James 5

James 5:1

There will now shortly come such days, that all the rich among you, or that place any part of their interest on this world, are likely to have a very mournful time of it, in respect of their great disappointments, and the sad destructions and calamities that are about to fall on the Jews.

James 5:2

You have not employed your wealth, like faithful stewards, as God hath appointed you, to the relief of them that want, but let them rot in your hands for want of use: your food, like manna, is putrefied by being kept, Exod. xvi. 20; and so the garments which would have covered the needy, being laid up in your wardrobes, are devoured by moths.

James 5:3

And that rust which is wont to breed in iron by lying unused breeds in your coin, your gold and silver, (which are not ordinarily capable of rust;) and this covetous withholding more than is meet, will not only tend to your want, but is moreover a foul and crying sin, that shall rise in judgment against you, and shall gnaw on and devour your flesh; your treasuring up wealth is as the treasuring up fire, which shall only help to bring more miseries upon you, and so more fearfully to consume you, when the destruction of the Jews, now approaching, comes, and falls most sharply upon the wealthiest men, (as soon after it fell out.)

James 5:4

These riches of yours have not kept you from being unjust, but rather tempted you to oppression of the poor labourer. And this griping and cruelty of yours is a crying sin, and will bring down severe vengeance upon you from the Lord of hosts.

James 5:5

You have set your hearts upon the pitiful poor delights and joys of this earth, lived delicately and luxuriously, (as Dives.) And what hath all this been but the pampering yourselves as it were for the shambles?

James 5:6

Your nation hath condemned Christ to death and crucified him, he making no resistance; and now

James 5:7

As for you that are Christians indeed, and are now persecuted by them, ye may be confident that Christ will shortly come and avenge his and your cause upon them, see ver. 8, and therefore ye may well wait patiently so short a space, till that time come, and then you shall be rescued from the present distresses: (see note [b] Matt. xxiv.) For thus doth the husbandman give you an example of patience, waiting for the fruit of the earth; and in order to that, for the showers that come in the seed time to fit the ground, and before harvest or reaping to plump the corn, and accordingly he defers to do one or other, to sow or reap, with patience, and attendance to the other duties of his calling, till those seasons come.

8 11 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

James 5:8

And their example ye may very fitly transcribe at this time, and thereby confirm and encourage yourselves in your adherence to Christ, whatever your sufferings are, as being assured that coming of Christ (described Matt. xxiv.) in vengeance on his enemies, is now very near approaching: (see note [b] Matt. xxiv. and Heb. x. 37.)

9 12[c] Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the 13 door.

James 5:9

Envy not one another, break not out into those acts of zeal or emulation or murmuring against one another, lest you bring that vengeance upon you; for behold the coming of Christ to the destruction of the Jews and malicious persecuting Gnostics, is now very nigh at hand: (see note [b] Matt. xxiv.)

James 5:10

And whatsoever the temptations or persecutions are which might tempt you to comply and join with the persecutors, consider what ye read and know of the prophets of God in the Old Testament, who, when they came to proclaim God’s judgments against the sinful Jews, were generally very contumeliously used by them, but yet never fainted or were discouraged thereby: and such examples will fortify you against the like temptations, that they may not have any impression on you, to weary you out of your constancy, and bring you to join with the Judaizers.

James 5:11

There is nothing that, according to the principles of Christianity, is more honourable and blissful, than suffering patiently and constantly. You remem-

James 5:12

One special caveat I shall further give you, that ye permit not yourselves that custom of swearing, by heaven or earth, or any other form of oath. Instead of such unnecessary customs it will be much more for your turn that ye take care that your performances be agreeable to your words, (see note [b] 2 Cor. i,) that you fall not into lying or false speaking.

James 5:13

Again, let your care be, that whenever any affliction befalls you, your praying to God be the constant effect of it, as on the other side, singing thanksgivings of your prosperity.

James 5:14

When any man falls into any disease, he is to look on it as that which comes from God for some special end of his, very ordinarily for some sin of ours committed either against God or man, not yet repented of, as it ought: and because the man so visited may not be so well able to judge of himself, but that he may stand in need of spiritual directions and counsel, to discern his own guilts, and because whatsoever his condition be, he may receive much benefit thereby, let him call to his assistance some spiritual person, the bishop in every city, (see note [b] Acts xi,) or whosoever is by or under him ordained for such offices; and when he hath afforded the sick man his best directions and assistance, let him also pray to God with and for him, that God will pardon his sins, assuage his pains, remove the disease, and restore him to his former health; withal using that ceremony of unction, so ordinarily used by Christ in curing diseases, and doing it in the name of Christ.

[e] elders of the church] What is here meant by πρεσβύτεροι τῆς ἐκκλησίας, elders of the church, is not easy to be determined. If there were at the time of the writing this Epistle, beside the several bishops in each church, a second order, of presbyters under the bishops, and above the deacons, and of them more than one in each church, it would then be most reasonable to interpret this place of those. But because there is no evidence whereby these may appear to have been so early brought into the church. (see note [b] on Acts xi.) and because πρεσβύτεροι in the plural doth no way conclude that there were more of these elders than one in each particular church, (any more than that the sick man was bound to call for more than one,) and because πρεσβύτεροι, elders of the church, was, both in the scripture style (see note [b] on Acts xi.) and in the first writers, the title of bishops; and because when there were secondary presbyters more than one in every city, the sick man cannot be thought obliged by this text to call for the whole college, or one sick man for more than one; and lastly, because the visiting of the sick is anciently mentioned as one branch of the office of bishops; therefore it may very reasonably be resolved, that the bishops of the church, (not the elders of the Jewish synagogue, but the bishops of the Christian church, seniores Christianae congregationis, as Erasmus paraphraseth it, the elders, or governors, of the Christian congregation,) one in each particular church, but many in the universal church, and so also many in the church of the dispersion, to which this Epistle is addressed, are here meant by St. James. Thus in Polycarp’s Epistle to the Philippians, where the πρεσβύτεροι, elders, being the highest order mentioned, and those to whom κρίσις, judicature, belongs, may (as in Papias, and Irenæus, and Clemens Alexandrinus, and Tertullian they do) most reasonably be conceived to denote bishops. One part of their office is set down, that they are ἐπισκεπτόμενοι πάντας ἀσθενείς, those that visit all the sick. And accordingly so it most probably must in this place.

[f] anointing him with oil] That anointing with oil was a ceremony sometimes used by Christ and his apostles in working their miraculous cures, healing diseases, and casting out devils, appears Mark vi. 13, where, at the apostles going out, it is said, that they cast out devils, καὶ ἤλειφον ἐλαίῳ πολλοὺς ἀρρώστους, καὶ ἐθεράπευον, and anointed many sick persons with oil, and cured them. Another ceremony there was used to the same purpose, imposition of hands, Mark xvi. 18, and Acts ix. 17 and xxviii. 8. And to these prayer was added as the more effectual and substantial performance, of which unction and imposition of hands

James 5:15

And the prayer of the bishop, &c. and of the sick, if it come from faith in Christ in the one, praying to God in Christ for his recovery, and in the sick person from a true Christian, penitent heart, shall be of force (save where God is pleased otherwise to dispose of it, for the good of the patient and his own glory) to heal and recover the sick, (see note [g] Matt. x. and note [h] Luke xiii,) and God shall restore him to his former health: to which purpose also

[g] they shall be forgiven him] That ἀφεθήσεται here must be taken impersonally, and so rendered, absolution, or remission, shall be given him, may appear by the antecedent ἀμαρτίας, sins, which being the plural number cannot be joined with this which is in the singular, nor is there any other noun that can belong to it: for if ὁ Κύριος, the Lord, were the antecedent to it, it must have been in the active voice, ἀφήσει, he shall remit them. And thus in all probability it would have been, if it had been a promise of God’s pardon or remission; for then, as it was said the Lord shall raise him up, so would it commodiously have been added, and if he have committed sins, he, that is, the Lord, will remit them. By this impersonal form, therefore, somewhat else seems to be meant besides the Lord’s remission; and then that, from the precedent mention of the elders of the church, will be concluded to be the absolution of the church in the hands of the rulers thereof, the bishops, of which see note on John xx. 23. This is of two sorts; first, a release of the offender from the public censures of the church, excommunication, &c., (inflicted on scandalous offenders upon public cognizance of their faults,) upon repentance restoring such to their communion again: secondly, more private, in case of any wasting sin more privately committed, and in confession revealed to the spiritual person; in which case, upon faithful promise of reformation and obedience to spiritual advice and direction, (upon recovery to health,) the elder may and ought to give the sick person the peace of the church, and the benefit of absolution. And that being by him done ministerially, and pro officio, and clave non errante, as it brings the blessing and prayers of the church along with it, so it may reasonably tend to the quieting of the conscience, and avoiding all scruple and doubtfulness, (as our church affirms in the exhortation before the communion,) and be a means of obtaining a release from the disease, if God see fit, or a pawn and pledge of remission in heaven.

James 5:16

Upon these considerations, therefore, it will be very proper for all that are in this estate, to make acknowledgment of their sins to such as are thus called to visit them, and that, besides other respects, in order to their cure from such diseases as are then upon them, by virtue of their intercession to God for those who shall thus approve to them the sincerity of their repentance, see Gen. xx. 7. For this is certainly known, that the prayer of a man of God, to which he is incited by the Spirit, (as the prophets were when they prayed, and as they were under the gospel who had the gift of miracles, see note [b] Gal. v,) will be very effectual, even work miraculous cures.

[h] Confess your faults] What is the meaning of παραπτώματα, sins, here, is matter of some doubt. For as, according to the notation of the word, it may signify some lapses or lighter sins, and so be opposed to ἀμαρτίας πεποιηκώς, having committed sins, in the former verse; so by the ἀλλήλους, one to another, adjoining, it may seem to be restrained to trespasses, offences against the brethren, that is, other men, or Christians, and so to be opposed to ἀμαρτίας, sins against God. In either of these notions the ἐξομολογεῖσθε ἀλλήλους, confessing one to another, will not necessarily import any more than confessing those lighter sins to any inferior fellow Christian, or to the wronged brother; the addition of whose prayers may be very useful to the obtaining any mercy from God, particularly that of the ἴασις, healing, that here follows; and the seeking his reconciliation in case of trespass will be a duty, if not of this, of another text, Matt. v. 24, and must be performed before there

James 5:17

Elias was a prophet and a righteous man, but a man for all that, and subject to the same afflictions and frailties that we are; and yet by earnest prayer he brought drought and famine upon the land, for the punishment of the sins of the people, that ran idolatrously after Baal, and so upon the land of the ten tribes it rained not for three years and a half, Luke iv. 25. and Rev. xi. 6.

James 5:18

And upon some reformation he again prayed, 1 Kings xviii. 45, and he was heard in abundance of rain and fruits.

James 5:19

To conclude this discourse, begun ver. 14, let this be remembered and considered by all, if any Christian transgress the evangelical rule of life, fall into sin, and any man take him off from that vicious course,

James 5:20

It is a most excellent glorious work of mercy which he hath wrought, the effect of which is, that God will free him on whom this change is wrought from death eternal, and perhaps from temporal present death through sickness fallen on him for that sin, ver. 15; and besides he will accept and reward that charity of him that hath wrought that good work on him, with the free discharge of whatsoever sins he hath formerly been guilty, but hath now repented of.

[i] hide a multitude of sins] What is the meaning of this phrase, καλύψει πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν, shall cover a multitude of sins, is a matter of some difficulty to determine. It seems to be a proverbial speech, and very near that of Prov. x. 12, Love covereth all sins: and if by analogy to that it be interpreted, it must signify to cover other men’s sins from our own eyes, to cause us to look favourably on others’ faults, to see few faults in them, in order to peaceable and friendly living with them: for thus in that place of the Proverbs the opposition enforceth, Hatred stirreth up strifes, but love covereth all sins; where hatred being opposed to love or charity covering all sins, must also be opposite to stirring up strife, and so must be the composing of our minds, breeding kindness and charity to others, which is done by seeing as few faults in them as may be. And thus the saying of Pythagoras (who is thought to have had some knowledge of the scriptures of the Old Testament) seems to be interpretable, Ἡ μὲν ἰσθῆς τὴν ἀρρυθμίαν, ἡ δὲ εὔνοια τὴν ἁμαρτίαν περιστέλλει, “A garment hides the ill proportions of the body, but good will or charity hides sin.” But it will be very unreasonable to affix this sense to this place, which speaks of him that converts another from the evil of his ways, and so shall save that other’s soul from death,