James 5:10

κακοπαθείας, here only in N.T. Comp. infra James 5:13 κακοπαθεῖν, ‘to endure hardship’; and 2 Timothy 2:3; 2 Timothy 2:9; 2 Timothy 4:5.

μακροθυμίας, longsuffering, a late Greek word found in Plutarch, elsewhere only in LXX. and N.T., 10 times in St Paul’s epistles, in Hebrews 6:12, and of divine longsuffering, 1 Peter 3:20 and 2 Peter 3:15. Trench defines it as a “long holding out of the mind before it gives room to action or passion—generally passion.” The μακρόθυμος is βραδὺς εἰς ὀργήν. Here it is endurance under persecution, a noble self-restraint which refuses to take vengeance, Matthew 5:22-24; Matthew 5:39-41. In 1Ma 8:4 it is used of the Roman patience which conquered the world, κατεκράτησαν τοῦ τόπου παντὸς τῇ βουλῇ αὐτῶν καὶ μακροθυμίᾳ. For a description of the divine μακροθυμία (though the word itself does not occur in the passage) Trench refers to Wis 12:20-21.

οἳ ἐλάλησαν ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Κυρίου, added to indicate a parallel between the prophets and the suffering Christians to whom St James writes, comp. Matthew 5:12. Like the prophets they are on the side of God against the world. Comp. Isaiah 1:10 πεποίθατε ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι Κυρίου, Jeremiah 23:25 προφητεύουσιν ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί μου, Ezekiel 16:14 ἐξῆλθέν σου ὄνομα ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι. By ὄνομα Κυρίου is meant that by which the Lord is known, every manifestation of Him, that which formed the basis and substance of the prophetic teaching.