James · chapter 4 of 5
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James 4 explains that quarrels among believers come from the passions that war within them and that friendship with the world is enmity with God. It calls them to submit to God, resist the devil, draw near to God and humble themselves, not to speak evil of one another, and to depend on the Lord's will instead of boasting about tomorrow.
James 3 ended by speaking of the wisdom that makes peace. Chapter 4 asks why, then, there are wars and fights among believers, and gives a direct diagnosis: selfish desires. It then offers the remedy, which is humility before God.
James asks what causes quarrels and what causes fights among you, and answers: your passions are at war within you. You desire and do not have, so you murder; you covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask, and when you ask you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. He calls those who cultivate friendship with the world adulterous people, for friendship with the world is enmity with God. God yearns jealously over the spirit he has made to dwell in us, and he gives more grace; therefore Scripture says that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Then come a series of commands: submit yourselves to God; resist the devil and he will flee from you; draw near to God and he will draw near to you; cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.
He then turns to slander: do not speak evil against one another, brothers; the one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother speaks evil against the law and judges the law; and if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy; who are you to judge your neighbor?
The chapter ends with a warning to those who plan without God. Some say today or tomorrow we will go into such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit, though they do not know what tomorrow will bring, for they are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead they ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. To boast in arrogance is evil. And whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Conflicts arise from unfulfilled desires; you do not have because you do not ask, and when you ask you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. Selfish prayer is not answered.
God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. The attitude of the heart decides whether we receive his help or his opposition.
Submit yourselves to God, resist the devil and he will flee, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. The Christian life combines submission to God and active resistance to evil.
Life is a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes, so we ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. Planning is fine, but dependence on God is the right attitude.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: From the passions that war within you. — James 4:1
Answer: Because they ask wrongly, to spend it on their passions. — James 4:3
Answer: Enmity with God. — James 4:4
Answer: To the humble. — James 4:6
Answer: He flees from you. — James 4:7
Answer: If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. — James 4:15
James 4 invites us to examine conflicts from the inside. In a small group you can ask which unmet desire lies behind a recent argument in the family or the church, and confess it simply. Praying with clean motives, as verse 3 asks, changes the way we ask.
The end of the chapter corrects planning without God. You can write down a project for the coming months and offer it to God with the phrase if the Lord wills, without ceasing to plan diligently.
James 4 invites us to humble ourselves before God and depend on his will. Chapter 5 addresses oppressive rich people, encourages patience until the Lord's coming and ends with the prayer of faith and the care of the brother who wanders.
It means that adopting the values and desires of a world that lives with its back to God is setting oneself against him. It does not speak of loving the people of the world but of being ruled by their pride and greed.
No. He condemns planning with arrogance, as though life were guaranteed. He asks us to recognize that everything depends on God and to plan with humility.
That whoever submits to God and resists firmly is not at the enemy's mercy. The promise does not depend on our own strength but on closeness to God.