Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. GO TO NOW - Come now: to call solemn attention. YE RICH - who neglect the true enjoyment of riches, which consists in doing good. James intends this address to rich Jewish unbelievers, not so much for themselves... [ Continue Reading ]
Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. CORRUPTED - about to be destroyed through God's curse for your oppression, whereby your riches are accumulated (). Calvin, Your riches perish, without being of use either to others or even yourselves; for instance, your GARMENTS ARE M... [ Continue Reading ]
Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. IS CANKERED - rusted through. RUST ... WITNESS AGAINST YOU - in the day of judgment; namely, that your riches wer... [ Continue Reading ]
Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. BEHOLD - calling attention to their sin crying for judgment. OF YOU KEPT BACK. Not as Alford... [ Continue Reading ]
Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. 'Ye have luxuriated ... and wantoned.' [ Etrufeesate (G5171), luxurious effeminacy; espataleesate (G4684), wantonness and prodigality.] Their luxury was at the expense of the defraude... [ Continue Reading ]
Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. YE HAVE CONDEMNED ... THE JUST. The aorist [ katedikasate (G2613)], 'Ye are wont to condemn, etc., the just.' Their condemnation of Christ, "the Just" (Acts 3:14; Acts 7:52; Acts 22:14), is the prominent thought. All the innocent... [ Continue Reading ]
Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. BE PATIENT THEREFORE - As judgment is so near (James 5:1; James 5:3), ye can afford to be "l... [ Continue Reading ]
Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. PATIENT - `long-suffering.' COMING ... DRAWETH NIGH, [ eengiken (G1448)] - hath and is drawn nigh: a settled state (1 Peter 4:7). We are to live in a continued expectancy of the Lord's coming as always nigh. Not... [ Continue Reading ]
Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. GRUDGE NOT, [ stenazete (G4727)] - 'Murmur not;' literally, 'groan:' a half-suppressed complaint of impatience and harsh judgment. Having enjoined long-suffering in bearing wrongs from the... [ Continue Reading ]
Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. THE PROPHETS - especially persecuted, therefore especially 'blessed.' EXAMPLE OF SUFFERING AFFLICTION, [ kakopatheias (G2552)] - 'of evil treatment.' PATIENCE, ... [ Continue Reading ]
Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. COUNT THEM HAPPY (Matthew 5:10). WHICH ENDURE. 'Aleph (') A B, Vulgate [ hupomeinantas (G5278)], 'which endured' trials in past d... [ Continue Reading ]
But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation. BUT ABOVE ALL - as swearing is utterly alien to Christian 'endurance.' SWEAR NOT - through impatience, t... [ Continue Reading ]
Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. AFFLICTED, [ kakopathei (G2553)] - 'evil treated:' "suffering affliction" (James 5:10). LET HIM PRAY - not "swear" in rash impatience. MERRY - in mind. SING PSALMS - of praise, as Paul and Silas did in prison.... [ Continue Reading ]
Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: LET HIM CALL FOR THE ELDERS - not some one, as Romanists interpret it, to justify their extreme unction. The prayers of the elders over the sick would be... [ Continue Reading ]
And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. PRAYER. He does not say the oil shall save: it is but the symbol. SAVE - not, as Rome says, "save" the soul, but "the sick;" as the words, "the Lord shall ra... [ Continue Reading ]
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 'Aleph (') A B, Vulgate, read 'Confess, THEREFORE,' etc.: not only in sickness, but universally. FAULTS, [ ta (G3588) paraptomata (G3900)] - your f... [ Continue Reading ]
Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. ELIAS WAS A MAN SUBJECT TO LIKE PASSIONS AS WE. It cannot be said that he was so raised above us as to afford no example... [ Continue Reading ]
And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. PRAYED AGAIN, AND - i:e., and so. Mark the connection between the prayer and its accomplishment. HER FRUIT - her usual due fruit, heretofore withheld for sin. Three and a half years is the time also that the... [ Continue Reading ]
Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; The blessing of reclaiming an erring sinner by mutual counsel and intercessory prayer (James 5:16). DO ERR, [ planeethee (G4105)] - 'be led astray.' THE TRUTH - the Gospel. ONE, [ tis (G5100)] - 'any.' Everyone ought to see... [ Continue Reading ]
Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way LET HIM (THE CONVERTER) KNOW - for his encouragement. SHALL SAVE - future. The salvation of the converted shall be manifested hereafter. SHALL HIDE A MULTITUDE OR SINS - not his own, but of the converted [ kalupsei (G... [ Continue Reading ]