5:1–3. Weeping and wailing (5:1) are typical ways of describing the reaction of evil people to the judgment of the day of the Lord (Is 13:6; 15:3; Am 8:3). These rich people will suffer condemnation on that day for four specific sins. First, they have hoarded their wealth and failed to use it to help the poor. James pictures their wealth rotting and corroding—evidence that it has neither done them any good nor benefited the needy (5:2). They have failed to follow Jesus’s advice (Lk 12:33). This selfish hoarding of wealth is all the worse in that it is being done “in the last days” (5:3). The NT consistently portrays the last days, the time of God’s intervention to save and to judge, as having begun with the work of Christ (Ac 2:17; 2 Tm 3:1; Heb 1:2; 2 Pt 3:3; Jd 18).
5:4–6. The second reason for the condemnation of these rich people is their failure to pay their laborers what is owed them (5:4). The OT singles out the prompt payment of wages as a prominent requirement of the law (Lv 19:13; Dt 24:14–24; Mal 3:5). James assures the rich that God, the Judge, is well aware of their sin against those who depend on them for daily bread.
C. Waiting on the Lord (5:7–11). 5:7–9. Verses 1–11 encourage Christians to recognize that judgment will come upon the wicked rich and to wait patiently for the day of that judgment. Christians need to exhibit the patience of the farmer as they wait for “the Lord’s coming” (5:7). This coming is “near” (5:8). Some people think that James must have been wrong to think that Jesus’s return could have been near; almost two thousand years have gone by since. But when the NT speaks of the nearness or the imminence of the Lord’s return, it does not mean that it has to take place within a short period of time. What is meant is that Christ’s coming (Gk parousia) is the very next event in God’s timetable of redemption and that it could take place within a short period of time. Every generation of believers lives in the eager expectancy of that return. As we wait, we must be careful not to take out our frustrations on one another by grumbling against one another (5:9). The Lord, who is coming to deliver us from sin and want, is also coming to evaluate the lives of his people.
5:10–11. In their patient endurance of difficulties, Christians are to imitate the prophets (5:10) and Job (5:11). At first glance, Job would seem to be a curious choice to hold up for imitation, for he frequently expressed his exasperation with the Lord. But what James wants us to emulate in Job is his perseverance: despite the disasters he faced, and the relentless attacks of his “friends,” Job kept his faith and did not abandon his trust in God. As a result, the Lord finally “brought about” the restoration of Job’s fortune (Jb 42:10–17).
A. Oaths (5:12). James introduces his final section with a typical literary device: “above all” (cf. 1 Pt 4:8 and Paul’s use of “finally” in this way). James’s prohibition of oaths is similar in wording and content to Jesus’s prohibition in Mt 5:34–37. Many think that Jesus and James intended to forbid all oaths; hence some Christians will refuse to take an oath in a court of law, for instance. But it is doubtful that such a situation is envisaged. From the emphasis on telling the truth in both contexts, it is more likely that they forbid any oath or speech that compromises our absolute truthfulness.
B. Prayer (5:13–18). 5:13–14. Prayer is often mentioned in the last section of NT letters; James is no exception. He begins by encouraging us to pray in any circumstance we might face. When “suffering,” we should turn to God for help; when things are going well, we should turn to God with praise (5:13). In the specific trouble of illness, also, prayer is the main remedy. Here, however, James gives lengthier advice. He encourages the person who is sick to call for “the elders of the church,” who should come to “pray over” the individual, “anointing him with oil” (5:14). Oil was a well-known medicinal agent in the ancient world, so the anointing may have a physical purpose. More likely, the anointing is symbolic. Anointing with oil is frequently mentioned in the OT as a symbolic action according to which what is anointed is set apart for God’s service or blessing. By anointing the sick person with oil, then, the elders are symbolically setting that person aside for the Lord’s special attention as they pray.
5:15. By stressing that the prayer of faith is what brings healing, James has carefully qualified the apparently absolute nature of the promise. For only prayers that are offered in accordance with the will of God can truly be uttered in faith. As another aspect of the healing process, the sick person is also encouraged to seek forgiveness for sins. James’s encouragement to pray for healing should not be taken as direction against also seeking medical help for illness. And while James has focused on the role of the elders in healing, he makes clear in verse 16 that all believers can be active in the ministry of healing as we confess our sins to one another and pray for one another.
5:16–18. As an encouragement to pray, James stresses the great effect of the prayer offered by a “righteous person” (5:16). By this James does not mean to confine effective prayer to a select group of “super saints”; “righteous” designates anyone in a right relationship with God. And even Elijah is cited not because he was a prophet or because he had a special spiritual gift. He was “a human being as we are,” yet he was able to stop and start the rain by his prayers (5:17–18; cf. 1 Kg 17:1; 18:41–45).
C. Responsibility for fellow believers (5:19–20). In keeping with its literary, sermonic nature, the Letter of James closes not with a series of greetings or personal notes but with a call for action. James has given many commands in the course of his appeal. Now he encourages every reader to intervene to help others obey these commands. When we see a brother or sister who has “stray[ed] from the truth,” we are to turn them back (5:19). In doing so, we will be saving that sinner from spiritual death, the ultimate destination on that road that the sinner has chosen to follow (5:20; see 1:15). We will also “cover a multitude of sins” (cf. Pr 10:12; 1 Pt 4:8).