John Chrysostom — Commentary on Scripture

For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

James is not trying to take away our freedom to decide, but he is showing us that it is not just what we want that matters. We need God’s grace to complement our efforts and ought to rely not on them but on God’s love for us. As it says in Proverbs: “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.”

James 4:17

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

James does not remove the power to do good, but he shows that it is not just a matter of one’s own will. To do good as we ought, we need the grace of God.

James 5:3

Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

Let us go in by the narrow way. How long will luxury last? How long will there be licentiousness? Have not the heedless among us been warned? What about the mockers and the procrastinators? Will not their banquets and gluttony and self-satisfaction, not to mention their wealth, their possessions and their property all disappear? What reward have they got? Death. And what will their end be? Dust and ashes, urns and worms.

James 5:5

Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

What then? Has luxury been condemned? It certainly has—so why do you continue to strive for it? A man has made bread, but the excess has been trimmed away. A man has made wine, but the excess has been cut off there also. God desires that we should pray not for impure food but for souls set free from excess. For everything that God has created is good, and nothing which has been received with thanks is to be despised.

James 5:8

Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

Longsuffering toward one another and patience to those outside. Longsuffering is what we show toward those who can return it, and patience is how we act toward those who cannot do the same to us.

James 5:11

Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

It is a great thing if we can give thanks with great joy. But there is such a thing as giving thanks out of fear, and also such a thing as giving thanks in grief. This is what Job did when, in great suffering, he thanked God, saying: “The Lord has given, the Lord has taken away.” Let no one say that he was not grieving over what had happened to him or that he did not feel it deeply. Do not take away the great praise due to the righteous.… How great is this praise? Tell me, in what circumstances do you bless Job? Is it when he had all those camels and flocks and herds? Or is it when he says: “The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away”? For the devil also harms us not in order to take our possessions away so that we have nothing left but so that when that happens he can force us to curse God because of it.

James 5:12

But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

What if someone swears an oath and claims that he was forced to do so? The fear of God is more powerful than any force. For though you may start out by swearing all kinds of promises, you will not keep any of them. Moreover, you would not dare to swear or give an oath in matters of human law, which you accept whether you want to or not. You would certainly never claim that you were forced into doing so. Now the person who has heard the blessings of God and who has prepared himself as Christ has commanded will never claim any need to do anything of the kind, for he is respected and honored by all. What is needed beyond a simple yes and no? An oath adds nothing to these, for no one has to be told that evil is the source of both excess and its deficient opposite. An oath is a form of excess.

James 5:18

And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

The word of the prophet went forth and suddenly the air was changed, the sky became bronze, not because its nature was altered but because of the electric effect which was produced. Suddenly the elements were transformed, as the prophet’s word fell like a fiery bolt on the hollow parts of the earth, and immediately everything dried up, became a desert and disappeared.

James 5:20

Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

And how do you go about converting someone? It is like the seeds sown by farmers. They are sown once, but they do not survive forever unless they are carefully nurtured. And unless the tillers of the soil protect the seeds, they will be exposed to the birds and to every seed-eating creature. We are just like this, unless we protect what has been sown in us by constant care, for the devil will snatch it away and our own lethargy will destroy it. The sun dries it up, the rain drowns it, and weeds choke it, so that it is not enough for the sower to pass by once only. Rather he must tend it often, driving away the birds of the air, pulling up the weeds and filling up the rocky places with much soil. He must prevent, block off and eject any form of destruction. Where soil is concerned, everything depends on the farmer, for without him it remains lifeless, ready only to suffer harm. It is not like that with spiritual soil however. For in spiritual matters it is not all up to the teachers; at least half the effort must come from the pupils. It is up to us the teachers to sow the seed but up…

And how do you go about converting someone? It is like the seeds sown by farmers. They are sown once, but they do not survive forever unless they are carefully nurtured. And unless the tillers of the soil protect the seeds, they will be exposed to the birds and to every seed-eating creature. We are just like this, unless we protect what has been sown in us by constant care, for the devil will snatch it away and our own lethargy will destroy it. The sun dries it up, the rain drowns it, and weeds choke it, so that it is not enough for the sower to pass by once only. Rather he must tend it often, driving away the birds of the air, pulling up the weeds and filling up the rocky places with much soil. He must prevent, block off and eject any form of destruction. Where soil is concerned, everything depends on the farmer, for without him it remains lifeless, ready only to suffer harm. It is not like that with spiritual soil however. For in spiritual matters it is not all up to the teachers; at least half the effort must come from the pupils. It is up to us the teachers to sow the seed but up to you the pupils to do the rest.

Jeremiah 1:6

Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.

Prophets had power either to speak or to refrain from speaking. They were not bound by necessity but were honored with a privilege. For this reason Jonah fled, for this reason Ezekiel delayed and for this reason Jeremiah excused himself. And God drives them not only by compulsion but also by advising, exhorting, threatening. He does not darken their mind, because to cause distraction, madness and great darkness is the proper work of a demon. It is God’s work to illuminate and with consideration to teach what is necessary.

Jeremiah 1:9

Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.

I say this, for Isaiah said, “The Lord has given me a learned tongue that I should know when I ought to speak a word.” Furthermore, what of Jeremiah? When he was sent, he then was inspired by God. And what of Ezekiel? For, when he had eaten the chapter of the book, he then spoke prophetically.

Jeremiah 2:5-7 · 2 passages

Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

“What transgression have your fathers found in me?” … showing their thankless disposition, and that when in the enjoyment of all things, they requited it by the contraries; but here God expresses it with yet greater force.

Again, elsewhere he says, “What fault have your fathers found in me?” That which is said is great and marvelous, because what he says means, “What wrong have I done?” God tells human beings, “What sin have I committed?”—something that not even slaves tolerate that their master utter.

Jeremiah 2:9-11 · 2 passages

Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children's children will I plead.

God actually permitted erroneous and unworthy opinions of himself to prevail—opinions such as that he was formerly a body and that he was visible.… For he nowhere considers his own dignity but always what will be profitable to us.… Even in reproving he stoops down, as when he speaks by the prophet, “Has a nation changed their gods?” And in every part of Scripture there are instances of his humility both in words and actions.

For since you are not persuaded by the Scriptures, I am compelled to shame you by those who are outside your company. God also did this to the Jews when he said, “Go to the Isles of Kittim and send to Kedar and find out if the nations will change their gods which are no gods.”

Jeremiah 2:13

For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

Still the Anomoeans have another well-rehearsed argument. What is that? Scripture says, “God is spirit.” Tell me, then, does that bring his essence to light? Will anyone accept that argument if he has even drawn a little way near to the doors of the divine Scriptures? According to that argument, God will also be fire, just as it has been written that God is spirit, so has it been written, “Our God is a consuming fire,” and again, “a fountain of living water.” Not only will God be a spirit and a fountain and a fire; he will also be a soul, a wind, a human mind, and other things far more absurd than these.

Jeremiah 2:19

Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

When he does not convince with his word, God many times permits the experience of things to be the teaching, something that he also said to the Jews. When he expended myriads of words though the prophets, he neither persuaded nor embraced the Jews. Allowing them to be educated through punishment, he said to them, “Your apostasy shall correct you, and wickedness shall reprove you.”

Jeremiah 2:21-22

Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?

Hence God gave the gift of prayer. But he does this, even though he does not need for us to ask, but that we might not grow indifferent from being saved without effort. For this reason, he said to Jeremiah, “Do not pray for this people, for I will not hear you,” not wishing to stop his praying (for he earnestly longs for our salvation) but to terrify them. Seeing this, the prophet did not stop praying. So that you may see that God did not wish to turn Jeremiah from it, but to shame them that he said this, hear what it says. “Don’t you see what they are doing?” Also when he says to the city, “Although you wash yourself with soda and use an abundance of soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me,” it is not that he may cast them into despair that he so speaks, but that he may rouse them to repentance.

Jeremiah 3:1-2 · 2 passages

They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD.

He has come as a physician, not as a judge. Therefore, in like manner, as those of old took harlots for wives, even so God too married to himself the nature that had played the harlot. This also prophets from the beginning declare to have taken place with respect to the synagogue. But that spouse was ungrateful toward him who had been a husband to her, while on the contrary, the church, when once delivered from the evils received from our ancestors, continued to embrace the Bridegroom.

“You did sit waiting for them like a deserted bird.” Now if God did not exclude from repentance her who had many times committed fornication, much more will he embrace your soul, which has now fallen for the first time. For certainly there is no lover of bodily beauty, even if he be very frantic, who is so inflamed with the love of his mistress as God longs after the salvation of our souls.… See at least, both in the introduction of Jeremiah and many other places of the prophets, when he is despised and scorned, how he again hastens forward and pursues the friendship of those who turn away from him. He also himself made clear in the Gospels saying, “O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! The city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!”