James 5:6

The oppression of the rich extends to putting to death those who stand in their way even though these people resist the rich righteously. As in James 4:2, James may have been using "put to death" hyperbolically. Many Christians have experienced persecution from people who are trying to guard their own financial security (e.g., Acts 8:18-24; Acts 19:23-28). However if day laborers do not get their wages daily, they can die.

". . . for day laborers it was very serious not to find work or not to be paid. For this reason James personifies the salary, seeing it as the very blood of the exploited workers crying out pitifully. The case was the same for the peasants. The peasants die because they pour out their strength in their work, but the fruit of their work does not come back to them. They cannot regain their strength because the rich withhold their salaries. Therefore James accuses the rich of condemning and killing the just (James 5:6)." [Note: Elsa Tamez, The Scandalous Message of James: Faith Without Works is Dead, p. 20.]

These are strong words of warning. James evidently believed that his readers were erring in this area of their lives and needed a severe shock. The Jews’ gift for making money and their interest in this pursuit needed control. We need this warning too since modern culture values money very highly.

As with James 1:10, there is a question about whether James was referring to rich Christians or rich unbelievers in this pericope. Here as there I tend to think that James was probably referring to rich Christians. He seems to be addressing his readers rather than "speaking rhetorically, formally addressing non-Christians in James 1:10 as well as . . . in James 5:1-6, but saying this really for the benefit of his Christian readers, who were suffering at the hands of rich persecutors." [Note: Stulac, p. 199.]