In these three verses James mentions two types of people. The lowly and the rich.
And his purpose in this passage is to exhort both the lowly brother and the rich brother to view their present circumstances with humility in order that they have a God-centered view of their own identity in Christ.
It can be very easy for us to develop an identity that is based on our current circumstances. Imagine if you are Christian and your life is just one trial after another trial and its no longer just days but its decades. You can begin to develop a sense of who you are based on a life that has been difficult. Your self-worth, and your value begins to be rooted in your trials. In the same way, if you have lived a life of comfort and ease with no significant challenges. You can begin to develop an identity that is based on a life that has had no real struggle.
And so James is saying to the lowly and the rich and really everyone in between, view your present circumstances through the lens of humility so that you can have a God-centered view of your identity in Christ.
Now when James mentions the lowly brother (meaning the lowly brother in Christ). this is not necessarily a reference to someone who is poor. We might immediately think that because the other group he mentions as the “rich”
But the word lowly here is not exclusive to one who is financially needy or lacking. James will use the more direct world for poor and needy in chapter two when he refers to a poor man in shabby clothing.
But here in verse 9, the word we translate for lowly is the Greek word ταπεινοσ (pronounced top-i-nos) which literally means “not rising far from the ground.” It is someone who is in a lowly position, in a humbled position.
In Greek culture, ταπεινοσ was a word of scorn. It is not a word the Greeks would have wanted to be associated with. For the Greeks, to be on the low end of society, to live in poverty was seen as shameful.
And so when James talks about the “lowly brother” he is talking about a Christian who understands what it means to be humbled in this world. They have gone through circumstances that stripped away their material possessions, social standings, their reputations, maybe even relationships, and they are left in what feels like a low position.
And James is writing to an audience that has experienced these circumstances. Circumstances like persecution where you have to leave your home and friends and community where you once had an identity, status, security and now your are living in a new place where those things have been taken from you. And not only that but these circumstances have left you emotionally broken and hurting.
What is interesting about the Greek word ταπεινοσ is that while in the Greek culture it was viewed negatively, when it is recorded in scripture it is often viewed positively.
In Matthew 11:29 Jesus uses this word ταπεινοσ to describe himself. He said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, (ταπεινοσ) and you will find rest for your souls.”
Not only does Jesus describe himself this way but teaches us to live this way.
In Luke 14:11 Jesus writes “everyone who humbles (ταπεινοσ) themselves will be exalted.” In other words, there is strength in being lowly.
In Matthew 18, the disciples asked Jesus who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven and Jesus put a child in front of them and said “Whoever humbles (ταπεινοσ) himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
A child does not have wealth, status, or influence. They are fully dependent on their parents and community. The child is not walking around boasting of their position or status in life.
And so James says to the Christian, your circumstances may have left you feel like your are crawling in this world, struggling in this world, even helpless like a child that you have no position or power in this world BUT do not view that has a place of shame, a place to run away from but recognize the blessing of being lowly. You may not have wanted your life to be stripped away from you like it has been. But you are in a place that allows you recognize your true identity in Christ.
Because in being made lowly, you don’t have anything that causes you to boast in your own strength and status and power, you are ready to say, ‘God, you are my strength, you are my hope, your are my wisdom.”
The Apostle Paul says when I am weak, that is when I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:10) because I am relying on God and God alone.
The other blessing for the person who is lowly is that you get to be reminded that your value and your hope is not rooted in your materal possessions or social status—those earthly things do not define you.
It is your identity in Christ that defines you. Because of who you are in Christ, you do not need to view your life or circumstances or identity or value through the lens of this world but through the lens of who you are in Christ and in your eternal hope that you have in Christ.
Your identity is not a grieving widow. Your identity is not a cancer patient. Your identity is not unemployed. Divorced. That may be your present circumstance but through Christ you have been given a high position. That is what the word exaltation means–boast in your “high position”
1 Peter 2:9 says: “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.”
That is just one verse. We could go to verse after verse after verse describing our identity in Christ. It is easy to view our value and our worth based on our present and earthly circumstances.
And James says I want you to adopt a view of your life based on Christ. And when you do you have much to boast about—I am a child of God—treasured by the most High God.
But not only can difficult circumstances begin to define us in the wrong way. But circumstances of comfort and ease can also give us a wrong identity.
And so James address those who have been given much in this physical world. He says let the rich boasts in his humiliation. And the reason is because like a flower that exists for a moment and then fades away, the rich will also pass away.
I believe that when James mentions the rich, he is also speaking to Christians. He is speaking to Christians who have been materially blessed. And so James say let the rich boast in his humiliation. Now why would someone boast in the their humiliation. That doesn’t seem to make sense.
What James is saying to the Christian brother or sister who has been blessed materially is allow the brevity of life to cause you to live humbly before God. Allow the brevity of life to cause you not to find your security in your physical stuff or your status or position in this world because they will soon be gone.
One of the challenges of having stuff in this world (and at least as Americans we all have stuff) is they can create a false sense of your own self-sufficiency, your own independence. They can create a false sense of your own secure future.
And what James reminds those who have much, is that just like a beautiful flower of the field that looks incredible and may even stand out as the most beautiful flower, it faces the the same fate as every other flower. Its beauty will perish and it will one day fade away. So also, James writes, will be the same fate of the rich person. His status or power or stuff will not save him.
And so let the brevity of life bring you to a place of humility before God. And boast that God knows our days and not us. Boast that God is in control and not us. Boast that life is about him and not about us.
I believe the point of this brief passage was to encourage the lowly that they have a high position in Christ. But James recognizes that there may be some Christians and they are not experiencing the same trials as others and it might be easy to think I have escaped the difficulties and maybe it is because of my own wisdom and strength or maybe I have reached a certain status to avoid those same struggles.
And James says let the reality that what you have acquired on this earth will soon disappear. And your hope is the same hope as lowly brother and every other Christian.