@Jas 4:1-17. AGAINST FIGHTINGS AND THEIR SOURCE; WORLDLY LUSTS; UNCHARITABLE JUDGMENTS, AND PRESUMPTUOUS RECKONING ON THE FUTURE.
1. whence--The cause of quarrels is often sought in external
circumstances, whereas internal lusts are the true origin.
wars, &c.--contrasted with the "peace" of heavenly wisdom. "Fightings"
are the active carrying on of "wars." The best authorities have a second
"whence" before "fightings." Tumults marked the era before the
destruction of Jerusalem when James wrote. He indirectly alludes to
these. The members are the first seat of war; thence it passes to
conflict between man and man, nation and nation.
come they not, &c.--an appeal to their consciences.
lusts--literally, "pleasures," that is, the lusts which prompt you
to "desire"
(see on Jas 4:2) pleasures;
whence you seek
self at the cost of your neighbor, and hence flow "fightings."
that war--"campaign, as an army of soldiers encamped within"
[ALFORD]
the soul; tumultuously war against the interests of your fellow men,
while lusting to advance self. But while warring thus against others
they (without his knowledge) war against the soul of the man himself,
and against the Spirit; therefore they must be "mortified" by the
Christian.
2. Ye lust--A different Greek word from that in @Jas 4:1.
"Ye desire"; literally, "ye set your mind (or heart) on" an
object.
have not--The lust of desire does not ensure the actual possession.
Hence "ye kill" (not as Margin, without any old authority, "envy")
to ensure possession. Not probably in the case of professing Christians
of that day in a literal sense, but "kill and envy" (as the Greek for "desire to have" should be translated), that is, harass and oppress
through envy [DRUSIUS]. Compare @Zec 11:5, "slay";
through envy, hate, and desire to get out of your way, and so are
"murderers" in God's eyes [ESTIUS]. If literal murder
[ALFORD] were
meant, I do not think it would occur so early in the series; nor had
Christians then as yet reached so open criminality. In the Spirit's
application of the passage to all ages, literal killing is
included, flowing from the desire to possess so David and Ahab. There
is a climax: "Ye desire," the individual lust for an object; "ye kill
and envy," the feeling and action of individuals against individuals;
"ye fight and war," the action of many against many.
ye have not, because ye ask not--God promises to those who pray, not
to those who fight. The petition of the lustful, murderous, and
contentious is not recognized by God as prayer. If ye prayed, there
would be no "wars and fightings." Thus this last clause is an answer to
the question, @Jas 4:1, "Whence come wars and fightings?"
3. Some of them are supposed to say in objection, But we do "ask" (pray); compare @Jas 4:2. James replies, It is not enough to ask for good things, but we must ask with a good spirit and intention. "Ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it (your object of prayer) upon (literally, 'in') your lusts (literally, 'pleasures')"; not that ye may have the things you need for the service of God. Contrast @Jas 1:5 with @Mt 6:31,32. If ye prayed aright, all your pro. per wants would be supplied; the improper cravings which produce "wars and fightings" would then cease. Even believers' prayers are often best answered when their desires are most opposed.
4. The oldest manuscripts omit "adulterers and," and read simply,
"Ye adulteresses." God is the rightful husband; the men of the world are
regarded collectively as one adulteress, and individually as
adulteresses.
the world--in so far as the men of it and their motives and acts are
aliens to God, for example, its selfish "lusts" (@Jas 4:3), and
covetous and ambitious "wars and fightings" (@Jas 4:1).
enmity--not merely "inimical"; a state of enmity, and that enmity
itself. Compare @1Jo 2:15, "love . . . the world . . . the love of
the Father."
whosoever . . . will be--The Greek is emphatic, "shall
be resolved to be." Whether he succeed or not, if his wish be to
be the friend of the world, he renders himself, becomes (so the
Greek for "is") by the very fact, "the enemy of God." Contrast
"Abraham the friend of God."
5. in vain--No word of Scripture can be so. The quotation here, as in
@Eph 5:14, seems to be not so much from a particular passage as one
gathered by James under inspiration from the general tenor of such passages
in both the Old and New Testaments, as @Nu 14:29 Pr 21:20 Ga 5:17.
spirit that dwelleth in us--Other manuscripts read, "that God hath
made to dwell in us" (namely, at Pentecost). If so translated, "Does
the (Holy) Spirit that God hath placed in us lust to (towards) envy"
(namely, as ye do in your worldly "wars and fightings")? Certainly not;
ye are therefore walking in the flesh, not in the Spirit, while ye thus
lust towards, that is, with envy against one another. The
friendship of the world tends to breed envy; the Spirit produces
very different fruit. ALFORD attributes the epithet "with envy," in the
unwarrantable sense of jealously, to the Holy Spirit: "The Spirit
jealously desires us for His own." In English Version the sense
is, "the (natural) spirit that hath its dwelling in us lusts with
(literally, 'to,' or 'towards') envy." Ye lust, and because ye have not
what ye lust after (@Jas 4:1,2), ye envy your neighbor who has, and
so the spirit of envy leads you on to "fight." James also here
refers to @Jas 3:14,16.
6. But--"Nay, rather."
he--God.
giveth more grace--ever increasing grace; the farther ye depart from
"envy" [BENGEL].
he saith--The same God who causes His spirit to dwell in believers
(@Jas 4:5), by the Spirit also speaks in Scripture. The quotation
here is probably from @Pr 3:34; as probably @Pr 21:10 was
generally referred to in @Jas 4:5. In Hebrew it is "scorneth the
scorners," namely, those who think "Scripture speaketh in vain."
resisteth--literally, "setteth Himself in array against"; even as
they, like Pharaoh, set themselves against Him. God repays sinners in
their own coin. "Pride" is the mother of "envy" (@Jas 4:5); it is
peculiarly satanic, for by it Satan fell.
the proud--The Greek means in derivation one who
shows himself above his fellows, and so lifts himself against God.
the humble--the unenvious, uncovetous, and unambitious as to the
world. Contrast @Jas 4:4.
7. Submit to . . . God--so ye shall be among "the humble,"
@Jas 4:6; also @Jas 4:10 1Pe 5:6.
Resist . . . devil--Under his banner pride and envy are
enlisted in the world; resist his temptations to these. Faith, humble
prayers, and heavenly wisdom, are the weapons of resistance. The
language is taken from warfare. "Submit" as a good soldier puts himself
in complete subjection to his captain. "Resist," stand bravely against.
he will flee--Translate, "he shall flee." For it is a
promise of God, not a mere assurance from man to man [ALFORD].
He shall flee worsted as he did from Christ.
8. Draw nigh to God--So "cleave unto Him," @De 30:20, namely, by
prayerfully (@Jas 4:2,3) "resisting Satan," who would oppose our
access to God.
he will draw nigh--propitious.
Cleanse . . . hands--the outward instruments of action. None but the
clean-handed can ascend into the hill of the Lord (justified through
Christ, who alone was perfectly so, and as such "ascended" thither).
purify . . . hearts--literally "make chaste" of your spiritual
adultery (@Jas 4:4, that is, worldliness) "your hearts": the
inward source of all impurity.
double-minded--divided between God and the world. The "double-minded"
is at fault in heart; the sinner in his hands likewise.
9. Be afflicted--literally, "Endure misery," that is, mourn over your
wretchedness through sin. Repent with deep sorrow instead of your
present laughter. A blessed mourning. Contrast
@Isa 22:12,13 Lu 6:25. James does not add here, as in @Jas 5:1,
"howl," where he foretells the doom of the impenitent at the coming
destruction of Jerusalem.
heaviness--literally, "falling of the countenance," casting down of
the eyes.
10. in the sight of the Lord--as continually in the presence of Him
who alone is worthy to be exalted: recognizing His presence in all your
ways, the truest incentive to humility. The tree, to grow upwards,
must strike its roots deep downwards; so man, to be exalted, must have
his mind deep-rooted in humility. In @1Pe 5:6, it is, Humble
yourselves under the mighty hand of God, namely, in His dealings of
Providence: a distinct thought from that here.
lift you up--in part in this world, fully in the world to come.
11. Having mentioned sins of the tongue (@Jas 3:5-12), he shows
here that evil-speaking flows from the same spirit of exalting self
at the expense of one's neighbor as caused the "fightings" reprobated in
this chapter (@Jas 4:1).
Speak not evil--literally, "Speak not against" one another.
brethren--implying the inconsistency of such depreciatory speaking
of one another in brethren.
speaketh evil of the law--for the law in commanding, "Love thy
neighbor as thyself" (@Jas 2:8), virtually condemns evil-speaking
and judging [ESTIUS]. Those who superciliously condemn the acts and
words of others which do not please themselves, thus aiming at the
reputation of sanctity, put their own moroseness in the place of the
law, and claim to themselves a power of censuring above the law of God,
condemning what the law permits
[CALVIN]. Such a.one acts as though the
law could not perform its own office of judging, but he must fly
upon the office
[BENGEL]. This is the last mention of the law in the New
Testament. ALFORD rightly takes the "law" to be the old moral law
applied in its comprehensive spiritual fulness by Christ: "the law of
liberty."
if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer . . . but a judge--Setting
aside the Christian brotherhood as all alike called to be doers of the law, in subjection to it, such a one arrogates the office of a
judge.
12. There is one lawgiver--The best authorities read in addition,
"and judge." Translate, "There is One (alone) who is (at once) Lawgiver
and Judge, (namely) He who is able to save and destroy." Implying, God
alone is Lawgiver and therefore Judge, since it is He alone who can
execute His judgments; our inability in this respect shows our
presumption in trying to act as judges, as though we were God.
who art thou, &c.--The order in the Greek is emphatic, "But
(inserted in oldest manuscripts) thou, who art thou that judgest
another?" How rashly arrogant in judging thy fellows, and wresting from
God the office which belongs to Him over thee and THEM alike!
another--The oldest authorities read, "thy neighbor."
13. Go to now--"Come now"; said to excite attention.
ye that say--boasting of the morrow.
To-day or to-morrow--as if ye had the free choice of either day as a
certainty. Others read, "To-day and to-morrow."
such a city--literally, "this the city" (namely, the one present to
the mind of the speaker). This city here.
continue . . . a year--rather, "spend one year." Their language
implies that when this one year is out, they purpose similarly settling
plans for to come [BENGEL].
buy and sell--Their plans for the future are all worldly.
14. what--literally, "of what nature" is your life? that is, how
evanescent it is.
It is even--Some oldest authorities read, "For ye are."
BENGEL, with
other old authorities, reads, "For it shall be," the future referring to
the "morrow" (@Jas 4:13-15). The former expresses, "Ye yourselves
are transitory"; so everything of yours, even your life, must partake of
the same transitoriness. Received text has no old authority.
and then vanisheth away--"afterwards vanishing as it came"; literally,
"afterwards (as it appeared), so vanishing" [ALFORD].
15. Literally, "instead of your saying," &c. This refers to "ye that
say" (@Jas 4:13).
we shall live--The best manuscripts read, "We shall both live
and do," &c. The boasters spoke as if life, action, and the
particular kind of action were in their power, whereas all three depend
entirely on the will of the Lord.
16. now--as it is.
rejoice in . . . boastings--"ye boast in arrogant presumptions,"
namely, vain confident fancies that the future is certain to you
(@Jas 4:13).
rejoicing--boasting [BENGEL].
17. The general principle illustrated by the particular example just discussed is here stated: knowledge without practice is imputed to a man as great and presumptuous sin. James reverts to the principle with which he started. Nothing more injures the soul than wasted impressions. Feelings exhaust themselves and evaporate, if not embodied in practice. As we will not act except we feel, so if we will not act out our feelings, we shall soon cease to feel.