James 5:1-12 FAITH SHOWN BY PATIENCE WHEN WRONGED The humble and poor were being defrauded and oppressed by the wealthy. Every period in church history has had the problem of disparity between the rich and poor. Not only under the iron fist of communism, but in democracies the difference is obvious. Political leaders, intellectuals and the wealthy concentrate the wealth of a nation in the hands of a few. Common sins of the wealthy are hoarding their money, stealing the wages of the poor who labor for them, extravagant living and injustice.
James is stating the fact that money is worthless in view of the coming of the Lord. Money will have no value in the eternal future. Accumulating money is not the problem, but the love of money is. In this present time, money is needed to support families, spread the Gospel and support those who are taking the Gospel to other parts of the world. The rich of which James was referring, were hoarding their money, amassed their wealth and keeping it for themselves - and then it fades away. Some of the sins of the rich were stealing by holding back the wages of the poor. In their extravagant living they were spending recklessly and using money that wasn’t theirs. There was injustice when the rich took advantage of their power to abuse and kill. The believers did not resist. Faith in Christ and assurance of His coming enables us to suffer patiently the evils we cannot avoid.
Oppressing the poor to get more riches is an evil practice. Looking at money from the world view instead of God's standard, leads to the sin of the love of money. The rich had apparently been afflicting the poor who could not pay their debts and were forced into slavery, and perhaps starvation. Doing this to innocent people who were not oppressing them is called murder. Treasure is still being "heaped together for the last days." Indulgent living and exploiting those who work for the wealthy, is seen by God who will avenge the innocent. He is the "Lord of sabaoth (hosts)" who hears and knows all that happens, and will not ignore injustice. Financiers, politicians and bankers are the ones who profit during times of war. The poor lose everything - often their lives.
When Christians honestly look for the return of the Lord, the evidences of this hope show up in their lives. Riches are worthless, not the rich people. We need to keep to God’s standards. The innocent are defenseless people who are to be prayerful in economic troubles and patient when wronged even when they are enduring hardships and injustice. Patience is learned in tribulation. The Lord allows some things to happen to bring good results.
Endurance in bearing burdens and fighting battles until the Lord comes is illustrated by three examples: The farmer [v.7-8] who prepares the soil and plants the seed and then waits for God to do His work and add His blessing. In the same way we apply ourselves to the on-going work of watering the seed and continually being engaged in kingdom work. By faith, believers like farmers, look ahead to the results of their labor bringing fruit that blesses others as well as themselves. They have to leave the results with the Lord who sends the rain and sun needed to produce the fruit. We stir up the ground in preaching the Gospel and planting the seeds of truth. Then we wait for the life-principle that God controls to work out the results that please Him.
At the appointed time our Lord will come. Until then we must be patient, remain firm in our stand for the Lord, and not complain about others or speak against them whether they are rich or poor. It is the Judge [v.9] who has the right to deal with critical and complaining people. We need to be reminded that Christ, the Righteous Judge, is standing at the door of our lives and who will evaluate everything in righteous judgment. We cannot get away with shifting blame to others.
Quite a number of the prophets of the Old Testament [v.10-11], suffered patiently at the hands of sinners, and yet left their trials with God. Each person who suffers may have a different kind of problem that caused it, but we learn by their example to be patient while the suffering lasts because God has allowed it. Job didn’t understand the trial, but knew that God did. They also were patient when wronged.
The "patience of Job" is an example of one who persevered through all of his great trials. The Lord brought about a good ending in that Job learned the fullness of God's compassion and mercy in a way he had never known before, nor could he have learned it without the trials.
Christians are to be pure in speech. We are to have such honest speech that it doesn’t have to be backed up by taking oaths. An honest person says, "Yes" or "No," and people believe what he says. He must avoid half-truths, exaggerations and omissions of the truth and false statements or else his word will mean very little and he will not be trusted. The Christian must always keep his word, even if it hurts him or her personally. We must commit ourselves to be trustworthy.