“an abbreviated time together”

Download discussion questions:  James 1:9-12
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I encourage you to look at the passage in James before you read this Blog entry.  What do you see in the text yourself?  What questions come to your mind?  How would you interpret what the writer says?  After even a few minutes examining and thinking about the text you will be much better prepared to evaluate the comments in the Blog.

Because of travel and illness, our group started off this week with about half our members.  Then during our discussion, a couple of people were called away and had to leave.  But even our abbreviated time together produced valuable insights and intriguing questions.  These brief draft notes can provide a starting point for next week’s study.  The notes are mostly observations and some related interpretation questions. (As I began assembling the notes, I realized this might give you a better idea of the early part of most of our discussions, the exploratory process that may not always make it into blog posts.)

Defining Terms

There were questions about the meaning of some of the terms in the passage.

• • “Boast” would not seem to mean “brag” but rather “rejoice” or “see value in,” as in Paul’s statement about “glorying in Christ” (Philippians 3:3).
  • “Exaltation” (distinguished from “exultation”) is a lifting up to a high position (as in the NASB translation).
  • “Humility” could certainly mean the familiar idea of “thinking of others rather than self,” but someone pointed out that it is the same root as “the lowly brother,” perhaps one without social status.

Bracket Verses?

Verses 2-3 and verse 12 seem to form an opening and closing structure.  The beginning and the end of the section mention joy/blessedness, trials (e.g., difficulties), testing (e.g., refining), and steadfastness.

If James intended verse 12 to draw attention back to verse 2, why did he insert seemingly arbitrary topics in between?  Or are his comments about wisdom and doubt, lowly and rich related?  Maybe trials and the refining James had in mind relate to economic hardships of Jews dispersed abroad (v. 1b).

The Subjects

There is a variation in James’s wording in verses 9 and 10:

• • The lowly brother
  • The rich [guy, person] (There is no noun in the phrase, just the adjective “rich” which is singular.)

Why might James do that?

• • Is it intentional, to differentiate a “lowly” believer from a rich unbeliever?
  • Is it an abbreviated way of expression, with the noun and verb of the phrase implied from the first part (“Let the lowly brother boast… and [let] the rich [brother boast]…”)?
  • Is there intentional ambiguity, and “the rich [person]” might be a Christian or a non-Christian?

Lowly?

The contrast James makes is not between “poor” and “rich” which we might expect.  He juxtaposes “rich” and “lowly” – a word that is less common in the New Testament.  Maybe James had in mind more than just economic poverty, lacking in all the resources usually enjoyed by the “rich” – money, power, reputation, respect.

An Extended Illustration

The main information in verses 9-12 seems to be summarized as:

Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation …
…
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial …

But the two comments are separated (or interrupted?) by the “because” and a long figurative picture of the rich person and the transitory nature of his existence.  Why does James include that extended image?  Why only for the rich and not a corresponding complementary image for “the lowly brother”?

Exalted/Humbled

What was James recommending for “the lowly brother” and for “the rich”?  We thought of several possibilities:

• • The rich humbled or “made low” (KJV) could be lost prosperity, the disappearance of all resources (status, power, money, etc). Or maybe the recognition that all those resources are no more permanent than fading flowers (hence the extended illustration).
  • The “lowly brother” exalted or in a “high position” (NIV) seems to be his identity in Christ, since the “brother” most certainly is a Christian.

More to Come…

Since our discussion ended early, the plan was that our next time together would build on these beginnings.

However, a family health crisis prevented our meeting for most of month. When we resume our time together we will continue in the next passage of the letter of James.