Verse 12
3. The evidence of patience 5:12
Swearing is an evidence of impatience.
"What he [James] means is that of all the manifestations of impatience in times of stress and affliction the most frequent is the taking of the Lord’s name in vain by the use of explosive utterances and hasty and irreverent oaths." [Note: Tasker, p. 124. Cf. Mayor, p. 167.]
When we become impatient and lose self-control we tend to say things better left unspoken. These include swearing, abusing the Lord’s name, and appealing to heaven, earth, or whatever as confirmation that we are speaking the truth (cf. Matthew 5:33-37).
"It should be obvious that what is referred to in Matthew and James is the light, casual use of oaths in informal conversation-not formal oaths in such places as courts of law [cf. Psalms 110:4; 2 Corinthians 1:23; Galatians 1:20]." [Note: Burdick, p. 203.]
"The Jews were wont to split hairs in their use of profanity, and by avoiding God’s name imagine that they were not really guilty of this sin, just as professing Christians today use ’pious oaths’ which violate the prohibition of Jesus." [Note: Robertson, 6:63.]
What is not in view in this discussion is the use of "dirty" speech.
"James’s wisdom amounts to this: we should never need to use an oath to prove that ’this time I really mean it!’ Instead we should always ’really mean it.’" [Note: Hodges, The Epistle . . ., p. 115. Cf. Leviticus 19:12; Numbers 30:3-4; Hosea 4:2; Jeremiah 5:2; Zechariah 5:3-4; Malachi 3:5.]
"Our mere word should be as utterly trustworthy as a signed document, legally correct and complete." [Note: Mitton, p. 193.]
The root problem with the improper behavior that often characterizes the rich, as James saw it, is an attitude of impatience that results from rejecting or forgetting divine revelation concerning the future. Knowledge of the future as God has revealed it in Scripture has very direct application to everyday living. It should affect the way we think about money, among other things.
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