James Chapter 5

From The Open Bible Project

5:1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you.

• (1) He denounces utter destruction to the wicked and profane rich men, and such as are drowned in their riotousness, mocking their foolish confidence when there is nothing indeed more vain than such things.

5:2 Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten.

5:3 Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days.

5:4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of [10] Armies [See James Footnotes 10].

• (a) The Lord who is more mighty than ye are, hath heard them.

5:5 You have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter.

• (b) You have pampered yourselves.
• (c) The Hebrews call a day that is appointed to solemn banqueting, a day of slaughter or feasting.

5:6 You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous one. He doesn't resist you.

5:7 Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late rain.

• (2) He applies that to the poor, which he spoke against the rich, warning them to wait for the Lord’s coming patiently, who will avenge the injuries which the rich men do to them.
• (3) The taking away of an objection: Although his coming seems to linger, yet at the least we must follow the farmer, we who do patiently wait for the times that are fitting for the fruits of the earth. And again, God will not postpone the least bit of the time that he has appointed.

5:8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

5:9 Don't grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won't be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door.

• (4) He commends Christian patience, for that which others through impatience use to accuse one another, the faithful on the other hand, do not complain though they receive injury.
• (d) By grudging he means a certain inward complaining which indicates impatience. (5) The conclusion: The Lord is at the door and will defend his own and avenge his enemies, and therefore we do not need to trouble ourselves.

5:10 Take, brothers, for an example of suffering and of patience, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

• (6) Because most men will object, that it is good to repel injuries by whatever means, he contrasts that with the examples of the fathers whose patience had a most happy end, because God as a most bountiful Father, never forsakes his.

5:11 Behold, we call them blessed who endured. You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

• (e) What end the Lord gave.

5:12 But above all things, my brothers, don't swear, neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath; but let your "yes" be "yes," and your "no," "no;" so that you don't fall [11] into hypocrisy. [See James Footnotes 11]

• (7) Because even the best men sometimes through impatience slip and speak oaths sometimes lesser, sometimes greater, the apostle warns us to detest such wickedness, and to accustom our tongues to simple and true talk.

5:13 Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praises.

• (8) He shows the best remedy against all afflictions, that is, prayers which have their place both in sorrow and joy.

5:14 Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,

• (9) He shows peculiarly, to what physicians especially we must go when we are diseased, that is, to the prayers of the elders, which then also could cure the body, (for so much as the gift of healing was then in force) and take away the main cause of sickness and diseases, by obtaining healing for the sick through their prayers and exhortations.
• (g) This was a sign of the gift of healing: and now seeing we have the gift no more, the sign is no longer necessary.
• (h) By calling on the name of the Lord.

5:15 and the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

• (i) He has reason in making mention of sins, for diseases are often sent because of sins.

5:16 Confess your offenses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.

• (10) Because God pardons the sins of those who confess and acknowledge them, and not those who justify themselves. Therefore the apostle adds, we ought to freely confer with one another concerning those inward diseases, that we may help one another with our prayers.
• (11) He commends prayers by the effects that come of them, that all men may understand that there is nothing more effectual than they are, so that they proceed from a pure mind.

5:17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it didn't rain on the earth for three years and six months.

5:18 He prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit.

5:19 Brothers, if any among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back,

• (12) The taking away of an objection: all rebukes are not condemned, seeing that on the contrary there is nothing more acceptable to God than to call into the holy way, a brother that was wandering out of the way.
• (k) Has called him back from his way.

5:20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins.