Scenes From the Book of James Blended TogetherBible World
5:9James 5:9
Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.
Grudging one another means holding resentment, thinking evil, criticizing, accusing and quarreling instead of living in peace and unity. The Judge standing before the door is Christ the Lord, whose coming in the clouds and whose judgment are near and right at hand. Such grudging brings condemnation, for the sentence pronounced on another falls back on the condemner and darkens the record written in heaven. Because that coming is so near, believers are to be patient and steady-hearted, working in harmony and loving one another rather than setting themselves up as judges of hearts they cannot read. That nearness lays unceasing responsibility on every act and word, calling for earnest putting away of sin, thorough repentance and cleansing, and faithful work while Jesus still pleads as Intercessor.
Meaning of the Words
Grudge not means do not hold resentment or grudges against one another, do not think evil of one another, and do not criticize, accuse, contend, or come into dissension and conflict. It forbids turning away from a brother who has hurt others by angry outbursts, requiring instead grace and brotherly help for him to make decided efforts to overcome his failing. It forbids making much of supposed mistakes, accusing a fellow worker, blaming the failure of the work on him, or seeking promotion and defending self for fear of not being properly esteemed. Finite workers are not to set themselves up as judges of fellow workers, for they cannot read hearts and their discernment is often formed from deceptive appearances, whereas God reads the intent and purposes of the heart. Believers are therefore to act openly and truthfully with one another as they would wish Christ to deal with them, to purify their own hearts, to lay down self-upholding, and to trust God to keep them.
In its full sense grudging includes malice, guile, hypocrisies, envies, evil speaking and cruel criticism, surmisings, suspicions, evil thinking, judging motives, cherishing dislike, and passing sentence of condemnation because another does not meet finite ideas. It includes devising and reporting evil, biting and devouring one another, and for want of brotherly love and compassion driving one soul to the grave and another from fellowship. It includes flippant speech, jesting and joking, and all that is mean and selfish and impure and superficial. The call is to think well and speak well, to be swift to hear the counsel of God and slow to speak, to love the purchase of His blood, and to labor earnestly, kindly and tenderly in love to help one another resist the common foe and bless one another in every way as colaborers building for eternity.
Lest ye be condemned means such conduct brings condemnation. The sentence of condemnation pronounced on another reflects back upon the condemner and does far more harm to the condemner than to the one condemned. It blackens an already darkened record written in the books of heaven, for which account is required of every act and word. An unjust human decision counts for nothing in heaven, and does not make an innocent person guilty nor change character before God.
The Judge is Christ the Lord, Judge of all the earth. His standing before the door means His literal appearing in the clouds of heaven, His coming, and His judgment are near and right at hand. The signs He gave have been fulfilled, the gospel announcement declares the coming judgment at hand, and prophetic reckoning indicates He is at the door. His judgments are already abroad in the earth, every case must pass in solemn review before Him, and the resulting decree will fix the holy and the filthy, for no soul with a single spot or stain of character can enter paradise. The proclamation that Christ was at the door disturbed opponents of the Advent message who feared it might be true.
The warning belongs with the call to be patient and steady-hearted until the Lord comes. Nearness of the coming is connected with patient endurance and steadfastness in everyday life, with working in harmony and making peace while awaiting Him. It calls believers to hold fast rather than draw back, and to wait and watch faithfully without setting a definite date for His return.
Patience and Brotherly Harmony
As the coming is awaited, patience is required, with working in harmony, making peace, living in unity, and loving one another. There is no time for prejudice, contention, dissension, conflict, resentment, grudges, criticism, or accusations against fellow believers because Christ the Judge is at the door. The shared hope of seeing Jesus fosters such love and harmony among those who expect Him.
Finite workers must not set themselves up as judges of fellow workers, for they cannot read hearts. Human discernment is very liable to be perverted, being formed from appearances that are often deceptive, while God reads the intent and purposes of the heart. An unjust human decision therefore counts for nothing in heaven, and does not make an innocent person guilty nor change character before God.
When a brother errs through infirmity of temper and is sorry afterward, brethren must not turn away from him or hold it against him. He needs grace and brotherly help to make decided efforts to overcome his failing. Supposed mistakes must not be made much of, nor must he be accused or blamed for the failure of the work. Promotion must not be sought, nor self defended, for fear of not being properly esteemed.
Dealing with one another must be open and truthful, as Christ Himself would be wished to deal. Small slights are not to be noticed, and jealousy and evil surmising are to be put away so as to deal according to the Bible. Rather than accusing or mistreating others, each must examine the own heart. Self-upholding must be laid down, the own heart purified, and God trusted to keep.
Nearness of Christ's Coming
The standing of the Judge before the door declares that the coming of the Saviour is near and the end of all things is at hand. People are living in the last hours of probation on the very borders of the eternal world. That truth is to be shown by words and actions, with preaching and praying done with fervor and life lived as if that nearness is believed, because careless, lifeless work cannot awaken a careless people. Yet even among those professing to believe in that near coming there are those who fight against the law of God.
The signs given for that coming have been fulfilled, and the gospel announcement of the coming judgment declares the return at hand. Prophecy is fast fulfilling, solemn events of overwhelming interest are close, and a crisis is near. The controversies of the past are to be revived and new controversies will arise, with scenes to be enacted that are not even dreamed of and Satan at work through human agencies. His judgments are already abroad in the earth and in the world.
The proclamation that Christ was at the door disturbed the opponents of the Advent message, who feared it might be true. It became a focus of their hostility toward Adventists and their faith. The largest class of the religious world has discarded that nearness, being taught that the second coming is only spiritual and denouncing the message of Christ at the door as fanaticism and heresy, with no interest in the prophetic figures tracing the history of events. While lovers of pleasure are intent on amusement and moneymakers on wealth, skepticism and so-called science undermine faith in the Bible, and men accept error and fables to pursue self-indulgence without alarm, saying tomorrow will be as today and more abundant. Then, amid unbelief and godless pleasure, the shout of the archangel and the trump of God will sound, the fatal deception will break, and the unready will be weighed in the balance and found wanting.
Accountability Before the Judge
Because the Judge stands at the door, His nearness lays unceasing responsibility on every act and word and place. Each person has appointed work with means, faculties and opportunities entrusted to be used well and accounted for, and each must be ready to give an account to God. No one knows how soon that account will be required and life work ended, for very little time remains to prepare for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Preparation is following on to know the Lord so as to see His coming, being doers of Christ's words, pure, loyal and true to highest interests rather than merely claiming Christian character while lacking it, with character molded after the divine similitude through having the mind of Christ which brings love and tenderness into the soul.
Those living on the very borders of the eternal world, with the end of all things at hand, must soon render a fearful account at the bar of God for every transgression of His law. Every case must pass in solemn review before Him, with His judgments already abroad in the earth and His coming near. The resulting decree will fix the holy and the filthy, for no soul with a single spot or stain of character can enter paradise. Life therefore must be ordered as in the eye of the great Taskmaster and in the immediate presence of God, angels and the Redeemer, so that unholy thoughts, base passions and sinful corruptions cannot be cherished without guilt in full view of the consequences.
Fully accepted and faithfully met, this accountability requires thinking well and speaking well, being swift to hear the counsel of God and slow to speak. It requires laboring earnestly, kindly and tenderly in all love to help one another resist the common foe, loving the purchase of His blood and blessing them in every way as colaborers and ambassadors building for eternity with an eye single to God's glory. So met, it balances character, outgrows superficial, mean, selfish and impure tendencies and raises above selfishness. It gives an earnest, cheerful, strong and hopeful life under difficulties and amid discouragements, and brings the praise of God.
Urgent Readiness in Life
The nearness of the Judge standing at the door makes it urgent to take God's holy requirements seriously and to live free from iniquity, for the end is at hand. That nearness should arouse solemn earnestness to put away everything offensive to God and every evil that destroys sound principles, to separate from evil without delay, and to keep His law and serve as His witnesses in testing, since it is not safe to delay His coming. The day of the Lord is right at hand, nearer now than when first believed.
As Noah warned his generation, the nearness of the Lord at the door is a warning to be given to all, urging the disloyal to repent, heed the warning, and render obedience to God's law. Obedience to His commands wins eternal life, while disobedience places a person on Satan's side, for man made in the image of God has sadly disfigured that image until the traces of divine love are nearly obliterated by choosing darkness rather than light. Those who persist in wrongdoing and self-justification, despising God's cautions and acting fraudulently, oppressively, and arrogantly, must repent rather than continue, for as Jerusalem was handed over to its fate for failing to repent and value salvation, so judgment would come upon those in Battle Creek who continued in such conduct.
The Judge of all the earth standing at the very door means the end of all things is at hand, those living on the very borders of the eternal world must soon render account, and every case must pass in solemn review before Him until the decree fixes the holy and the filthy, since no soul with spot or stain of character can enter paradise. It calls ministers who are hardening their consciences in sin and all believers to thorough revival, converted ministry, confession, repentance, conversion, and cleansing of hands and heart without delay while Jesus still pleads as Intercessor, before it is forever too late. Life must be ordered as in the eye of the great Taskmaster and in the immediate presence of God, angels, and the Redeemer, so that unholy thoughts, base passions, and sinful corruptions cannot be cherished without guilt in full view of the consequences. This requires earnestly and constantly seeking the divine presence, watching continually unto prayer, drawing close to Jesus, crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts, adorning profession by a well-ordered life and godly conversation, and being kept pure, spotless, and undefiled unto the end when grace begun shall be crowned with glory.
Genuine belief that the end is near must be shown in earnest work and not contradicted by careless work, for people are in the last hours of probation. Ministers should therefore preach and pray with fervor and live as if they believe Christ is near, because careless, lifeless preaching cannot awaken a careless people, and the church must act urgently in sharing truth and letting heaven's light reach precious souls through faithful watching and earnest work for others' salvation at an unknown hour. Teachers of truth are required to do far more than shiftless, halfway work, since human effort alone cannot fit a people to stand in the great day of God, and this demands daily learning in the school of Christ, critical examination of self by God's holy law as the great standard of character, and entire dependence on Christ rather than finite strength to obey that law, overcome self-deception, self-sufficiency, and discouragement, and receive by faith the provision made for everyone with constant and increasing peace and rest. Like the wise and foolish virgins, people will be revealed by whether they have the grace needed to keep their light shining.
Preparation for the soon-settled accounts and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb means following on to know the Lord in order to see His coming, since no one knows how soon accounts will be settled and life work ended. Preparation means being doers of Christ's words, pure, loyal, and true to highest interests rather than merely claiming Christian character while lacking it, with character molded after the divine similitude through having the mind of Christ, which brings love and tenderness into the soul. That nearness requires every truly converted person to economize now, to make no ambitious projects to secure high wages from God's treasury to invest in lands and houses, and to stop spending the Lord's money to multiply pictures of self and gather friends' pictures for display, because every dollar so used belongs to the Lord for saving souls for whom Christ died, and such exalting of pictures is idolatry and sin to be seen in its true light so that God's people walk in the light given. Families and every professed believer must examine temporal business in its light and not let it overwhelm them into disobeying the counsel God came down from highest heaven to Mount Sinai to give precept by precept, written upon tables of stone and put in the ark of the testimony to be immortalized, with every departure written in the book.
The passage sets the choice between obeying God and following the scheming attractions of the devil, calling for earnest sanctification of soul, body, and spirit through obedience to all His commandments. Christ came as the great Healer to purify, sanctify, and redeem the whole physical and spiritual nature, making earthly homes bright and beautiful by His presence revealed in obedience. So fitted, believers become holy and undefiled subjects for His mansion above and members of His royal family.
Grudging one another means holding resentment, thinking evil, criticizing, accusing and quarreling instead of living in peace and unity. The Judge standing before the door is Christ the Lord, whose coming in the clouds and whose judgment are near and right at hand. Such grudging brings condemnation, for the sentence pronounced on another falls back on the condemner and darkens the record written in heaven. Because that coming is so near, believers are to be patient and steady-hearted, working in harmony and loving one another rather than setting themselves up as judges of hearts they cannot read. That nearness lays unceasing responsibility on every act and word, calling for earnest putting away of sin, thorough repentance and cleansing, and faithful work while Jesus still pleads as Intercessor.
Meaning of the Words
Grudge not means do not hold resentment or grudges against one another, do not think evil of one another, and do not criticize, accuse, contend, or come into dissension and conflict. It forbids turning away from a brother who has hurt others by angry outbursts, requiring instead grace and brotherly help for him to make decided efforts to overcome his failing. It forbids making much of supposed mistakes, accusing a fellow worker, blaming the failure of the work on him, or seeking promotion and defending self for fear of not being properly esteemed. Finite workers are not to set themselves up as judges of fellow workers, for they cannot read hearts and their discernment is often formed from deceptive appearances, whereas God reads the intent and purposes of the heart. Believers are therefore to act openly and truthfully with one another as they would wish Christ to deal with them, to purify their own hearts, to lay down self-upholding, and to trust God to keep them.
In its full sense grudging includes malice, guile, hypocrisies, envies, evil speaking and cruel criticism, surmisings, suspicions, evil thinking, judging motives, cherishing dislike, and passing sentence of condemnation because another does not meet finite ideas. It includes devising and reporting evil, biting and devouring one another, and for want of brotherly love and compassion driving one soul to the grave and another from fellowship. It includes flippant speech, jesting and joking, and all that is mean and selfish and impure and superficial. The call is to think well and speak well, to be swift to hear the counsel of God and slow to speak, to love the purchase of His blood, and to labor earnestly, kindly and tenderly in love to help one another resist the common foe and bless one another in every way as colaborers building for eternity.
Lest ye be condemned means such conduct brings condemnation. The sentence of condemnation pronounced on another reflects back upon the condemner and does far more harm to the condemner than to the one condemned. It blackens an already darkened record written in the books of heaven, for which account is required of every act and word. An unjust human decision counts for nothing in heaven, and does not make an innocent person guilty nor change character before God.
The Judge is Christ the Lord, Judge of all the earth. His standing before the door means His literal appearing in the clouds of heaven, His coming, and His judgment are near and right at hand. The signs He gave have been fulfilled, the gospel announcement declares the coming judgment at hand, and prophetic reckoning indicates He is at the door. His judgments are already abroad in the earth, every case must pass in solemn review before Him, and the resulting decree will fix the holy and the filthy, for no soul with a single spot or stain of character can enter paradise. The proclamation that Christ was at the door disturbed opponents of the Advent message who feared it might be true.
The warning belongs with the call to be patient and steady-hearted until the Lord comes. Nearness of the coming is connected with patient endurance and steadfastness in everyday life, with working in harmony and making peace while awaiting Him. It calls believers to hold fast rather than draw back, and to wait and watch faithfully without setting a definite date for His return.
Patience and Brotherly Harmony
As the coming is awaited, patience is required, with working in harmony, making peace, living in unity, and loving one another. There is no time for prejudice, contention, dissension, conflict, resentment, grudges, criticism, or accusations against fellow believers because Christ the Judge is at the door. The shared hope of seeing Jesus fosters such love and harmony among those who expect Him.
Finite workers must not set themselves up as judges of fellow workers, for they cannot read hearts. Human discernment is very liable to be perverted, being formed from appearances that are often deceptive, while God reads the intent and purposes of the heart. An unjust human decision therefore counts for nothing in heaven, and does not make an innocent person guilty nor change character before God.
When a brother errs through infirmity of temper and is sorry afterward, brethren must not turn away from him or hold it against him. He needs grace and brotherly help to make decided efforts to overcome his failing. Supposed mistakes must not be made much of, nor must he be accused or blamed for the failure of the work. Promotion must not be sought, nor self defended, for fear of not being properly esteemed.
Dealing with one another must be open and truthful, as Christ Himself would be wished to deal. Small slights are not to be noticed, and jealousy and evil surmising are to be put away so as to deal according to the Bible. Rather than accusing or mistreating others, each must examine the own heart. Self-upholding must be laid down, the own heart purified, and God trusted to keep.
Nearness of Christ's Coming
The standing of the Judge before the door declares that the coming of the Saviour is near and the end of all things is at hand. People are living in the last hours of probation on the very borders of the eternal world. That truth is to be shown by words and actions, with preaching and praying done with fervor and life lived as if that nearness is believed, because careless, lifeless work cannot awaken a careless people. Yet even among those professing to believe in that near coming there are those who fight against the law of God.
The signs given for that coming have been fulfilled, and the gospel announcement of the coming judgment declares the return at hand. Prophecy is fast fulfilling, solemn events of overwhelming interest are close, and a crisis is near. The controversies of the past are to be revived and new controversies will arise, with scenes to be enacted that are not even dreamed of and Satan at work through human agencies. His judgments are already abroad in the earth and in the world.
The proclamation that Christ was at the door disturbed the opponents of the Advent message, who feared it might be true. It became a focus of their hostility toward Adventists and their faith. The largest class of the religious world has discarded that nearness, being taught that the second coming is only spiritual and denouncing the message of Christ at the door as fanaticism and heresy, with no interest in the prophetic figures tracing the history of events. While lovers of pleasure are intent on amusement and moneymakers on wealth, skepticism and so-called science undermine faith in the Bible, and men accept error and fables to pursue self-indulgence without alarm, saying tomorrow will be as today and more abundant. Then, amid unbelief and godless pleasure, the shout of the archangel and the trump of God will sound, the fatal deception will break, and the unready will be weighed in the balance and found wanting.
Accountability Before the Judge
Because the Judge stands at the door, His nearness lays unceasing responsibility on every act and word and place. Each person has appointed work with means, faculties and opportunities entrusted to be used well and accounted for, and each must be ready to give an account to God. No one knows how soon that account will be required and life work ended, for very little time remains to prepare for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Preparation is following on to know the Lord so as to see His coming, being doers of Christ's words, pure, loyal and true to highest interests rather than merely claiming Christian character while lacking it, with character molded after the divine similitude through having the mind of Christ which brings love and tenderness into the soul.
Those living on the very borders of the eternal world, with the end of all things at hand, must soon render a fearful account at the bar of God for every transgression of His law. Every case must pass in solemn review before Him, with His judgments already abroad in the earth and His coming near. The resulting decree will fix the holy and the filthy, for no soul with a single spot or stain of character can enter paradise. Life therefore must be ordered as in the eye of the great Taskmaster and in the immediate presence of God, angels and the Redeemer, so that unholy thoughts, base passions and sinful corruptions cannot be cherished without guilt in full view of the consequences.
Fully accepted and faithfully met, this accountability requires thinking well and speaking well, being swift to hear the counsel of God and slow to speak. It requires laboring earnestly, kindly and tenderly in all love to help one another resist the common foe, loving the purchase of His blood and blessing them in every way as colaborers and ambassadors building for eternity with an eye single to God's glory. So met, it balances character, outgrows superficial, mean, selfish and impure tendencies and raises above selfishness. It gives an earnest, cheerful, strong and hopeful life under difficulties and amid discouragements, and brings the praise of God.
Urgent Readiness in Life
The nearness of the Judge standing at the door makes it urgent to take God's holy requirements seriously and to live free from iniquity, for the end is at hand. That nearness should arouse solemn earnestness to put away everything offensive to God and every evil that destroys sound principles, to separate from evil without delay, and to keep His law and serve as His witnesses in testing, since it is not safe to delay His coming. The day of the Lord is right at hand, nearer now than when first believed.
As Noah warned his generation, the nearness of the Lord at the door is a warning to be given to all, urging the disloyal to repent, heed the warning, and render obedience to God's law. Obedience to His commands wins eternal life, while disobedience places a person on Satan's side, for man made in the image of God has sadly disfigured that image until the traces of divine love are nearly obliterated by choosing darkness rather than light. Those who persist in wrongdoing and self-justification, despising God's cautions and acting fraudulently, oppressively, and arrogantly, must repent rather than continue, for as Jerusalem was handed over to its fate for failing to repent and value salvation, so judgment would come upon those in Battle Creek who continued in such conduct.
The Judge of all the earth standing at the very door means the end of all things is at hand, those living on the very borders of the eternal world must soon render account, and every case must pass in solemn review before Him until the decree fixes the holy and the filthy, since no soul with spot or stain of character can enter paradise. It calls ministers who are hardening their consciences in sin and all believers to thorough revival, converted ministry, confession, repentance, conversion, and cleansing of hands and heart without delay while Jesus still pleads as Intercessor, before it is forever too late. Life must be ordered as in the eye of the great Taskmaster and in the immediate presence of God, angels, and the Redeemer, so that unholy thoughts, base passions, and sinful corruptions cannot be cherished without guilt in full view of the consequences. This requires earnestly and constantly seeking the divine presence, watching continually unto prayer, drawing close to Jesus, crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts, adorning profession by a well-ordered life and godly conversation, and being kept pure, spotless, and undefiled unto the end when grace begun shall be crowned with glory.
Genuine belief that the end is near must be shown in earnest work and not contradicted by careless work, for people are in the last hours of probation. Ministers should therefore preach and pray with fervor and live as if they believe Christ is near, because careless, lifeless preaching cannot awaken a careless people, and the church must act urgently in sharing truth and letting heaven's light reach precious souls through faithful watching and earnest work for others' salvation at an unknown hour. Teachers of truth are required to do far more than shiftless, halfway work, since human effort alone cannot fit a people to stand in the great day of God, and this demands daily learning in the school of Christ, critical examination of self by God's holy law as the great standard of character, and entire dependence on Christ rather than finite strength to obey that law, overcome self-deception, self-sufficiency, and discouragement, and receive by faith the provision made for everyone with constant and increasing peace and rest. Like the wise and foolish virgins, people will be revealed by whether they have the grace needed to keep their light shining.
Preparation for the soon-settled accounts and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb means following on to know the Lord in order to see His coming, since no one knows how soon accounts will be settled and life work ended. Preparation means being doers of Christ's words, pure, loyal, and true to highest interests rather than merely claiming Christian character while lacking it, with character molded after the divine similitude through having the mind of Christ, which brings love and tenderness into the soul. That nearness requires every truly converted person to economize now, to make no ambitious projects to secure high wages from God's treasury to invest in lands and houses, and to stop spending the Lord's money to multiply pictures of self and gather friends' pictures for display, because every dollar so used belongs to the Lord for saving souls for whom Christ died, and such exalting of pictures is idolatry and sin to be seen in its true light so that God's people walk in the light given. Families and every professed believer must examine temporal business in its light and not let it overwhelm them into disobeying the counsel God came down from highest heaven to Mount Sinai to give precept by precept, written upon tables of stone and put in the ark of the testimony to be immortalized, with every departure written in the book.
The passage sets the choice between obeying God and following the scheming attractions of the devil, calling for earnest sanctification of soul, body, and spirit through obedience to all His commandments. Christ came as the great Healer to purify, sanctify, and redeem the whole physical and spiritual nature, making earthly homes bright and beautiful by His presence revealed in obedience. So fitted, believers become holy and undefiled subjects for His mansion above and members of His royal family.