In this four-part series on the book of James from the Bible I have sought to look into how the brother of Jesus handles the evil of abusive behavior and motives.

This final installment looks at how James wraps up his theme. It is very helpful in providing the prescription for leaders seeking to turn from abusiveness.

What Is the Leader to Do?

James is speaking to all of us and we should all take note. We have all been here. We are not just victims of vicious speech and behavior from bosses. We are the man who has hurt others and sought after self-indulgence.

However, once again, this blog is about leadership, so I want to particularly focus on toxic leadership from James’ perspective.

James says the prescription for good leadership is “humble yourself.”

Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. [James 4:9-12]

The number one solution to toxic leadership (as it is for all abuse) is humility.

Clothed in Humility

When a survivor of domestic violence determines that her husband has truly turned from his abusiveness, she describes his genuine sense of the wrong he has committed against her. There can be no confidence in his repentance until he has truly humbled himself and recognized his deep wrongfulness.

So too, it is to humility the toxic leader must turn. He must become clothed in that humility “before the Lord” as James says.

And it is not just a mental, cognitive turning in humility—it is a deep groaning and grief over personal arrogance.

Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

James is pleading; he is imploring leaders to dig deep—to allow the failure to wash over them.

And it is a genuine humility, not a sociopathic manipulative humility. The abusive leader must not be seeking to regain control of a situation in which he has lost dominance.

Fraud

James ends his book with similar thematic ideas to sections throughout the book; he makes one last call to refrain from oppressing others.

You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. ⁶ You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you. [James 5:5-6]

The toxic leader, as explained in another blog, is all about self-indulgence.

Just before this verse James says,

Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

The toxic leader in his indulgence is stealing from his workers.

Just the law in the ancient near East provided principles of which to apply to divergent circumstances, so we need to look at James’ principle here.

Noted by the LORD

There are two things happening here specifically: The boss is withholding what is due his employees (not paying wages) and the cries from those who are oppressed are heard and noted by the Lord.

In the immediate context of these verses James is speaking firstly to the leader, condemning his “self-indulgence.” This leads the leader to take advantage of and crush (oppress in Bible terms) those under his power. He has all the power over his employees and is taking advantage to get what he wants for his own pleasure as James says in 4:2.

And secondly, James is saying the LORD hates it. When the LORD heard the cries of the Israelites when they were oppressed by the Egyptians (under oppressive slavery), the LORD brought miraculous judgment upon the Egyptians in the form of the ten plagues that nearly destroyed their country. All because of a toxic leader at the helm of the nation.

Without knowing the mind of James, we can be nearly assured that he is hearkening back to this well-known Jewish story here in his writing.

What Are the Principles?

So what are the principles we can draw from this?

First of all, James is not only talking to farmers, though he specifically is using that particular industry from that agrarian society of the first Century. If he were focused on farming, the vast majority of God’s church would have nothing to learn from this.

Again, we can expect the “laws” laid down in Scripture are primarily understood to be taken as principles to apply to our own circumstances that may be a little or a lot different than that described in Scripture.

The principle James is providing—I would suggest—is that those who have power over others must forgo self-indulgence and treat those under their power with fairness, mercy, and grace. That is the witness of Scripture for all (Ephesians 4:25-32; 5:21; Colossians 3:12; Galatians 5:22), and more so for those who have such a huge impact on the lives of others such as leaders—another principle in Scripture.

The Result

The result for refusing to follow the principle laid forth by James can only be described as catastrophic.

James says that which the leader indulges in—described as “gold and silver” by James—will be corroded. The value placed in what the toxic one is desiring will disappear. In Isaiah the LORD warns that all that silver and gold His people pursue to indulge their desires will provide no means of escape from the LORD’s wrath (Ezekiel 7:19).

God hears the cries. If you are mistreating those under your authority and power, be warned. There can be no winning against the LORD of the heavens and earth.

James says to the oppressor, “[Your subordinate] does not resist you.”

But, be assured, God does.