James 4

Jas 4:1-17.

AGAINST

FIGHTINGS AND

THEIR

SOURCE;

WORLDLY

LUSTS;

UNCHARITABLE

JUDGMENTS, AND

PRESUMPTUOUS

RECKONING ON THE

FUTURE.

1. whence--The cause of quarrels is often sought in external

circumstances, whereas internal lusts are the true origin.

wars, &c.--contrasted with the "peace" of heavenly wisdom.

"Fightings" are the active carrying on of "wars." The best authorities

have a second "whence" before "fightings." Tumults marked the era

before the destruction of Jerusalem when James wrote. He indirectly

alludes to these. The members are the first seat of war; thence it

passes to conflict between man and man, nation and nation.

come they not, &c.--an appeal to their consciences.

lusts--literally, "pleasures," that is, the lusts which prompt

you to "desire" (see on

Jas 4:2)

pleasures; whence you seek self at the cost of your neighbor,

and hence flow "fightings."

that war--"campaign, as an army of soldiers encamped within"

[ALFORD] the soul; tumultuously war against the

interests of your fellow men, while lusting to advance self. But while

warring thus against others they (without his knowledge) war against

the soul of the man himself, and against the Spirit; therefore they

must be "mortified" by the Christian.

2. Ye lust--A different Greek word from that in

Jas 4:1.

"Ye desire"; literally, "ye set your mind (or heart) on"

an object.

have not--The lust of desire does not ensure the actual

possession. Hence "ye kill" (not as Margin, without any old

authority, "envy") to ensure possession. Not probably in the case of

professing Christians of that day in a literal sense, but "kill and

envy" (as the Greek for "desire to have" should be translated),

that is, harass and oppress through envy

[DRUSIUS]. Compare

Zec 11:5,

"slay"; through envy, hate, and desire to get out of your way,

and so are "murderers" in God's eyes [ESTIUS]. If

literal murder [ALFORD] were meant, I do not think

it would occur so early in the series; nor had Christians then as yet

reached so open criminality. In the Spirit's application of the passage

to all ages, literal killing is included, flowing from the

desire to possess so David and Ahab. There is a climax: "Ye desire,"

the individual lust for an object; "ye kill and envy," the feeling and

action of individuals against individuals; "ye fight and war," the

action of many against many.

ye have not, because ye ask not--God promises to those who pray,

not to those who fight. The petition of the lustful, murderous, and

contentious is not recognized by God as prayer. If ye prayed,

there would be no "wars and fightings." Thus this last clause is an

answer to the question,

Jas 4:1,

"Whence come wars and fightings?"

3. Some of them are supposed to say in objection, But we do

"ask" (pray); compare

Jas 4:2.

James replies, It is not enough to ask for good things, but we must ask

with a good spirit and intention. "Ye ask amiss, that ye may consume

it (your object of prayer) upon (literally, 'in') your lusts

(literally, 'pleasures')"; not that ye may have the things you need for

the service of God. Contrast

Jas 1:5

with Mt 6:31, 32.

If ye prayed aright, all your proper wants would be supplied; the

improper cravings which produce "wars and fightings" would then cease.

Even believers' prayers are often best answered when their desires are

most opposed.

4. The oldest manuscripts omit "adulterers and," and read

simply, "Ye adulteresses." God is the rightful husband; the men of the

world are regarded collectively as one adulteress, and

individually as adulteresses.

the world--in so far as the men of it and their motives and acts

are aliens to God, for example, its selfish "lusts"

(Jas 4:3),

and covetous and ambitious "wars and fightings"

(Jas 4:1).

enmity--not merely "inimical"; a state of enmity, and that

enmity itself. Compare

1Jo 2:15,

"love . . . the world . . . the love of the

Father."

whosoever . . . will be--The Greek is emphatic,

"shall be resolved to be." Whether he succeed or not, if his

wish be to be the friend of the world, he renders himself,

becomes (so the Greek for "is") by the very fact, "the enemy

of God." Contrast "Abraham the friend of God."

5. in vain--No word of Scripture can be so. The quotation here,

as in

Eph 5:14,

seems to be not so much from a particular passage as one gathered by

James under inspiration from the general tenor of such passages in both

the Old and New Testaments, as

Nu 14:29;

Pr 21:20;

Ga 5:17.

spirit that dwelleth in us--Other manuscripts read, "that God

hath made to dwell in us" (namely, at Pentecost). If so translated,

"Does the (Holy) Spirit that God hath placed in us lust to (towards)

envy" (namely, as ye do in your worldly "wars and fightings")?

Certainly not; ye are therefore walking in the flesh, not in the

Spirit, while ye thus lust towards, that is, with envy

against one another. The friendship of the world tends to breed

envy; the Spirit produces very different fruit. ALFORD attributes the epithet "with envy," in the

unwarrantable sense of jealously, to the Holy Spirit: "The

Spirit jealously desires us for His own." In English

Version the sense is, "the (natural) spirit that hath its dwelling

in us lusts with (literally, 'to,' or 'towards') envy." Ye lust, and

because ye have not what ye lust after

(Jas 4:1, 2),

ye envy your neighbor who has, and so the spirit of envy leads

you on to "fight." James also here refers to

Jas 3:14, 16.

6. But--"Nay, rather."

he--God.

giveth more grace--ever increasing grace; the farther ye depart

from "envy" [BENGEL].

he saith--The same God who causes His spirit to dwell in

believers

(Jas 4:5),

from

Pr 3:34;

as probably

Pr 21:10

was generally referred to in

Jas 4:5.

In Hebrew it is "scorneth the scorners," namely, those who think

"Scripture speaketh in vain."

resisteth--literally, "setteth Himself in array against"; even

as they, like Pharaoh, set themselves against Him. God repays sinners

in their own coin. "Pride" is the mother of "envy"

(Jas 4:5);

it is peculiarly satanic, for by it Satan fell.

the proud--The Greek means in derivation one who shows

himself above his fellows, and so lifts himself against God.

the humble--the unenvious, uncovetous, and unambitious as to the

world. Contrast

Jas 4:4.

7. Submit to . . . God--so ye shall be among "the

humble,"

Jas 4:6;

also

Jas 4:10;

1Pe 5:6.

Resist . . . devil--Under his banner pride and

envy are enlisted in the world; resist his temptations to these.

Faith, humble prayers, and heavenly wisdom, are the weapons of

resistance. The language is taken from warfare. "Submit" as a good

soldier puts himself in complete subjection to his captain. "Resist,"

stand bravely against.

he will flee--Translate, "he shall flee." For it is a

promise of God, not a mere assurance from man to man

[ALFORD]. He shall flee worsted as he did from

Christ.

8. Draw nigh to God--So "cleave unto Him,"

De 30:20,

namely, by prayerfully

(Jas 4:2, 3)

"resisting Satan," who would oppose our access to God.

he will draw nigh--propitious.

Cleanse . . . hands--the outward instruments of

action. None but the clean-handed can ascend into the hill of the Lord

(justified through Christ, who alone was perfectly so, and as such

"ascended" thither).

purify . . . hearts--literally "make chaste" of your

spiritual adultery

(Jas 4:4,

that is, worldliness) "your hearts": the inward source of all impurity.

double-minded--divided between God and the world. The

"double-minded" is at fault in heart; the sinner in his

hands likewise.

9. Be afflicted--literally, "Endure misery," that is, mourn over

your wretchedness through sin. Repent with deep sorrow instead

of your present laughter. A blessed mourning. Contrast

Isa 22:12, 13;

Lu 6:25.

James does not add here, as in

Jas 5:1,

"howl," where he foretells the doom of the impenitent at the

coming destruction of Jerusalem.

heaviness--literally, "falling of the countenance," casting down

of the eyes.

10. in the sight of the Lord--as continually in the presence of

Him who alone is worthy to be exalted: recognizing His presence in all

your ways, the truest incentive to humility. The tree, to grow

upwards, must strike its roots deep downwards; so man, to be exalted,

must have his mind deep-rooted in humility. In

1Pe 5:6,

it is, Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, namely, in His

dealings of Providence: a distinct thought from that here.

lift you up--in part in this world, fully in the world to

come.

11. Having mentioned sins of the tongue

(Jas 3:5-12),

he shows here that evil-speaking flows from the same spirit of

exalting self at the expense of one's neighbor as caused the

"fightings" reprobated in this chapter

(Jas 4:1).

Speak not evil--literally, "Speak not against" one another.

brethren--implying the inconsistency of such depreciatory

speaking of one another in brethren.

speaketh evil of the law--for the law in commanding, "Love thy

neighbor as thyself"

(Jas 2:8),

virtually condemns evil-speaking and judging

[ESTIUS]. Those who superciliously condemn the

acts and words of others which do not please themselves, thus aiming at

the reputation of sanctity, put their own moroseness in the place of

the law, and claim to themselves a power of censuring above the law of

God, condemning what the law permits [CALVIN].

Such a one acts as though the law could not perform its own office of

judging, but he must fly upon the office [BENGEL]. This is the last mention of the law in the New

Testament. ALFORD rightly takes the "law" to be

the old moral law applied in its comprehensive spiritual fulness by

Christ: "the law of liberty."

if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer . . . but a

judge--Setting aside the Christian brotherhood as all alike

called to be doers of the law, in subjection to it, such a one

arrogates the office of a judge.

12. There is one lawgiver--The best authorities read in

addition, "and judge." Translate, "There is One (alone) who is (at

once) Lawgiver and Judge, (namely) He who is able to save and destroy."

Implying, God alone is Lawgiver and therefore Judge, since it is He

alone who can execute His judgments; our inability in this respect

shows our presumption in trying to act as judges, as though we were

God.

who art thou, &c.--The order in the Greek is emphatic,

"But (inserted in oldest manuscripts) thou, who art thou that judgest

another?" How rashly arrogant in judging thy fellows, and wresting from

God the office which belongs to Him over thee and THEM alike!

another--The oldest authorities read, "thy neighbor."

13. Go to now--"Come now"; said to excite attention.

ye that say--boasting of the morrow.

To-day or to-morrow--as if ye had the free choice of either day

as a certainty. Others read, "To-day and to-morrow."

such a city--literally, "this the city" (namely, the one present

to the mind of the speaker). This city here.

continue . . . a year--rather, "spend one year." Their

language implies that when this one year is out, they purpose similarly

settling plans for to come [BENGEL].

buy and sell--Their plans for the future are all worldly.

14. what--literally, "of what nature" is your life? that is, how

evanescent it is.

It is even--Some oldest authorities read, "For ye are."

BENGEL, with other old authorities, reads, "For it

shall be," the future referring to the "morrow"

(Jas 4:13-15).

The former expresses, "Ye yourselves are transitory"; so everything of

yours, even your life, must partake of the same transitoriness.

Received text has no old authority.

and then vanisheth away--"afterwards vanishing as it came";

literally, "afterwards (as it appeared), so vanishing"

[ALFORD].

15. Literally, "instead of your saying," &c. This refers to "ye

that say"

(Jas 4:13).

we shall live--The best manuscripts read, "We shall both

live and do," &c. The boasters spoke as if life, action,

and the particular kind of action were in their power, whereas all

three depend entirely on the will of the Lord.

16. now--as it is.

rejoice in . . . boastings--"ye boast in arrogant

presumptions," namely, vain confident fancies that the future is

certain to you

(Jas 4:13).

rejoicing--boasting [BENGEL].

17. The general principle illustrated by the particular example

just discussed is here stated: knowledge without practice is imputed to

a man as great and presumptuous sin. James reverts to the principle

with which he started. Nothing more injures the soul than wasted

impressions. Feelings exhaust themselves and evaporate, if not

embodied in practice. As we will not act except we feel, so if we will

not act out our feelings, we shall soon cease to feel.