John Calvin Commentary James 5:6

"Ye have condemned, ye have killed the righteous [one]; he doth not resist you." — James 5:6 (ASV)

Ye have condemned. Here follows another kind of inhumanity, that the rich by their power oppressed and destroyed the poor and weak. He says by a metaphor that the just were condemned and killed; for when they did not kill them by their own hand, or condemn them as judges, they nevertheless employed the authority they had to do wrong, corrupted judgments, and contrived various schemes to destroy the innocent—that is, truly to condemn and kill them.

By adding that the just did not resist them, he intimates that the audacity of the rich was greater, because those whom they oppressed were without any protection. He, however, reminds them that the vengeance of God will be all the more ready and prompt when the poor have no protection from men. But though the just did not resist because he ought to have patiently endured wrongs, I still think that their weakness is also referred to; that is, he did not resist because he was unprotected and without any help from men.