Metaphysical Bible Interpretation of James Chapter 5
Metaphysically Interpreting James 5:1-6
5:1Come now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. 5:2Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. 5:3Your gold and your silver are rusted; and their rust shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. Ye have laid up your treasure in the last days. 5:4Behold, the hire of the laborers who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. 5:5Ye have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure; ye have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter. 5:6Ye have condemned, ye have killed the righteous one; he doth not resist you.
September 7, 1947: James 5:1-6
How does injustice affect the doer of injustice? It hardens his spirit, making him impervious to the needs of his fellows. It narrows his vision, giving him no insight into the mind and heart of another, and leaving him marooned in his own selfishness. He lays up his treasure "in the last days," since his opportunities to practice justice and righteousness are continually diminished, until he becomes incapable of fellow feeling.
What is the proper care of money? Since money is a medium of exchange, it should be kept in circulation where it can do most good. Used aright, with vision and originality, money produces material wealth and often produces immaterial wealth, such as good will, at the same time.
Is gain to be condemned? No. The reward promised to the "liberal soul" is that he shall receive in return "good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over." We receive in the measure in which we give.
Why is it not right to resist evil? Because resistance centers our thought upon evil, instead of on what we hope will displace it, and we reap evil ourselves instead of good. Evil defeats itself in whatever form it operates.
Metaphysically Interpreting James 5:7-12
5:7Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receive the early and latter rain. 5:8Be ye also patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 5:9Murmur not, brethren, one against another, that ye be not judged: behold, the judge standeth before the doors. 5:10Take, brethren, for an example of suffering and of patience, the prophets who spake in the name of the Lord.5:11Behold, we call them blessed that endured: ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, how that the Lord is full of pity, and merciful.
5:12But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by the heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath: but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay; that ye fall not under judgment.
July 20, 1947: James 5:11
Why do we invoke divine power in suffering? Because suffering quickly exhausts our human resources, so that we awaken to the need of a higher help than our own. Because we need divine power more urgently, we look to God more often in suffering than in joy.
Metaphysically Interpreting James 5:13-20
5:13Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praise. 5:14Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 5:15and the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, it shall be forgiven him. 5:16Confess therefore your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working. 5:17Elijah was a man of like passions with us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth for three years and six months. 5:18And he prayed again; and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
5:19My brethren, if any among you err from the truth, and one convert him; 5:20let him know, that he who converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins.
August 10, 1919: James 5:19-20
What other mind powers does the concerted will need in order to successfully spread the Christ Gospel? The zealous earnestness of the converted will should by united with poise, peace, judgment. The enthusiasm and energy of the converted will should be joined with faith, hopefulness, courage.
– UNITY magazine.
August 10, 1919: James 5:19-20
In order that we may enjoy the fruits of this age, a conversion, or transformation, must take place in consciousness. Conversion is more than arriving at a point where we make certain admissions or professions; it implies an entire change of our feelings and a change in the action of our mental and physical forces.
It is the experience of those who regenerate the body that a certain fiery element is necessary to give action to the negative parts. The action of this element is referred to in this lesson. Macedonia is representative of that enthusiasm and energy of Spirit, which sets the whole man aflame.
It is necessary that this phase of the consciousness be cultivated, because without it a certain passivity sets in, which is content with the battle only half won. It is necessary to stir up this fiery power in the man when he gets into negative states of consciousness. The vision of the man imploring, "Come over to Macedonia, and help us," is the discernment of this inner fervor, which needs stirring up.
The whole consciousness needs the converting influence of the Christ. The faculties of man are like a world, He must call all his faculties, and in so doing he is preaching the gospel silently to the outer world. In the process of self-conversion he makes the demonstration that metaphysicians call faith, and through faith he is able to preach convincingly to others. Outer conversion is symbolical of conversion to the Christ idea, of each thought, feeling, and force in the individual. "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel." Regenerate all the faculties.
– UNITY magazine.
Transcribed by Lloyd Kinder on 10-31-2013
