James 5 - Rich Oppressors Will Be Judged

This first section of James 5 continues the warning we saw at the end of James 4. In it, James goes on a rant against rich people who are corrupt and abuse the people in their employ. At the end of chapter 4, we saw James speaking against the worldly behaviors of rich people in the church. Now, James is speaking to those outside the church. Why the sudden shift? It has to do with how James knew the letter would be delivered.

Back in those days a courier would hand deliver the message to the gates of a city. The city's gates were where the elders and leaders would gather to conduct official business. When James’ letter arrived believers would have come to collect the letter and very likely would have started reading it out loud. James likely had this in mind writing this section of his letter. James wanted to make it very clear to the corrupt rulers who were listening that their actions had not escaped God’s notice. He wanted to warn them that there would be severe consequences because they were oppressing their people and acting corruptly. Interestingly there is no message of hope like there are in other areas of James. James perhaps recognized that such people were utterly corrupt and could not be convinced to change their ways. Unfortunately, we still see this happening today.