James Chapter 4:1-3
Notes
Transcript
A Call for Spiritual Wholeness (4:1-10)
A Call for Spiritual Wholeness (4:1-10)
From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
Through verses 13-18 of Chapter 3, James is preparing a way to rebuke the contention, and quarreling among the Church. In verses 13-18, he posed a question – who among you is wise? And if there is a wise one among you, let him come and show his good conduct and behavior with meekness of wisdom.
The point is that wise people do not go after one another and fight. The issue of quarreling among the Church is not led by the wise person, or from one whose wisdom comes from above, but with the wisdom from this earth.
The fights the Church is having during this time are given as evidence that it is going the opposite way of wisdom from “above.” The wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy (v. 17).
So, James asks a rhetorical question in this verse. He points out that clearly there were fights among them. And where are they coming from? Not from some other religious sects, but from their midst; from within the believers. Specifically, they are coming from their lusts that war in their members.
Even though they were saved, they still have the evil desires. Their evil desires and passions are what cause these fights among them. The phrase, war in members, could mean internal war within a person or strife or conflict between fellow 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.
You lust and have not – means that one desires something, but they do not have. It is a strong unhealthy craving. In other words, you crave for something, but you have not.
The other parts of the text clearly indicate that they were having fights and wars. All because of their evil desires (3:14-16). He concludes this verse with a beautiful statement – you have not because you ask not.
Asking God for something ought to be a continuous thing. Just because we ask once doesn’t mean that God would give. The concept or the idea of asking God is in the continuous form. Therefore, the idea is we have to ask God continuously; they have to ask God continuously.
However, the problem might be, that they asked, but probably did not continue to ask. And because of the lack of response from God, they were frustrated. At the same time, the evil desire in them also leads them to do what they did. But is this really all? Let us look at the next verse.
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
Verse 2 shows us the problem – you have not because you do not ask. But before that, we learn that they have not because they do terrible things. They were praying and seeking God, but they were also doing bad things and therefore, not receiving a favorable response from God.
In this verse, he goes a little further. You ask, yes, and receive not. The reason is you ask with the wrong motives! In other words, God would not answer self-centered prayers!
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.
Verse 4 James calls the Church or believers adulterers and adulteresses. Actually, there is only one word in Greek, that is feminine in gender. However, James is not talking as if women in the Church became adulterers. Rather, he is talking about the spiritual adultery lifestyle of the members.
This gives us an Old Testament picture (keeping in mind that the book of James is Jewish in flavor), where Israel and Judah lived in spiritual adultery.
Know ye not – indicates that these people were aware of the issue. What is the issue? Their friendship with the world.
From the ancient perspective, friendship indicates a “lifelong pact between two people with shared values and loyalties.”[1]
So, friendship with the world is to cling on to the world, fall in love with the world and its values. This is against to the Lord and His values.
Therefore, James is saying, friendship with the world is identifying oneself with the world. It is setting one’s heart towards the world and its things.
Therefore, he makes a logical statement that because of one’s love towards the world, one cannot be a friend of God.
By being friends with the world, one is establishing themselves to be an enemy of God. (Very dangerous thing).
Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
This is one of the most complicated verses in the entire New Testament.
There are two possible ways to understand this:
Moo states:
1. James is referring to God’s jealousy for his people: “God yearns jealously for the spirit that he has made to dwell in us” (NRSV).
2. James is referring to the human tendency to be envious: the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely (NIV).[2]
So, how are we to understand this verse?
Jim Samra says, “The meaning is that even though God has given us life, because of our sin natures we are filled with envious desires.”[3]
Scott Mcknight says, “The teachers’ infidelity is causing division in the messianic community, but God yearns jealously for the spirit he has placed in his people—and this yearning, we are led to infer, is for a spirit that will be set loose to create peace, love, and good works.”[4]
He further states, “The teachers addressed by James were using God’s bestowal of the spirit not for God’s glory but for their own glory; they were letting the spirit of envy rule their hearts.”[5]
But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
The term “but” indicates a contrast. In verse 5, it shows us that the human spirit desires envy, but in verse 6, we see that one can overcome that envy by relying upon God’s grace. Therefore, the text says, “he gives greater grace.”
He then quotes from Proverbs 3:34. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
In verses 7-10, we learn about the call to humility.
In verse 6, the text tells us that God gives “greater grace” to those who are humble. However, he opposes those who are proud.
Based on this, James calls the believers to humble themselves.
Note that “Submit to God” in verse 7 and “humble yourselves before God” in verse 10 are conceptually similar. Therefore, this forms a “bookend” from James’s view. Within this bookend, there are several other commands that were given.
Submit to God means to put ourselves under God’s sovereign rule and authority; to put ourselves under his lordship which should lead us to obey him in all things.
The first command that comes after this call to submission is to “resist the devil and draw near to God.
What does it mean to put ourselves under Almighty’s sovereign authority?
It means to strongly refuse to bow to the devil’s authority.
James is saying that God has given them and us all the ability to refuse and resist the devil, we can all “stand against” the devil and his schemes. And he promises that the devil will certainly flee.
In verse 8, the emphasis is just as strong as in verse 7. That is, in verse 7, the text tells us to “resist.” Here in verse 8, the text tells us to “draw” – to draw close to God.
The idea of drawing near to God often indicates an Old Testament thought of coming closer to God in worship(Lev. 21:3, 21, 23; Isa. 29:13).
However, the call to worship is not a theme that we see in this passage. Rather, it is a call identical to what was said in Hosea 12:6 – “Therefore turn thou to thy God: Keep mercy and judgment, And wait on thy God continually.”
They are commanded to “wait” on their God “continually.” We are commanded to draw closer to God and He would come closer to us only when we repent of our sins and seek Him by submitting to His lordship and authority, according to verse 7.
Note: God is not drawn near to the unbelievers, but we must keep in mind that this is talking about the believers. This drawing near to God is to restore the broken relationship of Christians with God.
In verse 8 he also says, “Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.” The call here is to repent, a call for radical change and repentance. We also see the theme of “double-mindedness.”
Why is James giving these commands? Because there are believers who need a strong exhortation to return to the Lord and change their attitudes and behavior.
Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
Verse 9 indicates a call for purity. This is the language of prophets (Isa. 15:2; Jer. 4:13; Hos. 10:5; Joel 1:9–10; Mic. 2:4).
Why would James use such a language? James believed that an eschatological coming of the Lord was imminent (5:8)
Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
Therefore, the language he uses is clearly a wake-up call for them to be ready for the imminent return of the Lord; they must prepare themselves. The language is similar to Joel 2:12, where the text says;
Therefore also now, saith the Lord,
Turn ye even to me with all your heart,
And with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
Change your attitude from laughing to mourning. Why this language? Because the person who scorns the idea of right living goes on to life mocking. Laughter is often a mark of a fool (Prov. 10:23).
A believer can slip into a life of pleasure and carelessness. But one must watch out. We cannot take God for granted, that God is forgiving and therefore, we can live however we want to live.
James is saying, take sin seriously! If you do not, you will face consequences; you will face disasters in your life.
“and your joy to heaviness” – What does this mean? This seems like James is contradicting what Paul was saying. Paul said in Phil. 4:4, rejoice in the Lord always! Here, James says, no, let your joy turn to gloom. How is this possible?
There is no contradiction! Paul was talking about one’s rejoicing in salvation; James is talking about the superficial joy that comes when one indulges sin. True Christian joy doesn’t come when we tolerate sin; it comes when we bring our sins to the Lord and confess them.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
In verse 10, we learn the callfor humbling ourselves. To humble before God means to acknowledge that we are in desperate need of God in our lives. This humility and humble attitude before God will make God exalt us.
[1] Blomberg, Craig L., and Mariam J. Kamell. 2008. James. Vol. 16, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan), 190.
[2] Douglas J. Moo, The Letter of James, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: Eerdmans; Apollos, 2000), 188.
[3] Jim Samra, James, 1 & 2 Peter, and Jude, ed. Mark L. Strauss and John H. Walton, Teach the Text Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books: A Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2016), 52.
[4] Scot McKnight, The Letter of James, The New International Commentary on the Old and New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2011), 337–338.
[5] Ibid., 339.