Christ’s church is composed of both rich and poor believers and that is precisely why James wrote this section for both kinds of believers within the church. These verses teach us the important truth of taking our eyes off of our physical condition and turning them to our spiritual position in Christ.

These three verses bear out that James has pastoral wisdom for both categories of believers. We must take heed to these verses.

He sets the tone of this section by saying “let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted, but the rich, in that he is made low.” There is a very clear command to rejoice in verse 9.  He calls the believers in this congregation to glory, vaunt, and rejoice. This command was given to both poor and rich believers. He told the poor to rejoice and the rich to rejoice. However, the reason why he told them to rejoice is intriguing. He exhorted the poor to rejoice in their exaltation and the rich to rejoice in their humiliation.

James told the poor to rejoice in his exaltation because he had been made rich in Christ. He also told the rich to rejoice in his humiliation because his riches had no bearing on his position in Christ. Here’s the key truth James taught then and we must take today - believers must turn their attention away from their physical, and financial position in the world and towards their true identity in Christ.