James 5

Don't Be Materialistic

The worldview of the preceding paragraph was that God rules over time and requires our obedience to his will in all use of it. The same worldview is extended now to encompass material wealth: God rules over wealth and requires our obedience to his will in all use of it. This is very much an Old Testament view as well. Leviticus 25, for example, asserts that the land and the people belong to God. This fact put the Israelites in the position of tenants rather than owners (Lev 25:23); they were obligated not to take advantage of each other and not to enslave each other (vv. 17, 42); they were to follow instead the admonition "Fear your God" (vv. 17, 43). James's paragraph flows from the same worldview and could be summarized with the same admonition.

Here a more definite case can be made that James is speaking rhetorically to unbelievers who are not receiving the letter. The evidence is fourfold. First, he refrains from his frequent addressing of "brothers," to which he will return in 5:7. Second, though he also refrained from any explicitly Christian address in 4:13-17, he goes beyond that in 5:1-6, employing his specific label hoi plousioi ("you rich people"). Third, James writes to the rich not with instruction or exhortation but with thorough condemnation, refusing to give the slightest hint that any redemption is expected. Finally, his approach is in keeping with many Old Testament passages condemning rich oppressors and affirming their needy, righteous victims (Ps 109:31; Ps 146; Is 5:22-24; Amos 2:6-7). James's passage similarly fits with Jesus' teaching about the poor and the "rich" (plousioi) in Luke 6:20-26. (For further discussion of this topic, see my appendix on the identity of the rich in James.)

Viewing the paragraph in this light, James would be intending two purposes for Christians as they read how he would address the rich. His Christian readers are suffering many trials, including economic hardship from persecution by the rich (2:6-7). These suffering Christians would be easily tempted to become discouraged, resentful, vengeful, jealous and covetous, and so to become just as thoroughly corrupted by materialism as are their rich oppressors. The first intended effect on the Christian readers, then, is encouragement from the fact that judgment will come to the rich, so the sufferers may leave that judgment to God and so persevere in righteousness without envying the rich. The second intended purpose is warning: judgment does come upon such sin, so they should be careful to avoid becoming materialistic themselves. The Coming Misery of the Rich (5:1-3)

The first half of the paragraph is a description of the awful misery that will come upon the rich. In the first place, they will lose their wealth. But that by itself is far too tame an exposition of James's words. The rich will find their hoarded wealth rotted, their fine clothes moth-eaten and their treasured gold and silver corroded (images that recall Jesus' words in Mt 6:20). James gives vivid and terrible images of the destruction of their wealth, indicating that the rich will experience horror and despair over their loss. They will weep and wail in misery. The verb wail is onomatopoeic--ololyzo--adding to the vividness of the imagery by sounding like the wailing it describes. It conveys the sounds of "weeping accompanied by recurring shouts of pain" (Kistemaker 1986:156), bringing to mind the experience of excruciating grief or anguish. The rich will lose everything they have devoted themselves to and everything they have relied upon. Theirs will be the despair of people who discover their dreams and treasures destroyed forever.

If the rich were only misguided in devoting themselves to their wealth, this first misery would be enough. But there is a second level to their misery: the destruction of the wealth will consume the rich people themselves. The imagery expresses forcefully that their sin has been a deliberate pursuit of evil. Literally, James says, the rust or corrosion on the gold and silver will be the active agent against the rich. The corrosive action will take two forms: first to testify against the rich (acting as evidence of their guilt) and then to eat their flesh like fire (acting as punishment for their sin).

There are, then, three miseries specified for the rich: despair from losing their wealth, guilt from the evidence against them and horrible pain from being devoured in the judgment upon them. The Specific Sins of the Rich (5:3-6)

Now we find out why these rich people are so condemned, as the second half of the paragraph is the indictment against them. The charges may be summarized as "greed and injustice." The greed of the rich has consisted of hoarding wealth and living in luxury and self-indulgence. The injustice has consisted of cheating workers of their wages and condemning and murdering innocent people. But these charges are not listed calmly, with the decorum of courtroom order; they seem to tumble off James's pen in outrage against gross immorality. Moral outrage such as this ought to come from one deserving James's reputation as "the Just."

These charges are made with reference to certain days--the last days and the day of slaughter. If these are both references to the time of God's judgment, they produce a twin irony. The rich have hoarded wealth-only to lose it in the last days. They have indulged themselves--only to become fat for their own slaughter. The first phrase most likely does refer to the future judgment (indicated by the future tense of the verbs in the middle of 5:3), and reflects the common apostolic viewpoint that the first coming of Jesus has already ushered in the last days, which will culminate in a future judgment. James, however, is not particularly amused with the irony of it all. He is moved far more by the offensiveness of the sin, that the rich have dared to hoard wealth even in the days when they should be most concerned to repent. In the context of the last days, when the rich should be most in fear of God, their greed amounts to a mocking of God, a hurling of arrogant insults into God's face.

The latter phrase, the day of slaughter, may also refer to God's judgment on the rich (as Davids contends, 1982:178-79). Certainly there is an Old Testament tradition for the image of God's judgment as a slaughter of his enemies (Is 34:5-8; Jer 12:3; 46:10). Yet there are problems with this view. The exact phrase does not occur in the Septuagint (as Davids acknowledges, 1982:178), and the connotations of the phrase are not clear (as Laws admits, 1980:203); it could be a description of the violent treatment of the poor by the rich (as Dibelius defends, 1976:239). The meaning advocated by Dibelius becomes the more likely one because of the immediate parallelism that emerges between 5:5 and 5:6, which could be paraphrased:

You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence,
you have fattened yourselves
--even in a day when you are slaughtering others!

You have condemned,
you have murdered the innocent one
--who is not even opposing you!

The grammar lends support to the parallelism by each verse's series of aorist verbs to list the actions of the rich. These two series of verbs are climaxed by the "slaughtering" and the "not opposing," which form a pair of complementary images about the same scene. Finally, the meaning fits with the entire paragraph's tone of moral outrage. Some have found the last sentence, "He is not opposing you" (or "not resisting you"), to be awkward and anticlimactic. The parallelism removes the dilemma by bringing out the fact that James is reaching the very peak of his moral outrage, as if shouting out the final, incredible and utterly offensive fact of what the rich are doing. They are victimizing people who are not even "opposing" them as enemies and who do not have the power to be "resisting" them. By this, James may also be encouraging his Christian readers to continue in nonresistance, reminding them that in doing so they are following Jesus' instruction in Matthew 5:39.

The two verbs translated lived in luxury and self-indulgence assess the lifestyle of the rich to be (by the first verb) disgustingly selfish and (by the second verb) extravagantly wasteful, "going beyond pleasure to vice" (Motyer 1985:167). The term condemned (katedikasate) in 5:6 is a judicial term, recalling James's earlier reference to injustices suffered by Christians through the courts in 2:6. The verb murdered could then refer to an indirect killing of the poor through control of a corrupt legal system by the rich. It may also refer to a direct killing of the poor by the rich.

A perspective from the standpoint of the very poor is provided by the Latin American Elsa Tamez, who views this verse from "the angle of oppression." She observes that the day laborers of James's day would have been so poor that they depended on daily wages for survival. "This salary was already low, but for day laborers it was very serious not to find work or not to be paid. For this reason James personifies the salary, seeing it as the very blood of the exploited workers crying out pitifully. The case was the same for the peasants. The peasants die because they pour out their strength in their work, but the fruit of their work does not come back to them. They cannot regain their strength because the rich withhold their salaries. Therefore James accuses the rich of condemning and killing the just (5:6)" (1990:20).

These terms give us a frightening glimpse of the injustice in which Christians lived, with all the power in the hands of the wealthy. Some have taken the singular innocent man, or "righteous man," to refer specifically to Christ. (Cf. Motyer 1985:168-69.) But it is difficult to imagine how James would have referred to the major offense of killing Christ without making it more explicit; instead, the term is probably a generic way of representing any of the innocent victims of the rich. However, for the application of this passage to our lives, Motyer is right to remind us of "the lone and wonderful figure of the Lord Jesus," whose model of nonresistance is ultimately "the most demanding example and the sweetest consolation in time of oppression" (1985:169). The present tense of the verb antitassetai ("opposing") simply reflects James's emphasis that the rich are continuing their ugly practice even in the present time. If the parallelism with 5:5 is correct, the slaughter of the poor should also be understood as a continuing offense.

Even with slaughter referring to the killing of the poor, the prospect of God's judgment is certainly James's message. These rich have arrogantly abused their positions of wealth to exercise evil power over others. This sin is answered by assurance that the cries of their victims are heard by the "Lord Sabaoth." The title Sabaoth is a transliteration of a Hebrew word for "army." The title is therefore often translated "Lord of Hosts," depicting God's position as mighty leader of a huge army, or "the Lord Almighty," as in the NIV. It is one of the most majestic images offered by the various Old Testament names of God. James is referring to God's awesome power and authority to judge sin. We are to fear this omnipotent God--fear him so much that we flee from the sins of the rich.

At the beginning of the discussion of 5:1-6, I identified two purposes (encouragement and warning) James would have for Christians who are reading how he would address their rich, non-Christian oppressors. His encouragement is for them to leave judgment to God while they persevere in righteousness. His warning is for them to beware of God's judgment and flee from materialistic sin themselves. The implication for Christians with money today is that a huge responsibility goes with the possession of wealth. We dare not treat lightly the danger of sin. We dare not assume that because we are living respectable lives we are safe in our possession of wealth. James has warned us to take extreme care that we not tolerate in ourselves the sin of greed (in a self-indulgent lifestyle) or the sin of injustice (in how our use of wealth affects other people). The coming misery of the rich is too terrible to ignore.

A second area of application needs to be made today because of the spread of liberation theology. In light of James's teaching, how far shall Christians go in opposing the evils of wealth? The church needs to be instructed and led regarding four possible levels of action for the reformation of society: intercession, proclamation, resistance and revolution. First, the church should be stirred to intercessory prayer for its society. We have a biblical calling to pray for our society (Is 62:6-7), and prayer will be James's primary focus in the conclusion to his letter (5:13-18). Second, proclamation through clear prophetic warning is certainly proper, by the example of James's own letter. One of the ministries of the church today must be the prophetic sharing of truth. The world needs the church to address personal and societal abuses of wealth with James's twin messages of encouragement toward righteousness and warning against wickedness. Third, active resistance to injustice can be practiced through civil disobedience. Christians need to be given biblical instruction in the proper motives, methods and contexts for civil disobedience, so that this alternative can be practiced in righteousness. For the fourth possible level of action--armed revolution--James does not give any support. That will become clear as James develops the next stage of his message.

Instead, Be Patient

The particle oun ("then") makes definite the connection with the preceding paragraph; the picture of sin and judgment is the fresh motivation for telling the brothers now to be patient. Be patient? What an incredible command to give after the preceding portrayal of offenses! "Be outraged" is more what we would expect. But James has not lost his moral perspective in the midst of his moral passion. He has already expressed his outrage, but his concern is still for purity among the Christians, and he discerns the danger of falling into sin here. James is practicing his own counsel from 1:9-15, recognizing the danger of temptation in the midst of trials inflicted by rich oppressors. He does not tell his readers to compete with or fight against the rich for their wealth, because it would be horrible to become drawn into the materialism of the rich and so to come under the same divine judgment.

James's other alternative might be to say, "Give up in despair, for the situation is hopeless; all the power is in the hands of the rich." This, too, would be falling into sin; it would be an affirmation of the values of the rich, saying that their materialistic power is the only goal to live for.

"Both giving in to the world and attacking the world are wrong," concludes Davids (1982:182). Instead, James says, Be patient, and he spends these next five verses explaining that patience. The Nature of Christian Patience (5:7-8)

I used to think of patience as a passive personality trait. I prayed for patience as if God might infuse me with this trait so that I would become unaffected by trying circumstances. It is certainly right to pray for patience; James is the one who urges prayer and reliance on grace so strongly. But if I want patience, I need to better understand what it is.

First, patience has a specific object in our own sanctification. James begins with the verb makrothymeo, which carries not only the idea of being patient but specifically the picture of waiting with patience. This implies some object of the waiting, but the object is not the parousia, the coming of the Lord. This becomes clearer in the analogy of the farmer who also "waits." James first uses the verb ekdechomai for the farmer's waiting, but he makes the continuity definite by adding a participle of makrothymeo--"being patient." The farmer is patient "over" one thing and "until" another thing. The text says the farmer waits for the valuable fruit of the earth, being patient "over it" (ep' auto), that is, over the fruit. He is patient "until" (heos) it receives the autumn and spring rains. The description of the crop as valuable (or "precious" in NASB) would help the persecuted readers to identify with the farmer as not a wealthy landlord but a small farmer who depends on a good harvest for survival, even as the Christian readers are hanging on for survival. More important, it reminds the readers that there is something to be patient "over," something that is of more value than riches or ease. By this point in the letter, readers should be accustomed to James's conviction that the goal of becoming "mature and complete" is the goal of greatest value. James is telling the brothers to be patient over their trials to gain maturity and completeness until that process is crowned with the glorious coming of the Lord. The parallel is that farmers must be patient over their labor to gain the fruit of the soil until that fruit receives the coming of the rain. Do you want to learn patience? The first step is a choice of values. Set your heart on becoming "mature and complete" and having "the righteous life that God desires."

Second, patience has a specific hope in Christ's return. James tells the brothers to be patient "until" (heos) the coming of the Lord. The future return of Christ is the event that motivates Christians to persevere in the endurance of suffering. In the life of the farmer, the autumn and spring rains have a similar role. If the farmer could not hope for the rains, all the plowing and planting and weeding would be futile. Rain (literally, the "early and late [rain]") is a standard Old Testament image of God's promised faithfulness (e.g., Jer 5:24 and Joel 2:23, as well as Deut 11:14, which would have been especially familiar as part of the regularly recited Shema). The effect is to leave no doubt about how appropriate it is to be patient. God has promised these rains; therefore the farmer can be patient in laboring. Even so, God has promised Christ's return; therefore believers can be patient in their hardships. Do you want to learn patience? Contemplate the hope of Christ's return.

Third, patience has a specific stance in deliberate behavior. In 5:8 James begins with the same verb makrothymeo in imperative form, exactly as at the beginning of 5:7. Then kai hymeis ("you too") adds emphasis to the force of the imperative and defines this verse as the application of the farmer analogy. The elaboration comes with a second imperative, "strengthen your hearts" (NIV "stand firm"). It communicates that the waiting is to be done not in weakness or defeat but in strength and action. This makes the patience "much more than passively waiting for the time to pass" (Kistemaker 1986:164). Finally, the hope is stated again; the Lord's "coming" (parousia) approaches or comes near. The perfect tense refers to a process viewed as having been completed and consummated. With the final verb engiken ("approaches" or "comes near") in the perfect tense, the coming of the Lord receives dramatic emphasis, as if James is saying with intensity, "It is so close and so certain--don't give up now!" Do you want to learn patience? Since you have set your heart on becoming mature and complete, and since you hope for Christ's return, now choose to stand firm. What that stance will mean in actual behavior is described in the next three verses.

I was talking with a woman who was facing circumstances of terrible hardship. She was telling me of a friend who had encouraged her significantly, and I was keenly interested to know what the friend had done to minister to her. "What helped me the most," she recalled, "was that he reminded me with assurance that these circumstances will come to an end. It looks so dark and unending now; I needed to be told that it would not last forever." In the same way James has encouraged his persecuted readers with the hope of Christ's return and so has helped them choose a stance of patience. The Practice of Christian Patience (5:9-11)

One view is that 5:9 is "quite isolated," with "scarcely any material connection with the admonition to patience" (Dibelius 1976:244, 242). Such a reading misses the point that James is now turning from the nature of Christian patience to the very practical manifestation of it. What will it look like when we practice Christian patience? James gives one specific application and then reminds his readers of models to follow.

The one application of patience is that we will not grumble against each other (5:9). The imperative verb is stenazo, which means "sigh" or "groan." It refers to a proper groaning for something good in Mark 7:34, Romans 8:23 and 2 Corinthians 5:2. The only other New Testament usage is in Hebrews 13:17, where it has a sense more like the grumbling or complaining that James wants Christians to avoid. It is a grumbling specifically against each other (kata with genitive), thus referring to a complaining in which we blame each other. "Do not moan about one another," Davids translates it (1982:184). The warning or you will be judged is identical to Jesus' words in Mt 7:1 (hina me krithete), indicating that James regards this grumbling as a form of speaking against or judging one's brother, as in 4:11. No further explanation is given for the identity of the Judge, but the Lord in the immediately preceding verse is surely the most likely referent. At the door (translating the idiom "before the doors") would be an image for the nearness of the Lord's coming, as emphasized in 5:8.

It is valuable for us that James makes grumbling his singular point of application. We might want to sidestep this behavior while we try to practice patience in other ways. The trials being faced by those suffering Christians would have put their patience to the test and given plenty of opportunity for bickering and criticizing. The same happens in the church today, even when the Christians are more affluent and the trials more contemporary: "difficult marriages, frustrated dreams, demotions at work, commotions at home, insomnia, high blood pressure, allergies, credit-card bills and insecurity" (Webster 1991:149). Christians lose patience with each other under these pressures, and the church becomes infected with a readiness to criticize and blame. James would correct the problem with a renewed vision of the imminently returning Christ, particularly emphasizing that he comes as Judge.

The models given (5:10-11) are the prophets and Job. Here James's focus is on three elements that make up the portrait of patience at work in the believer's life: suffering, perseverance and blessing. James wants his readers to understand that these three develop in succession and that their outcome is as definite as the character of God. Suffering enters the believer's life; perseverance is the believer's response; blessing comes from the Lord, who is full of compassion and mercy. As in 2:20-26, James's choice of illustrations assumes a largely Jewish-Christian audience who would be familiar with Old Testament examples. A host of particulars might come to their minds from these models, but James chooses not to isolate specific instances as he did with Abraham and Rahab. Instead, he chooses to focus on the three elements: suffering, perseverance and blessing.

The suffering is kakopatheia, which can have a passive sense--misery that comes upon a person. It is also used in a more active sense to describe the deliberate endurance that a person practices in hardship. The latter meaning is James's emphasis here, since the prophets are an example of the pair of traits: literally, "an example . . . of suffering and patience," which would probably mean "patience in suffering." His term for patience is the nominal form of the verb with which he instructed his readers in 5:7 and 5:8 to be patient. It is clear that he is intending to give examples of those preceding imperatives. When he speaks of perseverance in the next sentences, he is using the verb hypomeno and the noun hypomone, going back to the idea with which he began his letter in 1:3-4. He is using patience, makrothymia, and perseverance, hypomone, as virtually synonymous.

God's work in the life of the persevering believer is to bless, conveyed by the verb makarizo ("consider blessed"). James's use of this verb in the first-person plural in 5:11, coupled with the reference to the prophets, indicates a common knowledge of Jesus' words recorded in Matthew 5:11-12. The source or reason for suffering is not identified. James's concern is not to answer that question, but to emphasize that God brings blessing. It was the same in chapter 1 of the letter. The origin of the trials was not specified, but it was important to be clear about this: God does not tempt us to do evil; he will use trials to bring good gifts to us. Now James emphasizes not merely that God will manage to bring some blessings but that God will ultimately accomplish his good purposes. The example of Job, who was ultimately blessed in abundance, reveals to telos kyriou--the end or goal of the Lord.

All of this demonstrates the character of the Lord, which is finally what James wants his readers to know with confidence. The description of God as compassionate and merciful would be as familiar to his readers as are the prophets and Job, from passages such as Exodus 34:6 and Psalms 103:8. Yet James places unique emphasis on this picture of God by introducing a term used nowhere else prior to or within the New Testament: polysplanchnos ("full of compassion"). This, ultimately, is the source of assurance by which we can be patient. What will it look like when we practice Christian patience? It will look like the prophets, who kept speaking, and like Job, who kept believing, in suffering and perseverance, with this specific assurance: God will bless.

This is the message of grace. God gives good gifts because he is full of compassion and mercy. Grace is the element in God's character which James wants his readers to know with absolute confidence. The Christian can be patient in suffering and consider trials pure joy because of the assurance that God will give wonderfully good gifts even through the hardships.

Fundamental for Christian practice is Christian belief. What is the truth about God? Is he this God of grace or not? We are called over and over in James's letter to believe this truth--believe it, believe it, believe it. And then act accordingly. Put belief into practice by being patient in the endurance of suffering.

¹²Above all, my brothers, do not swear–not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” no, or you will be condemned.

Do Not Swear

There is agreement among commentators that the basic point of the instruction in 5:12 is to ensure the integrity of one's speech without having to rely on oaths. "Let your `yes' be true and your `no' be true" (Dibelius 1976:249). Additional issues surrounding the verse have to do with (1) the relationship of 5:12 with Matthew 5:33-37, (2) the relationship of 5:12 with the rest of James's text and (3) the specific ways James would intend this verse to be applied. Some observations of the text to investigate the first two issues will clarify the meaning of 5:12 so that we can arrive at some reliable answers to the third and most important question of application.

This instruction is one of James's clearest references to the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:33-37), giving further confirmation of his deliberate remembrance of Jesus' teaching. James and Matthew recall Jesus' teaching with the same terms and order. In that teaching Jesus confronted the Pharisaic practice of using various formulas to create different levels of oaths, some of which were considered less binding than others. (Cf. Mt 23:16-22.) The Pharisees could thereby bind themselves to their promises in various degrees and so excuse themselves from keeping commitments they had made with lesser oaths. They could use their oaths to sound exceedingly pious and to justify themselves as deeply religious, while being in fact hypocritical. (See Stott's discussion of Mt 5:33-37, 1978:99-102.) Jesus commanded his followers therefore not to swear but to invest their simple words of yes or no with complete integrity. James follows that passage; we might conclude that he is simply prescribing honesty in speech.

But in two ways James departs from what Matthew records. First, James lends a priority to this particular point of behavior by his introductory above all. Second, James concludes with a warning of judgment (literally, "that you may not fall under judgment," translated "or you will be condemned" in NIV). This is not to imply that James and Matthew disagree about what Jesus said. James is making a reference to what Jesus said and then adding the particular emphases he wants to make. The introductory words above all indicate that James has in mind a meaning larger than honesty in everyday speech. After all he has said about large issues of purity and patience and perseverance, why would he settle upon oaths as the sin to avoid above all? His concluding mention of judgment draws upon the context in 5:1-6 and 5:9, but it also adds further weightiness to this matter of oaths. Why would James make it such a priority?

To answer this we must address the second issue, concerning the context for 5:12 in the epistle. Dibelius blinds himself to this avenue of investigation by insisting that 5:12 "has no relationship with what precedes or follows" (1976:248). It is certainly proper to investigate the context for a possible connection. If the surrounding text provides a reasonable context to explain a verse, and if there is no textual evidence for regarding the verse as a later addition, then there is no basis for rejecting the observed context as the intended context for the verse. We can investigate the matter by asking simple inductive questions. First, does the context tell us anything about why these Christians would be swearing with oaths? Then, does this contextual reason for swearing connect to any fundamental issue in James's letter?

First we consider the preceding context. Throughout the letter and especially in the preceding passage, James has been concerned to encourage his readers' patience and perseverance in the midst of trials. It is clear that he anticipates in their suffering the temptation to compromise their moral standards and so become polluted by the world. He has just been telling them about the need for patience in the face of suffering. In the immediately subsequent context, we will find James prescribing prayer as the proper recourse for Christians in trouble. This context does in fact provide a readily understandable and very possible reason for these Christians to be swearing with oaths. They would be tempted to strike bargains with God, swearing to do one thing or another if only God would deliver them from their persecutors. Religious people have tried this kind of bargaining all through the centuries. Animists who live in fear of their gods are driven to make such promises. The unconverted young Martin Luther made his famous promise to become a monk when a bolt of lightning terrified him in 1505. James has been saying, "Be patient in your suffering. Remember the Lord is coming. Remember the example of the prophets. Remember the perseverance of Job. Remember the Lord's full compassion and mercy." Now he says, "Above all, don't fall into swearing, as if you could manipulate God by your oaths. Instead, speak honestly and directly, and rely on God in prayer."

Does this contextual reason for swearing connect to any issue so fundamental in the letter that James would make this a matter of encompassing importance? It connects to the underlying issue of the entire letter: the meaning and practice of faith. From the very beginning, James has said that his readers' faith is being tested in the trials (1:3). In the midst of trials, Christians are to ask God in faith (1:6). It is because they hold faith in Christ that they are not to show favoritism (2:1). It is faith that constitutes true riches (2:5). James has gone to great lengths to emphasize that genuine faith will manifest itself in deeds (2:14-26). His whole letter is a plea for his readers to be not merely religious people, but people of faith.

Now it is the lack of faith that must appall James in the act of swearing. It is unbelief that would move his readers to try to save themselves by a manipulative use of oaths. It is through lack of faith that we disbelieve God's "compassion and mercy" and so want to strike a bargain. Striking a bargain with God cuts at the very heart of the gospel; it is an attempt to rely on the worth of one's own offering instead of relying on God's grace in the offering of Christ on the cross. Bargaining is a reliance on works; James is insisting that we rely on grace. He is again teaching the opposite of what some have portrayed as an anti-Pauline works-righteousness. James says above all and you will be condemned because he is addressing not just a simple matter of dishonesty but a fundamental lack of faith and denial of grace. Above all makes sense if it introduces not just 5:12 but this entire final section of the letter, in which faith is the real focal point.

Now we can see the proper application of 5:12. We are getting sidetracked if we focus on whether Christians should take oaths in courts of law. We are being too superficial if we see this verse merely as an injunction against "frivolous and indiscriminate oaths and the thoughtless mention of the divine name" because such speech would violate God's law and hinder one's witness to unbelievers (Tasker 1983:125). Those are important matters, but James is here (as usual) cutting to an essential difference between genuine and false religion. He is saying: Do not allow suffering to pressure you into unbelief. Do not try to impress each other or to manipulate God as if your works were what counted instead of God's grace. If you are trusting in God's grace, you have no need to impress God or people, and you can be at peace with saying honest words. Integrity should characterize Christians, and integrity will flow from wholehearted reliance on grace. Unbelief manifests itself in bargaining, manipulating and trying to impress. The opposite manifestation, flowing from faith, will be prayer.

Instead, Pray

These next verses, then, are a continuation of 5:12 and give the alternative to swearing, which is praying. Most commentators miss this connection between 5:12 and 5:13, which should be noted because it is based on the letter's underlying theme of faith. See, for example, the interpretations attempted by Moo (1985:175), Motyer (1985:187), Laws (1980:224) and Davids (1982:181). Tasker seems to perceive the connection (1983:126). Martin suggests that the praying is perhaps James's proposed alternative to fighting (1988:205). This is certainly true in the verse's larger context, but in the more immediate context praying is the alternative to swearing. In James's view, oaths and prayers are simply the verbal expressions of underlying stances of unbelief and faith, respectively. Because James is a man of faith, he has a passion for prayer. For his concluding instructions to suffering Christians, he dwells on this matter of prayer with three emphases: when to pray, how to pray and why pray. When to Pray (5:13-14)

James's first emphasis is on the diversity of circumstances for prayer. Dibelius regards these sentences as declaratives followed by imperatives: "Someone among you is suffering; let him pray" (1976:241, 252). Davids argues well that James intends interrogatives followed by imperatives, as in the NIV. The result Davids describes as "the lively discourse of oral style" (1982:191). It reflects James's desire to engage his readers personally, because he wants so much for them to put prayer into practice.

With a poetic pattern to his sentence construction, James shows that he intends one point with his three questions: Pray in all circumstances.

A. Question: Kakopathei tis en hymin.
Answer: proseuchestho.

B. Question: euthymei tis.
Answer: psalleto.

A. Question: asthenei tis en hymin.
Answer: proskalesastho . . . kai proseuxasthosan.

James's vocabulary also indicates his intention. With general verbs and indefinite pronouns, he keeps the focus broad and inclusive. Prayer is the encompassing instruction, because it is the right course of action for the full range of life-situations and for any one in these situations.

1. Pray in times of trouble. The kind of trouble is not specified; it is a general verb, kakopatheo. "Is anyone among you suffering?" (NASB). Like James's original readers, we might allow the fact of trouble to suggest that God is uncaring or unknowing or unable to help, and so we would pray less. The biblical instruction is the opposite: pray more. Trouble is the very time to pray.

2. Pray in times of happiness. No single cause for happiness is specified; it is a general verb, euthymeo. "Is anyone cheerful" (NASB) or encouraged? Like James's original readers, we might allow times of happiness to make us complacent, and so we would pray less. The biblical instruction is again the opposite: pray more. Happiness is the very time to sing songs of praise.

3. Pray in times of sickness. No particular disease is identified; it is a general verb, astheneo, meaning to be weak or sick. Like James's original readers, we easily feel defeated in times of sickness. Weakness makes us feel hopeless, as if there were nothing to do. The biblical outlook is the opposite: there is something very significant to do, namely, to pray. Weakness is the very time for prayer. O. Hallesby, the great teacher on prayer, wrote, "Your helplessness is your best prayer."

In other words, pray in all kinds of circumstances. "The habit of prayer should be, and indeed is, one of the most obvious features which differentiates a Christian from other people" (Tasker 1983:126).How to Pray (5:14-16)

James proceeds to instruct his readers in how to pray. His purpose is still to motivate them to pray, but now he encourages prayer by his vision of how he expects prayer to operate in the church. The meaning of the verses can be seen by isolating four practices which are pictured here for an effective prayer life.

1. We should call upon the elders of the church for prayer. The fact that the sick person calls is an expression of faith, which is one condition for effective prayer (1:6-7). The fact that the elders are the ones called is an expression of submission and unity in the church, which are additional conditions for powerful praying. There is no indication of specialized spiritual gifts here (as in Paul's letters). James envisions a spiritual power available to the church and exercised through the elders. This is not at all to diminish the importance of personal prayer by each Christian. It is to affirm the value of agreement by the church, for Jesus promised that agreement among Christians would unleash power for answered prayer (Mt 18:19-20; Jn 15:7-17).

2. We are to pray in the name of the Lord. If the first practice expressed submission to each other in the church, this second practice expresses submission to the Lord himself. In this sense, it is not just a formula with which to pray but a state in which to be praying: pray in union with Christ. Similarly, when James instructs his readers to anoint . . . with oil, it is not the oil that heals. See Mark 6:13 for a use of anointing with oil within the time of Jesus' public ministry; yet most of the stories of healing by Jesus and his disciples have no mention of oil, and James's emphasis here is certainly on the power of the Lord rather than any power in the oil. The promises of Jesus (Jn 14:13-14; 15:16; 16:23-24) give basis for expecting great power as we practice the principle of praying in his name. These promises apparently led the early church from its very beginning to practice a deliberate calling upon the name of the Lord in the context of baptizing, healing and casting out demons. Examples may be found in Luke 10:17 and Acts 2:38, 3:6, 9:34 and 10:48. The phrase in the name of the Lord means that the power comes from God and that the one praying acts in union with Christ to call upon the power of God.

3. We are to offer prayer in faith. This phrase is James's explicit return to his underlying theme as he concludes his letter, and all he has said about faith is the background for his meaning here. In 1:6 he told the person needing wisdom to ask "in faith" (en pistei), not doubting. He has spent this letter exhorting his readers about the goodness and purity of God, showing their selfish fighting to be a lack of faith, both unnecessary and evil. Now he refers to the prayer "of faith" (tes pisteos) and would again expect his readers to repudiate unbelief as they pray. (See, in the section on 1:5-8, an earlier discussion concerning modern distortions of praying without doubting.)

4. The fourth principle for effective praying is to pray united as repentant sinners; we should confess . . . sins to each other and pray for each other. James introduces the mention of sin at the end of 5:15 in the context of praying for a sick person: If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. It is a conditional clause (kan, "and if"); the connection between sin and illness is a possibility, not a necessity in every case. The implication is that the physical illness and the guilt may be interwoven, and the cure promised in 5:16 seems to encompass both physical and spiritual healing. We are to pray as repentant sinners asking for a comprehensive healing of our lives.

We are reading James's concluding remarks here; he would expect us to recall what he has been saying in the course of the letter. He is writing to people struggling in hardship. Martin is right to comment that in urging them to pray, James is "allowing for a positive response to hardship" instead of "advocating a stoic or impassive response to adversity" (1988:205). But it is more than that. These verses, coming as the conclusion to all James has addressed in his readers' lives, describe a healing of their relationships with God and with each other.

Their relationships need healing. As a first result of their hardships, their relationship with God has been suffering. They are falling into temptation to doubt God (1:6), to blame God (1:13) and to bargain with God (5:12). James is directing them back to God in faith with a reliance on him in prayer.

A second result of their adversities is that their relationships with each other have been suffering. James has had to warn them against the evils of playing favorites with each other (2:1), verbally attacking each other (3:9), fighting with each other (4:1), slandering each other (4:11) and judging each other (4:12). Now this present passage helps us realize what a dramatic transformation of relationships James envisions. He points out the oneness we have with each other because of our common need for forgiveness. If we consciously stand together before God as sinners needing grace and wanting righteousness, that stance has compelling application to our relationships. Instead of judging each other, we will be driven to confess to each other. Instead of desiring to place guilt on each other, we will become eager to forgive each other. Instead of moving to criticize, we will move to intercede for each other. A spirit of reconciliation will pervade the church. This, too, James learned from Jesus (Mt 5:23-24; 6:12-15; 7:1-5).

To catch the importance of this for the church, we need to notice that James is writing about spiritual freedom given to the church, not spiritual gifts given to certain ones in the church. The freedom happens because "the Lord is full of compassion and mercy," and in that mercy James exults. Picture this exultation happening in modern churches, and you have something of James's vision: elders leading worship with a spiritual authority in the name of Jesus; Christians praising God joyfully, confessing their sins openly and praying for each other lovingly; the church together experiencing spiritual cleansing and physical healing. This is the exciting power of prayer. Why Pray (5:15-18)

I remember a sign that read, "A funny thing happens when you don't pray," followed by a large, nearly empty space carrying just one word in small print: "(nothing)." James is certainly convinced that prayer brings results. Therefore his final way to encourage his readers to pray is to describe the effectiveness of prayer.

1. The results. The conviction that prayer will bring results was implicit in 5:13-14. It becomes explicit in 5:15-16 with James's assurance of four results. The prayer will make the sick person well . . . the Lord will raise him up . . . he will be forgiven . . . so that you may be healed. The first result, make well, is the NIV's translation of the verb sosei "will save." It is a proper translation for this context, where "will save" is in the sense of healing rather than spiritual salvation. See Mark 5:23. Similarly, the verb egerei, will raise up, would refer to physical restoration rather than spiritual resurrection in this context. When James declares that the penitent sinner will be forgiven, what he has described as the context is prayer of intercession, not absolution, with emphasis on God as the one answering prayer. It is a final reminder that God is the giver of every good gift. The concept of being healed can have a spiritual sense with the verb iaomai, as in 1 Peter 2:24, which refers to Isaiah 53. Here in 5:16 it seems to refer to physical healing, although James recognizes in 5:15 a possible combination of illness and sin. The vision he is sharing with his readers is for both physical and spiritual healing of their lives.

2. The principle: The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. In Greek this is a compact, five-word sentence waiting to be unpacked by the student or expositor to reveal the vigorous expectation that God dynamically answers prayer. James begins with the substantive poly ("much") as the matter he wants his readers to see first and foremost: how very much can be accomplished through prayer.

After the main verb ischyei ("has power" or "is able"), James introduces two terms with apparent deliberateness. For prayer as the subject of the sentence, he shifts from the general term euche to the more specific term deesis ("supplication" or "entreaty"), denoting the sort of prayer his readers would be doing because of their trials and persecutions. Then the person praying is designated as dikaiou ("righteous"), even though righteousness has not been mentioned thus far in the passage. To pray as repentant sinners is what James commanded at the beginning of 5:16. This is the stance Jesus taught his followers to take. But it is not a position of despair; Jesus also awakened in his followers the hope of becoming righteous. Within Matthew 5:3-10 he capsulized that progression from being spiritually poor to hungering for righteousness and finally becoming so righteous that one would be persecuted for it. James now affirms that hope to be righteous and applies it as encouragement for praying.

The term righteous in 5:16 is more than an automatic statement that "holds good for every believing petitioner," as Dibelius characterizes it (1976:256). It is a call for every believer to reach toward righteousness. All along, James has been urging his readers to resist the temptation to compromise righteousness in their trials. Now, with the designation of the one praying as righteous and with the shift in terms from general "prayer" to specific "entreaty," the implication is as follows: In your trials, you don't need the power gained by money or favoritism or selfishness or fighting or swearing; use the power of prayer, for which you need righteousness. Commit yourself to doing what is right without compromise; then you may rely on God in prayer for all your needs.

As has become clear within the letter, James is not denying salvation by grace through faith; he is merely convinced that genuine faith will express itself in righteousness, and the prayer of genuine faith is the prayer that is effective. After all, what causes me to try to protect myself by unrighteous means in trials? It is my unbelief. On the other hand, confident belief in God's grace will make me strong for acting righteously in the midst of trials. It is a message similar to that of 1 Peter 4:19 and 5:6-7.

The last word in the sentence is energoumene ("effective"). This is actually a middle-voice participle of the verb energeo, which means "to work" or "to be effective" with such an energized sense indeed that the NIV renders it as a predicate adjective (in contrast to the direct adjective in the more literal NASB). This participle describes the subject, prayer, and enhances the idea of the verb ischyei, "has power." The result is a highly charged affirmation of prayer as both "powerful and effective."

3. The example: Elijah. This power of prayer is further emphasized by an Old Testament figure known for his miracle-producing prayers. The bulk of 5:17-18 is devoted to the basic facts surrounding one of Elijah's prayers: the long drought and the renewed rain recorded in 1 Kings 17--18. Those chapters do not record what James supplies, that Elijah prayed earnestly that it would not rain. The story in 1 Kings begins directly with Elijah's declaration to King Ahab that it would not rain again except at Elijah's word. The chapters include the miracles done by Elijah when continuous food was provided for the widow at Zarephath during the drought, and when Elijah prayed earnestly for the widow's dead son and he was restored to life. The climax was the confrontation between Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, in which Elijah prayed earnestly again and God answered dramatically with fire upon the water-drenched altar and then with rain upon the drought-stricken land.

James has chosen as his illustration an episode that is not only prominent and familiar from Old Testament history but also clearly supportive of the point he wishes to make. The miracles in 1 Kings 17--18 were undeniably beyond Elijah's human power. They were divine answers to prayer. With his concern for his readers to have faith instead of doubt, James may also be remembering that when Jesus' power to do miracles was hindered by people's unbelief in Nazareth (Mk 6:4-6), Jesus himself drew attention to Elijah's powerful praying over the rain (Lk 4:25).

But the primary intended effect of this illustration is revealed in the brief introductory sentence in 5:17. Having emphasized righteousness as a condition for effective praying, James is not wanting Christians to postpone praying while they try to attain some level of perfection or super spirituality. His foremost emphasis about Elijah is that he was a man just like us. James is saying: Strive earnestly for the goal of righteousness, but get down immediately to the business of praying.

The NIV conveys the sense that Elijah prayed earnestly, from proseuche proseuxato which is an aorist indicative verb coupled with a dative noun--literally, "he prayed in prayer" or "he prayed with prayer." Such a construction suggests intensity or frequency. Laws renders it "he prayed and prayed" (1980:235). It is important to define the intensifying effect intended by James. His desire in the passage is not to erect a standard of fervency for his readers to attain; he seems more intent on pushing them into the active prayer life that is so readily available. Adamson describes it as emphasis that praying is precisely what Elijah did (1976:201). Motyer comments that "the meaning is not his fervency, nor even his frequency of prayer, but that `he just prayed'--that, and nothing more!" (1985:206-7). James's message in these two verses includes both the great expectations and the common availability of prayer. The mighty power of prayer is for us!

¹⁹My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, ²⁰remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Keep Bringing Each Other Back to the Truth

The emphasis on prayer brings James to his closing message: As you hold onto the truth and trust God in prayer during your trials, keep helping others to do the same. In making this the conclusion of his message, James is explaining his own letter. He began the letter saying he was "a servant of God." Now he adds the complementary calling: he is a servant of sinners. He has written forthrightly, insistently and passionately about what is sinful and what is righteous. In fact, someone has called James's letter "the Ouch! book" because it is so pointed. James makes no apology for that. But why such a passion for righteousness? Three concepts that appear in these closing verses reveal James's heart. Truth Is Available

James has written about a God who is personal and good; he gives good gifts and gives them generously (1:5, 17). James has also written about a God who is absolute; his word is true and his judgments are supreme (1:18; 4:12). In this context, it is possible for human beings to know absolute truth. It is also possible to "wander from the truth" and to be brought back to the truth. James understands this wandering especially in moral terms; his passion is for righteousness, not merely correct doctrine. "Truth is a way to go, a way of life" in both Old Testament and New Testament thinking (Davids 1982:199).

This concept forcefully thrusts the church today into confrontation with the world. Surveys indicate that two-thirds of American adults believe that there is no such thing as absolute truth (this percentage is 74 percent among people 18-25 years old) and that it does not matter which god or higher power is addressed when one prays. Even though serious Christians would not count themselves among those percentages, the assumptions of relativism tug at them daily and influence them subtly, because relativism is such an accepted part of our cultural worldview.

This cultural context makes it all the more urgent that the church be absolutely clear about this: Absolute truth is available and knowable. There are absolute moral standards. God's will for our lives is holiness. Salvation is to be worked into our character and daily life in the form of righteousness. Death Threatens Us

James's conviction is that sin represents a life-threatening danger, not just a harmless blemish on our otherwise good character. Sin is not to be tolerated complacently; it destroys us. James may have in mind physical death from the illness associated with sin in 5:15. (Consider Paul's teaching in 1 Cor 11:30.) But when he speaks of saving the sinner's psychen, "soul," from death, he "appears to go beyond physical death and recognize death as an eschatological entity" (Davids 1982:200). The reference to covering a multitude of sins refers to gaining forgiveness and is a benefit parallel to the saving from death.

If we make this verse merely an occasion to argue whether Christians can lose their salvation, we will miss the real impact James wants to make on his readers. He is again, with passion and forcefulness, warning his readers that genuine faith includes repentance for sin and a life of obedience to Christ as Lord. What James is saying in 5:20 is simply consistent with his view throughout the letter. See the discussion of 1:15, where he first brought up the notion of death. His point is not that true believers may lose their salvation by sinning, but that sin full-grown ultimately destroys the sinner, and that genuine faith compels us to flee from sin and to help each other do the same. To the very end, James insists on the Lordship of Christ as an essential part of the gospel.

Again the church is put into confrontation with the world. In America today, 83 percent believe that people are basically good. That view of human nature will make James's letter seem offensively harsh and ridiculously outdated. Yet when we believe the danger present in sin, we will begin to share James's passion for righteousness. We Are Called to Turn Sinners from Error

If truth is available, and if death does so threaten us, then love demands that we call each other to repentance. If I turn a fellow sinner from sin, I save that person from death and cover over that sinner's multitude of sins. Some commentators have tried to assign one or both of these benefits to the Christian who helps the sinner--for example, saying that Christians cover over their own sins when they turn a sinner from error. (See Adamson 1976:203; Dibelius 1976:258-259; Laws 1980:239.) Davids is right to reject this as unlikely logic for James to be using (1982:201). James is more probably thinking of the saving from death and the covering of sins as two parallel benefits coming to the sinner. Repentance is a necessary step of faith and is the only route by which one can be saved from death and freed from guilt.

The verb translated in 5:19 as "bring back" is epistrepho; it is the same verb in 5:20 as "turns." It can mean "convert," but there is no distinction made here between evangelizing a non-Christian and discipling one who believes. In either context, James wants his readers to see the urgency of bringing people to repentance. This is why he has written so severely to people whom he loves so dearly as "brothers." He has persistently called them to turn from sin. He concludes his letter saying, "I have called you to repentance; now you do this for others. Hold each other to righteousness just as firmly as I have held you."

This is what Douglas Webster calls "the work of spiritual direction" (1991:13). It is a ministry of cutting through the deceptive complexities of a relativistic culture and setting before others a clear path of obedience. It is a ministry that simplifies and clarifies life by defining godly commitments and directing people toward maturity (Webster 1991:15-19). It is a ministry of mutual discipling in the church, and it is based on one of the most crucial principles for effective church discipline: that the whole church is called to exercise discipline, not just pastors or elders. "For while God has given different gifts, the most basic training he gives is meant to come from fellow Christians in everyday encounters. Church discipline is the training of the church by the church. Trained professionals have their place, but they cannot and never were meant to be a substitute for the whole body" (White and Blue 1985:18).

These are the realities of life with which James concludes his letter: There is truth to be followed. There is death to be avoided. There is ministry to give to each other. James has called us to serve both God and sinners.

James 5

Warning to Rich Oppressors

Don't Be Materialistic

James 5

Patience in Suffering

Instead, Be Patient

James 5

Do Not Swear

James 5

The Prayer of Faith

Instead, Pray

James 5

Keep Bringing Each Other Back to the Truth