Guest post by Rev. Jeff Meyers
This is the second installment of a condensed version of the “Final Reflections & Summary” from my book Wisdom for Dissidents (full title: Ancient Wisdom for Today’s Christian Dissidents).
The third temptation is to cozy up to our enemies, thinking that we can win their favor. If we can get them to like us, maybe they will leave us alone. This is the “partiality” problem James criticizes in 2:1-13. It is not simply that they are favoring the rich over the poor. That would be bad enough. But the man who is being catered to in their assembly is the one who wears the ring of authority and the robe of office (2:20). He is explicitly identified as an oppressor, someone who drags them into court, and a blasphemer against the name of Jesus (2:6-7). To “judge” the rich oppressor as someone more deserving of special care than the poor believer is “to become judges engaging in an evil conspiracy” (2:4). That evaluation from James is not just about individual “evil thoughts” but about how the brothers have conspired together to appease their rich enemies. They have thereby dishonored those poorer disciples whom “God has chosen . . . to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom” (2:5).
The appeasement option ought not to be on the table for conscientious Christian leaders. To turn a blind eye to immorality and abuse with the hope of getting a hearing from some powerful government or academic figure would be to betray our allegiance to the Lord. Not only is such schmoozing mostly ineffective—the more you give, the more they will take—but such behavior runs counter to the examples of the prophets and of Jesus himself. The prophets denounced the rich and powerful, even, maybe especially, when they were in positions of authority in Israel. Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others did not cozy up to corrupt, immoral leaders. Neither did Jesus.
Fourth, the most insidious temptation, according to James, is to use the power of our words to guide the church toward aggressive and violent action thinking we are acting thereby as agents of God’s justice. As we have argued, James 3:1-12 is at the heart of the letter. And the key passage that unlocks the entire letter is James 1:19-20, “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” Anger against their oppressors has fueled impetuous speeches with the intent to rally the disciples to make things right by means of aggressive, retributive action (3:13-16; 4:1-12). This kind of Christian “zealotry” will not make things right. Instead, such speech and behavior are not of the Spirit but demonic (3:15). These angry and violent responses have been fueled by the immature rhetoric of their teachers, the brothers responsible for leading their communities. They want freedom, but they are going about achieving liberty in the wrong ways.
In contemporary, twenty-first century America things have not degenerated to the point where Christians are tempted with the lure of violent zealotry. Or have they? In some circles, the desire for “social justice” has become more than simply prophetic speech. We seem to be moving from political theatre (marches, protests, etc.), which is appropriate when moderate, to unrestrained, violent action (riots, destruction of property, etc.). In the modern world where everything seems to be immediately available (or at the most two-days away when delivered by Amazon Prime), Christians are tempted to want justice now. James warns against that kind of intemperate impatience.
Fifth, it is critical that Christians who have a passion for changing the world not lose heart and grow impatient when God does not act according to our timetable. Although James has warned them against the intemperate use of their tongues in their struggle for justice and freedom (3:1-12), he does not hold back words of prophetic condemnation against their oppressors (5:1-6). He is not inciting violence, but prophesying God’s just retribution. These harried and mistreated Christians needed to hear this prophetic judgment against Jerusalem just as much as they needed to hear James’s rebuke of their unwise words and zealous behavior. They needed to hear James’s own justifiably angry denunciation of the leaders in Jerusalem and hear his assurance that the days of their oppressors are numbered, and the Lord is coming in judgment soon (5:8).
Christians today also need to be reminded of God’s righteous judgment; but not just at the Last Day, but also in history. James comforted his flock with the promise that “the coming of the Lord was near” (5:8). He was not talking about the end of history and the final judgment. His words in the first part of chapter 5 are designed to remind them of Jesus’ prophetic promise that the Temple would be destroyed, and Jerusalem judged (Matt. 24). This promised destruction was on the horizon and they needed to be reminded so they would wait for their coming vindication patiently. Although we don’t have such definitive prophesies regarding our nation as these early Christians did, we should expect the Lord to act in history against the enemies of the church. The Scriptures are clear: the Lord has repeatedly judged haughty, unjust nations and rulers—Pharaoh, the Canaanites, Nineveh, Egypt, Samaria, Moab, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, and even Jerusalem. Why would we think that corrupt, immoral modern nations are exempt from God’s just recompense? We don’t have the assurance of a quick timetable, as the early church did (“his generation will not pass away until all these things take place,” Matt. 24:34). Nevertheless, we do have the timeless promises from the prophets that the Lord will act:
If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it (Jer. 18:7-10).
Sixth, not only does James warn us against inflammatory rhetoric that leads to violent action, but because of the Lord’s coming judgment against his enemies, he also commends patience under trial, prayer for wisdom, mercy toward our persecutors, and special care for those in the community adversely affected by the tribulations. Attending to these challenges is how the kingdom of Jesus is advanced during times of opposition and persecution. This is how mature “brothers” lead their congregations. Maturity comes from faithfulness under trial (1:2-4). Growth in obedience to the “royal law” brings true “liberty” (2:22-25). Muzzling one’s tongue and then taking care of orphans and widows is evidence of true religious observance (2:26-27). As we have already noted, paying closer attention to the impoverished in our own Christian communities is much more productive than attempting to influence powerful enemies by obsequious favors (2:1-9).
Even when talking about “justification” James zeros in on their behavior, not so much what they say. For all the public talk about their “faith” they have neglected the simple obedience implied in the posture of “trust” Christians profess. There are brothers and sisters in dire need because of their banishment. They need to be cared for, not just talked to (2:15-17). When parents are called to put their faith in God even though their children are being “sacrificed” in the turmoil of the on-going persecution that kind of loyal resignation to God’s will is evidence of living, genuine, justifying faith (2:20-24). And just as Rahab was vindicated as a true believer when she deceived Jericho’s secret police about the whereabouts of the Israelite spies, so also believers who risk their lives to help others escape from their Jewish inquisitors manifest a living, active trust in the Lord (2:25-26).
James’s final words are all about patience when suffering and the assurance that God will act to deliver and vindicate them (5:7-11). They should meditate on the prophets and on the story of Job and stop grumbling and contemplate the Lord’s goal in the trouble they are experiencing (5:10-11). Cultivating a genuine Christian community is crucial—join with one another to sing, praise, and weep together (5:13). Take special care to minister to those injured in the on-going suffering meted out by the enemies of the Gospel. Give your wounded and sick the assurance that they are full members of the body of Christ by anointing them with oil, providing them with an opportunity to confess their sins, and reminding them of the promise of the resurrection of the body (5:16). But don’t stop praying for the Lord to act. Remember Elijah and pray for the Lord’s judgment and blessing (5:17-18). And the last admonition from James to these brothers in leadership is to work hard to restore those that have wandered from the way of the cross to mimic the ways of their oppressors. That kind of wandering on the part of Christian leaders can lead to a multitude of sins. Work to deliver such people from behavior that will end in their death (5:19-20).
If we consider everything that James has commended to his readers, we will have enough to do in our Christian communities and families, even during times of severe persecution. What James has given us is a fleshed-out version of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. There are so many allusions to Jesus’ sermon in James that the two might be formatted in side-by-side columns to see all the correspondences. In fact, I encourage you to read the whole sermon for yourself and see how closely James follows our Lord’s “royal instruction” regarding his coming kingdom.
The verdict of history commends the apostolic and post-apostolic church for their conformity to James’ instructions and warnings. They were patient, and steadfast during four centuries of severe trials. Kreidel argues persuasively that the virtue of patience was the key that led to the cultural dominance of the Christian church over the Roman empire.[1] The church resisted the temptation to respond with violence against their persecutors, patiently waiting for vindication from the Lord, and all the while maintaining a clear prophetic criticism of both the apostate Jews and the pagan Roman authorities. That mature balance is precisely what Jesus and James, his apostle, call us today. The epistle of James contains just the sort of ancient wisdom that today’s Christian dissidents need to hear and heed.
[1] Alan Kreider, The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improbable Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2016).
