02.01. Chapter 1 - Verse 09
James 1:9. Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted. The apostle having finished that necessary digression about prayer, returneth to the main matter in hand, which is bearing of afflictions with joy; and urgeth another reason in this verse, because, to be depressed in the world for righteousness’ sake, is to be exalted towards God; and in consideration of their spiritual comforts and privileges, they had rather cause to boast and glory than to be made sorry. Lot us see the force of the words.
Let the brother; that is, a Christian. The people of God are expressed by that term, because the truest friendship and brotherhood is inter bonos, among the good and godly. Combinations of wicked men are rather a faction and a conspiracy than a brotherhood; therefore you find this in scripture notion always appropriated to the people of God. When it is said indefinitely ‘a brother,’ you may understand a saint; as here James doth not say ‘a Christian,’ but ‘let the brother.’ So Paul, 1 Corinthians 16:20, ‘All the brethren salute you;’ that is, all the saints. And sometimes it is expressed with this addition, ‘holy brethren,’ 1 Thessalonians 5:27, whereas in the same place, in 1 Thessalonians 5:26, he had said, ‘Greet all the brethren.’ This loving compellation and use of calling one another brothers and sisters continued till Tertullian’s time, as we showed before. Of low degree.—In the original it is τάπεινος, which, as the Hebrew word ענו, signifieth both humble and base, the grace and the condition, affliction and humility. It is here put for the condition, not the grace, and therefore we well render it ‘of a low degree;’ for it is opposed to the term ‘rich’ in the next verse; and so it is taken else where, as Proverbs 16:19, ‘Better be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.’ By lowly he meaneth the lowly in condition, not in heart; for it is opposed to ‘dividing the spoil.’ So Luke 1:48, ‘He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaid;’—it is τὴν ταπείνωσιν, the humility of his handmaid. The grace and the condition are expressed by the same term, because a low estate is the great engagement to a lowly heart. But remember, by low degree is not intended one that is poor simply, but one that is poor for Christ, as persecutions and afflictions are often expressed by the word humility and humiliation; thus Psalms 9:12-13, ‘He forgetteth not the cry of the humble’—the margin readeth afflicted; and in Psalms 9:13, ‘Consider my trouble which I suffer from them that hate me’ in the original,—my ‘humiliation.’ So here, ἄδελφος τάπεινος, ‘the humble brother’ is one that is humbled or made low by the adversaries of religion.
Rejoice.—In the original καυχάσθω, ‘boast’ or ‘glory,’ as it is in the margin. It is the highest act of joy; even when joy beginneth to degenerate, and pass the limits and bounds of reason. I say, it is the first degeneration of joy, and argueth the soul to be surprised with great excess and height of affection, for the next step beyond this is verily wicked. Joy beginneth to exceed when it cometh to exultation, but when it cometh to insultation, it is stark naught. Therefore, how should they boast or glory? Is that lawful? I answer—(1.) It may be understood as a concession of the lesser evil, thus: Rather than murmur under afflictions, or faint under them, or endeavour to come out of them by ill means, you may rather boast of them; rather than groan under them as a burden, you may boast of them as a privilege—it is the lesser evil. Such concessions are frequent in scripture, as Proverbs 5:19, ‘Thou shalt err in her love;’ so in the original, and in the Septuagint, τῇ φιλίᾳ αὐτῆς περιφερόμενος πόλλοστος ἔσῃ, ‘Thou shalt be overmuch in her love.’ We translate, ‘He shall be ravished with her love.’ which certainly implieth an unlawful degree, for ecstasies and ravishments in carnal matters are sinful. How is it, then, to be understood? Doth the scripture allow any vitiosity and excess of affection? No; it is only a notation of the lesser evil. Rather than lose thyself in the embraces of an harlot, ‘let her breasts satisfy thee,’ be overmuch, or ‘err in her love.’ (2.) It may only imply the worth of our Christian privileges: let him look upon his privileges as matter of boasting. How base and abject soever your condition seem to the world, yet suffering for Christianity is a thing whereof you may rather boast than be ashamed. (3.) It may be the word is to be mollified with a softer signification, as our translators, instead of ‘let him boast’ or glory, say, ‘let him rejoice,’ though, by the way, there is no necessity of such a mitigated sense; for the apostle Paul saith directly, in the same terms, Romans 5:3, ‘We boast, or glory, in tribulations,’ &c. But more of this in the observations. In that he is exalted, ἐν τῷ ὕψει αὑτοῦ, in his sublimity. This may be understood two ways:—(1.) More generally, in that he is a brother or a member of Christ, as the worth and honour of the spiritual estate is often put to counterpoise the misery and obscurity of afflictions; thus Revelation 2:9, ‘I know thy poverty, but thou art rich.’—poor outwardly, but rich spiritually. (2.) More particularly, it may note the honour of afflictions, that we are thought worthy to be sufferers for anything in which Christ is concerned, which is certainly a great preferment and exaltation. The notes are these:—
Obs. 1. That the people of God are brethren. I observed it before, but here it is direct, ‘Let the brother of low degree,’ &c. They are begotten by the same Spirit, by the same immortal seed of the word. They have many engagements upon them to all social and brotherly affection. Jure matris naturœ1 (as Tertullian saith)—by the common right of nature, all men are brethren. But, Vos mali fratres, quia parum homines (saith he to the persecutors)—the church can ill call you brethren, because ye are scarce men. Well, then, consider your relation to one another. You are brethren, a relation of the greatest endearment, partly as it is natural—not founded in choice, as friendship, but nature; partly as it is between equals. The respect between parents and children is natural; but in that part of it which ascendeth from inferiors to superiors, there is more of reverence than sweetness. In equals there is (if I may so speak) a greater symmetry and proportion of spirit, therefore more love. Ah! then, live and love as brethren. Averseness of heart and carriage will not stand with this sweet relation. The apostle speaketh with admiration: 1 Corinthians 6:6, ‘Brother goeth to law with brother, and that before unbelievers!’ There are two aggravations—one from the persons striving, brother with brother; the other, before whom—they made infidels conscious of their contention. So Genesis 13:7-8, ‘And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle, and the Canaanite and Perizzite was yet in the land.’ The Canaanite was yet unsubdued, ready to take advantage of their divisions, yet they strove. But see how Abram taketh up the matter. ‘We be brethren, let there be no more strife.’ Oh! consider, no discords are like those of brethren. The nearer the union, the greater the separation upon a breach; for natural ties being stronger than artificial, when they are once broken they are hardly made up again; as seams when they are ripped may be sewed again, but rents in the whole cloth are not so easily remedied. And so Solomon saith, Proverbs 18:19, ‘A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: their contentions are like the bars of a castle;’ that is, they are as irreconcilable as a strong castle is impregnable. But this is not all that is required, as to avoid what misbecometh the relation, but we must also practise the duty that it enforceth. There should be mutual endeavours for each others’ good: Psalms 122:8, ‘For my brethren and companions’ sake, I will now say, Peace be within thee;’ that is, because of the relation, he would be earnest with God in prayer for their welfare.
1 Tertul. in Apol. cap. 39.
Obs. 2. The brother of low degree.—He saith of low degree, and yet brother. Meanness doth not take away church relations. Christian respects are not to be measured by these outward things; a man is not to be measured by them, therefore certainly not a Christian, I had almost said, not a beast. We choose a horse sine phaleris et ephippio, by his strength and swiftness, not the gaudiness of his trappings: that which Christians should look at is not these outward additaments, but the eminency of grace: James 2:1, ‘Have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ in respect of persons;’ that is, do not esteem their grace according to the splendour or meanness of the out ward state and condition. Despising the poor is called a despising the church of God: 1 Corinthians 11:22, ‘Have ye not houses to eat and drink in? Or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not?’ At their love feasts they were wont to slight the poor, and discourage those that were not able to defray part of the charge, which, the apostle saith, is a despising the church that is, those that are members of Christ and the church, as well as themselves;2 for he doth not oppose ἐκκλησίαν to οἰκον, as a public place to a private, but a public action to a private action; as if he had said thus: In your houses you have a liberty to invite whom you please, but when you meet in a public assembly, you must not exclude such a considerable part of the church as the poor are.
2 See Spanhemius in his Dubia Evangelica, part 3. dub. 77, largely discussing this matter.
Obs. 3. Again, from that the brother of a low degree. Not a man of low degree, but a brother. It is not poverty, but poor Christianity that occasioneth joy and comfort. Many please themselves because they suffer afflictions in this world; and therefore think they should be free in the world to come, as many ungodly poor men think death will make an end of their troubles, as if they could not have two hells. Oh! consider, it is not mere meanness that is a comfort; the brother only can rejoice in his misery and low estate. You shall see it is said, Exodus 23:3, ‘Thou shalt not countenance a poor man in his cause:’ a man would have thought it should have been rather said, ‘the rich;’ but there is a foolish pity in man, and we are apt to say, he is a poor man, and so omit justice. Well, then, God, that condemneth it in man, will not pity you for your mere poverty: Matthew 5:3, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit;’ mark that πνεύματι, in spirit, not in purse. Many men’s sufferings here are but the pledges and prefaces of future misery, the ‘beginning of sorrows,’ Matthew 24:8. For the present your families are full of wants, your persons oppressed with misery and reproach, but all this is but a shadow of hell that cometh after; every Lazarus is not carried into Abraham’s bosom; you may be miserable here and hereafter too; God will not pity you because of your suffering, but punish you rather, for these give you warning. Oh! consider, then, is it not sad to you, when you see the naked walls, the ragged clothes, and hear the cries of the hungry bellies within your families, you yourselves much bitten and pinched with want, and become the scorn and contempt of those that dwell about you? Ay! but it will be more sad to consider that these are the beginnings of sorrows; you cry for a bit now, and then you may howl for a drop to cool your tongue; now you are the scorn of men, then the scorn of God, men, and angels. Oh! be wise; now you may have Christ as well as others; as the poor and rich were to pay the same ransom to make an atonement for their souls, Exodus 30:15, but if not, you will perish as well as others; as God will not favour the rich, so he will not pity the poor.
Obs. 4. From the word τάπεινος—it signifieth both humble, and of low degree—observe, that the meanest have the greatest reason and engagement to be humble; their condition always maketh the grace in season—poverty and pride are most unsuitable. It was one of Solomon’s odd sights, Ecclesiastes 10:7, to see ‘servants on horseback, and princes going on foot.’ A poor proud man is a prodigy and wonder of pride; he hath less temptation to be proud, he hath more reason to be humble. Nebuchadnezzar was more excusable, for he had a great Babel, and that was a great temptation. Besides what should be in your affections, there is somewhat in your condition to take down the height of your spirits: it is not fit for those of the highest rank to turn fashionists, and display the ensigns of their own vanity; but when servants and those of a low degree put themselves into the garb, it is most intolerable. But alas! thus we often find it; men usually walk unsuitably to their condition, as if they would supply in pride what is lacking in estate and sufficiency; whereas others that excel in abilities are most lowly in mind, as the sun at highest casteth least shadows.
Obs. 5. Again, from that of low degree. God may set his people in the lowest rank of men. A brother may be τάπεινος, base and abject, in regard of his outward condition. ‘The Captain of salvation,’ the Son of God himself, was, Isaiah 53:3, ‘despised and rejected of men;’ as we render it in the original, chadal ischim, desitio virorum, that is, the leaving-off of men; implying that he appeared in such a form and rank that he could scarce be said to be man, but as if he were to be reckoned among some baser kind of creatures; as Psalms 22:6, David saith, as a type of him, ‘I am a worm, and no man;’ rather to be numbered among the worms than among men, of so miserable a being that you could scarce call him man; rather worm, or some other notion that is fittest to express the lowest rank of creatures. Well, then, in the greatest misery say, I am not yet beneath the condition of a saint—a brother may be base and abject.
Obs. 6. From that let the brother of low degree glory. That the vilest and most abject condition will not excuse us from murmuring: though you be τάπεινος, base, yet you may rejoice and glory in the Lord. A man cannot sink so low as to be past the help of spiritual comforts. In ‘the place of dragons’ there is somewhat to check murmurings, somewhat that may allay the bitterness of our condition, if we had eyes to see it: though the worst thing were happened to you, poverty, loss of goods, exile, yet in all this there is no ground of impatiency: the brother of low degree may pitch upon something in which he may glory. Well, then, do not excuse passion by misery, and blame your condition when you should blame yourselves: it is not your misery, but your passions, that occasion sin; wormwood is not poison. But alas! the old Adam is found in us: ‘The woman, which thou gavest me, gave me, and I did eat.’ We blame providence when we should smite upon our own thighs. It is but a fond excuse to say, Never such sufferings as mine: Lamentations 1:12, ‘Is there any sorrow like unto my sorrow?’ Men pitch upon that circumstance, and so justify their murmurings. But remember, the greatness of your sufferings cannot give allowance to the exorbitancies of your passions: the low degree hath its comforts.
Obs. 7. From that rejoice, or glory, or boast. There is a concession of some kind of boasting to a Christian; he may glory in his privileges. To state this matter, I shall show you:—
1. How he may not boast. (1.) Not to set off self, self-worth, self-merits; so the apostle’s reproof is just, 1 Corinthians 4:7, ‘Why dost thou glory’ (the same word that is used here) ‘as if thou hadst not received what thou hast?’ That is an evil glorying, to glory in ourselves, as if our gifts and graces were of our own purchasing, and ordained for the setting off of our own esteem; all such boasting is contrary to grace, as the apostle saith, Romans 3:27, Ποῦ οὖν ἡ καύχησις, ‘Where is boasting? It is excluded by grace.’ (2.) Not to vaunt it over others; the scripture giveth you no allowance to feed pride: it is the language of hypocrites, Isaiah 65:5, ‘Stand by thyself; I am holier than thou.’ To despise others, as carnal, as men of the world, and to carry ourselves with an imperious roughness towards them, it is a sign we forget who made the difference. The apostle chideth such kind of persons, Romans 14:10, τί ἐξουθενεῖς, ‘Why dost thou set at naught thy brother?’ Tertullian readeth it, Cur nullificas?—why dost thou nothing him? He that maketh nothing of others, forgetteth that God is ‘all in all’ to himself. Grace is of another temper: Titus 3:3, ‘Show meekness to all men, for we ourselves in times past were foolish and disobedient.’ So think of what you are, that you may not forget what you were, before grace made the distinction.
2. How he may boast. (1.) If it be for the glory of God, to exalt God, not yourselves: Psalms 34:2, ‘My soul shall make her boast of God;’ of his goodness, mercy, power. This is well, when we see we have nothing to boast of but our God; neither wealth, nor riches, nor wisdom, but of the Lord alone: Jeremiah 9:23-24, ‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the mighty man glory in his strength; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he knoweth me, saith the Lord.’ This doth not only quicken others to praise him, but argueth much affection in yourselves; as, when we prize a thing, we say we have nothing to glory of but that; so it is a sign the soul sets God above all when it will glory in none other. (2.) To set out the worth of your privileges. The world thinketh you have a hard bargain to have a crucified Christ;—glory in it. Thus Romans 5:3, ‘We glory in tribulations.’ The apostle doth not say, We must glory or boast of our tribulations or sufferings, but glory in tribulations. There is poor comfort in offering our bodies to the idol of our own praise, and to affect a martyrdom to make way for our repute or esteem, that we may have somewhat whereof to boast; that is not the apostle’s meaning. But this glorying is to let the world know the honour we put upon any engagement for Christ, and that they may know we are not ashamed of our profession, when it is discountenanced and persecuted. The apostle Paul is excellently explained by the apostle Peter: 1 Peter 4:16, ‘If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this behalf.’ They think it is a disgrace, and you think it is a glory to suffer for Christ. Look, as divines say, in the case of eyeing the reward; then it is done most purely when it is done to extenuate the temptation by the esteem and presence of our hopes, as Christ counted it a light shame, in comparison of ‘the joy set before him.’ Hebrews 12:2; and Moses the treasures of Egypt nothing in comparison of the recompense of reward, Hebrews 11:26. So, here, in this cause you may glory, that is, to counterbalance the shame of the world with the dignity of your profession and hopes. Well, then, you see how you may glory, to declare your valuation and esteem of God and his ways.
Obs. 8. From that he is exalted. That grace is a preferment and exaltation; even those of low degree may be thus exalted. All the comforts of Christianity are such as are riddles and contradictions to the flesh: poverty is preferment; servants are freemen, the Lord’s freemen, 1 Corinthians 7:22. The privileges of Christianity take off all the ignominy of the world. Christian slaves and vassals are yet delivered from the tyranny of Satan, the slavery of sin; therefore he saith they are ‘the Lord’s freemen.’ So James 2:5, ‘Hath not God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith?’ Spiritual treasure and inward riches are the best. A Christian’s life is full of mysteries; poor, and yet rich, base, and yet exalted; shut out of the world, and yet admitted into the company of saints and angels; slighted, yet dear to God; the world’s dirt, and God’s jewels. In one place it is said, 1 Corinthians 4:13, ‘We are counted as the scurf and off-scouring of the earth;’ and in another, Malachi 3:17, ‘I will make up my jewels.’ Not a foot of land, yet an interest in the land of promise, a share in the inheritance of the saints in light; you see everything is amply made up in another way. Do but consider the nature of your privileges, and you cannot but count them a preferment. You are called to be ‘sons of God:’ John 1:12, ‘He vouchsafed them ὲξουσίαν, the privilege or prerogative to become the sons of God;’ so also, ‘members of Christ,’ and what a door of hope doth that open to you; so also ‘heirs of the promises,’ ‘joint-heirs with Christ,’ Romans 8:17; so also ‘partakers of the divine nature,’ 2 Peter 1:4, and what a privilege is that, that we should be severed from the vile world, and gilded with glory, when we might have stood like rotten posts! that we should be united to Christ, when, like dried leaven,3 we might have been driven to and fro throughout the earth. Well, then:—
3 Qu. ‘leaves’? ED.
1. Never quarrel with providence. Though you have not other things, rejoice in this, that you have the best things. Sole adoption is worth all the world. Do not complain that you have not the gold, if you have the kiss. I allude to that known story in Xenophon. Never envy the world’s enjoyments, no, though you see men wicked and undeserving. To murmur under any such pretence is but disguised envy. Consider God hath called you to another advancement. You sin against the bounty of God if you do not value it above all the pomp and glory of the creatures. They are full and shining, but your comforts are better and more satisfying: 1 Timothy 6:6, ‘Godliness with contentment is great gain;’ or it may be read, ‘Godliness is great gain with contentment,’ in opposition to worldly gain. Men may gain much, but they are not satisfied; but godliness is such a gain as bringeth contentment and quiet along with it; for I suppose that place of the apostle is parallel to that of Solomon: Proverbs 10:22, ‘The blessing of God maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.’
2. Refresh your hearts with the sense of your privileges. You that are the people of God are exalted in your greatest abasures. Are you naked? You may be ‘arrayed in fine linen,’ Revelation 19:8, which is ‘δικαιώματα, the righteousnesses of the saints:’ that plural word implieth justification and sanctification. Are you hungry? God’s mountain will yield you ‘a feast of fat things, a feast of wines upon the lees well refined,’ Isaiah 25:6, wines on the lees are most generous and sprightly. Are you thirsty? You have ‘a well of water springing up to everlasting life,’ John 4:14. Are you base? You have glory, you have a crown. The word useth these expressions to show that all your wants are made up by this inward supply.
Obs. 9. Observe more particularly, that the greatest abasures and sufferings for Christ are an honour to us: Acts 5:41, ‘They rejoiced they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.’ It was an act of God’s grace to put this honour upon them. Well, then, do not look upon that as a judgment which is a favour. Reproaches for Christ are matter of thanksgiving rather than discontent. In ordinary sufferings God’s people have this comfort, that as nothing cometh without merit, so nothing goeth away without profit. But here, what ever is done to them is an honour, and an high vouchsafement. Oh! how happy are the people of God, that can suffer nothing from God or men, but what they may take comfort in!