Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

ing. What does not originate in him comes straight out of hell. As we saw,
both Jesus and James never tire of stressing this. Therefore, the moment we
refuse to tap into him, or turn off the tap, the products of hell emerge. James
5:1-7 is simply one of those instances, to which everyone is fully vulnerable
at any time. Haughtily to dismiss this as eisegesis, or angrily to deny it as
possible, may well stand condemned by James 1:19, and certainly is a blueprint
for potential disaster. Let him who stands make sure that he does not
stumble or tumble into this abyss! Candidly, it is inconceivable that the picture
portrayed in this passage in all its grim colors could not be applicable to
folks with either formal or substantive ties to Christ’s Church! Either James
1:10-11; 2:1-13; and 2:14-17 functions fully, as explained and applied above,
or the slippery slope to James 5:1-6 is either “under sobering construction” or
already “in solemn evidence.”
The frequently dismal record in Scripture as well as Church history
should persuade anyone that it is not surprising for James 5:1-6 to be a reality.
It would rather be astounding, if God’s people were to clean up their act
in terms of James 1:10-11; 2:1-13; and 2:15-16, and so put a stop to James
5:1-6 before it could become a reality. When Jesus confronts his covenant
audience with the Parable of Dives and Lazarus (Lk. 16:19-31), he must not
only have aimed at a raw nerve, but also have hit it. There is no reason to believe
that in doing so he was merely an air-beating pugilist. Similarly, there is
no reason to believe that in the footsteps of his elder brother James would not
have duplicated his deliberate and direct modus operandi in his own letter,
again and again. When he insists that a spillover of rampant wickedness is in
evidence everywhere (Jam. 1:21), this must mean something very concrete
and very real! Well, his letter is full of concrete illustrations that do not beat
around the bush. No one should seek to shelve or neutralize James’ reality
checks by means of one’s interpretive method.
If anyone is still not (fully) persuaded of the “cutting” relevance (Acts
2:37; 7:54) of this passage to the Church throughout its existence, virtually
without any exception, the following reminder may remove the last vestige of
open or latent pride. Hardly twenty to forty years after Christ’s ascension he
declared one out of seven churches in Asia Minor dead in spite of its magnificent
reputation (Rev. 3:2), and threatened to spit out a second one because of
its tepid character (Rev. 3:16)! Church folks have always been wily in sandpapering
the cutting edge of Scripture away by one sort of stealth or another,
or belligerent in refusing to own up to its sobering message. Why else would
James warn the Church never to block the march of truth by smooth talking
or blatant anger (Jam. 1:19)?
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