Commentary on James

Robert H. Gundry

© 2010 by Robert H. Gundry

Published by Baker Academic

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakeracademic.com

Ebook edition created 2011

Previously appeared in Robert H. Gundry, Commentary on the New Testament (Baker Academic, 2010).

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data for Commentary on the New Testament is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

ISBN 978-1-4412-3773-6

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Acknowledgments

Introduction

James

ADDRESS AND GREETING

James 1:1

AN EXHORTATION TO REJOICE WHEN TEMPTED IN TRIALS

James 1:2–4

AN EXHORTATION TO ASK GOD FOR WISDOM

James 1:5–8

AN EXHORTATION NOT TO DESIRE WEALTH

James 1:9–11

AN EXHORTATION TO PERSEVERE

James 1:12–18

AN EXHORTATION TO BE DOERS OF THE WORD

James 1:19–27

AN EXHORTATION TO SHOW LOVE RATHER THAN PARTIALITY

James 2:1–13

AN EXHORTATION TO DEMONSTRATE FAITH BY DOING GOOD WORKS

James 2:14–26

A WARNING AGAINST UNRESTRAINED SPEECH

James 3:1–12

AN EXHORTATION TO COOPERATIVE WISDOM

James 3:13–4:3

A WARNING AGAINST WORLDLINESS

James 4:4–10

AN EXHORTATION AGAINST FAULTFINDING

James 4:11–12

AN EXHORTATION AGAINST OVERCONFIDENCE

James 4:13–17

AN EXHORTATION TO WAIT PATIENTLY FOR THE SECOND COMING

James 5:1–11

AN EXHORTATION AGAINST OATHS

James 5:12

AN EXHORTATION TO MUTUALITY

James 5:13–18

AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO KEEP FELLOW CHRISTIANS FROM APOSTATIZING

James 5:19–20

Notes

Back Cover

Acknowledgments

My sincere thanks to Shirley Decker-Lucke, Editorial Director at Hendrickson Publishers, for accepting this exposition of the New Testament for publication; to Mark House, Phil Frank, and others for their work there on the publication; and to the Baker Academic team for their work on this reprint. My brother Stan Gundry, whose contributions to Christian publishing are deservedly well-known, encouraged me to write the exposition. Connie Gundry Tappy copyedited the manuscript. Her copyediting included not only the correction of errors and the refinement of style, but also a host of interpretive improvements and scriptural cross-references arising out of her comprehensive knowledge of the Bible. To her, my daughter as well as my copyeditor, I affectionately dedicate this volume.

Robert H. Gundry

Westmont College

Santa Barbara, California

Introduction

Dear reader,

Here you have part of a commentary on the whole New Testament, published by Baker Academic both in hardback and as an ebook. The electronic version has been broken into segments for your convenience and affordability, though if you like what you find here you may want to consider the whole at a proportionately lower cost. Whether in whole or in part, the e-version puts my comments at your fingertips on your easily portable Kindle, iPad, smartphone, or similar device.

I’ve written this commentary especially for busy people like you—lay people with jobs and families that take up a lot of time, Bible study leaders, pastors, and all who take the New Testament seriously—that is, people who time-wise and perhaps money-wise can’t afford the luxury of numerous heavyweight, technical commentaries on the individual books making up the section of the Bible we call the New Testament. So technical questions are avoided almost entirely, and the commentary concentrates on what will prove useful for understanding the scriptural text as a basis for your personal life as a Christian, for discussion with others, and for teaching and preaching.

Group discussion, teaching, and preaching all involve speaking aloud, of course, and when the New Testament was written, even private reading was done aloud. Moreover, most authors dictated their material to a writing secretary, and books were ordinarily read aloud to an audience. In this commentary, then, I’ve avoided almost all abbreviations (which don’t come through as such in oral speech) and have freely used contractions that characterize speaking (“we’ll,” “you’re,” “they’ve,” and so on). To indicate emphasis in oral speech, italics also occur fairly often.

You’ll mostly have to make your own practical and devotional applications of the scriptural text. But such applications shouldn’t disregard or violate the meanings intended by the Scripture’s divinely inspired authors and should draw on the richness of those meanings. So I’ve interpreted them in detail. Bold print indicates the text being interpreted. Translations of the original Greek are my own. Because of the interpretations’ close attention to detail, my translations usually, though not always, gravitate to the literal and sometimes produce run-on sentences and other nonstandard, convoluted, and even highly unnatural English. Square brackets enclose intervening clarifications, however, plus words in English that don’t correspond to words in the Greek text but do need supplying to make good sense. (As a language, Greek has a much greater tendency than English does to omit words meant to be supplied mentally.) Seemingly odd word-choices in a translation get justified in the following comments. It needs to be said as well that the very awkwardness of a literal translation often highlights features of the scriptural text obscured, eclipsed, or even contradicted by loose translations and paraphrases.

Literal translation also produces some politically incorrect English. Though “brothers” often includes sisters, for example, “sisters” doesn’t include brothers. Similarly, masculine pronouns may include females as well as males, but not vice versa. These pronouns, “brothers,” and other masculine expressions that on occasion are gender-inclusive correspond to the original, however, and help give a linguistic feel for the male-dominated culture in which the New Testament originated and which its language reflects. Preachers, Bible study leaders, and others should make whatever adjustments they think necessary for contemporary audiences but should not garble the text’s intended meaning.

Out of respect for your abilities so far as English is concerned, I’ve not dumbed down the vocabulary used in translations and interpretations. Like the translations, interpretations are my own. Rather than reading straight through, many of you may consult the interpretation of an individual passage now and then. So I’ve had to engage in a certain amount of repetition. To offset the repetition and keep the material in bounds, I rarely discuss others’ interpretations. But I’ve not neglected to canvass them in my research.

On the theological front, the commentary is unabashedly evangelical, so that my prayers accompany this volume in support of all you who strive for faithfulness to the New Testament as the word of God.

Robert Gundry

James

This letter is a manual of Christian conduct that assumes a foundation of faith. The manual deals especially with Christians’ conduct toward one another.

ADDRESS AND GREETING

James 1:1

1:1: James, a slave of God and of the Lord, Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the Diaspora: [I wish you] to rejoice [= the Greek way of saying “Greetings” or “Hello”]. As was customary, the letter writer starts by identifying himself. The name “James” in the New Testament is equivalent to the name “Jacob” in the Old Testament. Though several Jameses appear in the New Testament, the present James is probably to be identified with a half brother of Jesus and full brother of the author of Jude. For more information, see the comments on Jude 1–2. “A slave of God and of the Lord, Jesus Christ” implies that James is carrying out orders by writing this letter. To be a slave of someone prominent and powerful, moreover, brought great honor on the slave. And who greater than God and the Lord, Jesus Christ? So James’s audience had better listen up. He’s carrying out orders from above. The designation of Jesus Christ as “the Lord” and the pairing of him with “God” point to Jesus’ sharing deity with God the Father. “The Diaspora” means “the scattering” and refers to Jews living scattered outside the land of Israel. Though the term is used figuratively in 1 Peter 1:1–2 for Christians as the new Israel regardless of ethnicity, James’s specification of “the twelve tribes,” the Jewish tone of the rest of the letter, and James’s base in Jerusalem favor a limitation of this address to Jews. The reference to Jesus Christ as “the Lord” and especially the reference in 2:1 to James’s audience as “holding faith in our glorious Lord, Jesus Christ” show that James is writing even more limitedly to Jewish Christians living abroad. According to Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18; Galatians 1:19; 2:9, 12 this James rose to leadership in the church at Jerusalem. According to Acts 8:4; 11:19 Jewish Christians living there were scattered to outlying countries because of a persecution associated with the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 6:8–8:3). And from time to time James will bring up the testing of faith by persecution. So as those Jewish Christians’ former pastor in Jerusalem, James may be writing to them in particular. Let’s assume so.

AN EXHORTATION TO REJOICE WHEN TEMPTED IN TRIALS

James 1:2–4

1:2–4: Whenever you fall into various temptations, my brothers, consider [it] all joy 3because of knowing that the authenticity of your faith produces perseverance. 4And perseverance is to have a complete product, so that you’re complete and whole, lacking in nothing. “Brothers” means fellow Christians. The attachment of “my” brings James himself into the brotherhood and thus expresses affection for his audience and establishes rapport with them. “Temptations” translates a Greek word which also means “trials” and is often translated with that word here. In fact, though, every trial consists in a temptation to lose faith; and every temptation consists in a trial of faith. To maintain the element of trials as temptations, then, and to link up with the topic of temptation in 1:12–15, the translation “temptations” will serve well. “Various” describes the temptations in that they included displacement from homeland, social ostracism, economic boycott, and the loss of loved ones and friends through martyrdom—all because of persecution. (Later, James himself suffered martyrdom.) The audience are to consider falling into these temptations to lose faith not merely with joy but to be joy. Furthermore, to be all joy—in other words, entirely joyful. How so, especially in view of the variety of trying temptations? Answer: Because perseverance under various temptations lets you know that your faith is authentic, and such knowledge should bring you joy. James then personifies perseverance and issues an indirect command that it “have a complete product.” A complete product is a finished one, so that to “have” it is to have finished it. The finished product consists in a Christian who has persevered by resisting temptations to give up faith under trial. To stress the completeness of such a Christian, James adds “and whole, lacking in nothing”—that is, lacking in nothing that would authenticate his faith. No wonder he tells them to “consider [it] all joy,” a command that picks up on James’s greeting, “[I wish you] to rejoice” (1:1).

AN EXHORTATION TO ASK GOD FOR WISDOM

James 1:5–8

1:5: But if anyone of you lacks wisdom, he’s to be asking [for it] from God, who generously gives to all and doesn’t demean [the asker for asking]. And it [wisdom] will be given to him. “Lacking in nothing” (1:4) triggers in James the thought that some in his audience may not yet be “complete and whole.” They may lack wisdom, particularly on how to cope with temptations brought on by the trials of persecution. Such a Christian is to be asking for wisdom as a gift from God. Not “you ask,” but “he’s to ask.” The indirectness of this command softens it and thus makes it sympathetic. Then James cites God’s generosity as an encouragement to ask. The word translated “generously” means, when translated more literally, “singly.” Unlike the double-minded doubter whom James is about to mention, God gives single-mindedly. He gives without going back and forth on whether to give. Strengthening this encouragement to ask are his giving “to all” (he doesn’t play favorites among Christians) and his not “demean[ing]” any Christian for asking (they won’t lose his respect). There’s a qualification, however.

1:6–8: But he’s to be asking in faith, doubting not at all [compare Mark 11:24; Matthew 21:21–22]. For the person who’s doubting is like sea surf being blown and tossed about by the wind. 7–8For that man—double-minded, unstable in all his ways—isn’t to suppose that he’ll receive anything from the Lord. James repeats the indirect command, “he’s to be asking” (see the comments on 1:5). To ask in faith is not to doubt at all that God will grant a request for wisdom. Even the slightest such doubt would dishonor him by calling in question his generosity. And doubting not only says something about God that’s uncomplimentary and untrue. It also says something about the asker that’s uncomplimentary—but true in his case. He has two minds (or, more literally, “two souls,” indicating a kind of split personality). With one he believes. With the other he doesn’t. He switches back and forth between believing and not believing. (Doubt isn’t disbelief; it’s switching, waffling.) Being of two minds, the doubter is unstable—not a good condition for a persecuted Christian to be in. James makes a comparison to wind-blown, wind-tossed sea surf as opposed to terra firma, solid ground. “In all his ways” indicates that doubting God’s generosity to give wisdom represents an instability caused by doubt in all other aspects of the asker’s Christian life. In other words, doubt is pervasive. It can’t be isolated. It produces instability all the way around. So why ask God believingly for wisdom? First, because an asker who doubts is like unstable sea surf. Second, because he won’t receive anything—whether wisdom or anything else—from the Lord. In 1:1 James called Jesus Christ “the Lord.” But in 1:5 he wrote about asking “God” for wisdom. Therefore God and the Lord Jesus Christ are interchangeable so far as their deity is concerned. Yet again James uses an indirect command (not “don’t you suppose,” but “that man . . . isn’t to suppose”), which here suggests he doesn’t expect anyone in his audience to fall into the category of a doubter: “that man [over there, as distinct from you] . . . isn’t to suppose that he’ll receive anything from the Lord.” So the doubter, who because of his doubt can’t be sure the Lord will give him wisdom if he asks for it, can be sure the Lord won’t give him anything at all because of his doubt.

AN EXHORTATION NOT TO DESIRE WEALTH

James 1:9–11

1:9–11: And the low brother [= the Christian of low social status because of lacking wealth] is to be boasting in his height [= high status before God because of being a Christian]. 10But the rich [man is to be boasting] in his lowering, because he’ll pass away as the flower of grass [passes away (compare Isaiah 40:6–7)]. 11For the sun rose with scorching heat and dried up the grass, and its flower fell off and the beauty of its face [= appearance] was lost. In this way the rich [man] too will fade away in the midst of his journeys. James continues to use indirect commands. The boasting of a low brother doesn’t connote arrogance. He has no accomplishments that would elevate him to an honorable position in worldly society. So he’s to boast in the sense of expressing pride in having been elevated to an honorable position before God, and this through no merit of his own—rather, by God’s grace. In view especially of 2:5–7, where the rich are said to be suppressing James’s “beloved brothers” and slandering “the good name” of Jesus that was invoked over them (at baptism), the rich man here in 1:10 is hardly a Christian. If he isn’t, James is using sarcasm in saying that as a non-Christian the rich man should be “boasting in his lowering”—that is, in God’s lowering him into hell—as though even that kind of divine attention provides a ground for boasting. God’s elevating the poor and persecuted combines with his lowering the rich and oppressive to encourage perseverance on the part of Christians. See the comments on 1 Peter 1:24 for the comparison to field grass and its flowers. Like the lowering of the rich man, his passing away and fading away allude to his dying and going to hell. “In the midst of his journeys” suggests that death (or the second coming?) will catch the rich man unawares during his travels, whether for business or for pleasure.

AN EXHORTATION TO PERSEVERE

James 1:12–18

1:12: Fortunate is a man who perseveres under a temptation [by resisting it], because on becoming authenticated he’ll receive the crown of life that he [the Lord] has promised to those who love him. The word for “a man” usually refers to an adult male. James uses it here to portray Christians, whatever their age or sex, who are “complete and whole, lacking in nothing” (1:4). Such Christians can persevere, do persevere, and thereby become authenticated as true Christians. As a result, they’ll get “the crown of life,” that is, eternal life portrayed in terms of a victor’s wreath. Good fortune indeed! They will have conquered the temptation to give in under trial. James cites the Lord’s promise as an encouraging assurance. “To those who love him” implies that the true Christian perseveres out of love for the Lord, and that temptation tests that love.

1:13–15: No one being tempted is to say, “I’m being tempted by God [in the sense that the temptation comes from him].” For God is untemptable by evil [beings], and he himself tempts no one. Again James issues a command in the third person (“No one”) rather than in the second person (“You”). The accent therefore falls on “No one.” No exceptions are allowed, for even one exception would impugn the character of God. Since there’s nothing in his character that would make him succumb to temptation, there’s nothing in his character that would make him want anybody else to succumb to temptation. So no one should blame him for a temptation or excuse succumbing to temptation on the ground that God wanted him to succumb (contrast the Devil in this respect). 14But each [man] is tempted when being dragged away and baited by his own lusts. Lusts are desires so strong that that they drag a person into transgressing divinely set boundaries. “Dragged away and baited” stresses the accountability of lust for temptations, and “his own lust” stresses the man’s accountability for lust. Again, God isn’t at fault. 15Then lust, having conceived, gives birth to a sin; and the sin, having been brought to completion [as in full growth], births death. James personifies lust as a female who conceives a sin within herself. Then he personifies the sin as a child. The child’s birth symbolizes the committing of a sin. When the sin is full grown, like its mother (lust) it too becomes a mother by giving birth to death. This death occurs at the end of life and for non-Christians eventuates not only in physical death but also in eternal punishment, elsewhere called “the second death” (compare Genesis 2:16–17; 5:3–32; Romans 6:23; Revelation 2:11; 20:6, 14; 21:8). Meanwhile, the completion of sin stands in horrid contrast with the completion of Christians by virtue of their perseverance (1:4).

1:16–18: Don’t you be letting yourselves be led astray, my beloved brothers. 17All good giving and every complete gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there’s no variation or shadow of turning [= shifting shadow]. 18Having willed [to do so], he birthed us by the word of truth so that we might be, and are, a certain first fruits of his creatures. In 1:2 James addressed his audience with “my brothers.” Now he adds “beloved” to highlight his love for them, strengthen rapport with them, and show concern that they not let themselves be led astray. A shift from the earlier indirect commands to a direct command (“Don’t you be letting yourselves . . .”) intensifies the command. To be led astray means to be led into apostasy, the recanting of Christian faith to escape persecution. “All good giving” means the giving of all good gifts and alludes back to the example of God’s giving wisdom to a person who believingly asks him for wisdom on how to persevere in the various temptations brought on by persecution (1:2–8). “Every complete gift” means every gift, like wisdom, that makes a Christian “complete and whole, lacking in nothing” (1:4). The combination of “giving” and “gifts” reinforces the stress on God’s generosity. “Is from above” prepares for “coming down from the Father of lights.” We could take “the Father of lights” to portray God as creator of the sun, moon, stars, and planets. But the use of “Father” for God in relation to Christians at 1:27; 3:9 favors that here he’s portrayed as their Father who dwells in the heavens, where those heavenly bodies are located and from where “all good giving and every complete gift” come. (“Heaven” covers the whole spectrum from the starry heavens to the heaven of God’s abode.) James introduces the phrase “of lights” to prepare for a description of God as stable, in contrast with the heavenly bodies, which are in constant motion—hence the variation in their positions above and the consequent shifting of shadows here below—and which were widely thought to be personal beings whose movements determine events on earth (astrology). God’s stability contrasts also with the instability of the doubter in 1:5–8. James cites the stability of God—Christians can count on his generosity—to encourage their own stability in temptations.

As stable, God carried out his will to birth believers “by the word [= the gospel].” “Of truth” describes this word in a way designed to keep the audience of Christians from instability, that is, from letting themselves be led astray. Birth by the word of truth provides an example in addition to wisdom of good and complete giving from above and contrasts both with lust’s giving birth to sin and with sin’s giving birth to death (a bad gift if there ever was one). “So that” introduces an achieved purpose (“so that we might be [purpose], and are [result]”). The figure shifts from a birth to a harvest: “The first fruits” of a harvest, its initial portion, were offered to God (Exodus 22:29; 23:19; 34:26) and were highly valued because they marked the start of a long-awaited new harvest. So comparing Christians to the first fruits of God’s creatures calls attention to the special pleasure he takes in Christians. Reason again not to let themselves be led astray. (“A certain first fruits” means first fruits of a human rather than agricultural kind.)

AN EXHORTATION TO BE DOERS OF THE WORD

James 1:19–27

1:19–21: Be knowledgeable, my beloved brothers; and every person is to be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. 20For a man’s anger doesn’t work God’s righteousness. 21So on putting off all filth and surplus of evil [carried over from your lives before conversion], with meekness welcome the implanted word that can save your souls [= yourselves, not your souls as distinct from your bodies]. Another “my beloved brothers” underlines this exhortation (compare the comments on 1:16). The switch from “[You] be knowledgeable” to “every person is to be quick to listen [and so forth]” accents “every person.” Again, no exceptions are allowed. “Quick to listen” and “slow to speak” complement each other, and slowness to anger comes as a result of quickness to listen and slowness to speak. These three characteristics define what it means here to be knowledgeable. In “a man’s anger” there occurs again the word that usually connotes an adult male. It’s appropriate here because by and large only adult males had the social status giving them freedom to vent their anger. James is laying down instructions for peaceful relations in Christian assemblies, much as the private clubs of pagans had rules designed to maintain such relations between members. But James bases his instructions on “God’s righteousness,” which means here the righteous behavior that God requires of Christians. Therefore they should put off filth from their behavior as they would take dirty clothes off their bodies. This expression implies that hot-tempered speech in Christian assemblies counts as moral filth; and the additional expression, “surplus of evil,” implies that such speech counts as carried over from pre-Christian behavior and therefore as inappropriate to someone who has been “birthed by the word of truth” (1:18). But hot-tempered speech isn’t the only misbehavior characteristic of life before conversion. Hence James refers to putting off “all filth and surplus of evil.”

“The implanted word” equates with “the word of truth.” Implantation interprets this word in terms both of human seed (semen) that led to a birth and of agricultural seed that led to a harvest of first fruits (see 1:18 again). Though already having been born by means of the word and thus become a kind of first fruits, Christians must welcome the word anew. For this word includes not only the good news of salvation through Christ, but also a demand to “work God’s righteousness.” Conversion includes sanctification as well as salvation, and “the implanted word that can save your souls” implies there can be no salvation without sanctification. Once born by the word of truth, a person needs meekness to welcome it anew for sanctification. For having become God’s highly prized “first fruits” might easily lead the Christian to bristle at the need for any further work of the word on his life. On the contrary, he should positively “welcome” the word for such work.

1:22–25: But become doers of the word and not just listeners, miscalculating yourselves, 23because if anyone is a listener of the word and not a doer [of it]—this person is like a man contemplating the face of his genesis [= the face with which he was born] in a mirror. 24For he contemplated himself and has gone off, and immediately he forgot what sort of [man] he was [in the mirror]. 25But the [man] who has bent down [to peer] into the complete law of liberty and has stayed alongside [it], not having become a forgetful listener—rather, a doer of work—this [man] will be fortunate in his doing [of the work]. Here it comes out clearly that to “welcome the implanted word” means to put it into practice after listening to it. James uses “listeners” because he’s referring to the spoken word of the gospel. Even when the word was written, people ordinarily listened to it being read in an assembly of Christians; for prior to the invention of the printing press in the 1400s, private copies were few and far between. (Hence the use throughout this commentary of “audience” rather than “readers” or “readership.”) “Miscalculating yourselves” turns out to mean forgetting your identity, and forgetting your identity means forgetting that you were reborn a child of “the Father of lights” and therefore bound to obey him. Yet again “a man” goes back to a Greek word that usually connotes an adult male but here occurs figuratively for a mature Christian who forgets the face of his birth, that is, the new identity he got at conversion. Naturally, this forgetting will issue in misbehavior, in not doing the word. “Has gone off” (where we expect a simple “went off”) and “immediately” (where we expect length of time as contributing to forgetfulness) dramatize the danger and seriousness of forgetting. Bad behavior follows fast. Bending down to peer indicates concentration and seriousness of purpose. “Into the complete law of liberty” represents a shift in terminology from “word” to “law.” The law doesn’t differ from the word, which as already mentioned contains the demand to “carry out God’s righteousness” as well as the good news of salvation. But the shift in terminology lays emphasis on the obligation to meet this demand. Peering into the complete law of liberty also indicates a shift from self-contemplation (which is good if not lost from memory) to contemplation of the law that a Christian was reborn to keep. James calls this law “complete” because it contains all the commands and prohibitions necessary for Christian conduct, also because keeping it will complete the process of sanctification necessary to demonstrate the genuineness of faith. “Of liberty” describes the law as liberating its keeper from “being dragged away and baited by his own lusts” (1:14). “Has stayed alongside [the law]” contrasts with going off and immediately forgetting, and leads to doing the work of righteousness that God requires. James writes that such a man “will be fortunate,” because doing the word demonstrates a genuineness of faith that will eventuate in eternal life.

1:26–27: If anyone not bridling his tongue but deceiving his heart thinks [he] is religious, this [man’s] religion [is] inconsequential. 27So far as God, even the Father, is concerned, pure and undefiled religion is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress, to keep oneself unsullied by the world. James has just written about the word of truth as law, and about putting it into practice after listening to it. So now he writes about the listener’s own spoken word. “Not bridling his tongue” stands for uncontrolled speech—for example, the hot-tempered speech that 1:19–20 warned against. Such speech renders religion—the rituals of prayer, praise, worship, and the like—vacuous despite a person’s thinking he’s commendably religious for performing them. James puts “pure and undefiled religion” over against “religion” that’s “inconsequential.” The contrast implies that an unbridled tongue dirties and defiles its owner’s religion (see also 1:19–21 with comments). “Inconsequential” means not eventuating in eternal life. Vice versa for consequential religion. Widows and orphans—of whom there were many—had “distress” because apart from others’ religious charity they usually fell below the poverty line and often suffered exploitation (see, for example, Zechariah 7:10; Mark 12:40; Luke 18:2–3; Acts 6:1; 9:36–43). God is concerned that the weakest members of society be cared for. Because of describing consequential religion as “pure and undefiled,” James supplements the religious exercise of charity toward widows and orphans with “keep[ing] oneself unsullied by the world,” that is, by the sinful ways of unbelievers. To keep oneself unsullied is to avoid being drawn into those ways. The attachment of “even the Father” to “God” recalls attention to his rebirthing believers to live in accordance with “the implanted word,” “the complete law of liberty,” rather than according to the ways of the world.

AN EXHORTATION TO SHOW LOVE RATHER THAN PARTIALITY

James 2:1–13

2:1–4: My brothers, don’t be holding faith in our glorious Lord, Jesus Christ, with favoritism. 2For if a gold-ringed man in lustrous clothing were to enter into your assembly, and also a poor [person] in dirty clothing, 3and [if] you were to look at the one wearing the lustrous clothing and say, “You sit here well[-positioned],” and [if] you were to say to the poor [person], “You stand there or [if you want to sit rather than stand,] sit under my footstool [= on the floor at the base of my footstool, as opposed to sitting on a chair or a bench or even on the footstool], 4you’ve made discriminatory judgments among yourselves, haven’t you, and become judges characterized by evil calculations [compare Leviticus 19:15]? For “my brothers” see the comments on 1:2. “Our glorious Lord, Jesus Christ” adds to the rapport already established by “my brothers” between James and his audience. The lordship and glory of Jesus Christ allude to his heavenly exaltation and so outshine the gold ring and lustrous clothing of a rich man that it would insult Jesus Christ to show the rich man favoritism, as though he were worthy to be compared with Jesus Christ. The favoritism would thus contradict faith in Jesus Christ as the glorious Lord. Contrasts between the rich man and the poor person and between their respective treatments are striking: a gold ring and lustrous clothing versus poverty and dirty clothing; a good seat “here” versus standing “there” or sitting on the floor. The switch from “your [plural] assembly” and “if you [plural] were to say” to “under my [singular] footstool” signals a favoritism toward the rich man that arises from a sense of individual self-importance: “I’ll treat the rich man the way I’d like to be treated and am treated—or treat myself—as I sit here on my chair with my feet on a footstool.” Though applied differently, “discriminatory judgments” recall the doubt warned against in 1:6–8, because that doubt consisted in making discriminatory judgments between the possibilities of God’s answering and not answering a request for wisdom and switching back and forth between these possibilities, whereas here the discriminatory judgments consist in doubting whether God has selected the poor (for which see 2:5). (“Doubt” and “discriminatory judgments” translate the same Greek word.) “Discriminatory judgments” also betray “evil calculations.” They’re evil because they take into account only external appearances and, as mentioned above, don’t take account of the preclusive glory of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

2:5–7: Listen, my beloved brothers: God selected the poor so far as the world is concerned, didn’t he—[the poor being] rich by means of faith and [being] heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him [compare Luke 6:20]? 6But you’ve disgraced the poor [person]. The rich are suppressing you, aren’t they, and themselves dragging you into courts? 7They themselves slander the good name that was invoked over you, don’t they? For “my beloved brothers” see the comments on 1:16. The command, “Listen,” puts the audience in a position of having to follow up with doing what they hear (see 1:22–25). God’s selection of the poor has to do with salvation and contrasts with the audience’s showing favoritism to the rich, who as ungodly oppressors of Christians are headed for destruction (1:10–11; 5:1–6). “So far as the world is concerned” limits the poverty of Christians to the opinion of non-Christians. “[Being] heirs of the kingdom” defines what it means to be “rich by means of faith.” James has already said that “faith” is “in our Lord, Jesus Christ” (2:1). “Heirs of the kingdom” reflects believers’ having God as their “Father” (1:27) and therefore points to his kingdom, his reign, which is yet to come (compare Matthew 6:10; Luke 11:2). The promise of the kingdom to those who love God recalls “the crown of life that he has promised to those who love him” (1:12). Eternal life and inheriting the kingdom coalesce. “But you” lays heavy emphasis on the audience’s contradicting, or at least doubting, God’s selection of the poor to inherit the kingdom. They’ve contradicted or doubted it by disgracing the poor person. By shifting from the plural, “the poor,” to the singular, “the poor [person],” James says that the disgracing of even one poor person calls in question or denies God’s having selected those who are poor by the world’s standards. Nor does it make sense for Christians to treat the rich royally, for the rich are suppressing them and indeed dragging them to court to sue them out of what little they have, though as already rich those who drag them to court have more than they need. So bent on fleecing the Christians are the rich that they don’t have their slaves drag the Christians to court. “They themselves” do so—personally. Worse yet, “they themselves” personally slander the good name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, that was invoked over the Christians, presumably at their baptism, to indicate his ownership of them (compare the frequent use of this expression in the Old Testament to indicate God’s ownership of Israel, for example in 2 Chronicles 7:14; and see Isaiah 63:19 for a people’s not being called by his name as describing “those over whom [the Lord] has never ruled”). Were the rich entering Christian assemblies to “case” them for purposes of economic persecution, being treated royally by Christians so as to deflect such persecution, yet slandering the name of Jesus Christ right within the Christians’ assemblies?

2:8–11: If, however, you’re completing the kingly law in accordance with the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as [you love] yourself [Leviticus 19:18],” you’re doing well. 9But if you’re playing favorites [by treating the rich better than you treat the poor, for example], you’re working sin, being convicted by the Law as transgressors. 10For whoever keeps the whole Law but stumbles [a figure of speech for transgressing] in one [point] has become guilty of [transgressing] all [its points]. 11For he [God] who said, “You shouldn’t commit adultery,” also said, “You shouldn’t commit murder [Exodus 20:13–14; Deuteronomy 5:17–18].” And if you don’t commit adultery but do commit murder, you’ve become a transgressor of the Law. “However” draws a contrast between showing favoritism to a rich man and loving your neighbor as you love yourself, the latter of which would be exemplified by treating royally a shabbily dressed poor person. James uses “law” for the source of this love commandment to highlight its scriptural authority, and he calls the Law “kingly” because it contains rules for life in “the kingdom that he [God] promised to those who love him” (2:5; compare the quotation of Leviticus 19:18 by Jesus, whose preaching centered on God’s kingdom [Mark 12:31; Matthew 19:19; 22:39; Luke 10:27]). In other words, loving God entails loving your neighbor as you love yourself. You don’t love God if you don’t love your neighbor thus. But if you do love your neighbor thus, “you’re doing well,” which reverses saying to the rich man, “You sit here well” (2:3). That is, you’re doing well to love your neighbor as yourself instead of seating the rich man well. Otherwise, “you’re working sin,” which is the flip side of “not work[ing] God’s righteousness” (1:20). So in this instance sin is the work you do when you play favorites. The Law that convicts you as transgressors when you play favorites is the Law that contains the commandment to love your neighbor. To transgress it is to overstep a boundary. Hence, the command to love your neighbor as you love yourself sets a boundary against playing favorites, especially against favoring the rich. But how can James go so far as to say that “whoever keeps the whole Law but stumbles in one [point] has become guilty of [transgressing] all [its points]”? He can say so because the Law is an indivisible whole. You can’t pick and choose within it what to keep and what to transgress. And it’s an indivisible whole because the will of God, who gave it, and indeed God himself are indivisible. James illustrates this truth by citing the prohibitions of adultery and murder as spoken by one and the same God, who alone is God (Deuteronomy 6:4). To spell out the illustration James notes that committing murder makes you “a transgressor of the Law” even if you don’t commit adultery.

2:12–13: Speak in this way and act in this way, [that is,] as those who are about to be judged by the Law of liberty. 13For the judgment [will be] merciless for the person who hasn’t exercised mercy. Mercy vaunts itself over judgment. Here James personifies the Law as God’s agent of judgment. The description of the Law as liberating when it’s obeyed (see the comments on 1:25) exacerbates both the guilt of disobeying it and the consequent mercilessness of judgment for disobeying it. God meant it for your good! “Who hasn’t exercised mercy” interprets favoring a rich man at the expense of a poor person, and thus also interprets not loving your neighbor as you love yourself as a failure to exercise the sort of mercy you’d like to receive, but won’t, at the Last Judgment. “Who are about to be judged” underscores that judgment as soon and certain. Strong reason, then, to speak and act in a way that will ensure merciful rather than merciless judgment. The combination of speaking and acting—emphasized as it is by the twofold use of “in this way,” once with “speak” and again with “act”—sets up for a discussion of deeds as demonstrative of verbal claims (2:14–26). “In this way” implies speaking differently from the way illustrated in connection with the rich man and the poor person in 2:2–3, and implies acting differently from the way illustrated in connection with adultery and murder (2:11). James has personified the Law. By saying, “Mercy vaunts itself over judgment,” he also personifies mercy and judgment as opponents in a battle over the eternal fates of human beings. Though judgment will have prevailed in the case of those who’ve been merciless, mercy will boast in triumph over judgment in the case of those who’ve exercised mercy.

AN EXHORTATION TO DEMONSTRATE FAITH BY DOING GOOD WORKS

James 2:14–26

2:14–17: What benefit [would it be], my brothers, if someone were to say he has faith but were not to have works [= deeds consonant with faith]? The faith [that lacks works] can’t save him, can it? 15If a brother or a sister [= fellow Christians] were to be subsisting naked and lacking food for the day 16and one of you were to say to them, “Go in peace, warm yourselves, and feed yourselves full,” but you weren’t to give them the body’s necessities [food and clothing], what benefit [is it for the brother or the sister for you to have said that to them]? 17So too faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead [because of being] by itself. For “my brothers” see the comments on 1:2. In view of the immediately preceding reference to the Last Judgment, James denies the benefit of someone’s claiming then to have faith if he doesn’t have good works to authenticate his claim. Faith without that authentication can’t save him at the Last Judgment. “Naked” doesn’t mean “nude”—rather, clad only in a skimpy undergarment or in rags full of holes. In either case, lots of skin is exposed to the cold. “Go in peace” presents an ironic farewell in that “peace” connotes prosperity, whereas the fellow Christian, cold and hungry, lacks bare necessities for the body, much more the sort of prosperity that would enable the stoking of a furnace (so to say) or getting full on food and having leftovers for the next day too. As in 2:1–13, James continues to press the need for charity among Christians (“a brother or a sister”), so that “your neighbor” refers especially to fellow Christians (compare Galatians 6:10). By describing as “dead” the faith which is unaccompanied by works (“faith . . . by itself”), James personifies such faith as he has earlier personified the Law, judgment, and mercy. By implication, then, “works” are being portrayed as the spirit that animates a person’s body but leaves it at death, so that the body represents faith. In 2:26 James will draw out this implication explicitly. We expect the reverse, a representation of works as the body and of faith as the spirit, so that James’s violation of our expectation accentuates the point he’s making. A dead body does nobody any good, least of all the person whose body it is. Likewise, a dead faith does nobody any good, least of all the person whose faith it is. For dead faith augurs the death that consists in eternal punishment.

2:18–19: However, someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith apart from works, and I’ll show you [my] faith by my works. 19You believe that God is one [as in monotheism, rather than many, as in polytheism (see Deuteronomy 6:4)]. You’re doing well [to believe so]. Even the demons believe and quake.” “Faith” translates a noun whose corresponding verb is “believe,” so that the translation “belief” would highlight the correspondence between the noun and the verb. But “faith” has become traditional in this passage as a contrast to “works.” “You [singular] have faith” responds to “if someone were to say he has faith” (2:14a). The respondent doesn’t have to repeat the qualification “but were not to have works” (also in 2:14a). That’s understood. Instead, then, the respondent transforms the qualification into a declaration concerning himself: “and I have works.” And it’s understood from 2:17 (“So too faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead [because of being] by itself”) that the respondent’s works give evidence of faith. But to make these understandings explicit, he issues a challenge to the “someone” of 2:14a. The challenge reads, “Show me your faith apart from works, and I’ll show you my faith by my works.” Who then is this second “someone” of 2:18 who responds to the initial “someone” of 2:14a? He’s none other than James, for he’s elaborating in a direct address to the “someone” of 2:14a what James said about him and his view in 2:14b–17. This direct address extends to the end of chapter 2. In other words, James puts himself in the role of another “someone” who is debating the earlier “someone.” Therefore, the “However” at the start of 2:18 doesn’t set the following argument, or even “You have faith, and I have works,” over against James’ argument in 2:14b–17; for, as noted, the whole of 2:18–26 elaborates the argument in 2:14–17. Instead, “However” sets James as the second “someone” over against his imaginary opponent in debate, the first “someone.”

To review, then, “You have faith” means “You claim to have faith though you don’t have the works that would prove you have it.” “And I have works” means “And I have the works that prove I do have faith.” These declarations then turn into a challenge: “Show me your faith apart from works, and I’ll show you my faith by my works.” As the second “someone,” James next commends the first “someone” for “believ[ing] that God is one.” “You’re doing well” repeats the commendation in 2:8 of the person who loves his neighbor as he loves himself. But here the commendation has a tinge of sarcasm in that “even the demons” share this item of faith but like the first “someone” don’t do the deeds that would demonstrate a lively faith, one that would eventuate in eternal life. The demons go one better than the first “someone,” in fact. Not only do they believe in God’s oneness, as that “someone” does. They also “quake” in dread of merciless judgment, as the “someone” of 2:14a doesn’t—but should.

The second “someone” (James) continues addressing the first “someone” in 2:20–24: “But do you want to know, O empty[-headed] human being, that faith apart from works is workless? 21Wasn’t Abraham our [fore]father justified by works when he brought up Isaac his son onto the altar [Genesis 22:2, 9–10]? 22You see that faith was working together with his works, and [that] the faith was completed by the works. 23And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘And Abraham believed God, and it [his having believed God] was credited to him as righteousness [Genesis 15:6],’ and he was called God’s ‘friend [2 Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8].’ 24You see that a human being is justified by works and not only by faith.” The sarcasm in 2:19 has now turned into outright vituperation with the address, “O empty[-headed] human being.” James uses “human being” rather than the word for an adult male to strike a contrast between the first “someone” being addressed and the one God whom the addressee believes in (2:19). The contrast demeans further the empty-headed addressee. “But do you want to know . . . ?” confirms his ignorance, justifies the vituperative description “empty[-headed],” and suggests that his ignorance stems from a lack of desire to know (contrast John 7:17). He may not know that “faith apart from works is workless” because such knowledge would frighten him into doing the charitable deeds he doesn’t want to do. They would cramp his lifestyle, uncharitably comfortable as it is. “Faith apart from works is workless” advances a wordplay that means workless faith isn’t just faith apart from works. It’s also faith that doesn’t work salvation in a person. With the example of Abraham, James puts salvation in terms of justification, which means to be declared righteous. Though Abraham’s bringing up Isaac onto the altar constituted a single “work,” James uses a plural in “by works” to make the offering an example of the works he has been talking about. “By works” indicates the source on the basis of which Abraham was justified. “When he brought up Isaac . . . onto the altar” leaves room for the angel of the Lord’s staying Abraham’s hand lest he plunge in the knife. The addition of “his son” to “Isaac” showcases the strength of Abraham’s desire to obey God, in contrast with the questionability of the empty-headed human being’s desiring to know that faith apart from works is workless. But “you see” may exhibit some optimism on James’s part that he’s filling an empty head, through its eyes, with some knowledge; and in another wordplay the followup, “that faith was working together with his [Abraham’s] works,” pairs faith and works as coworkers toward justification. Then the statement that “the faith [of Abraham] was completed by the works” makes the works a demonstration of what would otherwise be dead faith. This completion of faith by works fulfilled Scripture, Genesis 15:6 in particular, in the sense that Abraham’s works enabled Scripture to say his having believed God “was credited to him [compare 2:14] as righteousness.” But note well! It wasn’t his works that were credited as righteousness. It was his having believed God that was credited so. As proofs of faith, his works enabled such a crediting of faith even though faith as such isn’t righteousness. James weds faith and works; but he maintains a distinction between them. So the crediting of Abraham’s faith as righteousness doesn’t rest on an equation of faith and righteousness, but represents a crediting of faith as a righteousness that intrinsically faith is not. As one of numerous possible comparisons see Romans 2:26, where Paul says a Gentile Law-keeper’s uncircumcision will be credited as circumcision even though intrinsically it is not circumcision. Though working together, then, faith and works play different roles. Faith plays an underlying role, works an evidential role. “And he [Abraham] was called God’s ‘friend’ ” gives encouragement to show faith by doing works consonant with it, for to be called such-and-such in Scripture is to be such-and-such. Furthermore, “friend” goes back to a word that denotes the recipient of love and affection (compare John 15:12–15 with comments). Who wouldn’t want to have that kind of friendship from God? “A human being” calls attention to the marvel that God actually befriends a human being by justifying him, declaring him righteous. “Is justified by works [as evidence of faith] and not only by faith [apart from the evidence of works]” hits back at the claim of the first “someone” that he has faith, though he doesn’t have works to prove that he has it (2:14).

The second “someone” of 2:18 (James) is still speaking in 2:25–26: “And likewise Rahab the prostitute, too, was justified by works, wasn’t she, when she welcomed the messengers [sent by Joshua to spy out the city of Jericho] and thrust them out by a different way [from the one their pursuers thought they would take (Joshua 2:1–24; 6:17, 25; Hebrews 11:31)]? 26For just as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so too faith apart from works is dead.” In conformity with the law that two or three witnesses are required to establish a legal case (Numbers 35:30; Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15), James cites Rahab as an example in addition to that of Abraham. “The prostitute” describes her in a way that makes her justification truly remarkable. You’d expect her sex work to have canceled out her neighborly treatment of the spies. But so important are works as evidence of faith that prostitution didn’t cancel out the evidence of her faith, so that she was justified, declared righteous. Her works proved her faith to be alive, not dead, and in that sense became the means of her justification.

A WARNING AGAINST UNRESTRAINED SPEECH

James 3:1–12

3:1–3: Don’t many of you become teachers, my brothers, knowing that we [teachers] will get greater judgment [compare Mark 12:40; Matthew 12:36; Luke 12:47–48; 20:47]. 2For in many respects we all stumble. If anyone doesn’t stumble in word [= in what he says], this person [is] a complete man, able to guide with bit and bridle his whole body too [= in addition to restraining his speech]. 3And if we thrust bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole body about too. For “my brothers” see the comments on 1:2. In 1:19 James told his audience to be “quick to listen” and “slow to speak,” which according to 1:26 entails “bridl[ing] the tongue.” It’s natural, then, that he should now warn against unrestrained speech. But since teachers speak more than others do, particularly when Christians meet together, the teachers stand a greater chance of sinning with their tongue. Moreover, they’re in a position of influence by virtue of teaching, as in the commands of James himself that his audience “listen” to what he has to say (2:5) and “become doers of the word and not just listeners” (1:22–25). As a segue into his warning against unrestrained speech, then, James warns that not many of them should become teachers; for teachers will get judged by stricter standards than nonteachers will be judged by and will consequently suffer severer punishment if they’ve spoken wrongly and thus misled others.

“Knowing” about the “greater judgment” of teachers should motivate the majority in James’s audience not to become teachers, whereas out of ignorance of the judgment they might seek the higher status of a teacher in their churches (see 1 Corinthians 14:26 for the possibility of anyone’s teaching in church meetings). James has earlier used “stumbl[ing]” as a figure for sinning (2:10). Now his statement that “in many respects we all stumble” not only denies the sinless perfection of any Christian this side of eternity. It also supports the exhortation that not many should become teachers. How so? Well, “we all stumble” by sinning and do so “in many respects.” “We all” who stumble in this way includes teachers along with nonteachers. And as already noted, teachers among the “we all” will be judged more strictly for such stumbling.

In writing that a nonstumbler in his speech is “a complete man,” James reverts to the word for an adult male. Here it accents an ability to keep all his behavior, represented by “his whole body,” free from sin as well as to keep his speech, about to be represented by the tongue, free from sin. The guiding of horses’ whole bodies with the use of bits thrust into their mouths also represents this comprehensive avoidance of sin, starting with speech. A man doesn’t guide his whole body “with bit and bridle.” So this phrase applies to the “complete man” only figuratively, but sets up for the literal sense in the case of horses. “Guiding” equates with “not stumbling” (= not sinning).

3:4–5a: Behold, the ships too, though being as big [as they are] and driven by rough winds, are guided about by a tiny rudder where the impulse of the [ship’s] pilot wants [the ship to go]! 5aSo too the tongue is a small part [of the body] and talks big. “Behold” makes the additional comparison to ships and their rudder exclamatory. The larger size of ships as compared to horses gives rise to the exclamation (see the comments on Acts 27:33–38 for the size of big ships). The tiny size of a rudder that guides big ships despite their being “driven by rough winds” makes the comparison striking. The application of this comparison matches the tongue as “a small part [of the body]” with the “tiny rudder,” and the tongue’s “talk[ing] big” with the rudder’s guiding a big ship despite the driving of rough winds. The rudder defies those winds. But the tongue talks big because of the person whose tongue it is. So James draws out the comparison further, not by matching the person with the ship’s pilot, but by matching the person with the pilot’s “impulse.” This match points up the impulsiveness of much speech, its lack of restraint, against which impulsiveness and lack James warns. In other words, he personifies the pilot’s impulse, so that it rather than the pilot “wants” the ship to go here or there. The personification highlights impulsiveness as such.

3:5b–6: Behold, how small a fire kindles how large a forest! 6And the tongue [is] a fire. The tongue constitutes itself a world of injury among our [body] parts, which [referring to the tongue] sullies the whole body and sets on fire the wheel of life and is set on fire by hell. Here we have another comparison and another “Behold” that makes it exclamatory. A forest is larger than a big ship; and a small fire, such as a single flame, is smaller than a ship’s rudder. All the more reason for an exclamation, then. How apt is the comparison of the tongue to a fire! “Tongue” is even used for a flame of fire (see Acts 2:3). But here the accent shifts from impulse to injury. As a small fire kindles the burning of a large forest, so the tongue, used impulsively, unrestrainedly, injures people far and wide. “A world of injury” underscores the breadth of injury. “Constitutes itself”—or, as the verb could also be translated, “appoints itself”—adds intention to lack of restraint in the injurious use of the tongue. “Among our [body] parts” recalls the small size of the tongue as compared with the body as a whole. “Sullies the whole body” interprets speech that injures others as a pollutant that befouls all your behavior, which, as earlier, the whole body represents. “The wheel of life” is a figure of speech for the cycle of your existence in its unbroken entirety. That the tongue “sets on fire the wheel of life” means, then, that an unrestrained tongue destroys its owner as well as injuring his surrounding “world.” And just as the tongue sets fires of injury and destruction, it “is set on fire by hell,” the place of ultimate injury and destruction. No wonder the disastrous effects of an unrestrained tongue.

3:7–10: For every species both of beasts and of birds and of reptiles and of sea creatures is being subdued, and has been subdued, by the human species [compare Genesis 1:24–28]. 8But not a single one of human beings can subdue the tongue. [It’s] an unstable, evil [body part]. [It’s] full of death-dealing poison. 9With it we praise the Lord, that is, the Father; and with it we curse human beings, who’ve come into existence in accordance with God’s likeness. 10Out of the same mouth issues praise and a curse [compare Matthew 15:11, 17–19]. My brothers, these things oughtn’t to be happening thus. This paragraph tells why James has just concluded that an unrestrained, impulse-driven tongue “is set on fire by hell.” He pits the ability of human beings to subdue all other species, each one as a whole, against the inability of human beings to subdue their own tongue, only a small part of their whole body. “Not a single one of human beings” stresses this inability and shows that the “complete man” of 3:2, who “doesn’t stumble in word” but is “able to guide with bit and bridle his whole body too,” doesn’t exist in real life. The tongue’s being “an unstable, evil [body part],” like a wild animal, stems from being “set on fire by hell.” Its being “full of death-dealing poison,” like a serpent (which is a reptile), echoes its constitution “as a world of injury” (compare the biblical portrayal of Satan as a serpent; see also Psalm 140:3; Proverbs 11:9). Its mixing curses against human beings with praise of the Lord exemplifies its being “unstable “ (compare the instability of the “double-minded” man in 1:8). And its cursing of human beings exemplifies its being “full of death-dealing poison.” “That is, the Father” keeps us from thinking here of the Lord who is Jesus Christ (compare 1:17, 27) and thereby segues into a reference to God as the one in accordance with whose likeness human beings came into existence. That they bear his likeness exacerbates the evil of using our tongue to curse them. It comes close to cursing God himself. “Out of the same mouth issues praise and a curse,” being repetitious of the earlier such statement, reinforces the evil, thus leads James to insert a solemn “my brothers” (on which see 1:2 again), and sets up for water’s gushing “out of the orifice” of a spring (3:11). “These things” that “oughtn’t to be happening thus” are the curses and the mixing of them with praise. Consistency in speech is missing, but should be on the side of praise.[1]

3:11–12: A spring doesn’t gush out of its orifice sweet [water] and bitter, does it? 12My brothers, a fig tree can’t produce olives, can it, or a grapevine [produce] figs? Nor [can] salty [water] make water sweet, [can it]? The element of inability (“can’t . . . can it?”) recollects that “not a single one of human beings can subdue the tongue” (3:8). But to dramatize the inconsistency of mixing curses against human beings and praise of the Lord (3:9–10), James cites the inability of a spring to gush out both sweet water and bitter, of a fig tree to produce olives, of a grapevine to produce figs, and of salty water to make water sweet. As we might say, the human tongue violates a law of nature. Another “my brothers” calls special attention to this violation.

AN EXHORTATION TO COOPERATIVE WISDOM

James 3:13–4:3

3:13–16: Who [is] wise and understanding among you? With the meekness of wisdom he’s to show his works [= deeds] by good behavior. 14But if you have bitter jealousy and ambition in your heart, don’t be boasting and lying against the truth. 15This wisdom isn’t coming down from above; rather, [it’s] earthly [in its origin], soulish [arising out of the human soul rather than infused by the Holy Spirit], demonic [even worse than “soulish” because of being characteristic of demons (at best) or infused by demons (at worst)]. 16For where jealousy and ambition [exist], there [exist] instability and every sort of vile deed. The preceding rhetorical questions lead James to introduce this following exhortation with another such question. It harks back to the theme of wisdom in 1:5. But there wisdom was possibly absent. Here it’s possibly present. And for emphasis James adds “understanding” to “wisdom.” The wisdom he’s looking for among his audience is characterized by “meekness,” the toleration of mistreatment (like being cursed?) without striking back (compare “slow to anger” in 1:19–21). Though generally despised in non-Christian culture, meekness is wise in that striking back only generates further conflict. The deeds of a wise and understanding Christian, then, are to be done with meekness or, more accurately, are to be shown with meekness. For showing them proves his faith (2:18). And “good behavior” defines his deeds as such proof, especially since “good” connotes visible goodness, even beauty.

Over against meekness and good behavior James ranges “bitter jealousy and ambition,” both of which forestall meekness and wreak havoc on good behavior. “Bitter jealousy” recalls the bitter water of 3:11 and adds animosity to the jealousy. “In your heart” traces the bitter jealousy and ambition to their inner source, so that James saves himself from advocating that you show your good deeds to elevate your status among other Christians. Bitter jealousy and ambition normally lead to boasting for the purpose of achieving one-upmanship and higher status. But James writes that bitter jealousy and ambition should keep you from boasting; for if you have them, you don’t have anything worth boasting about. And to boast would be to lie against the truth that in fact you don’t have anything to boast about, which truth is part and parcel of the gospel: “Nothing in my hands I bring. Only to thy cross I cling.” With “this wisdom” that “isn’t coming down from above” James shifts dramatically from the wisdom that characterizes meekness to the “earthly” wisdom that advocates boasting as the way to get ahead. Then he returns to the origins of boasting in jealousy and ambition and says that because jealousy and ambition spawn “instability and every sort of vile deed” (James is referring to disorder and recriminations of Christians against each other in their assemblies), the so-called wisdom characterized by jealousy and ambition deserves the downward spiraling descriptions unheavenly, earthly, soulish, and even demonic (see explanations interspersed in the foregoing translation). “Demonic” recalls that an unrestrained, impulse-driven tongue “is set on fire by hell.”

3:17–18: But the wisdom from above, on the one hand, is first pure, then peaceable, considerate, persuadable, full of mercy and good fruits [a figure of speech for good deeds, but emphasizing origin in a good heart], undiscriminatory, unhypocritical. 18And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. “The wisdom from above” contrasts sharply with “this wisdom” that “isn’t coming down from above” (3:15–16) and picks up for elaboration the “wisdom” that characterizes “meekness” (3:13). The contrasts aren’t always exact; but broadly speaking, the purity of the wisdom from above contrasts with the moral pollution spread by unrestrained, impulsive speech (3:6). “First” describes the purity as heading a list of further praiseworthy characteristics. “Peaceable” describes this heaven-originated wisdom in opposition to injuriousness and instability, “considerate” in opposition to destructiveness and cursing, “persuadable” in opposition to “boasting,” “full of mercy and good fruits” in opposition to death-dealing poison, “undiscriminatory” in opposition to “ambition,” and “unhypocritical” in opposition to “lying against the truth.” “The fruit of righteousness” is “the good fruits” that consist in righteous deeds. “Is sown” turns this fruit into seed that produces a crop of “peace,” specifically, peaceful relations among Christians in their assemblies. The fruit is sown “in peace” in that peaceful behavior on the part of some produces peaceful behavior on the part of others and thus turns into peacemakers those who sow peace (compare Matthew 5:9).

James has written in 3:17–18 about peaceable wisdom and about peacemakers. Now he elaborates on a deplorably opposite state of affairs among his audience, a state of cursing one another, jealousy, ambition, and disorder, as introduced earlier in 3:8–10, 14–16. 4:1–3: Where do fights and where do quarrels among you [come] from? From here, don’t they: [that is,] from your hedonisms [= pleasure-seekings] that battle in your [body] parts? 2You lust and don’t have [what you lust for]. You murder, and you’re jealous; and you can’t attain [your goals]. You quarrel and fight. You don’t have [what you want] because you don’t ask [for it]. 3You ask [for it] and don’t receive [it] because you ask badly, [that is,] in order that you may spend [it] on your hedonisms. The doubling of “where . . . from?” and the addition of “quarrels” to “fights” underline the question of source and therefore also its answer: “your hedonisms.” Underlying the fights and quarrels that stem from hedonisms is the audience’s belief that the enjoyment of pleasures is a zero-sum game: there’s only so much pleasure in the world, so that one person’s enjoyment of it robs another person of such enjoyment. Under this belief, pleasure-seeking breeds competition, and competition breeds fighting and quarreling—not only outside Christian circles, but also among Christians (“among you” and “from your hedonisms”). Later, James will undercut the notion of a zero-sum game by writing that God “gives very great grace.” Meanwhile, “lust” defines the pleasure-seekings as desires so strong that they lead to overstepping the boundary from peacekeeping into warlike competition.

“You murder” recalls the death-dealing poison of the tongue (3:8) and therefore isn’t to be taken literally any more than the battling of hedonisms “in your [body] parts” is to be taken literally. James doesn’t mean that the hedonisms battle against each other—rather, that the lust for physical pleasures produces fights and quarrels between competing Christians. The description of jealously poisonous speech in terms of murder dramatizes its evil character. Words can kill, so to speak. The placement of murder before jealousy highlights the murderous effect of evil speech and the origin of such speech in jealousy. “You fight and quarrel” alludes back to the question, “Where do fights and quarrels among you [come] from?” and explains why “you . . . don’t have [what you lust for].” The fights and quarrels keep the lusts from attaining their goals of satisfaction in pleasures. If only the Christians would ask God for what they need, as James told them to do (1:5–8), instead of fighting and quarreling in competition to satisfy their physical appetites. Well, they do ask God, but not for what they need—rather, for what they can “spend on [their] hedonisms.” Selfish pleasures cost a lot, financially as well as morally. So James describes their asking as bad and uses this description to explain God’s refusal to grant their requests. He gives good gifts (1:16–17) and therefore doesn’t grant bad requests. James’s audience should be asking in unwavering faith for the wisdom that’s “pure, then peaceable, considerate, persuadable, full of mercy and good fruits, undiscriminatory [between rich and poor (see 2:1–9)], unhypocritical” (3:17). Then God would grant their request. Then their fights and quarrels would cease. Then they’d enjoy the worthwhile pleasures of fellowship with one another.

A WARNING AGAINST WORLDLINESS

James 4:4–10

4:4–6: Adulteresses, you know, don’t you, that friendliness toward the world equates with hostility toward God? So whoever prefers to be the world’s friend constitutes himself an enemy of God. 5Or do you suppose that the Scripture speaks emptily [= meaninglessly, unseriously]? He [God] longs to the point of envy for the spirit that he caused to settle within us. Elsewhere James uses “spirit” only for the human spirit (2:26), he has recently alluded to human beings’ “com[ing] into existence in accordance with God’s likeness” (3:9), and according to Genesis 2:7 “the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,” which in Genesis 7:22 is called “the breath of the spirit of life.” So James means that God longs for the human spirit’s fidelity to him. 6But he [God] gives very great grace. Therefore it [the Scripture] says, “God opposes haughty people but gives grace to humble people [Proverbs 3:34 (compare Psalm 18:27)].” James is so worked up over his audience’s pleasure-seekings in the non-Christian “world” that he exchanges the repeated, affectionate address, “my (beloved) brothers,” for the damningly accusatory address, “Adulteresses.” The Old Testament prophets often portrayed Israel’s relation to God as that of a wife to a husband and accused Israel of adultery for her worship of other gods (Jeremiah 3:6–10, 20; 13:27; Ezekiel 23:45; Hosea 1–3 [see also Matthew 12:39; 16:4]). The analogy between Israel and the church, exemplified by James’s having called his Jewish Christian audience “the twelve tribes in the Diaspora” (1:1), leads him to accuse the audience similarly, their hedonisms being like gods other than God. Moreover, “friendliness” includes an element of love and affection, so that friendliness toward the world amounts to an adulterous relationship with the world and, worse yet, to outright “hostility toward God” in contrast with Abraham’s having been called “God’s friend” (2:23). “You know, don’t you . . . ?” implies that the audience do know that friendliness toward the world equates with hostility toward God. Not only does this implication compliment the audience in a way that should prompt them to heed James’s warning. But also, because of such knowledge the befriender of the world has “constituted himself an enemy of God.” To sin knowledgeably is to sin rebelliously. James’s asking whether the audience suppose “that the Scripture speaks emptily” implies that judged by their behavior, they might just suppose so. (That the Scripture does not speak emptily, see Isaiah 55:11.) “He [God] longs to the point of envy [and so forth]” paraphrases what “the Scripture speaks.” His longing in envy of the world for its having captured the friendship of Christians highlights the pathos of their committing adultery with the world (compare the jealousy of God over his people Israel in Exodus 20:5; 34:14; Deuteronomy 4:24; Zechariah 8:2). Although he “opposes haughty people,” then, he “gives very great grace to humble people” in accord with the Scripture. His opposing the haughty implies the haughtiness of Christians who befriend the world and thus become enemies of God (compare Psalm 18:27). His opposition is irresistible. So it’s foolish to constitute yourself his enemy. But he “gives very great grace to humble people,” that is, treats them very favorably. They’re people of low station or, better, people who lower themselves in relation to God instead of behaving in haughty disregard of his commands.

4:7–10: Therefore submit yourselves to God; but stand against the Devil, and he’ll flee from you. 8Draw near to God, and he’ll draw near to you. Cleanse [your] hands, you sinners; and purify [your] hearts, you double-minded people. 9Get miserable and mourn and weep. Your laughter must be turned into mourning [compare Luke 6:25], and [your] joy into dejection. 10Lower yourselves [= humble yourselves] in the Lord’s sight, and he’ll lift you up [= exalt you (compare 1:9–10; Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11; 18:14)]. “Therefore” bases submission to God on his opposing haughty people and giving very great grace to humble people (4:6). Indeed, submission to him defines their humility. In a contrastive sort of way, standing against the Devil complements submitting to God or, more literally, putting yourselves under God. “Against the Devil” associates him with the world that James’s audience have befriended (4:1–6). So standing against the Devil entails breaking off friendship with the world. “And he’ll flee from you” extends an assurance that encourages standing against him. Drawing near to God also complements standing against the Devil, again in a contrastive sort of way. Furthermore, you can’t draw near to God without standing against the Devil. And the assurance that God “will draw near to you” encourages your “draw[ing] near to God,” reciprocates it, and contrasts with the Devil’s “flee[ing] from you.”

The audience’s hands are dirty from friendly contact with the world, and the dirt on their hands represents sinful deeds—hence the command, “Cleanse [your] hands, you sinners.” Because of their lusts (4:1–3) the hearts of the audience are impure—hence the additional command, “and purify [your] hearts, you double-minded people.” You daren’t draw near to God with dirty hands and an impure heart (see Psalm 24:3–4). “Double-minded” recalls 1:8. There the description had to do with doubt, switching back and forth between belief and unbelief. Here it has to do with worldliness, switching back and forth between God and the world. “Mourn and weep” defines “Get miserable” and enjoins deep sorrow for sin and for the filth of worldliness. “Your laughter . . . and joy” are the laughter and joy of a hedonist (4:1). They’re to be turned into the “mourning” and “dejection” of a penitent. The word for dejection means a casting of the eyes downward, which makes for a nice transition into the command, “Lower yourselves.” “In the Lord’s sight” becomes possible by virtue of having drawn near to him. “And he’ll lift you up” corresponds to his “giv[ing] grace [favor] to humble people” (4:6).

AN EXHORTATION AGAINST FAULTFINDING

James 4:11–12

4:11–12: Don’t be speaking against one another, brothers [compare Leviticus 19:16a; Psalm 50:20]. The person who speaks against a brother [= a fellow Christian] or judges his brother is speaking against the law and judging the law. But if you judge the law, you’re not a doer of the law—rather, a judge [of it]. 12The lawgiver and judge is one, [namely,] he who can save and destroy [compare Isaiah 33:22]. But you who are judging [your] neighbor—who are you? Certainly not the sole lawgiver and judge! In line with his exhortation not to speak against a brother, James reverts to his affectionate address, “brothers” (contrast “adulteresses,” “sinners,” and “double-minded people” in 4:4, 8), and the exhortation itself reverts to the topic of unrestrained speech (as in chapter 3). In view of Matthew 5:21–22; 7:1 (on which see the comments), to speak against a brother means to denounce a fellow professing Christian as not a true Christian; and to judge him means to arrogate to yourself the prerogative of condemning him to hell. To do so equates with speaking against the law—not the Mosaic law; rather, the kingly law of God’s kingdom as taught by Jesus (2:8 [see also 1:25; 2:9–12])—because this law reserves to God, or Jesus as his representative, the prerogative of judging people’s eternal fate. To judge a fellow professing Christian false also equates with judging the law in that you’re effectively condemning the law for reserving that prerogative to God or Jesus. Judging the law makes you a nondoer of the law, moreover; and a nondoer of it lacks saving faith and faces merciless judgment (2:12–26 [see also 1:26 for the ineffectiveness of religion if its practitioner doesn’t bridle his tongue]). The legitimate judge is one and the same as the lawgiver. For James’s audience of Jewish Christians, familiar as they were with their oft-recited Golden Text, Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God; the Lord is one,” there was no need to identify by name the “one” lawgiver and judge (see 2:19). “Who can save and destroy” puts the issue in terms of eternal destiny. “But you who are judging [your] neighbor” contrasts this behavior with the kingly law’s commanding in accordance with Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as [you love] yourself” (2:8), and interprets your “brothers” as your neighbors. A neighbor is anyone close to you, and you and your fellow Christians get close to each other—physically—every time you assemble for worship, praise, teaching, and the Lord’s Supper.

AN EXHORTATION AGAINST OVERCONFIDENCE

James 4:13–17

4:13–17: Go now, you who are saying, “Today or tomorrow we’ll travel to such and such a city and do a year there and engage in business and make a profit,” 14you who as such [that is, as traveling businessmen] aren’t cognizant concerning the matter of tomorrow [compare 1:10; Proverbs 27:1]. “You who are saying” echoes “you who are judging” in the preceding verse. But the topic has shifted from judging your neighbor to overconfident planning. “Go now” is an ironic, almost sarcastic command that a traveling businessman had better get going—at once. But being ironic, the command isn’t really meant to be obeyed, as immediately hinted by the switch away from the singular in “Go now” to the plural in “you who are saying” (so the original Greek). The businessmen may have less time to do their business and make a profit than they expect to have and plan on having. Tomorrow remains unknown to them. Of what sort [is] your life? Here is James’s explanation of that sort: For you’re steam that appears for a short while, then disappears too. 15Instead of your saying, [“Today or tomorrow we’ll travel to such and such a city . . .” (4:13), you should say,] “If the Lord wills, we’ll both live and do this or that.” 16But now you’re boasting in your ostentations. All such boasting is evil. 17So for the person who knows to do good and doesn’t do [it], for him it’s sin [not to do what he knows is a good thing to do]. “The matter of tomorrow” turns into the sort of life the businessmen have. It’s short, and could be shorter than they think. In any event, they’re like a puff of steam. Now you see it, now you don’t. The Lord’s will determines the length of life, and also determines what you’re able to do during your lifespan. Rather than boasting ostentatiously and therefore evilly of your coming business ventures, you should acknowledge the Lord’s will verbally. That would be a good use of your tongue, as opposed to speaking against your brother (4:11). Knowing this to be a good use of your tongue but not using it thus is sin. If you didn’t know before, you do now. So if you don’t obey, you’re sinning. But the principle of knowing to do good but sinning by not doing it applies broadly, as also the brevity of life applies to others than Christian businessmen.

AN EXHORTATION TO WAIT PATIENTLY FOR THE SECOND COMING

James 5:1–11

This passage divides into a description of wealthy persecutors of Christians (5:1–6) and the consequent need for Christians to exercise patience in awaiting the Lord’s return (5:7–11).

5:1–4: Go now, you rich [men]. Weep, howling over your miseries that are coming upon you [compare Luke 6:24–25]. 2Your riches have rotted, and your garments have become moth-eaten. 3Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will turn into a testimony against you and eat your flesh as a fire [“eats” combustible material]. You’ve treasured up [gold and silver] during the last days [compare Matthew 6:19–21; Luke 12:33–34]. 4Behold, the wages of the workers who mowed your fields, [wages] defrauded by you, are crying out [in testimony against you]; and the pleas of those who harvested [your fields] have entered “into the ears of Lord Sabaoth [Isaiah 5:9]”! The topic of traveling businessmen in 4:13–17 now leads into a verbal attack on wealthy, oppressive non-Christians. James addresses them as though they’re part of his audience (“you rich [men]”). They aren’t, though; for he’s writing to Christians often victimized by these rich men. But the make-believe address dramatizes James’s pronouncement of judgment on them, and the dramatization strengthens the following exhortation that his real audience should wait patiently for the second coming, when they’ll be delivered and rewarded and their wealthy oppressors dispossessed and punished. (Generally speaking, the Old Testament too portrayed the wealthy as oppressive of the righteous.)

For “Go now,” see the comments on 4:13. The conjunction of “howling” with the command, “Weep,” highlights those coming “miseries” of dispossession and punishment (compare the phraseology in 4:9). Like the English word “howling,” James’s underlying Greek word sounds like what it means, except that instead of representing an extended outcry, like the howl of a wolf, it represents brief but fast-repeated ululations such as one still hears Middle Eastern women utter at funerals and on other mournful occasions. (The Greek is ololuzontes, which refers to a high-pitched repetition of “o-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo [and so on].”) The miseries that are coming on rich oppressors should spoil with despair their present enjoyment of wealth, but they’re not listening. They enjoy plentiful food consisting of grain harvested from their fields. They have wardrobes filled with garments of high quality. And they have hoards of gold and silver coins with which to purchase whatever they desire. Since according to 5:5 they’ve been living “luxuriously and voluptuously,” the coins needed to bankroll such a lifestyle haven’t yet rusted; nor have their garments yet become moth-eaten or their wealth of food yet rotted. So by putting the rotting, the eating by moths, and the rusting in the past, James portrays the coming miseries as so certain to take place that they might as well already have done so. In 1:10–11; 4:14 James warned the rich that life is short. Here he notes that riches have a short shelf life. The ancients knew as well as we do that gold and silver don’t rust. So James is saying that even the riches which ordinarily don’t rust will in fact do so under God’s judgment. Or is it that James is referring to coins only plated with gold and silver that will wear off and expose the remainder to rust? In either event, earthly wealth will pass away. Next, James personifies the rust as a witness testifying against the oppressive rich at the Last Judgment and then, given the redness of both rust and fire, compares the rust to the fire of hell that will eat their flesh as the rust “ate” the gold and silver coins they should have paid their hired hands (compare 3:5b–6).

“The last days” reference the present church age in that it immediately precedes the end, that is, the second coming (compare Acts 2:17; 2 Timothy 3:1; Hebrews 1:2; 2 Peter 3:3; 1 John 2:18; Jude 18). Treasuring up gold and silver for self-gratification at the expense of others betrays foolish disregard of the judgment that will accompany the soon-coming end. Joining the personified rust of gold and silver coins in testimony against the oppressive rich are the personified wages that according to custom should have been paid their hired hands at the close of each workday (Leviticus 19:13; Deuteronomy 24:14–15; Malachi 3:5; Matthew 20:1–16; compare the law requiring at least two witnesses to establish a matter in court [Numbers 35:30; Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15]). The “crying out” of the wages highlights the gravity of their charge. They fairly scream it. The present tense of “are crying out” makes it sound as though court is now in session, so sure and soon is it to be so. And “the pleas” for payment that the defrauded harvesters addressed ineffectually to the rich have already entered “into the ears of the Lord Sabaoth.” He has overheard those pleas and noted them for the Last Judgment. “Sabaoth” is Hebrew (such as James’s audience of Jewish Christians would understand) for “of hosts” and refers to the Lord’s heavenly army of angels. This designation of God assures James’s audience that despite their present powerlessness in relation to their rich oppressors, all the power of heaven stands ready to turn the tables. Indeed, the designation implies that at the Last Judgment God will enlist his angels in a war against the rich oppressors of his poor people. “Behold” makes these statements exclamatory for an assurative emphasis.

James continues to address wealthy, oppressive non-Christians as though they’re part of his audience. 5:5–6: You’ve lived on the earth luxuriously and voluptuously. You’ve nourished your hearts “in a day of slaughter [Isaiah 30:25; Jeremiah 12:3].” 6You’ve condemned, you’ve murdered the righteous person [compare 2:6]. He doesn’t stand against [= resist] you. The staccato-like effect of these short, unconnected statements sharpens the charges contained in them. “You’ve lived . . . luxuriously and voluptuously” provides the basis for a future “eat[ing]” of “your flesh” by the “rust” of “your gold and silver . . . as a fire [‘eats’ combustible material]” (5:3). “On the earth” implies a contrast with hell, where fire will burn (compare Luke 16:19–25; Ezekiel 16:49). The pairing of “luxuriously” and “voluptuously” puts a twofold emphasis on the contrast with the poverty of defrauded hired hands. By living thus, the rich oppressors have nourished their hearts—that is, fattened themselves (compare Isaiah 6:10: “Make the hearts of this people fat”)—for slaughter (compare the slaughter of “the fattened calf” in Luke 15:23). “In [or ‘during’] a day of slaughter” portrays the Day of Judgment as so soon and certain as to be practically equivalent to the present age. By gratifying themselves at the expense particularly of poor Christians, in other words, the rich oppressors have unwittingly prepared themselves for the slaughter that consists in everlasting doom. But they’ve done worse than defrauding their hired hands. They’ve gone so far as to use the courts, which favor the rich, for condemning “the righteous person,” that is, a Christian (see 5:16 for this designation of a Christian). The judicial condemnation has issued in an execution, but the injustice of condemning a righteous person to death has turned the execution into a murder. The righteous person’s nonresistance heightens the injustice (compare Matthew 5:5, 38–42).

5:7–8: Therefore be patient, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits expectantly for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it [the fruit] until it receives early [rain] and late [rain]! 8You too be patient. Stabilize your hearts, because the Lord’s coming has drawn near. With affection and sympathy for his audience in their poverty-stricken, persecution-ridden plight, James addresses them with “brothers.” “Therefore” makes his exhortation to patience grow out of that plight, described in the immediately preceding excoriation of their persecutors. “Until the coming of the Lord” defines how long the patience is required and points to the second coming as the occasion of release. The word for “coming” (parousia in Greek) often had to do with the visit of an emperor, and the word for “Lord” (kyrios in Greek) increasingly referred to the emperor. So “the coming of the Lord” portrays Jesus’ return as an imperial visitation whose purpose will be to deliver his people from persecution and punish their persecutors.

James has recently written about mowing the fields and harvesting the crops of large-scale farmers (5:4). Now he uses a small-scale farmer to illustrate the kind of patience required of poor, persecuted Christians. “Behold . . . !” showcases the illustration, and the illustration itself pictures such a farmer as waiting patiently for the fruit his little plot of land will produce. His wait lasts from the early rain in late October–early November to the late rain in late April–early May. The heaviest rain fell in midwinter, but to suit his exhortation to patience James mentions only the first and last rains, the first being necessary for the germination of seed and the last being necessary for the ripening of fruit (compare Deuteronomy 11:14; Jeremiah 5:24; Joel 2:23). James describes the fruit as “precious” because a small-scale farmer, living on an economic precipice, needs the fruit for his and his family’s bare subsistence. But James describes the fruit as “precious” also because it represents Christians’ coming deliverance from poverty and persecution. The farmer has to wait. Impatience would do no good. Likewise, impatience for the Lord’s coming would do no good. On the contrary, it would produce an instability born of frustration. So James follows up the command, “You too be patient,” with the command, “Stabilize your hearts,” which means to settle your thinking and feeling on the nearness of “the Lord’s coming.” Only such stability will keep you from succumbing to the pressures of poverty and persecution. In view of James’s repeated call for patience, the nearness of the Lord’s coming means not that he will come soon but that he’s ready to come soon.

5:9: Don’t be whining, brothers, against each other, lest you be judged [compare Matthew 7:1–2]. Behold, the judge has taken his stand right in front of the gates [compare Matthew 24:33]! The preceding exhortation to patience in the face of persecution by non-Christians (5:7–8) morphs here into an exhortation not to whine against fellow Christians, who may try your patience, especially when they sin against you (compare especially 3:13–4:12). Again James addresses his audience with “brothers,” this time because it would be unbrotherly for brothers to whine against each other. (Remember: to a considerable extent this letter consists in rules for behavior within a local church, portrayed in terms of a family.) And whereas in 5:7–8 the prospect of deliverance from persecution at “the Lord’s coming” provides a basis for patience, now the prospect of judgment at that coming provides a basis for not whining against each other—hence a shift from “the Lord” to “the judge.” In view of the judge’s ability to destroy as well as save (see 4:12), “lest you be judged” means “lest you suffer eternal destruction in hell.” How serious, then, is the issue of whining against fellow Christians! It distinguishes between true and false ones. The judge’s having “taken his stand right in front of the gates” echoes James’s declaration that “the Lord’s coming has drawn near” (5:8). But why “in front of the gates”? Because in ancient Middle Eastern cities judicial proceedings took place just inside the city gates (see, for example, Zechariah 8:16). The judge stands ready to enter the gates of the world-city, so to speak, for making judgments at the appropriate spot. To intensify his warning, James prefixes “Behold” to his declaration of the judge’s readiness.

5:10–11: As an example of suffering hardship and of patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s name. 11Behold, we pronounce those who persevered fortunate [compare Matthew 5:10–12; 23:37; Acts 7:52]! You’ve heard about Job’s perseverance, and you’ve seen the Lord’s completion in that the Lord is abundantly compassionate and merciful [compare Exodus 34:6; Psalm 103:8]. After digressing to the topic of whining (5:9), James now reverts to the topic of patience under persecution (5:7–8). So he also repeats the affectionate, sympathetic address “brothers” which introduced that topic. The prophets’ “example of suffering hardship and of patience” is an example to be followed. The background of 5:1–8 defines “hardship” as persecution; and the addition, “of patience,” produces the meaning, “an example of suffering persecution patiently.” By definition, “the prophets” were those “who spoke in the Lord’s name,” that is, who conveyed to others messages from him. But James adds this definition to point up the reason for the prophets’ suffering. People didn’t like those messages. By implication, the testimony of Christians likewise brings suffering on them. “Behold . . . !” underscores the good fortune of the prophets who persevered because of their patience in the face of persecution. Originally, Jesus pronounced them fortunate (see Matthew 5:10–12 again). But “we pronounce [them] fortunate” indicates that James and his audience have chimed in with Jesus’ pronouncement and therefore should consider themselves similarly fortunate if like the ancient prophets they too persevere. Satan himself persecuted Job (Job 1–2). But Job persevered through faith in God and therefore provided an example to be followed in addition to that of the prophets. “You’ve heard about Job’s perseverance” in that the books of Scripture were read aloud to audiences, copies for private reading being extremely rare. “The Lord’s completion” refers to the restoration by him of Job’s prosperity (Job 42:10–17). The Lord will likewise bring Christians’ suffering of hardship to completion with “the crown of [eternal] life” (1:12). Such a completion arises out of his compassion and mercy (contrast the “merciless judgment” to be brought on merciless people in 2:13). The use of two descriptions, “compassionate” and “merciful,” and their magnification with “abundantly” fortify James’s assurance of a fortunate outcome.

AN EXHORTATION AGAINST OATHS

James 5:12

5:12: And ahead of all things [in importance], my brothers, don’t ever swear either by heaven or by the earth or by any other oath. But your “Yes” is to be yes, and [your] “No” [is to be] no, lest you fall under judgment. For “my brothers,” see the comments on 1:2. Here, this address joins “ahead of all things” to punctuate the importance of James’s prohibiting the swearing of oaths. The prohibition stems from Jesus’ prohibition of swearing them (see Matthew 5:33–37 with comments).[2] But why does James rate this prohibition more important than all his other instructions? His answer: Because if your “Yes,” unadorned with an oath, doesn’t really mean yes, and if your “No,” likewise unadorned with an oath, doesn’t really mean no, you’ll “fall under judgment,” that is, suffer eternal doom (compare the comments on 5:9). But this answer only pushes the question one step back. For why should a failure at simple truth-telling draw so severe a penalty? Well, as recently mentioned, James writes largely to lay down rules governing relations between Christians in local churches; and as his extensive discussion of the tongue in chapter 3 shows, speech occupies first place in determining those relations. And first among the kinds of speech which make for good relations is telling the truth so consistently that no oaths are necessary to convince others you’re telling it, and so consistently that swearing that you’re telling it would call in question whether you are telling it if you don’t swear with an oath that you are.

AN EXHORTATION TO MUTUALITY

James 5:13–18

5:13–16a: Is anyone among you suffering hardship? He’s to be praying. Is anyone in good spirits? He’s to sing praises. 14Is anyone among you sick? He’s to summon the elders of the church; and they’re to pray over him, anointing him with olive oil [that is, pouring or smearing it on him] in the Lord’s name. 15And the prayer of faith will save [from his illness] the one who’s ill, and the Lord will raise him up [from his sickbed]. And if perchance he has committed sins, it [the committing of them] will be forgiven for him. 16aTherefore be confessing [your] sins to one another and praying for one another so that you may be healed. As before, “suffering hardship” refers to the suffering of persecution (see the comments on 5:10). Therefore the first-mentioned praying is to be understood as praying for deliverance from persecution; and the contrast between suffering hardship and being “in good spirits” indicates that deliverance from persecution, as when God answers the prayer for such deliverance, has produced the good spirits and therefore requires the praising of God for the deliverance. Praising him consists in the public recitation of his mighty and merciful acts. The plural in “praises” indicates multiple recitations. And the “sing[ing]” of them suits the good spirits.

The sick Christian is “to summon the elders of the [local] church,” because he’s too weak to attend a church meeting, because it would be too much to ask all the church members to come to his sickroom, and because as mature Christians the church elders bear special responsibility for others in the church. “They’re to pray over him” implies that the elders have heeded his summons and that he’s lying on a sickbed. They’re to pray for his healing, naturally. Olive oil was used as a medicament in the Greco-Roman world (see Mark 6:13; Luke 10:34 for scriptural examples), but pronouncement of “the Lord’s name” is to accompany the anointing and thereby ensure its curative effect (see Acts 3:6, 16; 4:7, 10 for the power of Jesus’ pronounced name in a miraculous healing, though James references “the Lord’s name” to underline Jesus’ mastery over illness). The effectiveness of anointing in the Lord’s name doesn’t depend ultimately—or, we could say, mechanically—on olive oil as such or on the mere pronouncing of the Lord’s name. It depends, rather, on the elders’ praying with faith for a cure (compare 1:6–8 and see Acts 3:16 again).

“And if perchance he [the sick peson] has committed sins” opens up two possibilities, each one carrying an implication: (1) he has committed sins, so that his illness is a punishment for them; and (2) he hasn’t committed sins, so that his illness isn’t a punishment for sins. In the first instance, the Lord’s raising him up from his sickbed will give evidence of forgiveness. “Therefore be confessing [your] sins to one another” means that Christians who are sick as a punishment for their sins should confess their sins to other Christians so that in their praying the others can take account of the sins that need forgiveness and thereby pray effectively for a healing of the sick. Only the elders need visit the sick for the purpose of anointing and praying, but all the church members are to join in the praying.

5:16b–18: A righteous person’s entreaty, being effective, is abundantly strong. 17Elijah was a human being with sensitivities like ours, and he prayed with a prayer that it not rain, and it didn’t rain on the land [of Israel] for three years and six months. 18And he prayed again; and the sky gave rain, and the land sprouted its fruit. “A righteous person” harks back to 5:6, where James said to the rich, “You’ve murdered the righteous person,” and marks a distinction between the Christian whose sins have resulted in illness and the Christian who, not having sinned, prays for the sinful one’s healing. A shift from the plural in “be praying for one another” (5:16a) to the singular of “a righteous person” prepares for the example of Elijah as one who prayed. To encourage praying, James adds another word for prayer (“entreaty”), describes the prayer as “effective,” for good measure adds the further description “strong,” reinforces “strong” with “abundantly,” appends the effectiveness of Elijah’s praying both for a drought and for its end, and adds “with a prayer” to “he prayed.” Then to make the example of Elijah even more convincing, James describes him not as the prophet that he was but as “a human being with sensitivities like ours,” which he also was (see 1 Kings 19). In other words, if Elijah could pray effectively, as he did, so can you.

Yet 1 Kings 17–18 doesn’t say directly that Elijah prayed for a drought and then for its end, and it puts the end of the drought in its third year (18:1) whereas James says the drought lasted “three years and six months.” Since Elijah’s prediction of a drought in 17:1 isn’t said to stem from a divine revelation (note the contrast between “my [Elijah’s] word” in 17:1 and “the word of the Lord” in 17:2, 8, 24; 18:1; compare 17:14), apparently James interprets the prediction as based on prayer for a drought because it was during the drought that the Lord raised the widow of Zarephath’s son in answer to a prayer of Elijah and apart from any word from the Lord (17:8–23). The Lord did reveal to Elijah the coming end of drought (18:1), but to demonstrate that the Lord rather than Baal (a pagan god of rainstorms) would end the drought, Elijah prayed successfully for fire to fall from heaven and consume his offering (18:36–38). Apparently James interprets this prayer as effecting the end of the drought as well. And just as an infant was considered two years old immediately on entering his second year, whereas we’d consider him two years old not until he’d completed his second year (see the comments on Matthew 2:16), so James interprets “in the third year [of the drought]” (1 Kings 18:1) as referring to the middle of what we’d call the second year—hence “three years and six months” (as also in Luke 4:25). To cap the effectiveness of Elijah’s praying, James adds to “the sky gave rain” that as a result “the land sprouted its fruit.”

AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO KEEP FELLOW CHRISTIANS FROM APOSTATIZING

James 5:19–20

5:19–20: My brothers, if anyone among you wanders away from the truth and someone turns him back [to the truth], 20he’s to know that the person who turns back a sinner out of the wandering of his path [= the path he took in wandering from the truth] will save his [the sinner’s] soul from death and “will cover a multitude of sins [Proverbs 10:12].” The possibility that sins have resulted in illness and the assurance of forgiveness as an outcome of “the prayer of faith” (5:14–18) lead into an exhortation regarding “a sinner” in the church who needs to be saved “from death” by having the “multitude of [his] sins” forgiven. The address, “my brothers,” lends a note of seriousness as well as affection to this, the last of James’s exhortations (compare 5:12 and see the comments on 1:2). Since walking and traveling often stand for behaving in a certain way, “to wander away from the truth” means to deviate from the “good behavior” required by “the truth” in “the word of truth” (see 3:13–14 with 1:18). Unless short-circuited, this wandering will end in total apostasy and thus in a “death” which is eternal. The command that the “someone” who “turns back” the sinning wanderer “is to know” he’s saving the wanderer from such a death—this command is designed to encourage the reclamation of wanderers. Putting the command indirectly and in the singular (“he’s to know”) rather than directly and in the plural (“you’re to know”) brings out the responsibility of an individual Christian to reclaim the wanderer. “Will save his soul” echoes 1:21 and, as there, refers to the whole self of the wanderer, not just to his soul as distinct from his body. But here, “from death” adds to “soul” the connotation of life in that the word translated “soul” often means “life” (compare the expression “a living soul,” as in Genesis 2:7, and passages such as Mark 8:35–37). Since James has called the wanderer “a sinner,” it’s the wanderer’s “multitude of sins” that the reclaimer “will cover.” And just as in 1 Peter 4:8 “love covers a multitude of sins” in the sense that Christians’ love for each other makes them forgive the sins committed against them by fellow Christians, so the reclaimer will forgive the sins which the wanderer has committed against him. Again we should remember that James is largely concerned to establish good relations between Christians in local churches, so that the wanderer’s sins are understood to be sins against fellow Christians. Thus the reclamation of the wanderer entails the reclaimer’s forgiving the wanderer’s sins against him.

Notes

[1]Not only does James stress the tongue’s influence. He also stresses the need to subdue the tongue. And not only does he stress the greater judgment of teachers for how they use their tongue. He also stresses the use of the tongue in praising the Lord and cursing human beings, activities in which others in addition to teachers engage. Therefore it’s unlikely that James means his audience to understand “the whole body” of human beings and of horses and a big ship as figures of speech for Christians in general as distinct from their teachers, represented by the tongue, the bit, and the rudder.

[2]Swearing an oath by this or that or someone (such as a deity) differs from cussing, though cussing isn’t thereby allowed.

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Acknowledgments

Introduction

James

ADDRESS AND GREETING James 1:1

AN EXHORTATION TO REJOICE WHEN TEMPTED IN TRIALS James 1:2–4

AN EXHORTATION TO ASK GOD FOR WISDOM James 1:5–8

AN EXHORTATION NOT TO DESIRE WEALTH James 1:9–11

AN EXHORTATION TO PERSEVERE James 1:12–18

AN EXHORTATION TO BE DOERS OF THE WORD James 1:19–27

AN EXHORTATION TO SHOW LOVE RATHER THAN PARTIALITY James 2:1–13

AN EXHORTATION TO DEMONSTRATE FAITH BY DOING GOOD WORKS James 2:14–26

A WARNING AGAINST UNRESTRAINED SPEECH James 3:1–12

AN EXHORTATION TO COOPERATIVE WISDOM James 3:13–4:3

A WARNING AGAINST WORLDLINESS James 4:4–10

AN EXHORTATION AGAINST FAULTFINDING James 4:11–12

AN EXHORTATION AGAINST OVERCONFIDENCE James 4:13–17

AN EXHORTATION TO WAIT PATIENTLY FOR THE SECOND COMING James 5:1–11

AN EXHORTATION AGAINST OATHS James 5:12

AN EXHORTATION TO MUTUALITY James 5:13–18

AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO KEEP FELLOW CHRISTIANS FROM APOSTATIZING James 5:19–20

Notes

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