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There would be no need for oaths and swearing, no retroactive clarifications, no need for contract provisions defining who gets what in the case of misstatements or fraud.
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Imagine a workplace in which people always told the truth-not simply avoiding lying but always saying whatever would give the hearer the most accurate understanding of the way things really are. “Above all, my beloved, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your ‘Yes’ be yes and your ‘No’ be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation” (James 5:12). A production system that rewards poor quality is as bad or worse than the worker who takes advantage of it.
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If we’re working to meet a quota, couldn’t we meet it faster by doing lower-quality work and passing off the problems to the next person in the production chain? And these are not only problems of personal morality. If we’re working to get promoted, shouldn’t we position ourselves better in our supervisor’s eyes by any means available? That leads to backstabbing, stealing credit, gossip, and team disintegration. If we’re investing to make money, wouldn’t we like to get rich quick rather than slow? That mentality leads to insider trading, Ponzi schemes, and gambling away the grocery money at the slot machines. Work is done to obtain a result-otherwise it wouldn’t be work-and there is always the temptation to grasp for the result without actually doing the work. Patience at work is a form of dependence on God. Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest” (James 5:17–18).
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He then echoes these words as he draws to a close: “Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near” (James 5:7–8). The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. James begins with a workplace example to illustrate the looming return of Christ: “Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. And as usual, James makes direct applications to the workplace. As always, these appeal either to the principle that faithful works must benefit others or that it must be done in dependence on God, or both. James concludes his letter with a variety of exhortations on patience, truthfulness, prayer, confession, and healing.
#Commentary on the book of james how to#
Learning From the Psalms How to Pray Through Your Work.Beyond Rank and Power: What Philemon Tells Us About Leadership.Evangelism - Sharing the Gospel at Work.10 Key Points About Work in the Bible That Every Christian Should Know.If I am not mistaken, it presents to its a picture of pre-Pauline Christianity, which is not only interesting historically, but is likely to be of special value in an age of religious doubt and anxiety like the present… Page vii. In the Introduction I have stated my reasons for believing this Epistle to be the earliest of the books of the New Testament, written probably in the fifth decade of the Christian era by one who had been brought up with Jesus from his childhood and whose teaching is in many points identical with the actual words of our Lord as recorded in the Synoptic Gospels. James, to which reference is made in the earlier Aphorisms of that book. In writing my Preface I bring to a close a work which has for some years been my chief occupation, and which has indeed been seldom out of my thoughts since the time when, as an undergraduate, I first made acquaintance with Coleridge’s Aids to Reflection, and was led in consequence to study with some care the Epistle of St. On the Date of the Epistle / Harnack and Spitta on the Date of the Epistle.Persons to Whom the Epistle is Addressed and Place From Which it is Written.Relation of the Epistle to the Other Books of the New Testament.Relation of the Epistle to Earlier Writings.External For the Authenticity of the Epistle.The Greek Text with Introduction and Comments, 2nd edition. Joseph Bickersteth Mayor, The Epistle of James. My thanks to Book Aid for providing a copy of this public domain title for digitisation. James Bickersteth Mayor’s commentary is generally recognised as one of the finest works on the epistle of James of all time. The first page of James in Minuscule 319, a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament.