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.
Read my translation of the passage, starting one verse before the beginning of chapter 5: “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and isn’t doing it – to him it is a sin. Get with-it now, you rich men, start weeping – howling – over your weighty trials which are coming upon y’all: Your wealth has rotted, and your garments have become moth-eaten. 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. Look, the pay of the workers who reaped your 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. Y’all lived luxuriously upon the earth, and indulged yourselves. Y’all feasted your hearts like one would on butchering-day. Y’all condemned – y’all murdered – the righteous man; he was not organizing against you. 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; y’all also be patient – start making your hearts steadfast, because the coming of the Lord has drawn near.”
In light of the fact that Jesus has come and is coming again, James warns us about three things which could ruin it all for us when Jesus returns, namely Sins of Omission, the Idolatry of Materialism, and the Abuse of Power. Let’s consider together these warnings in light of the return of Christ, first in...
In light of the fact that Jesus is going to return from heaven to judge the earth, our first point from James 5 is to be sure that we are doing what Jesus commanded and not neglecting things that are important to Him.
Sin is not only actively disobeying God through committing bad deeds, it is also disobeying God by not doing the good things He has commanded us do to.
Notice how Jesus put it in His “Parable Of The Sheep And The Goats:” “...they will say, ‘Master, when was it that we saw you being hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and we did not serve you?’ Then, in answer, He will say to them, ‘Really, I'm saying to y'all, as much as you did not do it for one of the least of these, neither did you do it to me.’ So as for these, they will go away into eternal punishment…” (Matt. 25:44-46, NAW) There will be those who go to hell because of things which they should have done for the needy but did not do.
Conversely, in Jesus’ “Parable Of The Master Returning From the Wedding” in Luke 12:35-43 Jesus exhorted His disciples to keep busy about the things they were supposed to be doing, “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants... Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect… Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.” (NKJV) Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes!
Now, let me make clear that this is not merely about being busy; it is about being busy at “the right thing to do,” as James puts it. This does not mean doing everything everybody wants you to do; it means doing what God has called you to do, not putting it off, or cutting corners, or making excuses.
This week, among other requests, an international student asked me to run a 3,000 mile errand for him, a prisoner in Ohio asked me to ship some heavy winter clothes to his jail, some good friends urged my family to spend the night at their house, some in-laws asked to spend the night at my house, a church-planter who used to attend our church asked for a phone consultation, and a scientist whom I used to mentor in college asked for help in articulating how to relate science to the Bible. I gave serious consideration to all six requests and then decided to say no to the first three and yes to the second three, based on what I believe God has called and gifted me to do. Assuming I chose the “right thing to do,” and assuming I am not using my sense of God’s calling as a cop-out to avoid something personally uncomfortable, I can’t allow myself to feel guilty for not helping the alien and the prisoner this week.
What about the early church to whom James was writing – what was the “good” that they “knew to do” but were tempted “not to do”?
The exhortations in chapter 2 to the folks who were so preoccupied with brown-nosing the rich that they were failing to feed and clothe the poor,
and the exhortations in chapter 5 to the rich who were committing injustices against employees and righteous men, make me think those were things James was aiming at.
Jesus is coming back, and if He doesn’t find us doing what He told us to do, we are going to be in trouble! We must not fail to act on Jesus’ commands to love one another – especially the “least” and most-needy ones.
James’ second exhortation is a...
Jesus is going to put an end to this world in judgment, and, on that day, everything material will be burned up: Your house, your cars, your food, your photo albums, your money, everything you’ve ever written or recorded, all your businesses – all of it will evaporate and be lost forever.
In light of that fact, we need to prioritize what is eternal over what is temporal. We need to organize our lives around a good relationship with the eternal God rather than around the accumulation of material wealth that is only temporary. These rich folks1 in James’ day weren’t doing that, and James needed to expose their folly before it became eternal shame to them.
James’ language, with its allusions to the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and Amos, is a warning that Israel in James’ day was in a similar situation to Israel 750 years previously, just before it was conquered by the Chaldeans and taken into exile.
Compare it to Isaiah 24:1-12 “Behold, the Lord is about to lay waste the world, and will make it desolate… The earth mourns, and the world is ruined, the lofty ones of the earth are mourning. And she has sinned by reason of her inhabitants; because they have transgressed the law, and changed the ordinances, even the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse shall consume the earth, because the inhabitants thereof have sinned: therefore the dwellers in the earth shall be poor, and few men shall be left. The wine shall mourn, the vine shall mourn, all the merry-hearted shall sigh. The mirth of timbrels has ceased, the sound of the harp has ceased... There is a howling for the wine everywhere... And cities shall be left desolate, and houses being left shall fall to ruin.” (Brenton)
From our perspective further-on in history, we can see that James, of course, was right; the Jewish nation was wiped out by the Romans and scattered to the four winds about 20 years after James wrote his letter, and not just for 70 years like the Babylonian exile was, but this time for 1,900 years!
But even that was only a warning-shot from our truly-just and merciful God. The ultimate judgment against materialism is yet to come: 2 Peter 3:10-12 “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?” (NKJV) Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in godly, holy conduct?
Who are the “rich” that James is warning? James has already mentioned them twice before:
“The rich” are the ones who should “boast in what is theirs that is lowly because he will pass on like a grass-flower... thus the rich man will be faded out in his pursuits” (1:10-11, NAW)
and they are the ones in chapter 2 who walk into church with fine clothes and jewelry and tempt other church members to give them special status. James 2:6-7 “Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen those who are destitute in regards to the world to be rich in faith and to be those who inherit the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? Y'all, however, dishonored the destitute. Is it not those who are rich who use their power against y'all and themselves haul y'all into courts-of-law? Is it not they who blaspheme the good name named upon you?” (NAW)
They may also be the ones who were planning the manufacturing business with no regard for God, at the end of chapter 4.
Now, it is possible to be rich and humble and not exploitative and blasphemous, but Jesus said it is not easy2, so, to the wealthy and powerful who have taken the “easy” route of selfishness and pride, James writes this challenging message.
The Apostle Paul issued similar warnings in 1 Timothy 6:9 “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition... 17 Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.” (NKJV)
James says that miseries/weighty trials are already coming their way – God, in His justice and foresight was already moving appropriate consequences into place, and perhaps it is those miseries/weighty trials which are listed in verses 2-3:
Their wealth is “corrupted/rotted/spoiled”
Perhaps this is speaking of food3 or manufactured products that go bad over time, so they can no longer be eaten or sold for a profit.
For instance, when I was doing a lot of composing and recording music in the 1990’s, I spent countless hours hand-making cassette tapes of music to sell. Now that nobody uses cassette players anymore, I have stacks of these cassette tapes I made that I’ll never be able to sell! It’s just the way things go.
The Greek perfect tense would indicate that this has happened in the past and is still a problem. (It is possible that this is a prophetic mannerism, speaking of things in the future as though they happened in the past, but I think this is a way of warning Christians who have been tempted to indulge in materialism to remember how they have already had losses in the past and to reign back from fixating on material goods.)
James also notes that their “garments have become moth-eaten” and, in v.3, their “gold and silver cancered/corroded/rusted.”
It was the rich garments and the gold rings that distinguished the rich man at the beginning of chapter two, to receive special treatment in church, but such things don’t buy you permanent status. Moths are famous for nesting in closets and eating holes in clothes, and once your clothes have holes in them, they don’t look so good anymore!
The way the English translations of v.3 read, it may seem inaccurate that James should speak of gold “rusting,” but in the Greek grammar of the sentence, his emphasis is on the silver tarnishing, not the gold (although gold is often alloyed with metals that can corrode), and if you have any old silver items, you know how quickly silver oxidizes and turns black.
Once again, the perfect tenses concerning their clothing “getting moth-eaten” and their silver “tarnishing” indicate that this has happened in the past. If we are paying attention, we will notice that the things of the world don’t last forever; they lose value if they aren’t kept up, and God wants us to learn a lesson from that and use the resources of this earth to do His will, not hoard them for ourselves in quantities that we can’t even use.
Another possible interpretation is that this is speaking specifically of gold and silver idols.4
James goes on in v.3 to say something even more interesting, switching from Perfect tense to Future tense and asserting that the “poisonous corrosion of their gold and silver” will “become a witness against” them and “will consume their flesh like fire.”
When archaeologists dig up the remains of ancient civilizations, the things those ancient people made out of gold are often all that is left to give us clues as to what their culture was like, because gold is exceptionally slow to corrode. All we know about some of the ancient Canaanite civilizations is based on idols they made of gold, and it is a witness against them. We think of them as worshippers of sexualized idols, and we don’t have a lot of respect for that.
But if we were all to die in a plague this week, what would archaeologists think about us if they came digging around here a thousand years from now?
Maybe the more-pertinent question is, “What does God think of the way you use the resources of food and clothes and money that He has provided you? Will these things become evidence used against you on Judgment Day5?” God will judge us and hold us accountable for how we live our lives.
Now, how will the corrosion of gold and silver “consume your flesh like fire”?
The only other place in the Greek Bible where we see the words “consume,” “flesh,” and “fire” are in Rev. 17, a prophecy of future judgment where the harlot “mystery Babylon” gets eaten by the beast that she was riding on and burned before the beast itself is cast into hell. So it could be a prophecy of the final judgment, where the same fire that consumes all our material things will also consume our mortal bodies.6
On the other hand, it could perhaps be interpreted figuratively, that to the naive, wealth is dangerous because it can become all-consuming to the mind and can lead to apostasy and an untimely death7. Both interpretations are supportable by other Scripture.
However, the use we make of the things of this world could be evidence used in your favor in judgment!
I am reminded of Tabitha (also known as Dorcas) in the book of Acts, chapter 9. When she died, people started bringing out items of clothing to the Apostles, as evidence of how she lived her life. And what was the witness of Tabitha’s handiwork? As all those poor people showed Peter the clothes Tabitha had made for them, Peter was convinced that this woman needed to stick around in this community a little while longer, so he went and raised her from the dead!
Commenting on this same principle, Jesus said in Luke 16:9 “...make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon-wealth, so that when it fails (and when you fail)8, they may receive you into an everlasting home.” And elsewhere He said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added onto you.” (Matt. 6:33, NAW)
But instead of making investments in what is eternal, these wealthy folk in James’ day were “stockpiling/heaping/storing/laying up treasure in the last days.”
Now, there could be differences of opinion on how to interpret this verse9, but I think it means that they won’t be able to stockpile or put income into savings much longer, because they are reaching the end of the time when they can do so, due to God’s impending judgment which will put an end to their ability to accumulate wealth.
That was a problem in Israel back before the Babylonian exile: Micah 6:10-13 “Is there not fire, and the house of the wicked heaping up wicked treasures, and that with the pride of unrighteousness? Shall the wicked be justified by the balanced, or deceitful weights in the bag, whereby they have accumulated their ungodly wealth, and they that dwell in the city have uttered falsehoods, and their tongue has been exalted in their mouth? Therefore will I begin to smite thee; I will destroy thee in thy sins.” 2 Kings 20:17 “Behold, the days come, that all things that are in thy house shall be taken, and all that thy fathers have treasured up until this day, to Babylon; and there shall not fail a word, which the Lord has spoken.” (Brenton)
It has always been a sinful tendency of humans: Psalm 39:6 “Surely man walks in a shadow; nay, he is disquieted in vain: he lays up treasures, and knows not for whom he shall gather them.” (Brenton) And we see it in spades today, with so many billionaires heaping up treasure. If they do not learn this lesson from James and change their thinking regarding wealth, like Zaccheus the tax-collector did when Jesus visited him, they are going to lose it all, just like everybody else before them has.
That’s
why Jesus said in Luke 12:33 “Sell your possessions, and
give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not
grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail,
where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.” (ESV)10
Giving
to the needy is a way to steward material things in light of
Jesus’ 2nd coming.
In light of the coming judgment of the “Almighty Lord of Army-hosts11,” what else does God tell those who have organized their life around material possessions to do? The commands are in James 5:1: “...Come to grips/get with-it… weep and howl…”
Realizing the truth of your situation and mourning over the coming loss of all your things is a good, Biblical first step.
When we weep, it is generally because we have realized the loss of something that was important to us. That’s the first step: realizing that material things were important to us – too important, and realizing, by faith in the promises of God, that we are going to lose all our things eventually.
Ezekiel 21:12 Cry out and howl, son of man: for this sword is come upon my people, this sword is come upon all the princes of Israel: they shall be as strangers: judgment with the sword is come upon my people: therefore clap thine hands, for sentence has been passed” (Brenton)
Isaiah 13:6 “Howl, for the day of Yahweh is near; as calamity from the Almighty it will come!” (NAW)
Now, that’s just a first step, and it should lead to further steps of faith in God’s word and a transformation of our attitude toward our things from selfish possession towards God-oriented stewardship.
So, in light of the fact that Jesus is coming again to judge the world:
we need to be careful not to neglect anything He has told us to do,
and we need to realize that material wealth is to be invested in the lives of souls who will live forever rather than hoarded selfishly.
Thirdly, in light of the second coming, James gives a...
James insinuates that wealthy landowners12 were oppressing lower-class Jews who were daily wage-earners in the service industry,
like the Egyptians oppressed the Jewish people back when they were slaves in Egypt (Exodus 2:23 “And in those days after a length of time, the king of Egypt died; and the children of Israel groaned because of their tasks, and cried, and their cry because of their tasks went up to God.” ~Brenton)
like the Philistines had oppressed Israel in Samuel’s day (1 Sam. 9:16)
and like the post-exilic Jews had done to each other, when God said through Malachi 3:5 “And I will draw near to you in judgment; and I will be a swift witness against... them that swear falsely by my name, and against them that keep back the hireling's wages, and them that oppress the widow, and afflict orphans, and that wrest the judgment of the stranger, and fear not me, saith the Lord Almighty.” (Brenton, cf. Sirach 4:1, 34:22)
I have a carpenter friend who went out-of-business because so many homeowners who contracted him did not pay him. I’ve heard that’s a pretty common problem these days.
Failing to pay an employee – or failing to pay for a service according to contract – is something God takes very seriously.
This abuse of power was expressly forbidden in God’s law:
Leviticus 19:13 “You may not extort your neighbor, and you may not be a robber; the earnings of an employee may not even stay overnight with you until morning.” (NAW)
Deut. 24:14-15 “You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates. Each day you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it; lest he cry out against you to the LORD, and it be sin to you.” (NKJV)
Now, if they agreed to contract with you for a weekly or monthly paycheck instead of being paid every day, there is probably room for that, but the implication of the law is to keep your accounts short – daily was the ideal.
And this was affirmed by the prophets and by Jesus and the Apostle Paul:
Jeremiah 22:13 "Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness And his chambers by injustice, Who uses his neighbor's service without wages And gives him nothing for his work.” (NKJV)
Jesus mentioned “Do not defraud,” in the list of God’s laws to the Rich Young Ruler13,
And Paul wrote in Colossians 4:1 “Masters, give your bondservants what is just and fair, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.” (NKJV)
These wealthy oppressors should have known that God would come and hold them accountable,
for, when Cain killed Abel in the first-recorded abuse of power, God visited Cain, “And He said, ‘What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground.’” (Gen. 4:10, NKJV) God doesn’t miss a thing!
King David also testified in Psalm 18:6 “During my distress, I would call Yahweh, yes to my God I would holler. From His temple He would hear my voice, and my hollering would get to His attention, into His ears.” (NAW) “For the LORD hears the poor and does not despise His prisoners” (Psalm 69:33, NKJV).
Prov. 22:16 “He who oppresses the poor to increase his riches, And he who gives to the rich, will surely come to poverty.” (NKJV)
This also goes for all the corrupt politicians today. Jesus has been listening to the prayers of all the poor people who have begged God for justice when the rich and powerful wronged them, and Jesus is coming back to bring a day of reckoning.
Now, maybe you haven’t been oppressive on the level of Adolph Hitler, but v.5 says that simply living a selfish, luxury-lifestyle is going to make you culpable on Judgment Day.
While the poor have been working hard, the rich have been selfishly living a soft life and indulging their sensual appetites.
Perhaps the fattening of themselves is in contrast to the poor being slaughtered or themselves being slaughtered14,
but I think James is observing how folks normally eat more meat on butchering-day than on other days. These wealthy folks were eating gluttonously as though every day was butchering-day for them.
Nowadays, if you’re not a butcher, that might not relate, but maybe you could correlate it with the phenomenon in our culture of splurging on entertainment every Friday night, because Friday afternoon is the time that the weekly paycheck comes.
When wealthiness results in folks living wastefully like every day is payday, we’ve got a problem, and God is likely to bring a correction.
The second verb in v.5 is only found in two places in the Greek Bible:
Ezekiel 16:49 “Moreover this was the sin of thy sister Sodom, pride: she and her daughters lived in pleasure, in fullness of bread and in abundance: this belonged to her and her daughters, and they helped not the hand of the poor and needy.” (Brenton)
And then, in the N.T., Paul warned Timothy that it was a problem if a wealthy widow did not busy herself with church ministry or with raising a family: 1 Timothy 5:13 “...they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle but also gossips and busybodies,” so Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 5:6 “… she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives.” (NKJV) Paul also warned Timothy about men who would be “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” in 2 Tim. 3:4.
The Prophet Amos used similar words in addressing the Jews before the Babylonian captivity: Amos 6:1-7 “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion... who recline on beds of ivory And sprawl on their couches, And eat lambs from the flock And calves from the midst of the stall... Who drink wine from sacrificial bowls While they anoint themselves with the finest of oils, Yet they have not grieved over the ruin of Joseph. Therefore, they will now go into exile at the head of the exiles, And the sprawlers' banqueting will pass away.” (NASB)
This principle that a selfish, luxury-lifestyle on earth is not right reminds me of Jesus’ “Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus” in Luke 16:25 “But Abraham said [to the rich man], `Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.’” Justice will come out in the end! Ecclesiastes 11:9b “...follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes. Yet know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things.” (NASB)
Now, does that mean you can never take a vacation or enjoy a special meal? No, God actually commanded that His people take a weekly Sabbath and take multiple annual vacations, complete with holiday feasts. In moderation, rest keeps us healthy, but there is a balance there, and God will hold you accountable as to whether or not you have been moderate about that.
Now, in v.6, we find out that the oppression of at least some of these rich folks was truly despotic, to the point of “murdering” innocent people. Whether this language is figurative or literal, this is the ultimate abuse of power.
In ch. 2 v.6, James mentioned the rich dragging Christians into court,
and in the middle of chapter 4, James noted that these folks were saying bad things about Christians and judging their neighbors in a condemnatory way,
and at the beginning of chapter 4, James noted that their fighting and quarreling over their selfish desires had resulted in murder.
The nation of Israel persecuted most of its prophets, and then when Jesus THE righteous man arrived in Jerusalem, they had Him condemned and put to death! Others who followed Jesus, such as Steven and James the son of Zebedee, had also been martyred by the time James wrote this epistle (Acts 7:52).
These “righteous” persons15 had done nothing to threaten the rich16, and yet the rich had them killed anyway, just because they could and because they thought they could gain something by getting rid of the righteous. It was pure abuse of power.
It reminds me of Herod having John the Baptizer’s head chopped off, just because he didn’t want to scold his daughter-in-law for requesting such an outrageous injustice. Herod figured the social capital he could gain with his besotted and lustful guests was worth more than the life of the man whom Jesus said was “the greatest ever born of women” (Matt. 11:11).
Now, for most of us, we may not be guilty of actual murder, but, as the Jewish wisdom literature points out, anything we do to deprive someone else out of hatred or even disregard for them is on a continuum, the extreme of which is murder: “He that taketh away his neighbour's living slayeth him; and he that defraudeth the labourer of his hire is a bloodshedder.” (Sirach 34:22, Brenton)
Murder is a logical consequence of believing that there is no God to hold us accountable,
So we must not allow ourselves to forget our confession that Jesus is “coming to judge the quick and the dead,” so that we do not open ourselves up to rationalizing abortion, euthanasia, and other forms of murder.
We must also keep in mind that since murder is acceptable outside the Christian worldview (1 Thess. 2:15, John 16:2), we must be, as Jesus said, “wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (John 10:16, KJV).
Finally, after these three warnings that those who omit to do God’s will, and those who get sucked into the idolatry of material things, and those who use power to abuse fellow human-beings, will be in deep trouble on Judgement Day when Jesus returns, James tells us – his Christian “brothers” and sisters – therefore to “be patient/long-suffering” until the coming of the Lord.
The willingness to suffer for a while patiently until Jesus returns will give us the heart to do what Jesus commands, not neglecting His will while we wait.
Suffering and patience are the opposite of the selfishness which feeds materialism and makes us think of our possessions as something to be hoarded for ourselves,
And it is the opposite of the abuse of power to submit to the will of Jesus as our Lord and Master rather than to please ourselves at the cost of others.
There is much more to unpack about this stance of long-suffering until Jesus returns, but for now, let me leave off with James’ words from chapter 1 verse 4: “Let that patience have a complete effect in order that you may be complete with integrity, lacking in nothing.” (NAW)
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 |
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 |
5
For ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and revelled,
and feasted
your |
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 |
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 שד – destruction/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.