Trials Combined With Wisdom Are Intended To Bring Home To Men What Is Important To Them.
‘But let the brother of low degree glory in his high estate, and the rich, in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun arises with the scorching wind, and withers the grass: and its flower falls, and the grace of the fashion of it perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in his goings.'
James now first introduces what is to be one of his themes, the contrast between rich and poor. The majority of Christians were poor, often made even poorer by becoming Christians, but there were inevitably rich people among them. And James could see that these people both often had a wrong attitude which was unhelpful, and were also in most danger of wandering from the truth, because their eyes and thoughts were fixed on other things which were in danger of taking possession of their lives. He thus makes it apparent that he is especially concerned about the way that the wealthy see life (see James 2:2-7; James 2:14-16; James 5:1-6) because it is clear that they do not recognise how temporary life and its riches are. This foolish attitude of men towards wealth was a constant theme of Jesus (Matthew 6:19-21; Luke 12:13-21; Luke 12:32-33; Luke 16:19-31), and James clearly saw it as affecting many in the churches. It was an ever present danger, and had been so from the beginning (Acts 5:1-11), for the problem is that possessions possess men, and if not controlled can absorb their whole attention. Later his concern will expand to treating the question of their attitude towards the poor. But here his concern is that if they are not wary they will fade away and die without having had proper regard for God's ways because they are so tied up in their wealth. So his hope is that by such people being brought low by testings and trials they will be made aware of their transience.
The Christian brother who is poor, he says, can glory in his happy position. (Note the emphasis on ‘brother'. Both rich and poor are to remember that they are brothers in Christ). He is in a state which should be envied. For it is the poor in spirit who will receive the Kingly Rule of God (Matthew 5:3). And he can glory in trials, for he has little to lose, and through them he is gaining a great reward (Matthew 5:12). He is thus in line to receive the crown of life, that is, to inherit eternal life (James 1:12). For the believing poor all is gain. His way can only be upwards. James does not feel that the danger of backsliding is quite as great for him. All he must do is keep his eye on the goal.
But how different it is for the rich, for they can so easily be dragged down by their riches. They have so many things that may attract them away from Christ. They should indeed rejoice therefore when trials bring them low, for it will make them aware of the transience of riches, and remind them not to allow their riches to control their lives. For if they do not beware their riches will take over their souls, and will induce them to live accordingly, only for them to discover in the end that those riches are perishing and that they themselves will ‘fade away' in their pursuit of them, rather than like the believing poor entering in triumph into the everlasting glory. So the rich who are wise will glory in their being made humble and being brought low, for in that lies their hope of escaping from the control and snare of their riches into the arms of Christ, and as a consequence receiving the crown of life. The detail provided demonstrates the fears that James has about the rich. He is fearful that their faith might not prove to be genuine and able to stand up to the snares of wealth. It is they whom he sees as in the greatest danger of being insincere.
‘In that he is made low.' The rich man rejoices in being brought low because it reminds him of his transience. It reminds him that like ‘the flower of the grass' he will pass away (compare Psalms 103:15; Isaiah 40:6). For the sun arises with the scorching wind, and withers the grass, and its flower falls, and ‘the grace of the fashion of it' (its blooming beauty) perishes. Instead of continuing to bloom, it withers and dies. ‘So also will the rich man fade away in his goings.' He too will ‘fade away and wither and die as he goes about his business', that is he will if he fails to heed the message brought to him by his trials. His riches will not enable him to prevent it.
By "the flower of the grass" may be meant the blaze of gorgeous blossoms which accompany the first shooting of the grass in spring in Palestine, which soon dies away in the hot summer. Or it may simply signify the blooming of the grass itself, only for it to wither in the summer heat and die leaving nothing behind but the barren earth.
A similar picture of the vulnerability of the rich is found in James 4:13 to James 5:6, although there it inveighs against their behaviour towards the poor. So the believing poor rejoice in the blessings that are to be theirs, and the believing rich rejoice that God is keeping their eyes in the right direction by constantly bringing them low.