John Calvin Commentary James 1:9

"But let the brother of low degree glory in his high estate:" — James 1:9 (ASV)

Let the brother of low degree. As Paul, exhorting servants to bear their lot submissively, sets before them this consolation—that they were the freedmen of God, having been set free by his grace from the most miserable bondage of Satan, and reminds them, though free, yet to remember that they were the servants of God; so here James in the same manner instructs the lowly to glory in this: that they had been adopted by the Lord as his children, and the rich, because they had been brought down into the same condition, the vanity of the world having been made clear to them.

Thus, the first thing he would have them do is to be content with their humble and low state, and he forbids the rich to be proud. Since it is incomparably the greatest dignity to be introduced into the company of angels, even to be made the associates of Christ, he who estimates this favor of God rightly will regard all other things as worthless.

Then neither poverty, nor contempt, nor nakedness, nor famine nor thirst will make his mind so anxious as to prevent him from sustaining himself with this consolation: “Since the Lord has bestowed on me the principal thing, I ought to bear patiently the loss of other things, which are inferior.”

Consider how a lowly brother ought to glory in his elevation or exaltation; for if he is accepted by God, he has sufficient consolation in his adoption alone, so as not to grieve excessively for a less prosperous state of life.