OVERVIEW: Once again James picks up a theme that he has already dealt with: the question of human riches. People with a lot of money should consider what it is that they have—a wasting resource that they cannot take with them when they die and that even now is in a state of constant decay. The love of money is the root of all evil and will lead people to defraud and even kill those who are less fortunate than they are. The rich must repent while there is still time (HILARY OF ARLES), casting their bread upon waters (OECUMENIUS). God’s love is delaying judgment to give them time for repentance (HESYCHIUS). Perishable riches (BEDE) can neither hurt a good person or help a bad person (CAESARIUS OF ARLES). Luxury comes to nothing (CHRYSOSTOM). God’s power ultimately puts to right all human injustices (HILARY OF ARLES, BEDE, THEOPHYLACT). Pray for a soul set free from excess (CHRYSOSTOM). It is time to give generously where we have given only sparingly (CAESARIUS OF ARLES). Human injustices are viewed in the light of the injustice done to the righteous Man, Christ (THEOPHYLACT).
JUDGMENT DELAYED. HESYCHIUS: God delays the judgment because of his love for humanity, so that those who repent may not suffer along with those who are condemned. CATENA.1
REPENT WHILE STILL TIME. HILARY OF ARLES: The rich must repent while there is still time for them to do so. James is speaking here of those rich people who have shown themselves to be too stingy to offer any help to the poor. INTRODUCTORY TRACTATE ON THE LETTER OF JAMES.2
CAST BREAD UPON WATERS. OECUMENIUS: James makes their possession of wealth and their stinginess a source of lamentation for those who store up their riches for burial and loss rather than give them to the needy. For the person who gives his wealth to the poor does not lose it but keeps every penny. This is why the Preacher said: “Cast your bread upon the waters,”3 that is, upon the apparent corruption and decadence of this world, and it will not be lost, but rather it will preserve us from destruction. COMMENTARY ON JAMES.4
RICHES CANNOT HELP A BAD PERSON. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: Riches cannot harm a good person, because he spends them kindly. Likewise they cannot help an evil person as long as he keeps them avariciously or wastes them in dissipation. SERMONS 35.4.5
WEALTH PERISHES. BEDE: It is not just that the fires of hell will torture rich people who have been ungodly and unmerciful, but their wealth too, with which they could have done all the good needed to redeem them,6 will also perish and disappear even before they themselves are judged. CONCERNING THE EPISTLE OF ST. JAMES.7
LUXURY COMES TO NOTHING. CHRYSOSTOM: Let us go in by the narrow way. How long will luxury last? How long will there be licentiousness? Have not the heedless among us been warned? What about the mockers and the procrastinators? Will not their banquets and gluttony and self-satisfaction, not to mention their wealth, their possessions and their property all disappear? What reward have they got? Death. And what will their end be? Dust and ashes, urns and worms. CATENA.8
YOUR RICHES HAVE ROTTED. HILARY OF ARLES: It is true of course that gold does not rust, but James is comparing it to material things which do rust in the course of time. INTRODUCTORY TRACTATE ON THE LETTER OF JAMES.9
THEIR TREASURE THEIR CONDEMNATION. BEDE: By refusing to give alms the rich think that they have done well in saving their treasure, and indeed they have, though they have not seen what it will be used for, namely, their own condemnation. CONCERNING THE EPISTLE OF ST. JAMES.10
DUE WAGES UNPAID. BEDE: Think how great is the wickedness of those who not only refuse to share their wealth with the poor and needy but who go one step further and refuse to pay their workers the wages which are due to them! CONCERNING THE EPISTLE OF ST. JAMES.11
PREPARED FOR DESTRUCTION. THEOPHYLACT: This accusation is a digression directed against the Jewish leaders who robbed the poor and covered themselves with all manner of riches. But they were being prepared for destruction at the hands of the Romans, not least because they condemned our Lord to death. COMMENTARY ON JAMES.12
THE EARS OF THE LORD. HILARY OF ARLES: What James means here is not that God has ears but that he can use his power to put right the wrongs which exist on earth. INTRODUCTORY TRACTATE ON THE LETTER OF JAMES.13
THE SOUL SET FREE FROM GLUTTONY. CHRYSOSTOM: What then? Has luxury been condemned? It certainly has—so why do you continue to strive for it? A man has made bread, but the excess has been trimmed away. A man has made wine, but the excess has been cut off there also. God desires that we should pray not for impure food but for souls set free from excess. For everything that God has created is good, and nothing which has been received with thanks is to be despised. CATENA.14
TIME TO GIVE ALMS. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: These things which Christ threatened through the apostle should terrify us very much, but we should not despair of the mercy of God. Those of us who have been careless up to now can, with God’s help, correct ourselves, provide that we are willing to dispense more generously those alms which we have given sparingly up to now. SERMONS 199.5.15
WHO IS THE RIGHTEOUS MAN? THEOPHYLACT: It cannot be denied that this verse refers to Christ, especially since James adds that there was no resistance. Nevertheless it also includes others who suffered at the hands of the Jews, and he may even have been speaking prophetically about his own approaching death. COMMENTARY ON JAMES.16