James 5:7

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 Christians, but were to come to a speedy and exemplary destruction. His beginning this exhortation with Brethren, and recommending patience to them, from the consideration of the approaching destruction of their rich and potent adversaries, seems a plain intimation that the apostle is turning his address to the Christians, to whom, in the preceding verses, he had not been speaking directly; for they were in a suffering state, and were not in general the persecutors of others. See ch. James 2:6.