Previously, James contrasted two different people going through trials:
One person is a genuine Christian going through a trial, needs wisdom so asks God for wisdom and receives wisdom because they don't doubt His character.
Then James talks about another type of person; A spurious believer
- not genuine, authentic, or true; not from the claimed, pretended, or proper source; counterfeit.- also goes through a trial, needs wisdom, but doesn't ask in faith; they're doubting who God is, His character, they're holding on to God and holding onto the world and James says that man won't receive anything from the Lord - verses 7 and 8. He/she is unstable in all his/her ways. We see that this person is not only unstable in their prayer life but in every aspect of their life.
Now why does James seem like he is starting a new topic with verses 9-11; inserting the issue of being rich & poor in the middle of talking about trials? Well, he's not. Think about it. In the middle of persecution, especially persecution these Jewish Christians were going through: having to flee their homes, being robbed, being hauled into court...these kinds of things going on, the issue of money would have been a trial. Just because some of these believers were scattered from their homeland didn't change their money situation. James is writing to both poor and rich believers. Both poor and rich believers go through tests common to everyday life: the test of plenty and the test of want. So James is not introducing a new topic. Actually, he is going from a general topic of trial to a specific trial, and that is, finances or money.
1. The poor brother's response to his humble position verse 9
2. The rich brother's response to his wealthy position verse 10 & 11
Poor Brother Verse 9
lowly = to be of humble circumstances, to be of lowly rank or employment. Probably most of the readers of this epistle were poor. They were economically low, they were low in the eyes of the world and, no doubt, in their own eyes, many times. (If you've ever gone to a third world country and you have seen poor people, [really, you'd see the poverty-stricken], they're not only low in that they have no money, but sometimes it affects their well-being; how they feel. It puts a lowliness in their own eyes.) This poverty produced a lowliness of mind. That is evident when going through persecution and you lose material things. Remember, these christians had been robbed of their homes and they had been persecuted. Also, church history tells us that many christians in the early church were from the lowest economic levels of society. There were not a lot of rich christians in the NT time. It is recorded that some burial inscriptions in the Roman catacombs revealed that a huge number of slaves had embraced Christianity. James is writing to a big audience here when he says, "let the brother of low circumstances rejoice."
Notice that James says they are to rejoice. Just because you are poor, or have a lowly situation, it doesn't give you license to complain but it does give you a right to rejoice. What does rejoice mean?
2744.
καυχάομαι
kauchaŏmai,
kŏw-khah´-om-ahee;
from some (obsol.) base akin to that of αὐχέω
auchĕō
(to boast)
and 2172;
to vaunt
(in a good or a bad sense):—(make) boast, glory, joy, rejoice.
2172.
εὔχομαι
ĕuchŏmai,
yoo´-khom-ahee;
mid. of a prim verb; to wish;
by impl to pray
to God:—pray, will, wish.
To profess loudly something of which one has a right to be proud of. What do poor persecuted Christians have to rejoice about? Well, one thing they have is their genuine saving faith. Another is that their faith is being tested. That is how you know you're a child of God; your faith is tested. Remember ~ in one of the 1st blogs I mentioned that trials should be welcomed opportunities for growth in Christ. Now the poor people are getting an opportunity to get their faith tested to see if it is genuine. If you are going through a trial of any kind [& it doesn't have to be financial] and you rejoice through it, it will keep you from murmuring & rebelling during the trial. Try it sometime! James says that the proper response in God's eyes is that they are to rejoice in that they are exalted. We can rejoice while here on earth, we know Christ...our citizenship is in heaven and God is our companion during trials.
James uses interesting terminology in light of what his mother Mary says. Look at Luke 1:47-55: She has the same terminology as James:
my
spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior --He has exalted the lowly; He sent the rich away empty
What is the significance of this? Remember Mary was our Lord's mother but she was also James' mother too. Growing up they were of lowly circumstances. As he was growing up he probably heard this from his mother's lips. Remember this with your own children....they watch us & they mimic us!
Ok...since it's been so long ago that I published the previous blog, I will write about the rich man in the next blog. So until then REJOICE!!
No comments:
Post a Comment