As in 1.16 and 19, an imperative verb is used with the phrase my beloved brethren. In this case the imperative is Listen, directing the readers’ attention to further discussion of the point the author is making, starting at 2.1. So it may be rendered as “notice” (Phillips) or “pay attention” (Contemporary English Version). In certain languages a more formal and polite expression will be used; for example, “Please listen to what I have to say.” The tone of the imperative sounds a bit stern, but it is softened by the familiar address my beloved brethren. Here again the term “brothers” refers obviously to “fellow believers,” including women (compare 1.2, 2.15), and it therefore may be rendered “my beloved brothers and sisters” (New Revised Standard Version). We may also render it in a more general way as “my dear friends” (so New English Bible, Revised English Bible, Good News Translation).
Has not God chosen those who are poor…?: James adds an additional argument as to why his readers should not flatter the rich and despise the poor. This is a rhetorical question that anticipates an affirmative answer, and therefore it may be more natural in some languages to express the sentence as a positive statement; for example, “God chose the poor people…” (Good News Translation; so also Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). The Greek form of the verb rendered Has … chosen by Revised Standard Version indicates that James may be using it to refer to the special choice or election of the poor by God. Possibly because of this, many translations choose to render it as a simple past tense: “did not God choose…?” (so King James Version, Translator’s New Testament, New American Bible) or “God chose” (Good News Translation; so also Phillips). This verb “to choose” is often used in the New Testament to refer to God’s initiative in saving his people (Rom 8.33, “God’s elect”; Eph 1.4; 2 Thes 2.13). The term selected by a translator should not have the negative sense that God is picking out or selecting the good from among the bad, and that he will throw away the bad.
God chose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith. The two expressions poor in the world and rich in faith can be understood in various ways. There is some difficulty understanding what poor in the world, literally “poor to the world,” means, and this is reflected in the different Greek texts that attempt to smooth this out; for example, “in the world,” “of the world,” “of this world,” and so on. The dative in can be understood as a locative indicating the place, “in the world” (so Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, Luther 1984). It can also be taken as a dative of respect, referring to “those poor in worldly goods.” This appears to be the meaning reflected in Good News Translation when it renders the phrase as “the poor people of this world” (similar also Goodspeed, Moffatt, Bible en français courant). It is probably best, however, to take it as a dative of advantage, meaning “poor in the eyes of the world” (so Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Revised English Bible) or “poor before the world,” “poor by the world’s standard,” or “persons whom the people of the world consider poor [or, needy].” In this case the word world means nonbelievers. This interpretation is reflected also in other translations; for example, “those who by the world’s standards are poor” (Barclay) or “those whom the world regards as poor” (Translator’s New Testament).
When God “picks out” poor people, he makes them to be rich in faith or “to become rich in faith,” not rich according to the worldly standards. It is possible to understand rich in faith to mean “rich in having an abundance of faith.” The phrase may also be understood in the sense of “rich by reason of faith.” In this case it may be rendered as “to become spiritually rich because of their faith.” However, it is probably best to take it as contrasting with “in the eyes of the world” or “by the world’s standard,” and having the sense of being “rich in the realm of faith,” that is, spiritually wealthy when judged by God’s standards.
Heirs of the kingdom: the materially poor people are pictured as spiritually rich (see 1.9-11) because, unlike the materially rich people, they have a place in the kingdom of God. That the poor are to receive the kingdom is a concept that appears often in Jesus’ teachings (compare Luke 6.20; Matt 5.3). Jesus also uses the expressions “to inherit the kingdom” (Matt 25.34) and “to inherit eternal life” (Mark 10.17); and Paul too writes about inheriting the Kingdom of God (1 Cor 6.10; Gal 5.21). Heirs are persons who are appointed to receive an inheritance. To be heirs is therefore “to possess” or “to inherit” something from the father. This idea is brought out by a number of modern translations; for example, “to possess the Kingdom” (Good News Translation; so also Goodspeed, Revised English Bible), “to enter into possession of the kingdom” (Barclay), “to inherit the realm” (Moffatt), and “a share in the kingdom” (Contemporary English Version).
The word kingdom appears only here in James. The “kingdom of God” was the center of Jesus’ preaching. He presented himself as one through whom the kingly rule of God was being realized (Matt 12.8; Mark 1.15; Luke 17.21) and was to be realized in the future when the Son of Man comes in glory (Matt 25.31, 34). The kingdom is not an area or territory with designated boundaries. Rather it is the sovereign rule of God, a state of highest blessing where the divine will is in absolute control. To be heirs and therefore to inherit the kingdom (Matt 25.34) is equivalent to possessing eternal life (Matt 19.29; Mark 10.17; Luke 10.25; 18.18) and to receiving salvation (compare Luke 18.25 and 26). Any attempt to render this difficult concept is bound to be less than satisfactory, but one translation has rendered the phrase as “they shall be in the approaching New World” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). In some languages the phrase to be … heirs of the kingdom will need to be radically restructured; for example, “and has allowed them to enjoy [or, share in] the blessings of his rule,” “has let them enjoy the blessings that come from his ruling over them,” or even beginning a new sentence, “He will rule over them and they will share in the blessings….”
Which he has promised: The one who has promised the kingdom is indicated by the pronoun he, obviously referring back to God. The fact that the kingdom is what he has promised suggests that the kingdom may already be a reality, but it still points to the future. The verb has promised is an aorist in Greek, but as it does not seem to refer to any particular moment in time or occasion, it is perhaps more natural in English to express it as a perfect (so among others New Revised Standard Version and Revised English Bible as well as Revised Standard Version). The kingdom is promised to those who love him, exactly the same expression as used in referring to the “crown” in 1.12 (see the comments there).
An alternative translation rendering for this verse may be:
• My dear fellow Christians! Please listen to what I have to say. God chose those whom the people of the world consider to be poor. He considered them to be spiritually wealthy. He will rule over them and they will share in the blessings that he has promised to give to all those who love him.
Quoted with permission from Loh, I-Jin and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Letter from James. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .