James 5

James 5:1

For where a testament [is]. An inheritance has just been spoken of (Hebrews 9:15). That suggests a last will and testament, one meaning of the Greek word “diatheekee”. See PNT Hebrews 9:15. There must also of necessity be the death of the testator. A testament has no force until the testator is dead.

James 5:2

For a testament [is] of force after men are dead. As soon as a man dies, his last will and testament comes into force, but has no force whatever while he lives. The application of this is that Christ’s testament, the new covenant, came into force when he died. The old covenant was in force to the cross; it was then “nailed to the cross” (Colossians 2:14), and Christ having died, the New Testament came into force. It has been urged against this view that the making of wills was not a custom of Israel. It was, however the custom of the whole Roman Empire, and Judea was now a Roman province. The Roman customs had made provinces of the empire familiar with the use of wills.

James 5:3

Neither the first [testament] was dedicated without blood. The death and shedding of the blood of Christ was necessary to the inauguration of the New Testament, as has just been shown. Even when the First was inaugurated, Christ died in type and blood was shed. I believe that the apostle means to say that even in the inauguration of the Old Testament death was necessary, the death of a victim, which pointed to Christ’s death.

James 5:4

For when Moses had. For the events alluded to, see Exodus 24:1-8. Spoken every precept to all the people according to the law. Exodus 24:3. All that God had proclaimed in the ten commandments and the accompanying precepts (Exodus 21:1-23:33) was written in the book of the covenant. This was read to the people, and they promised obedience (Exodus 24:7). And sprinkled both the book, and all the people. Then the book and all the people were sprinkled with blood (Exodus 24:8).

James 5:5

Saying. And Moses said, This [is] the blood of the testament. The covenant had been dedicated by blood. It is well to note that this covenant embraced the Decalogue, yet it was the covenant done away to make room for the covenant of Christ. The tabernacle worship had not yet been set up.

James 5:6

Moreover he sprinkled with blood. Afterwards, about a year later, when the tabernacle was ready, both it and its furniture were sprinkled (Exodus 40:9-15 Leviticus 8:24).

James 5:7

And almost all things are by the law purged with blood. See Leviticus 16:16,19,33. Under the law almost every thing was purified by blood, lest it had been defiled. Without shedding of blood is no remission. Every sin under the law required atonement, and no atonement could be made without blood.

James 5:8

The patterns of things in the heavens. See Hebrews 8:5. The tabernacle and all its service were shadows. Should be purified with these. These were purified, as we have just seen, by blood. But the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices and these. By the heavenly things are meant all of which the tabernacle was typical. The holy place was a type of the church, which is cleansed with the blood of Christ. Perhaps, too, there is a reference to the redeemed church above, in the heavens, which eternally praises him who cleansed it with his blood.

James 5:9

The holy places made with hands. The tabernacle on earth. Figures of the true. Pictures, copies. Into heaven itself. The true Holy of Holies. There, in the presence of God, Christ intercedes for us, as the high priest below interceded before the Shekinah.

James 5:10

Nor yet that he should offer himself often. The high priest entered once a year with the blood of a victim. Not so Christ, our High Priest.

James 5:11

For then must he often have suffered. In that case he must have suffered many times. But now once. Only once did he offer sacrifice, viz., himself. In the end of the world. At the end of the Jewish dispensation; literally, “the end of the ages”, the end of the antediluvian and Jewish ages.

James 5:12

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. The fixed order for all men is to die once only, and to be judged after death. When they die, finality is stamped, on their life work.

James 5:13

So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. Died once as a sin offering. But judgment followed, and he was justified and vindicated by his resurrection. He died once, and after it was the judgment that made him the King of glory. His work of redemption was done once for all. And unto them that look for him. All the saints who desire his appearing. Shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. To them he shall appear a second time, at his second advent, sinless and the mighty Savior. He becomes a sin offering but once, and appears the second time without a sin offering, because he hath done the work once and forever.

James 5:15

Christ’s Sacrifice Offered Once for All SUMMARY OF HEBREWS 10: The Imperfection of the Sacrifices of the Law. In Such Sacrifices God Had No Pleasure. Christ’s Sacrifice Offered Once for All. The Holiest of All Opened by the Blood of Christ. Exhortation to Faithful Perseverance. If Christ Is Rejected, No More Sacrifice. The Law. The law of Moses. Having a shadow of the good things to come. It did not contain the good things, but only the shadow of them. They were typified in the law but exist in the gospel. Can never . . . make the comers thereunto perfect. That is, free them from sin, and thus perfect their consciences.

James 5:16

For then would they not have ceased to be offered? If the legal sacrifices secured complete forgiveness, they would not have been offered over and over. Should have had no more conscience of sins. The fact that it was done showed that there was still a consciousness of sin.

James 5:17

But in those [sacrifices there is] a remembrance again [made] of sins every year. Besides the daily sacrifices, and the individual sacrifices, there was repeated every year the atonement for the whole nation. There were daily, monthly, and yearly sacrifices.

James 5:18

For [it is] not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. The blood of bulls and goats, the animals offered in the sacrifices, had no power to cleanse from sin. In their essence the only real efficacy of the bloody sacrifices of the altar was the moral effect upon the people and the fact that they pointed forward to the Lamb of God.

James 5:19

When he cometh into the world, he saith. Since the Levitical sacrifices could not cleanse from sin, Christ, the Redeemer from sin, said when he entered upon his mission, quoting from Psalms 40:6-8, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not. Psalms 40:6. Since the sacrifices and offerings of the Jewish altar did not meet God’s will. But a body hast thou prepared me for an offering. This is Christ’s offering.

James 5:20

In burnt offerings. Quoted from Psalms 40:6. Burnt offerings were wholly consumed. See Leviticus 1:17. And [sacrifices] for sin. See Leviticus 4:1-5:13. They were so called because of their special reference to sin. Thou hast no pleasure. In neither burnt offerings nor sacrifices had God pleasure; that is, they did not fully meet his will.