Verses nine-eleven: Here James is comparing two classes of people–rich and poor. In verse nine he echos a statement made by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:4 where he tells church members to allow the “least among you” to judge social matters that arise among church members instead of taking such matters to unbelieving judges within the society’s legal system. This is another indication that God’s people are to remain separate from the world as much as possible in that leaven always leavens the loaf.

Verse nine also speaks to the matter of pride and humility. Everyone in any church body understands the status system found in the outside world. Those who have normally are exalted over those who do not have. For example, if a professional ball player and a policeman belong to the same local parent-teacher group, the one who plays with a ball is exalted over the one who protects people’s lives. Unfortunately, the social status rating system also holds true within the church. Within the body of Christ, the eye is valued more than the little toe, even though both are necessary for a well-functioning system. The poor person is to rejoice in his righteousness which, if he maintains until death or the return of Christ, will result in eternal life (Mat. 10:22).

The rich man is also to rejoice in his humility, providing humility is part of his spiritual make-up. Jesus once noted that it is very difficult for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God. Rich people normally become rich by striving to become rich and, once becoming rich, to remain rich. It was because of this mentality that the rich young ruler went away sad after asking Jesus how to receive eternal life. Recall that only ONE THING separated him from future salvation–ATTITUDE. Jesus did not say that being rich was a sin, but that valuing riches was. Rich people normally spend the bulk of their time thinking about making money. God requires that we spend the bulk of our time thinking about Him. The rich, as He says in verse ten, are to rejoice when they humble themselves before Him and their brethren. Humble rich people are hard to find. Because of this Jesus said that it was harder for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom. The Greek word translated “camel” in English means either the animal or a rope. Either way, the statement means “very difficult, nearly impossible.”

Verse eleven brings the rich man’s situation into focus–he will someday die; his past wealth will be irrelevant and will belong to someone else. If he has lived a life of humility before God and man he will be judged positively. If not, all his past wealth will not save him, neither his past wealth nor his past religiosity will save him.

In these three verses the Lord speaks to the fact that time spent in the earthly life of each of us–poor, rich and everyone in between–is like day relative to eternity. We must realize that this life is like boot camp in the life of a career soldier. It is but preparation for the great beyond. Let us keep this in mind as we travel through our short lives. Let us always have our hearts firmly focused on the One with Whom we want to walk through eternity. Relatively speaking, nothing else matters. L.J.