Life Project Blog

James 5:13-20

In concluding his letter, James speaks on prayer in the only passage in his letter that doesn’t have a direct parallel in the Sermon on the Mount. Actually, this is one of the strongest statements concerning the power of prayer in the entire New Testament, and if you are like me, it’s also one of the most challenging. Oh yes, it’s all well and good to read about the power of prayer, but we live in a “sophisticated” time of knowledge and science, and we are likely to find some of James’ comments quaint and folksy, but hardly 21st century! Yet, there it is, what are we going to do with it?

Verses 13-15 deal with trouble, happiness and sickness, and with trouble and sickness we are urged to pray, while in happiness we are told to praise.  Verse 15 is challenging for us: “And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.”  How are we to understand this? If you have been with me for a long time, surely you have an idea of what is going here… don’t you? Each of the books we have studied in the past tells us clearly to change our focus away from our earthly understanding and put it onto a heavenly understanding of things. Sickness is a physical affliction, and while that can be a very rough thing to deal with (persevere is a word that comes to mind) it is not the end game.

So often we have looked at things like this, and when the outcome, at least in physical terms, wasn’t the one we expected or hoped for, we let someone convince us that we didn’t have enough faith. Did it ever occur to anyone that our prayer wasn’t within God’s will for the person? I know this can be hard, yes I’ve been there too, but maybe God had a better plan for the sick person than leaving them here in this vale of tears.

Do we really believe that what we believe is really real?

If so, prayer isn’t about getting what we want from God, it’s about getting what God wants for others. Yes, that is a thought worth reflecting upon…

Notice that verse 16 begins with “therefore”

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

In verse 15, we saw that prayer would make the sick person “well”. The word translated “well” is also the word that is used for salvation. Even more interesting, the verse ends by saying their sins will be forgiven: “Therefore…” verse 16. This should be a familiar pattern for setting context by now, what is James actually teaching?  It would appear that the higher priority is on being healed from our sin, and oh yes, if the Lord wills it, from sickness too.

Verses 17 and 18 give us the example of Elijah as a great man of prayer, and then we come to 19-20:

My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

James 5:19-20

Have you ever wandered off the path, maybe not even realizing it, and then you found yourself rather far afield of where you should have been in your faith? Well, I have! Whoever helps someone back from one of these wandering periods saves them from death and covers a multitude of sins.  I hope you will take special note of two things:

1. This is the last verse in this passage, summing up its contents. With this in mind, when James is talking about healing sick persons through prayer, what is he really getting at?

2. This is also the ending of the letter, summing up its contents: What is the letter, and all of this moral instruction here for?

To complete our tour of James, we’ll wrap this up in the next two posts tomorrow with some thoughts on the book’s message and application for us today, see you there!

James 5:7-12

This passage opens with the words, “Be patient, then, brothers and sisters…” (James 5:7a) and to really lock our understanding of it up, we should look at the word “then.” The Greek word here is oun which means “then, therefore, accordingly, consequently, these things being so”.  King James translates it “therefore” and both KJV and NIV have it right. You might wonder why I’m going to such lengths for “then” since I usually avoid this sort of discussion in these posts, and there is a solid reason. You may recall that in the last post, I spoke of keeping it in context and mentioned both the verses beginning at 4:1 and today’s section in asserting an overall context, something very difficult to do in this letter as I pointed out at the beginning of our review of James.  Verse 5:7 is where this is tied together in context, and atypically, it sets context backwards in the text by demonstrating that James is now summing up the prior lessons he has taught.

So, in light of all of this, James is telling us to be patient. In light of his discussion of favoritism, not loving the world, etc., we need to be patient until the Lord returns for this life here on earth isn’t always easy and can lure us off the path of our faith. See it?

He uses an example of a farmer patiently waiting for his crops to grow before he can bring in the harvest (5:7b) He urges us not to grumble against one another, and equating “grumbling” with “judging” he warns that we will be judged if we do, for the Judge is near at hand. (5:9)  In verse 10 he cites the prophets as an example of patient endurance, urging us to do likewise and in the next verse reminds his readers that they count those who have persevered as blessed, pointing out that the Lord used these people for great things, and reminding them of His mercy. Finally, in verse 12 he tells his readers that they must not swear:

Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.

James 5:12

“Above all” why “above all”?

“Above all” is used by other New Testament writers to introduce their final point, and it would appear that James is doing the same here, where he is referring to taking oaths.

James is mirroring what Jesus taught in Matthew 5:33-37, where Jesus said almost the same thing James is saying here. Jesus was tracing the Law of Moses which also prohibited oaths that were sworn by God that what a person was saying was true. This is taking the name of the Lord in vain and profanes God. Swearing by something on the earth is idolatrous, so this is a “catch 22” situation: No swearing.  As a consequence of this, US law allows one to “affirm” rather than “swear” a legal oath. In fact, Harry Truman “affirmed” rather than having sworn for his oath of office, the only president to do so to date.

The next and concluding section of the letter is a prayer, and we will see that in the next post.

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

James 5:1-6

As we begin the fifth chapter, it’s easy to forget how the fourth chapter ended and think these verses are standing on their own as so many of these paragraphs have in this book, particularly if we have a modern translation with subheadings added, such as the NIV, where this paragraph has a subheading, and then verses 7 ff. have a different subheading.  If we continue in that way, and many commentators approach this as a “stand alone” section, these verses won’t make much sense unless we resort to a political understanding. I rather doubt that the politics of class envy are what James had in mind… if hadn’t been invented yet!

In the previous section, covered in the previous post, James is teaching people about priorities and keeping our priorities on God’s purpose and will, and avoiding the arrogant view that we are in charge, not God. Here, he is pronouncing God’s coming judgment on those who oppress the poor for their own personal gain, and in the next section he urges us to be patient for the Lord’s coming is near at hand, and further urging people not to judge one another… which was his point in 4:1-12.  Taking this larger passage into account and remembering that James has mentioned the rich twice before in his letter while teaching us first, not to show favoritism and then not to love this world and its allures, can you see how context is really important here? This isn’t “bag on the rich guy” as much as it is watch out for what’s going on in our own minds…

So dear reader, are you rich?

No, of course not and neither am I. By the way, are you on your own computer as you read this… or are you on your smart phone… or your iPad or Kindle Fire? Is this your internet connection?  Do you realize that compared to most of the world’s population you are rich? Yeah, I’m not crazy about that thought either!

I can’t think of a passage anywhere in the Word that says that material wealth is evil or bad, but there are a lot of passages that warn us about being caught up in wealth, or lording it over others, and certainly there are passages about being tight-fisted and failing to help to meet the needs of others.

If it can be said that this letter has an over-riding theme, it would have to do with putting our love into action, you know, that “love your neighbor” thing… well Jesus was serious about that! We don’t need to be millionaires or super-rich to be tempted to love money and things, in fact if I were to be entirely honest, I would have to confess that I have met considerably more people of modest means who are lovers of money than I have rich people who are lovers of money. No, I’m not kidding… think about it! How about old Uncle Joe who is always so ticked off at those who have more than he does… Doesn’t he complain just a little too much?

Do you see it yet; have you gotten the point…?

It doesn’t matter how much you have, if we love the things of this world whether it’s money, possessions, power, position… whatever it may be, those things will be our undoing! There’s a great line in one of the old prayers in the Book of Common Prayer that says, “In our time of prosperity, good Lord deliver us.”

Yes, Lord, deliver us!

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

James 4:13-17

The fourth chapter ends with a curious little section, one in which James points us squarely at our priority systems. He starts in verse 13 with a business example pointing to our big plans to do something. Yes, we have these plans and we’re going to do such and such… but in truth, we don’t even know what tomorrow will bring, how can we be so sure about all of those plans?

He makes it quite clear that our lives are short and that the time flies by and what are we doing?

Oh, we’re making plans as though we were in charge of things, but we aren’t really in charge, are we? We mustn’t be so arrogant that we think we are more than we are, we mustn’t be so arrogant that we think that the priorities of this world are really our guiding principles, for we will come to ruin on this path.

Instead, we should recognize that whatever our plans may be, God is the one who is in control, and that our plans are subject to His will. Yes, His will, not ours. That opens up a can of worms, don’t you think? If our plans are subject to God’s will and our plans are only about making money and a place in this world then how can we think our plans are anywhere within His will?

Remember Jesus telling His disciples, on three different occasions, that anything they asked for in His name would be granted to them? Do you also recall the context? Each of these times was in the midst of a section that was about doing God’s will, so that anything we ask in Jesus’ name to do God’s will, God will grant. Keeping this in mind, doesn’t it seem like James is really saying the same thing? Before you answer, let’s have a look at the last verse:  If we know what good we should be doing, but we don’t do it, that is sin for us. If we know that we are to do His will in our lives and we don’t, what is that?

I have no idea what God’s special plan just for me is. To be perfectly candid with you, I don’t know that He has a special plan just for me; who am I? But I do know what His plan is for all of us… don’t you?

We are called to love one another, to share His love with others, to serve Him by serving others in a way that advances His purpose… in short, His will is that we each do our part to make disciples for Jesus Christ. Since we know this is what He wants of us, what does James call it when we know but don’t do?

Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

James 4:11-12

The last sentence makes this paragraph come to life for at first it might seem like James is headed in a different direction. He isn’t speaking so much of slander and arguing here, he is speaking about judging others. Interesting isn’t it, that this comes where it does as the end of the whole passage, a passage that began talking about how we fight with one another.

Yes, that’s right, we started with fighting and quarrels and finish with an admonition not to judge…

In our day, many people like to complain about being “judged.” “Don’t you judge me!” they yell, while judging the other person a bigot of some sort. Very frequently, this is teamed up with another word: “tolerant” or more to the point, “intolerant.”  So we hear over and over that we must not judge therefore we must be tolerant of everything. Is James going politically correct on us?

Not a chance!

The contemporary politically correct view on ‘judging’ and ‘tolerance’ is entirely an earthly view, and what has James told us about such things just a few short verses back? James is not writing this letter to the non-Christian world, he has directed it to Christians who are supposed to know better. When he tells us not to judge others, he doesn’t imply that any one of us who is doing wrong can turn the tables to justify wrong doing. Instead, he is telling us that we need to respect God’s authority to judge.

For me to judge one of my brothers or sisters in Christ means that I have taken upon myself the authority to pass condemnation upon the other person, and that is a direct affront to God, who reserves all such decisions for Himself.  Thus, when we heap condemnation on one another, we are the ones in the wrong.

Suppose I see a brother who is engaged in sin, do I help him by calling him names or saying bad things behind his back? How can that possibly restore him in his relationship with God or with others? If, on the other hand, I have invested time and effort into having a relationship of mutual trust and respect between us, I may be able to help him see his error and gently guide him back to where he should be… and perhaps in the future he will help me out when I am adrift: This is love in action. If I don’t have that kind of relationship with him, I can probably find out who does… See the difference?

Take just a moment to consider the implications of this; go back and read the text from 4:1 and ask yourself why James put this last, where the “bottom line” is usually found. Who am I to judge my neighbor? All of those quarrels, being a friend of this world, not having prayer answered,  grief and mourning… and they end up with who am I to judge others…

What is God telling you in these verses?

You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?  But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

James 4:4-6

This is a continuation of James’ discussion of things that cause us to fight amongst ourselves, in which he is getting at the root of the problem. In the previous verses (4:1-3) he pointed out that we fight because we have differing desires within us that are in conflict, now he gives us some insight as to why this is so; we are holding on to the world around us…

Right off the bat, he uses the words “adulterous people” an interesting choice, don’t you agree? Adultery happens when one covenant partner becomes involved with a third party in an inappropriate way. James is telling us that we are a covenant people who are involved inappropriately with the world we live in, when we are supposed to be faithful to God’s ways, not the world’s. Holy cow that is why we have these competing desires within us: It would be just like having a desire to be with our spouse on the one hand, and with our “other” on the other hand. Our Lord is no more amused than our spouse would be; enmity results.

This brings us to verse 5 and your humble reporter has a judgment call to make. A thorough explanation of this would require a very long discussion, for James seems to be quoting Scripture without quoting Scripture. To keep this simple and not lose entirely the important point James is making here, I’ll use an example you might be familiar with. Billy Graham used to say “The Bible says that…” fairly often in his sermons. He was asserting a principle without cluttering up his message with citations and undue formality, and I strongly suspect that James is doing that here. I think it is safe to say that when we stray from Him, God is jealous that we return to Him; after all, one of His names is “Jealous.” This “spirit” that He caused to dwell in us” is the very essence of our being as humans, for we are spirits in bodies and thus unlike the animals. So, when we are “friends” of this world, God wants us back, and that’s why He was willing to go to extraordinary lengths to redeem us. OK, back to the text:

While God is grieved at our departure from His ways, He expresses this with grace. James quotes from Proverb 3:34 to show God’s situation: While He opposes the proud, He extends favor (mercy) to the humble. We can conclude that up to this point, James is urging us to be humble. Consider this in light of what we have found in 4:1-6. We fight among ourselves because we have conflicting desires that strive within us. We have conflicting desires because we are in relationship with God while trying to hold on to our old worldly priorities at the same time. This is grievous to God, but He responds with grace if we will adopt some modicum of humility, therefore let us be humble before God.

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

James 4:1-3

Have you ever gone to the doctor with some sort of illness, and left with a fist full of prescriptions that only treat symptoms? Last time I had the flu, back in February of 2008, She Who Must Be Obeyed directed me to go to the doctor, a command I shockingly disobeyed.  Why? Because going to the doctor for a case of flu, barring something in the extreme, strikes me as a complete waste.  They’ll give you something for the cough and fever maybe, but they can’t treat the infection, and the infection will run its course in 3-5 days… no thanks to the doctor.  In that case, I was good as new in 2 days. James, on the other hand, doesn’t waste any time treating symptoms in this letter; he goes right for the infection itself.

These verses begin a new section, one that continues through verse 12. In this section, James will take us right to the root cause of our problems. As we go, I would suggest that we take our time and let his words soak into our minds so that we will get their maximum curative effect.

James begins with a simple question, a question we should all ask ourselves, “What  causes fights and quarrels among you?” Do you suppose James is talking about the quarrels we get into individually, or the ones we get into as a Body of believers… or both?  “Both” would be my answer, but since I don’t know what quarrels you get into, I can only comment of the “within the Body” quarrels here, but the principle applies in both cases.  Why do different groups within the larger Body of Christ quarrel, and why are certain groups more prone to quarreling with others than most? I think James has some answers for us!

He begins to answer these questions by pointing out that we have desires that battle within us. I suppose that this can be as simple as a desire to be healthy and a desire to eat potato chips; the two desires seems to strive within us and sometimes our frustration oozes to the surface. In my case when this happens, I have ice cream instead!

“You desire but you do not have so you kill.” There was a time when a group of believers might desire earnestly to follow God, and they might have believed that they had found Truth that others had missed, and thus they had a great desire that all Christians would see the Truth in just the same way they do, and when others didn’t, they were killed. Yet, I think James is really talking about something much worse here, for I think in this scenario, all too often that group with those earnest desires ends up killing the faith of other Christians by their opposition, zealotry and overbearing behavior. Perhaps you disagree with me, but I think this goes on more than we realize, and I think the ones who do this would be shocked if they were accused, for I think they have no recognition they are doing it. For the record, I don’t have anyone in particular in mind, this is a hypothetical.

So they want, but don’t have and so they fight. Yet they don’t have because they don’t ask God, but if they do ask, they don’t receive for their motives are wrong. In my hypothetical, the motives are wrong because when it’s all said and done, they care more about being right than they do about following the Lord Jesus Christ, which is all about love.

There are 9 more verses in this section, so we’re just getting started, we haven’t heard the last of this issue, that’s for sure.

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

James 3:13-16

James now enters into a little section that appears to be a summation of what he has covered so far, sort of a “here’s the point” kind of section. What does all of his moral instruction thus far come down to? Wisdom.

Here, he will show wisdom of two varieties, that of this world and that which comes from God. If you stop and think about it, we’ve seen this in each section of the letter so far. If anyone in our midst is truly wise, then he or she must demonstrate their wisdom and understanding by living lives full of deeds that put their wisdom into practice; it isn’t adequate for us to simply talk a good game, we must live the right way.  In this, James mentions that our wisdom should result in humility, rather than envy and selfish ambition. Another way of saying this might be humility comes from wisdom, and selfishness does not.

Behaviors that come from selfish motives and attitudes are not from God, they are “earthly, unspiritual” and “demonic.” Selfishness results in disorder and evil practices, and I doubt that any further elaboration of my part is necessary here…

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

James 3:17-18

There are few passages in the New Testament that show love in action more clearly than this one, in which James says we will reap a “harvest of righteousness.”  What is righteous? It is a life that is lived putting our love for one another into action; it fulfills all of the requirements God has ever placed on us, and it is exactly what it means to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. What is left to say, other than to ask what each of us will do today to put our love into action?