Enduring Word

Section 1: Humble, Patient, Enduring

1. (1-3) The rich and the illusion of wealth.

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.

a. Come now, you rich: James had developed the idea of the need for complete dependence on God. He now naturally rebuked those most likely to live independently from God – the rich.

i. While Jesus counted some rich persons among His followers (such as Zaccheus, Joseph of Armithea, and Barnabas), we are compelled to observe that riches do present an additional and significant obstacle to the kingdom (Matthew 19:23-24). It is also true that the pursuit of riches is a motivation for every conceivable sin (1 Timothy 6:10).

ii. “He speaks to them not simply as rich (for riches and grace sometimes may go together) but as wicked, not only wallowing in wealth, but abusing it to pride, luxury, oppression, and cruelty.” (Poole)

b. Weep and howl: In the style of an Old Testament prophet, James tells the rich to mourn in consideration of their destiny (the miseries that are coming upon you). In the life to come, their riches will be revealed as corrupted, moth-eaten and corroded.

i. James probably refers to the destruction of three kinds of wealth. Stores of food are corrupted (rotted), garments are moth-eaten, and gold and silver are corroded. Each one of them comes to nothing in their own way.

ii. “More than that, James adds, with a Dantesque touch of horror, the rust will devour (or corrode) your flesh like fire, you are so bound up with your greedy gains; your wealth perishes and you perish with it and by it, eaten away in burning pain.” (Moffatt)

iii. “Better weep here, where there are wiping handkerchiefs in the hand of Christ, than to have your eyes whipped out in hell. Better howl with men than yell with devils.” (Trapp)

c. Will be a witness against you: The corruptible nature of the wealth of the rich will witness against them. On the day of judgment it will be revealed that they have lived their lives in the arrogant independence James previously condemned, heaping up earthly treasure in the last days, when they should have been heaping up treasure in heaven (Luke 18:22).

i. In the last days: “The doom is depicted in highly coloured Jewish phrases, and the same immediate prospect of the End is held out as a threat to the rich and as a consolation to the oppressed poor.” (Moffatt)

2. (4-6) The sins of the rich are condemned.

Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.

a. The wages of the laborers… you kept back by fraud: They had withheld the wages of their laborers. They lived indulgently without regard for others (as the man in Jesus’ story about the rich man and Lazarus, Luke 16:19-31). They had condemned and murdered from their position of power.

i. “Deferring payment is a sort of defrauding, as it bereaves the creditor of the benefit of improvement; and so they are taxed here with injustice, as well as covetousness, in that they lived upon other men’s labours, and starved the poor to enrich themselves.” (Poole)

b. The cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth: The title Lord of Sabaoth in James 5:4 should not be confused with the similar title Lord of the Sabbath (used in Mark 2:28 and Luke 6:5). Instead it is a translation of the idea behind the Hebrew term Lord of Hosts (compare Romans 9:29 with Isaiah 1:9), which means “the Lord of armies,” especially in the sense of heavenly and angelic armies. It describes God as the warrior, the commander-in-chief of all heavenly armies.

i. The use of this title was meant to give these unjust each a sober warning. The cries of the people they had oppressed had come to the ears of the God who commands heavenly armies; the God of might and power and judgment.

ii. “The primary reference is to Yahweh as the God of hosts or the armies of Israel and later the hosts of heaven. The rabbis rarely use the title, but Exodus 3:6 connects it with Yahweh’s war against injustice.” (Adamson)

iii. This is “a frequent appellation of God in the Old Testament; and signifies his uncontrollable power, and the infinitely numerous means he has for governing the world, and defending his followers, and punishing the wicked.” (Clarke)

c. You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you: Often those who are poor and without power in this world have little satisfaction from justice. Yet God hears their cries, and He is the one who guarantees to ultimately right every wrong and answer every injustice.

i. Condemned… you have murdered the just: “Take it either properly, or metaphorically of usurers and extortioners, that not only rob, but ravish the poor that are fallen into their nets.” (Trapp)

Section 2: A call for patient endurance in light of the coming judgment.

1. (7-8) Imitate the patient endurance of the farmer.

Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

a. Therefore be patient, brethren: James brought the issue of the ultimate judgment before us in his remarks about the ungodly rich and their destiny. Now he calls Christians (especially those enduring hardship) to patiently endure until the coming of the Lord.

i. “James stirs no class-feeling, e.g. of labourers against their unjust employers; leave the wealthy oppressors to God’s imminent vengeance on their cruelty.” (Moffatt)

ii. “Sometimes, indeed, the very hope of the coming of the Lord has seemed to increase impatience rather than patience… Oh, to be patient in fellowship with God!” (Morgan)

b. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently: A farmer does not give up when his crop does not come to harvest immediately. He keeps on working even when the crop cannot be seen at all. Even so Christians must work hard and exercise patient endurance even when the harvest day seems far away.

i. As James instructs us, we are to wait upon God and not lose heart. “A man to whom it is given to wait for a reward keeps up his courage, and when he has to wait, he says, ‘It is no more than I expected. I never reckoned that I was to slay my enemy at the first blow. I never imagined that I was to capture the city as soon as ever I had digged the first trench; I reckoned upon waiting, and now that is come, I find that God gives me the grace to fight on and wrestle on, till the victory shall come.’ And patience saves a man from a great deal of haste and folly.” (Spurgeon)

ii. When we think about it, the waiting and need for endurance we have in the Christian life is very much like the waiting of the farmer.

· He waits with a reasonable hope and expectation of reward.

· He waits a long time.

· He waits working all the while.

· He waits depending on things out of his own power; with his eye on the heavens.

· He waits despite changing circumstances and many uncertainties.

· He waits encouraged by the value of the harvest.

· He waits encouraged by the work and harvest of others.

· He waits because he really has no other option.

· He waits because it does no good to give up.

· He waits aware of how the seasons work.

· He waits because as time goes on, it becomes more important and not less to do so.

c. Until it receives the early and latter rain: The pictures of the early and latter rain should be taken literally as James intends. He refers to the early rains (coming in late October or early November) that were essential to soften the ground for plowing, and to the latter rains (coming in late April or May) which were essential to the maturing of the crops shortly before harvest. There is no allegorical picture here of an early and a latter outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the church.

i. The Bible does explain that there will be a significant outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the last days (Joel 2:28-29, Acts 2:17-18); but this passage from James doesn’t seem to be relevant to that outpouring.

ii. Instead, the sense here is more as Moffatt explains: “The farmer had to wait for this rainfall twice in the year; but although he could do nothing to bring it, he did not lose heart, provided that he was obeying the will of his God.”

d. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand: The soon return of Jesus requires that we have established hearts, hearts that are rooted in Jesus and His eternal resolution of all things.

i. “When God shall give you a rich return for all you have done for him, you will blush to think you ever doubted; you will be ashamed to think you ever grew weary in his service. You shall have your reward. Not tomorrow, so wait: not the next day perhaps, so be patient. You may be full of doubts one day, your joys sink low. It may be rough windy weather with you in your spirit. You may even doubt whether you are the Lord’s, but if you have rested in the name of Jesus, if by the grace of God you are what you are, if he is all your salvation, and all your desire, — have patience; have patience, for the reward will surely come in God’s good time.” (Spurgeon)

e. For the coming of the Lord is at hand: There is a real sense in which the coming of the Lord was at hand in the days of James as well as in our own day today. One might say that since the Ascension of Jesus, history has been brought to the brink of consummation and now runs parallel along side the edge of the brink, with the coming of the Lord… at hand.

2. (9) Practicing patient endurance among God’s people.

Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!

a. Do not grumble against one another: Times of hardship can cause us to be less than loving with our Christian brothers and sisters. James reminds us that we cannot become grumblers and complainers in our hardship – lest we be condemned even in our hardship.

b. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! Jesus comes as a Judge, not only to judge the world, but also to assess the faithfulness of Christians (2 Corinthians 5:10). In light of this, we cannot allow hardship to make us unloving towards each other.

3. (10-11) Following examples of patient endurance.

My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

a. Take the prophets… as an example of suffering and patience: James reminds us that the prophets of the Old Testament endured hardship, yet practiced patient endurance. We can take them as examples.

i. Among these prophets, Jeremiah is one example of someone who endured mistreatment with patience. He was put in the stocks (Jeremiah 20:2), thrown into prison (Jeremiah 32:2), and lowered into miry dungeon (Jeremiah 38:6). Yet he persisted in his ministry.

ii. “As much as God honoured and loved them, yet they were not exempted from afflictions, but were maligned, traduced, and persecuted by men, 1 Kings 18:13; 19:14; 2 Kings 6:31; Amos 7:10; Hebrews 11; and therefore when they suffered such hard things, it is no shame for you to suffer the like, Matthew 5:12.” (Poole)

b. You have heard of the perseverance of Job: James essentially tells us three things about Job and why he is a significant example for the suffering Christian.

i. First we see the perseverance of Job. Passages such as Job 1:20-22 show us the tremendous perseverance of this afflicted man, who refused to curse God despite his severe and mysterious suffering.

ii. We see also the end intended by the Lord, speaking of the ultimate goal and purpose of God in allowing the suffering to come upon Job. Perhaps the greatest end intended by the Lord was to use Job as a lesson to angelic beings, even as God promises to use the church (Ephesians 3:10-11). When we understand that God has a good purpose, even painful things are put into different perspective. “If a man were to attack me with a knife I would resist him with all my strength, and count it a tragedy if he succeeded. Yet if a surgeon comes to me with a knife, I welcome both him and the knife; let him cut me open, even wider than the knife-attacker, because I know his purpose is good and necessary.” (Spurgeon)

iii. We see further that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. This is not immediately apparent in the story of Job; we can quickly think that God was cruel to Job. Yet upon consideration, we can see that God was indeed very compassionate and merciful.

· God was very compassionate and merciful to Job because He only allowed suffering for a very good reason.

· God was very compassionate and merciful to Job because He restricted what Satan could do against Job.

· God was very compassionate and merciful to Job because He sustained Him with His unseen hand through all his suffering.

· God was very compassionate and merciful to Job because in the whole process God used Satan himself. At the end of it all, God had accomplished something wonderful: To make Job a better and more blessed man than ever. Remember that as good as Job was at the beginning of the book, he was a better man at the end of it. He was better in character, humbler, and more blessed than before.

iv. “And when we come to look all Job’s life through, we see that the Lord in mercy brought him out of it all with unspeakable advantage. He who tested with one hand supported with the other. Whatever Satan’s end might be in tempting the patriarch, God had an end which covered and compassed that of the destroyer, and that end was answered all along the line, from the first loss which happened among the oxen to the last taunt of his three accusers.” (Spurgeon)

v. That the Lord is very compassionate: “I wish we could all read the original Greek; for this word, ‘The Lord is very pitiful,’ is a specially remarkable one. It means literally that the Lord hath ‘many bowels,’ or a great heart, and so it indicates great tenderness.” (Spurgeon)

4. (12) An exhortation in light of the coming judgment before Jesus.

But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes,” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment.

a. Do not swear: Many Jewish people in the time James wrote made distinctions between “binding oaths” and “non-binding oaths.” Oaths that did not include the name of God were considered non-binding, and to use such oaths was a way of “crossing your fingers behind your back” when telling a lie. It is these kinds of oaths that James condemned.

i. The Bible does not forbid the swearing of all oaths, only against the swearing of deceptive, unwise, or flippant oaths. On occasion God Himself swears oaths (such as in Luke 1:73, Hebrews 3:11, and Hebrews 6:13).

ii. “All swearing is not forbidden, any more than Matthew 5:34; (for oaths are made use of by holy men in both the Old and New Testament, Genesis 21:23, 24; 24:3; 26:28; 1 Kings 17:1-2; 2 Corinthians 1:23; Galatians 1:20; and the use of an oath is permitted and approved of by God himself, Psalm 15:4; Hebrews 6:16) but such oaths are false, rash, vain, without just cause, or customary and frequent in ordinary discourse.” (Poole)

b. Do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath: James again echoed the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:34-37). The need to swear or make oaths, beyond a simple and clear yes or no betrays the weakness of one’s word. It demonstrates that there is not enough weight in one’s own character to confirm their words.

c. Lest you fall into judgment: This lack of character will be exposed at the judgment seat of Christ. This motivates us all the more to prepare for that judgment by our speaking with integrity.

i. This admonition may seem out of context to us. Yet, “Probably James jotted it down as an after-thought, to emphasize the warning of James 5:9; in excitement or irritation there was a temptation to curse and swear violently and profanely.” (Moffatt)

Bible Project

James 2-5: Twelve Teachings on Devotion to Jesus

The body of the book is in chapters 2-5, consisting of twelve short teachings that call God’s people to wholehearted devotion to the way of Jesus. But these chapters don’t develop one main idea in a linear way. Instead, each teaching stands alone and usually concludes with a catchy one-liner. They are all connected through key repeated words and themes.

We begin with the first teaching, which is about favoritism and love (Jas. 2:1-13). Jacob exposes how we show favor to people who can benefit us, and we neglect people who can’t because they are needy. This behavior is the exact opposite of love as Jesus defined it (Matt. 5:46-48). Jacob goes on to show what genuine faith does and does not look like (Jas. 2:14-26). If someone says that they have faith in God but neglects the needs of the poor, this person’s faith is dead. Their actions betray what they say they believe. Genuine faith will always result in obedience to Jesus’ teachings (Matt. 7:21-27).

Scattered throughout this section of the book, there are three different places where Jacob develops Jesus’ own teaching about our words. With the very same mouth, we unleash pain on others while offering praise to God (Jas. 3:1-12). We judge people and talk poorly about them behind their backs (Jas. 4:11-12), and we all tend to distort the truth to our own advantage (Jas. 5:12). This is so backwards and hypocritical! How we talk to and about people opens a window into our hearts and our core values. And our words tell the real truth about our character.

Jacob also believes that God’s Kingdom community is a place where the divisions created by wealth and social status are dismantled. He warns of the arrogance that wealth can create in people, especially those who believe that it will be around forever (Jas. 4:13-17). Jacob stays that their wealth will one day rot away just as they will (Jas. 5:1-6). In contrast, God’s people are to live with the patient hope for Jesus’ return to set all things right (Jas. 5:7-11; Matt. 24:13), and this should inspire a life full of faith-filled prayer (Jas. 5:13-18; Matt. 21:21-22). This part of the book is really powerful, and each teaching deserves slow rereading over a cup of tea followed by a long walk.