Institute for Creation Research

From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot ° obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

3

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

4

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever ° therefore will be ° a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

5

Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, 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.

7

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8

Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

9

Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

11

Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

12

There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

13

Go to now, 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. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

15

For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

16

But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

17

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

James 4:3

4:3 receive not. The problem of unanswered prayer in spite of Jesus’ apparently unlimited promise of answered prayer (see John 14:14) is involved in the implications of prayers made “in my name.” One of the implied conditions, as indicated here, is that the prayer be unselfish—otherwise it would not really be in His name, for He would never pray such a prayer. There are other conditions also (e.g., I John 5:14; James 1:5-7). One’s motive in praying must be to the glory of God—that is, for God to get the glory from the answer.

James 4:4

4:4 enemy of God. Compromising with the present world-system—whether in philosophy, dress, behavior, or whatever—is surely one of the most prevalent characteristics of modern Christianity, even evangelicalism. This indictment of such compromise urgently needs emphasis today. See also I John 2:15-17; Galatians 1:4; John 15:19; 17:14; Romans 8:6-8; II Corinthians 6:14-18.

James 4:5

4:5 scripture saith in vain. This is a difficult passage, and interpretations have varied widely. There is no single Old Testament Scripture from which James is quoting, and he could not be referring to any New Testament Scripture, because the other New Testament books had not yet been written. He must, therefore, be referring to the general prophetic sense of those passages in the Old Testament that speak of God’s Spirit as desiring the faithful love of His people and as opposed to any spirit of covetousness or adultery (whether spiritual or physical) in their hearts. See, for example, such Scriptures as Genesis 6:3; II Samuel 23:2; Psalm 51:11; Isaiah 63:10-11; Ezekiel 36:26-27; Micah 2:7: Zechariah 7:12; 12:10; and others of the same general import. The verse can probably be best paraphrased as follows: “Do ye think that the Scriptures are speaking in vain when they testify that God’s Holy Spirit [who is now actually dwelling in us] is longing for us to envy [that is, to covet after] God’s love and friendship, rather than that of the world?” This rather free paraphrase seems to fit the entire context best but, in view of the wide variety of translations and interpretations of this verse, it is not feasible to be dogmatic.

James 4:6

4:6 he saith. This verse is quoting Proverbs 3:34. Peter also quotes this verse in rebuking pride, whether in elders or others in the church (I Peter 5:5).

James 4:7

4:7 Resist the devil. The devil is far more intelligent and powerful than we are, so we cannot resist him in the strength of the flesh. Our example in combating Satan is the Lord Jesus, who defeated the devil’s temptations by citing appropriate passages from God’s Word (Matthew 4:1-11). Note also I Peter 5:8-10, urging us to resist the devil by being “steadfast in the faith,” not by compromising the faith.

Search