Tiago 5
A.T. Robertson · Citado em PreceptAustin
Tiago 5
Robertson - "Burst into weeping (ingressive aorist active imperative of klaiō as in James 4:9), howling with grief" (present active participle)." Weep (2799)(klaio) means to mourn, to weep, to lament or to wail with emphasis upon the accompanying noise. The picture is of one lamenting with sobs or wailing aloud and was used to describe the wailing that took place when someone died, including actions of professional mourners (Mk 5:38, 39, Mk 16:10, Lk 8:52+, Jn 20:11; Jn 20:13; Jn 20:15, Acts 9:39+). Weeping was a sign of pain and grief as when Peter denied his Lord and he "remembered the word which Jesus had said, “Before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly." (Mt 26:75, Lk 22:62+) One of the saddest descriptions of weeping is of our Lord Jesus for "When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it." (Lk. 19:41+) Ross adds "The same word (klaio) is used in James 4:9+, but there the weeping is associated with repentance and the mourner has the prospect of having his tears wiped away by the God who deals graciously with the humble. There is no such prospect here; these heartless rich tyrants can expect only "miseries" and "the day of slaughter."" (The Epistles of James and John) Jesus contrasted the blessing of weeping now with the woe of weeping when this life is over “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. “Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep....“Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.(Lk 6:21, 25+, cf Jn. 16:20 ) James warning to weep and howl are a foretaste of what the world will do when it realizes its "Babylon" has all come crashing down and they are forced to exchange their earthly joy for temporal and then eternal misery... “And the kings of the earth, who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her, will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning...11 “And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargoes any more....15 “The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand at a distance because of the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning...19 “And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had ships at sea became rich by her wealth, for in one hour she has been laid waste!’ (Revelation 18:9, 11, 15, 19) Jesus said that those who be excluded from His Kingdom would also be forever separated from His presence and the glory of His power (2 Th 1:8,9) and would experience weeping and gnashing (brugmos, brucho) of teeth. Exactly what this image means may not be certain, but one can be certain and that is this image depicts a horrible, eternal experience: Matthew 8:12 but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 22:13 “Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ Matthew 24:51 and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 25:30 “Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Jesus addressed a similar "Woe" to the rich when He declared “But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full. (Lk 6:24+) (My paraphrase - This is your "heaven!") Simon Kistemaker writes "The term wail actually means "howl." It describes the sound a person utters when he suffers extraordinary pain or grief. What then is the difference between weeping in repentance and weeping without repentance? John
Tiago 5
Robertson says it is an idiomatic imperfect "I was on the point of wishing". So that you may be healed - The purpose is clearly stated. Unconfessed sin saps the vitality from one's soul and spirit. The awful effects are often both spiritual and physical! This truth recalls King David's description of the deleterious effects of his sin with Bathsheba before he humbled himself and confessed - How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! 2 How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit! 3 When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away Through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah. 5 I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah. (Ps 32:1-5) Spurgeon gives a description of the effects of David's unconfessed sin which should horrify each of us and serve as an motivation (enabled by the Spirit) not to commit the sin in the first place! (CLICK HERE for Spurgeon's comments on the effects wrought by David's confession in Verse 1 and Verse 2) When I kept silent about my sin When through neglect I failed to confess, or through despair dared not do so, my bones, those solid pillars of my frame, the stronger portions of my bodily constitution, waxed old, began to decay with weakness, for my grief was so intense as to sap my health and destroy my vital energy. What a killing thing is sin! It is a pestilent disease! A fire in the bones! While we smother our sin it rages within, and like a gathering wound swells horribly and torments terribly. Through my roaring all the day long. He was silent as to confession, but not as to sorrow. Horror at his great guilt, drove David to incessant laments, until his voice was no longer like the articulate speech of man, but so full of sighing and groaning, that it resembled the hoarse roaring of a wounded beast. None knows the pangs of conviction but those who have endured them. The rack, the wheel, the flaming fagot are ease compared with the Tophet which a guilty conscience kindles within the breast: better suffer all the diseases which flesh is heir to, than lie under the crushing sense of the wrath of almighty God. The Spanish inquisition with all its tortures was nothing to the inquest which conscience holds within the heart. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me. God's finger can crush us---what must His hand be, and that pressing heavily and continuously! Under terrors of conscience, men have little rest by night, for the grim thoughts of the day dog them to their chambers and haunt their dreams, or else they lie awake in a cold sweat of dread. God's hand is very helpful when it uplifts (ED: SEE - The Hand of the Lord), but it is awful when it presses down: better a world on the shoulder, like Atlas, than God's hand on the heart, like David. My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. The sap of his soul was dried, and the body through sympathy appeared to be bereft of its needful fluids. The oil was almost gone from the lamp of life, and the flame flickered as though it would soon expire. Unconfessed transgression, like a fierce poison, dried up the fountain of the man's strength and made him like a tree blasted by the lightning, or a plant withered by the scorching heat of a tropical sun. Alas! for a poor soul when it has learned its sin but forgets its Saviour, it goes hard with it indeed. Selah. It was time to change the tune, for the notes are very low in the scale, and with such hard usage, the strings of the harp are out of order: the next verse will surely be set to another key, or will rehearse a more joyful subject. I acknowledged my sin to You. After long lingering, the broken heart bethought itself of what it ought to have done at the first, and laid bare its heart before the Lord. And my iniquity I did not hide. We must confess the guilt as well as the fact of sin. It is useless to conceal it, for it is well known to God; it is beneficial to us to own it, for a full confession softens and humbles the heart. I said. This was his fixed resolution. I will confess my transgressions to the LORD. Not to my fellow-men or to the high priest, but unto Jehovah; even in those days of symbol the faithful looked to God alone for deliverance from sin’s intolerable load; much more now, when types and shadows have vanished at the appearance of the dawn. When the soul determines to lay low and plead guilty, absolution is near at hand; hence we read, And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Not only was the sin itself pardoned, but the iniquity of it; the virus of its guilt was put away as soon as the acknowledgment was made. Selah. Another pause is needed, for the matter is not to be hurried over. (Treasury of David - Psalm 32 - click to read some of the comments by other writers Spurgeon quotes) Healed (cured) (2390)(iaomai) means to cure, to heal, to restore. Iaomai is used literally of deliverance from physical diseases and afflictions and so to make whole, restore to bodily health or heal. To cause someone to achieve health after having been sick. In the passive it means to be healed or cured. Figuratively, iaomai speaks of deliverance from sin and its evil consequences and thus to restore (to spiritual good health), make whole, renew (Mt 13.15). In the passive, iaomai figuratively means to be restored, to recover or to be healed as in 1Pe 2.24+. Iaomai refers primarily to physical healing in the NT (although clearly there is overlap because some of these instances involved demonic oppression - Lk 9:42+), and much less commonly to spiritual healing or healing (saving) from "moral illnesses" and the consequences of sin. When used in this sense iaomai has much the same meaning as sozo, to save, make whole, restore to spiritual health. Here are the uses of iaomai used with a spiritual meaning = Mt 13:15, John 12:40, Acts 28:27+ - preceding quotes from Isa 6:10+, 1Pe 2:24+ = quote from Isa 53:5+. It is interesting that most of the NT uses in the Gospels refer to physical healing by Jesus (excepting the physical healing that resulted by release from demonic oppression). However in the OT (Lxx) uses iaomai refers primarily to spiritual healing by the Messiah (Isa 53:5+, Isa 61:1, et al). Presumably the fact that Luke was a physician explains why he made frequent use of iaomai (14/26x). The related word iatros (Mt 9:12 Mk 2:17+ Mk 5:26+ Lk 4:23+, Lk 5:31+, Lk 8:43+, Col 4:14+) is derived from iaomai and is actually the word used for "medical doctor" in modern Greece (cf English "iatrogenic" illness or malady caused by or secondary to medical treatment)! In ancient Greece this word group was extended from it's medical use to convey a sense of restoration or to making good. The word iatros is also ascribed to several Grecian deities (Here is an interesting background article = Healing deities, healing cults). FERVENT PRAYER OF A RIGHTEOUS PERSON IS VERY POWERFUL! The New Living renders it "The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results." ESV has "The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." As Davids says after James gives his charge to pray in the previous passages, he now "encourages their prayers with a statement of its effectiveness. The prayer of a righteous person does have great power!...It is the ordinary member in good standing, not just the elders or prophets, whose prayer is powerful, as the following example (OF ELIJAH) shows." Hiebert points out that James 5:16b-18 "is distinguished from the previous injunctions by the absence of a connecting particle and its declarative contents. Following his calls for prayer (James 5:14-16a), James now encourages its use through his positive assertion (James 5:16b) and a vivid illustration of the mighty power of prayer (James 5:17-18)." (James Commentary) The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much - Effective is the Greek verb energeo which pictures these as "energetic" prayers and in the present tense speaks of persistent prayer. The "energy" for such praying is ultimately "generated" by the "dynamo" (cf dunamis) of the Spirit continually working within us as described in Php 2:13+ where the same verb energeo is used two times! "It is God Who is at work [energeo in present tense = continually at work] in you, both to will and to work [energeo in present tense = continually working] for His good pleasure" The verb can is ischuo (see below) in the present tense. Accomplish is energeo in the present tense indicating Spirit energized effective prayers are availing prayers! The energetic prayers of a righteous man or woman continually have power to accomplish much! Regarding effective prayer, Davids cautions that James "does not mean that the harder one prays the more likely the prayer is to be answered!" Effective prayer is prayer that relies on the Spirit's leading and empowerment. When this is transpiring, one is indeed praying powerfully for they are Praying in the Spirit . Young's Literal Translation - "Be confessing to one another the trespasses, and be praying for one another, that ye may be healed; very strong is a working supplication of a righteous man" Effective (1754)(energeo from en = in + érgon = work. English = energetic) means to work effectively to cause something to happen. To energize, to operate, to work effectually in. It means power in exercise, and is used only of superhuman power. To work energetically, effectively and/or efficiently. To put forth energy. To be at work. To produce results. Energeo describes active, efficient, effective working. Paul is saying that the power of God's word exerts effective, energetic power in believers. This activity put forth in an individual energizes him to the doing of certain things intended by the one who is doing the energizing. TECHNICAL NOTE - Energeo "represents a single participle (energoumenē) standing at the end of the sentence. Etymologically this compound term denotes a power working inwardly; our English word "energy" is derived from the cognate noun. The exact force of the participle here has been variously understood. It may be taken as the practical equivalent of an adjective describing "supplication"; then it describes the prayer as actively accomplishing its task, as being energetic and effective. But more probably the emphatic participle does not describe the prayer but gives the reason why a righteous man's prayer is so strong. Thus others regard the particle as relating directly to the action of the verb. Its force may be either middle or passive. Taken as passive, the meaning is "being made effective," that is, by God or the Holy Spirit. Thus Rotherham renders it, "Much availeth the supplication of a righteous man when it is energized." This is certainly in harmony with the biblical view of prayer, as for example in Romans 8:26. Thus Davids comments, "Prayer is not itself powerful; it is not magic. But its power is unlimited in that the child of God calls on a Father of unlimited goodness and ability." Others accept the voice as middle, meaning "when it is operating, is energizing."....Views are divided as to whether the form is middle or passive. Either view is possible; ultimately both truths are involved." Osborne adds this technical note - Literally, "has great power, working," with energoumene either temporal ("when it is at work," so Blomberg and Kamell, Hiebert, Ropes) or adjectival ("effective prayer," so Dibelius, Laws), and it can also be either passive ("made effective by God/the Spirit," so Davids, Mayor) or middle ("as it is at work," so Adamson, Martin, Moo; McCartney 2009:250, "is very powerful and effective"). The NLT catches it well (The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. JaS 5:16NLT), for the middle force still conveys God's power at work, as it may be best to see it as a circumstantial participle that becomes another main clause: "and produces wonderful results." (Cornerstone Biblical Commentary – Volume 18: James) Wordsworth - “On the word energoumene, inwardly energizing in devotion and love to God, so as to produce external effects in obedience”....“Observe, therefore, how happily the two emphatic words dikaiou (righteous) and energoumenee are (in the Greek text) reserved for the end of the sentence, to give weight and force to the whole; and to make it sink into the ears and hearts of hearers and readers of the Epistle; and to teach the faithful of every age, that it is holiness of life and devotion of heart which give efficacy to Prayer” (Wordsworth, Greek Testament) Prayer (1162)(deesis) refers to urgent requests or supplications to meet a need and are exclusively addressed to God. "Deesis is restricted to petitionary prayer, a petition for what is desired." (Hiebert). Deesis prayers arise from one's sense of need (which reflects a humble heart) and in knowing what is lacking. This individual's plea is in turn made to God to supply the need. Deesis in the New Testament always carries the idea of genuine entreaty and supplication before God. It implies a realization of need and a petition for its supply. Deesis is used twice in Paul's exhortation regarding prayer in the context of spiritual warfare With all prayer and petition pray at all times (kairos also means "opportunities" a good way to look at prayer - as an opportunity to intercede!) in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, (Eph 6:18+) Peter accentuates the efficacy of the prayers of the righteous writing For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous (dikaios), And His ears attend to their prayer (deesis), But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." (1 Peter 3:12+) The Old Testament repeatedly affirms the prayer of the righteous and the impotence of the prayers of the unrighteous Hear a just cause, O LORD, give heed to my cry; Give ear to my prayer, which is not from deceitful lips. (Ps 17:1) The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is His delight. (Pr. 15:8) The LORD is far from the wicked, But He hears the prayer of the righteous. (Pr 15:29) He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor Will also cry himself and not be answered. (Pr 21:13) He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, Even his prayer is an abomination. (Pr 28:9, cf Jn 9:31, James 4:3+) If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear; (Ps. 66:18), Righteous man (man added by NAS; NET has "righteous person")(1342)(dikaios) describes a man who is in right relation to God and other men. He is positionally righteous (all justified/saved individuals) and he is experientially righteous (confesses his sins, keeps pure, in short one who continually pursues progressive sanctification). In James 5:6+ the oppressive rich condemned and put to death the righteous man. The first righteous man in the Bible was Noah = "Noah was a righteous man (Lxx = dikaios); blameless in his time; Noah walked with God." (Ge 6:9). Ultimately before God's perfect righteousness there is no human who is righteous before Him (Ro 3:10+), but Ro 1:16-17+ describes how sinners can attain to this otherwise unobtainable divine righteousness, for Paul declares "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it (THE GOSPEL) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.” THOUGHT - The phrase "righteous man" occurs 30x in the NAS and makes an interesting study - you will see how the Bible defines a "righteous man" - Gen. 6:9; 2 Sam. 4:11; Ps. 5:12; Ps. 64:10; Ps. 92:12; Prov. 9:9; Prov. 12:10; Prov. 13:5; Prov. 20:7; Prov. 24:16; Prov. 25:26; Eccl. 3:17; Eccl. 7:15; Eccl. 7:20; Isa. 57:1; Ezek. 3:20; Ezek. 3:21; Ezek. 18:24; Ezek. 18:26; Ezek. 33:12; Matt. 1:19; Matt. 10:41; Matt. 27:19; Lk. 23:50; Rom. 1:17; Rom. 5:7; Gal. 3:11; Jas. 5:6; Jas. 5:16; 2 Pet. 2:8 Can accomplish (polu ischuei = "is able to do much")(2480)(ischuo from ischus = might) means to be strong in body or in resources. Ischuo can speak of physical power (Mk 2:17, 5:4, 9:12). It can speak of having the required personal resources to accomplish some objective as here in James 5:16 where this righteous man's prayers accomplish much. The present tense speaks of these prayers continually having "power!" THOUGHT- Why do we not avail ourselves of this incredible divine provision and promise more often? Luke uses ischuo in Acts 19:20+ of the Word of God writing "the Word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing (ischuo)." Luke's use of ischuo suggests to me that the prevailing prayer of the righteous person is so effective because they are continually partaking of the "prevailing" Word of God! "Such prayer is an active power producing amazing victories." (Hiebert) Sam Storms - "Prayer is powerful for only one reason. It is the means whereby we avail ourselves of the power of God." F B Meyer on prayer that can accomplish much - “It was so with John Knox, whose prayers were more dreaded by Mary of Scots than the armies of Philip.” Brian Bell - To become more effective in our praying, we should heed these words of Bishop Hall: “It is not the arithmetic of our prayers, how many they are; nor the rhetoric of our prayers, how eloquent they be; nor the geometry of our prayers, how long they be; nor the music of our prayers, how sweet our voice may be; nor the method of our prayers, how orderly they may be; nor even the theology of our prayers, how good the doctrine may be - which God cares for. Fervency of spirit is that which availeth much.” (ED: AND I WOULD ADD CONTINUAL RELIANCE ON THE HOLY SPIRIT FOR "HOLY FERVENCY!")(Sermon) John