Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

expression, “If I am lost, I am lost knocking on the gate of heaven.” The acknowledgment
of sovereignty could not be clearer. Neither could the exercise
of responsibility. Further, if the promise of God means anything, a man of such
prayer will undoubtedly be saved (Jer. 29:13; Acts 2:21).
This sets the stage for James’ final section, which deals with the range of
practical godliness in the fabric of life, the full range of the “I must.” Now, and
only now, after the exposition of the way (Jam. 1:1-28), the principles (Jam. 2:1-
26), and the implementation (Jam. 3:1-4:10) of practical godliness, is the reader
ready to get a glimpse of the length, breadth, height and depth of what God
means, when he says, “Be holy, for I am holy.” The first three sections form the
three-stage rocket that puts the payload of the fourth section into orbit!
However, my outline, which presents James 4:11-5:18 both as a structured
unit in its own right and as the concluding section of the Epistle, does not simply
serve to bring out the exquisite nature of its composition. There is more, much
more, that does, and should, meet the eye of the perceptive interpreter. As the zenith
of James 3:1-4:10, James 4:6-10 asserts that the ever abundant and all sufficient
grace of God (Jam. 4:6) arrives at the elevated Revival status (Jam. 4:10b) of
being “more than conquerors” (Rom. 8:37) (only) through the embrace of the “ten
commandments” of James 4:7-10a. These “commandments,” of submitting to
God, resisting the devil, drawing near to God, cleansing the hands, purifying the
heart, experiencing one’s wretchedness, mourning, weeping, turning one’s surface
laughter and joy into grief and gloom, and of being humbled (in the process) resemble,
and act like, the blood that does, and must, flow through the physical
body for it to obtain and retain its vigor and usefulness. In short, they do, and
must, continuously “circulate,” and at times “surge,” through the life of Christians
to offset “the overflowing wickedness,” “the filthy sewage” (Jam. 1:20) that result
from the omni- and ever-present “hellish and demonic poison,” residing in them
(Jam 3: 6, 8; see also Rom. 8:17, 20, 23, 24). Genuine believers will, and must,
keep this in mind when in James’ fourth section they come face to face, as I argue
below, with “the outside” in terms of their neighbors and their future (Jam. 4:11-
17), with “themselves” in terms of their riches or poverty (Jam. 5:1-11), and with
“their circumstances” in terms of “the good, the bad and the ugly” (Jam. 5:12-18).
The bottom line is this. For practical godliness to have “a ghost of a chance” in
each of these three “utterly challenging” areas, which prove to cover the waterfront
of life, the “circulation” of these “commandments” constitutes a perennial
“must,” whether in whole or in part. Absorption of James’ teaching in James
4:11-5:18 should make this abundantly clear. All in all, James does not only have
an exquisite composition, but also a breathtaking deep structure, in which the
parts substantially interlock and serve each other in an ever enriched tapestry and
an ever crescendoing fashion. But what else can one expect from a book that has a
Divine Author as well as a human one?
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