JAMES 5
What James presents in a positive way gives support and energy to the Christian life. In chapter 1 we have seen that God as the Father of lights is the source of all good for His creatures. He is known in the shining forth of His love and goodness. Then in chapter 2 the Lord Jesus Christ is spoken of as the Lord of glory; He is the glorified Man in heaven. These two things are great objective realities — God in the light of revelation, — and the glorified Man, the Lord of glory. Then in chapter 3 we have before us what the saints are as being “wise and understanding”, characterised by the wisdom which is from above, wisdom’s children down here. In chapter 4 the Spirit is spoken of as having taken up His abode in us. These are subjective realities; they are what is true in the saints.
The last chapter brings before us what is prospective — the coming of the Lord. So that the epistle covers a wide range of Christian truth. Chapter 5 indicates the present moral features which mark those who have the coming of the Lord in prospect. The first six verses are a solemn denunciation of those whose hearts are set on riches, dishonestly obtained, and accompanied by a life of luxurious pleasure and self-indulgence. It is a solemn consideration for us that we are in the midst of a generation that carries the Christian name, but is marked by [p. 34] Judas character, using even Christianity for self-advantage, while the spirit is there that killed the Just One. What is said here corresponds with 2 Timothy 3.
But the “brethren” (verse 7) are in marked contrast with all that; their present portion is suffering in patience while they await the coming of the Lord. That is to put its distinctive character upon us; instead of pursuing self-aggrandisement and self-gratification we are called to suffer patiently, and to look for the coming of the Lord. The saints of the assembly are awaiting the fruition of all God’s thoughts as to the earth, but looking for them to be secured as the result of influences from heaven. The influence of heaven has been known upon earth in the presence of the Lord here, and in the presence of the Spirit, through which firstfruits have been secured. But the influence of heaven will be publicly known in power at the coming of the Lord.
Chapter 1 speaks of those brought forth according to the will of God as firstfruits. But firstfruits suppose a general crop to follow. What is in prospect is “the precious fruit of the earth”. This looks on to the full result; there is going to be precious fruit on the earth, and God would interest our hearts greatly in it; we await it as understanding its character by knowing the character of the firstfruits. The saints, the brethren, are the firstfruits, but the whole earth is going to be fertile with the same kind of fruit. This will be brought about at the coming of the Lord. The great prospect in Scripture for the saints, and for the world, is the coming of the Lord; He is coming to make the earth fruitful for God. “He shall come down, like rain on the mown grass, as showers that water the earth” (Psalm 72: 6). To really look for that delivers from the present world system, both politically, religiously, socially, and, in a certain sense, commercially. The commerce of the world is carried on that men may amass wealth and live [p. 35] luxuriously in the last days, but all that is going to be cut down. Everything that has the character of man’s glory is going to be mown by the scythe of judgment, and then “He shall come down like rain on the mown grass”. All the glory of man and his pretensions have to be cut down; then the early and latter rain comes to make everything spring up and come to maturity in a new way for God’s pleasure.
All this is anticipated in a spiritual way in those who have the Spirit. They get the early and the latter rain before it falls in a public and general way. In having the knowledge of God, and of the Lord Jesus as the glorified Man, and having the Spirit indwelling, all the conditions are present in the saints that would suffice to bring things to maturity for the pleasure of God. In the circle of the brethren there are firstfruits, but outside that circle everything is in such confusion that there is nothing for it but to suffer, and to wait for the coming of the Lord. When the earth brings forth its precious fruit it will do so under influences that operate from heaven. The early and latter rain speak of that. But these influences are operating among the brethren now. It is, perhaps, not straining things too far to say that the ministry of Christ, and of the Spirit sent down from heaven, was the early rain, and now at the end of the assembly’s history there has been the latter rain that things might be brought to spiritual maturity in view of the Lord’s coming. All truly spiritual labour has that in view now. When the Spirit and the bride say, Come, there will be a mature result in a company on earth that is in accord with the coming One, and ready to welcome Him. When the Spirit and the bride say Come, it is not a request to be taken out of the world, but for Him to come and have His rights, and to secure “the precious fruit of the earth”. John presents the assembly as the bride, not of Christ, but of the Lamb. She is [p. 36] suitable to be the bride of the Lamb because she has participated in suffering — that character of patient suffering and endurance of which James speaks in view of the coming of the Lord. All through the Revelation until the Lord comes the saints who are on earth are seen as suffering.
All the prophets laboured in view of the coming of the Lord, and people in a general way admit that it was blessed that they should have had grace to do so. “Behold, we call them blessed who have endured” (verse 11). We are prepared to admit that it is blessed for people to suffer patiently in view of coming glory, but what about ourselves? Suffering comes in as a result of being identified with what is of God; the prophets speaking in the Name of the Lord suffered, and Job suffered, because he was the most eminent servant of the Lord on the earth at that time. For there is not only suffering from men, but there is necessary discipline from the hand of God. The more eminent a servant of God is the more necessary is it that he should be refined, and therefore the more exacting is the discipline to which he is subjected. This epistle shows, as we have remarked before, that saints are in the crucible. Job was in the crucible because of his value in the sight of God; there was silver and gold there, but there was also an element of dross that needed to be eliminated. James has given us a headline to write over the book of Job, “Ye have heard of the endurance of Job, and seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is full of tender compassion and pitiful” (verse 11). Think of the tender feelings of the blessed God all the time that Job was in the crucible! He did not let them out to Job, and Job thought His dealings hard, but God let out to James what His feelings were all the time; they were tender and pitiful. He felt for Job all the time that He was passing him through so much to refine him; He was full of compassion all the [p. 37] time that He was letting Satan strip Job of everything that he had. That does not come out in the book of Job, but it is disclosed here. We are privileged to look at the suffering that comes upon us all in different ways in the light of the love and tender compassion that is behind it.
We should never forget that our brethren are a suffering and afflicted people. We may think that some people escape lightly, but if we knew all the sorrows of the saints we should be much more tender and pitiful than we are. The brethren are a suffering people, and the more we get to know of their private and relative history the more we find that it is so, and it is all intended to have an effect in loosing us from things as they are in the present world, and leading us to look out for the coming of the Lord. All evil is soon going to be banished, and everything put into accord with the pleasure of God. We suffer at the present time because things are not in accord with the pleasure of God, and also because, as to ourselves, there is a need for refining. We can sometimes see at the end of the course of a saint who has walked before God for many long years something that is as near to refined gold as anything we are likely to see on earth. The holy exercises of perhaps fifty or sixty years have done their refining work, the dross has been purged, and spiritual features remain in purity to God’s praise.
Complaining of the brethren (verse 9) is certainly dross; the Lord will not suffer it; it brings us under judgment. You may say, There are many things that are not what they should be. Well, do you know that “the judge stands before the door?” He will come in directly, and see to everything. Our complaining one against another does not remedy anything. I may be very confident that the One who is taking such pains to discipline and correct me is doing the same with every one of the brethren. If there is any measure of holiness [p. 38] with me I have been disciplined into it, and the same process is going on with all the brethren. Refining and adjusting is always going on in the Lord’s faithful love in view of His coming.
The Lord’s supper has in view the return of the Lord to the earth. We come together as knowing that the will of God and the new covenant are soon going to be brought in publicly, but we know the precious reality of these things while they are yet hidden from the eyes of men. Those who look for the coming of the Lord must be intelligent as to what it means. Wonderful things are coming out of heaven to influence the earth, and we know what they are because they have affected us already. And in the meantime there is an outlet for every exercise in any kind of circumstances. If one is suffering evil, he can pray; if he is happy, he can sing; and if he is sick, there is an outlet in regard to that!
Verse 12 comes in as connected with what James had said before about the tongue. He would insist, as the Lord had, that there should be no need of an oath to pledge the truth of what we say. Every word that a brother or a sister says should be known as absolutely reliable; there should be no prevarication or throwing us off the scent on their part. The Lord said prophetically that His thought did not go beyond His word (Psalm 17: 3); with Him the thought and the word absolutely corresponded.
As to calling the elders of the assembly (verse 14), though there are no official elders now, for there is no one to appoint them, oversight in the assembly has not ceased, and it ought to be a concern to us all that it should be preserved in exercise. We do not want individuals to be marked as elders officially, but we ought to be concerned that there should be those to whom souls in exercise could turn. One would look for moral qualifications now rather than official status. We [p. 39] cannot ignore the fact that sickness is sometimes the Lord’s corrective dealing with a soul. Certainly not in every case, but it is sometimes, and when so I think the person would be made conscious that it was so. Then if there is anything that ought to be confessed it is well to be quite open about it that all spiritual clouds may be dispelled. If the Lord is raising questions it is well to submit to Him, and in some cases the restoration to health might depend on this.
I do not doubt that the anointing with oil was literal, but I think it might suggest in a figurative way that spiritual ability is conferred on the sick person to understand what the Lord is doing with him. Many sick persons would be thankful to apprehend that in a spiritual way, and I think we might confidently look for it. It would be a great spiritual gain in every case, and perhaps more to be desired than restoration to health.
The prayer of faith heals the sick; there is nothing about the gift of healing here; it is the prayer of faith. We hear of large crowds assembling for faith-healing; but I wonder how many are prepared to make a clean breast of their sins! It is all put on moral grounds in these verses.
James would give us a great sense of the power of prayer. “The fervent supplication of the righteous man has much power”. He tells us what the Old Testament does not mention, that Elijah prayed that it should not rain. It shows the power of prayer when a man is thinking of the glory of God and the true good of His people. This was not his intercession against Israel referred to in Romans 11, but it was intercession on their behalf by one who was in the mind of God, and who realised that nothing but a severe chastisement would correct their state. He was in the current of God’s thoughts, and was really on the line of restoration. And that is the line on which James would put us. “My brethren, if any one among you err from the truth, and one bring him [p. 40] back, let him know that he that brings back a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall cover a multitude of sins”.
The thought of the Lord’s coming would produce a desire for that in the brethren; we should want every one to be put right. I have no doubt that the intercession of Christ is often answered by the discipline of God for the restoration of those who have erred. The Lord would encourage us all to cultivate the desire for restoration — to do our utmost to save souls from death and to cover sins. How could we bear to think of any sins of God’s people being unconfessed, and unrepented of, when the Lord comes? The restoration of every erring one is to be sought in view of the coming of the Lord. Turning aside from the truth, and from what is suitable to God, is the way to death; it is not the way of life.
Nothing promotes brotherly confidence more than the confession of faults. If one confesses his offences it does not make us think less of him, but more, because we know he has judged himself about those things in which he has been at fault. He is now upright and we are greatly encouraged to pray for him. But it is to be noted that confession is mutual. “Confess therefore your offences to one another” (verse 16). It is not a priest listening to the confessions of other people, but not confessing his sins to them. We are all put on the same platform of mutual transparency and confidence. James reminds us that “we ALL often offend”. I believe it will be generally found if one brother has to make acknowledgement to another of a fault that something is also due on the other side. I knew two brothers who were not happy together, and they met one day, and one of them said, “I am very sorry that this feeling has come in between us, and I feel that it has all been my fault”. The other replied, “No, indeed, it has all been MY fault”. That is the way to get breaches healed.
C. A. C.