James 5:1-6 (KJV)
Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
John Gill writes of this passage, “All rich men are not here designed; there are some rich men who are good men, and make a good use of their riches, and do not abuse them, as these here are represented; and yet wicked rich men, or those that were openly profane, are not here intended neither; for the apostle only writes to such who were within the church, and not without, who were professors of religion; and such rich men are addressed here, who, notwithstanding their profession, were not rich towards God, but laid up treasure for themselves, and trusted in their riches, and boasted of the multitude of their wealth; and did not trust in God, and make use of their substance to his glory, and the good of his interest, as they should have done…”
I have earlier identified them as Judaizers. They have crept into churches, pretending themselves to be Christians while also claiming to be something more. They possess what I am going to call a false sense of “wealth.”
We still have true Judaizers today. They remain false professors or false believers, and they continue to be a people set on judgment. We also have other forms of these “rich men.” There are those who have added doctrines to the gospel, such as election, or gifts, such as tongues. We have a special class of them who believe God has given them a better understanding than most. They hold to complicated reformation doctrines or differing doctrines on the rapture that, in their minds, can only be ascertained by growing beyond what they consider the stunted doctrines of fundamentalists.
The thought strikes me how much this passage resembles the Jews in Egyptian captivity. They were at first welcomed because of a mutual relationship through Joseph. Soon, however, Egypt forgot that relationship. The Jews were enslaved and abused until finally, after much prayer, God judged Egypt and delivered His people from their grasp.
I see in this a parallel to the “rich men” among us. At first, they claim some affinity and relationship with us. Then they either reject or forget those connections. Their next step is to attack, mock, and condemn those they view as possessing a lesser relationship with the Lord than they do.
I mean no ill will toward anyone. I believe every person has a right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience. But I also know this: attempts to ignore major doctrinal differences and unite together in a single congregation will eventually lead to frustration, disagreement, and conflict.
Better to acknowledge our differences early and part as strangers rather than later as enemies.
#JamesFive #RichTowardGod #FaithWithoutPride #BiblicalDiscernment #TruthAndSeparation
Dangerous “Rich Men”: Who Was James Really Talking About?
Do you believe James 5 is warning about wealth alone, or about spiritual pride hiding behind religion? Leave a comment below and join the discussion.
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