Bible Commentaries
James 4

Verses 1-4

Opposition Between Passion and Humility (4:1-5:6)

Friendship with the World (4:1-4)

The contrast between the two kinds of wisdom which James has drawn in the above section, he now discusses on the emotional level. The causes of wars and fightings in which the natural man apart from God — what he calls "the world" (vs. 4) — indulges are man’s own "passions." These are the natural impulses which arise in man’s "members" (that is, within the structure of his person), and which are actually "at war" within him. Like Paul, who speaks of "the law of sin which dwells in . . . [one’s] members" (Romans 7:23) and of the consequent conflict between "flesh" and "mind" that ensues (Romans 7:25), James believes that the natural man or "the world" apart from God’s grace is in an ambivalent condition from which he cannot of himself escape.

James’ description of this hopeless state of "the world" is exceedingly graphic — "you desire and do not have," "you kill"; "you covet and cannot obtain," "you fight and wage war"; "you ask and do not receive" (a casual reference perhaps to Jesus’ teaching as in Matthew 7:7, but in reverse) "because you ask wrongly." "Unfaithful creatures" in the Greek is "adulteresses" — a description of those who practice "friendship with the world" and one first given them by the Hebrew prophets (Hosea 3:1). And as with those prophets, James sees no compromise at this point: "friendship with the world is enmity with God" (see Matthew 6:24).

Verses 5-10

Friendship with God (4:5-10)

There is, however, a different emotional attitude which brings real joy and peace to the human heart, the attitude of the man who does not insist on his own desires but rather submits to God, draws near to God, humbles himself before the Lord. This, too, is akin to Paul’s teaching to the effect that men must "yield . . . [themselves] to God . . . and . . . [their] members to God as instruments of righteousness" (Romans 6:13), and both teachings are akin to that of Jesus (Matthew 6:33). It is only out of such genuine humility before the Lord that a sense of exaltation arises (vs. 10; see Luke 14:11).

This is always true of man’s experience, because fundamentally he is dealing with a God who "yearns jealously over the spirit which he has made to dwell in us" (vs. 5; Exodus 20:5). God desires fellowship with man but on his own terms, and these terms are well expressed in Proverbs 3:34 which James quotes: "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (vs. 6; see Luke 18:9-14). In verses 7-9 James gives us, in what amounts to "blank verse," his concise formula for achieving this fellowship with God and its consequent rich reward (compare Psalms 24:4; Matthew 5:4; Matthew 5:8). Much of this passage has the ring of Jesus’ teaching, and, like the Sermon on the Mount, it exhibits the Hebrew poetic form of parallelism.

Verses 11-12

Judgment of Others (4:11-12)

James has already written against the practice, observable in the Church, of making distinctions between brothers on the basis of wealth (2:2-4). He now speaks out, and with great vigor, against speaking evil against and judging a brother at all. We are strongly reminded of Jesus’ teaching on this subject (Matthew 7:1-5). The argument against such practice is carried to its logical conclusion — that when one disobeys the law relating to love of brothers one is actually calling in question the validity of the law itself, one so to speak "judges the law," setting himself above it But God alone is both "lawgiver and judge."

Verses 13-17

Boasting (4:13-17)

In this and the following sections James returns to the arrogant rich (see 2:6-7), first to condemn their arrogance and then to proclaim their evil end. The actions of the rich are described in much the same manner adopted by Jesus in the parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:16-21 ). In both, the rich man is made to appear totally oblivious to the evanescent aspect of life and riches. He speaks within his heart and acts accordingly, as though life were to run on indefinitely, instead of being "a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes" (vs. 14; see Psalms 90:5-6). This is the attitude of the practical materialist, whatever his protestations of religion may be. His boastful arrogance (vs. 16) for aU practical purposes disregards the existence of the Lord of life in whose hands are all its issues (vs. 15).

The clause "If the Lord wills" (vs. 15), followed by some deduction based on this premise, is one commonly employed among both pious Jews and Moslems to this day. Its use represents the speaker’s wish to indicate at every possible opportunity his sense of dependence on the divine mercy and no doubt may, contrary to James’ intention, become merely a stereotyped formula indicative of a legalistic religion.