1–6 Judgment Oracle Announcement of God’s Justice James may base his condemnation of the rich on Old Testament judgment oracles: (e.g., Is 23: oracle against Tyre and Sidon; Am 1-2: oracles against the nations, culminating in oracles against Judah and Israel).

Jas 5:1-6 bears close comparison with the Lord's oracle against Israel in Amos 2: the list of crimes (including oppression of the poor), and the pronouncement of punishment on the day of judgment:

• Am 2:6-16: "Thus says the Lord: For three crimes of Israel, and now four—I will not take it back—Because they hand over the just for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals...And the most stouthearted of warriors shall flee naked on that day—oracle of the Lord."

James' word for the miseries that await the rich, talaipôriai, occurs often in other judgment oracles in G:

• Is 47:11 (against Babylon) and announcements of the Day of Judgment.
• Jl 1:15: "Alas! Alas! Alas for the day, because the day of the Lord is near, and it will come like misery from misery."

1–6 Parallel Warning to the Rich in Hermas The Shephard of Hermas offers a close parallel to the basic themes of Jas 5:1-6. In Hermas, it is clear that the rich are part of the church community. 

• →Herm. Vis. 3.9.2-8 "do not take an overabundance of God's creations for yourselves, but share with those in need. For those who enjoy many kinds of food make their flesh (sarx) weak and harm it; but the flesh of those without enough food is harmed by lack of proper nourishment, and their body wastes away....Consider the judgment (krisis) that is coming....take heed, you who exult in your wealth (ploutos), lest those in need complain and their complaint rises up to the Lord...And so now I say to you who lead the church and sit in its chief seats...you have grown calloused and refuse to cleanse your hearts" (Ehrman 2003, 2:217-19).

2–6 Rewriting of Jesus’ Teaching James' doctrine may also be seen as a recasting of Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount:

• "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal.  But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be" (Mt 6:19-21; cf. Lk 12:33).

The same themes in James:

• 5:2b: “your clothing has become moth-eaten (sêtobrôta) / Mt 6:19-20: “moth and decay (sês kai brôsis) destroy” (cf. Lk 12:33; →Gos. Thom. 76).
• 5:3d: "you stored up treasure for the last days" (thêsaurizô) / Mt 6:19: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures" (mê thêsaurizete humin thêsauros).
• 5:5a: "You have lived a life of indulgence and luxury on earth" (epi tês gês) / "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth" (mê thêsaurizete humin thêsauros epi tês gês).
• 5:5b: "you have fattened your hearts" (kardia) / Mt 6:21: "For where your treasure is, there your heart (kardia) will be also" (cf. Lk 12:34). →Albert Sup. Matt. ad 6:19 also notes the connection between James and Matthew (Schmidt 1987, 228).
• Cf. also Jesus' parable of the rich fool (Lk 12:15-21), where Jesus warns against storing up treasures for oneself, greediness, and neglecting God.

1–6 Criticism of the Rich in 1 Tm James' condemnation of the rich is consistent with an established biblical tradition critical of the wealthy. See also →James: Rich and Poor.

1 Tm 6:9-10 warns that the desire to be rich is a "temptation" (peirasmos; cf. Jas 1:13-14) associated with "many foolish and harmful desires (epithumiai), which plunge them into ruin and destruction." To sum up, "For the love of money (philarguria) is the root of all evils."

6a condemned Legal Vocabulary The Greek katadikazô is a legal term referring to finding a person guilty of a crime or condemning a person to a certain punishment (cf. Ws 12:15; Mt 12:37; →Josephus A.J. 7.271), including the death penalty (→Herodotus Hist. 1.45.2). See also Literary Devices 5:6.

4:7–5:9 Use in Lectionary →BL : Thursday, 32nd Week after Pentecost.

6b he does not resist you ALLUSION: Possible Allusion to the Servant and to Jesus’ Teaching The passive nature of the just one's reaction recalls that of the Servant in Isaiah (Is 50:6 ; Is 53:7) and of Jesus' teaching (e.g., Mt 26:52-53; Acts 8:32-33). Perhaps there is an allusion to Jesus' teaching on turning the other cheek (Mt 5:39).

6b you killed the just one Economic Oppression and Murder

• →1 En. 103:15 links the oppression of the poor by the rich with murder: "They [the rulers] did not disclose their [the rich's] iniquities, nor did they remove from us the yoke of them who devoured us and dispersed us and murdered us." (cf. →1 En. 99:15; OTP 1:161).

See also Biblical Intertextuality 5:6b and Jewish Tradition 5:6b.

6 you condemned, you killed Devices

Asyndeton

James uses no conjunction between the verbs, perhaps hinting at the swiftness of the condemnation and subsequent execution. 

Echoes

James' vocabulary here echoes two previous passages: 

• With his accusation of murder, James echoes Jas 4:2, which referred to murder in the context of strife and jealousy in the community. Jas 5:1-6, then, provides a specific example of James' general point in Jas 4:1-2 that desires for pleasure lead to strife and even killing.
• The legal term katadikazô (Vocabulary 5:6) also recalls Jas 2:6, where James refers to the rich dragging the poor off to court. In that case, the "murder" may refer to a nominally legal execution of an innocent person by a corrupt jury or judge.

In addition, the reader may also detect an allusion to James' earlier accusation that the rich have withheld the pay of the wage-earner (Jas 5:4), if, like Sir 34:26 (G-24:22), he equates the withholding of wages with murder. 

1–6 Judgment Oracle

• →1 En. 94:8-9 also employs the genre of the judgment oracle against the rich, "Woe unto you, O rich! For you have put your trust in your wealth…In the days of your affluence, you committed oppression, you have become ready for death, and for the day of darkness and the day of great judgment" (cf. 94:6-8; 96:4-8; OTP 1:75).

See also Literary Genre 5:1-6.

1–6 Use in Lectionary

• →RML : 26th Sunday of Year B.
• →RML : Thursday, Week 7, Year 2.

1:1–5:20 James Depictions of the Author Depictions of James, the author of the epistle, in paintings, statues, manuscript illustrations, engravings, woodcuts, and embroidery on liturgical vestments are particularly prominent in the Middle Ages. A common consensus of the artists is that the author of the epistle is James the Just, leader of the Jerusalem church; he is typically further identified with James, son of Alphaeus, one of Jesus' Twelve (Mk 3:18), and "James the Less" (Mk 15:40). The iconography of James draws particularly on accounts of James recorded in →Eusebius of Cesarea Hist. eccl. 23 and →Jerome Vir. ill. 2, who in turn draw on accounts from Clement of Alexandria and Hegesipus. See also →James: Introduction. 

Several prominent features of these portrayals may be noted:

• Following the tradition that he was the first bishop of Jerusalem, James is often portrayed anachronistically in bishop's vestments.
• James is often portrayed holding a fuller's club, alluding to the tradition that James was beaten to death with a such a club. Variations show him holding different types of clubs. Another related tradition shows James holding a bow such as one used by hat-makers of the Middle Ages.
• James bears a striking physical resemblance to his brother Jesus.
• One artistic tradition, based on accounts found in the preface to the →Gloss. Ord. and →de Voragine Leg. aur., portrays the infant James as part of a large extended family. According to this legend, St. Anne, mother of the Virgin Mary, had three children named Mary with three different husbands. James and his brothers Joses (Joseph), Simon, and Jude (cf. Mk 6:3) are the sons of Mary (daughter of Anne and Cleophas; cf. Jn 19:25) and Alphaeus (cf. Mk 3:18). James and his brothers are thus cousins of Jesus (son of Mary, daughter of Anne and Joachim) and of St. John the Evangelist and James the Greater (sons of Mary, daughter of Anne and Salomas).

The following images are noteworthy:

• A painting of James in the Armenian Sts. James Cathedral, Jerusalem: James is dressed in episcopal robes, wears a miter and holds a crozier (→Gowler 2014, 54).
• Blessed James Apostle. In the →Stav. Bib. (1093-97) illuminations of the apostle James are at the introduction to the Catholic epistles (f. 197 r→) and at the beginning of his epistle (f. 197 v→.). The apostle stands, holding a book.
• Apostle James the Less, statue, south portal of Chartres Cathedral, early 13^th century.

James holds a club.

• Leonardo da Vinci (1495-98), The Last Supper, Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan. 

James, who resembles his brother Jesus, is second from his left. This full-scale copy was the main source for the— unfortunate—twenty-year restoration of the original (1978–1998). It includes several lost details such as Christ's feet, the transparent glass decanters on the table, and the floral motifs of the tapestries that decorate the room's interior.  It was first mentioned in 1626 by the author Bartolomeo Sanese as hanging in the Certosa di Pavia, a monastery near Pavia, Italy, but it is unlikely that it was intended for this location. At some point, the upper third of the picture was cut off, and the width was reduced. Giampietrino is thought to have worked closely with Leonardo when he was in Milan. A very fine, full-size copy of this painting, before it was cut down, is installed at Tongerlo Abbey in Westerlo, near Antwerp, Belgium. 

• Lucas Cranach the Elder (1509), Infant Saint James among his relations, a triptych in the Stadelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt, Germany. The infant Jesus, his mother Mary, and Mary's mother St. Anne are portrayed in the center. To the right is St. Anne's other daughter Mary, her husband Zebedee, and sons John the Evangelist and James the Greater. To the left is another of St. Anne's daughters named Mary with her husband Alphaeus; their children James, Joses (Joseph), Simon, and Jude are in the left and center panels.

The side and central panels describe a a great hall with blue grey walls and three-colored tiles. In the side panels are depicted the half sisters of Virgin Mary, called after their fathers Mary Cleophas (left) and Mary Salome (right) together with their husbands.

Left panel: St. Mary Cleophas and Alphaeus (with the features of Friedrich the Wise with their two sons, the Apostles St. James the Less (at her breast) and Joseph Justus, called St. Barnabas, as annunciator of the Gospel of Matthew depicted with a book.

Central panel: Joseph, who seems to seems to sleep, the Virgin, dressed in blue with yellow lining, Anna and the Christ Child on her knee, who is stretching out his hand towards an apple given to him by Virgin Mary. Anna's three husbands following →de Voragine Leg. aur. are shown in the background in the matroneum: on the left Joachim, who is attracted by the holy women in front of him and whose relation is also shown by the corresponding blue and yellow color of his dress, Cleophas (with the physiognomy and chain of Emperor Maximilian I and Salomas, with the physiognomy of Sixtus Oelhafen von Schöllenbach, secretary of Friedrich III, Maximilian I and Karl V), who are talking to each other. There is an architectural structure by a great stone bench in the foreground of the central panel with two marble columns on the sides, over which is strectched a cloth of gold. On the right column is a tablet with date and signature: [LVCAS CHRONVS FACIEBAT ANNO 1509. The parapet of the matroneum is decorated by a sculptured frieze with dancing putti holding six escutcheons with the six fields of Electorate of Saxony. In the hall are shown the 17 members of the Holy Kinship. In the central panel are shown two more children of Mary Cleophas and Alpheus, the Apostles Simon, patron saint of weavers, dyers, tanners and saddlers and Jude, who went on mission and suffered their martyrdom together and therefore are regularly depicted together.

Right panel: St. Mary Salome and Zebedee (with the features of Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, and his brother Herzog Johann der Beständige). St. Mary Salome, dressed in gold with dark red lining, is combing her son Saint James the Greater and while Saint John the Evangelist is hiding in her dress.

• Paolo Veronese (Caliari) James as Bishop (1500s). Burghley House Collection, Lincolnshire, UK. The Bridgeman Art Library. James with crozier and miter, holding a book.

• Saint James the Less, painting by El Greco (c. 1612), Museo del Greco, Toledo, Spain. 

James is shown holding a Bible, symbolizing his status as a scriptural writer, in one hand. James is depicted in the Mannerist style with elongated form and without any of the traditional iconographic symbols

•   Communion of the apostle Jacob→ Painting by Niccoló Bambini (Late 1600s / early 1700s).

The risen Jesus appears to James and breaks bread with him (based on an account recorded in →Jerome Vir. ill. 2, said to be drawn from the Gospel according to the Hebrews).

• James the Less→: statue by Angelo de Rossi (1705-11) in Saint John Lateran, Rome.

James holds a book and club.

• Saint James the Less→, painting by James Tissot (1886-94) in the Brooklyn Museum.

James, resembling Jesus, prayers on his knees with outstretched arms. It perhaps reflects Hegesippus' statement that James spent so much time in prayer that his knees were as hard as a camel's.

Eastern Orthodox traditions

• James the Just, Russian icon, 16^th century. Novgorod. James is depicted in episcopal robes and holds a book.

The inscription bearing the name of the saint has disappeared, but the iconography—facial features and beard shape —suggest that the icon is of James. Byzantine art places him among the founding fathers of the Church. As the creator of the first liturgy containing memorial services and the author of the message, which speaks of the healing power of prayer (Jas 5:14-16), he was also worshipped in ancient times as a healer. In Novgorod, James is prayed for the end of the epidemics. In sacred iconography, the representations of James of Jerusalem alone are very rare. We know the icons of Novgorod in which he is represented with other saints: Nicholas the Thaumaturgist, James the brother of God, Ignatius the bearer of God, end of the 15^th c.; James the brother of God, Cosmas and Damian, 2^nd quarter of the 16^th c. The icon comes from the best workshops in Moscow or Novgorod.

• Martyrdom of James the Just. Illustration from the Menologion of Basil II. (PG 117:6-612). Late 10^th, early 11^th c. AD. Vatican Library. Vat.gr. 1613. Image 131.→  

For discussion of visual depictions, see →Gowler 2014, 53-62; →Bedford 1911.

1–6 Warning the Rich 2: Anticipation of Judgment Day This passage is closely tied with the previous section (Jas 4:13-17). Both are direct addresses to the wealthy; while Jas 4:13-17 is a warning to avoid self-reliance and trust in God; Jas 5:1-6 is a harsh condemnation and judgment against ther rich.

Structure

The passage may be analyzed in the following way:

• Jas 5:1-3a: Pronouncement of the eschatological judgment against the rich. Their wealth is now useless to them.
• Jas 5:3b-6: Accusations against the rich.
• Jas 5:3: The rust of their coins testifies against them (symbolizing their hoarding of wealth).
• Jas 5:4: They have defrauded their workers of their rightful wages.
• Jas 5:5: They have lived a life of self-indulgence.
• Jas 5:6: They have condemned and murdered innocent people (either literally or by taking away their means of making a living).

Sources

The intertext of our passage taps in the rich pool of the early community's language, made up of scriptural memory and Jesus' authoritative teaching.

Scripture

• Prophetic judgment oracles (Literary Genre 5:1-6).
• Laws of the Torah on proper payment of wages (Biblical Intertextuality 5:4b).

Jesus' Teaching

• Jesus’ woes against the rich at Lk 6:24–26 (Literary Genre 5:1-6).
• Jesus’ admonition to store up treasure in heaven, not on earth at Mt 6:19–21 (Biblical Intertextuality 5:2-6).

Reception

In the interpretive tradition, the following issues are of special interest:

• The tendency to understand James' condemnation as aimed not at the wealthy per se, but rather toward the wealthy who use their wealth wrongly (Christian Tradition 5:1-6; Christian Tradition 5:3b).
• The identification of Jas 5:6 as a reference to Christ  (Christian Tradition 5:6b).
• The moral theological use of the passage to reflect on the rights of workers, especially for a just wage (Christian Tradition 5:4c;Theology 5:1-3; Theology 5:4a).

Audience 

Interpreters debate as to whether Jas 5:1-6 is directed towards wealthy members of James' community, or to wealthy people outside of the community. This specific question, of course, is tied to the larger question of the identify of "the rich" in James. See also →James: Rich and Poor

Outside the Community (non-Christian)

Due to the harsh and condemnatory tone of this prophetic judgment oracle, some interpreters understand "the rich" as a group outside of James' church. They note that "the rich" are not called to repentance (James often calls community members to repentence; e.g., in the preceding passages: Jas 4:7-10; 4:15), but are simply condemned. From a historical and sociological point of view, these interpreters also argue that it is unlikely that members of James' community would be wealthy landowners with stockpiles of gold and silver.

Inside the Community (Christian)

The previous sections have called on the community to repent (Jas 4:7-10; 4:15), but James gives no structural clue that the audienced addressed in Jas 5:1-6 is different from the audience addressed in chapter 4. On the contrary, he begins with the identical phrase (age nun) with which he begins the discourse in Jas 4:13-18. The difference in tone is to be attributed to his address to a separate audience within the church, i.e., the rich who oppress the poor. Elsewhere in the letter, James implies that some members of the community are rich (esp. Jas 1:9-11 and Jas 2:1-7).

6b just one Identity of the Just One  Three basic tendencies are seen in the interpretive tradition: 

• Jesus is the just one. →Bede Ep. cath., the →Gloss. Ord.,  and →Bar Salibi Ep. Cath. understand the "just one" to be Christ. All also agree in placing the blame for his condemnation and death on "the Jews." 
• The "just one" is a generic term for any persecuted righteous person. →Isho'dad of Merv Comm. Cath. Ep. ad loc. understands the just one as anyone who possesses goods justly but is unable to resist  the wicked who plot to murder him and take over his land (Sedlacek 1910, 37; Syriac-ibid., 51). He cites Naboth (1Kgs 21) as an example. →Calvin Comm. Iac. refers it to the general oppression of the poor by the rich, especially their use of a corrupt legal system (Owen 1849, 346; Reuss and Erichson 1896, 425). →Nicholas of Lyra Post. ad loc. applies it to the just in the early Church (cols. 1298-99).

• Dual interpretations. For →Ps.-Hilary of Arles Tract. Iac. ad loc. the "just one" is either "Christ or a defrauded poor man" (Christum sive defraudatum pauperem; col. 80) →Ps.-Oecumenius Comm. Ep. Cath. ad loc. applies it to Christ or to Christ's followers who also suffered at the time of Jesus' death.  He adds that it "it may refer prophetically (prophêtikôs) to his own [i.e., the author James the Just's] suffering" (col. 504).