James 5:1-7 What To Do In Light Of Jesus’ Imminent Return

Sermon & Translation by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 2 July 2023
Omitting greyed-out text should bring delivery down to about 45 minutes.

Introduction

v.17 Warning Against Sins of Omission

vs. 1-3 Warning Against Materialism

vs. 4-6 Warning Against Abusing Power

James 5:1-8 – Comparison Of Textual Traditions & VersionsA

ByzantineB

NAW

KJVC

Vulgate

PeshittaD

17̈ εἰδότι οὖν καλὸν ποιεῖν καὶ μὴ ποιοῦντιE, ἁμαρτία αὐτῳ῀ ἐστιν.

17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and isn’t doing it – to him it is a sin.

17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

17 scienti igitur bonum facere et non facienti peccatum est illi

17 X He that knoweth the good X X, and doeth it not, to him is sin.

5:1̈ ῎Αγε νῦν οἱF πλούσιοι, κλαύσατεG ὀλολύζοντεςH ἐπὶ ταῖς ταλαιπωρίαιςI ὑμῶν ταῖς ἐπ­ερχομέναιςJ.

5:1 Get with-it now, you rich men, start weeping – howling – over your weighty trials which are coming upon y’all:

5:1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep [and] howl for your miseries that [shall] come upon you.

5:1 age nunc divites plorate ululantes in miseriis quae advenient vobis

5:1 X X O ye rich ones, wail [and] weep, on account of the miseries that are coming upon you.

2̈ ὁ πλοῦτοςK ὑμῶν σέσηπεL καὶ τὰ ἱμάτια ὑμῶν σητόβρωταM γέγονεν,

2 Your wealth has rotted, and your garments have become moth-eaten.

2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.

2 divitiae vest­rae putrefactae sunt et vestimenta vestra a tineis comesta sunt

2 For your wealth is spoiled and putrid; and your garments are moth-eaten:

3̈ ὁ χρυσὸς ὑμῶν καὶ ὁ ἄργυρος κατίωταιN, καὶ ὁ ἰὸςO αὐτῶν εἰς μαρτύριον ὑμῖν ἔσται καὶ φάγεται τὰς σάρκας ὑμῶν ὡς πῦρ. ἐθησαυρίσατε ἐν ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις.

3 Your gold and silver have been tarnished, and their poison will be­come a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. Y’all stockpiled during the last days.

3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as [it were] fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

3 aurum et argentum vestrum eruginavit et erugo eorum in testimon­ium vobis erit et manducabit carnes vestras sicut ignis thesaurizastis in novissimis diebus

3 and your gold and your silver have contracted rust; and the rust of them will be testimony against you; and it will eat your flesh [.] Ye have heaped up X a fire [to you] against the latter days.

4̈ ἰδοὺ ὁ μισθὸς τῶν ἐργατῶν τῶν ἀμησάντωνP τὰς χώραςQ ὑμῶν ὁ ἀπεστερημένοςR ἀφ᾿ ὑμῶν κράζει, καὶ αἱ βοαὶ τῶν θερισάντων εἰς τὰ ὦτα Κυρίου ΣαβαὼθS εἰσεληλύθασιν.

4 Look, the pay of the workers who reaped yall’s lands, which has been withheld by y’all, screams out, and the cries of the harvesters have entered into the ears of the Lord of Hosts.

4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back [by fraud], crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

4 ecce merces operariorum qui messuerunt regiones vestras qui fraudatus est a vobis clamat et clamor ipsorum in aures Domini Sabaoth introiit

4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who have reaped your groundX, which X ye have X wrongfully retained, crieth out; and the clamor of the reapers hath entered X the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

5̈ ἐτρυφήσατεT ἐπὶ τῆς γῆςU καὶ ἐσπαταλήσατεV, ἐθρέψατε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν ὥςW ἐν ἡμέρᾳ σφαγῆςX.

5 Y’all lived luxuriously upon the earth, and y’all indulged yourselves. Y’all feasted your hearts like one would on butchering-day.

5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

5 epulati estis super terram et in luxuriis enutristis corda vestra in die occisionis

5 For ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and revelled, and feasted your bodies as in a day of slaughter.

6̈ κατεδικάσατε, ἐφονεύσατεY τὸν δίκαιον· οὐκ ἀντιτάσσεταιZ ὑμῖν.

6 Y’all condemned – y’all murdered the righteous man; he was not organizing against y’all.

6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

6 addixistis occidistis iustum non resistit vobis

6 Ye have condemned [and] slain the just, and none resisted you.

7̈ ΜακροθυμήσατεAA οὖν, ἀδελφοί, ἕως τῆς παρουσίαςAB τοῦ Κυρίου. ἰδοὺ ὁ γεωργὸς ἐκδέχεται τὸν τίμιον καρπὸν τῆς γῆς, μακροθυμῶν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῳ῀AC ἕως AD λάβῃ ὑετὸνAE πρώϊμον καὶ ὄψιμον·

7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Look, the farmer waits expectantly for the valuable fruit from the earth, being patient about it until it happens to receive the early and late rain;

7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, [and] hath [long] patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

7 patientes igitur estote fratres usque ad adventum Domini ecce agricola expectat pretiosum fructum terrae patienter ferens donec accipiat temporivum et serotinum

7 [But, my] brethren, be ye patient until the advent of the Lord; like the husbandman, who waiteth for the precious fruit[s] of his ground, and is patient as to them, until he receive the early and the latter rain.

8̈ μακροθυμήσατε καὶ ὑμεῖς, στηρίξατε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν, ὅτι ἡ παρουσία τοῦ Κυρίου ἤγγικε.

8 y’all also be patient – start making your hearts steadfast, because the coming of the Lord has drawn near.

8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

8 patientes estote et vos confirmate corda vestra quoniam adventus Domini ad­propinquavit

8 So also be ye patient, and fortify your hearts; for the advent of our Lord draweth nigh


1Most commentaries note that these wealthy persons are not Christians, for they are killing Christians and are merely called to “howl,” not to repent, and that Christians are not addressed in chapter 5 until v. 7, where the word “breth­ren” appears again. But despite who is being addressed, there is much that Christians can learn from these verses.

2Matthew 19:23-24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "I'm telling you truly that a rich man will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, [but] it is disagreeable. I'm telling y'all again, it is easier for a camel to go through a needle hole than for a rich man to go into the kingdom of God." (NAW)

3John Owen suggested “corn.”

4cf. Apocryphal Epistle of Jeremiah 1:10-23 “...the priests ... deck them as men with garments, being gods of silver, and gods of gold, and wood. Yet cannot these gods save themselves from rust and moth, though they be covered with purple raiment. They wipe their faces because of the dust of the temple, when there is much upon them… Their faces are blacked through the smoke that cometh out of the temple... By this ye may know that they are no gods: therefore fear them not. Notwithstanding the gold that is about them to make them beautiful, except they wipe off the [d]ust, they will not shine…” (Brenton)

5Pillar Commentary on James by Moo: “[T]he actual evidence of disuse will stand as a witness against the rich.”

6Matthew Henry commented, “In the ruin of Jerusalem, many thousands perished by fire; in the last judgment, the wicked shall be condemned to everlasting burnings, prepared for the devil and his angels.”

7cf. Matthew 13:22 “Then the one that was sown into the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, yet the cares of this age and the deception of wealth choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.” (NAW)

8All 5 of the known manuscripts dated earlier than the 6th century AD read “it fails,” but the majority of Greek manuscripts from the 6th century on read “you fail.” But this is not a theological problem, because there is a con­nection between you and your wealth, as James also points out, and both your material wealth and your material body will be liquidated in death and evaporated in the final judgment.

9There are other passages, notably Proverbs 1:18 & Romans 2:5, which picture the accumulation of guilt as a kind of “treasuring up” judgment against oneself, and John Calvin’s commentary went that route, but I think the context in James is of rich people socking away wealth. Matthew Henry saw it both ways.

10cf. Mat. 6:19-21, Isa. 51:8, & Apocryphal Sirach 29:9-11

11Calvin: “...he calls God the Lord of Sabaoth, or of hosts, intimating thereby his power and his might, by which he renders his judgment more dreadful.”

12“χώρας... implies a larger tract than ἀγρός, as is evident in all the New-Testament passages cited. In two cases it refers to a rich man's estates; and in John 4:35, the Lord directs the attention of the disciples to a broad area or series of fields.” ~Marvin Vincent’s Word Studies of the New Testament

13Mark 10:19 "You know the commandments:`Do not commit adultery,'`Do not murder,'`Do not steal,'`Do not bear false witness,'`Do not defraud,'`Honor your father and your mother.'" (NKJV)

14e.g. Fausset’s commentary: “eat to their hearts’ content on the very day of their approaching slaughter.” Vincent agreed, relating it to the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. Moo instead related “day of slaughter” eschatologically to “Judgment Day.”

15Technically “righteous” is singular in the Greek. Commentators are divided over whether to interpret it singularly as Jesus, James the Just, or some other martyr, or whether to interpret it plurally of Christians as a class, but it seems most modern commentators opt for the latter.

16Proving that these deaths were not excusable as self-defense.

AWhen a translation adds words not in the Greek text, but does not indicate it has done so by the use of italics or greyed-out text, I put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is different from all the other translations, I underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the Greek word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original text, I use strikeout. And when a version omits a word which is in the original text, I insert an X. I also place an X at the end of a word if the original word is plural but the English translation is singular. I occasionally use colors to help the reader see correlations between the various editions and versions when there are more than two different translations of a given word. NAW is my translation. My original chart includes annotated copies of the NKJV, NASB, NIV, and ESV, but I erase them from the online edition so as not to infringe on their copyrights.

BThis Greek New Testament is the 1904 "Patriarchal" edition of the Greek Orthodox Church. The Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine majority text of the GNT and the Textus Receptus are very similar. The Westcott-Hort, Nestle-Aland, and UBS editions are a slightly-different family of GNTs developed in the modern era as a break from the traditional Greek Bible by compiling just a few of the oldest-known manuscripts, but even so, the practical differences in the text between these two editing philosophies are minimal.

C1769 King James Version of the Holy Bible; public domain.

DJames Murdock, A Literal Translation from the Syriac Peshito Version, 1851, Robert Carter & Brothers, New York. Scanned and transcribed by Gary Cernava and published electronically by Janet Magierra at http://www.lightofword.org

ECf. Matt. 23:23 “these you should have done without neglecting the weightier matters” and Matt. 25:44ff “to the extent that you did not do it to the least of these my brothers you did not do it unto me.”

F4:13 starts w/ same 3 words in Greek. cf. Lk 6:24 “Woe unto you that are rich; for you have received your consolation” (KJV)

GSame word as the one in 4:9. Both verses share an overall similar structure. The subject of the last sentence in this verse is the noun form of the verb that opens 4:9.

HThe only other places in the Greek Bible this word “howling” show up are in the books of the prophets. Here, it appears to be an adverbial use of the present participle, describing how to weep.

I Often used in the OT prophets to translate the Hebrew שדdestruction/devastation/misery/oppression.

JVincent advocated that this present participle be translated in the English present tense, but A. T. Robertson advocated for it to be translated as a prophetic future, even though he agreed it was present tense. This is followed by perfect tense verbs in vs. 2ff which are also interpreted as either prophetic perfects speaking of the future (ATR) or as normal perfect tenses (Moo).

KIn the NT, as often as not, this word is used to denote the riches of God’s grace, but this time it describes temporal wealth.

LIn the Bible, only here, Psalm 37:6; Job 16:7, 19:20, 33:21, & 40:12, and Ezek. 17:9. On the tense, see two previous endnotes. Significant Apocryphal references include: Sirach 14:19 “Every work rotteth and consumeth away, and the worker thereof shall go withal,” and Epistle of Jeremiah 6:72 (=Baruch 1:12) speaking of idols: “And ye shall know them to be no gods by the bright purple that rotteth upon then: and they themselves afterward shall be eaten, and shall be a reproach in the country.”

MOnly other Biblical use of this word is Job 13:28.

NNowhere else in the Bible. In Sirach 12:11, it is used to describe a mirror after being wiped.

OIn none of the other 13 instances of this word in the Greek Bible is it generally translated “rust/corrosion” in English Bibles. The two other places in the NT where this word appears (Rom. 3:13; Jas. 3:8), everyone translates it “poison,” and that is also the translation of the word in Ps. 13:3 (only in Greek); 139:4; and Prov. 23:32. In Lam. 3:13 it is translated “arrow” (perhaps poison-tipped?), and in Ezek. 24:6-12, it is translated “scum/rust/corrosion/deposit/filth/corruption” on a bronze pot heated over a fire. In the apocryphal Epistle of Jeremiah 1:10, 23, it is used to describe dust, dung, and soot that has to be wiped off gold and silver idols in pagan temples by the priests.

POnly used of “harvesting/reaping” elsewhere in the Greek Bible. All other references: Lev. 25:11; Deut. 24:19; Mic. 6:15; Isa. 17:5; 37:30.

QAgros would be the normal word for a “field” of grain, but this word is usually used to designate a “country” or “region.” Perhaps this indicates a country estate or some vast holding of land? Or perhaps it indicates a field that grows grass instead of wheat.

RSome other key Biblical uses of this word include: Mal. 3:5 and Mark 10:19 (cf. Apocrypha: Sirach 4:1, 34:22)

S Romans 9:29 is the only other NT passage that uses this word. It is a mixture of translation (“Lord”) and transliteration (“Sabbaoth”) of the Hebrew phrase יְהוָ֣ה צְבָא֔וֹת in Isaiah. 1:9. The Hebrew word Tsebaowt means “armies.” The fact that James transliterated Sabbaoth into Greek rather than translating it, is a point in favor of transliterating it into English too, but since it had a meaning originally in Hebrew, and since that meaning would have been known to James’ Jewish readership, yet it is not well-known to English readers, I prefer to translate it into English.

T Root meaning has to do with “softness.” Only here and Neh. 9:25, Sir. 14:4, and Isa. 66:11 in Greek Bibles. This begins a list of Aorist verbs, normally translated as English past tense, but John Owen, in a footnote to Calvin’s commentary wrote: “Probably the aorist is used, as it expresses what was done habitually…”
Matthew Henry: “Some may say, “What harm is there in good cheer, provided people do not spend above what they have?” What! Is it no harm for people to make gods of their bellies, and to give all to these, instead of abounding in acts of charity and piety? Is it no harm for people to unfit themselves for minding the concerns of their souls, by indulging the appetites of their bodies? Surely that which brought flames upon Sodom, and would bring these miseries for which rich men are here called to weep and howl, must be a heinous evil!”

U“The easily overlooked phrase on earth … [is] suggesting a contrast between the pleasures the rich have enjoyed in this world and the torment that awaits them in eternity.” ~Douglas Moo

VThis word only here and Sir. 21:15, Ezek. 16:49, and 1 Tim. 5:6.

W The Orthodox, Majority, and TR editions of the GNT include the comparative word (“as”) here, which is also the reading of the Peshitta and KJV, but the contemporary English traditions follow the critical GNTs and the Vulgate which omit the word because the three oldest-known Greek manuscripts omit it. The oldest manuscripts containing the word are the Sinaiticus (in a correction) and the 9th century Codex Athous Lavrensis. On the other hand there are only a total of 6 Greek manuscripts which omit the word.

X Not uncommon in the LXX (esp. the prophets), but in the NT only here, Acts 8:32, and Rom. 8:36. I believe that on butchering-day, folks usually ate more meat than usual.

Y Cf. the other uses of this verb in James: 2:11 (reviewing the 8th commandment) and 4:2 (the result of their lusting and fighting). Matthew Henry: “The just may be condemned and killed: but then again observe, When such do suffer, and yield without resistance to the unjust sentence of oppressors, this is marked by God, to the honour of the sufferers and the infamy of their persecutors; this commonly shows that judgments are at the door...”

Z Cf. this word in 4:6. A.T. Robertson noted in his Word Pictures (as did Moo in his commentary on James), “It is possible to treat this as a question... Without a question the unresisting end of the victim (ton dikaion) is pictured. With a question (ouk, expecting an affirmative answer) ‘God’ or ‘Lord’ is the subject, with the final judgment in view. There is no way to decide definitely.” But neither Moo nor Robinson ended up translating it as a question.

AA “The Greek verb is in the aorist tense, giving us no basis to draw any conclusions about a particular nuance in the command. As so often, the aorist is chosen as the simplest, more straightforward way of issuing the command.” ~Douglas Moo, Pillar Commentary

AB This word is based on the component roots for “to be” and “alongside,” so not so much about the motion of “coming” but more about personal “presence” and visiting. It doesn’t occur in the Greek O.T. (except in the Apocrypha), but in the NT it describes visits from Bible characters to others and also seems to be a doctrinal word describing the “second coming/parousia/return” of Christ.

AC The slight majority of Greek manuscripts spell this word with an accusative ending instead of the dative ending here, but it doesn’t affect the meaning. The Greek Orthodox and Textus Receptus editions of the GNT agree with the Critical editions on this one. All four Greek manuscripts from before the 9th century AD spell it with the dative ending, and there is a wide distribution of manuscripts with that spelling all the way out to the 13th century. The dative assumes a more figurative meaning for “upon” (“on the basis of”) rather than the more literal, physical connotation of the accusative case (“upon/against”), and this context calls for a figurative meaning.

AD The Textus Receptus follows 10 Greek manuscripts dating from the 4th through the 15th centuries that inserted the subjunctive particle αν (often translated “ever” in the sense of compounded uncertainty, such as “whenever”). This was rejected by the majority, Orthodox, and Critical editions of the GNT, but it makes no difference in meaning because the verb it follows is already subjunctive and thus already denotes uncertainty as to the timing of the rain without the need for the additional subjunctive particle.

AE Critical editions of the GNT drop this word for “rain” out (because of 8 manuscripts which do so between the 4th and 15th centuries), as does the Vulgate, but it is supported by the majority of manuscripts (including the majority of 1st-millennium manuscripts of equal antiquity to those followed by the critical editions), the Textus Receptus and the Orthodox editions of the GNT, as well as by the Peshitta and most English translations (which find it too awkward to omit the word “rain”). The LXX references which use the words “early” and “late” in reference to rain all include the word for “rain” as well (Deut. 11:14; Hos. 6:3; Joel 2:23; Zech. 10:1; and Jer. 5:24), and they omit the word for “rain” when these words do not refer to rain (Ex. 9:32 - wheat, Hos. 9:10 - figs, Isa. 58:8 - light, Jer. 24:2 - figs), the one possible exception being “latter” in Prov. 16:15, which might or might not refer to rain, but is translated “latter rain” in most English versions. But as usual, the variant doesn’t change the meaning here in the English translations.

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