_WICKED RICH MEN ARE TO FEAR GOD'S VENGEANCE. WE OUGHT TO BE PATIENT IN AFFLICTIONS, AFTER THE EXAMPLE OF THE PROPHETS, AND JOB: TO FORBEAR SWEARING; TO PRAY IN ADVERSITY; TO SING IN PROSPERITY; TO ACKNOWLEDGE MUTUALLY OUR SEVERAL FAULTS; TO PRAY ONE FOR ANOTHER, AND TO REDUCE A STRAYING BROTHER TO... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT SHALL COME UPON YOU.— _Which are coming upon you._ This latter rendering is,I think, more agreeable to the original than our English version; the word επερχομεναις being a participle of the present tense. Josephus particularly observes (Bell. Jude 1:20. 30. 4:19.) how much the rich men suffered... [ Continue Reading ]
YOUR RICHES ARE CORRUPTED,— By _riches_ here are very probably meant their _stores_ of corn, wine, oil, and other perishing goods, which they used to lay up in great abundance: see James 5:4 and Luke 12:16. Dr. Heylin reads it, _your stores._ Another thing which confirms this conjecture is, that the... [ Continue Reading ]
YE HAVE HEAPED TREASURE TOGETHER, &C.— The literal and most exact translation of the words is, _Ye have heaped up treasure in the last days;_ which rendering leads us to the true interpretation of them. By _the last days,_ we understand here the end of the Jewish state; when the temple, city, and po... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH IS OF YOU KEPT BACK BY FRAUD,— This was one of their wicked methods of heaping up riches; they were not only covetous and uncharitable, but also unjust: the phrase, _crieth,_ &c. seems to be taken from the customs of the Eastern people, who, when they have suffered an injury, go to the judge w... [ Continue Reading ]
YE HAVE LIVED IN PLEASURE, &C.— _Ye have passed your lives in luxury and voluptuousness; ye have satiated yourselves_ [every day] _as on a day of sacrifice._ It is well known that at their high festivals, or when they offered their eucharistical sacrifices, the Jews used to fare sumptuously, and de... [ Continue Reading ]
YE HAVE CONDEMNED AND KILLED THE JUST;— By τον Δικαιον, _the Just,_ some understand our Lord Jesus Christ, who is so termed, Acts 3:14 and in other places. Him the Jews murdered, and _he did not resist them;_ and they did it at the timeof a great festival, when their hearts were elevated with high l... [ Continue Reading ]
BRETHREN,— It would have been exceedingly strange if the Christians had condemned and killed any of their own number: what is said, therefore, James 5:6 as well as several other things, prove that James 5:1 is an apostrophe to the _unbelieving Jews;_ who were wicked themselves, and persecuted the Ch... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE COMING OF THE LORD DRAWETH NIGH.— The apostle by this phrase seems plainly to mean, the coming of the Romans to destroy or carry away captive the Jewish nation: for what God in his providence promises, he himself is very often said to do. See Matthew 27:33.Mark 13:29. Luke 21:20. Indeed it m... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE, MY BRETHREN, THE PROPHETS, &C.— "You may think that your present calamities are great and heavy, and so indeed they are; but your case is not singular; (Lamentations 1:12.) others have suffered as much before you, and those some of the most eminent and holy men. Learn, therefore, from their ex... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, WE COUNT THEM HAPPY WHICH ENDURE.— "Do we look upon them as forsaken of God, because they were persecuted for righteousness' sake? Or will any wise person say, that their sufferings were any token of the divine displeasure?—On the contrary, Behold we applaud such martyrs and confessors, and... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT ABOVE ALL THINGS—SWEAR NOT,— Some consider this verse as joined to what goes before, to intimate that they were to be aware of _impatience,_ and particularly as it might lead them into rash and profane swearing, as men in a passion are more apt to swear. The δε, _but,_ favours this connection; t... [ Continue Reading ]
IS ANY AMONG YOU AFFLICTED? &C.— These two directions concerning prayer when they were afflicted, and praise when they were easy and cheerful, seem to refer to private devotion, and not to their public worship: for if one person was afflicted, and another quite easy, what might suit one, would, acco... [ Continue Reading ]
_JAMES 5:14_.— In the first age of Christianity, the miraculous gifts of the Spirit were very common: it appears too, that when the Christians behaved very unbecoming their character and profession, God sent down some diseases upon them, as a punishment for those particular sins. Such of them as lab... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PRAYER OF FAITH SHALL SAVE, &C.— By the _prayer of faith_ must here be understood, a prayer proceeding from a firm persuasion of mind, that God would assist them miraculously to cure the diseased person. Neither the apostles, elders, nor any other of the Christians, could work miracles, but when... [ Continue Reading ]
CONFESS YOUR FAULTS, &C.— _Confess therefore your faults,_ &c. See Mills, and Wetstein. They were to make a confession of those particular sins which had drawn some remarkable diseases upon them, as a token of the divine displeasure for their unchristian conduct. Their sending for the elders of the... [ Continue Reading ]
ELIAS WAS A MAN SUBJECT TO LIKE PASSIONS, &C.— 'Ομοιοπαθης, _A man of a like frail and mortal composition;_ liable to the evils and afflictions of life, and subject to death, as well as other men: and his saying in this place, that Elijah was_frail and mortal like other men,_ seems to have been in o... [ Continue Reading ]
IF ANY OF YOU DO ERR FROM THE TRUTH,— The Christian revelation is often called _truth,_ as containing themost important truths, such as lead men to holiness and happiness. That manner of life which the gospel prescribes, is here compared to a plain _path;_ and such as departed from it into the crook... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM THE ERROR OF HIS WAY— This seems to be in its primary sense the same which is called the _committing of sin,_ James 5:15 for the person erring is here called _a sinner;_ but the expression undoubtedly includes the conversion of any unawakened person to the life of God. A man may _err from the t... [ Continue Reading ]