284 MARIAM J. KAMELL ther the dichotomy seen in 1,22-25: without obedience there is only self- deception. Each person is called to be a “doer of the word,” the very word given by God’s redemptive grace in 1,17. The problem is simple: in 1,5, God is described as the one who “gives to everyone generously and without begrudging”, and yet in 2,15 the so-called believer responds to the impoverished fellow believer with the words of a hollow blessing: “Go, be warm and well fed” 35. James uses this example to shock his audience with the emptiness of mere words, but it also fits within his philosophy that those who have been reborn by God ought to act as he acts. Laws, who argues that this is an example of the “reverential periphrasis”, notes the piety in this expression, for it expresses a hope not only that the needs will be cared for but moreover that God will protect the person 36. The wealthier members of the congregation have not comprehended the im- plications of God’s generosity, and this figure’s very speech condemns his own unwillingness to be the means of God’s help to the poor. In contrast, the examples of Abraham and Rahab, who put their very lives and futures on the line in response to their faith, show us the path to justification. By having one’s priorities mirror God’s and acting on them, one pleases God (2,13). This can be seen again as people willingly partake in the overturning of this world’s system. Obviously the statement of 1,9-11 that the poor should “rejoice” in their coming elevation and the rich should “rejoice” in their humiliation shows an awareness that status in this present age means very little in an eschatological sense 37. But in 2,1-9 the audience is enjoined not to take part in judging as the world judges (see 1 Sam 16 and the story of Samuel and David there) but engage what it means for God to have chosen “the poor in the eyes of the world”. Clearly, “the eyes of the kosmov ” should not be the lense through which the believer views the ¥ world ! The eyes of the world are squint, leaving the community in dire need of divine contact lenses by which they can finally judge between the These verbs could be either middle (NIV; MARTIN, James, 85) or 35 passive voice (NASB; LAWS, James, 121 ). MOO, James, 125, concludes that either way “the point is the same: confronted with a need among his own brothers and sisters, this ‘believer’ does nothing but express his good wishes”. LAWS, James, 121. 36 See KAMELL, “Economics of Humility”, 157-75, for a discussion 37 r e g a r d i n g the use of humility/humiliation language in James. See H.H.D. WILLIAMS, III, “Of Rags and Riches: The Benefits of Hearing Jere- miah 9:23-24 Within James 1:9-11”, TynB 53 (2002) 282, who concludes that this is a “heroic boast of believers” based on the background of Jer. 9,23-24, making this another example of seeing the world through God’s eyes rather than following a human priority on wealth.