The selfish rich people and prayer for soul winning: (chap.5)
James discusses the topics of the selfish rich people and the topics of suffering, Swearing, supplication and soul winning.
The selfish rich: (5:1-6):
James now turns to the wealthy outside the church. These people are not only failing the test of having wealth, but they are also the source of some of the pressure on the church as they take advantage of poor Christians, either because they are poor or because they are Christians, or both. For them James does not have an appeal; he has only condemnation like the OT prophets.
- The consternation (scare) of the rich: (5:1-3a): James warns the rich that the future misery is waiting for them. Their clothes will rot. When the Christians are living with the anticipated joy despite their tests and troubles, the rich should live in anticipated wailing. Their wealth and possessions would be rotted or corroded. Further the anticipated misery or even inflation would eat their flesh like fire just as the parable of rich man (Lk.16:19-31). Because of their failure to obey God they would be cast into the lake of fire. There is no point in storing wealth in this world. The words of “Jim Elliot” Missionary to Acua (South American island) “He is no fool to lose what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
- The cruelty of the selfish rich: (5:4-5): The selfish rich have even failed to pay the workmen who harvested their fields. It may be that they wanted to wait until grain prices rose or that they did not feel the workmen had done a good enough job. The OT says workmen are to be paid each evening and this was a law. (Lev. 19:13; Deut. 24:14–15). The rich have changed the laws of their land as per their convenience. The workers, however, appealed to heaven, and the heavenly judge heard their cry. The term Lord Almighty reminds the readers of (Is. 5:9) and the action that God took against the wealthy there. God does not hear and then do nothing; he hears and acts with awesome power.
Further James says: the day of the slaughter and the day of the judgement is for the rich people. The wicked rich are like cattle that continue to fatten themselves till the day and they will be slaughtered totally unaware. We can see God’s day of slaughtering His enemies (Iss.30:33, 34:5-8)
- The condemnation of the rich: (5:3b, 6): These rich have condemned and murdered innocent men (or the righteous). Here the word murder may not be literal but indicates that probablylawsuits in which the rich took away the wages or land of the poor. Left without adequate resources, the poor Christians starved or, weakened by poor food, died of diseases. James point out that the poor were not opposing the rich. There was no cause for this action by the rich. These victims of the rich oppressors may be dead, but like the souls of the martyrs in (Rev. 6:10) they are now in the very presence of God calling out for justice. That justice will not be long-delayed.