Last time, I considered James’s admonition to his early Christian readers: “Do not speak evil against one another, brothers” (Jas. 4:11, English Standard Version). He goes on to say that if we speak evil of or judge a brother, then we are really speaking evil of and judging the law. It sounds as though the behavior of fellow Christians can never be spoken of negatively, even if it falls short of Christian behavior. Is this what James means? If so, how can he write the things he does to his readers? After all, he’s obviously making judgments of their Christian behavior—or lack thereof—and is blunt about the necessity of correcting it.
Do you remember Paul’s encouraging words in Romans 8? He asks, “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us” (vv. 33–34). If that’s the case, the little insults, frowns, even slander behind our backs are nothing really. We are justified in Christ. Peter tells us that if we are to be judged or suffer, may it be as Christians, and not for sinful behavior (1 Pet. 4:15–16).
People will speak evil of us and judge us because we are Christians. That shouldn’t surprise us.
But James is writing here about speaking against and judging brethren. So often we misunderstand each other and don’t take the time to get to know each other, so that misunderstanding persists or even grows. We may have cultural or doctrinal differences that inhibit our unity. We may be unable to forgive a slight or perceived slight and—giving the devil a foothold— make more of it than it is, or refuse to resolve it biblically and so let it fester instead. These are all things we need to grow through, and out of, together, and not ignore.
To speak against or judge God’s law in this context is to say that God doesn’t know what he’s doing or didn’t quite get things right, especially about this person or that one or this particular situation involving these people. Church leadership is often a target here, but not only. Christians of different backgrounds, cultural assumptions, or denominational affiliations—though all followers of Christ—can, because of these differences, cause or be a cause of divisions in the body through evil, slanderous speech and unwarranted judgment—this, even though Jesus’ high priestly prayer to his Father before going to the cross was to ask that we all be one (John 17:21). This kind of behavior often occurs when something that’s indifferent is treated with urgent necessity, or when believers otherwise have a hard time separating essential doctrine and practice from the nonessential.
What to Do?
When we’re in this place it’s best to remember the apostle Paul’s words to the Philippians. As Christians we each have the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. That’s the thing to strive after. And if in anything we think differently, God will reveal that to us as well, so long as we’re following that call and holding true, being faithful, to what we’ve already attained in Christ (Phil. 3:14–16). There’s a sure guide. James tells us that this is the way to place the emphasis on doing instead of judging (Jas. 4:11b).
James can’t mean don’t judge the Christian behavior of others at all. He means don’t major on it, and if one must judge, then judge charitably, as one who also stands before the great judge, God, the one lawgiver and judge himself. God is the one who is able to save or destroy, not you and not the other guy (4:12). So we’re to be toward one another then with that in mind.
This right or charitable judgment is seen in what James says later about how we as brothers and sisters should confess our sins to one another and pray for one another, that we may be healed (5:16). That involves judgment, doesn’t it? It certainly does. But to what end? To healing, not condemnation. Likewise, James later notes that if anyone among the brethren brings back a wanderer from the truth, then that brother has saved the wanderer’s soul from death, covering—that is, not hiding but seeing absolved—a multitude of sins (5:19–20).
Doesn’t identifying a brother or sister as a wanderer also require judgment? It certainly does. But what of this judgment? Does one pursue them as the Good Shepherd pursues the lost sheep— even if only in prayer—or does one relegate them to the out box? They may refuse your overtures, until that one time when they don’t. “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends [fails]” (1 Cor. 13:4–8). “God is love” (1 John 4:8).
Preoccupations
Earlier in his letter, James called out these early Christians’ attitude toward wealth and success, things your passions” (Jas. 4:2–3). It’s their desires, the passions that war within them, that run these Christians, so it’s not evident to the observer that they are Christians at all.
Along with this preoccupation with money is a disdain for the poor. We saw it earlier in how they separate the poor from the rich in church, treating the rich with special fanfare while having the poor stand somewhere else or sit at their feet, in effect, interpreting social status as ultimate human worth (2:3–4). For many in our time, it seems the less social status one has, the more inherently worthy one is—the opposite of what James is admonishing these believers to stop doing; it’s still the same kind of problem, only in reverse.
Either way, this can be a complicated issue to unravel, but one thing we can know to be true is that each person is made in the image of God, regardless of social status, race, or gender. That means there’s an inherent worth to the person himself or herself just because of personhood. James has more to say to those with means in the first-century church, but for now let’s consider his correction of these Christians in regard to boasting.
This is not just any kind of boasting, but of a particular kind— boasting of tomorrow (4:13–15). You know it and have heard it. Maybe you’ve also done it. I know I have. Oh, the grass is always greener on the other side, you know. Why would anyone stay, live, and work here, in this place? Why work at this job and in this career, when there’s that one over there? That’s what I’ll do instead of following the herd: move, pay less, and make more. Well, best wishes. Hope it all works out. And that may very well be God’s will for you.
Prudence or Bloviation?
There’s nothing wrong with doing one’s due diligence and making decisions for the future. In fact, that’s a much better way of going about life than living by the seat of one’s pants, especially if there are others in your family to consider in addition to yourself. The Proverbs give us many encouragements for just this.
But boasting of tomorrow has little or nothing to do with due diligence. It’s openly arrogant, and James calls it that (4:16). It’s typically a loud-mouthed way of showing one’s superior intelligence, planning or management skills, or, for lack of a better term, luck—as compared with all of us run-of-the mill folk who are just doing our daily work. Moreover, in its demonstrated hauteur, it shows itself ignorant of or disbelieving in the providence of God. It shows someone who thinks himself entirely in charge of the events and outcomes of his life—even though Psalm 139 tells us that all the days ordained for us were written in God’s book before one of them came to be (v. 16).
I remember hearing not long ago of a government employee, a public servant, who, because of his line of work, retired a decade or so before most other people retire. He retired with a full pension, excellent health benefits, and a sizable portfolio of stocks. He’d boast to anyone who’d listen how he was going to sell his place for a large sum, move to Florida to buy more real estate at a lesser sum, and live the rest of his days in luxury. Remarkably, before the first year of his retirement was out— before he’d even listed his house for sale—he was whisked away to the hospital in an ambulance after suffering a massive heart attack. He was quickly admitted but died nonetheless.
This shouldn’t make us happy or make us smile. Love doesn’t rejoice with evil. What this should do is make us pause and wonder to what extent we need to hear this warning. Do we live our lives as though the providence of God doesn’t exist, as though we’ve evolved from the primordial goo in this eat-or-be-eaten world, have personally found that thin ledge of advantage, and so can rule our little roost until we resink into the goo? Is that how we think life works? Instead we “ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that’” (4:15). That shows that not our desires or passions but something different, rather Someone other, is running us.
Gerry Wisz is a writer, college instructor, and semiretired public relations professional who, with his family, is a member of Preakness Valley URC in Wayne, NJ.