James 5

1-6 Warning to Rich Oppressors

(Previous verse: To know to do right and not to do it is sin, which certainly applies to the rich people James now addresses.)

• Rich people, you may be comfortable now, but you should be mourning for the miseries to come.
• You fraudulently kept back wages from your laborers, and the Lord has heard their cries.
• You have lived in pleasure and luxury, murdering the righteous, who did not resist.

7-12 Patience in Suffering

• Beloved, be patient in your waiting for the Lord, as a farmer is patient who waits for harvest
• Avoid being judged: don’t grumble against each other; the Judge is standing at the doors.
• Look to the prophets as examples of suffering and patience, especially to Job, where you see the purpose, compassion and mercy of the Lord.
• Above all, do not use oaths.

13-20 The Prayer of Faith

• If you’re suffering, pray.
• If you’re happy, sing.
• If someone is sick, call the elders and ask them to pray for them, anointing them with oil.
• A prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up, forgiving him of any sins he has committed.
• Therefore, confess your sins to each other, and pray for each other, because prayers of righteous people are powerful and effective.
• Look to Elijah for an example of how powerful prayer is.
• Whoever brings a wandering Christian back to the truth will save his or her soul and prevent many sins.

Note: This passage presents problems for practical reasons, because we have all seen cases where the prayers of the righteous do not result in physical healing. But as I examine the word “save” here, or even in other translations, the word “restore,” I don’t necessarily see physical healing. People avoid seeing it as spiritual healing, because that has led – I think – to the “last rites” practice, to priests praying over the deadly ill, hearing confessions and absolving them of sins they have committed.

But this is a generic “prayer of faith,” which can apply to anyone who is praying, not just the elders (who are not the same thing as priests). And the word save here is the same Greek word, sozo, used in verse 20 of this chapter, which is clearly a spiritual salvation.

So here is my take on this passage: When a Christian is ill, it’s appropriate and even necessary that faithful Christians (even more needful if they are elders) come to visit the Christian, to pray for them, and – if they have stepped out of the light (1 John 1:7) – to encourage them to acknowledge their sins, to pray for forgiveness. We tend to see a restoration of physical health as powerful evidence of faith, but is not forgiveness of sin much more powerful? (Consider what Christ said about it in Mark 2:9.) Doctors can heal disease; only God can forgive sin.

James 4

1-10 Friendship with the World

James continues with his discussion on the sources of conflicts among brothers.

• Your conflicts and disputes come from inner cravings:
  • You want something but cannot have it, so you murder.
  • You covet something and argue to get it.
  • You ask for things only to spend them on your pleasures
• This amounts to adultery, for it shows that you seek friendship with the world rather than with God.
• God “yearns jealously” for the spirit he has put in us; “he opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” There is throughout scripture this concept that a spirit within us reaches out to God, and we must let it make that connection. I am reminded of the phrase, “and the soul returns to the God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7) and the psalm that begins “As a deer pants for the water, so my soul longs for Thee” (Psalm 42:1).
• Submit to God, then, by:
  • resisting the devil – he will flee from you
  • drawing near to God – he will come to you
  • cleansing your hands and purifying your hearts
  • turning your laughter into mourning [for your sins]
  • humbling yourselves before God – he will exalt you.

11-12 Warning against Judging Another

• This does not give you license to judge your brethren, for this in essence makes you a judge of the law.
• Why? Because (by law) there is only one lawgiver and one judge, and it is not you.

13-17 Boasting about Tomorrow

• Don’t place too much confidence in your plans, for you don’t know what tomorrow will bring.
• Your life is like a mist, so keep the Lord’s will in mind as you make plans.
• Boasting born of arrogance is sinful.
• Neglecting to do what you know to be right is sinful. This goes back to 3:13: Spiritual wisdom and understanding produce good works.

James 3

1-12 Taming the Tongue

• Be cautious about teaching, for it subjects you to stricter judgment, and we all make mistakes.
• Anyone who doesn’t make mistakes in speech is perfect.
• The tongue is a small but powerful instrument, like a bit that controls the horse and a rudder that controls a ship.
• It can also be a deadly fire, harder to tame than wild beasts.
• It can be poisonous, used both to bless and curse; but this is not as it should be.
• In nature, you don’t get fresh and bitter water from the same spring, nor do fruit trees bear strange fruit.

13-18 Two Kinds of Wisdom

• Wisdom and understanding are shown through good works, not through boasting, which comes from envy and selfish ambition.
• That’s not heavenly wisdom, and it causes all kinds of disorder and wickedness.
• Wisdom from above is

first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

Note: I include the exact quote above because of the beauty of its sentiments, its emphasis on peace among believers. How often do we see people who are so confident in their “rightness” and “wisdom” that they’re willing to create all kinds of disorder among their family members or spiritual brothers and sisters? That’s not using wisdom from above, which is full of mercy, which shows no partiality. When we form political cliques within churches, we are showing partiality. We treat those in our “clique” with understanding; those outside our clique deserve no grace.

This also speaks to those who might envy the attention received by others for their good work, a la Ananias and Sapphira of Acts 5. They boasted falsely of their gift, and look at the havoc it caused in the church.

James 2

1-13 Warnings against Partiality

• You demonstrate your lack of faith when you show favoritism to the rich, who oppress you, while disregarding the poor, whom God has chosen to be rich in faith and heirs of his kingdom. Again, this is a continuation of the discussion of faith as it relates to 1:27, helping the fatherless and widows.
• You are now subject to the royal law: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
• You can’t pick and choose laws to obey; they are all from God.
• Obey the law of liberty, in which mercy triumphs over judgment.

14-26 Faith without Works Is Dead

• Faith alone won’t save you.
• Just saying you believe helps no one, just like wishing a hungry person well does not feed that person.
• We show our faith by our works, just as Abraham proved his faith by what he did in offering Isaac.
• Abraham’s faith was completed in his works.
• Rahab likewise was justified when she welcomed the Israelite messengers.
• Faith without works is dead, just like a body without a spirit. We might compare works to the body, and faith to the spirit, because the body is visible, just as works are visible, whereas the spirit and faith are invisible. But just as it was the Spirit of God that moved on the face of the earth in creation, so it is our spirit that motivates us to move, to act on others’ behalf.
  
  In the same vein, some eschew baptism as part of salvation because they see it as a work, a means of earning salvation. But even if they see it as a work (which is debatable), at least baptism is evidence of faith, just as the good works they do are evidence of their faith. Would they consider someone a believer who refused to recite the sinner’s prayer or confess Christ as personal savior?

James 1

1 Salutation

• From James – servant of God and Christ
• To twelve tribes of the Dispersion (Jewish Christians, then?)

2-8 Faith and Wisdom

• Be joyful when you go through trials, because they test your faith, leading to endurance and to your maturity and perfection.
• Ask our generous God for wisdom, believing he will give it to you, because he who doubts cannot expect to receive.

9-11 Poverty and Riches

• The lowly believer can rejoice in being lifted up.
• The rich believer can rejoice in being humbled, for as a flower in the field withers in the sun, so do the rich who trust in their riches.

12-18 Trial and Temptation

• Those who endure temptation will receive the Lord’s promised crown of life.
• Be aware, though, that temptation (to sin) does not come from God; it comes when we give in to our desires, giving birth to sin, which leads to death.
• The never-changing Father of lights, who casts no shadow, is the source of all gifts and all acts of giving.
• He makes us the best of his creatures, giving us birth through the word of truth.

Note: Sin comes from giving in to our baser natures; generosity comes from giving in to God’s word of truth.

19-27 Hearing and Doing the Word

• Listen before speaking, don’t become quickly angry, letting wickedness grow in you;
• Rather let the word be implanted in your souls.
• And this is how: Do what you read. Otherwise, you’ll read it and forget it, like looking in a mirror then forgetting what you look like.
• If you can’t bridle your tongue, you’re fooling yourself about being religious.
• This is pure and undefiled religion:
  • Caring for distressed orphans and widows
  • Keeping yourself unstained by the world (which goes back to 1:14 – not letting ourselves be drawn in by our own desires)

Note: After reading so much of Paul’s writing – and Hebrews – where it seems to be an argument, I come to James, and because it’s not written like a debate, it seems to be disjointed, much like we view Proverbs. But in this reading, I’ve seen more continuity. The first few verses introduce us to faith and wisdom. The remainder of the chapter tell us what they are: wisdom is appreciating our spiritual state, recognizing the source of generosity, the nature of sin and the dangers of unbridled anger, and how to build our faith by acting on what we read.

Introduction to James

Author

The author identifies himself as James (1:1); he was probably the brother of Jesus and leader of the Jerusalem council (Ac 15). Four men in the NT have this name. The author of this letter could not have been the apostle James, who died too early (a.d. 44) to have written it. The other two men named James had neither the stature nor the influence that the writer of this letter had.

James was one of several brothers of Christ, probably the oldest, since he heads the list in Mt 13:55. At first he did not believe in Jesus and even challenged him and misunderstood his mission (Jn 7:2–5). Later he became very prominent in the church:

1. He was one of the select individuals Christ appeared to after his resurrection (see 1Co 15:7 and note).
2. Paul called him a “pillar” of the church (Gal 2:9).
3. Paul, on his first post-conversion visit to Jerusalem, saw James (Gal 1:19).
4. Paul did the same on his last visit (Ac 21:18).
5. When Peter was rescued from prison, he told his friends to tell James (Ac 12:17).
6. James was a leader in the important council of Jerusalem (Ac 15:13).
7. Jude could identify himself simply as “a brother of James” (Jude 1:1), so well known was James. He was martyred c. a.d. 62.

Date

Some date the letter in the early 60s. There are indications, however, that it was written before a.d. 50:

1. Its distinctively Jewish nature suggests that it was composed when the church was still predominantly Jewish.
2. It reflects a simple church order—officers of the church are called “elders” (5:14) and “teachers” (3:1).
3. No reference is made to the controversy over Gentile circumcision.
4. The Greek term synagoge (“synagogue” or “meeting”) is used to designate the meeting or meeting place of the church (2:2).
5. If this early dating is correct, this letter is the earliest of all the NT writings—with the possible exception of Galatians.

Recipients

The recipients are identified explicitly only in 1:1: “the twelve tribes scattered among the nations.” Some hold that this expression refers to Christians in general, but the term “twelve tribes” would more naturally apply to Jewish Christians. Furthermore, a Jewish audience would be more in keeping with the obviously Jewish nature of the letter (e.g., the use of the Hebrew title for God, kyrios sabaoth, “Lord Almighty,” 5:4).

That the recipients were Christians is clear from 2:1; 5:7–8. It has been plausibly suggested that these were believers from the early Jerusalem church who, after Stephen’s death, were scattered as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Syrian Antioch (see Ac 8:1; 11:19 and notes). This would account for James’s references to trials and oppression, his intimate knowledge of the readers and the authoritative nature of the letter. As leader of the Jerusalem church, James wrote as pastor to instruct and encourage his dispersed people in the face of their difficulties (see essay, p. 2539).

Distinctive Characteristics

Characteristics that make the letter distinctive are:

1. Its unmistakably Jewish nature;
2. Its emphasis on vital Christianity, characterized by good deeds and a faith that works (genuine faith must and will be accompanied by a consistent lifestyle);
3. Its simple organization;
4. Its familiarity with Jesus’ teachings preserved in the Sermon on the Mount (compare 2:5 with Mt 5:3; 3:10–12 with Mt 7:15–20; 3:18 with Mt 5:9; 5:2–3 with Mt 6:19–20; 5:12 with Mt 5:33–37);
5. Its similarity to OT wisdom writings such as Proverbs (see essay, p. 970);
6. Its excellent Greek.

Adapted from http://www.biblica.com/niv/studybible/james.php