Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

In James 2:15-16 he implicitly rebukes the Christian community for
cases of heartless and callous indifference to the poor and needy. Once again
no reversal theme is indicated.
In James 5:1-11 James continues to write to the Church in its totality, as
he returns to the rich-poor issue for the fourth time following James 1:9ff;
2:2ff; and 2:15ff. His intention is to minister grace to his readers, all members
of the Christian community, by means of truth. This is presented in a very sobering
fashion with a view to self-examination. It is discriminating for non-
Christians, all right. It brings them face to face with the question of their
status before God in the area of regeneration. But its main purpose is to confront
the members of the Christian community in both a discriminating and
applicatory fashion. They equally must decide their condition before God, in
the area of regeneration, if needs be, and definitely in the area of sanctification.
In other words, if the shoe fits the readers, whether they profess Christ
or not, they better put it on! If they are guilty of the conduct James describes,
his condemnation must be taken to heart, and the pronunciation of doom recognized
as something that is certain to materialize upon the unrepentant. It
can be anticipated that non-Christians will persist in their conduct and face
God’s judgment, or repent, and that Christians in repentance will cease and
desist. Otherwise their profession will prove to be counterfeit! In that case the
judgment will extend to them as well.
The advantage of this interpretation is considerable. It discloses that in
this and the next section the members of the covenant community come face
to face with themselves, both in their riches and their poverty. They have to
grapple with their condition in these two areas, and conclude how they stack
up in terms of practical godliness. Since all of life is either a matter of riches
or poverty, their whole life will be the object of (self-) examination! In short,
when they do, and should, ask James, “Are you talking to me?” the answer is
swift, direct and decisive, “yes, Yes, YES, I am talking to you, to everyone of
you” (See Brosend, 139).
Incidentally, this also explains why it is less likely that the place and
function of this section is determined by James 4:1. The various topics that
pass in review from James 4:11 through James 5:11, such as would-be judges,
presumptuous traders, rich landowners, impoverished laborers, would then
represent various categories of folks, all of them “on the war path.” This
seems rather tenuous.
While arguably some of the morally “filthy rich” may not have a saving
relationship to Christ, it is not at all inconceivable that grievous sins, as mentioned
in this passage, can creep into the Church (Acts 20:29; 2 Cor. 12: 20-
21). Besides, even if most of the rich who are addressed would prove to be
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