(From) James…, to the twelve tribes {scattered everywhere in the world}… ·My brothers and sisters, whenever YOU[i] face trials of any kind…, ·let endurance have its full effect, so that YOU may be mature and complete… ·Let the believer who is lowly boast in being raised up, ·the rich in being brought low; because the rich… ·…will wither away… ·My beloved brothers and sisters: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; ·for [a man's] anger does not produce God's righteousness. ·Rid yourselves of {every evil thing and every kind of wrong}; welcome with meekness the implanted Word that {can save YOU }… ·If any think they are religious and do not bridle their tongues, {they} deceive their hearts; their religion is worthless. ·Religion that is pure and undefiled before [the God and Father] is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. (James 1:1-2,4,9-11,19-21,26-27 NRSV {NCV} [S4A])

My brothers and sisters, {“Show no partiality” [Lev.19:15]}…·[Suppose] a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into YOUR assembly, and…a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in. ·If YOU take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, ‘Have a seat here, please,’ while to the one who is poor YOU say, ‘Stand there,’ or, ‘Sit at my feet,’ ·have YOU not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? ·…Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom…? ·But YOU have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress YOU? … ·Is it not they who [are slandering] the excellent name that was invoked over YOU? ·YOU do well if YOU really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” [Lev.19:18] ·But if YOU show partiality, YOU commit sin and are convicted by the Law as transgressors… ·So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. ·For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment. (Jas.2:1-9,12-13 NRSV {ESV} [NIV])

Not many of YOU should become teachers…, for YOU know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. ·…{If anyone} makes no mistakes in speaking, {‘this one is mature’}—able to keep the whole body in check. ...·We put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, {so steering} their whole bodies… ·So also the tongue is a small member, yet…how great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire; ·and the tongue is a fire. The tongue…, as a world of iniquity, …stains the whole body... ·With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we {are cursing humans [Gr. anthropous]}, those who are made in the likeness of God. ·…My brothers and sisters…, ·does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water?... ·…Whoever speaks evil against another or judges another, speaks evil against the Law and judges the Law; but if you judge the Law, you are not a doer of the Law but a judge. ·There is one lawgiver and judge… So who are you to judge {the ‘different’ one}[ii]? (Jas.3:1-3,5-6,9-11; 4:11-12 NRSV {S4A})

Come now, YOU rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming… ; ·YOUR gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will… eat YOUR flesh like fire. YOU have {hoarded wealth in} the last days, ·(but) {look!} The wages of the laborers who mowed YOUR fields—which YOU kept back by fraud—cry out… ·YOU have lived on the earth in luxury and {self-indulgence}…; ·YOU have condemned and murdered the righteous one who does not resist YOU. ·...See, the Judge is standing at the doors! (Jas.5:1,3-6,9b NRSV {NIV})

The Greek word for ‘religion’ appears only two other times in the whole New Testament. James uses it three times, and he says that religion and religious practices are ‘worthless’ to God as our Father, unless: we control our tongue; avoid being ‘stained’ by the ‘evil’ practices in our world; and care for socially vulnerable people (like widows and orphans) when they are in distress. And he links all three of these to social power.

When James elaborates on ‘controling the tongue’, he delivers a powerful indictment of the hypocritical behavior of a lot of religious ‘brothers and sisters’—praising their Lord and Father at one moment and ‘cursing’ other ‘human beings’ [Gr. anthropous] the next. By speaking ‘evil’ about (or to) anyone made in the likeness of their Father, they dishonor him, since even unbelievers are his lost ‘sons and daughters' (Med.#A). Such behavior is totally incompatible with the actions of our Lord Jesus and our Father. The best way to control our tongues, James says, and to advance his righteousness when bad things happen to us, is to control our anger. So it's okay to get angry. Even our Father gets angry. But since he is ‘slow to anger’, his daughters and sons need to become mature like him in this way too (Med.#12; Med.#B).

Being ‘slow to speak’ is another discipline that can help us control our tongue. And James implies that exercising control over our speech can also help us control our body language as well. Though James addresses this challenge to all individual believers, he specifically applies it to teachers, including teachers of the Scriptures (3:1; 4:11). People in roles that give them social power, especially religious power, have a greater responsibility to control their tongues, because the consequences of the ‘forest fire’ set in motion by their evil words usually cause greater damage. James says that such people will be judged ‘with greater strictness’—‘by a higher standard and with greater severity’ (Amp). Now James is writing to believers living in a multi-ethnic society—Jewish believers in the Diaspora. This is why he challenges them to not ‘speak evil against another’ or judge anyone who is ‘different’ from them—ethnically, religiously or socially. for such behavior violates God's Law (Lev.19:15,18[ii] ) and usurps his role as sole Lawgiver and Judge.

Such judgmental behavior towards people who are ‘different’ is common in every society in this world. So the second thing that makes our ‘religion’ unacceptable to our Father involves allowing ourselves to be ‘stained’ by such acts of discrimination—especially in our own gatherings. And James focus specifically on social class discrimination based on material wealth. In short, he challenges these believers to be ‘impartial’ like their heavenly Father (Med.#46) and to stop being influenced by the prejudicial attitudes of their own ethnic and religious group, or of the dominant social elite. And they must rid themselves of any other ‘evil’ or ‘wrong’ things from their society which are ‘staining’ them—things not in line with the Scriptures (1:21).

James' greatest concern seems to be about the social power of wealth. Rich people tend to live in luxury and self-indulgence, hoarding their wealth. They tend to exploit others, including those working for them. Using the law to get their own way and their social power to condemn innocent people, they then slander those who challenge their behavior in the name of Lord. In the upside-down family kingdom that Jesus has brought, however, it is the lowly are the ones who are rich in faith, as heirs of the Father. And in his kingdom the rich must be challenged, because wealth has a corrosive influence on body and soul, producing a trial of the spirit by competing with God for our primary allegiance (Med.#15). For not only is material wealth destined for corruption, but so are rich people themselves—unless they start acting accountably, to use their riches in merciful service to others, beginning with all those who work in their business endeavours.

In his third challenge to religious people, James focuses on the way we behave towards the vulnerable—those who lack social power, like widows and orphans who are in distress. Notice here that the focus is on people who are vulnerable because they are in distress—socially, psychologically, physically or materially, due to a calamitous loss. The Psalmist speaks of the Father not only defending and caring for orphans and widows, but also for the ‘desolate’ and for those in prison (Ps.68:5-6, Med.#E). Even so, we see Jesus applying this in his ministry to people who were socially ostracized, physically handicapped, incurably sick and mentally ill. Religious people who avoid such sufferers, and only hang around healthy, successful and socially well-connected people, cannot please the Father. They are still ‘stained’ by this world's priorities .

Are you pleasing your heavenly Father by the way you speak to people, and speak about them? Are there ways in which the ethnic, social, political and religious prejudices of your world are ‘staining’ you, or the life of your church and Christian groups? What can you do to cooperate with the Spirit of your Father in raising up the poor in your midst, and challenging those who are rich? How are you reflecting your Father's character and the Spirit of Jesus in caring for those who are socially vulnerable and in distress (Med.#11 & Med.#12)?

Father, out the riches of your glory, strengthen me by your Spirit with liberty and power in my inner person, today and every day: so that I may be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger and overflowing with love like you are, towards all your children; and so that when I speak and act, mercy will always triumph over judgment, such that my tongue and my behavior are always producing the same good fruit of praise to you, and to Jesus. (Eph.3:14-16; Ps.103:8,13; Jas.1:19; 2:12-13; 3:9-10,12; Mat.5:16)

Father, search my heart to see if there is any offensive way, in which I am letting myself become stained by this world or conformed to it. Like Jesus, I always want to do what pleases you. Father, may your name be held holy! (Ps.139:23-24; Jas.1:27b; Rom.12:2a; Mat.6:9b; Jn.8:29b)

[i] I choose to use ‘YOU’ in caps when the 2^nd person plural pronoun or verb form appears in the Greek text. I leave the ‘you’ in lower case when the 2^nd person in Greek is singular, as in 4:11-12.

[ii] What James says about not judging ‘the different one’ is very possibly an allusion to another ‘law’ in Leviticus 19 (vs.33): to not ill-treat the foreigner, but rather to ‘treat him as one of your native-born (and) love him (too) as yourself’ (see also Med.#46).