James 5:1 Ye rich - who neglect the true enjoyment of riches, which consists in doing good.

James intends this address to rich Jewish unbelievers, not so much for themselves as for the saints, that they may bear with patience the violence of the rich (James 5:7), knowing that God will speedily avenge them. (from Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.) a. Rotted. What is wealth? Its definition depends on the culture and the times in which one lives. Job was a rich man because God had blessed him with vast numbers of animals (seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys [Job 1:3]). At the dawn of Christianity, rich people who possessed lands or homes sold them and gave the money to the poor (Acts 4:34-35). For the recipients of the Epistle of James, wealth apparently consisted of foodstuffs, clothing, gold, and silver. James rebukes the rich because they have allowed their wealth to rot. The verb actually means to decay and seems to apply to food supplies.5 God has designed nature in such a way that every growing season brings forth a new supply of food for man and animals. Supplies, then, ought not to be hoarded (Luke 12:16-20); they are subject to decay. What God has provided in nature should be used for the daily sustenance of his creatures (Matt. 6:19). With proper distribution of these supplies no one needs to be hungry, for God's bountiful earth produces sufficient food for all. a. The wages you failed to pay. The workers were day laborers who agreed with an employer on the daily wage and who expected to be paid at the end of the day (Matt. 20:8). The law of Moses stipulated that the employer ought not [to] hold back the wages of a hired man overnight (Lev. 19:13; Deut. 24:14-15). Their families were dependent on the daily earnings of these workers; delay in payments meant no food at the dinner table and anguish in the souls of the laborers. b. The workmen who mowed your fields. Cultivated fields that yielded crops belonged to prosperous landowners. Some of them had appointed managers while they themselves lived elsewhere. They hired extra farm laborers to cut the standing grain, bundle it, and to collect the sheaves into shocks. These workers were needed so that the ripened grain did not spoil because of bad weather or other reasons. c. The wages ... [of] the workmen ... are crying out against you. Instead of the joy of the harvest season (see Ps. 126:5-6), these laborers had to cope with anger because of broken promises, delays, and the prospect of not being paid at all. They cried out against the rich and demanded justice. Presumably they were acquainted with the curse God pronounced upon the rich who made their countrymen work for nothing (Jer. 22:13; also see Mal. 3:5). Perhaps they knew the saying of Jesus, the worker deserves his wages (Luke 10:7; and compare I Tim. 5:18). They had no one to defend them but God. d. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. The mowers and the harvesters are the same people. Their cries are not heard by the rich, but the Lord hears his people. The New King James Version provides a literal translation of the Greek in the words the Lord of Sabaoth. The New International Version, by contrast, translates these words Lord Almighty. This translation communicates but does not necessarily give the significance of the original expression Lord Sabaoth, that is, Lord of the armies in heaven and on earth.12 God the omnipotent is on the side of the downtrodden. He puts his majestic power to work to vindicate his people and to mete out swift justice to their adversaries. Thanks to Martin Luther we have become familiar with the name Sabaoth. 1

a. Rotted. What is wealth? Its definition depends on the culture and the times in which one lives. Job was a rich man because God had blessed him with vast numbers of animals (seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys [Job 1:3]). At the dawn of Christianity, rich people who possessed lands or homes sold them and gave the money to the poor (Acts 4:34-35). For the recipients of the Epistle of James, wealth apparently consisted of foodstuffs, clothing, gold, and silver. James rebukes the rich because they have allowed their wealth to rot. The verb actually means to decay and seems to apply to food supplies.5 God has designed nature in such a way that every growing season brings forth a new supply of food for man and animals. Supplies, then, ought not to be hoarded (Luke 12:16-20); they are subject to decay. What God has provided in nature should be used for the daily sustenance of his creatures (Matt. 6:19). With proper distribution of these supplies no one needs to be hungry, for God's bountiful earth produces sufficient food for all. a. The wages you failed to pay. The workers were day laborers who agreed with an employer on the daily wage and who expected to be paid at the end of the day (Matt. 20:8). The law of Moses stipulated that the employer ought not [to] hold back the wages of a hired man overnight (Lev. 19:13; Deut. 24:14-15). Their families were dependent on the daily earnings of these workers; delay in payments meant no food at the dinner table and anguish in the souls of the laborers. b. The workmen who mowed your fields. Cultivated fields that yielded crops belonged to prosperous landowners. Some of them had appointed managers while they themselves lived elsewhere. They hired extra farm laborers to cut the standing grain, bundle it, and to collect the sheaves into shocks. These workers were needed so that the ripened grain did not spoil because of bad weather or other reasons. c. The wages ... [of] the workmen ... are crying out against you. Instead of the joy of the harvest season (see Ps. 126:5-6), these laborers had to cope with anger because of broken promises, delays, and the prospect of not being paid at all. They cried out against the rich and demanded justice. Presumably they were acquainted with the curse God pronounced upon the rich who made their countrymen work for nothing (Jer. 22:13; also see Mal. 3:5). Perhaps they knew the saying of Jesus, the worker deserves his wages (Luke 10:7; and compare I Tim. 5:18). They had no one to defend them but God. d. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. The mowers and the harvesters are the same people. Their cries are not heard by the rich, but the Lord hears his people. The New King James Version provides a literal translation of the Greek in the words the Lord of Sabaoth. The New International Version, by contrast, translates these words Lord Almighty. This translation communicates but does not necessarily give the significance of the original expression Lord Sabaoth, that is, Lord of the armies in heaven and on earth.12 God the omnipotent is on the side of the downtrodden. He puts his majestic power to work to vindicate his people and to mete out swift justice to their adversaries. Thanks to Martin Luther we have become familiar with the name Sabaoth. 6. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you. How do we understand the word murdered? We can interpret it literally or figuratively. Those rich people who perhaps brought poor people into court (2:6) now are guilty of murder.15 Directly or indirectly they killed a human being who was unable to defend himself.

We can also take the word metaphorically. For instance, a rich man who withholds the wages of a laborer deprives him of his livelihood and thus indirectly commits an act of murder. In the second century before Christ, Joshua ben Sira said, The bread of the needy is the life of the poor; whoever deprives them of it is a man of blood. To take away a neighbor's living is to murder him; to deprive an employee of his wages is to shed his blood. [Sir. 34:21-22, R.S.V.] By taking the two verbs condemn and murder together, we understand the text to say that the rich had gone to court and had used their wealth to subvert justice. They were determined to rid themselves of the poor man, although he was righteous and had not opposed the rich.16 With the law on their side, they had committed murder. The precise details of time, place, and circumstances, James does not reveal. He is interested only in the fact that the rich perpetrate murder of innocent men. The New International Version puts the object innocent men in the plural. Other versions give a literal translation of the text, for example, You have condemned, you have killed the righteous man; he does not resist you (R.S.V.). Instead of attempting to explain who the righteous man issome interpreters think of Jesus or James himself, for he bore the name the Justwe do well to take the words righteous man distributively and therefore to refer to the murdering of innocent people who refuse to resist oppression (compare Matt. 5:39). a. Rotted. What is wealth? Its definition depends on the culture and the times in which one lives. Job was a rich man because God had blessed him with vast numbers of animals (seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys [Job 1:3]). At the dawn of Christianity, rich people who possessed lands or homes sold them and gave the money to the poor (Acts 4:34-35). For the recipients of the Epistle of James, wealth apparently consisted of foodstuffs, clothing, gold, and silver. James rebukes the rich because they have allowed their wealth to rot. The verb actually means to decay and seems to apply to food supplies.5 God has designed nature in such a way that every growing season brings forth a new supply of food for man and animals. Supplies, then, ought not to be hoarded (Luke 12:16-20); they are subject to decay. What God has provided in nature should be used for the daily sustenance of his creatures (Matt. 6:19). With proper distribution of these supplies no one needs to be hungry, for God's bountiful earth produces sufficient food for all. a. The wages you failed to pay. The workers were day laborers who agreed with an employer on the daily wage and who expected to be paid at the end of the day (Matt. 20:8). The law of Moses stipulated that the employer ought not [to] hold back the wages of a hired man overnight (Lev. 19:13; Deut. 24:14-15). Their families were dependent on the daily earnings of these workers; delay in payments meant no food at the dinner table and anguish in the souls of the laborers. b. The workmen who mowed your fields. Cultivated fields that yielded crops belonged to prosperous landowners. Some of them had appointed managers while they themselves lived elsewhere. They hired extra farm laborers to cut the standing grain, bundle it, and to collect the sheaves into shocks. These workers were needed so that the ripened grain did not spoil because of bad weather or other reasons. c. The wages ... [of] the workmen ... are crying out against you. Instead of the joy of the harvest season (see Ps. 126:5-6), these laborers had to cope with anger because of broken promises, delays, and the prospect of not being paid at all. They cried out against the rich and demanded justice. Presumably they were acquainted with the curse God pronounced upon the rich who made their countrymen work 3

for nothing (Jer. 22:13; also see Mal. 3:5). Perhaps they knew the saying of Jesus, the worker deserves his wages (Luke 10:7; and compare I Tim. 5:18). They had no one to defend them but God. d. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. The mowers and the harvesters are the same people. Their cries are not heard by the rich, but the Lord hears his people. The New King James Version provides a literal translation of the Greek in the words the Lord of Sabaoth. The New International Version, by contrast, translates these words Lord Almighty. This translation communicates but does not necessarily give the significance of the original expression Lord Sabaoth, that is, Lord of the armies in heaven and on earth.12 God the omnipotent is on the side of the downtrodden. He puts his majestic power to work to vindicate his people and to mete out swift justice to their adversaries. Thanks to Martin Luther we have become familiar with the name Sabaoth. 6. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you. How do we understand the word murdered? We can interpret it literally or figuratively. Those rich people who perhaps brought poor people into court (2:6) now are guilty of murder.15 Directly or indirectly they killed a human being who was unable to defend himself. We can also take the word metaphorically. For instance, a rich man who withholds the wages of a laborer deprives him of his livelihood and thus indirectly commits an act of murder. In the second century before Christ, Joshua ben Sira said, The bread of the needy is the life of the poor; whoever deprives them of it is a man of blood. To take away a neighbor's living is to murder him; to deprive an employee of his wages is to shed his blood. [Sir. 34:21-22, R.S.V.] By taking the two verbs condemn and murder together, we understand the text to say that the rich had gone to court and had used their wealth to subvert justice. They were determined to rid themselves of the poor man, although he was righteous and had not opposed the rich.16 With the law on their side, they had committed murder. The precise details of time, place, and circumstances, James does not reveal. He is interested only in the fact that the rich perpetrate murder of innocent men. The New International Version puts the object innocent men in the plural. Other versions give a literal translation of the text, for example, You have condemned, you have killed the righteous man; he does not resist you (R.S.V.). Instead of attempting to explain who the righteous man issome interpreters think of Jesus or James himself, for he bore the name the Justwe do well to take the words righteous man distributively and therefore to refer to the murdering of innocent people who refuse to resist oppression (compare Matt. 5:39). a. Command Fully aware of their adversities, James tells his readers to exercise patience. The adverb then links the command to be patient to the preceding verses in which James describes the oppressive conditions under which the poor live. In a sense, James takes up the theme with which he begins his epistle: Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds (1:2). Patience is a virtue possessed by few and sought by many. We are living in a society that champions the word instant. But to be patient, as James uses the word, is much more than passively waiting for the time to pass. Patience is the art of enduring someone whose conduct is incompatible with that of others 4

and sometimes even oppressive. A patient man calms a quarrel, for he controls his anger and does not seek revenge (compare Prov. 15:18; 16:32).18 The old English term long-suffering does not mean to suffer a while but to tolerate someone for a long time. To say it differently, patience is the opposite of being short-tempered. God displays patience by being slow to anger when man continues in sin even after numerous admonitions (Exod. 34:6; Ps. 86:15; Rom. 2:4; 9:22; I Peter 3:20; II Peter 3:15).19 Man ought to reflect that divine virtue in his dayto-day life. James knows that the readers of his epistle are unable to defend themselves against their oppressors. Therefore, he urges them to exercise patience and to leave matters in the hands of God, who is coming to deliver them. Even if they were able to do so, they should not take matters into their own hands. God has said, It is mine to avenge; I will repay (Deut. 32:35; Rom. 12:12; Heb. 10:30). Be patient ... until the Lord's coming. The readers know that the Lord is coming back in the capacity of Judge.20 They ought to exercise self-control toward their adversaries and demonstrate patience in respect to the coming of the Lord. He will avenge his people when he returns (II Thess. 1:56).

The sinner is only one heartbeat away from the Judge. For when death strikes, the grumbler enters the presence of God, who will judge him for every idle word he has spoken. Everyone who passes through the portals of death meets the Judge on the other side. Writes Calvin, What, then, will be the case, but that every one who seeks to bring judgment on others, must allow the same against himself; and thus all will be given up to the same ruin.24 The remark of James is a word of warning for the impatient grumbler and a word of comfort for the person who keeps his eye of faith fixed on Jesus. The church of all ages utters the prayer the apostle John has recorded at the close of the New Testament, Amen. Come, Lord Jesus (Rev. 22:20). 14. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Note these comments: a. Is any one of you sick? James spells out what he means by the word trouble (v. 13). It is physical sickness of one kind or another. That is, someone is bodily weakened by internal or external ailment and in urgent need of medical help. Then, what should the Christian community do? b. Call the elders of the church. The sick person himself or others, at his request, must call the elders of the church. The New Testament records the expression elder (presbyter) soon after the founding of the church at Pentecost. In the Jerusalem church, the elders were the representatives of the believers (Acts 11:30; 21:18). They were the men who exercised leadership in pastoral oversight of the congregation they represented (Acts 20:28; I Peter 5:1-4). On his first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas appointed elders in each church (Acts 14:23) and Paul instructed Titus to appoint elders in every town in Crete (Titus 1:5).38 Note that James uses the word meeting (synagogue) in 2:2 and the term church here. Obviously, these two terms are interchangeable in the Epistle of James. c. Pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. What does this mean? First, in the original the main emphasis is on prayer; the act of anointing with oil is secondary to prayer. This is 5

evident from the next verse, where James affirms the power of prayer: And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well (v. 15).39 Second, in various places the Bible teaches that olive oil has medicinal qualities. Think of the Samaritan who applied oil and wine to the wounded man along the Jericho roadthe oil soothed and the wine was antiseptic (Luke 10:34). When the twelve disciples went out on their first missionary journey, they anointed many sick people with oil and healed them (Mark 6:13).40 In the time and culture of James, olive oil was used as common medicine. Third, oil often has a symbolic meaning in Scripture. Some interpreters take the word oil together with the phrase in the name of the Lord, and say that oil symbolizes the healing power of the Lord Jesus.41 Fourth, the words of James must not be understood as an apostolic command to anoint the sick with oil. On the contrary, in his healing ministry Jesus did not resort to its use. In the Book of Acts, the apostles healed the sick on numerous occasions, but did not use oil (3:6; 5:15-16; 9:34; 14:8-10; 16:18; 28:8-9).42 The emphasis is on prayer, not on oil. d. The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well. Called to the bedside of the sick, the elders pour out their prayers in behalf of the sick. They depend fully on the Lord, who will grant healing and restoration. They offer their prayers in faith because they have the promise that the Lord will heal the sick and raise him from his bed. e. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. The last part of this verse seems rather direct, yet seems to link sickness to sin. The statement if he has sinned, he will be forgiven emphasizes the interrelatedness of body and soul. For instance, Jesus healed the paralytic spiritually when he said, Your sins are forgiven, and physically by saying, Get up, take your mat and go home (Mark 2:5, 9-11). Jesus heals soul and body to make man complete. Is illness due to sin? Not always. Let us take the life of Job as a case in point. Covered with painful boils, Job knew that his affliction had not come to him because of sin. God afflicted him to test his faith. Even though his friends urged him to confess his sin, Job maintained his innocence and integrity (see Job 6:28-30). Nevertheless, the sick person ought to examine his spiritual life to see if there is any offensive way in him (Ps. 139:24). Physical ailments are often related to a guilty conscience. God often uses a period of sickness in the life of a person to have him come to self-examination and a plea for the forgiving grace of God (see Deut. 28:22, 27; Isa. 38:17; John 5:14; I Cor. 11:30). Once he recognizes his sin, uncovered for him by the Spirit of God, he must confess. God is ready to forgive sin we confess. In fact, he will never remind us of sin. When God cancels sin, he will never remember itwe stand before him as if we had never sinned at all. _a. Confess. James says, Therefore confess your sins to each other. With the adverb therefore, he links this sentence to the preceding verse where he writes of sickness, sin, and forgiveness. James uses the adverb to refer to the previous verse, to provide a basis for the succeeding sentence, and to stress the necessity of confessing sin. Unconfessed sin blocks the pathway of prayer to God and at the same time is a formidable obstacle in interpersonal relations. That means, confess your sins not only to God but also to the persons who have been injured by your sins. Ask them for forgiveness! Confession cleanses the soul. That is a time-worn saying which does not lose its validity. Confession is a mark of repentance and a plea for forgiveness on the part of the sinner. When the 6

sinner confesses his sin and asks for and receives remission, he experiences freedom from the burden of guilt.44 To whom do we confess our sins? The text says to each other. James does not specify the church or the elders; rather, he speaks of mutual confession on a one-to-one basis within a circle of believers. He does not rule out that members of the church ought to confide in the pastor and elders (v. 14). Some sins concern all believers in the church and thus these sins ought to be confessed publicly. Other sins are private and need not be made known except to persons who are directly involved. Discretion and limitation, therefore, must guide the sinner who wishes to confess his personal sins. Curtis Vaughan makes this telling observation: But whereas the Roman Catholics have interpreted confession too narrowly, many of us may be tempted to interpret it too broadly. Confession of all our sins to all the brethren is not necessarily enjoined by James' statement. Confession is the vomit of the soul and can, if too generally and too indiscriminately made, do more harm than good.45 b. Pray. The beauty of Christian fellowship comes to expression in the practice of mutual prayer after sins have been confessed and forgiven. The offender and the offended pray on behalf of each other; together they find spiritual strength and comfort in the Lord. In their prayers they visibly and audibly demonstrate reciprocity. The forgiven sinner prays for the spiritual welfare of his fellow believer, who in turn commends him to the mercies of God. c. Be healed. James states the purpose for confessing sin and praying for each other by saying, so that you may be healed. He is purposely vague in this statement; that is, he fails to mention whether he means physical or spiritual healing, actual or possible healing, individual or corporate healing. What is certain, however, is that when believers confess their sins to each other and pray for one another, a healing process takes place. And that can be applied to any situation.