Tiago 5

Tiago 5

INDEX FOR ALL VERSES ON JAMES Chart from recommended resource Jensen's Survey of the NT - used by permission See also Overview Chart by Charles Swindoll JAMES Faith for Living Motives for Works The Place of Works: Outward Demonstration of Inner Faith Outreach of Works Jas 1:1-18 Jas 1:19-2:13 Jas 2:14-25 Jas 3:1-12 Jas 3:13-4:12 Jas 4:13-5:12 Jas 5:13-19 Trials & Temptations Word & Works Faith & Works Tongue Wars Future Others Faith In Testings Fulfill Favor Fallacy Fountain Factions Faith and the Future Faith and our Fellowship FAITH AT WORK The reaction of living faith to injustice (James 5:1–11) A. The judgment coming upon the oppressive rich (James 5:1–6) 1. The announcement of the judgment (James 5:1) 2. The description of the judgment (James 5:2–3) 3. The charges against them in the judgment (James 5:4–6) a. The oppression of the poor laborers (James 5:4) b. The self-indulgence of the rich (James 5:5) c. The violence against the righteous (James 5:6) B. The exhortation to the afflicted brethren (James 5:7–11) 1. The call for patience in view of the parousia (James 5:7–8) 2. The warning against blaming one another (James 5:9) 3. The examples of suffering and endurance (James 5:10–11) a. The example of the prophets (James 5:10) b. The example of Job (James 5:11) The reaction of living faith to self-serving oaths (James 5:12) The Reliance of Living Faith on God The reliance of living faith on God (James 5:13–18) A. The resort to prayer in diverse circumstances (James 5:13) B. The resort to God in sickness (James 5:14–16a) 1. The calling of the elders to pray for the sick (James 5:14) 2. The results of the prayer of faith (James 5:15) 3. The duty of mutual confession and prayer (James 5:16a) C. The power of a godly man’s petition (James 5:16b–18) 1. The statement concerning its power (James 5:16b) 2. The illustration of its power (James 5:17–18) The abrupt conclusion: The restoration of the erring (James 5:19–20) A. The assumed restoration of one erring (James 5:19) B. The assured results of the restoration (James 5:20) (Hiebert's Commentaries – James) James 5:1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. NET James 5:1 Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud over the miseries that are coming on you. GNT James 5:1 Ἄγε νῦν οἱ πλούσιοι, κλαύσατε ὀλολύζοντες ἐπὶ ταῖς ταλαιπωρίαις ὑμῶν ταῖς ἐπερχομέναις. NLT James 5:1 Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. KJV James 5:1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. ESV James 5:1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. ASV James 5:1 Come now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. CSB James 5:1 Come now, you rich people! Weep and wail over the miseries that are coming on you. NIV James 5:1 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. NKJ James 5:1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! NRS James 5:1 Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. YLT James 5:1 Go, now, ye rich! weep, howling over your miseries that are coming upon you; NAB James 5:1 Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries. NJB James 5:1 Well now, you rich! Lament, weep for the miseries that are coming to you. GWN James 5:1 Pay attention to this if you're rich. Cry and moan about the misery that is coming to you. BBE James 5:1 Come now, you men of wealth, give yourselves to weeping and crying because of the bitter troubles which are coming to you. you rich: Jas 1:11 2:6 De 8:12-14 32:15 Ne 9:25,26 Job 20:15-29 Ps 17:14 Ps 49:6-20 73:3-9,18-20 Pr 11:4,28 Ec 5:13,14 Jer 9:23 Mic 6:12 Zep 1:18 Mt 19:23,24 Lu 6:24 12:16-21 16:19-25 1Ti 6:9,10 Rev 6:15-17 weep and howl : Jas 4:9 Isa 13:6 22:12,13 Jer 4:8 Eze 19:2 Joe 1:5,11,13 Am 6:6,7 Zec 11:2,3 Lu 6:25 23:28,29 James 5 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries WARNING TO THE RICH After dealing with the businessmen in James 4:13-17+, he turns to the wicked wealthy. This section could be subtitled "Woe to the Wicked Rich." From the context the rich are apparently not believers. James now addresses the earthly rich and warns of their certain coming spiritual poverty in light of their wealthy wickedness. James does not condemn riches (cf Pr 10:22) but the wickedness that so often traffics with wealth. James' warning against the rich oppressing the poor recalls similar instructions in the OT ‘You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning. (Lev 19:13+) And there will be no U-Haul trailers following these rich men's hearses. Their burial suits needs no pockets as there is nothing they will be allowed to place in them, because there is nothing they can take with them. Naked they came into the world and naked they will return, but they will hardly be blessing the Name of the LORD as Job did (cf Job 1:21)! Ecclesiastes 5:15 As he had come naked from his mother’s womb, so will he return as he came. He will take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his hand. If we have God in all things while they are ours, we shall have all things in God when they are taken away. You actually possess everything you can see when you close your eyes. Nothing influences a man so much as that which he calls his own. C. H. Spurgeon That only is worth my having which I can have for ever. That only is worth my grasping which death cannot tear out of my hand. C. H. Spurgeon The real value of a thing is the price it will bring in eternity. John Wesley Hiebert - As believers we realize the transitoriness and perishableness of all that this world gives. It is an indisputable fact that "we brought nothing into the world."...Since after a brief stay we shall go out as we came in, it is folly to be anxious and preoccupied with merely earthly things (James Commentary) MacDonald makes an interesting comment - In one of the most searching and piercing sections of his Letter, James now launches into a denunciation of the sins of the rich. The words fall like hammer-blows, blunt and unsparing. In fact, the denunciation is so strong that these verses are seldom preached on. James is here seen in the role of a prophet of social justice. He cries out against the failure of the rich to use their money for the alleviation of human need. He condemns those who have become rich by exploiting their workers. He rebukes their use of wealth for self-indulgence and luxurious living. Finally, he pictures the rich as arrogant oppressors of the righteous. (Believer's Bible Commentary) Don Anderson - James has been talking in chapter 4 about how TEMPORARY LIFE IS and how wrong it is to live life without God. Now in chapter 5 he is talking about WEALTH and how (l'EMPORARY it is and how wrong it is to use it without God. (Notes) Randy Alcorn - When earth becomes our heaven --when we see God's blessings as being primarily immediate and temporal -- we lose sight of who we are, why we are here, and what awaits us beyond the horizons of this world. (Money, Possessions, Eternity) Bruce Barton, et al - After taking a deep breath, James turns his attention to the rich. They have been hovering in the background throughout this letter. Chapter 1 included the challenge to see that humble circumstances have distinct spiritual benefits (see 1:9-11) as opposed to riches, which require humility. In chapter 2, James warned about the destructiveness of preferential treatment based on wealth. At the end of chapter 4, James warned against being seduced by the world. He begins chapter 5 by warning wealthy non-Christians of their hopeless end and the worthlessness of their riches. Their wealth will not save them from God's judgment. (Life Application Bible Commentary – James) Joel Gregory - Nothing in the Bible exceeds its vehemence against those who live for material prosperity alone. Some contemporary popular "health and wealth" theology casually joins Christianity with a voracious materialism. Under the slogan "name it and claim it," this superficial materialism promises Christians anything they may want. From James 5:1-6, one can guess James's attitude toward such perversion of Christian values. The godless rich receive only an ominous warning. Before an airliner makes a crash landing, the passengers are told to brace themselves for the inevitable impact. In James 5:1, James did the same for the insensitive materialists: "Brace yourselves; judgment is coming." The "rich" whom James addressed appear to have been non-Christians. Unlike the people who were addressed in 4:1-10, verse 1 has no call to repentance, no hope of salvation. (James: Faith Works!) This instruction to the rich reminds one of Paul's warning in First Timothy 6 although the difference in Paul's letter was that the warning was given to believing rich not wicked wealthy as in James... But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. (cf WEEP AND HOWL here in James) 10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.... 17 Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. 18 Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. (1Ti 6:9,10, 17-19) Mayor says, “It is not the careless worldliness of the bustling trader (James 4:13-17+) which is condemned, but the more deadly worldliness of the unjust capitalist or landlord.” Hiebert - In this two-part section James exposes further manifestations of worldliness. In the first part (James 5:1-6), James utters a stinging denunciation of the cruelty and oppression of the world, while the second part (James 5:7-11) aims at safeguarding believers against a worldly reaction to such experiences of injustice. The two parts stand in remarkable contrast. "There is a most vigorous and fierce indictment in the first part, and nothing else; while in the second there is gentle and affectionate entreaty." That James intended a close connection between the two parts is clear from his use of "then" (oun - THEREFORE) in James 5:7. (James Commentary) Come now - NLT has "Look here, you rich people!" This is an interjection, a word which is defined as "an abrupt emphatic exclamation expressing emotion." "A phrase to call solemn attention." (Jamieson) James begins with this same interjection in James 4:13+ Come now , you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Come is in the present imperative a command calling for the reader to give continual attention to what follows. James says in effect "Now listen," which Hiebert says is "an arousing interjection implying disapproval, (and which) marks the transition to a new form of worldliness....The adverb now (nun) increases the sense of urgency." (cf 2 Cor 6:2) This was a common expression in everyday Greek but this is the only Biblical example. One writer calls it "the signal for an attack." Woe! James was like the Old Testament prophets who boldly denounced the rich for oppressing the poor - Isa. 3:14-15; Isa 10:1-2; Amos 4:1; Mic. 2:1-2 James had given an earlier warning shot to the rich (which many commentators take to be believing rich in contrast to James 5:1-6) writing that... The rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. For (term of explanation) the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away (THIS IS ONE REASON HE NEEDS TO WEEP AND HOWL! EVEN WHILE HE LOOKS SO SUCCESSFUL TO THE WORLD, HIS END WILL COME AND HE WILL SOON DEPART THIS WORLD!) (James 1:10-11+). In chapter 2 James uses rich figuratively (cf believers in Smyrna - Rev 2:9+) and literally explains that poverty is a relative advantage when it comes to saving faith... Listen, (SOMEWHAT LIKE "Come now" CALLING FOR THEM TO PAY SPECIAL HEED BUT IN A POSITIVE SENSE IN THIS CONTEXT) my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called? (James 2:5-6+) Jamieson is probably correct when he says "James intends this address to rich Jewish unbelievers, not so much for themselves, as for the saints, that they may bear with patience (makrothumeo) the violence of the rich (Jas 5:7), knowing that God will speedily avenge them on their oppressors [Bengel]." Jamieson's comment makes good sense because how many wicked rich are going to actually read James' somber warning? Probably not many! And if they did, they would probably scoff at it! But the suffering, poor believers will read it and realize that divine retribution is coming when Jesus will finally and forever make all things right. This truth would fortify their hearts to "be (present imperative) steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord." (1 Cor 15:58+) John Calvin's comment is similar to Jamieson for he writes that James "has a regard to the faithful, that they, hearing of the miserable end of the rich, might not envy their fortune, and also that knowing that God would be the avenger of the wrongs they suffered, they might with a calm and resigned mind bear them." William Baker - It was not unusual for Jews of the Second Temple period to regard all the rich as favored by God. The New Testament makes it clear, however, that wealth does not imply divine favor. (Twenty-First Century Biblical Commentary Series – The Books of James & First and Second Peter: Faith, Suffering, and Knowledge) Donald Burdick - There is good reason to believe that the persons referred to in this section are not believers. It might be argued that they are personally addressed in the same way other groups are addressed in previous sections (James 3:1;4:13). Since the epistle in general is written to Christians, it might be assumed that the rich of James 5:1-6 are Christians just as the rich of James 1:9-11 are. However, there are significant differences between 5:1-6 and the rest of the epistle. These individuals are not addressed as "brothers" (cf. James 1:2, 16, 19; 2:1, 5, 14; 3:1, 10, 12; 4:11; 5:7, 9, 10, 12). Furthermore, they are not called on to repent and change their ways but only to "weep and wail" because of the judgment they are going to undergo. (Expositor's Bible Commentary) Kistemaker - 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. (Exposition of James, Epistles of John, Peter, and Jude) You rich (rich man) (4145)(plousios from ploutos = wealth, abundance, riches) is an adjective which describes that which exists in a large amount and is used most often in the NT in the sense of having abundant possessions and especially material wealth, a topic frequently addressed by the Lord Jesus. As we would say today in slang James is addressing this warning to those who are "loaded!" Even the sweet psalmist Asaph was perplexed and disturbed by the prosperity of the wicked in Psalm 73:1-16 (read Asaph's description which sounds a bit like James' description), UNTIL he "came into the sanctuary of God" for then he "perceived their end!" (Ps 73:17)