James 5:6 - Printer Friendly

ESV: You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.

NIV: You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

NASB: You have condemned and put to death the righteous person; he offers you no resistance.

CSB: You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous, who does not resist you.

NLT: You have condemned and killed innocent people, who do not resist you.

KJV: Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

NKJV: You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.

James offers his final charge against the wealthy oppressors he has been condemning: murder. Not only were they guilty of hoarding wealth while others suffered in poverty, of cheating their workers out of earned wages, and of living in self–indulgent luxury, they had literally caused an innocent—or righteous—man to die.

Wealthy landowners had great power in the court systems of the day. Unfortunately, then as now, court systems can be a rigged game. The wealthy can drag poor people into court on charges, legitimate or not. And with little resources to defend themselves in a corrupt system, the poor are mostly helpless against such tactics. In James's era in particular, a poor man who was sued would usually lose what little they had left. As a result, they may have been unjustly executed or simply left to die of starvation.

With that, James concludes his condemnation of these wealthy, non-Christian oppressors.

What should we, as Christians, take away from this? Scripture does not teach that possessing wealth is in itself a sin. Obviously, not all wealthy people oppress others, and many Christians in the world today possess great riches. Having said that, the Bible does warn against the trap of desiring to become rich (1 Timothy 6:9–10) and of trusting in riches once you possess them (1 Timothy 6:17–19).

James 5:1–6 has a tone similar to that of an Old Testament prophet pronouncing the coming judgment on a group of people. This includes describing the ruin of these people as if it has already occurred. James lays out the charges against the rich landowners who were oppressing the poor. These crimes include selfishness, abuse of their workers, and indifference. Those rich sinners should start weeping and wailing now; their judgment was coming on the day of the Lord.

What was causing fights and quarrels among the Christians to whom James was writing? They were living by the world's wisdom. This false perspective says human beings should do whatever it takes to get what they want in this life, even if it hurts other people. James says that to live that way is adultery, but God gives grace. Christians should repent and move close to God again. We should trust Him to provide, to be the Judge, and to lift us up in His time. In humility, we must acknowledge that all of our plans are dependent on Him, and He can change them at any moment.

Prior chapters in this letter focused on the relationship between beliefs and actions, and how to practically apply the concepts of Christianity. In chapter 4, James called his Christian readers to repent of their worldliness and turn back to closeness with God. Now in the last chapter of his letter, James addresses three things: He pronounces to the rich oppressors of the Christians that their judgment is coming on the day of the Lord. He urges those suffering under that oppression to remain patient, strong in their faith, as they wait for the day of the Lord. And he encourages all Christians to show their faith in God by praying in response to every circumstance.

The book of James is about specifically understanding what saving faith looks like. How does faith in Christ reveal itself in a believer's life? What choices does real trust in God lead us to make? Those are the questions James answers. Most scholars believe the writer was Jesus' half-brother, a son born to Joseph and Mary after Jesus' birth. James may not have come to believe Jesus was the Messiah until after the resurrection. Eventually, though, he became one of the leaders of the Christian church in Jerusalem. This is possibly the earliest-written of all the New Testament books, around AD 40–50. James addresses his letter to Jewish Christians scattered around the known world.