James Chapter 5 — Commentary and Notes on Verse 5

    Youhavelivedonearthinluxuryandself-indulgence.Youhavefattenedyourselvesinthedayof slaughter.

    The apostle gives another example of how the wicked abuse their riches, and that is in sensual or refined living. They were reluctant in giving to the poor but easily and liberally spent their money on pleasures and gratifications of the flesh—like the epicure in the Gospel who lived in luxury every day but denied a crumb to Lazarus the beggar (Luke 16:19-21). Worldly desires, though they argue every inch with grace, easily give way to corruptions.

    Youhavelived… in luxury. The word means indulging the senses in food, drink, and clothing.

    Note 1. This sin is very natural to us. There were just two common fathers of the human race: Adam, the first created man, and Noah, the restorer. Both went wrong by appetite—one by eating, the other by drinking. We need to be careful. Christ told his own disciples to beware of dissipation and drunkenness (Luke 21:34).

    Note 2. This sin is natural to all but chiefly occurs among the rich. There is, I confess, a difference in tempers. Wealth makes some people covetous and others prodigal; but the usual sin in the rich is luxury. Pride, idleness, and overeating are usually found in the houses of the great, who should be all the more wary.

    Note3. Though refined living is a sin of the wealthy, their abundance does not excuse it. God gave wealth for another purpose than to spend it on pleasures. It is bad enough in poor men to guzzle and drink away their days, which should be spent in honest labor, but it is inexcusable in the rich; God allows them to live more liberally according to their circumstances, yet not inordinately. Intemperance is odious to God in anybody, whoever they are.

    Note4. Luxury is living inpleasure (KJV). God allows us to use pleasures but not to live in them—to take delight, but not for them to take us. To live always at the full is mere wanton luxury.

    Onearth. This refers, say some, to vile beasts, which look toward the earth in the posture of their bodies; it is indeed their happiness to live in pleasure, to enjoy pleasures without remorse. But you cannot fitly interpret the apostle’s words in this way. His meaning is that these persons placed all their happiness in this earthly life, and their spirits altogether ran after earthly comforts and earthly contentment, as though they had no higher life to live.

    All the pleasure that the wicked have is on earth—here and nowhere else: “Remember that in your lifetime you received your good things” (Luke 16:25). It is sad to outlive our happiness, to come to lack our comforts and joys (“they have received their reward in full,” Matthew 6:2), for one’s heaven to be past. It is the folly of the worldly to be merry only in their place of banishment and pilgrimage; they live in pleasure here, where they are absent from God: “They spend their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace” (Job 21:13). Alas, their best days are past then! The earth is a place of labor and exercise; we were not put into it to take our fill of pleasure.

    In…self-indulgence. The same word is used of the worldly widow in 1 Timothy 5:6, “the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives.” The word implies such refinement as brings deadness to the spirit, and therefore the KJV translates it as wanton.

    Note5. Luxury is always accompanied by worldly complacency and contempt of God. In Deuteronomy 32:15 we read that Israel “grew fat and kicked”; in Hosea 13:6, “When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me.” Through too much plenty, the soul becomes self-indulgent and untamed.

    Note 6. Abundance of pleasure brings us to self-indulgence and contempt for ordinary provisions. First we hold God in contempt and then his creatures. It is a great sign that sensuality has prevailed over you when the soul desires dainty food. Israel wanted quails. Our nature is not to be self-indulgent until it is made so by habit. It is strange to see how our nature degenerates by degrees and desires more and more with habit. At first we are pleased with what is plain and wholesome, but afterwards we must have unusual combinations. Sea and land will scarcely yield bits dainty enough for a gluttonous appetite.

    Youhavefattenedyourselves [nourishedyourhearts, KJV]. That is, to breed lust rather than satisfy nature. It is the same idea as Paul’s “how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature” in Romans 13:14. The heart is the seat of desires; that is its chief meaning in theology. To nourish the heart is to fuel our desires, taking in excessive amounts in order to expend it in desire.

    Pleasures nourish the heart and fatten it into a senseless stupidity. Nothing brings dullness to it like pleasures. Plutarch observes that the ass, the dullest of all creatures, has the fattest heart. Hence that expression in Scripture, “Make the heart of this people fat” (Isaiah 6:10, KJV). There is a fish that they call the ass-fish, which has its heart in its belly—a fit emblem of a sensual epicure. The heart is never more dull and unfit for the severities and heights of religion than when burdened with luxurious excess; therefore Christ uses the expression in Luke 21:34, “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down.…” Just consider how many reasons we have to be wary in our pleasures. Will the inconveniences they bring you move you away from God? “Drunkards and gluttons become poor” (Proverbs 23:21). How often has the stomach brought the back to rags? Or will the disasters they bring to the body move you?

    Worldly desire, which is the final end and consummation of all pleasures, sucks the bones and, like a cannibal, eats your own flesh (Proverbs 5:11). But chiefly think of the inconvenience your precious soul sustains even while your heart is nourished and fattened. Pleasure infatuates the mind but quenches the radiance and vigor of the spirit; wine and women divert the heart (Hosea 4:11)—that is, the generous sprightliness of the affections. The apostle says of people given to pleasure that they are past feeling (Ephesians 4:18-19); they have lost all the smartness and tenderness of their spirits. Oh, that people would regard this and be careful to nourish their hearts while they nourish their bodies! You should starve desire when you feed nature; or as Augustine puts it in his Confessions: “regard your food as medicine, and use this outward refreshment as a remedy to cure infirmities, not to cause them.” Or as Bernard puts it, you refresh the soul when you feed the body; and by Christian meditations on God’s bounty, Christ’s sweetness, and the fatness of God’s house you keep carnal desire from being nourished.

    Inthedayofslaughter. Some commentators, such as Brixianus, say that this means they fattened themselves for the slaughter, but that is forced. Beza renders it “as in a day of feast.” Certainly there is an allusion to the solemn festivals of the Jews. Their thanksgiving days were called days of slaughter, when many animals were killed for sacrifices and food. In thank-offerings a large part was reserved for the use of the worshiper. Hence the expression in Proverbs 17:1, “Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife”; that is, such a time should be cheerful, as was usual in the time of peace or thank-offerings. So also in Proverbs 7:14, “I have peace offerings at home”—that is, the meat of thank-offerings with which to feast and entertain others.

    The fault these sensualists are charged with is double:

    (1)      They made every day a festival. It is a wanton luxury to make every day a day of slaughter; the rich man made his living “in luxury” worse because he did it “every day” (Luke 16:19). Some people do nothing but join pleasure to pleasure; their lives are nothing but a diversion from one worldly pleasure to another. There is a time to feast and a time to mourn (see Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). Such people disturb the order of seasons. Nature is relieved with changes but clogged with continuance. Frequency of pleasures becomes a habit; and besides, ordinary pleasures then become stale, and people start to look for new excitements. Pleasure itself must have pleasure to refresh it; accustomed delights become a burden.

    (2)      They gave to their desires what should only have been given to religion on special occasions. Usually it is human vanity to devote to one’s desires what was intended for worship and a cursed sacrilege to serve the god of the stomach (Philippians 3:19); true zeal serves the great God of heaven and earth. In Amos 6:5 no music will serve the epicures but temple music: “You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments.” They wanted to be as excellent in their private feasts as David was in the service of the temple. “He gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem” (Daniel 5:2). Vain man thinks he can never honor his pleasures enough or scorn God and holy things enough.

    You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.

    The apostle now comes to another sin, and that is tyrannous and oppressive cruelty, which is also an effect of riches when there is no grace to sanctify their enjoyment.

    From the context, note that plenty gives rise to harm; and when all things are possible, people think all things lawful. The rich and the great, if they are higher than others, do not think about him who is higher than they are: “If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still” (Ecclesiastes 5:8).

    Youhavecondemned. The apostle now gives the example of their cruelty and oppression, masked with a pretense of law. Before they killed, there was some form of legal process; they condemned.

    God takes notice of the injuries done to his people under the form of a legal procedure—not only through open violence, but that which is done secretly: “Can a corrupt throne be allied with you—one that brings on misery by its decrees?” (Psalm 94:20). God regards it as more heinous when public authority, which should be defending the innocent, is used as a cover for oppression. Many people are careful to observe forms of law, even if they do not mind oppressing the godly. See Matthew 27:6, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money”; yet it was lawful to spill the blood of Christ, according to them.

    Again, the apostle says, You have condemned and also murdered; they used their authority and wealth to do this, corrupting judgment and using evil arts to destroy innocent men.

    Any consent in the destruction of innocent people makes us guilty of their blood; and sins committed at our instigation become ours by being rightly imputed to us. Christ was put to death by authority of the Roman Empire and executed by the Roman soldiers; yet it is blamed on the Jews, the whole nation, because it was done at their instigation and with their connivance: “You, with the help of wicked men, put him to death” (Acts 2:23)—“this Jesus, whom you crucified” (verse 36)—“the Jews, who killed the Lord Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 2:14-15). Do not flatter yourself because you are not the immediate executioner. Beware how you provoke others to blood; the guilt will fall on your own consciences. God looks on the instigators as the principals. Ahab “sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, urged on by Jezebel his wife” (1 Kings 21:25). It was a sorry answer that the priests gave to Judas: “That’s your responsibility” (Matthew 27:4); it was their responsibility too, since it was by their plot and conspiracy.

    Andmurdered. This is added to show that oppression will go as far as death—wickedness knows no bounds and limits—and also to show why miseries were coming upon them.

    Innocentmen. This may refer generally to any just person, as in Isaiah 57:1 (“The righteous perish …”); but because the apostle speaks in the singular and with an article, some people understand it to refer to John the Baptist, and others (with more probability) to Stephen, whom the Jews stoned, and others (with most probability) to our Lord Jesus Christ. Because I strongly incline to this last, I shall produce my reasons:

    (1)      Jesus Christ is elsewhere called “the Righteous One” for emphasis (Acts 22:14).

    (2)      There seems to be a direct parallel to this passage in Acts 3:14, “You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.”

    (3)      This was the great reason and cause of judgments on the Jews (see 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16), which is the point of this passage.

    (4)      The conclusion drawn by the next verse, persuading his readers to be patient in hope, arises very naturally from this thought. The former part of verse 6 shows the harm they have done and therefore the cause of their ruin; and the latter part deals with Christ’s patience, the great example and pattern for ours.

    I know the great prejudice against this interpretation is that all this is supposed to be spoken to Christian Jews; but we disproved that in the first verse. Brochman asks how this could be blamed on these sensual, rich people since those who condemned and killed Christ, and the main promoters of his sufferings, were the Pharisees and chief priests, dissembling hypocrites. But this is of no weight since the guilt lay on the whole nation, and they had taken the curse of his blood upon themselves and their children. The apostle is therefore quite in order to say to them, when he assigns the cause of the approaching judgment, You have … murdered.

    Do not think it strange that the apostle does not call Christ Lord or Saviour, for he is speaking to unconverted Jews, and the best way he could convict them is to declare Christ’s righteousness or innocence, as Peter and John also do: “the Holy and Righteous One” (Acts 3:14). Those who would not acknowledge him as Saviour by the plain evidence of his life might acknowledge him to have been a righteous person, as Pilate’s wife did (Matthew 27:19). However, lest this interpretation should seem too doubtful, I shall make the notes apply either way.

    Note1. If you take the expression generally, as concerning any innocent person, you may observe that innocence itself cannot escape the pangs of oppression. The just are condemned and killed; thus the Scripture speaks of “the blood of righteous Abel” (Matthew 23:35). People hate what they refuse to imitate; and in the wisdom of God the worst judge their sufferings perversely: “they band together against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death” (Psalm 94:21). That is how it has been, is, and will be. Gregory says, “I would suspect him not to be Abel if he has no Cain.”

    Note2. If you understand this particularly of Christ, note that Christ died not as a malefactor but as an innocent person. There were several circumstances that showed this: the disagreement of the witnesses, Pilate’s wife’s dream and testimony, Pilate’s own acknowledgment, Judas’ confession. Certainly he died not for his own sins but for ours, “the righteous for the unrighteous” (1 Peter 3:18). Our sacrifice was a lamb without spot or blemish. It is true he loved our justification better than his own reputation; and therefore when his innocence was questioned, he would not answer a word.

    Whowerenotopposingyou. The present tense (see KJV) is put for the past. If you understand this generally, it is to be understood of the weakness and meekness of innocent people.

    (1)      Their weakness. They are not able to withstand, and therefore you oppress them.

    Weakness is usually oppressed. People are all the more bold with those who lack any way of resisting or defending themselves. But remember that the less outward defense people have, the more the Lord of hosts is engaged in their quarrel; he is the patron of the orphans and widows: “The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless” (Psalm 10:14). Weak innocence has a strong avenger.

    (2)      Their meekness. It is their duty not to be revengeful: “But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person” (Matthew 5:39). They must not satisfy or carry out their own private revenge.

    Meekness invites injury but always at its own cost. What was said of Publius Mimus, though spoken for evil purposes, remains true: “by bearing an injury, you invite a second.” Patience may be trampled on, but God will arrange a defense. Wicked people are mad without provocation. You have seen crows on a sheep’s back picking wool; that is a picture of oppressed innocence. Wicked people do not consider who deserves the worst but who will suffer the most.

    Note3. If you understand this to refer to Christ, it is most true; he was condemned and slain without resistance. He came to suffer and therefore would not resist. He would declare his obedience to his Father by his patience before men; “he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). Pigs will howl, but the sheep is silent in the butcher’s hands. “I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting” (Isaiah 50:6). Christ, as it were, offered himself to the affronts and indignities done to his person.

    It is notable that Christ uses the same severity to check the devil’s tempting him to idolatry and to Peter’s dissuading him from suffering: “Away from me, Satan!” (Matthew 4:10); “Out of my sight, Satan!” (Matthew 16:23). When Christ was about to suffer, he told the pious women not to weep (Luke 23:28). About to wipe away all tears by the benefit of his cross, he wanted no shed tears to hinder him from it. Thus our Saviour did not resist; “all the injury he did was to himself,” says Tertullian. He did not struggle when he was going to the cross; why do we struggle and find ourselves so reluctant when we are going to the throne of grace? Shall we be more unwilling to pray than Christ was to suffer?

    Bepatient,then,brothers,untiltheLord’scoming.Seehowthefarmerwaitsforthelandtoyield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the fall and spring rains.

    He now turns from the rich oppressors to the poor, faithful brothers who were oppressed; by the word then we see that the previous paragraph was for their sakes. The rich will be punished for their wickedness and oppression, and therefore you must be patient.

    Bepatient,then,brothers. The word patient implies long-suffering, which is a further degree of patience. Patience is a sense of afflictions borne without complaining and of injuries accepted without revenge; long-suffering is patience extended until it finishes its work (as 1:4 puts it).

    It is the duty of God’s children to be patient under their sufferings, even if those trials are long and sharp. It is easier in a calm and sedate condition to talk about patience than to exercise it in time of trial. Philosophers have discussed patience and commended it; but Christians themselves have staggered when they have been exercised with a sharp sense of evil. When God gives his people up to the desires of their enemies, that is sad, and we are apt to complain; and yet the apostle says we should suffer with long patience.

    I shall spare discussing motives and just show you what Christian patience is. It differs from complacency and stoical insensitivity; there can be no patience where there is no sense of evil. Christianity does not abrogate feelings but regulates them. Worldly people put off what they cannot put away and are not patient, but are stupid and careless. There are other remedies in Christianity than quenching our sorrows in the wine of pleasure. Christian patience presupposes a sense of evil and then takes the form of submission of the whole soul to the will of God.

    (1)      Note its nature. This is a submission of the whole soul. “The word of the LORD … is good” (Isaiah 39:8). Even if it is a terrible word to the unbeliever, the submission of a sanctified judgment can call it good. Then the will accepts it: “when … they pay for their sin” (“accept of the punishment,” KJV—that is, take it kindly from God that it is no worse) (Leviticus 26:41). Then the affections are restrained, and anger and sorrow are brought under the commands of the Word. Then the tongue is bridled, lest discontent overflow; Aaron held his peace (Leviticus 10:3).

    (2)      Consider the grounds and proper considerations on which all this is carried on. Usually there is a progression such as this:

    First, the soul sees God in it. “I was silent; I would not open my mouth, for you are the one who has done this” (Psalm 39:9).

    Second, it sees God acting in sovereignty. “Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’” (Job 9:12). “He answers none of man’s words” (Job 33:13).

    Third, lest this should make the heart storm, it sees sovereignty modified and mitigated in the dispensation of it with several attributes. With justice: in Deuteronomy 27:26, when every curse was pronounced they were to say “Amen”; if it comes about, it will only be just. With mercy: “you have punished us less than our sins have deserved” (Ezra 9:13). They were afflicted when they might have been destroyed; they were in Babylon when they might have been in hell. With faithfulness: they look upon afflictions as appendages of the covenant of grace: “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees” (Psalm 119:71). When they are threshed, it is only so that they may lose their stalk and husk; God’s faithfulness would not let them lack such help. With wisdom: “the LORD is a God of justice” (Isaiah 30:18) in his dispensations. God is too just to do us wrong and too kind and wise to do us harm.

    UntiltheLord’scoming. Here is an argument to enforce the duty; God will come and put your injuries right. But what coming is he speaking about? Every manifestation of God’s grace or judgment is called a coming of the Lord. It is pointless in such a well-known case to pile up passages. More especially his solemn judgments on a church or a people are expressed by that term, as with all the churches in Revelation: “I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place” (2:5, to Ephesus); “Repent, therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you” (2:16, to Smyrna); “I will come like a thief” (3:3, to Sardis). Any solemn judicial procession of God is expressed by coming; but most of all it is applied to Christ’s glorious appearing in the clouds, called his second coming. But you will reply again, “Which, then, is meant here? Any particular coming of Christ or his second coming for general judgment?” I answer: both may be intended. The early Christians thought both would happen together.

    (1)      It may mean Christ’s particular coming to judge these wicked people. This letter was written about thirty years after Christ’s death, and there was only a little time between that and the fall of Jerusalem, so untiltheLord’scoming could mean until the fall of Jerusalem, which is also expressed elsewhere by “coming” if we may believe Chrysostom and Ecumenius on John 21:22 (“If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?”), where they say “return” means coming back for Jerusalem’s destruction. God often comes to his people in this way.

    Christians, to assuage their griefs, should often think about Christ’s coming to their rescue and deliverance. Have a little patience, and when your Master comes he will put an end to your afflictions. Long for the coming of Christ, but wait for it; do not bind the counsels of God. Usually his coming is when he is least looked for (see Luke 18:7-8 and Matthew 25:6-7). Who would expect the bridegroom at midnight? Usually because we are keen to see our hopes fulfilled we give up waiting. Our time is always present, and flesh and blood is soon tired; yet, long though it seems, it is only a short time: “He who is coming will come and will not delay” (Hebrews 10:37).

    (2)      It may mean the general day of judgment, which is the day of vengeance and reward. See both in 2 Thessalonians 1:6-8, “God is just. He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.” We are not to understand this as if they will not be punished nor we rewarded before that day. But then both will be more full and complete: the wicked who are now in chains of darkness waiting for a more terrible day, and glorified souls waiting for a fuller reward, their bodies remaining as yet under the dominion of death.

    A spiritual argument for patience involves thinking of the day of judgment. Here we are beaten by enemies and fellow-servants, but then the Lord will come and all will be well (Matthew 24:51). It will be wonderful when we are hugged in Christ’s arms and he says, “Well done, well suffered, my good and faithful servant!” and puts the crown on our heads with his own hands. So then, love the coming of Christ (2 Timothy 4:8) and hasten it (2 Peter 3:12).

    Seehowthefarmerwaits. Here the apostle anticipates an objection: “Yes, but we are waiting a long time!” So does the farmer, says the apostle, for something that is not nearly as precious as your hopes. Clement’s ApostolicConstitutions says that James and his brother Jude were farmers, and that is why they often used similes from their own calling, having to do with trees, plants, fruits of the earth, and so on.

    Forthelandtoyielditsvaluablecrop. It is valuable because it costs hard labor and because it is a choice blessing of God for sustaining life. This term is used to show that though the fruit is dear to the farmer, just as deliverance is to you, yet he waits for it—and how patient he is.

    Forthefallandspringrains. That is, the early rains, which fall a little before sowing, and the latter rains (KJV), which fall a little before the ripening of the corn. These are phrases often used by the prophets. The meaning is that he waits until, in the ordinary course of providence, the crop ripens.

    Seehowthefarmerwaits. We must look at external objects to see a heavenly purpose and should make use of every ordinary sight. This is what Christ does in his parables; elsewhere he bids us to learn from the lilies, just as James does with the farmer. Similarly, Job tells us to “ask the animals, and they will teach you … or let the fish of the sea inform you” (Job 12:7-8); that is, draw useful inferences from them in meditation. But you will say, “How shall we make use of common objects?” In two ways: by reasoning from them and by viewing the resemblance between them and spiritual matters, as in the present case in James.

    (1)      In meditation, argue like this: if a farmer using ordinary principles of reason can wait for the harvest, shall I not wait for the coming of the Lord, the day of refreshing? The corn is precious to him, and so is the coming of Christ to me; will he be so patient and endure so much for a little corn, and not I for the kingdom of heaven? He is willing to stay until everything has worked out and he has received the early and late rains; and shall I not wait until the divine decrees are carried out?

    (2)      In meditation, note the resemblance and say to yourselves, this is my seed-time, and heaven is the harvest; here I must labor and toil and there rest. I see that the farmer’s life is a great labor; we can obtain nothing excellent without labor and an obstinate patience. I see that the seed must be hidden in the furrows and rot before it can spring up and grow; our hopes are hidden, and light is sown for the righteous (Psalm 92:12). All our comforts are buried under the ground, and after all this there must be a long wait. We cannot sow and reap in a day; effects cannot follow until all necessary causes have first worked out. It is not in the farmer’s power to ripen fruits at will; our times are in the hands of God. Therefore it is good to wait; a long-suffering patience will reap the desired fruits.

    You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.

    Here James applies the simile, again enforcing patience; it is a lesson that needs much pressing.

    Standfirm. The Septuagint uses this term for the holding up of Moses’ hands (Exodus 17:12). And here it denotes an immovableness in the faith and hope of Christianity, notwithstanding the many oppressions they had met with. In short, it implies two things—firmness of faith and constancy in grace.

    (1)      Firmness in faith, when, out of the encouragement of a sure trust, we can sit down under God’s will and good pleasure.

    (2)      Constancy in grace, when we are not so bowed with our troubles as to depart from our innocence.

    It is the duty of God’s children in time of trouble to standfirm and to put on a holy courage. It is said of a good man that “his heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes” (Psalm 112:8); that is, he will neither be discouraged in respect to trust nor miscarry in respect to constancy and perseverance. Oh, that we would labor for this firmness! We lose hope, and therefore we lose patience; we are soft-hearted, and so we are overborne. There is a holy obstinacy and hardness of heart that is nothing but a firmness in our Christian purposes and resolutions. We need this in these times; there are persecutions and troubles. Soft and delicate spirits are soon tired due to errors and delusions; wanton and vain spirits are soon seduced due to scandals and offenses by false brothers going wrong. Weak and easy hearers are soon discouraged.

    In Nehemiah’s time there were troubles outside, delusions from the Samaritans and Tobiah, and oppression by false brothers (Nehemiah 5). To fortify you against all these, think of this: the Lord hates those who draw back. The crab is counted among the unclean creatures (Leviticus 11:10); the four beasts of prophecy each went straight forward (Ezekiel 1:9). If you do not know how to get this holy hardness or strength of spirit, go to God for it. Human strength is small and soon overborne: “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD” (Psalm 27:14). “God … after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast” (1 Peter 5:10). Ask him to give you courage and to strengthen and settle your faith against all temptations and dangers.

    BecausetheLord’scomingisnear. This may mean, first, near to them by a particular judgment, for there were only a few years before all was lost. This is probably what the apostles meant when they spoke so often about the nearness of Christ’s coming (Philippians 4:5; Hebrews 10:25; compare 1 John 2:18). But you will say, “How could it be propounded as an argument for patience to the godly Hebrews that Christ would come and destroy the temple and city?” I answer:

    (1)      The time of Christ’s solemn judiciary process against the Jews was the time when he acquitted himself with honor against his adversaries, and the scandal and reproach of his death was rolled away.

    (2)      The approach of his general judgment ended the persecution; and when the godly were provided for at Pella, the unbelievers perished by the Roman sword.

    Secondly, this may mean the day of general judgment that, because of its certainty and the uncertainty of its particular approach, has always been represented to the church as near at hand. Or else this may mean that, in comparison with eternity, all the time between Christ’s ascension and his second coming seems as nothing.

    The world’s duration, in comparison with eternity, is short. “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” (2 Peter 3:8). People count time long, because they measure it by the terms of their own duration; but God brings all ages into the indivisible point of his own eternity, and all is as nothing to him—just a moment, “like a watch in the night” (Psalm 90:4). Though there were more than two thousand years between the first separation and the calling of the Gentiles, God says, “For a brief moment I abandoned you” (Isaiah 54:7). The Word does not judge by sense and appearance. We, being impatient of delays, count moments long; but God does not judge these things “as some understand slowness” (2 Peter 3:9)—that is, as we conceive it. To short-lived creatures, a few years may seem an age; but Scripture, measuring all things by the existence of God, reckons otherwise. Human reason relies altogether on external sense and feeling; and therefore, just as man measures his happiness by incidents in time, so he measures his duration by temporal existence.

    When will we look within the veil and learn to measure things by faith and not by sense? We count moments long; but God, who exists eternally, counts thousands of years as a brief moment. All external things have their periods, beyond which they cannot pass; but eternity is a day that is never overcast with the shadows of night. Certainly all time should be brief to those who know the greatness of eternity. And the whole globe of the earth is simply like a middle point to the vast circumference of the heavens. This life, too, is but a moment compared to eternity. If we valued everything as the Word does, it would not be so irksome to us to wait for Christ’s coming. Too much softness cannot brook a little delay.

    Don’tgrumbleagainsteachother,brothers,oryouwillbejudged.TheJudgeisstandingatthe door!

    In this verse the apostle lays down the danger of evil groaning, using the same argument as before: the near and speedy approach of judgment.

    Don’t grumble against each other. The word means, “don’t groan against each other.” Because it is not easy to determine the apostle’s particular sense, the phrase has been interpreted in various ways. Some people explain it thus: “do not sigh in your grumbling to one another,” as if God were unjust in punishing his children and letting the wicked be prosperous. But this cannot be the meaning. In the original it is against each other.

    Others explain it as, “do not in a groaning manner require vengeance at the hand of God, but rather forgive, that God may forgive you.” But certainly it is lawful to complain to God about our injuries, though not with a vengeful spirit. A lot of effort has gone into explaining the word “groan” or grumble. Groans in themselves are not unlawful. The apostle must mean the sort of groaning that arises from an evil cause, such as discontent at providence (“complaining groans”) or despondency and weakness of mind (“distrustful groans”) or revenge against their oppressors (“vindictive groans”) or envy at those who suffered less than they did. If anyone’s condition is more tolerable, we are apt to complain and to say there is no sorrow like our sorrow; and fretting against God makes us angry with men. Thus the apostle would understand envious groans; and this sense gives the KJV translators their Grudgenot; that is, do not begrudge the happiness of those who are not faced with sufferings or with the same degree of sufferings that you face.

    I would easily agree with this sense except that I can see no reason why we should not retain the proper sense of the word “groan.” The apostle seems to me here to censure those mutual injuries and animosities with which the Christians of those times, having banded together under the names of Circumcision and Uncircumcision, grieved one another and gave each other cause to groan, so that they not only sighed under the oppressions of rich persecutors but under the injuries that they sustained from many of the brothers who, together with them, professed the holy faith. This exposition suits the state of those times and the present context. The apostle is persuading them to be patient now because the pressures arose not only from enemies but from brothers. He seeks to dissuade them from such a scandalous practice lest they should all be involved in a common ruin. Should brothers begrudge one another? Take heed; such practices seldom escape without a quick revenge. My thoughts are all the more confirmed in this interpretation because there seems to be a tacit allusion here to the story of Cain and Abel, where the blood of one brother cried out against the other, and God told Cain that sin lay at the door (Genesis 4:7), meaning the punishment of sin, just as the apostle tells these people that the Judge was at the door, meaning judgment was hanging over them.

    Differences can often be so heightened among brothers that they groan against one another as much as against the common enemy. Paul, speaking of the state of the early days, shows how Christians were “biting and devouring each other” (Galatians 5:15). To show their rage, he uses words appropriate to the fights of animals. That is how it usually happens when conflicts arise in the church. Religious hatreds are most deadly. Thus Luther complains that he never had a worse enemy than Karlstadt, and Zwingli that the Roman Catholics were never so bitter to him as his friends. It is sad when we dispute against one another and tongue is armed against tongue and prayer is set against prayer and appeal is set against appeal—lambs acting the wolves’ part.

    Or you will be judged. That is, lest God punish you; or lest, by mutual allegations, you provoke a condemning sentence to pass against you both, and you also are involved in the common ruin.

    Note1. False brothers will also meet with their judgment. Not only the rich oppressors but you who groan against one another will be condemned; hell is the lot of the hypocrite: “He will … assign him a place with the hypocrites” (Matthew 24:51; in Luke 12:46 it is, “with the unbelievers”). Possibly our Saviour might use both expressions, hypocrites and unbelievers, to show that open enemies and secret ones will meet with the same judgment.

    Note2. Mutual groans and grudges between brothers are a usual forerunner of judgment; after biting and devouring, there follows consuming (Galatians 5:15). This comes about partly by the providence of God. Wanton conflicts are only cured by deep afflictions; and once spirits are so antagonistic to each other, there is no likelihood of agreement except in prison. The warm sun makes wood warp and split; in prosperity we grow wanton and divide; when the dog is let loose, the sheep run together. Usually in troubles there are not so many scatterings and secessions in Christ’s flock. This is partly through ordinary causes. Our divisions give our enemies an advantage; we should be as wise about reconciling ourselves as they are about combining against us. Nazianzen used to call them “the common reconcilers.” But party and faction makes people blind; such people will not reconsider until all is undone. A little before Diocletian’s persecution there were sad divisions in the church; “they burned with mutual internal discord,” says Eusebius.

    TheJudgeisstandingatthedoor! He had said before that theLord’scomingisnear; now he adds that he is atthedoor, a phrase that not only implies the sureness but the suddenness of judgment: see Matthew 24:33, “know that it is near, right at the door.” This phrase too implies the speediness of the Jewish ruin.

    Note3. The nearness of the Judge should awe us into duty. To sin in calamitous times is to sin in the presence of the Judge—to strike, as it were, in the King’s presence and to provoke justice when punishments hang over our heads. This is like King Ahaz, who trespassed all the more because of his wounds. When God holds up his hand, you are almost daring him to strike.

    Note4. If we are ready to sin, God is ready to judge: “If you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door” (Genesis 4:7); that is, the punishment, like a messenger of justice, is lying in wait to arrest us. It is often like this; while we are bustling and “beat[ing] our fellow-servants,” our Lord is at the door, coming before we are ready for him (Matthew 24:48-51).