In
this chapter the apostle denounces the judgments of God upon those rich men
who oppress the poor, showing them how great their sin and folly are in the
sight of God, and how grievous the punishments would be which should fall
upon themselves, ver. 1-6. Hereupon, all the faithful are exhorted to
patience under their trials and sufferings, ver. 7-11. The sin of swearing
is cautioned against, ver. 12. We are directed how to act, both under
affliction and in prosperity, ver. 13. Prayer for the sick, and anointing
with oil, are prescribed, ver. 14, 15. Christians are directed to
acknowledge their faults one to another, and to pray one for another, and
the efficacy of prayer is proved, ver. 16-18. And, lastly, it is recommended
to us to do what we can for bringing back those that stray from the ways of
truth.
|
Warnings
to the Rich; Motives to Patience under Affliction.
A. D. 61.
|
|
|
|
1
Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall
come upon you. 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your
garments are motheaten. 3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and
the rust 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 labourers who have reaped down your fields, which
is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have
reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. 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; stablish 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 Take,
my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an
example of suffering affliction, and of patience. 11 Behold, we
count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and
have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender
mercy.
The apostle is here
addressing first sinners and then saints.
I. Let us consider the
address to sinners; and here we find James seconding what his great Master
had said: Woe unto you that are rich; for you have received your
consolation, Luke vi. 24. The rich people to whom this word of warning
was sent were not such as professed the Christian religion, but the worldly
and unbelieving Jews, such as are here said to condemn and kill the just,
which the Christians had no power to do; and though this epistle was written
for the sake of the faithful, and was sent principally to them, yet, by an
apostrophe, the infidel Jews may be well supposed here spoken to. They would
not hear the word, and therefore it is written, that they might read
it. It is observable, in the very first inscription of this epistle, that it
is not directed, as Paul's epistles were, to the brethren in Christ,
but, in general, to the twelve tribes; and the salutation is not, grace
and peace from Christ, but, in general, greeting, ch. i.
1. The poor among the Jews received the gospel, and many of them believed;
but the generality of the rich rejected Christianity, and were hardened in
their unbelief, and hated and persecuted those who believed on Christ. To
these oppressing, unbelieving, persecuting, rich people, the apostle
addresses himself in the first six verses.
1. He foretels the
judgments of God that should come upon them, v. 1-3. they should have
miseries come upon them, and such dreadful miseries that the very
apprehension of them was enough to make them weep and howl--misery that
should arise from the very things in which they placed their happiness, and
misery that should be completed by these things witnessing against them at
the last, to their utter destruction; and they are now called to reason upon
and thoroughly to weigh the matter, and to think how they will stand before
God in judgment: Go to now, you rich men. (1.) "You may be
assured of this that very dreadful calamities are coming upon you,
calamities that shall carry nothing of support nor comfort in them, but all
misery, misery in time, misery to eternity, misery in your outward
afflictions, misery in your inward frame and temper of mind, misery in this
world, misery in hell. You have not a single instance of misery only coming
upon you, but miseries. The ruin of your church and nation is at hand; and
there will come a day of wrath, when riches shall not profit men, but all
the wicked shall be destroyed." (2.) The very apprehension of such
miseries as were coming upon them is enough to make them weep and howl. Rich
men are apt to say to themselves (and others are ready to say to them), Eat,
drink, and be merry; but God says, Weep and howl. It is not said,
Weep and repent, for this the apostle does not expect from them (he speaks
in a way of denouncing rather than admonishing); but, "Weep and
howl, for when your doom comes there will be nothing but weeping, and
wailing, and gnashing of teeth." Those who live like beasts are
called to howl like such. Public calamities are most grievous to rich
people, who live in pleasure, and are secure and sensual; and therefore they
shall weep and howl more than other people for the miseries that shall come
upon them. (3.) Their misery shall arise from the very things in which they
placed their happiness. "Corruption, decay, rust, and ruin, will come
upon all your goodly things: Your riches are corrupted and your garments
are moth-eaten, v. 2. Those things which you now inordinately
affect will hereafter insupportably wound you: they will be of no worth, of
no use to you, but, on the contrary, will pierce you through with many
sorrows; for," (4.) "They will witness against you, and
they will eat your flesh as it were fire," v. 3. Things
inanimate are frequently represented in scripture as witnessing against
wicked men. Heaven, earth, the stones of the field, the production of the
ground, and here the very rust and canker of ill-gotten and ill-kept
treasures, are said to witness against impious rich men. They think to heap
up treasure for their latter days, to live plentifully upon when they come
to be old; but, alas! they are only heaping up treasures to become a prey to
others (as the Jews had all taken from them by the Romans), and treasures
that will prove at last to be only treasures of wrath, in the day of the
revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Then shall their
iniquities, in the punishment of them, eat their flesh as it were
with fire. In the ruin of Jerusalem, many thousands perished by fire;
in the last judgment the wicked shall be condemned to everlasting
burnings, prepared for the devil and his angels. The Lord deliver us
from the portion of wicked rich men! and, in order to this, let us take care
that we do not fall into their sins, which we are next to consider.
2. The apostle shows what
those sins are which should bring such miseries. To be in so deplorable a
condition must doubtless be owing to some very heinous crimes. (1.)
Covetousness is laid to the charge of this people; they laid by their
garments till they bred moths and were eaten; they hoarded up their gold and
silver till they were rusty and cankered. It is a very great disgrace to
these things that they carry in them the principles of their own corruption
and consumption--the garment breeds the moth that frets it, the gold and
silver breeds the canker that eats it; but the disgrace falls most heavily
upon those who hoard and lay up these things till they come to be thus
corrupted, and cankered, and eaten. God gives us our worldly possessions
that we may honour him and do good with them; but if, instead of this, we
sinfully hoard them up, thorough and undue affection towards them, or a
distrust of the providence of God for the future, this is a very heinous
crime, and will be witnessed against by the very rust and corruption of the
treasure thus heaped together. (2.) Another sin charged upon those against
whom James writes is oppression: Behold, the hire of the labourers, who
have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth,
&c., v. 4. Those who have wealth in their hands get power into
their hands, and then they are tempted to abuse that power to oppress such
as are under them. The rich we here find employing the poor in their
labours, and the rich have as much need of the labours of the poor as the
poor have of wages from the rich, and could as ill be without them; but yet,
not considering this, they kept back the hire of the labourers; having power
in their hands, it is probable that they made as hard bargains with the poor
as they could, and even after that would not make good their bargains as
they should have done. This is a crying sin, an iniquity that cries so as to
reach the ears of God; and, in this case, God is to be considered as the
Lord of sabaoth, or the Lord of hosts, Kuriou
sabawq, a phrase often used in the Old-Testament,
when the people of God were defenceless and wanted protection, and when
their enemies were numerous and powerful. The Lord of hosts, who has all
ranks of beings and creatures at his disposal, and who sets all in their
several places, hears the oppressed when they cry by reason of the cruelty
or injustice of the oppressor, and he will give orders to some of those
hosts that are under him (angels, devils, storms, distempers, or the like)
to avenge the wrongs done to those who are dealt with unrighteously and
unmercifully. Take heed of this sin of defrauding and oppressing, and avoid
the very appearances of it. (3.) Another sin here mentioned is sensuality
and voluptuousness. You have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been
wanton, v. 5. God does not forbid us to use pleasure; but to live
in them as if we lived for nothing else is a very provoking sin; and to do
this on the earth, where we are but strangers and pilgrims, where we are but
to continue for a while, and where we ought to be preparing for
eternity--this, this is a grievous aggravation of the sin of voluptuousness.
Luxury makes people wanton, as in Hos. xiii. 6, According to their
pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted;
therefore have they forgotten me. Wantonness and luxury are commonly the
effects of great plenty and abundance; it is hard for people to have great
plenty and abundance; it is hard for people to have great estates, and not
too much indulge themselves in carnal, sensual pleasures: "You have
nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter: you live as if it were
every day a day of sacrifices, a festival; and hereby your hearts are
fattened and nourished to stupidity, dulness, pride, and an insensibility to
the wants and afflictions of others." Some may say, "What harm is
there in good cheer, provided people do not spend above what they
have?" What! Is it no harm for people to make gods of their bellies,
and to give all to these, instead of abounding in acts of charity and piety?
Is it no harm for people to unfit themselves for minding the concerns of
their souls, by indulging the appetites of their bodies? Surely that which
brought flames upon Sodom, and would bring these miseries for which rich men
are here called to weep and howl, must be a heinous evil! Pride, and
idleness, and fullness of bread, mean the same thing with living in
pleasure, and being wanton, and nourishing the heart as in a day of
slaughter. (4.) Another sin here charged on the rich is persecution: You
have condemned and killed the just, and he doth not resist you, v.
6. This fills up the measure of their iniquity. They oppressed and acted
very unjustly, to get estates; when they had them, they gave way to luxury
and sensuality, till they had lost all sense and feeling of the wants or
afflictions of others; and then they persecute and kill without remorse.
They pretend to act legally indeed, they condemn before they kill; but
unjust prosecutions, whatever colour of law they may carry in them, will
come into the reckoning when God shall make inquisition for blood, as well
as massacres and downright murders. Observe here, The just may be condemned
and killed: but then again observe, When such do suffer, and yield without
resistance to the unjust sentence of oppressors, this is marked by God, to
the honour of the sufferers and the infamy of their persecutors; this
commonly shows that judgments are at the door, and we may certainly conclude
that a reckoning-day will come, to reward the patience of the oppressed and
to break to pieces the oppressor. Thus far the address to sinners goes.
II. We have next subjoined
an address to saints. Some have been ready to despise or to condemn this way
of preaching, when ministers, in their application, have brought a word to
sinners, and a word to saints; but, from the apostle's here taking this
method, we may conclude that this is the best way rightly to divide the word
of truth. From what has been said concerning wicked and oppressing rich men,
occasion is given to administer comfort to God's afflicted people: "Be
patient therefore; since God will send such miseries on the wicked, you may
see what is your duty, and where your greatest encouragement lies."
1. Attend to your duty: Be
patient (v. 7), establish your hearts (v. 8), grudge not one against
another, brethren, v. 9. Consider well the meaning of these three
expressions:-- (1.) "Be patient--bear your afflictions without
murmuring, your injuries without revenge; and, though God should not in any
signal manner appear for you immediately, wait for him. The vision is for
an appointed time; at the end it will speak, and will not lie; therefore
wait for it. It is but a little while, and he that shall come will come, and
will not tarry. Let your patience be lengthened out to long
suffering;" so the word here used, makroqumhsate,
signifies. When we have done our work, we have need of patience to stay for
our reward. This Christian patience is not a mere yielding to necessity, as
the moral patience taught by some philosophers was, but it is a humble
acquiescence in the wisdom and will of God, with an eye to a future glorious
recompense: Be patient to the coming of the Lord. And because this is
a lesson Christians must learn, though ever so hard or difficult to them, it
is repeated in v. 8, Be you also patient. (2.) "Establish
your hearts--let your faith be firm, without wavering, your practice of
what is good constant and continued, without tiring, and your resolutions
for God and heaven fixed, in spite of all sufferings or temptations."
The prosperity of the wicked and the affliction of the righteous have in all
ages been a very great trial to the faith of the people of God. David tells
us that his feet were almost gone, when he saw the prosperity of the
wicked, Ps. lxxiii. 2, 3. Some of those Christians to whom St. James
wrote might probably be in the same tottering condition; and therefore they
are called upon to establish their hearts; faith and patience will establish
the heart. (3.) Grudge not one against another; the words mh
stenazete signify, Groan not one against
another, that is, "Do not make one another uneasy by your murmuring
groans at what befalls you, nor by your distrustful groans as to what may
further come upon you, nor by your revengeful groans against the instruments
of your sufferings, nor by your envious groans at those who may be free from
your calamities: do not make yourselves uneasy and make one another uneasy
by thus groaning to and grieving one another." "The apostle
seemeth to me" (says Dr. Manton) "to be here taxing those mutual
injuries and animosities wherewith the Christians of those times, having
banded under the names of circumcision and uncircumcision, did
grieve one another, and give each other cause to groan; so that they did not
only sigh under the oppressions of the rich persecutors, but under the
injuries which they sustained from many of the brethren who, together with
them, did profess the holy faith." Those who are in the midst of common
enemies, and in any suffering circumstances, should be more especially
careful not to grieve nor to groan against one another, otherwise judgments
will come upon them as well as others; and the more such grudgings prevail
the nearer do they show judgment to be.
2. Consider what
encouragement here is for Christians to be patient, to establish their
hearts, and not to grudge one against another. And, (1.) "Look to the
example of the husbandman: He waits for the precious fruit of the earth,
and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
When you sow your corn in the ground, you wait many months for the former
and latter rain, and are willing to stay till harvest for the fruit of your
labour; and shall not this teach you to bear a few storms, and to be patient
for a season, when you are looking for a kingdom and everlasting felicity?
Consider him that waits for a crop of corn; and will not you wait for a
crown of glory? If you should be called to wait a little longer than the
husbandman does, is it not something proportionably greater and infinitely
more worth your waiting for? But," (2.) "Think how short your
waiting time may possibly be: The coming of the Lord draweth nigh, v. 8;
behold, the Judge standeth before the door, v. 9. Do not be
impatient, do not quarrel with one another; the great Judge, who will set
all to rights, who will punish the wicked and reward the good, is at hand:
he should be conceived by you to stand as near as one who is just knocking
at the door." The coming of the Lord to punish the wicked Jews
was then very nigh, when James wrote this epistle; and, whenever the
patience and other graces of his people are tried in an extraordinary
manner, the certainty of Christ's coming as Judge, and the nearness of it,
should establish their hearts. The Judge is now a great deal nearer, in his
coming to judge the world, than when this epistle was written, nearer by
above seventeen hundred years; and therefore this should have the greater
effect upon us. (3.) The danger of our being condemned when the Judge
appears should excite us to mind our duty as before laid down: Grudge
not, lest you be condemned. Fretfulness and discontent expose us to the
just judgment of God, and we bring more calamities upon ourselves by our
murmuring, distrustful, envious groans and grudgings against one another,
than we are aware of. If we avoid these evils, and be patient under our
trials, God will not condemn us. Let us encourage ourselves with this. (4.)
We are encouraged to be patient by the example of the prophets (v.
10): Take the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an
example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Observe here, The
prophets, on whom God put the greatest honour, and for whom he had the
greatest favour, were most afflicted: and, when we think that the best men
have had the hardest usage in this world, we should hereby be reconciled to
affliction. Observe further, Those who were the greatest examples of
suffering affliction were also the best and greatest examples of patience: tribulation
worketh patience. Hereupon James gives it to us as the common sense of
the faithful (v. 11): We count those happy who endure: we look
upon righteous and patient sufferers as the happiest people. See ch.
i. 2-12. (5.) Job also is proposed as an example for the encouragement of
the afflicted. You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the
end of the Lord, &c., v. 11. In the case of Job you have an
instance of a variety of miseries, and of such as were very grievous, but
under all he could bless God, and, as to the general bent of his spirit, he
was patient and humble: and what came to him in the end? Why, truly, God
accomplished and brought about those things for him which plainly prove that
the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. The best way to bear
afflictions is to look to the end of them; and the pity of God is such that
he will not delay the bringing of them to an end when his purposes are once
answered; and the tender mercy of God is such that he will make his people
an abundant amends for all their sufferings and afflictions. His bowels are
moved for them while suffering, his bounty is manifested afterwards. Let us
serve our God, and endure our trials, as those who believe the end will
crown all.
|
Caution
against Swearing; Profaneness Condemned;
Confession and Prayer; Efficacy of Prayer.
A. D. 61.
|
|
|
|
12
But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by
the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your
nay, 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 have 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 Elias 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
by 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 do err from the truth, and one
convert him; 20 Let him know, that he which converteth the
sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall
hide a multitude of sins.
This epistle now drawing
to a close, the penman goes off very quickly from one thing to another:
hence it is that matters so very different are insisted on in these few
verses.
I. The sin of swearing is
cautioned against: But above all things, my brethren, swear not,
&c., v. 12. Some understand this too restrictedly, as if the
meaning were, "Swear not at your persecutors, at those that reproach
you and say all manner of evil of you; be not put into a passion by the
injuries they do you, so as in your passion to be provoked to swear."
This swearing is no doubt forbidden here: and it will not excuse those that
are guilty of this sin to say they sear only when they are provoked to it,
and before they are aware. But the apostle's warning extends to other
occasions of swearing as well as this. Some have translated the words, pro
pantwn--before all things; and so have made
sense of this place to be that they should not, in common conversation, before
every thing they say, put an oath. All customary needless swearing is
undoubtedly forbidden, and all along in scripture condemned, as a very
grievous sin. Profane swearing was very customary among the Jews, and, since
this epistle is directed in general to the twelve tribes scattered abroad
(as before has been observed), we may conceive this exhortation sent to
those who believed not. It is hard to suppose that swearing should be one of
the spots of God's children, since Peter, when he was charged with being a
disciple of Christ and would disprove the charge, cursed and swore, thereby
thinking most effectually to convince them that he was no disciple of Jesus,
it being well known of such that they durst not allow themselves in
swearing; but possibly some of the looser sort of those who were called
Christians might, among other sins here charged upon them, be guilty also of
this. It is a sin that in later years has most scandalously prevailed, even
among those who would be thought above all others entitled to the Christian
name and privileges. It is very rare indeed to hear of a dissenter from the
church of England who is guilty of swearing, but among those who glory in
their being of the established church nothing is more common; and indeed the
most execrable oaths and curses now daily wound the ears and hearts of all
serious Christians. James here says,
1. Above all things,
swear not; but how many are there who mind this the least of all things,
and who make light of nothing so much as common profane swearing! But why above
all things is swearing here forbidden? (1.) Because it strikes most
directly at the honour of God and most expressly throws contempt upon his
name and authority. (2.) Because this sin has, of all sins, the least
temptation to it: it is not gain, nor pleasure, nor reputation, that can
move men to it, but a wantonness in sinning, and a needless showing an
enmity to God. Thy enemies take thy name in vain, Ps. cxxxix. 20.
This is a proof of men's being enemies to God, however they may pretend to
call themselves by his name, or sometimes to compliment him in acts of
worship. (3.) Because it is with most difficulty left off when once men are
accustomed to it, therefore it should above all things be watched against.
And, (4.) "Above all things swear not, for how can you expect
the name of God should be a strong tower to you in your distress if you
profane it and play with it at other times?" But (as Mr. Baxter
observes) "all this is so far from forbidding necessary oaths that it
is but to confirm them, by preserving the due reverence of them." And
then he further notes that "The true nature of an oath is, by our
speech, to pawn the reputation of some certain or great thing, for
the averring of a doubted less thing; and not (as is commonly held)
an appeal to God or other judge." Hence it was that swearing by the
heavens, and by the earth, and by the other oaths the apostle refers to,
came to be in use. The Jews thought if they did but omit the great oath of Chi-Eloah,
they were safe. But they grew so profane as to swear by the creature, as if
it were God; and so advanced it into the place of God; while, on the other
hand, those who swear commonly and profanely by the name of God do hereby
put him upon the level with every common thing.
2. But let your yea be
yea, and your nay nay; lest you fall into condemnation; that is,
"let it suffice you to affirm or deny a thing as there is occasion, and
be sure to stand to your word, and be true to it, so as to give no occasion
for your being suspected of falsehood; and then you will be kept from the
condemnation of backing what you say or promise by rash oaths, and from
profaning the name of God to justify yourselves. It is being suspected of
falsehood that leads men to swearing. Let it be known that your keep to
truth, and are firm to your word, and by this means you will find there is
no need to swear to what you say. Thus shall you escape the condemnation
which is expressly annexed to the third commandment: The Lord will not
hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."
II. As Christians we are
taught to suit ourselves to the dispensations of Providence (v. 13): Is
any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms.
Our condition in this world is various; and our wisdom is to submit to its
being so, and to behave as becomes us both in prosperity and under
affliction. Sometimes we are in sadness, sometimes in mirth; God has set
these one over against the other that we may the better observe the several
duties he enjoins, and that the impressions made on our passions and
affections may be rendered serviceable to our devotions. Afflictions should
put us upon prayer, and prosperity should make us abound in praise. Not that
prayer is to be confined to a time of trouble, nor singing to a time of
mirth; but these several duties may be performed with special advantage, and
to the happiest purposes, at such seasons. 1. In a day of affliction nothing
is more seasonable than prayer. The person afflicted must pray himself, as
well as engage the prayers of others for him. Times of affliction should be
praying times. To this end God sends afflictions, that we may be engaged to
seek him early; and that those who at other times have neglected him may be
brought to enquire after him. The spirit is then most humble, the heart is
broken and tender; and prayer is most acceptable to God when it comes from a
contrite humble spirit. Afflictions naturally draw out complaints; and to
whom should we complain but to God in prayer? It is necessary to exercise
faith and hope under afflictions; and prayer is the appointed means both for
obtaining and increasing these graces in us. Is any afflicted? Let him
pray. 2. In a day of mirth and prosperity singing psalms is very proper
and seasonable. In the original it is only said sing, yalletw,
without the addition of psalms or any other word: and we learn from the
writings of several in the first ages of Christianity (particularly from a
letter of Pliny's, and from some passages in Justin Martyr and Tertullian)
that the Christians were accustomed to sing hymns, either taken out of
scripture, or of more private composure, in their worship of God. Though
some have thought that Paul's advising both the Colossians and Ephesians to speak
to one another yalmoiV kai umnoiV kai wdaiV
pneumatikaiV--in psalms, and hymns, and
spiritual songs, refers only to the compositions of scripture, the
psalms of David being distinguished in Hebrew by Shurim, Tehillim,
and Mizmorim, words that exactly answer these of the apostle. Let
that be as it will, this however we are sure of, that the singing of psalms
is a gospel ordinance, and that our joy should be holy joy, consecrated to
God. Singing is so directed to here as to show that, if any be in
circumstances of mirth and prosperity, he should turn his mirth, though
alone, and by himself, in this channel. Holy mirth becomes families and
retirements, as well as public assemblies. Let our singing be such as to
make melody with our hearts unto the Lord, and God will assuredly be
well pleased with this kind of devotion.
III. We have particular
directions given as to sick persons, and healing pardoning mercy promised
upon the observance of those directions. If any be sick, they are
required, 1. To send for the elders, presbuterouV
thV ekklhsiaV--the presbyters, pastors or
ministers of the church, v. 14, 15. It lies upon sick people
as a duty to send for ministers, and to desire their assistance and their
prayers. 2. It is the duty of ministers to pray over the sick, when thus
desired and called for. Let them pray over him; let their prayers be
suited to his case, and their intercessions be as becomes those who are
affected with his calamities. 3. In the times of miraculous healing, the sick
were to be anointed with oil in the name of the Lord. Expositors
generally confine this anointing with oil to such as had the power of
working miracles; and, when miracles ceased, this institution ceased also.
In Mark's gospel we read of the apostle's anointing with oil many that were
sick, and healing them, Mark vi. 13. And we have accounts of this being
practiced in the church two hundred years after Christ; but then the gift of
healing also accompanied it, and, when the miraculous gift ceased, this rite
was laid aside. The papists indeed have made a sacrament of this, which they
call the extreme unction. They use it, not to heal the sick, as it
was used by the apostles; but as they generally run counter to scripture, in
the appointments of their church, so here they ordain that this should be
administered only to such as are at the very point of death. The apostle's
anointing was in order to heal the disease; the popish anointing is for the
expulsion of the relics of sin, and to enable the soul (as they pretend) the
better to combat with the powers of the air. When they cannot prove, by any
visible effects, that Christ owns them in the continuance of this rite, they
would however have people to believe that the invisible effects are very
wonderful. But it is surely much better to omit this anointing with oil than
to turn it quite contrary to the purposes spoken of in scripture. Some
protestants have thought that this anointing was only permitted or approved
by Christ, not instituted. But it should seem, by the words of James here,
that it was a thing enjoined in cases where there was faith for healing. And
some protestants have argued for it with this view. It was not to be
commonly used, not even in the apostolical age; and some have thought that
it should not be wholly laid aside in any age, but that where there are
extraordinary measures of faith in the person anointing, and in those who
are anointed, an extraordinary blessing may attend the observance of this
direction for the sick. However that be, there is one thing carefully to be
observed here, that the saving of the sick is not ascribed to the anointing
with oil, but to prayer: The prayer of faith shall save the sick,
&c., v. 15. So that, 4. Prayer over the sick must proceed from,
and be accompanied with, a lively faith. There must be faith both in the
person praying and in the person prayed for. In a time of sickness, it is
not the cold and formal prayer that is effectual, but the prayer of faith.
5. We should observe the success of prayer. The Lord shall raise up; that
is, if he be a person capable and fit for deliverance, and if God have any
thing further for such a person to do in the world. And, if he have
committed sins, they shall be forgiven him; that is, where sickness is
sent as a punishment for some particular sin, that sin shall be pardoned,
and in token thereof the sickness shall be removed. As when Christ said to
the impotent man, Go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee,
it is intimated that some particular sin was the cause of his sickness. The
great thing therefore we should beg of God for ourselves and others in the
time of sickness is the pardon of sin. Sin is both the root of sickness and
the sting of it. If sin be pardoned, either affliction shall be removed in
mercy or we shall see there is mercy in the continuance of it. When healing
is founded upon pardon, we may say as Hezekiah did: Thou hast, in love to my
soul, delivered it from the pit of corruption, Isa. xxxviii. 17. When
you are sick and in pain, it is most common to pray and cry, O give me
ease! O restore me to health! But your prayer should rather and chiefly
be, O that God would pardon my sins!
IV. Christians are
directed to confess their faults one to another, and so to join in their
prayers with and for one another, v. 16. Some expositors connect
this with v. 14. As if when sick people send for ministers to pray
over them they should then confess their faults to them. Indeed, where any
are conscious that their sickness is a vindictive punishment of some
particular sin, and they cannot look for the removal of their sickness
without particular applications to God for the pardon of such a sin, there
it may be proper to acknowledge and tell his case, that those who pray over
him may know how to plead rightly for him. But the confession here required
is that of Christians to one another, and not, as the papists would have it,
to a priest. Where persons have injured one another, acts of injustice must
be confessed to those against whom they have been committed. Where persons
have tempted one another to sin or have consented in the same evil actions,
there they ought mutually to blame themselves and excite each other to
repentance. Where crimes are of a public nature, and have done any public
mischief, there they ought to be more publicly confessed, so as may best
reach to all who are concerned. And sometimes it may be well to confess our
faults to some prudent minister or praying friend, that he may help us to
plead with God for mercy and pardon. But then we are not to think that James
puts us upon telling every thing that we are conscious is amiss in ourselves
or in one another; but so far as confession is necessary to our
reconciliation with such as are at variance with us, or for gaining
information in any point of conscience and making our own spirits quiet and
easy, so far we should be ready to confess our faults. And sometimes also it
may be of good use to Christians to disclose their peculiar weaknesses and
infirmities to one another, where there are great intimacies and
friendships, and where they may help each other by their prayers to obtain
pardon of their sins and power against them. Those who make confession of
their faults one to another should thereupon pray with and for one another.
The 13th verse directs persons to pray for themselves: Is any afflicted
let him pray; the 14th directs to seek for the prayers of ministers; and
the 16th directs private Christians to pray one for another; so that here we
have all sorts of prayer (ministerial, social, and secret) recommended.
V. The great advantage and
efficacy of prayer are declared and proved: The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much, whether he pray for himself or for
others: witness the example of Elias, v. 17, 18. He who prays must be
a righteous man; not righteous in an absolute sense (for this Elias was not,
who is here made a pattern to us), but righteous in a gospel sense; not
loving nor approving of any iniquity. If I regard iniquity in my heart,
the Lord will not hear my prayer, Ps. lxvi. 18. Further, the prayer
itself must be a fervent, in-wrought, well-wrought prayer. It must be a
pouring out of the heart to God; and it must proceed from a faith unfeigned.
Such prayer avails much. It is of great advantage to ourselves, it may be
very beneficial to our friends, and we are assured of its being acceptable
to God. It is good having those for friends whose prayers are available in
the sight of God. The power of prayer is here proved from the success of
Elijah. This may be encouraging to us even in common cases, if we consider
that Elijah was a man of like passions with us. He was a zealous good
man and a very great man, but he had his infirmities, and was subject to
disorder in his passions as well as others. In prayer we must not look to
the merit of man, but to the grace of God. Only in this we should copy after
Elijah, that he prayed earnestly, or, as it is in the original, in prayer
he prayed. It is not enough to say a prayer, but we must pray in prayer.
Our thoughts must be fixed, our desires firm and ardent, and our graces in
exercise; and, when we thus pray in prayer, we shall speed in prayer. Elijah
prayed that it might not rain; and God heard him in his pleading
against an idolatrous persecuting country, so that it rained not on the
earth for the space of three years and six months. Again he prayed, and the
heaven gave rain, &c. Thus you see prayer is the key which opens and
shuts heaven. To this there is an allusion, Rev. xi. 6, where the two
witnesses are said to have power to shut heaven, that it rain not.
This instance of the extraordinary efficacy of prayer is recorded for
encouragement even to ordinary Christians to be instant and earnest in
prayer. God never says to any of the seed of Jacob, Seek my face in vain.
If Elijah by prayer could do such great and wonderful things, surely the
prayers of no righteous man shall return void. Where there may not be so
much of a miracle in God's answering our prayers, yet there may be as much
of grace.
VI. This epistle concludes
with an exhortation to do all we can in our places to promote the conversion
and salvation of others, v. 19, 20. Some interpret these verses as an
apology which the apostle is making for himself that he should so plainly
and sharply reprove the Jewish Christians for their many faults and errors.
And certainly James gives a very good reason why he was so much concerned to
reclaim them from their errors, because in thus doing he should save souls,
and hide a multitude of sins. But we are not to restrain this place to the
apostle's converting such as erred from the truth; no, nor to other
ministerial endeavours of the like nature, since it is said, "If any
err, and one convert him, let him be who he will that does so good an office
for another, he is therein an instrument of saving a soul from death."
Those whom the apostle here calls brethren, he yet supposes liable to err.
It is no mark of a wise or a holy man to boast of his being free from error,
or to refuse to acknowledge when he is in an error. But if any do err, be
they ever so great, you must not be afraid to show them their error; and, be
they ever so weak and little, you must not disdain to make them wiser and
better. If they err from the truth, that is, from the gospel (the great rule
and standard of truth), whether it be in opinion or practice, you must
endeavour to bring them again to the rule. Errors in judgment and in life
generally go together. There is some doctrinal mistake at the bottom of
every practical miscarriage. There is no one habitually bad, but upon some
bad principle. Now to convert such is to reduce them from their error, and
to reclaim them from the evils they have been led into. We are not presently
to accuse and exclaim against an erring brother, and seek to bring
reproaches and calamities upon him, but to convert him: and, if by all our
endeavours we cannot do this, yet we are nowhere empowered to persecute and
destroy him. If we are instrumental in the conversion of any, we are
said to convert them, though this be principally and efficiently the work of
God. And, if we can do no more towards the conversion of sinners, yet we may
do this--pray for the grace and Spirit of God to convert and change them.
And let those that are in any way serviceable to convert others know what
will be the happy consequence of their doing this: they may take great
comfort in it at present, and they will meet with a crown at last. He that
is said to err from the truth in v. 19 is described as erring
in his way in v. 20, and we cannot be said to convert any merely
by altering their opinions, unless we can bring them to correct and amend
their ways. This is conversion--to turn a sinner from the error of his ways,
and not to turn him from one party to another, or merely from one notion and
way of thinking to another. He who thus converteth a sinner from the error
of his ways shall save a soul from death. There is a soul in the
case; and what is done towards the salvation of the soul shall certainly
turn to good account. The soul being the principal part of the man, the
saving of that only is mentioned, but it includes the salvation of the whole
man: the spirit shall be saved from hell, the body raised from the grave,
and both saved from eternal death. And then, by such conversion of heart and
life, a multitude of sins shall be hid. A most comfortable passage of
scripture is this. We learn hence that though our sins are many, even a
multitude, yet they may be hid or pardoned; and that when sin is turned from
or forsaken it shall be hid, never to appear in judgment against us. Let
people contrive to cover or excuse their sin as they will, there is no way
effectually and finally to hide it but by forsaking it. Some make the sense
of this text to be, that conversion shall prevent a multitude of
sins; and it is a truth beyond dispute that many sins are prevented in the
party converted, many also may be prevented in others that he may have an
influence upon, or may converse with. Upon the whole, how should we lay out
ourselves with all possible concern for the conversion of sinners! It will
be for the happiness and salvation of the converted; it will prevent much
mischief, and the spreading and multiplying of sin in the world; it will be
for the glory and honour of God; and it will mightily redound to our comfort
and renown in the great day. Those that turn many to righteousness,
and those who help to do so, shall shine as the
stars for ever and ever.
