Ver. G. Ye have condemned and killed the Just ; and he doth not resist you.
The apostle cometli now to another sin, and that is tyrannous and oppressing cruelty, which is also an effect of riches, where there is no grace to sanctify the enjoyment of them. From the context observe : —
Ohs. That plenty begettetli injury ; and when all things are possible, men think all things lawful. Eich and great men, if they be higher than others, do not think of him that is higher than they : Eccles. v. 8, ' If there be oppression of the poor, marvel not at the matter; for he that is higher than the highest regardcth, and there be higher than they.'
Ye have condemned. — The apostle now instanceth in their cruelty and oppression, masked with a pretence and colour of law. Before they would kill, there was some form of a legal process ; they con- demned. Note hence : —
Ohs. That God taketli notice of the injuries done to his people under the form of a legal procedure ; not only of open violence, but that which is closely managed: Ps. xciv. 20, ' Shall the throne of wicked- ness have fellowship with thee, which frameth wickedness by a law ? ' God taketh it more heinously when public authority, which is the defence of innocency, is made the pretence of oppression. Many make conscience of forms of law, that do not make conscience of oppressing the godly. See Mat. xxvii. 6, ' It is not lawful to put the price of blood into the treasury ;' yet it was lawful to spill the blood of Christ in their account.
Again, the apostle saith, Ye have condemned, and so ye have killed ;
41 G AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [Jas. V. G.
they did but i)rociire it by their authority and wealth, corrupting j iid*;;- ment, and using evil arts to destroy the just. Note : —
Obs. Tliat any concurrence to the destruction of the innocent bringetii us under the guilt of their blood ; and sins committed by our insti- gation become ours by just im})utation. Christ was put to death by authority of the Roman empire, and executed by the Roman soldiers ; yet it is charged upon the Jews, upon the whole nation, because done by their instigation and connivance : as Acts ii. 23, ' Whom by wicked hands ye liave taken and slain;' and ver. 3G, 'This is Jesus whom you have crucified;' so 1 Thes. ii. 15, ' They killed the Lord Jesus.' Do not flatter thyself because thou art not the immediate executioner, Jezebel was punished for Naboth's death, though the judges and false witnesses were the next agents, 1 Kings xiii. 23. Beware how you ])rovoke others to blood ; the guilt will fall upon your own consciences : <jod looketh upon the instigators as the principals : ' Ahab did evil in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife provoked,' 1 Kings xxi. 25. It was a sorry answer that of the priests to Judas, ' See thou to it,' Mat. xxvii. 4 : they had need see to it too, since it was by their plot and conspiracy.
And killed. — This is added to show that oppression will proceed as far as death ; wickedness knoweth no bounds and limits ; as also to show the reason wliy miseries were coming upon them. Note : —
Ohs. When oppression gocth as far as l)lood, God will surely take vengeance. ' He maketli inquisition for blood,' Ps. ix, ; and blood is one of the crying sins. Gen. iv. 10. The blood of an ordinary man crieth for vengeance ; as that of the Gibeonites that were of the race of Canaan ; therefore is that clause interserted, 2 Sam. xxi. 2, ' Now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites.' Much more the blood of the saints, which is precious in God's eyes ; much more the blood of Christ, which is the case here.
Thejusi, rov hUatov. — It may be put indefinitely for any just person ; as Isa. Ivii. 1, 'The righteous perish,' &c. But because the apostle speaketh in the singular number, and with an article, therefore some understand it of John the Baptist; others of Stephen, with more pro- bability, whom the Jews stoned ; others, with most probability, of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because I strongly incline to this, I shall produce my reasons : — (1.) Jesus Christ is elsewhere by way of emphasis called ' that Just One,' rov BUacov, Acts xxii. 14. (2.) There seemeth to be a direct parallel i)lace to this, Acts iii. 14, ' But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you.' (3.) This was the great reason and cause of judgments on the Jews, 1 Thes. ii. 15, IG, which is the scope and argument of this place; and indeed the text runneth that way most fluently. (4.) The illation of the next verse, or persuasion to patient hope, doth most sweetly arise from this consideration ; the former })art of the verse holding forth their injury, and so the cause of their ruin, Avhich is the argument of hope the apostle propoundeth ; and the latter part Christ's patience, the great example and pattern of ours. I know the great prejudice against this exposition is, because all this is supposed to be spoken to Christian Jews ; but that we disproved in the first verse. Neither is