James 4 - Outline of James (MENU page)

I. The Testings of Faith (1:1- 2:26)
II. The need to Tame the Tongue. 3:1-18
III. The rebuke of worldliness. 4:1-17
  1. Proud fleshly desire: the way of the world. 4:1-6
  2. Humble repentant submission: the way of God's blessing. 4:7-10
  3. Slanderous division: violates the way of the Lawgiver. 4:11,12
  4. Arrogant self-determination: ignores the way of God's Will. 4:13-17
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  1. Proud fleshly desire: the way of the world. 4:1-6
1. From whence [come] wars {battles}
and fightings {controversies} among you? {cp. Jam 3:14-18}
[come they] not hence,
[even] of your lusts {GK=hedone, sensual passions}
that war in your members? {cp. Rom 7:23; 1Pet 2:11}
2 Ye lust {GK=epithumeo, strongly desire}, and have not:
ye kill {ie., murder}, and desire to have {GK=zeloo, zealously desire}, and cannot obtain:
ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. {cp. Jam 1:13-17; Joh 16:23,24}
3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss {GK=kakos, with wrong motives},
that ye may consume [it] upon your lusts {GK=hedone, sensual passions, cf. 1Joh 5:14}.
4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not
that the friendship of the world is enmity {hostility} with God? {1Joh 2:15-17}
whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. {Rom 8:7-9; Gal 1:4}
5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain {ie., speaks to no purpose, cp. Num 23:19},
The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
6 But he giveth more grace.
Wherefore he saith,
God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. {Prov 3:34}
  ...The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
    It is uncertain, to which Scripture passage and to which 'spirit' James alludes (in v.5).
    - Is he referring to the natural spirit of man, which enviously pursues fleshly lusts?
    (eg., v.1-4; Prov 21:10; Rom 1:29-32; 1Cor 2:11,14; Titus 3:3)
    If so, James is emphasizing the believer's need for God's grace (v.6), to enable us to abhor and reject the ways of our old fleshly nature (Rom 8:13; Col 3:5-10).
    This is the meaning suggested by the text, as rendered in the KJV.
  - Is he referring to the Holy Spirit, who jealously opposes the old fleshly nature within believers, in whom He dwells?
      (1Cor 2:12; 3:16; 6:19,20; Gal 4:6; 5:17,18)
      If so, James is emphasizing the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, by whom God's grace is made effective in the believer's life (v.6).
      This is probably the intended meaning, due to the GK verb tense, which is more literally rendered:
      "With envy yearns the Spirit that He hath made to dwell in us." [Berean Study Bible, Greek Interlinear, from www.BibleHub.com]
      (cp. Paul's jealousy for the purity of God's children, in 2Cor 11:2)
III. The rebuke of worldliness. 4:1-17
  2. Humble repentant submission: the way of God's blessing. 4:7-10
7 Submit yourselves {Be in subjection} therefore to God. {Mat 11:29}
Resist {GK=anthistemi, stand up against, oppose} the devil, {Eph 4:27; 6:11-18; 1Pet 5:8,9}
and he will flee from you.
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. {Psa 145:18; Heb 10:19-22}
Cleanse [your] hands, [ye] sinners; {Isa 1:15,16; 55:7; 2Cor 7:1; Heb 9:14}
and purify [your] hearts, {Psa 51:6,7,10; 1Pet 1:18-22; 1Joh 3:3}
[ye] double minded. {eg., Jam 1:5-8}
9 Be afflicted {Grieve your wretchedness, cp. Rom 7:24; Rev 3:17},
and mourn, and weep: {2Cor 7:10,11}
let your laughter be turned to mourning,
and [your] joy to heaviness. {ie., despair
  (in recognition of deserved judgment), cp. Jer 16:9-12; Luk 6:24-26; Mat 24:38,39}
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, {cp. v.6,7}
and he shall lift you up. {Luk 18:9-14; 1Pet 5:6; Rev 3:17-19}
  In the above verses, James issues a call for serious repentance. We must take his words to heart, because as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, he is writing, not to unbelievers, but to his believing 'brethren' (v.11; Jam 1:1,2).
  Because of the new-birth, we are no longer 'of' the world. Yet, while we are still 'in' the world, our old fleshly natures retain an affinity for worldly ways. Therefore, as God's children we ought to live in conscious obedience to God's Word, decisively dealing with any internal corruption, purposely drawing near to our Lord, and continually growing in His likeness. Joh 17:15-17; 2Pet 3:17,18; 1Joh 1:9
III. The rebuke of worldliness. 4:1-17
  3. Slanderous division: violates the way of the Lawgiver. 4:11,12
11. Speak not evil {Do not 'talk down' or 'slander'} one of another, brethren. {Eph 4:31; 1Pet 2:1}
He that speaketh evil of {slanders} [his] brother, and judgeth his brother,
speaketh evil of {slanders} the law, and judgeth the law: {Jam 2:8-13}
but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. {Jam 1:22-25}
12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: {Mat 10:28; Heb 7:25}
who art thou that judgest another? {Rom 14:3-4,10-13; 1Cor 4:5}
  The 'law,' cited by James, is 'the law of liberty' communicated to us in the whole of God's written Word, and fulfilled for us by the Lawgiver, who bore our sin and death in Himself, so that we might live according to His righteousness (Rom 8:2-4; Jam 2:12).
  Having been saved by Grace through faith in Christ, the believer is free from the rigid ritualistic requirements of OT Law (eg., in regard to ceremonial cleansings, clean and unclean foods, observation of special days and feasts, etc.). To slander or judge a brother concerning such matters, is to make yourself superior, not only to the Law of Liberty, but also to the Lord who delivered us from legal bondage. The essence of the 'Law of Liberty' is the 'Law of Love,' given by the Lord Jesus Christ shortly before He was delivered up for us all (Joh 13:34,35; 15:12-14).
III. The rebuke of worldliness. 4:1-17
  4. Arrogant self-determination: ignores the way of God's Will. 4:13-17
13 Go to now {ie., Come now (ie., consider this)}, ye that say,
To day or to morrow we will go into such a city,
and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
14 Whereas ye know not what [shall be] on the morrow. {Prov 27:1; cp. Luk 12:16-20}
For what [is] your life? It is even a vapour, {cp. Job 7:6-10; Psa 102:3; 1Pet 1:24}
that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. {Psa 103:15,16}
15 For that ye [ought] to say,
If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. {Prov 19:21; eg., Acts 18:21; 1Cor 4:19}
16 But now ye rejoice {boast} in your boastings {arrogance}:
all such rejoicing {boasting} is evil {malicious, harmful}.
17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good {in contrast to the 'evil' of v.16},
and doeth [it] not, to him it is sin.
  ...if the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that...
    The believer, who lives for the glory of God (1Cor 10:31), will live in submission to the will of God (v.7; Rom 12:1,2; 1Pet 4:1,2; 1Joh 2:17).
  ...to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
    "Sin is any want of conformity to the will of God. When He makes known that will, our responsibility is to act accordingly. Otherwise we miss the mark and incur the divine displeasure. The more clearly God has revealed His mind and the better we understand it, the greater is our responsibility." [in quotes, Ironside]

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