James
1. ADDRESS AND GREETING (1:1)
Although James could claim to be a brother of the Lord and a leader in the early Jerusalem church, he is content to call himself a “servant.” Indeed, like Moses (Dt 34:5) and David (Ezk 37:24) before him, James recognizes that there is no higher honor than being called to serve the living God. James’s readers are also honored to belong to the people of God of the last day—“the twelve tribes.” These readers are probably Jewish Christians who had to flee from Jerusalem and take up new lives in lands outside Palestine.
2. TRIALS AND TEMPTATION (1:2–18)
A. Overcoming trials (1:2–12). 1:2–4. Poverty and persecution appear to have been the biggest trials faced by these early Christians, but James has in mind all kinds of difficulties that can pose threats to our faith in God—sickness, the death of loved ones, a rebellious child, a hated job. Whatever the trial, James commands Christians to rejoice (1:2). How is this possible? By recognizing that God can use these problems and tribulations to produce Christians who are “mature and complete” (1:4).
1:5–8. James sometimes links his topics by repeating a word: here he joins 1:4 to 1:5 with the verb “lack.” A more substantive link may also exist, however. Wisdom may be that quality that is needed if the believer is to face trials in the appropriate Christian manner. Like the book of Proverbs, James emphasizes that wisdom can be gained only by asking God. And as an encouragement to ask, James reminds us that God gives “generously” (1:5). But not every asking, even if imploring and sincere, receives a positive answer from God. We must ask in faith, without doubting (1:6a).
In an expressive image, James compares the doubter to the constantly varied surface of the sea—forever in motion, never stable, up one day, down the next (1:6b). Such a person is “double-minded”—divided at the very root of their being, a spiritual schizophrenic (1:8). That kind of person must not expect that God will respond to their prayers (1:7). What James criticizes in these verses is not the person who has occasional doubts about his or her faith; rather, James castigates the person who is basically insincere in seeking for things like wisdom from God.
1:9–11. James contrasts two people: poor Christians (1:9) and “the rich” (1:10–11). This latter phrase is ambiguous. If James has in mind rich non-Christians, then his contrast is between poor Christians, who are to rejoice in their heavenly calling, and rich unbelievers, who have nothing to boast about except their ultimate judgment for their wicked use of money. That James elsewhere uses “rich” to designate non-Christians (5:1) favors this interpretation.
On the other hand, “the rich” could be Christians. In this case, James would be contrasting Christians from very different socioeconomic spheres and encouraging all believers to focus not on that worldly status but on their relationship to Christ. Poor believers should not despair because of their poverty but rejoice because they are “rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom” (2:5). Rich believers, on the other hand, must be careful not to take pride in their worldly possessions—for their wealth will quickly perish—but to boast in their “humiliation” (or “low position”), their relationship to Jesus, the servant who was “despised and rejected” (Is 53:3).
1:12. James concludes the opening section of the letter by returning explicitly to the theme of trials. Remaining faithful to God during trials brings God’s blessing: the reward of life eternal that God has promised to those who belong to him. The risen Jesus similarly encourages suffering Christians: “Be faithful to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rv 2:10).
B. The source of temptation (1:13–18). 1:13–15. A trial is an outward circumstance that can pose difficulties to our faith. A temptation is the inner enticement to sin. What James is concerned about is that his readers will confuse these two and attribute temptation to God. Scripture indicates that God does “test” or put his people through trials (cf. Gn 22:1). But, James emphatically asserts, God never tempts his people (1:13). He never entices them to sin or desires that they fail in the trials he may bring. Believers must never excuse their sin by blaming God for the temptation. It is our own “evil desire” that is the real source of temptation (1:14). James traces the terrible process by which temptation becomes spiritual death: the impulse to sin, alive in all of us, conceives sin when we succumb to temptation; if we do nothing to cut off the growth and maturation of sin, death is the inevitable result (1:15).
1:16–18. After issuing a warning not to be deceived (1:16), James provides a positive counterpart to verses 13–15: far from being responsible for temptation, or anything evil, God gives good gifts to his children. And that God will continue to do so can be depended on, for he is unchangeable. Unlike the sun, moon, stars, and planets (cf. Ps 136:7–9), which regularly move and change their appearance, God never changes (1:17). God, the giver of good gifts, has also birthed within James’s recipients the new life that comes for those who embrace the “word of truth” (cf. 2 Co 6:7; Eph 1:13; Col 1:5; 2 Tm 2:15)—the gospel—and its chief subject: Christ (1:18). This new life is likewise a sign of things to come, the firstfruits of the restoration of all things that God has promised for creation.
3. PUTTING THE WORD INTO PRACTICE (1:19–2:26)
The mention of the “word of truth” in 1:18 leads James to devote a lengthy section to a matter close to his heart—the appropriate Christian response to God’s word. James stresses that the word’s purpose is to be obeyed (1:21–27), gives an example of how that word should be obeyed in practice (2:1–13), and ties that doing of the word inextricably to genuine faith (2:14–26).
A. Anger and the tongue (1:19–20). Before launching into this major topic, James interjects a warning about the misuse of the tongue—the first of several that occur in his letter (1:26; 3:1–12; 4:11–12; 5:12). James echoes a theme sounded often in Proverbs (see Pr 10:19; 15:1; 17:27–28): the righteous will listen well and consider carefully before they speak and will restrain their anger lest it lead to hasty, nasty, irretrievable words (1:19). Anger, James reminds us, “does not accomplish God’s righteousness” (1:20).
B.“Be doers of the word” (1:21–27). 1:21–25. The main topic of the next paragraph is introduced in 1:21: the right response to God’s word. James commands us to receive the word. His reference to the word as being “implanted” in us may allude to Jesus’s parable of the sower, but it probably also hints at the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy about the new covenant, in which God promises to “put [his] teaching within them and write it on their hearts” (Jr 31:33). [Authority of Scripture]
Becoming more specific, James now tells us how we are to receive the word: by doing it (1:22; cf. Lk 11:28). Hearing, or listening to, the word is absolutely essential, but if hearing does not lead to doing, then the word of God has been mistreated and we are deceiving ourselves about the reality of our relationship to God. People who hear the word without doing it are compared to people who look at their faces in a mirror but immediately forget what they have seen (1:23–24). The person who carefully listens to God’s word and continues to put it into practice, not forgetting it—this person receives God’s approval (1:25).
Over and over James emphasizes speech as a true indicator of the condition of a person’s heart (e.g., Jms 1:19–26; 2:12; 3:1–12; 4:11–17). Similarly, Jesus says that “the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart” (Mt 12:34; Lk 6:45). Impure speech, therefore, indicates an impure heart (Mt 15:18).
1:26–27. James becomes more specific still. What does it mean to do the word? Three areas of obedience are singled out by James: personal behavior, social concern, and inner values. James again shows his concern about sins of speech by highlighting careful speech habits as an example of the religion that God accepts (1:26). Another characteristic emphasis in James is mentioned in 1:27 for the first time: concern for the poor and needy. Finally, James stresses the need for an inner attitude and value system distinct from that of the world in which we live.
C. The sin of favoritism (2:1–13). 2:1–4. “Favoritism” (2:1) translates a rare word that is used by the NT writers to render the OT Hebrew expression “receiving the face.” It connotes the treatment of any person on the basis of an external consideration—be it race, nationality, wealth, or manner of dress. Such favoritism is foreign to the nature of God (cf. Rm 2:11) and should also be unknown among believers in Christ. The illustration James uses in 2:2–3 implies that poor people were being discriminated against; and in doing so, James says, the believers manifest their evil thoughts (2:4).
James asserts that someone who is a hearer but not a doer of the Word is like someone who looks in a mirror but then goes away and forgets “what kind of person he was” (Jms 1:24). These ancient Roman mirrors are from the first century BC to the fourth century AD.
© Baker Publishing Group and Dr. James C. Martin. Courtesy of the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and the Cairo Museum.
2:5–7. James gives several reasons for his condemnation of favoritism against the poor. The first is that it stands in contradiction to God’s own attitude and actions. He has chosen the poor in the world to receive the blessings of his kingdom (2:5), as most of the early Christians were, in fact, poor (1 Co 1:26).
The second reason James gives for condemning favoritism was that the rich were exploiting and persecuting the fledgling church. How ironic that the church should mistreat those from whom most of them were drawn in order to curry favor with the wealthy and powerful (2:6–7).
2:8–9. The third basis on which favoritism is criticized is also the most important: it violates the “royal law” of love for the neighbor (2:8). Jesus himself cited Lv 19:18, along with the requirement to love God, when asked to give a summary of the law (Mt 22:34–40), and it is probably for this reason that James calls it the royal law: it was highlighted by Jesus, the King, as a crucial law for the kingdom of God (Jms 2:5). Favoritism, then, by mistreating “your neighbor,” involves a clear violation of the law (2:9). Significantly, favoritism at the expense of the poor is also condemned in the context of Lv 19:18 (cf. Lv 19:15).
The NT church was marked by such generosity that its members sold their own possessions and gave to those who had need (Ac 2:45). The poor were to be treated with generosity, and needs were to be addressed whenever they were discovered (e.g., Mt 19:21; Lk 12:33; 19:8; Ac 6:1; 9:36; Rm 15:26; Gl 2:10). Furthermore, distinctions between believers on the basis of material wealth and, more specifically, favoritism toward the rich are expressly forbidden in the NT (1 Co 11:20–22; Php 2:1–8; Jms 2:1–4).
2:10–13. The following verses (2:10–11) support the conclusion reached in 2:9, that those who show favoritism are convicted as lawbreakers, by arguing that the infringement of any one law incurs the penalty for the breaking of the whole law. Therefore, James concludes, we had better speak and act with the realization that our conduct will be measured by the standard of “the law of freedom” (2:12). The OT law, which was fulfilled by Christ (Mt 5:17), can no longer condemn the believer (Rm 8:1–3). The “royal law” will, however, judge the believer in the sense that we will appear before Christ for an evaluation of our behavior (cf. 2 Co 5:10). On that day, mercy will be an important evidence of the reality of our relationship to God (2:13; cf. Mt 18:21–35).
D. True Christian faith seen in its works (2:14–26). James has firmly upheld the doing of the word as absolutely essential to valid religion. He has even warned that what we do will be taken into account in the judgment (2:12–13). How, one might ask, does all this square with the crucial role given to faith throughout the NT (and by James himself; see 1:6–8)? Is James replacing faith with works? In this passage he answers that question with a decisive no by showing that true Christian faith necessarily and of its very nature requires those works pleasing to God.
2:14–17. In a teaching style James frequently uses, he broaches the issue with a question, or, to be more precise, two questions (2:14). In the Greek, it is clear that the assumed answer to these questions is no—this faith, the faith that certain people claim to have but that is without deeds, cannot save them from the judgment of God. The illustration in 2:15–16 drives home this point. What good have we done the fellow Christian who lacks the essentials of life if we simply dismiss him or her with words? Thus, James draws the conclusion (2:17): faith by itself is “dead”—not just in the sense that it is not doing what it should but that it is not even really what it claims to be.
2:18–19. James next quotes his interlocutor (who may be hypothetical or real) as saying, “You have faith, and I have works” (2:18a). The force of this objection is to argue, Why cannot one believer be especially gifted with faith while another has the ability to perform good deeds? James answers this objection with a challenge (2:18b–19), which boils down to this: how is faith demonstrated apart from activity? James says it is not. Having the right beliefs about God without the proper behavioral responses is not faith, for even the demons would qualify as faithful!
2:20–23. This “senseless person” (2:20), the interlocutor James uses to make his point, is now given evidence from the OT that faith without works is not faith at all. James cites two very different people to make his point: Abraham, the honored father of the Jewish people, and Rahab, the immoral pagan. Abraham, James claims, illustrates the intimate relationship of faith and works. In going so far as to offer his son Isaac in obedience to the Lord (Gn 22), Abraham showed that his faith was alive (2:21; see also Heb 11:17–19). His faith “was active together” with his actions (2:22). Indeed, it was the exercise of his trust through works that demonstrated his faith. But James goes even further than this. It was on the basis of his works that it was “credited to him as righteousness” (2:23). And although God declared Abraham righteous by faith (cf. Gn 15:6), James argues this was in conjunction with his activity.
2:24. These statements of James about being justified by works present a potential problem to the person who is aware that Paul claimed that a person is “not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ” (Gl 2:16; cf. Rm 3:28). Indeed, Paul even quotes the same passage that James has cited in 2:23 (Gn 15:6) in favor of his point of view (see Gl 3:6). To be sure, the problems being dealt with are quite different—Paul is attacking Jews who think that Gentile salvation is tied to doing the Jewish “works of the law”; James addresses Jewish Christians who treat the poor unjustly (see the article “Faith and Works in James 2:24 and Galatians 2:15–16”).
But Paul’s “works of the law” is simply a subset of James’s “works,” and so a formal contradiction remains. To put it simply, Paul says, “justified by faith alone”; James says, “justified by faith plus works.” What is vital, then, is to see that Paul and James are using the key word “justify” with different meanings. When Paul uses the word “justify,” he designates the initial acceptance of the sinner before God—the solely gracious act whereby God, the Judge of all the world, considers us “right” before him because of our identification with Christ (see Rm 4:5). James, on the other hand, uses “justify,” as was typical in Judaism, of the ultimate verdict of acquittal rendered over our lives. Jesus used the term in this way when he said, “By your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Mt 12:37). While Paul, then, asserts that a person is initially declared righteous only through faith, James insists that our ultimate acquittal in the judgment depends on the evidence of true faith—works. And, as James makes clear, true faith will, by its very nature, produce those works that will acquit us at the judgment. A careful theological balance is therefore needed: Paul insists that faith and works are different things and must be kept separate when we think about our standing before God, but James likewise insists that faith and works are inseparable.
2:25–26. James’s second OT example is set forth in close parallelism to the first (2:25; cf. 2:21). Rahab too was “justified” because of her actions. On the basis of reports about the power of the Lord, she committed the fate of herself and her family to him by helping the Israelite spies (Jos 2), showing them hospitality. Rahab’s example is particularly noteworthy as she was both a pagan and likely poor. James’s underlying point seems to have been that if Rahab the pagan prostitute demonstrated care for others, how much more should James’s Jewish Christian audience! The main point of the paragraph is reiterated in its concluding verse (2:26): just as a body without the invigorating spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead—barren and useless and not faith at all.
4. WORLDLINESS IN THE CHURCH (3:1–4:12)
The heart of this section, and in many ways the heart of the whole letter, is 4:4–10, with its radical call for repentance from flirtation with the world. The worldliness plaguing the Christians to whom James writes has taken the form of a bitter jealousy and has led to quarrels (3:13–4:3) and harmful, critical speech (3:1–12; 4:11–12).
A. The taming of the tongue (3:1–12). 3:1–2. The concern James has already shown about sins of speech (1:19, 26) is given full exposure in this paragraph. He introduces his topic by first warning people not to be too eager to become teachers (3:1). A particularly honored position among the Jews was occupied by the rabbi, and some of this prestige undoubtedly rubbed off on the teacher in the church. James does not want to discourage those who have the calling and the gift for teaching, but he does want to warn people about the heavy responsibility involved in teaching others about spiritual matters (see also Mt 5:19; Ac 20:26–27). One of the reasons the teaching ministry is very difficult is that it makes use of the most dangerous, untamable member of the body: the tongue. So difficult is the tongue to control and subordinate to godly purposes that James calls the person “mature” who is able to subdue it (3:2).
3:3–6. The power of the tongue may seem to be out of proportion to its size. But James reminds us with two pointed illustrations that small objects can have great power. The skillful rider uses a small piece of metal or leather to direct the motions of a powerful horse (3:3); the pilot controls the direction and speed of a huge sailing vessel with the touch of a hand on the rudder (3:4). So also the tongue, though a relatively small member of the body, possesses great potential for good or for evil (3:5a). It can be used to encourage, evangelize, and endear; it can also be used to criticize, mock, and curse.
The destructive potential of the tongue is highlighted. Like a “small fire” that sets ablaze a massive forest, the tongue can set on fire a person’s life (3:5b). The tongue, James says, is a veritable “world of unrighteousness,” the very sum and essence of the world as fallen and hostile to God, within a person’s life (3:6). A power so potentially destructive of the spiritual life can be explained only as having its origin in the influence of Satan himself.
3:7–12. James now reminds us how difficult it is to tame the tongue and how inconsistent is its nature. God gave to humankind dominion over the animal world at creation (Gn 1:26), but dominion over the tongue has been much more difficult to attain (3:7–8). With a further allusion to Genesis, James highlights the doubleness of the tongue: we bless God with it, but we also curse people “made in God’s likeness” (3:9). This inconsistency in the tongue should not be (3:10)—any more than a single spring should pour forth good, sweet, drinkable water one day and foul, brackish water the next (3:11).
Like Jesus before him (Mt 7:16), James uses the image of the plant that produces according to its nature to demonstrate the fundamental incompatibility of a renewed, sanctified heart pouring forth harmful, filthy, evil words (3:12). Although James does not specify in this paragraph the particular forms of evil speech that he has in mind, he elsewhere singles out the kind of criticism of others that springs from a judgmental attitude (4:11–12).
B. Peaceable relations among Christians (3:13–4:3). Although a chapter break occurs in the middle of this section, 3:13–18 and 4:1–3 are closely related. They both analyze and condemn the bickering that is apparently all too common among James’s readers.
3:13–18. The first paragraph approaches the problem by contrasting two kinds of wisdom. There is, on the one hand, the “wisdom” that is “earthly, unspiritual, demonic” (3:15). It is characterized by “bitter envy” and “selfish ambition” (3:14). The word “envy” probably connotes here the prideful spirit of competition for favor and honor that so often disturbs churches. “Selfish ambition” can best be defined by noting its usage by Aristotle to describe and condemn the selfishly motivated “party politics” in the Athens of his day (cf. Rm 2:8; 2 Co 12:20; Gl 5:20; Php 1:17; 2:3). Where these attitudes exist, “disorder” and all kinds of evil will be the result (3:16).
On the other hand, there is the wisdom from above. It is characterized not by a selfish desire to have one’s own way but by “gentleness” (3:13). And, like genuine faith, it manifests itself in deeds, producing a godly and loving lifestyle that seeks the good of others, not only the good of the self. Most of all, James suggests, true wisdom brings peace. This is the focus of the list of virtues attributed to true wisdom in 3:17. And 3:18, with its promise of “the fruit of righteousness” to those who are peacemakers, underscores the point.
4:1–3. Continuing his analysis of the quarrels that have broken out among his readers, James now traces the source of these bitter disputes to evil desires. Sin, James has reminded us, comes from within, from our “own evil desire” (1:14); so too the specific sin of quarrelsomeness. These desires are fighting within us, waging “war against the soul,” as Peter puts it (1 Pt 2:11), and this fighting within also results in fighting with others (4:1). Rather than becoming frustrated through the attempt to gain things on our own, we should ask God in prayer for what we need (4:2). If we still do not find ourselves receiving what we ask for, then we should check our motives: perhaps our prayers are oriented too much around our own selfish pleasures and not enough around the will of God and the needs of others (4:3).
C. A call for repentance (4:4–10). 4:4–5. In a startling change of tone, James abandons his customary “my brothers and sisters” to address his readers as “you adulterous people!” (4:4). This change signals a shift in focus. James has been analyzing the sin of envy and its resultant quarrelsomeness; now he calls for a radical departure from that sin. To flirt with the world is to commit spiritual adultery against the Lord (4:4). There are a number of interpretative challenges in 4:5 (see the CSB footnote). The interpretation that best seems to fit the context is that the Jewish Christians whom James is calling on the carpet have a natural inclination toward jealousy and self-serving interests.
James tells his prideful audience to “mourn and weep” and “let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom” (Jms 4:9). Jesus similarly pronounces a blessing on “those who mourn” (Mt 5:4) and warns, “Woe to you who are now laughing, for you will mourn and weep” (Lk 6:25).
4:6–10. But God’s grace is more than sufficient to meet the need, should his people humble themselves and abandon their pride (4:6). Therefore, those who mistreat others for the sake of selfish gain need to “submit to God” (4:7) and “humble yourselves before the Lord” (4:10). These commands frame three pairs of imperatives in 4:7–9. First, they must “resist the devil” and “draw near to God.” Each is accompanied by a promise: the devil will flee, and God will draw near (see also 1 Pt 5:5–9, which has many parallels to Jms 4:6–10). Second, like OT priests, they are to “cleanse [their] hands”—to seek forgiveness for, and put away, outward sins. And at the same time, their inner attitude must be made right—their hearts are to be purified. Third, using the language of the OT prophets (see Jl 2:12), James commands them to mourn deeply and sincerely for the sin that separates them from God. They must adopt a spirit of humility (4:10) to overcome the spirit of jealousy (4:5).
D. Arrogance and the critical tongue (4:11–12). James now returns to sins of speech. He condemns criticism and defamation (4:11; cf. Nm 21:5; Ps 101:5; 1 Pt 2:12; 3:16). From the stress on judging, it is probable that James has particularly in mind the judgmental criticism of others that was doubtless accompanying the quarrels and arguments in the church. This kind of criticism is wrong because it assumes that we are in a position to render ultimate verdicts over people, a prerogative that is God’s alone (4:12). By criticizing others, we do not fulfill the law of love of neighbor (see 2:8) but break it.
5. LOOKING AT LIFE FROM A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE (4:13–5:11)
The paragraphs in this section focus on the way we should look at ourselves (4:13–17), our material possessions (5:1–6), and our present difficulties (5:7–11) in the light of God’s person and purposes.
A. Recognizing who we are before God (4:13–17). James addresses self-confident, wealthy people who have decided where they are going, how long they will stay, what they will do there, and even what the outcome of their efforts will be (4:13). James has nothing against making plans, but he does condemn the arrogance of those who think they can make their plans without reference to God. James reminds them of the brevity of life (4:14). Their security in their plans has severed their dependence on God.
When James encourages them to say, “if the Lord wills” (4:15), he does not mean, of course, that the simple repetition of these words in their prayers takes care of the need. Rather, they must consciously place all their plans and hopes under the lordship of Christ, recognizing that he is the one who prospers or brings to grief those plans. With a principle that has wide application, James concludes the paragraph by reminding that sin consists not just in doing those things we should not but also in failing to do those things that we should (4:17). James’s readers are now responsible for putting into practice the attitude he has just set forth.
B. The dangers of wealth (5:1–6). The “rich people” (5:1) whom James addresses are likely the wicked rich, though it is possible some of the Christians in his audience needed to heed these warnings. Thus, while the people addressed in this passage are clearly materially wealthy, they are not condemned for their wealth per se but are condemned for their selfish accumulation and abuse of their wealth.
5:1–3. Weeping and wailing (5:1) are typical ways of describing the reaction of evil people to the judgment of the day of the Lord (Is 13:6; 15:3; Am 8:3). These rich people will suffer condemnation on that day for four specific sins. First, they have hoarded their wealth and failed to use it to help the poor. James pictures their wealth rotting and corroding—evidence that it has neither done them any good nor benefited the needy (5:2). They have failed to follow Jesus’s advice (Lk 12:33). This selfish hoarding of wealth is all the worse in that it is being done “in the last days” (5:3). The NT consistently portrays the last days, the time of God’s intervention to save and to judge, as having begun with the work of Christ (Ac 2:17; 2 Tm 3:1; Heb 1:2; 2 Pt 3:3; Jd 18).
The OT often uses “poor” and “rich” almost as synonyms for the righteous and the wicked, respectively (see Pr 10:15–16; 14:20; Ps 37:1–40). Jesus reflects this usage when he blesses the poor and condemns the rich (Lk 6:20, 24). James also condemns the rich for how they have abused and defrauded the poor (Jms 5:1–6).
5:4–6. The second reason for the condemnation of these rich people is their failure to pay their laborers what is owed them (5:4). The OT singles out the prompt payment of wages as a prominent requirement of the law (Lv 19:13; Dt 24:14–24; Mal 3:5). James assures the rich that God, the Judge, is well aware of their sin against those who depend on them for daily bread.
A luxurious, self-indulgent lifestyle is the third basis for God’s judgment (5:5). Like the people of Sodom, who lived in prosperous ease while the “poor and needy” went without (Ezk 16:49), the rich people of James’s day are preparing themselves for the judgment. James uses the image of cattle being fattened for the slaughter to illustrate this storing up of wrath for the day of judgment.
Finally, James condemns the rich for using their influential social and political positions to condemn and murder the “righteous” (5:6). Here James describes the combination of economic and religious persecution that many early Christians suffered at the hand of the upper classes. Such persecution had long been practiced in Israel (cf. Am 2:6; 5:12; Mc 2:2, 6–9) and was all the worse in that the innocent had little ability to resist the machinations of the rich.
C. Waiting on the Lord (5:7–11). 5:7–9. Verses 1–11 encourage Christians to recognize that judgment will come upon the wicked rich and to wait patiently for the day of that judgment. Christians need to exhibit the patience of the farmer as they wait for “the Lord’s coming” (5:7). This coming is “near” (5:8). Some people think that James must have been wrong to think that Jesus’s return could have been near; almost two thousand years have gone by since. But when the NT speaks of the nearness or the imminence of the Lord’s return, it does not mean that it has to take place within a short period of time. What is meant is that Christ’s coming (Gk parousia) is the very next event in God’s timetable of redemption and that it could take place within a short period of time. Every generation of believers lives in the eager expectancy of that return. As we wait, we must be careful not to take out our frustrations on one another by grumbling against one another (5:9). The Lord, who is coming to deliver us from sin and want, is also coming to evaluate the lives of his people.
5:10–11. In their patient endurance of difficulties, Christians are to imitate the prophets (5:10) and Job (5:11). At first glance, Job would seem to be a curious choice to hold up for imitation, for he frequently expressed his exasperation with the Lord. But what James wants us to emulate in Job is his perseverance: despite the disasters he faced, and the relentless attacks of his “friends,” Job kept his faith and did not abandon his trust in God. As a result, the Lord finally “brought about” the restoration of Job’s fortune (Jb 42:10–17).
6. CONCLUDING EXHORTATIONS (5:12–20)
A. Oaths (5:12). James introduces his final section with a typical literary device: “above all” (cf. 1 Pt 4:8 and Paul’s use of “finally” in this way). James’s prohibition of oaths is similar in wording and content to Jesus’s prohibition in Mt 5:34–37. Many think that Jesus and James intended to forbid all oaths; hence some Christians will refuse to take an oath in a court of law, for instance. But it is doubtful that such a situation is envisaged. From the emphasis on telling the truth in both contexts, it is more likely that they forbid any oath or speech that compromises our absolute truthfulness.
B. Prayer (5:13–18). 5:13–14. Prayer is often mentioned in the last section of NT letters; James is no exception. He begins by encouraging us to pray in any circumstance we might face. When “suffering,” we should turn to God for help; when things are going well, we should turn to God with praise (5:13). In the specific trouble of illness, also, prayer is the main remedy. Here, however, James gives lengthier advice. He encourages the person who is sick to call for “the elders of the church,” who should come to “pray over” the individual, “anointing him with oil” (5:14). Oil was a well-known medicinal agent in the ancient world, so the anointing may have a physical purpose. More likely, the anointing is symbolic. Anointing with oil is frequently mentioned in the OT as a symbolic action according to which what is anointed is set apart for God’s service or blessing. By anointing the sick person with oil, then, the elders are symbolically setting that person aside for the Lord’s special attention as they pray.
5:15. By stressing that the prayer of faith is what brings healing, James has carefully qualified the apparently absolute nature of the promise. For only prayers that are offered in accordance with the will of God can truly be uttered in faith. As another aspect of the healing process, the sick person is also encouraged to seek forgiveness for sins. James’s encouragement to pray for healing should not be taken as direction against also seeking medical help for illness. And while James has focused on the role of the elders in healing, he makes clear in verse 16 that all believers can be active in the ministry of healing as we confess our sins to one another and pray for one another.
5:16–18. As an encouragement to pray, James stresses the great effect of the prayer offered by a “righteous person” (5:16). By this James does not mean to confine effective prayer to a select group of “super saints”; “righteous” designates anyone in a right relationship with God. And even Elijah is cited not because he was a prophet or because he had a special spiritual gift. He was “a human being as we are,” yet he was able to stop and start the rain by his prayers (5:17–18; cf. 1 Kg 17:1; 18:41–45).
C. Responsibility for fellow believers (5:19–20). In keeping with its literary, sermonic nature, the Letter of James closes not with a series of greetings or personal notes but with a call for action. James has given many commands in the course of his appeal. Now he encourages every reader to intervene to help others obey these commands. When we see a brother or sister who has “stray[ed] from the truth,” we are to turn them back (5:19). In doing so, we will be saving that sinner from spiritual death, the ultimate destination on that road that the sinner has chosen to follow (5:20; see 1:15). We will also “cover a multitude of sins” (cf. Pr 10:12; 1 Pt 4:8).