James 5

    5:1-6.  Having just admonished those who wish and scheme to be rich, James now addresses those who actually are rich in this world’s goods and power, those very like the movers and shakers who, out of jealousy and fear, have put to death “the righteous” (6; cf. Mt. 23:29-36).

     As always, one must consider the historical context of these words when first written.  James is the leader of the church in Jerusalem.  By Jesus’ own words, he knows that Jerusalem and the temple will soon be destroyed in a horror the likes of which the world had never seen.  History records this was done by the Roman army, initially led by Vespasian, then by his son Titus.  But their work came to pass by the sovereign decree of the Lord of Sabaoth (or hosts), the great Captain of armies (cf. Mt. 24:29-34; 26:64.  See notes, Mt. 24).  The Lord was the righteous man that they had murdered.  Anyone in the church in Jerusalem who didn’t let go of this world’s goods, and get out of Jerusalem when the Lord drew near to judge, would perish with his possessions (cf. Mt. 24:15-22).

     These words of James, like all prophecy, have a direct application to his own time.  Those were the “last days” for Jerusalem (3).  But Jerusalem is a type of the final judgment of all the world, and the coming of the Lord is ever near, and he is at the very door (9; cf. Ps. 24:7-10; Ro. 13:11-12).  Each man will see him coming at a day and hour that he does not know, and all the riches of this world will perish.  Happy is the man who can let go of it all, and say, “Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).

     5:7-11.  James returns to his main theme, persevering with patient endurance through the trials of our faith.  Very possibly this was written during the time of famine which plagued the region, and for the relief of which Paul had the churches make collections.  In any case, we are not to count those blessed who see faith as a way to “name it and claim it”.  Rather, we are to take for our example those who suffered in patience to the end, and found that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

     5:12.  We have nothing to swear by that does not belong to God.  An oath can be given when required by law, but we are to tell the truth for its own sake without an oath, for the God of truth is our judge.

     5:13-18.  We see here the power of prayer among the brethren, and how we may encourage and minister to one another by it.  The elders’ use of the anointing oil when they pray for the sick is symbolic of the Holy Spirit (14).  It is to demonstrate that healing comes by his power and mercy.  This is no counterfeit sacrament of “extreme unction” said over the dying by a powerless priest.  Our faith rests on the once for all atoning work of the Lord’s anointed High Priest, now raised from the dead, not on the administration of last rites.   What we do need is the healing power that can come by the earnest prayers of our brothers of like precious faith, and the purging of our souls by the confession of our sins to one another (15-16; cf. John 11:25-26).  Sin is the very disease from which we most need healing.

     5:17-18,  James completes his point about the efficacy of a righteous man’s prayers with an illustration from the life of Elijah.  And lest we think the prophet had special powers of his own that mere mortals can’t appeal to, he begins by reminding us that Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.  Elijah did not rely on his own prophetic power, but on the power of the same God to whom we pray (see 1 Kings 17 and 18).

     Three years and six months:  The time given in 1 Kings 18 is not so definite as v.17, but cf. Luke 4:25.  In Scripture, the number three and a half as an interval of time is expressed in every possible way; as years, as 42 months, or as the approximate three and a half years in days, or even as a time, times, and half a time.  It gets its symbolic value 

from the fact that it is half of seven.  Seven stands for completeness, because the Lord rested from the work of creation on the seventh day.  Thus half of seven is a time cut short, often as here, a time of judgment cut short by God’s grace.

     5:19-20.  We are responsible for one another.  God works by means, both to convert and to preserve those who are his (cf. Ro. 10:14; 11:23).  We are to keep watch over one another, for encouragement to persevere in the truth can save a straying sinner’s soul from death, and cover a multitude of sins (just as the blood sprinkled lid of the ark in the temple covered the tables of the Law, which condemned all the people as sinners).

     James begins and ends with the need for endurance (cf. 1:2-4).  Perseverance of the saints is as certain as God’s word (cf. John 6:39), yet the warnings are a caution to us all.  The need to keep up the struggle remains, and the danger is real (cf. John 15:6).  Our perseverance when under trials (1:12), and the prayers of the brethren, are means God has provided to strengthen his elect, so that he loses none.