Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

At any rate, according to James, in the Day of Judgment both moth holes
and corrosion will be a witness against them. The irony of the courtroom setting
is inescapable. During their lifetime the rich haul the poor in court with
spurious lawsuits (2:6). When the ultimate court convenes, they find themselves
“in the dock.” “The very corruption (rust) of their wealth is personified
in order to bear testimony against them” (Johnson, 300). In fact, it is the personified
“prosecutor” (Grosheide, 1955, 402). Its testimony will be silent and
eloquent, telling and damning (See also Hab. 2:11).
In fact, the very rust shall devour them, as if it constituted a fire (Is.
10:16; 30:27, 30; Jer. 5:14; Ezek. 15:7; Am. 1:12, 14), the punishing fire of
Gehenna itself (Mt. 5:22; 12:42; Mk. 9:47ff; Jude 7) (Laws, 199; Mitton, 177-
178). The imagery is vivid, and suggests a horrible reality. As the rust eats
into, and is destructive of, the precious metal, so it eats into, and is destructive
of, their owners. It acts like a flesh-eating disease! The word that James uses
for “rust” (ios) is the very term that stands for poison in James 3:8. The play
of words may well have been intentional. The “rust of riches” (metal) serves
is identified as the “endemic poison of the rich” (people). There comes a time
that its influence and progress can no longer be stopped. This, in plain English,
will precipitate its use as evidence in the final judgment. In fact, this will
enable it accusingly to cry out against them at that time before God and men.
It will show the utter callousness and folly of their behavior. Ultimately, it
will be the cause of their condemnation, their ruin and their destruction
(Compare Acts 12:23). What else can one expect from “deadly poison?”
The irony in all this is hard to miss. The precious metal that rust cannot
touch in a million years will succumb to that rust in short order, and the rust
that cannot “eat” precious metal will do just that. So the rich in view of this
section, who undoubtedly regard themselves as untouchable as their gold, will
share its fate just as quickly. No smiling billionaires of that kind in the final
judgment! There apparently will be quite a crowd! The Greek for “flesh” is in
the plural. But their punishment of eternal hell will be individual and personal
(Zodhiates, III, 56, with a reference to Dan. 12:2; Mt. 5:29-30; 10:28; 24:51).
However, there is an additional irony. The poison that wells up from the pit of
hell and has filled the “members” of the rich to the brim (Jam. 3:8) was released
in their relentless pursuit of gold. This, however, will ironically prove
to be fool’s gold, which boomeranged in that it turned chameleon like into the
very poison that will produce hellish misery for its self-destructing owners.
“The last days,” designated as the time of this ruin, may refer to the soon
to arrive last days of their lives (Grosheide, 1955, 403), possibly their (anticipated)
retirement years. God is known to bring down sinners by the end of
their lifetime (Jer. 45:5; Nah. 2:2; Lk. 12:19-21; 17:27-28; 1 Thess. 5:3). But
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