James 5 Studies

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each chapter is divided into a number of studies and each study or passage has a simple four-Part, verse-by-verse approach, to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: James 5:1-6

1 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. 2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

A. Find Out:

1. Who should weep and wail and why? v.1
2. What has happened? v.2,3a
3. What have these people done? v.3c
4. What is testifying against them? v.4
5. How had they lived? v.5
6. What had they done? v.6

B. Think:

1. What is James’ main charge against the rich?
2. What does he say will happen to them?
3. How does this passage follow from the previous one?

C. Comment: 

      At the end of chapter 4 James had been speaking about the proud and boastful who made their plans how to make money, without any reference to the Lord. Now he further focuses on rich people, almost in the style of an Old Testament prophet.

      He first of all warns them, as if to draw their attention, of what is coming on them. A time will come when their riches will become worthless and indeed will act as a testimony against them.

     Then with sharp precision he points out why they will be brought to misery. Let us consider these things in the order they probably took place.

      First they either paid inadequate wages or even failed to pay those who were working for them [v.4]. This brought anguish to those workers.

     Second, possibly by not paying them sufficient to live on, they condemned some of their workers to death (by starvation?) [v.6].

      Third, they themselves lived in luxury and self-indulgence [v.5]. In other words they were completely insensitive to the needs of those they employed and just carried on in self gratification.

      Fourth, they stock-piled their wealth so that it even rotted and corroded, [v.2,3] sitting there unused while others died in need. No wonder James speaks against such people.

D. Application:

1. It is easy for the affluent to make excuses.
2. Do we ignore the needs of the less well off?

Passage: James 5:7-9

7 Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. 9 Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!

A. Find Out:

1. Why are we to be patient? v.7a
2. Who does James use as an illustration of patience? v.7b
3. So what are we to do? v.8
4. What are we not to do? v.9a
5. What will happen if we do that? v.9b
6. Who is where? v.9c

B. Think:

1. Compare who James has been speaking to. See 4:4,11,13, & 5:1,7
2. Why do you think Christians need patience?
3. How does the previous passage confirm that?

C. Comment:

      After having given a strong warning to rich people who abuse others (who may include Christians unfortunately), he now returns to the church at large scattered across the face of the earth, and encourages us to be patient. Why should we need patience?

      Two reasons are indicated. First, having just dealt with rich people abusing their position, James recognises that some of us on the receiving end of their abuses may be feeling desperate. Just hang on, implies James, it won’t go on for ever. The second reason could perhaps also be seen as a response to the first one: the Lord is coming soon. Just be patient says James, in all your tribulations, the Lord will be back for you soon.

      This sense of the immanent return of the Lord seems true of much New Testament writing. In Revelation 22:7 we have Jesus’ words, “I am coming soon” as an encouragement for us to be living in expectancy, living ready for Him to come back at any moment, yet in verse 11 of that chapter we are exhorted to carry on life as normal.

     Here is the tension that always exists over the matter of the Lord’s return, we are to live as it He is coming tomorrow yet be prepared to carry on living as normal if he doesn’t, so this does require patience!

D. Application:

1. Impatience often comes from a false expectation. Be real!
2. The Lord’s grace is available, patience is a fruit of the Spirit.

Passage: James 5:10-12

10 Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear – not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. Otherwise you will be condemned.

A. Find Out:    

1. How are we to see the prophets? v.10
2. Who do we consider blessed? v.11a
3. Who was an example of this? v.11b
4. Of what is the Lord full? v.11c
5. What are we not to do? v.12a
6. What are to do or what will happen? v.12b

B. Think:

1. How does this passage flow on from the previous one?
2. When do we need to be patient?
3. When do we need to persevere?

C. Comment:

      In the previous passage James was speaking about the need to be patient, patient in the face of unjust rich employers. To reinforce what he is saying he reminds us of the prophets of the Old Testament who had to wait for the fulfilment of the prophetic word, while they were so often rejected and reviled by leaders and people. Job was also a classic example of someone who persevered in the face of hardship and resisted the gloom and doom of his friends until eventually God blessed him and gave him double what he had before.

      A number of times in the New Testament we are told to have patience (Rom 12:12, 2 Cor 1:6, Ephes 4:2, 1 Thess 5:14) for the Lord knows that when we find people or situations difficult we want to pass them quickly, but instead we need to grow in character and in patience. Perseverance is also spoken about many times (Rom 5:3,4, 1 Tim 4:16, Heb 10:36 & 12:1, Jas 1:3,4, 2 Pet 1:6) and the emphasis is even more on putting up with the difficulties of the situation.

      It is in the face of such difficulties that we may make rash promises and so James exhorts us not to do such things, but simply to say yes or no. Jephthah (Judges 11) is the classic example of a rash and foolish promise that should not have been fulfilled.

D. Application:

1. We can’t escape difficulties, just get grace to cope with them!
2. Beware hasty promises that cannot be backed up.

Passage: James 5:13-16

13 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you ill? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

A. Find Out:

1. Who should pray? v.13a
2. Who should sing songs of praise? v.13b
3. What should the sick do? v.14
4. What will make him well? v.15a
5. What also will the Lord do? v.15b
6. What two things should we do and why? v.16

B. Think:

1. Who, in normal Christian life, will pray according to this passage?
2. What link is seen between sickness and sin?
3. How do righteousness and faith play a part?

C. Comment:

      In the previous passage James had been speaking about right ways of responding to trying circumstances and so in today’s reading he continues on with the subject of rightly responding.

      Right, he says, when you are in trouble pray (and in the same way, on the other side of the coin, when you are happy rejoice with praise and thanksgiving to God), and if your trouble involves sickness, ask the elders to come and pray for you. James recognises that when we are sick we feel low and our faith isn’t strong so, he says, call in your leaders whose faith will be stronger and let them do the praying for you. James also recognises that the sickness might (only might – note the word “If” in v.15) be caused by sin in the person’s life. In that case the right response is to confess (acknowledge and ask forgiveness for) that sin so that the Lord can move in and heal.

      James takes the opportunity here to emphasise that righteousness and faith are powerful weapons against sickness and sin, with the implication being that we would do well to ensure that they are essential ingredients in our lives. Righteousness will stand against sin, and faith will release prayer, which will have effect and open the way up for the Lord to move and change circumstances.

D. Application:

1. To call to God is a right response in the face of adversity.
2. To call for the elders is a right response in the face of sickness.

Passage: James 5:17-20

17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

19 My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, 20 remember this: whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

A. Find Out:

1. What point does James make about Elijah? v.17a
2. What had he done and with what effect? v.17b
3. What had he then done with what effect? v.18
4. What might happen to one of us? v.19
5. What two things will occur when that happens? v.20

B. Think:

1. How does the first part of the passage flow on from the previous one?
2. What is the main point James is making there?
3. How is the second part a summary of so much that he has said?

C. Comment:

      First of all see how these verses flow from what has gone before (and we have tried to make this point throughout these studies, that one idea flows on from the previous one). James has just mentioned prayer as a right response to adversity, saying that the prayer of a righteous man can have great effect, so now he illustrates that by reminding us of the life of Elijah (1 Kings 17,18).

      At God’s instigation Elijah had proclaimed a drought and prayed the prophetic word into being. Three years later God declared the end of the drought and again Elijah prayed the prophetic word into being. Elijah is thus a powerful example of a man who knew the heart of God and prayed it into being. So we are to be.

      Finally, in what at first seems a rather abrupt ending to this letter, James speaks about turning a sinner back to the Lord. In some ways he has been speaking about sinners, both Christian and non-Christian in much of what he has been saying in this letter and so at the end here he simply points out that it is a really great thing if we can bring back to the Lord those who have been failing Him. Note that he speaks to Christians (my brothers, v.19) and speaks about if one of them should fall away and then calls them a sinner.

D. Application:

1. The prayer of faith from God’s heart can achieve mighty things.
2. When we backslide that is sin and we are sinners. God wants us restored, to save us from death.