as an unbeliever, by giving it a sarcastic force, ‘let the rich man, if he will, glory in his degradation.’ So too B. Weiss, who however explains ταπείνωσις of the speedy ruin which awaits him. It must be allowed that such bitterness of sarcasm is not impossible in the writer of 2:19, 4:4, 5:1–6; but could he so early in his letter, in cold blood so to speak, have thus anathematized the rich as a class, when we know from 4:13–16 that some of those to whom he writes were wealthy traders? How could