Essentially the attitude of the rich that James condemned was: Get all you can as fast as you can any way you can. In the following pericope he counselled a different attitude to urge his readers, rich and poor, to practice patience.
5:7 Because of the dangers James just expounded, believers should adopt a patient attitude. The verb makrothymesate(be patient) describes "self-restraint which does not hastily retaliate a wrong."182The Lord's return is near (cf. Mark 13:32-37; Phil. 4:5; 1 Pet. 4:7; 1 John 2:18).
"The word parousias(coming') was a common term used to describe the visit of a king to a city or province of his kingdom and thus depicts Christ as a royal personage."183
The early rains came shortly after planting in Palestine in late October and early November. The late rains followed as the crop was maturing in late March and early April. The point of James' illustration of the farmer seems to be that as Christians we are primarily sowing and cultivating in this life, not mainly reaping rewards.
"The picture is that of the small farmer in Palestine . . . The small farmer plants his carefully saved seed and hopes for a harvest, living on short rations and suffering hunger during the last weeks. The whole livelihood, indeed the life itself, of the family depends on a good harvest: the loss of the farm, semistarvation, or death could result from a bad year. So the farmer waits for an expected future event (ekdechetai); no one but he could know now precious the grain really is . . ."184
5:8 When the Lord returns we will receive our reward at the judgment seat of Christ. In the meantime we should be patient and encouraged knowing that our reward lies ahead as God has promised (cf. Matt. 6:20). The rich who behave as typical rich people either do not have or have lost sight of this hope. They live only to accumulate as much reward here and now as they can.
". . . the finish line is just ahead: the important point is not to give up now and lose all that for which one has already suffered."185
"Anything that musthappen, and couldhappen today, is in a very legitimate sense at hand."186
5:9 It is easy for us to blame one another for our present discomforts.
"What is forbidden is not the loud and bitter denunciation of others but the unexpressed feeling of bitterness or the smothered resentment that may express itself in a groan or a sigh."187
James forbade this because it involves improper judging (cf. 4:11-12). Judgment will take place soon. This verse is a clear indication that the early Christians expected the Lord Jesus to return imminently.188
"The early Christians' conviction that the parousiawas near', or imminent', meant that they fully believed that it couldtranspire within a very short period of time--not that it hadto."189
"In light of the concept of the imminent coming of Christ and the fact that the New Testament does teach His imminent coming, we can conclude that the Pretribulation Rapture view is the only view of the Rapture of the church that comfortably fits the New Testament teaching of the imminent coming of Christ. It is the only view that can honestly say that Christ could return at any moment, because it alone teaches that Christ will come to rapture the church before the 70th week of Daniel 9 or the Tribulation period begins and that nothing else must happen before His return."190
James pictured Jesus poised at the door of heaven ready to step back onto the stage of human history momentarily. The hope of His imminent (any moment) return should strongly motivate us to live patiently and sacrificially.
5:10 One could use just about any one of the Hebrew prophets as an example of patient endurance in suffering (cf. 1:4).
5:11 Job was not always patient, but he did determine to endure whatever might befall him as he waited for God to clear up the mystery of his suffering (cf. Job 13:10, 15; 16:19-21; 19:25). In verses 7-10 James pleaded for patience (makrothymia) that restrains itself and does not retaliate. Here he advocated perseverance (hypomone) through difficult circumstances (cf. 1:3; Heb. 11:25).
Job reaped a great reward at the end of his trial. We see God's compassion and mercy especially at the end of Job's experience, though God manifested these characteristics earlier as well. Job determined to continue to live by faith when he experienced temptation to depart from the will of God (cf. 1:2-4).
"James has been concerned to help believers to overcome the tendency to react like the world to the injustices heaped on them by the world. The world, by its very nature antagonistic to God and His kingdom, will continue to oppose God's people. But if these truths grip the hearts of His people, it will enable them to overcome the spirit of worldliness by refraining from a worldly reaction to the world's injustices."191
Swearing is an evidence of impatience.
"What he [James] means is that of all the manifestations of impatience in times of stress and affliction the most frequent is the taking of the Lord's name in vain by the use of explosive utterances and hasty and irreverent oaths."192
When we become impatient and lose self-control we tend to say things better left unspoken. These include swearing, abusing the Lord's name, and appealing to heaven, earth, or whatever as confirmation that we are speaking the truth (cf. Matt. 5:33-37).
"It should be obvious that what is referred to in Matthew and James is the light, casual use of oaths in informal conversation--not formal oaths in such places as courts of law [cf. Ps. 110:4; 2 Cor. 1:21; Gal. 1:20]."193
"James's wisdom amounts to this: we should never need to use an oath to prove that this time I really mean it!' Instead we should alwaysreally mean it.'"194
"Our mere word should be as utterly trustworthy as a signed document, legally correct and complete."195
The root problem with the improper behavior that often characterizes the rich, as James saw it, is an attitude of impatience that results from rejecting or forgetting divine revelation concerning the future. Knowledge of the future as God has revealed it in Scripture has very direct application to everyday living. It should affect the way we think about money among other things.
