In 5:1-6, James addresses unrighteous landowners who had repeatedly taken advantage of their workers by withholding wages (5:4) and using their influence to obtain legal judgments against them (2:6, 5:6). Additionally, they showed antagonism toward their workers’ faith as they “blasphemed” the name of Jesus (2:7).
These words are a continuation his message to the unrighteous wealthy which began in 4:13 with his rebuke to businessmen who had made their plans independent of God. They reflect a tension between the rich and the poor that runs throughout the letter. It’s an oversimplification but still useful to note that the rich oppressed the poor through their wealth while the poor fought back with their tongues. This is a significant theme in James’ letter and a problem that is still with us today.
Perhaps it’s fitting that James waits until the end of his letter to address the unrighteous, for it often seems that they get away with their crimes, doesn’t it? We read headline after headline of people pursuing wicked ways, but seemingly very few of them experiencing the negative consequences of their behavior. While this might be a civil reality, James assures us that there is no evildoer who escapes the judgment of God.
As others have pointed out, 5:1-6 is loosely patterned after court proceedings where different witnesses take the stand to offer testimony about crimes committed by others. In v. 2-3, it is the landowners’ misused wealth that bears witness against them. In v. 4, we hear the wages that should have been paid to the workers “crying out.” In v. 5 it is their extravagance of the landowners and in v. 6 it is their corruption of the legal system.
James begins with an ominous note for the unrighteous when he says, “Weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you” (v. 1). These were people who had been causing others to weep and wail and now it was their turn! Judgment was coming on them and all their money, possessions, and status—the very things they had trusted in and depended upon to perpetuate their evil deeds were not only of no help to them—they were bearing witness against them! There’s something sobering about facing the wrong we have done and being forced to see the suffering it has brought to others. This is what God was doing with these landowners.
The first witness to the stand is the wealth and possessions they prided themselves in and gave them power over others. But something had happened to their material treasures. They had “rotted,” “moths have eaten your clothes,” and their gold and silver had “corroded.”
Of course, this is what happens eventually to all material things. The only hedge against this is to do what Jesus said and use our material treasures in such a way that we store up our treasures in heaven. As Jim Eliot said, “A man is not a fool to give up what he can’t keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” But this they had not done so their earthly treasures testify against them.
The next witness is also part of their material wealth. It is the wages they failed to pay their workers. This is why wanting to be rich is spoken against in the Scripture. Being wealthy isn’t a sin. There are lots of wealthy people who were followers of God—Abraham, Job, David, Solomon, etc. Wanting to make enough money to take care of your family isn’t a sin. But the desire to be wealthy (i.e., the love of money) is sinful because it leads to “many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction” (1 Timothy 6:9-10).
The landowners had cut corners to obtain their wealth—they had failed to pay the people who had partnered with them in harvesting their crops. Their greed caused them to take what wasn’t theirs—and to take it from people who needed it more than they did. God had instructed them regarding this very situation. In Deuteronomy 24:14-15 He said:
Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns. Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it. Otherwise they may cry to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
And again, in Jeremiah 22:13:
Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness,
his upper rooms by injustice,
making his own people work for nothing,
not paying them for their labor.
This is what the love of money will do to us. It will cause us to betray and inflict harm on other people just so you so we can have more than we need. The love of money is a toxin that tries to kill anything that competes with it. Jesus spoke of this when he talked about the seed that fell on thorny soil—“the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word—making it unfruitful” (Matthew 13:22). But in the end, as we see here, it takes the life of those who embrace it.
The next witness is their self-indulgence. They had lived in a way that was overfocused on self and under focused on others (you don’t have to be wealthy to do this). They made sure they had every comfort money could buy while they were oblivious to the suffering around them. Their sin involved wealth, but it mostly involved self-absorption and selfishness.
The final witness is their criminal use of the legal system. As can often happen, the rich can have an unhealthy influence on the legal system. Again, God has spoken to Israel about this. When God was giving Moses instructions on who would serve as judges for Israel, He said:
But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. (Exodus 18:21)
That was the ideal. The reality is that there was and has always been people in legal systems everywhere who are willing to practice justice for a price. This is what was happening in James’ day, and he tells the landowners who exploited this that, “You have condemned and murdered the innocent one” (v. 6). The “murder” in this verse could be explained by saying the rich were treating the poor as if they didn’t exist, it’s also true that what they were doing could lead to poverty, sickness, and death so that the “murder’ spoken of it literal.
This is a blistering text, and it should remind us of an important truth: Money is a wonderful servant but a lousy Lord! If we will live with God at the center of our lives, then our material wealth can bless us and be used to bless others. If we make money Lord of our life, then everything will unravel and eventually our money will not only fail to bless us—it will take our life away.
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 