Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

ion taking as well as their speaking (responding) and acting (reacting), in
which all these parts and aspects come to expression. 355
(b) First Ground: A Reminder (5:8)
Presently James repeats his earlier exhortation, but with a “radical” addition.
Apparently “a passive waiting attitude” is insufficient. He infers that true patience
(makrothumia), which is a either sub-category or a companion category
of the endurance (hupomone), mentioned in James 1:3 and 5:11, and
specifically geared to the condition of the poor and oppressed, will never become
a reality until the heart has been established, strengthened, firmed up
(See Grosheide, 1955, 407; Burdick, 169, with reference to 1 Thess. 3:13;
Heb. 13:9. 356 This constitutes its root! Without the root of “a fixed heart ...
with steely resolution” in place (Motyer, 181, with reference to Lk. 9:51) discontent,
resentment, and bitterness on the inside with the prevailing conditions,
whether irritation, frustration, opposition, maltreatment, or persecution,
as well as petulance, complaints, and grumbling on the outside about them
would be the order of the day. Ultimately, “the problem of the heart is the
heart of the problem.” The contrast between deceiving, stuffing, and fattening
one’s heart (Jam. 1:26; 5:5), on the one hand, and purifying, firming up, and
fixing one’s heart, on the other, is telling (Johnson, 315)! It is the difference
between double-minded inconsistency, defiling self-seeking, and guaranteed
fruitlessness (Jam. 1:6-8; 2:4; 3:11-12; 4:4, 8) and single-hearted resolve, unselfish
zeal, and assured fruitfulness!
First of all, in regeneration the heart of stone must be replaced by a heart
of flesh (Rom. 2:29; Ezek. 36:26). The new heart is the indispensable starting
point for a life of holiness. Without the former, the latter is non-existent
(Rom. 6:6). However, there remains a problem with the heart, until the believer
dies. He must keep it with all diligence (Prov. 4:23), bolstered by the
promises (1 Cor. 10:13) and compassions (Jam. 5:11) of God. He must establish
it, firm it up, and strengthen it! In other words, the heart of stone must be
355 Brosend, 147-148, correctly decries the fervor of an “eschatological apocalyptic” as a
speculative “spectator sport” that “encourages questions that have no answers and endlessly
debates how various apocalyptic pieces fit into the eschatological puzzle.” (Somewhat humorously
Brosend comes to the following conclusion regarding eschatological-apocalyptic
undertakings, “The real fun is that since all the answers are wrong (with reference to Mk.
13:32), every answer is just as credible as any other.”) Instead he opts for a “non-apocalyptic
eschatology,” as portrayed by James, that routinely emphasizes human mortality and divine
judgment, and “serves to encourage emphasis upon the ethical.”
356 In this context the study John Flavel on “Keeping the Heart” in The Works of John Flavel
(London: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1968), Vol. V, 423ff, is “must” reading. This essay has
also been published separately (Grand Rapids: Sovereign Grace Publishers, 1971), and is
available in summary form in A.W. Pink, “Heart Work,” in Practical Christianity, 99-114.
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