Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

equal all-consuming force in the life of any and all Christians. Truthfully, it is
somewhat tragic that Scripture does (must?) refer the Christian to the ant
(Prov. 6:6), the athlete, long distance runner or prizefighter (Paul; 1 Cor.
9:24-26) and the farmer (Jam. 5:7) as models to be emulated. The Church
should long for the day that the ant, the athlete and the farmer can be told that
the only way to succeed in their vocation is to emulate the Christian as the
exclusive alternative to (self-destructive) failure. I fear that the “Revival”
days in which this was a possibility have been all too rare.
At any rate, the main message is unmistakable. Patience has no time
limit, no statue of limitations. It does not run out. To put it differently, “affliction”
may never reach a “saturation point,” a “critical mass!” The Christian
may never say, “I have taken all that I can. Enough is enough, and too
much is too much. Now I will either give up or strike back!” I am not permitted
either to quit or to retaliate, whether in deed or in word (Jam. 5:9), regardless
whether the reference to the coming of the Lord is an encouragement
or a warning. By way of bottom line, it would not be surprising, if James had
both aspects in mind!
Note well that James does not recommend “civil disobedience,” let alone
armed revolution. Neither Acts 4:19ff, nor Acts 5:29, nor Daniel 3:16ff for
that matter, authorize or justify either one of these reactions. Both Peter and
Daniel’s friends couch the rationale for their conduct in terms of obedience to
God. “We must obey God rather than man.” “Since God told us, ‘You shall
have no other gods before me,’ we (simply) will not serve your gods, nor
worship the golden image that you have set up.” In other words, both Peter
and Daniel’s friends gave a clear message, “It never has been, nor will it ever
be, our aim, whether explicitly or implicitly, to disobey authorities. But if
they ask us to sin, let it be known that our obedience to God always has the
absolute priority. He always pulls rank on any human being, however high his
position or function. If this puts us on a collision course with authorities, and,
as a result, they wish to call our conduct ‘disobedience,’ then that is their
problem, not ours. Our conduct is ever and unfailingly a matter of obedience,
however it is construed by others, either to the properly functioning governing
authorities, or to the all overriding authority of God!”
God requires two “dirty ‘s’-words” in the authority structures, sacrifice
on the part of those in authority, the parent, the husband, the government, the
elder and the employer, and submission on the part of the child, the wife, the
citizen, the church member and the employee. The lack of submission neither
justifies the lack of sacrifice, nor terminates the requirement of sacrifice. Vice
versa, the lack of sacrifice never justifies the lack of submission, nor terminates
the call for submission! This is the clear teaching of James. The balance
778