It is Christmas Eve, and I am happy to present to you the fifth chapter of the epistle of James. This completes my Advent 2024 translation project. On the technical side, James uses many words and phrases not familiar to me because he writes so differently than Paul, but on the preacher side of me his use of metaphor and the rhythm of his proverbial cadence comes a little more natural.
In private meetings of anointing and prayer, I have often used v. 14. In those years, I have never contemplated how close those beautiful pastoral words are of prayer, confession, and anointing are to the warnings of hell and the condemnation of riches. Keep that in mind as you read these strong words.
I finish with the same methodology I’ve used throughout; an expansive, more libertine rendering of the material in paragraph form, followed by a regular, normal rendering that includes verse numbers, and then a brief section of my own notes and thoughts.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas.
James Five (Expansive)
Rich people need to get real and start weeping and wailing over what is coming to them. When your riches rot and clothes eaten by moths, then the toxic obsession with gold and silver will be evidence against them, and it will be covered in rust while bodies crackle as in a fire. This is your reward in the end. You robbed the workers who picked your crops out in the fields by withholding their wages. Now, their shouts and demands for justice have gotten the attention of the Lord of Armies.
On this earth you lived in self-indulgent luxury fattening your soul like a pig for slaughter. You denied and damned righteous people who did you no harm.
Be patient, dear family, until the coming of the Lord, like a farmer who waits and waits for the early and late rains that yields the fruit of the earth. Be patient. Prepare your hearts. The Lord comes soon. Don’t complain about each other in our family of faith or else you will be judged yourself. Can’t you see, the judge is ready to come in the door.
The trials and tribulations of the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord is an example to our faith family. Don’t we say we will be blessed if we endure? You’ve heard of Job and his patience and how at the end of his story the Lord saw everything, for he is full of compassion and pity.
It is supremely important, family, to not swear – not by heaven, not by earth, not by anything else you can think of – because it might be held against you in judgment. Let your yes be yes and your no be no.
Anyone in trouble needs to pray, and anyone in a good mood ought to sing about it. Anyone who gets sick ought to call the elders of the church to come pray and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. Anyone who prays in faith will save the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up. If he has committed, sins they will be forgiven. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other’s healing. Great power is at work in righteous people’s prayer.
Elijah was a person just like us. He prayed asking it to not rain and it did not rain for three-and-a-half years. Then he prayed, and rain fell from the sky. The earth blossomed.
If anyone were to wander away from the truth, then some of you in our family of faith could try to bring that person back. You should know that anyone who leads a sinner back from the wrong path saves his own self from death and covers-up a bunch of bad choices.
James Five (Regular)
1. Come on, now, rich people, weep and wail for the miseries coming to you,
2. when your wealth rots and clothes are moth eaten,
3. your gold and silver covered in rust and its poison serves as a witness against you. Your flesh will be consumed as by fire. This is your treasure in the last days.
4. See, you withheld the wages from the workers who picked your crops in your country estates and now the cries and shouts of these farm workers have come to the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
5. You lived in luxury upon the earth. You were self-indulgent. You fattened up your heart for the day of your own slaughter.
6. You condemned and murdered righteous people who did not resist you.
7. Therefore, brothers and sisters, be patient for the coming of the Lord. Be like the farmer who waits for the precious bounty of the earth, patient until he receives the early and late rains.
8. Be patient and prepare your hearts because the coming of the Lord draws near.
9. Brothers and sisters, you must not complain about one another, so that you might not be judged. Look! The judge stands at the door.
10. Brothers and sisters, there is an example for you in the hardships and patience of the prophets who spoke in the name of The Lord.
11. Look, we say people are blessed if they endure. You have heard of the patience of Job and how at the end the Lord saw, for the Lord is full of compassion and pity.
12. Above all, my brothers and sisters, you must not swear an oath by heaven or earth nor by anything else. Your yes must be yes and your no, no, in the event you fall under judgment.
13. If anyone among you is in trouble, he or she should pray. If anyone is happy, let him sing praises.
14. If anyone among you is sick, let him call the elders of the church to himself and they should pray and anoint him with olive oil in the name of the Lord.
15. If anyone says a prayer in faith it will save the one who is afflicted, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins they will be forgiven him.
16. Therefore, you must confess your sins to one another and pray for one another for healing. There is great strength in the prayer at work in a righteous person.
17. Elijah was a human just like us. He prayed sincerely for it not to rain, and it did not rain for three years and six months.
18. He prayed again; the heavens gave rain; the earth sprouted its fruit.
19. My brothers and sisters, if anyone were to stray from the truth, then some of you could try to turn him or her back.
20. Let it be known that one who leads back a sinner from the wrong path saves his own soul from death and will cover a multitude of mistakes.
Notes:
1. The ‘you’ in the first seven verses is tense – not verbal tense but emotionally tense. Who is James pointing his long finger at? The textual answer is ‘among you’ (v. 2), i.e. the rich people in the congregation. James is talking to his own people, not outsiders. One can imagine how uncomfortable this situation became as the letter would have been read in worship. Why it is not so uncomfortable now is a good question.
2. That opening sentence, verse 1-3, is hard for me to get my translator’s mind around because I don’t know if James is talking about the people crackling in the fire and rotting or their wealth and riches. These are, after all, apparently people in his church. I feel like it could be both, really, because of the admonition to weep and wail. The theological implications of such a thought on a doctrine of salvation are manifold. But consider also, the eye of the needle (Luke 18:25). James is not a normal go-to for teachings about hell, but man does he do a great job of conjuring hellish imagery.
3. In addition to the eye of the needle, James may be thinking of another of Our Lord’s teachings with the allusion to rain, the rain of the farmer and the rain of Elijah. Jesus said, ‘it rains on the just and the unjust’ (Matthew 5:45).
4. James needs an illustration of patience and he goes to Job, the ending of Job where everything is restored. I wish James wouldn’t have done that, but instead would have instead pointed to how Job remained faithful even when everything was falling to pieces around him, because that mirrors our lives. The reward for patience is not that everything will work out here and now, but in the now after.
5. It impossible to read these lines and not think of such issues as social justice, economic inequality, racism, and oppression. I wonder what James would say regarding income gaps, minimum wage, health care insurance, and unchecked greed. I plan on preaching James in the first part of 2025, and I can tell you it is going to be challenging given the entitlement many Christians have about their right to uncaring and unmoved by the needs of others.