Podcast 102, James, “Pt 5, Ch 5”

Chapter 5 is divided into two parts. Part I, verses 1-6, condemns the rich. Part II, verses 7-20, calls upon the saints to be patient. There is always a subtext. For example, on the one hand, the Lord condemns the rich who get their riches by fraudulent means or who selfishly hoard their riches and withhold their help from the poor. On the other hand, the Lord does not permit the poor or needy to blame others for their own behavior. The Lord insists that we take charge of our own lives, our own behavior.

There is a beautiful scripture in which Christ is called, “The bishop of our souls.”

1 Peter 2:25

For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

Bishop means overseer, guardian, superintendent, watcher, protector. Christ is The Good Shepherd and He is “our guardian and protector; however, the sword has two edges. We too must be our soul’s own guardian, superintendent, watcher, and protector. We too must become ‘Bishop of Our Souls.’ One virtue that James suggests is patience. Things do not always go as planned. We must look to Christ.

The rich become an easy target, and we often blame our ills on the rich. Some use government as a thief to steal from the rich and give to the poor, all under the name of charity. Such governments have been given the name of Socialism, Marxism, and Communism; however there are other forms of government that pretend capitalism but lean toward the principle of taking from the rich and giving to the poor: The terms are populism, social democracy, redistribution of wealth, welfare programs, healthcare, land reform, wealth taxes, debt forgiveness, subsidies, relief programs. Only the scale differs.

As stated earlier, there are four forms of freedom.

1. Freewill, which refers to the spirit of freedom. Freewill is something that governments cannot touch for it deals with one’s inner self, one’s consciousness, one’s desires, one’s immortal intelligence, one’s divinity. Will cannot be created or destroyed. It burns with an eternal flame. The will is set free only through the laws of God. Will cannot be touched by the laws of man. There is a phrase, “to break one’s spirit’ which may suggest the destruction of freewill, but that is misleading. Freewill may be forfeited but it cannot be taken. It is who we are, and it never dies.

2. Agency, which refers to a rational choice between good and evil, depends upon the enticements of Christ vs the enticements of Satan. Without spiritual opposition there can be no agency. Agency, too, is spiritual. It is of God, not of man.

3. Freedom, which refers to our ability to live in a fallen world, depends entirely upon natural law. We have freedom only by obeying natural laws. We may have freedom of flight only because we understand the restricting powers of gravity and the other laws of nature that allow us to overpower gravity. Without natural law, we would have no freedom.

4. Liberty, which rests entirely with government, is usually mistaken for the other three. The laws of God determine freewill, agency, and freedom, for God is the author of both temporal laws and spiritual laws. The laws of man determine liberty.

Three primary laws of heaven are freewill, agency, and freedom, all governed by the laws of God. No government should rob us of freewill, agency, or freedom. Any attempt to do so is of Satan. Christ died to protect our agency, but God allows us to create our own governments. If we choose totalitarianism, Fascism, Socialism, Communism, Czarism, Kings, tyrants, monarch, sovereigns, potentates, supreme ruler, Caesar, Kaiser, dictator, autocrat, emperor, we become our own worst enemy.

The idea that the rich should be forced to support the poor is not of God. If they give to the poor, they must do it of their own freewill. That is the message of James.

James 5:1-6

Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. 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. 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. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

James is not saying that because some rich are wicked, we have the right to steal from them. James is talking directly to the rich. They will be condemned by God if they hoard their wealth. It is not money that is condemned. It is the love of money that is condemned

1 Timothy 6:10

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ declares,

Matthew 6:24

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Those who seek wealth to do good do not fall under condemnation, even if they also thoroughly enjoy the rewards of their own wealth. Conscience, not government, should be their guide. Those who steal, whether from the rich or from the poor, violate the commandment of God so clearly stated in the Ten Commandments, “Thou shalt not steal.” All thieves must answer to God for their own conscience. The rich should be held accountable only to God, not to man or to government. Being wealthy does not obligate anyone to help the poor. Being Christian does. It was Paul who said,

1 Corinthians 10:29

Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other: for why is my liberty judged of another man’s conscience?

The second half of James 5, though it does not directly address the poor; nevertheless, it addresses all who suffer whether from poverty of wealth or poverty of health or poverty of the good things of the world.

James 5:7-8

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

I love the following counsel found in Malachi.

Malachi 3:13-18

Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

We are not to grudge others for their success. Again, we must be Bishop of our Souls.

James 5:9

Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.

Among the principles of the gospel one stands taller than the others, not because in and of itself it is a virtue but because it gurantees that we observe all the other principles of the Gospel.

James 5:10-11

Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

Enduring to the end is essential. For that we must develop patience. They are synonymous. “We count them happy which endure.” That is the practical voice of James we hear throughout the Epistle of James.

He counsels us to be precise in our language. We must mean what we say and perform what we promise. We must remain firm in our resolve. We must be Bishop of our Souls.

James 5:12

But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

Again, notice his practical counsel.

James 5:13

Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.

James believes in the power of prayer. He believes in the power of healing. The ancient elders through their priesthood anointed the sick with holy oil and through their faith they were healed.

James 5:14-15

Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

James counsels’ daily repentance and frequent prayer. He believed in the power of prayer.