The Pulpit Commentary — James — Section 82

\'"~rs. 7, 8.-Long-snffering in view of Ohrist's coming. These words strike one of the leading chords of the Epistle. There is no grace which its readers are more earnestly exhorted to cultivate than that of patience. In the precedina verses James has been denouncing the rich ungodly Jews. The Epistle was not add~essed to them, however, hut to the Christian Jews who were suffering from their oppression and cruelty. So, the apostle here resumes the ordinary tenor of his letter. He exhorts the Church to continue patient and unresisting, like the ideal "righteous one" of ver. 6. He sug- gests the thought that the Lord's coming, while it would usher in the doom of the wicked rich, would also b1ing deliverance to his own people. The same event which their oppressors should contemplate with weeping and howling (ver. 1) would be to the righteous a joyful jubilee. I. THE EXHORTATION. (Vers. 7, 8, first parts.) To wait constitutes a. large portion of religious duty. Indeed, patience is not a segment merely of the Christian character; it is a spirit which is to pervade every fibre of it. In all ages spiritual wants and trials nrc the same; and belie,·ers, therefore, have always the same "need of patience." To " wait upon God" is a frequent exhortation of Scripture. The cultivation of this patience is perfectly consistent with holy activity. It springs from the same root of faith from which good works spring. We show our faith not only by our active "works," but a.lso when we "endure, as seeing him who is invisible." Again, Christian patience is to coexist along with the fullest sensibility of suffering. " Long- suffering" necessarily involves the consciousness of suffering; and so does "patience," as the etymology of the word reminds us. Christian comfort does not come to us in connection with a.ny incapability of sorrow; it comes as the result of the subjugation of the passions, and the cnltivation of complete acquiescence in the Divine will. The- a.postle indicates the limit of this long-suffering-" until the coming of the Lord." What advent does this mean? To the early Hebrew Christians it meant mediately the impending destruction of Jerusalem. To us it means in like manner a.ny interposition of Providence to deliver us from trouble, including our removal by death. But the ultimate reference, both for the early Church and for us, is doubtless to the Lord's final advent at the close of time. Then the Saviour shall appear as the Judge of all, and shall for ever put an end to tyranny a.nd wrong. The thought of that great event is surely well fitted to" stablish our hearts," i.e. to strengthen them for patient endurance. II. THE EXAMPLE. (Ver. 7, second part.) AB an illustration of bis subject, and in order to excite the grace of patience within the hearts of his readers, James introduces an allusion to the pursuits of husbandry. Think, he says, of the long-suffering of the farmer. His is a life of arduous toils and of anxious delays. He must wait for the "early rain" in the late autumn before he can sow his seed; and for the "latter rain" in April, upon which his crops depend for the filling of the ear before the harvest ripens. This patience is necessary. Although sometimes sorely tried, it is reasonable. The "fruit" which the farmer desires is "precious;" it is worth waiting for. And his long-suffering is also full of hope. It has been rewarded by the bounty of Provi- dence in former years; and besides, if be be a pious man, he remembers the Divine assurance that "seed-time and harvest bhall not cease." Now, says the apostle, affiicteC:: Cliristians are to lt:arn from this example a lesson of long-suffering. 'l'rial and perbecutic,u art: designed to yield an infinitely more "precious" harvest than that for which t.Le Lu::;Landman waits. '.l'his harvest is "the fruit of righteousness"-" the OII, V, 1-20.] THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. 77