Bible Study Notes On Letter of James Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Bible Text

Notes and Thoughts

1 ¶ Come now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted and your garments moth eaten.
3 Your gold and silver are cankered, and the rusting of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
4 Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped your fields, which you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of those who have reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath.
5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth and been wanton. Ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
6 Ye have condemned and killed the just, and he doth not resist you.
7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
8 Be ye also patient; make firm your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned. Behold, the Judge standeth before the door!
10 My brethren, take the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering affliction and of patience.
11 Behold, we count them happy who endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord, how the Lord is full of pity and of tender mercy.
12 ¶ But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by earth, nor by any other oath; but let your "Yea" be yea, and your "Nay" be nay, lest ye fall into condemnation.
13 Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms.
14 Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up. And if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
17 Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are. And he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth for the space of three years and six months.
18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit.
19 Brethren, if any of you err from the truth and one convert him,
20 let him know that he who converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

5:1-13 Faith produces patience
Friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God, James points out in this chapter the danger of a desire for riches.
Because we live in a world which is centered upon having ’things,’ we are in danger of our life being affected by this desire. There is nothing wrong with riches, the Bible does not condemn riches, many Bible people were rich, but are the riches being used for God or self?
v1-6 Use these verses to do a check on your own life style and desires.
v1-3 James looks at the present and future, how quickly riches can ’disappear,’ be lost in this modern world. A company crash,stocks and shares become of no value. Severe weather. Earthquake. One minute you may be rich, next, no possessions, no money, all gone.
It is also important to remember that someone who has little money can also have a wrong attitude to money and possessions. Money is not the answer to everything, 1 Tim 6:9,10; Matt 6:19-34. Consider the story Jesus told in Luke 16:19-31.
James speaks of a future failure of money and riches, "for you who have put all your trust in world wealth, your money is rotting away and your clothes are being eaten by insects." v4,5 Employers and employees, Employers can be so desperate in wanting wealth that they can even steal from their employees, this can apply to believers and non believers. Believers can be so concerned for the things of the world that they do not put Christ first.
v6 There are ways of ’killing’ a person without taking their life, James tells the rich that they are doing this just to get to the top, for example forgetting your family, the job comes first.
God knows all about your actions, nothing is hid from Him.
v7,8 The Lord will return, could be today. Live your life as if He will come back in the next minute, faith in His return will produce patience and help us to go through the problems of the world, Phil 4:6,7; James 1:3; 1 Peter 1:6,7, rewards on His return, 1 Cor 3:12-15; Gal 6:9, do not lose heart, Heb 10:36,37.
write Perhaps Today on your mind, Rom 13:11-14.
v9 Warning against complaining. None of us are perfect and will fail occasionally, so we should not complain or grumble about others, only the Lord knows how to judge others behaviour, and our behaviour to others. Look at Paul’s response to this problem Phil 4:11-13; 2 Tim 4:6-8.
v10,11 Look at Old Testament examples of those who suffered. Moses, Daniel, David, Job. Job took all the Lord allowed to happen to him yet did not lose faith. This also reminds us to trust God in all that we go through. His aim is to make us more Christ like, Rom 8:28-30; 1 Peter 2:19-23.
v12 Faith does not include oaths. Remember Ex 20:7. See what Jesus said Matt 5:34-37. A believer should be trusted to say "Yes" or "No" and mean it. There may be times when we can use an oath, there have been times in the Old Testament, Gen 22:16,17; Joshua 9, we may also call upon a witness, Paul called upon God in Rom 1:9, but this is not an oath, Heb 6:13-17
v12 "fall into condemnation." means "judgement" James is talking about believers having to give an account to Jesus on their speech, we must choose our words with care, only used to bring glory to God.
5:13 Prayer and singing
In James 1:2-6 James had looked at a believer suffering. The writer of Hebrews shows our response to suffering and affliction, Heb 12:11-15. Suffering for God will bring Him glory in the end. This can also apply to sickness, see next verses.
"sing psalms." James also reminds us of what Paul encouraged in Eph 5:19,20. The Psalms were set to music and could be used as part of a believers worship. Some of todays hymns are attractive to sing but do not always contribute to your worship, so be careful on what you sing. If you want to sing to God then do so as long as it is to His glory and scriptural and not for your own pleasure.
5 14-20 Prayers of faith and healing
These verses are very significant for a believer but we need to make sure we do not read into them wrong teaching. Sometimes translation to another language from the Greek can change the meaning.
v14 Four instructions are given
1) The sick person to call the elders.
This does not mean faith healing meetings as the elders are to go to the sick person in their home. Why call elders? There were doctors in that time, Luke was one. James must therefore be referring to a sickness which was due to an act of sin by the person. The elders are the obvious choice.
2) The elders are to pray over him.
As the sick person was not told to pray, we must therefore assume he/she had already done this before calling the elders. See v15. It is also worth noting that not all believers were healed of problems, Paul had a problem believed with his eyes which he prayed about but God said he would not heal him, 2 Cor 12:7-10. Also 2 Tim 4:20. Paul was not able to heal Miletus. Also if a believer is always healed then they would never die, and we know that is not correct.
3) Anointing him with oil
James was writing to the ‘twelve tribes,’ James 1:1. The Jews would understand the significance of ‘Anointing him with oil.’ In New Testament Times the application of oil was an accepted medical treatment. See Luke 10:30-37; Mark 6:13.
It is worth noting that any New Testament books written specifically to the Gentiles does not mention ‘anointing with oil.’
There are two words used for ‘anointing’ in the Greek, ‘Chrio’ this is used in ceremonial anointing, ‘Christ’ is derived from it, ‘the Anointed One.’ The second word is ‘aleipho’ meaning ‘to rub in.’ It is this one which was used in the original of James 5:14. The word used for treatment of wounds.
In the Name of the Lord
Many people end their prayers with this saying, it is not wrong but we must remember that to do this He must be our Lord and Saviour.
We must admit that He really is our Lord and has complete authority. As our Lord we should submit to Him in all things, what ever the answer to the prayer may be, in this case healing may not happen.
That it is by this Name we are able to enter into the presence of God and no other, Heb 10:19. We do not have the right to demand a certain action because of this, we cannot demand healing but you have the right to ask God for healing, subject to His Will.
v15 The Prayer of faith.
This is the prayer of the elders, not the sick person. If the elders do not have faith then what of the healing? Faith is a gift, Eph 2:8.
If he has committed sins.
Not all illness is a result of wrong doing, sin, but James obviously thought that under this situation the sickness was probably due to sin.
All sin is really as a result of sin, the sin of Adam gave us our sinful nature. Rom 5:12. However, this passage is about personal sin. Personal sin does not always result in sickness, neither does a healthy believer mean they have no personal sin. A possible occasion to look at is 1 Cor 11:27-30; Matt 9:2-7. No mention of sin, John 5:1-9. Not due to sin, John 9:1-7. Death as result of sin, Act 5:1-10; John 11:1-4.
Also worth noting Rom 8:28,29.
v16 "Confess your faults one to another." We must confess our wrong to God if we have sinned. If it affects someone else then confession to them is also required, Matt 5:23,24. James does not tell them to confess to the elders unless they are involved.
Prayer: Pray for each other, for healing: The prayers must be specific not general, with meaning, done seriously, according to God’s will, do not give up if no immediate answer.
The person must be right with God and living a life pleasing to God, Rom 6:6-13. v17,18 An example in Elijah of the "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
v19 James closes by addressing the Jewish ‘brethren,’ his brothers in Christ, it is possible that one or more had fallen into sin, he encourages them to help turn back those who had "err from the truth." Note Gal 6:1. v20 "Save from death" probably means physical death as James is talking to believers. We must help to bring fallen brothers and sisters back to God.

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The Letter of James