James 4 (NIV)
The former chapter speaks of envying one another, creating great strife and contention. This chapter speaks of a lust after worldly things, and putting too great a value upon worldly pleasures and relationships. This chapter looks at what carried the peoples divisions to shameful heights. James’ counsel for the church goes beyond the superficial in this chapter; he is guiding the church to holiness even within it’s internal relationships. He confronts sinful motives and evil practices, and he is equally clear about the promise of God’s grace.
Submit Yourselves to God
4 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
James confronts the strife amongst Christians in this section. He is not speaking of a war within themselves, but the war between them as a church; the bitter battles they are having one to another. The word battle used in this chapter is from the Greek noun polemos where we get the word “polemical”, the word for conflict, up to and including “battle” and “war”. Polemos can refer to an epic battle or a skirmish, or a “fight” within a group ; the body of Christ which James is referring to here in vs. 1. The fact that the same word is used to define Armageddon as is used to define the fights within the Church not only demonstrates it’s range of meaning, but also shows that such fights are very serious business.
James seems to be focused more on the selfish spirit and bitterness of the quarrels than by the rights and wrongs of the various viewpoints.The source of their conflict is material things. James attributes fighting, murder and war to materialism. We see this reference also in 1 John 2:15-16. James makes it clear that this contentious manner comes from their desires. The conflict within is between the sinful desires for pleasure and the desire for God’s will; an attitude that the Holy Spirit has placed within us (vs. 5).
“You do not have …” This points to the futility of a life lived for the desires, for pleasure. Not only is it a life of conflict, but it is also an unsatisfied life. “You do not have because you do not ask God.” The reason these destructive desires exist among [the] Christians is because they do not seek
God for their needs (you do not ask). The word ask used in this chapter is from the Greek aiteō which generally means “to ask, request, demand.” James reminds them here of the great power of prayer, and why one may live unnecessarily in spiritual lack, simply because they do not pray, or do not ask when they pray. James uses the word aiteō five times in his letter, most notably, here, in Jas 4:2–3 “You have not because you ask not. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives.” James also uses aiteō to emphasize that asking for the things that God has promised us (such as wisdom) must be done without doubting that God will indeed fulfill his promises (1:5–6). The apostle John also uses this verb four times in 1 Jn. 5:14–16, where he emphasizes that when we ask God for anything, it must be “according to his will.”
James’ then moves directly to motive, “…you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives…”. This may have caused some protest from the people, saying that their prayers had gone unanswered. James suggests that perhaps they had prayed for the wrong things, or for the wrong reasons. He points out that they were praying for their sinful desires when they should have been praying for God’s will for their lives. Anytime one prays to seek their personal “pleasures” through prayer (selfish prayer) they are asking “amiss”. In prayer, God does not bow to our will; instead we submit to His good will for our lives. James’ lesson is, that the purpose of prayer is to align our will with His, and in partnership ask Him to accomplish His will on the earth.
4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?
James rebukes the people Old Testament style, using the wording and tone of the time; adulterers. In some translations the word(s) used is Adulteress or both, Adulterer and Adulteress. Using the feminine term was very Old Testament; used deliberately; to exhibit contempt and scorn in the ancient world was to call a community or group by some feminine equivalent. James may have chosen this wording because he was speaking to people who would be aware of it’s gravity. God spoke this way in the Old Testament when His people engaged in some form of idolatry (Jeremiah 3:8-9, Ezekiel 6:9, Ezekiel 16:32, Ezekiel 23:37, and Hosea 3:1). As James saw it here,their covetousness was idolatry (Colossians 3:5) and friendship with the world.
Verse 4 James is not speaking of God’s attitude toward the believer, but of the other way around; the believer’s attitude toward God. The difference between the world and God was [is] so vast that to even move toward the world one alienates themselves from God. James points out that when one chooses “to be a friend of the world”, they are choosing what is acceptable and pleasurable about the world, and in the world sin was [is] acceptable and pleasurable. Ultimately the world had [has] lost it’s awareness of sin, thus sin had [has] become habitual. James recognizes and stresses that they cannot both be friends of the world system, in rebellion against God, and friends of God at the same time (Matthew 6:24). Even the desire to be a friend of the world makes one an enemy of God.
Verse 5: “Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?” “Scripture says”… a specific Old Testament scripture cannot be attributed to this verse, though it is assumed that James did not have a specific OT reference in mind, instead it is believed he was speaking to the general, yet prevalent concept found in the OT about God’s jealousy for His creation (Deuteronomy 32:16 and 32:21; Exodus 20:5 and 34:14; Zechariah 8:2; Psalm 78:58 and 79:5) an idea that fits the context. Friendship with the world in vs. 4 would provoke God’s jealousy. The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit has a jealous yearning for our friendship with God. James is warning or reminding the people that the Spirit will convict the Christian who lives in compromise.
6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.”
James softens his tone beginning in verse 6 with “But He gives us more grace”: The same Holy Spirit convicting them [us] of their [our] compromise will also grant the people [us] the grace to serve God as they [we] should. This wonderful statement – but He gives more grace – stands in strong contrast to the previous words. We would do well to note the contrast.
“God opposes the proud …” James quotes Proverbs 3:34 here: “He mocks proud mockers but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.” to prove his point; those who elevate themselves will face a formidable foe in God, himself, who will fight against their plans because they are not within His will. But those who submit to His divine wisdom will receive the necessary grace to live the Christian life as God planned it. Now, James reminds them [us]
that this grace only comes to the humble. Grace and pride are eternal enemies. Pride demands that God bless man in light of his merits, whether real or imagined. But grace will not deal with man on the basis of anything in him – good or bad – but only on the basis of who God is. James is clear that grace is an unmerited gift [favor] from Him. It isn’t as if a man’s humility earns the grace of God. Humility merely puts man in a position to receive the favor [gift] He freely gives.
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
James simply challenges individual Christians to deal with satan and outlines the process to do it. He is clear, there is an order to the process. First one must submit to God and then resist the devil as defined above; abandoning our pride and desires of the world. Submitting to God involves putting on the armor of God, placing our faith in Him and immersing ourselves in the truth of His Word.
Resist comes from two Greek words. Anthistēmi means “to oppose, resist.”, The believers are urged to stand firm and “resist” the devil. Kōlyō means “to hinder, stop, forbid, oppose.” To be directed to resist instructs us to stand firm against the temptations of sin. The enemy can be sent running by the resistance of the lowliest believer who comes in the authority of what Jesus did on the cross, he will have no choice.
The call to draw near to God is both an invitation and a promise. With this text James illustrates the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant. In the old covenant, God told Moses to not come any closer to the burning bush and take off his shoes. Under the new covenant, God says to the sinner: “Draw near to Me and I will draw near to you.” Now the ground between God and the sinner has been covered with the blood of Jesus, and we can come close to God on the basis of The Blood.
“Wash your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve and mourn and weep!” The word used for sinner is the Greek word hamartolos, which means the hardened sinner, the man whose sin is obvious and notorious. As we draw near to God, we will be convicted of our sin; made acutely aware of our sin and our wrong standing with God. So we lament and mourn and weep as is appropriate under the conviction of sin,
and we are compelled to find cleansing at the cross. James speaks in terms of the Hebrew prophet’s language about the anguish of repentance.
11 Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister[d] or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?
It is taught in the New Testament that one is not to judge (Matthew 7:1) as God is the ultimate judge and the one who will take vengeance on those who practice evil (Romans 12:9 & Hebrews 10:30). “Do not slander one another”. Humbling ourselves and getting right with God must result in our getting right with other people. When we are right with other people, it will show in the way we talk about them. So we must not gossip about one another and not judge our brother. “Slander”, or in some translations “Speak evil” is translated from the Greek word katalalia. “Katalalia is the sin of those who meet in corners and gather in little groups and pass on confidential information which destroy the good name of those who are not there to defend themselves.” In short – Gossip. This sin is wrong for two reasons. First, it breaks the royal law that we should love one another. Second, it takes for oneself a right of judgment that only God has; and James is firm and clear about this second one … “There is only one Lawgiver and Judge …”, then he immediately asks, “ … who are you to judge your neighbor?”, sounding as if he is accusing them.
Boasting About Tomorrow
13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil.
The problem here is not the plan or the concept of planning. The problem here is leaving God out of the plan (vs. 15). James rebuked the man that lives and makes his plans apart from the awareness of the hand of God in his life, and with an underestimation of his own [our own] limitations (you do not
know what will happen tomorrow). James asked them [us] to consider the fragility of human life, and the fact that they [we] live and move only at the permission of God. James does not discourage them [us] from planning and doing, only from planning and doing apart from reliance on God.
The idea that our life was a vapor or shadow was a frequent figure of speech in the Old Testament (Psalm 102:11; Job 8:9; 1 Chronicles 29:15). And as is frequently evident in this chapter James used much OT language and tone to reach his audience.
17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
James knew that it is far easier to think about and talk about humility and dependence on God than it is to live it. Yet he makes the mind of God plain: as we know these things, we are accountable to do them. This is a stern warning against sins of omission, also found in Luke 16:19-31 (an example of neglecting to do what is right). James is pointing out that it is sin to doubt whether an action is right and yet go ahead and do it; it is also sin to know what is right and not do it, (Romans 14:23).
Here James returns to his consistent theme through his letter: the idea that genuine faith is proved by action.
Footnotes:
- a James 4:4 An allusion to covenant unfaithfulness; see Hosea 3:1.
- b James 4:5 Or that the spirit he caused to dwell in us envies intensely;
or that the Spirit he caused to dwell in us longs jealously
- c James 4:6 Prov. 3:34
- d James 4:11 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here
to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family.
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