Diminishing Returns
“Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.” James 5.2, 3
Our Lord admonished His followers to seek God’s kingdom first with the expectation that all the things the world longed for would be provided later. Most of us try to save up for a rainy day – and, there is nothing wrong with that. We should at least plan for some contingencies even though our faith is nestled in the promises of God.
The Psalmist encourages the faithful with these words: “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” (Psalm 37.25) At the end of his life, David testified that God is faithful and that He sufficiently supplies for the needs of His children.
On the obverse, the person who trusts in the products of his own labors will be brought to naught. To the rich man who planned for his future on earth without planning for eternity, our Lord said: “But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12.20, 21)
Whatever plans we make on our own, apart from God, we are simply planning to lose everything. James emphasizes this concept by expressing the volatility of earthly wealth. Riches are corrupted (sḗpō – putrefied; infected with errors) and fancy clothing wears out or is moth-eaten. Putting faith in things that perish will ultimately lead to complete loss.
James uses a unique word when speaking of gold and silver. The word translated “cankered” (katióō) is used only here. It speaks of rust, which gold and silver are not prone to doing. But, it suggests more than rust – it suggests complete erosion – eating through the middle so that there is nothing left of value. As a matter of fact, the corruption of earthly riches will testify against the efforts of the rich – they will stand in testimony against them. They shall stand before the judgment answering the question of why they pursued their own ends rather than those of their Creator.
“The rust which once ate your riches, shall then gnaw your conscience, accompanied with punishment which shall prey upon your bodies for ever.” (JFB)
“When the Reader hath duly pondered the many solemn things, which are here said of the ungodly and unregenerate, if the Lord be his teacher, I venture to think that it will strike him, as it doth me, that there can hardly be a passage more tremendously alarming, to shew the folly, as well as sin, of the rich worldling, than what is here said.” (Robert Hawker)
When James speaks of the rich laying up treasures, he is speaking of their just reward for their misguided investments. James follows the reasoning of our Savior by using the same word Jesus applied to the futility of amassing treasures upon earth and looking to those treasures for complete satisfaction. We must remember that only Jesus can satisfy completely and eternally.
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.” (Matthew 6.19, 20)
The Psalmist encourages the faithful with these words: “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” (Psalm 37.25) At the end of his life, David testified that God is faithful and that He sufficiently supplies for the needs of His children.
On the obverse, the person who trusts in the products of his own labors will be brought to naught. To the rich man who planned for his future on earth without planning for eternity, our Lord said: “But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12.20, 21)
Whatever plans we make on our own, apart from God, we are simply planning to lose everything. James emphasizes this concept by expressing the volatility of earthly wealth. Riches are corrupted (sḗpō – putrefied; infected with errors) and fancy clothing wears out or is moth-eaten. Putting faith in things that perish will ultimately lead to complete loss.
James uses a unique word when speaking of gold and silver. The word translated “cankered” (katióō) is used only here. It speaks of rust, which gold and silver are not prone to doing. But, it suggests more than rust – it suggests complete erosion – eating through the middle so that there is nothing left of value. As a matter of fact, the corruption of earthly riches will testify against the efforts of the rich – they will stand in testimony against them. They shall stand before the judgment answering the question of why they pursued their own ends rather than those of their Creator.
“The rust which once ate your riches, shall then gnaw your conscience, accompanied with punishment which shall prey upon your bodies for ever.” (JFB)
“When the Reader hath duly pondered the many solemn things, which are here said of the ungodly and unregenerate, if the Lord be his teacher, I venture to think that it will strike him, as it doth me, that there can hardly be a passage more tremendously alarming, to shew the folly, as well as sin, of the rich worldling, than what is here said.” (Robert Hawker)
When James speaks of the rich laying up treasures, he is speaking of their just reward for their misguided investments. James follows the reasoning of our Savior by using the same word Jesus applied to the futility of amassing treasures upon earth and looking to those treasures for complete satisfaction. We must remember that only Jesus can satisfy completely and eternally.
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.” (Matthew 6.19, 20)
Copyright © 2024 Dr. John H. Hill, All rights reserved.
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/