James 1:10

But the rich, in that he is made low Better, in his humiliation or lowliness. The context implies that the rich man also is a "brother." Such an one was tempted to exult in his wealth as that which raised him above his fellow-men. The view which Christ had taught him to take was, that it placed him on a level lower than that of the poor. His true ground for exultation would be to accept that lower position, to glory in it, as it were, as St Paul gloried in his infirmities (2 Corinthians 12:9), and to make himself, by the right use of his wealth, a servant of servants unto his brethren. The two other interpretations which have been given of the words, (1) that suggested by the English, that the rich man is to rejoice when he is brought low by adversity, and (2) that the sentence is to be filled up not by an imperative but an indicative, "but the rich man" (on this assumption, not a "brother") "exults in what is indeed his degradation," are, it is believed, less satisfying. Possibly, still keeping the imperative, the words may be taken as ironical "let him glory in his shame." The whole passage, however interpreted, shews, like chap. James 4:11; 1 Peter 5:6, the impression that had been made on the minds of the disciples by the teaching of their Master in Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11; Luke 18:14.

because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away This, so the train of thought runs, is that which is most humbling to the man of wealth. His riches are transient. They vanish often during life. He can carry nothing with him when he dies. For the third time in this chapter we notice a close parallelism of thought and language with St Peter (1 Peter 1:24), both drawing from Isaiah 40:6, as a common source.