◄ James 5 Devotional Commentary ►
James 5:6
There are many passages in the Bible that bewail the seeming prosperity of ungodly, rich tricksters, while the people of God seem to be mercilessly exploited and defrauded by them in every area of life. But James addresses the issue of social justice in this part of his epistle and he does not pull his punches as to his severe denunciation of their immoral ways, while outlining the final, fatal outcome of their iniquitous lives.
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James 5:7
James starts to bring his letter to a close with an exhortation to patience: "Therefore, be patient, brethren," he pleads, "be patient until the coming of the Lord. Be patient like the farmer who waits for the precious produce of the soil and remains patient until the field receives the early and late rains."
At the beginning of his epistle, James called his fellow believers to be read more...
James 5:11
The apostle James touches on many issues that affected persecuted Christians in the early Church. Topics in James relate to unity in the Body of Christ as well as faith, wisdom, conflict, justice, and prayer.
But one issue that seems to thread its way throughout his epistle, and which is equally relevant for Christians today, touches on the need for unquestioning, patient-endurance during difficult trials and tribulations - and read more...
James 5:13
Prayer and praise are two vital elements in the Christian life, and yet they are perhaps the two essential components of a believer's spiritual walk that are most frequently lacking.
Too often, prayer and praise have been infiltrated with new age philosophies, tainted with occultic thinking, or simply infused with a worldly mindset. And yet, godly living through read more...
James 5:14
Prayer is a great privilege for the Christian, for it affords us an audience at the throne of grace, for mercy to find help in time of need. And the book of James both begins and ends with the 'prayer of faith'.
At the beginning, we are warned against being a double-minded Christian, where we pray with doubt in our hearts, and right at the end of his letter we discover that the effective, fervent prayer of the righteous man, has read more...
James 5:16
As James draws his epistle to a close, we are called to confess our trespasses to one another and to pray for each other, knowing that the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
This call to confession is not a summons to the confessional box where a 'priest' becomes a middleman between us and God, for there is one God and one Mediator between God and mankind, the Man Christ Jesus. He alone is the one to Whom we read more...