James Expounds on Faith Volume 48

 Warning to the Rich Part 1

James 5:1-2 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. KJV Note: NKJV=New King James Version

The Apostle James now begins a brief discourse primarily directed at the rich unsaved, unrepentant, and unrighteous Jews who still continued to refuse to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord and that He was then and still is their Messiah whom all the Jewish Prophets pointed to during their days in the land of Jerusalem and Judea. Those unsaved rich Jews were the cause of the now saved Jews being scattered throughout the world 🗺 (James 1:1). So, we have the Apostle James giving them this warning directly from our Lord Jesus Christ, as it is written here, "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you." (James 5:1) (KJV). As it applies to every generation of the saved sinners and continued unrepentant sinners, the warning is the same for all time ⌚ of humanity going forward from then all the way up until our current time ⌚ now and in all parts of the Globe 🌐. The Apostle James used the English word 'miseries' to declare what shall befall them from our Lord Jesus Christ and this word is translated by the Greek word talaipōria (used only one other time in the New Testament) meaning wretchedness, that is, calamity: - misery. Concerning at that time ⌚ he meant the coming destruction of the City of Jerusalem by the Emperor of Rome; (Titus, son of Vespasian (39-81)) which would destroy all that ungodly, unholy, and unsaved Jews had heaped up for themselves as they drove the saved born again Jews from their homeland, not knowing that our Lord Jesus Christ would use their scattering (James 1:1) to preserve their lives from the invasion by Titus. Here is what John Wesley had to say of James 5:1, "The Apostle does not speak this so much for the sake of the rich themselves, as of the poor children of God, who were then groaning under their cruel oppression. Weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you - Quickly and unexpectedly. This was written not long before the siege of Jerusalem; during which, as well as after it, huge calamities came on the Jewish Nation, not only in Judea, but through distant countries. And as these were an awful prelude of that wrath which was to fall upon them in the world to come, so this may likewise refer to the final vengeance which will then be executed on the impenitent."

Next the Apostle James gives an even more detailed, deeper, description of what those unsaved rich Jews back then could expect which also applies to the unrepentant unsaved rich of every era and generation, as it is written with these words, "Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten." (James 5:2) (KJV). The English word 'corrupted' used here by the Apostle is translated by the Greek word sēpō (used this one time only in the entire New Testament) and it means to putrefy (decay with an offensive smell), that is, (figuratively) perish: - be corrupted. This would speak about the large barns fool of corn stored up by the rich man whom our Lord Jesus spoke of, perhaps he was one of the unrepentant Jews who was responsible for the saved Jewish believers being persecuted and scattered into foreign lands. According to many Historians much of the stored up wealth of the ungodly rich during the times that the Apostle James was writing here consisted of much stored up barnes of bushels of corn 🌽 and many chest filled with expensive clothing, remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ speaking of the presumptuous rich man 👨 I spoke of above who did not live a life for God, as it is written, "Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: 'The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?' So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.'  But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?' 'So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.'" (Luke 12:16-21) (NKJV), also let us not forget these words from our Lord Jesus Christ when He said, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21) (NKJV).

John Calvin thinks the sense is, "Your riches perish without being of any use either to others or even to yourselves, for instance, your garments which are moth-eaten in your chests." Here is what Albert Barnes had to say of James 5:2, "The word here rendered 'corrupted' (σήπω sēpō) does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament. It means, to cause to rot, to corrupt, to destroy. The reference here is to their hoarded treasures; and the idea is, that they had accumulated more than they needed for their own use; and that, instead of distributing them to do good to others, or employing them in any useful way, they kept them until they rotted or spoiled. It is to be remembered, that a considerable part of the treasures which a man in the East would lay up, consisted of perishable materials, as garments, grain, oil, etc. Such articles of property were often stored up, expecting that they would furnish a supply for many years, in case of the prevalence of famine or wars. Compare Luke 12:18-19. A suitable provision for the time to come cannot be forbidden; but the reference here is to cases in which great quantities had been laid up, perhaps while the poor were suffering, and which were kept until they became worthless. The same idea substantially is expressed here in another form. As the fashions in the East did not change as they do with us, wealth consisted much in the garments that were laid up for show or for future use. Curtius says that when Alexander the Great was going to take Persepolis, the riches of all Asia were gathered there together, which consisted not only of a great abundance of gold and silver, but also of garments. Horace tells us that when Lucullus the Roman was asked if he could lend a hundred garments for the theater, he replied that he had five thousand in his house, of which they were welcome to take part or all. Of course, such property would be liable to be moth-eaten; and the idea here is, that they had amassed a great amount of this kind of property which was useless to them, and which they kept until it became destroyed."

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…