Hope for Today?
Hope for Tomorrow?

James offers a message of hope to the new and struggling Christian community. From the very start the message of the Letter of James is good news. James 1:1 ends with the Greek word chairein, translated greeting in the NRSV. But chairein is a form of the word chairo meaning rejoice or be glad. The word is translated as a form of rejoice, glad, or joy 85% of the time. Although James moves immediately to the trials the community is facing, still he suggests this is a time of charan: joy, delight, or rejoicing.

Hope for Today? Hope for Tomorrow?
Preference for the Poor | Judgment for the Rich | Top of Page

Scandal Pages
Rusting Riches: Oppression | Now and Later: Hope | Faith and Works: Praxis

Related Links
Word Studies: Poor | Rich | Blessing
Order Tamez' Book: The Scandalous Message of James

Preference for the Poor
Elsa Tamez argues that the primary hope that James offers the community is the message that God has a clear preference for the poor and the oppressed. The hope is for the community reading this letter. Be proud of your lowly position, says James 1:9; God has chosen the poor to be heirs of the Kingdom in 2:5. This preference for the poor seems to be clearly connected to Jesus' beatitudes in Matthew 5 and Luke 6.

James 2:21-25 uses an interesting comparison of how important the lowly are to Christian community. Abraham, the father of the Hebrew faith, is offered an example of good faith and good works. This is not a surprising example. But in verse 25, James introduces Rahab another example. Rahab and Abraham are compared in the first word of verse 25: homoios. This is likewise, or in the same way. Thus Rahab, a woman, a prostitute, and a pagan, is seen in God's eyes in the same way God sees Abraham, the founder of the faith. We see that the lowly are truly raised up, that there is hope for every Rahab to be as important as Abraham in God's world-view.

The hope for Rahab, and for the poor and oppressed, is hope for now and hope for later. Notice in Matthew 5:3 and Luke 6:20 the blessing is in the present tense: for theirs (yours) IS the kingdom of God. In James 1:9 the lowly should boast NOW. But the hope is also in the coming judgment. The rich in James 5:1-6 are called to weep NOW for the judgment in the future. The riches and gold have rotted and rusted already, implying the judgment is here and now. The wages held back in the past are reaching God's ears now. In verses 7-9 the oppressed are called to patience, for the judgment is imminent, but in the future. The hope continues to be offered in the promise of the Job and the prophets (James 5:10-11), who suffered in the present but were blessed in the future. The point, it seems, is in James 5:11. God is compassionate and merciful. In James 5:11 and is standing at the doors ready to judge in James 5:9. Hope is in the judgment to come.

Hope for Today? Hope for Tomorrow?
Preference for the Poor | Judgment for the Rich | Top of Page

Scandal Pages
Rusting Riches: Oppression | Now and Later: Hope | Faith and Works: Praxis

Related Links
Word Studies: Poor | Rich | Blessing
Order Tamez' Book: The Scandalous Message of James

Judgment for the Rich
To whom is this hope offered? In James 5, it is clearly not to the rich! In James 1:12 and 2:5 the promise is to those who love God. In 2:5 it is clear that it is the poor of this world who are synonymous with those who love God; in 1:12 it is those who persevere under trial. Does James offer any hope to those who have plenty? Tamez argues that even verse 1:12 offers hope only to the poor and oppressed, not to the rich. The NRSV separates verses 9-11, Poverty and Riches, from verses 12-18, Trials and Tribulation. But Tamez and the New Interpreters Bible group verses 9-12 as one message. When read as a unit we see that those enduring under trial are the lowly from verse 9, not the rich from verses 10 and 11.

Tamez continues her argument by saying that the rich are not part of the Christian community that James is addressing, but rather are the oppressors of the community. James 1:12, and in chapter 5, James offers no hope for the rich (T38). Johnson disagrees, arguing that the friendly term brother in verse 1:9 (made inclusive with the word believer in the NRSV) is the subject of the entire paragraph. Still, Johnson argues, the message could be that the rich who consider themselves part of the Christian community really are not, for they are living by worldly values (J188). Or, perhaps James is saying the rich are a part of Christian community when they humble themselves and remove themselves from the way of the world.

Remove yourselves from worldly ways! This is the call to conversion in James 4. Tamez and Johnson agree that here the hope here is for all. This hope lies in praxis, or right action. We are called to convert from being "double-minded" to the life of integrity and single-mindedness. The rich, especially, are accused of trying to live both by God's way and the way of the world. Our hope is in living only in God's way. James uses world in James 4:4 as a contrast with God and faith. James is adamant: you can choose worldly riches or God's riches, not both. Tamez compares James call to turn from the world with Jesus' words in Luke 16:13.

No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

The hope in James is that we can decide now to turn from the wealth and riches, turn from the rules of the world, to live by the rules of God. By the rules of the world wealth gives status and power, by the rules of God, the rich are humbled and the poor raised up. Conversion requires that we give up the adultery of having two masters and become single-minded in our attention to God's law. To do this we must be humble, pure, and lowly. For Tamez this means the only hope James offers the rich is in ceasing to be rich, oppressive and exploiting (T39).

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. - James 4:7-8

Hope for Today? Hope for Tomorrow?
Preference for the Poor | Judgment for the Rich | Top of Page

Scandal Pages
Rusting Riches: Oppression | Now and Later: Hope | Faith and Works: Praxis

Related Links
Word Studies: Poor | Rich | Blessing
Order Tamez' Book: The Scandalous Message of James

Resources (Link to full Bibliography for web site)
Elsa Tamez, The Scandalous Message of James: Faith Without Works Is Dead. John Eagleson, translator. With Study Guide by Pamela Sparr. (New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 2002).

Luke Timothy Johnson, The Letter of James in The New Interpreter's Bible Volume XII, Leander E. Keck et al, editors. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2000).