Christians would greet each other with the words ‘Maran-atha’, ‘the Lord is at hand’ (1 Corinthians 16.14, 22). Indeed Peter tells us that the reason that He has not yet done so is because of His longsuffering for the world (2 Peter 3.9).
The idea of the judge standing before the door is an awesome picture. It is a picture of looming judgment, and is a reminder that all will have to give account. As we live our lives it should for all of us be with the awareness of the nearness of the Judge.
Excursus - Extract from Barclay’s commentary on James concerning the Lord’s Coming
‘We may first note that the New Testament uses three different words to describe the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
Here, then, we have a series of great pictures. The Second Coming of Jesus is the arrival of the King; it is God appearing to his people and mounting his eternal throne; it is God directing on the world the full blaze of his heavenly glory.
THE COMING OF THE KING
We may now gather up briefly the teaching of the New Testament about the Second Coming and the various uses it makes of the idea.
So, the New Testament urges certain duties upon men.
The writer to the Hebrews demands mutual help, mutual Christian fellowship, mutual encouragement because the day is coming near (Hebrews 10.24-25). The New Testament is sure that in view of the Coming of Christ we must have our personal relationships right with our fellowmen. The New Testament would urge that no man ought to end a day with an unhealed breach between himself and a fellowman, lest in the night Christ should come.
Much of the imagery attached to the Second Coming is Jewish, part of the traditional apparatus of the last things in the ancient Jewish mind. There are many things which we are not meant to take literally. But the great truth behind all the temporary pictures of the Second Coming is that this world is not purposeless but going somewhere, that there is one divine far-off event to which the whole creation moves.’
End of Excursus.
5.10 ‘Take, brothers, for an example of suffering and of patient endurance, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.’
That the church at this time were going through heavy trials is clear. While there was not necessarily persecution by the state, for that was fairly limited, there was certainly fairly regular local persecution (see Acts 8.1-3; 9.1-2; 13.50; 14.2, 5, 19, 22; 16.19-24; 18.12-13; 19.23-29 and compare Matthew 10.17-18, 21-23, 35-36; John 15.18-21; 16.2-4; 2 Corinthians 11.23-25; 1 Peter 4.12-13). And James himself was aware of the undercurrents of the time and would indeed in the end be martyred in such an outbreak. The church were ever warned not to expect an easy time. They were to expect tribulations (Acts 14.22). James therefore exhorts them to consider the sufferings of the true prophets who ‘spoke in the Name of the Lord’. They suffered and endured, and the early church is to do the same in His Name.
The one whose sufferings we know most about was Jeremiah. He was beaten, put in the stocks, imprisoned in a dank dungeon, tossed into a cystern, and then looked back on by the people as an encouragement in the face of their own suffering. For in their hearts they knew that what he said was true.
5.11a ‘Behold, we call them blessed who endured.’
See Daniel 12.12. Indeed those who suffered like this in the past and patiently endured were not to be commiserated with, they were to be called blessed, for great would be their reward. Godly men did not look back and say, ‘How sad’. Rather they rejoiced and hoped that they would receive the same blessing as the prophets and the righteous. Jesus Himself enjoined rejoicing in the face of persecution and tribulation. (Matthew 5.10-12; Luke 6.22-23; John 16.20). And the writer to the Hebrews tells us of the long line of those who so suffered and triumphed, advising us that we must expect the same and must thus look off to Jesus, the One Who also suffered in order to triumph (see Hebrews 11.1-12.2).
5.11b ‘You have heard of the patient endurance of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, how that the Lord is full of pity, and merciful.’
James then calls on the one who was to the Jews the supreme example of patient endurance. ‘You have heard of the patient endurance of Job.’ Not even his greatest friend could have called Job ‘patient’. He endured with gritted teeth and loud protests (see the Book of Job). But the end was that the Lord was full of pity towards him, and was merciful, because he bore all that came on him and retained his full confidence in God. He had the kind of spirit which faced up to doubt, sorrow and disaster and emerged with a faith stronger than it was before, and in the midst of his trials cried out, ‘Though He may slay me, yet will I trust Him (Job 13.15).’. And the Lord understood and had compassion on him, just as He will have compassion on all His people who endure, even though they may in their weakness occasionally despair. We should note that the Jews traditionally saw Job as a prophet (see Ezekiel 14.14, 20).
The Call For Complete Honesty (5.12).
This command follows a series of commands and precedes the command to pray and praise. Those commands were as follows:
Now he declares ‘do not use oaths but speak straightly and honestly.’
Underlying each of these commands is the contrast between faith and doubt. Patient endurance results from trusting and not doubting, being established is building up faith instead of doubts, grumbling against one another indicates a lack of wholehearted faith and an element of doubt, taking the prophets as an example will result in faith and no doubt, swearing oaths would be a sign that faith has crumbled, while openness and honesty is a sign of faith and confidence. It is the confident man who say ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘no, no’.
Furthermore the thought of judgment is seen to continue with a call for complete honesty and avoidance of devious swearing of oaths, based on Jesus’ teaching as found in Matthew 5.33-37. Once again men’s words are seen as subject to examination. In order to avoid judgment men must avoid making oaths and must be totally reliable in what they say. This is not just because oaths are a misuse of divine connections, but rather because it is honesty and truth that must prevail. Deviousness must be avoided. For what men say, and how they say it, reveals what is in their hearts. This is in direct contrast with the casual and unwholesome words of the travelling businessmen (4.13), the fraud, dishonesty and breach of contract of the rich landowners (5.4), and the grumbling and murmuring of the saints, and it leads on into an emphasis on prayer and worship where such open honesty is required (compare Luke 18.9-14 for an example).
Like Jesus, James saw that the swearing of oaths, except in their most solemn form when men were acting as judges in God’s name (e.g. Exodus 22.11; Numbers 5.19, 21), was to cheapen God, (consider the correct way to reverently bring in God’s Name in 4.15), but he is even more concerned with the fact that nothing honours God more than His people being totally honest and reliable, so that, as with God, their very word can be depended on, and so that their boldness is a witness to all the world. In a world of deceit, dishonesty and unreliability their truthfulness, honesty and reliability would stand out like a beacon. It was Christianity that established such values among ‘common people’, and it is noticeable that where Christianity has waned such truthfulness, honesty and reliability has also waned.
It is also interesting to note how this fits into another sequence, and that is that, from 4.11 onwards, as well as there being an emphasis on judgment, there is also an emphasis on the right and wrong use of the tongue. This can be seen in what follows:
No wonder that Jesus said that ‘by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned’. Thus rather than this statement in verse 12 being isolated it comes right in the middle of a series of statements about the use of the tongue, and caps off the section on judgment which commenced in 4.11. Truth and honesty ranks above all (‘above all brothers’). Without it we cannot pray expectantly. And this is what the tongue should be all about, honesty and truthfulness and an avoidance of anything that suggests deceit. To swear an oath is to suggest that otherwise your words cannot be depended on. But those who have gained a reputation for telling the truth will not have to resort to oaths, and indeed should not. For it is to degrade themselves, and not be honest with God. And the result will be that they can approach God openly and with confidence.
5.12 Notice the ‘above all things’. This should warn us not to see this just as something slipped in. It rather indicates that it is central to James’ thinking. He has come to the final example of what is to be judged. By being totally open and honest, and by always speaking the truth, and by avoiding misusing divine things and dragging God down to their level, they will avoid the judgment that will face so many. It also specifically confirms the need for us to watch our tongues, and is in total contrast to the perfidy of the rich landowners. The picture of the rich landowners is of men who were willing to deceive, and lie and cheat. Having made contracts with their labourers to pay them their wages they broke them. but the true brothers are to be those who speak the truth from the heart with no exemptions, and who can totally be relied on (compare Psalm 15.4).
John would put this another way in his letters. ‘God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth’ (1 John 1.5-6). For to walk with God involves total openness and truth, it involves walking in the light.
‘Neither by the heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath.’ This reads as though James is abbreviating Jesus’ words in Matthew 5.34-36 with ‘any other oath’ finally summing up the detail. This is not talking about the making of an oath as a witness in an official court of law, but decrying their use in order either to confirm the truth of the words spoken, or as a device for giving that impression while leaving a loophole by which they can escape from its binding nature (something which was very prevalent in Jerusalem).
‘Let your yes be yes, and your no, no, so that you do not fall under judgment.’ What they are to ensure is that they speak truly and honestly without the need for oaths so that there will be no question of their words needing to be judged as false. Note how James has here again introduced the theme of the section which is judgment. But those people who make a great thing of oaths are in danger of dishonouring God (by referring to Him indirectly in a false manner, depending on the oath), dishonouring themselves (because they demonstrate that they are not to be trusted without an oath), or trivialising truth. The emphasis overall, however, is not on the oaths, but on the truthfulness and honesty that make oaths unnecessary. It is such who can come to God and pray in expectancy.
Final Exhortation To Prayer And Faith (5.12-18).
Having faced up men and women to judgment in different ways James now ends as he began by putting great emphasis on the need for faith and prayer, and openness in the fellowship, and on reminding us that prayer is effective for anyone who like Elijah had to undergo trials and testings. This parallels 1.2-5. Only too often this part of James is read as though it was simply all about healing. But that is to degrade the narrative. It is rather all about faith and prayer and the wholeness and wellbeing of all in each fellowship. It tells us when we should pray, when we should praise, and when we will need the prayers of others.
It again reveals James’ love for the poetic, although we must not by that see it as indicating that it is not to be taken seriously. Indeed one of the purposes of Hebrew poetry was to make important instructions memorable so that they could be observed, and it actually helps to bring out the emphases. We can read it as follows:
Note that in ‘a’ the suffering are told to pray, and in the parallel we are told of the effectiveness of prayer. In ‘b’ we have the one who is whole and therefore able to praise, and in the parallel they are to pray for one another that they might be whole. In ‘c’ the sick are to call in the elders of the church (corporate concern), and in the parallel God’s people are to confess towards one another any faults that lie between them (corporate concern). In ‘d’ they anoint in the Name of the Lord, and in the parallel the Lord will raise them up. Centrally in ‘e’ the prayer of faith ‘saves’ (heals and obtains forgiveness for) the sick
5.13a ‘Is any among you suffering? Let him pray.’
The first injunction is concerning those who are ‘suffering, afflicted, going through hard times’ (compare the use of the word in 2 Timothy 2.2, 9; 4.5). They are suffering and enduring trials (compare 1.2-12). And what they are to do is pray (compare 1.5-8). For prayer will keep them in close touch with God which will enable them to patiently endure. It is the very opposite of the cavalier attitude of the travelling businessmen in 4.13-17.
5.13b ‘Is any cheerful? Let him sing praise.’
The second injunction concerns those who are not at present undergoing trials, and who are not burdened down by failure. They are ‘cheerful’. Life is going well for them. What must they do? They must sing praises (compare Ephesians 5.18-19; Colossians 3.16; Romans 15.9). They must worship their God and express their gratitude in song.
5.14-15 ‘Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save him who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, it will be forgiven him.
The third injunction concerns those who are sick. Note that this comes third in the list. Primary in the world of the spirit are those who are undergoing trial for His sake. Second are those who declare His praise. But then we come to the sick.
And what must they do? They are to call in the elders of the church. There are a number of reasons for that. The first is in order to obtain the spiritual assistance of the church through its leadership so that the oneness of the church might reach out to the sick, and so that they might receive spiritual comfort. The second is in order to call in true and reliable praying men. The third is that as duly appointed leaders they will have been given special authority in prayer by the Lord on behalf of the church for which they are responsible. The fourth is because they will be strong in faith. And these godly men are to pray over the sick person, and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. But what does the oil do’ It is a sign that they are acting in the Name of Christ (compare Mark 6.13. Jesus Himself never anointed men with oil). It is a sign that the person in question is being separated off to God. It is an indication that if they have slipped they are being restored to their dedication, and that if they have not slipped they are being rededicated to the Lord. It is bringing God into the action. And it a sign that the whole church are identifying themselves with them. This is the meaning of anointing in the Old Testament. It also in the New Testament connects with the Holy Spirit (1 John 2.20, 27). Note that the anointing with oil to heal links them with Mark 6.13 and therefore indicates that ‘the Lord’ here is ‘the Lord, Jesus Christ’. They are acting in His Name.
And what will happen then? ‘The prayer of faith will save the sick.’ The word ‘save’ means ‘make whole’. They will be made whole in soul and body. Their sickness will be healed, for ‘the Lord will raise them up’, but even more importantly their inward man will be forgiven, for ‘if they have committed any sins they will be forgiven them’. So the healing is for both body and soul. (Compare Jesus words to the man ‘borne of four’ in Mark 2.1-12, ‘your sins are forgiven you -- rise and walk’). Note the concern for the whole man. This is no indiscriminate healing. Examination will also have been made into the spiritual condition of the sick person. (But note that he is not being prepared for death, he is being prepared for being made whole).
This was written at a time when the church still expected that God would undoubtedly heal in response to believing prayer, indicating the early date of the letter. James is in no doubt that the person will be healed. But once the first ‘signs of the Spirit’ had ceased, and the church had become firmly established, healing became more a matter of waiting on the will of God. Healings still occurred but not so regularly. Similarly we pray now that God’s will may be done. Yet there is no question but that if God’s people were to act on this more, and with greater expectancy, more would be restored (even medical authorities confirm the benefit in the process of healing of believing prayer. There is no suggestion in this, however, that we should not seek medical attention, for that is one of God’s means of healing). But we must beware of those who make claims beyond what proves to be true, and must remember that Paul at least had to endure in faith, rather than be healed (2 Corinthians 12.8-9). In the end we must accept the sovereignty of God.
5.16 ‘Confess therefore your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be made whole. The supplication of a righteous man avails much in its working.’
And finally we come to a general injunction that covers all: those under trial (who should be rejoicing); those who are enjoying wholesomeness and are singing God’s praises; and those who are sick and needing a touch from God. And what are they to do? They are to ‘confess their sins one to another’ (not be it noted to a special person). There is to be the expression of an air of openness in the fellowship and a walking in the light with each other (1 John 1.5-7). Any who need help or prayer, any who are conscious of a barrier that remains unremoved between themselves and God, and any who are aware of a barrier between themselves and someone else in the fellowship, may come openly to the congregation, if they have not been willing to sort it out alone with each other first, or if it has not proved possible (Matthew 18.15-17). And there all obstacles to fellowship should be removed. There in the presence of God in the fellowship all dividing barriers must be thrown down. Then they are to pray for each other that they might be made whole. The verb is used in Matthew 13.15; Luke 4.13; John 12.40; 1 Peter 2.24 (where it is through His stripes) to indicate the bringing of men and women to spiritual wholeness.
It would seem probable that James, having recognised the benefit to the sick person of the previous verse of also having his sins dealt with, had gone on to recognise its value too for the whole church. This was not an injunction to have a ‘confession session’ in which everyone was expected to confess. Nor was it a provision for priestly absolution (it is to ‘one another’). But it is to suggest that opportunity should be given for such ‘confession’, and that Christians genuinely burdened should be encouraged to participate (not necessarily in the main services in a large congregation). There is nothing worse or unspiritual than people having to think of minor peccadilloes in order to be able to confess (and at a pinch even ‘inventing some’). Or perhaps we are wrong, for there is something worse. And that is for no opportunity being given for people to genuinely put things right. Both extremes should be avoided. It is, however, an interesting fact that when genuine ‘Revival’ comes (like the Welsh Revival or the Great Awakening) such confessions of the people of God become the norm. At such times Christians are desperate to ‘put things right’.
‘Their sin.’ The word for sins is paraptoma. While the distinction must not be pressed there are indications in its use as compared with hamartia that it refers to ‘lesser sins’ (if such there can be). That use is confirmed in the secular papyri. The admission here is of ‘everyday sins’ not of the more heinous kinds of sin.
‘Made whole.’ The word here is regularly used of healing, but it is also commonly used for being spiritually made whole (see Matthew 13.15 ‘lest they turn and be made whole’; Luke 4.13 ‘heal the broken-hearted’; John 12.40, ‘and turn for Me to make them whole’; 1 Peter 2.24, ‘by His stripes we are made whole’). It should be noted that it is a different word from that in verse 15 (and also in verse 20) , indicating a change of emphasis. Although similar James does not appear to want the two ideas too closely connected.
Of course the prayer can include prayer for the sick, but that is not prominent in this injunction. That has already been dealt with in the previous verse. This verse is for the troubled, the untroubled and the sick alike, in order to ensure that all are spiritually whole. It is to give them the opportunity to bring their needs before the congregation so that they might be prayed for and mutually encouraged, while at the same time stirring the consciences of some who sit quietly in the background, so that they too might be made whole.
And then is added the final assurance, that their supplications will be effective, because ‘The supplication of a righteous man avails much in its working’ (RV/ASV), or ‘the prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects’ (RSV). Note the assumption that they are the righteous, for they are all His sons and daughters (2 Corinthians 6.18). And the assurance is that their prayers will be effective for that reason. But the Scripture also make clear that if we come to pray with expectancy it must be with prepared hearts. ‘If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me’ (Psalm 66.18). The hands that will be lifted up must be ‘holy hands’ (hands set apart to God - 1 Timothy 2.8). If we would come to God we must first make sure that we are right with others (Matthew 5.23-24). But the whole is a reminder that we should indeed ‘pray one for another that we might be made whole’.
The Supreme Example Of A Man Undergoing Trials Who Gained The Victory In Prayer (5.17-18).
James now gives the example of one man of God who endured trials and testings, and through faith came through triumphantly (compare 1.1-5), and that was Elijah. He was but a man like us, but through prayer he sealed the Heavens so that they gave no water, and following that he prayed again and the Heavens poured forth water and the result was that the earth brought forth fruit.
Analysis
Note in ‘a’ that Elijah is closely identified with earth and with humankind, and in the parallel it is from nature and the earth that the fruit comes forth. In ‘b’ he prayed fervently and in the parallel he prayed again. Centrally in ‘c’ was the great effect of his prayer.
5.17a ‘Elijah was a man of like passions with us,’
In this description we are taken back to 1.13-14 and 4.1-2 where men’s emotions were also involved. The difference was that in the case of Elijah he overcame his passions and did ask and receive. Here is the supreme example of the man who shared man’s weaknesses, who was greatly tried, and yet who triumphed through faith.
5.17b ‘And he prayed fervently (literally ‘prayed with prayer’) that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth for three years and six months.’
And Elijah ‘prayed with prayer’. There was no half-heartedness or superficiality or lack of purpose with him. And with his prayer he controlled the Heavens so that they produced no rain. Note the contrast with the travelling businessmen who were taken up with earthly things (4.13-16), and the landlords who thought only of this world’s goods (5.1-6), and the comparison with those brothers who wait patiently for rain, no doubt with prayer (5. 7). Here was a man who was not only a hearer of the word, but a doer (1.22-23; 2.14-26), who was concerned only with the purposes of God, and who in the end would receive the Crown of Life (1.12), in that he was caught up into Heaven without dying.
‘It rained not on the earth for three years and six months.’ Compare Luke 4.25. This period became symbolic of any period of trial when the faithful were dominated by the powers of this world. Thus it appears again in Revelation in that guise (Revelation 11.2-3 with 6; 12.6; 13.5), where also it is connected with an Elijah-like man (Revelation 11.6). Compare also the last half of the seventieth seven in Daniel 9.27, although as Daniel pointedly makes it longer than three year and six months it makes this last comparison doubtful (Daniel 12.11-12).
Thus here was a man who underwent trial and triumphed through faith, demonstrating the power of prayer in one who believed.
5.18 ‘And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.’
And the result of his trials and his faith was that he prayed again, and the heavens produced rain (see 1 Kings 18.36-37, 41), and the earth became fruitful. He asked and it was given to him (see 1.5 and contrast 4.3), and the result was blessing from Heaven. James no doubt intended his readers to make the connection.
We should, however, note that Elijah’s prayer was answered because the will and purpose of God was his consuming passion. He did not pray for himself or for his own benefit. He prayed in order that God’s work might go forward. Nothing else mattered to him. That is the kind of prayer that is always effective.
A Final Word On The Importance Of The Brothers Having A Practical Concern For Each Other (5.19-20).
All through his letter James has been seeking to ‘convert sinners from the errors of their ways’, leading up to his final exhortation to prayer and praise in verses 13-18. Now he passes on that responsibility to ‘my brothers’. That idea had begun in verse 18, and the incentive that he now gives is not that they will thereby receive a reward, but that they will be doing eternal good and helping to defeat sin. As we have seen all the way through, God (1.17; 2.23; 4.4; 5.7), peace (3.18) and eternal life (1.12; 5.20) are to be seen as their own reward (and are indeed precisely what any ‘rewards’ will be all about).
We should not see these words as just a postscript. They are a reminder in the face of all James’ advice and exhortation throughout that his final concern was that sin might be dealt with in as many as possible so that they might be ‘covered’ before God, and they themselves be ‘delivered’ (‘saved’) by God. He was concerned with their salvation, their being ‘made whole’, and his vision was fixed on the work of his Saviour, the Lord, Jesus Christ, Who was to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1.21). Note also how in the face of this concern there is no suggestion anywhere for the need of ritual. It was sufficient that they be turned back to God. By this their sins will be ‘covered’. The Atonement is assumed, for he is confident that all his readers are aware of it. That is why they call themselves ‘Christians’. It is also a reminder that he has not been primarily concerned with writing about the way of salvation for the lost, but about the need for those who professed to be ‘saved’ to genuinely experience that salvation. His words were not so much directed at outsiders as at insiders, ‘the twelve tribes of Israel’, the new people of God (Galatians 6.16; Ephesians 2.13-22).
Analysis.
Note that in ‘a’ men err from the truth, and in the parallel a multitude of sins are ‘covered’. In ‘b’ one causes another to turn round, and in the parallel he saves a human being from death. And centrally in ‘c’ comes the vital purpose of turning men from the error of their ways.
5.19a ‘My brothers, if any of you err from the truth.’
Mingled with encouragement and the vision of God, the whole of James’ letter has been concentrated on bringing home ways in which ‘brothers’ may err from the truth. Now like any good teacher he applies the lesson.
Truth is a central emphasis in the New Testament (which is why James saw it as so important in verse 12). It was through belief of the truth that men would be begotten by God (1.18). To be filled with bitter jealousy and selfish ambition is to lie against the truth (3.14). Thus God’s people are to be so bound by the truth that they do not need oaths (5.12). It is something that men must love (2 Thessalonians 2.10), and must obey (Galatians 5.7). It is something that men must demonstrate in their lives (2 Corinthians 4.2). It is something that must be spoken in love (Ephesians 4.15), and must be witnessed to (John 18.37). It is something which liberates (John 8.32) and must be openly revealed in a life of love (1 John 3.19). It is central to the whole Gospel, for the Spirit Who came is the Spirit of Truth (John 14.17; 15.26; 16.13), Who will guide into all truth (John 16.13). That is why those who believe also ‘do what is true’ (John 3.21).
5.19b ‘And one convert him (cause him to turn round).’
It is to be the concern of every brother that if he sees one of his brothers straying, he be concerned to ‘turn him round’. They are to feed and tend the sheep. That was not to encourage them to be busybodies and intrusive in men’s lives, but in order to encourage them to prayerful and practical concern for the whole body of His people and their wellbeing (compare verse 16). They were to watch out for each other, not critically, but prayerfully and with humility (compare Galatians 6.1-2).
5.20a ‘Let him know, that he who turns a sinner round from the error of his way.’
That is to be the purpose of all God’s people, to turn men from their sins and from the error of their ways (compare the use of the word in Luke 22.32), so that they come back to God and begin to live in accordance with His Law and with His requirements, and is to be especially their concern for any one of their brothers who may have fallen. This is basic to Biblical teaching. The prophets constantly sought to make the people return to God. Daniel declared that, "Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever" (Daniel 12.3). And Paul urged Timothy to, "Take heed to yourself, and to your teaching, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers" (1 Timothy 4.16).
5.20b ‘Will save a soul from death.’
The wages of sin is death (Romans 6.23). Sin can bring premature death to failing believers (1 Corinthians 11.30) and eternal death to unconcerned sinners. So whatever the state of the one ‘turned round’ they will be saved from death, either premature or eternal. But the stress here probably has verse 15 in mind, recognising that often such a sick man also needed ‘turning round’ so that his sins might be forgiven him, and he might then be healed and ‘saved from death’.
5.20c ‘And will cover a multitude of sins.’
To ‘cover’ sins is an Old Testament way of speaking of atonement and cleansing, thus his final words bring out the writer’s deep involvement in Old Testament ideas (compare Psalm 32.1; 85.2 LXX, the only other two examples where the Greek word is connected with sin, and there forgiveness, pardon and being ‘justified’ are in mind, for sin will not be imputed to them). Those who are turned round will have their sins ‘covered’ before God. They will be forgiven, pardoned and have no sin imputed to them. And the aim of God’s people is to be to bring about the covering of as many sins as possible, sins which in each person are so many that they can be described as ‘a multitude’. That is why Jesus came, to save His people from their sins’. In the words of Paul, ‘Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound’ (Romans 5.20). In these words the heart of James, and his concern for the flock, are laid bare. His aim, like His Lord’s, is that they may all be presented before God ‘holy and without blemish’, genuinely saved and with their sins forgiven. May that be our concern too.
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FREE Scholarly verse by verse commentaries on the Bible.
THE PENTATEUCH ---
GENESIS ---EXODUS--- LEVITICUS --- NUMBERS ---
DEUTERONOMY --- THE BOOK OF JOSHUA --- THE BOOK OF JUDGES --- THE BOOK OF RUTH --- SAMUEL --- KINGS --- I & II CHRONICLES ---
EZRA---NEHEMIAH---ESTHER---PSALMS 1-73--- PROVERBS---ECCLESIASTES--- SONG OF SOLOMON
--- ISAIAH --- JEREMIAH --- LAMENTATIONS ---
EZEKIEL --- DANIEL --- --- HOSEA --- --- JOEL ------ AMOS --- --- OBADIAH --- --- JONAH --- --- MICAH --- --- NAHUM --- --- HABAKKUK--- --- ZEPHANIAH --- --- HAGGAI --- ZECHARIAH --- --- MALACHI --- THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW ---THE GOSPEL OF MARK--- THE GOSPEL OF LUKE --- THE GOSPEL OF JOHN --- THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES --- READINGS IN ROMANS --- 1
CORINTHIANS --- 2 CORINTHIANS ---GALATIANS --- EPHESIANS--- PHILIPPIANS --- COLOSSIANS --- 1 THESSALONIANS --- 2 THESSALONIANS --- 1 TIMOTHY --- 2 TIMOTHY --- TITUS --- PHILEMON --- HEBREWS
--- JAMES --- 1 & 2 PETER --- JOHN'S
LETTERS --- JUDE --- REVELATION
--- THE GOSPELS & ACTS
IS THERE SOMETHING IN THE BIBLE THAT PUZZLES YOU?
