In this chapter we find the disastrous consequences involved in
following the wrong kind of wisdom. We cannot think like the
world and yet not act like the world or avoid the type of problems
which plague those in the world. In addition, we cannot think
like the world and avoid problems in the local congregation.
"James is here setting before his people a basic question-----Whether
is your aim in life to submit to the will of God, or to gratify
your own desires for the pleasures of this world? And his warning
is that, if pleasure is the policy of life, then nothing but strife
and hatred and division can possibly follow' (Barclay p. 115).
"What we do results from what we are. Characteristics flow
from character. Human actions are the product of the ruling principles
that guide us. It is not true that we sometimes "act without
thinking". Every action is the result of a decision. It
may be a hasty decision or one prompted more by emotion than by
reason, but in every case the mind has had a choice, which has
then been pursued. James has been describing these ruling principles
as "wisdom" (3:13-18)
.As Christians today
assess their lives, there are some questions to be asked that
may help identify the ruling principle behind their actions.
What activities do we tend to emphasize? What matters upset us
most easily? When crisis comes, what factors take precedence?
In unpleasant situations, does our personal contribution tend
to pacify or to cause strife?" (Kent pp. 139-140).
Unfortunately, some people read the following chapter and conclude
that since these Christians had some big problems, we can persist
in our own sins. Or, since various Christians in the First Century
were worldly-minded, we can remain worldly-minded. Such a view
of these and other passages fails to realize that God was expecting
such individuals to repent or else (4:4).
4:1 "What is the source of quarrels
and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that
wage war in your members?"
"What is the source"-"from
what source, brought about or given by whom, born of whom"
(Arndt p. 680). What a great question! "James is not content
to concentrate on the strife; he compels his readers to think
about the cause" (Kent p. 141).
Point To Note:
How often we fail to even ask such a question. We tend to become
so focused on the strife, or some side issue, such as, "I've
been under a lot of pressure lately, things are stressful at work,
the children have really been a handful, my mate has been unsupportive,
or, they just make me so mad". Draper notes, "If our
homes are not running smoothly, it is easier for the husband to
blame the wife or the wife too blame the husband, but the source
of conflict is within us. It is our spirit, our attitude.
It is
.selfishness within us that wants to be pleased and
pampered. We must face the truth" (p. 112).
"quarrels"-"Where
do the conflicts, where do the wrangles come from" (Mof);
"What is the cause of the fighting and quarreling that goes
on among you" (TCNT). "Strife, conflict, quarrel"
(Arndt p. 685). Notice, James is not talking about war between
nations (even though the principle is often the same), or strife
in the non-Christian community, rather, he is talking about strife
and infighting among Christians!
"conflicts"-contention,
strife, disputes (2 Cor. 7:5; 2 Tim.2:23; Titus 3:9).
"among you"-which makes
it clear that James isn't talking about conflicts among non-Christians,
but the conflicts that were taking place among professed Christians.
"James is thus depicting situations in which occasions of
disagreement result in continuing hostility, even after the battle
is over. Armed camps develop, and true peace is not achieved"
(Kent p. 141). "James refers to long drawn-out resentment,
and a spirit of bitterness and anger toward others
across
America today there is as much conflict within the church as there
is outside it. That is why Christianity limps along and why there
are such sad caricatures of Christians. A godless world looks
in and sees nothing different than what they see outside"
(Draper p. 111).
"Is not the source"-"The
community conflicts come not from a passion for truth or godly
wisdom" (Davids p. 156).
"your pleasures"-"desire
for pleasures" (Thayer p. 276); "evil pleasure, lust"
(Arndt p. 344); "sensual pleasures" (Vincent p. 755).
"The Greek word translated 'evil desires' is the world from
which we get 'hedonism', which means an unbridled search for pleasure.
This philosophy is based on what pleases me" (Draper p.
111). "James uses the word to describe the sinful desire
for satisfaction, which is self-seeking and causes those who yield
to it to wrangle with one another in order to get their own way"
(Kent p. 141). (Luke 8:14; Titus 3:3; James 4:3; 2 Peter 2:13).
"that wage war in your members?"-"It
is not to be found in the desires which are always at war within
you" (TCNT). The word "members" in the above
verse doesn't refer to the members of the congregation, but rather,
the members of our body. "Every conflict we have begins
with us: in our bodies, in our minds, in our emotions
.Why
does such a spirit create dissension? Because we can please ourselves
only at another's expense. Every part of life is a battleground.
There is a war taking place for our minds right now. There is
a battle raging for our emotions every day. There is a battle
raging for our strengths and our energies, for our dreams and
our visions. Our bodies are battlefields. Pleasure-seeking
destroys our love for spiritual things. We may still keep
on doing them, but we do them out of duty and not love
.When
we love Jesus, the easiest and most joyful thing in the world
is to serve him and obey him. But when the goal of our lives
is obtaining selfish pleasures, our obedience becomes simply a
disagreeable duty" (Draper pp. 111-112) (See Colossians
3:5; Romans 6:13,19; 1 Peter 2:11; 1 Corinthians 3:3).
4:2 "You lust and do not have;
so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain;
so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not
ask."
"You lust and do not have"-present
tense, "to lust after, covet" (Thayer p. 238). Notice
the words, "and do not have": "When men live merely
to satisfy their desires, they never realize their goal. He who
lives for the satisfaction of his pleasures and desires will always
"have not". The more he gets the more unsatisfied
he will be" (Roberts p. 153).
"so you commit murder"-While
the literal taking of life is often the result of lust (2 Samuel
11:1 and following; 2 Kings 21:2-4). Murder in this passage is
probably being used in a figurative sense (Matthew 5:22; 1 John
3:15). Surely, the Roman government would have intervened if
these Christians had been actually killing people. A powerful
point is that the same selfish desires which move us to lash out
at our brethren in words, are the same desires that move others
to actually kill. In addition, the tense is present, the "murdering"
they were doing was ongoing. Barclay notes concerning such selfish
desires, "It sets men at each other's throats
..When
all men are striving, each one to possess all for himself the
same thing, life inevitably becomes a competitive arena. Men
trample each other down in the rush to grasp the same things.
Men will do anything to eliminate a rival for the thing or for
the person they are on fire to possess" (p. 117). Selfish
and sinful anger is going to be one of the consequences when we
are bent on pleasing ourselves. When we are selfish we will develop
a hatred for those who stand in the path to our goals, we will
destroy the reputations of others by gossiping and so on.
"And you are envious"-"Envious"-"to
be heated or to boil, with envy, hatred, anger" (Thayer p.
271); "to be jealous, to burn with jealousy" (Vine p.
273); "to hotly desire to possess" (Robertson p. 49).
"and cannot obtain"-"yet
cannot gain your end" (TCNT). Draper notes, "What a
graphic picture of frustration!
..There has never been one
time when Satan has ever delivered what he promised. There has
never been one time when a man received satisfaction and happiness
from living in rebellion against God. Not once! Be we don't
believe it. Somehow we think we are the exception
.There
are many who think God is the super killjoy, the original wet
blanket. They think he doesn't want anybody to have fun or to
be happy. How wrong they are" (p. 113).
Point To Note:
Be impressed that selfishness cannot lead to happiness. Here
are people who longed to possess certain things, but they could
never obtain that for which they were longing. Jealousy, hatred,
lust, greed and so on can never bring a person to a state of contentment,
satisfaction, fulfillment and happiness (Ecclesiastes 2:11; 5:10).
"so you fight and quarrel"-Both
words are in the continuous tense, "go on fighting and warring".
Note how selfishness and self-seeking generate a vicious cycle
of misery and frustration. "We don't get happy because we
try to be happy" (Draper p. 114). Some of us blame others
or circumstances as being the source of our unhappiness. But
the truth is that we are often frustrated because we are being
selfish. Instead of compliance to the will of God as being the
goal in our lives (2 Corinthians 5:9), the goal has rather become,
our own personal and immediate happiness. The above verse should
remind us that the heart of too many issues in the Church isn't
doctrine, but rather human selfishness.
"You do not have because you do
not ask"-What happens to our prayer-life when we are
placing ourselves first? "The craving for pleasure in
the end shuts the door of prayer
.The true end of prayer
is to say to God, 'Thy will be done'. The prayer of the man who
is pleasure-dominated is: 'My desires be satisfied'" (Barclay
p. 118). When we are selfish, prayer is viewed as a weak, useless
and silly practice. Rather, we turn to worldly ways of getting
what we want, threats, manipulation, scheming, plotting, etc..
4:3 "You ask and do not receive,
because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on
your pleasures."
"You ask and do not receive"-"Some
of us might say, 'Now wait a minute. I asked God for something
and didn't get it. I did everything he told me to and I didn't
feel anything. It didn't work
..there is a very fine line
between wanting God to get the glory for a victory and just wanting
the victory" (Draper pp. 114-115). One temptation is to
turn to selfishness when it appears to us that our prayers are
not being answered. The person with little faith will then be
tempted to turn to the wisdom of this world.
"because you ask with wrong motives"-As
in every other area of our lives, the wrong motive void all our
efforts (1 Corinthians 13:1-4). At this point everyone of us
should ask ourselves, "Why do we pray?" "What
are we trying to accomplish by praying?" "What motivates
us to pray?" Woods notes, "If we are disposed to be
shocked by the suggestion that men may be lustful, covetous, murderers
(at heart) and constant wranglers and, at the same time, be given
to prayer, we need only to recall that it is not unusual for men
to invoke the blessings of God upon them, though engaged in the
most high-handed wickedness" (p. 204) (Matthew 23). Prayer
isn't a magical way to get what we want and neither is it a short-cut,
whereby we can avoid effort and work. In addition, those praying
to God must have faith (James 1:5ff); be interested in the will
of God, more than their own will (1 John 5:14), and people who
believe in His will to the point that they are practicing it (Proverbs
28:9).
"so that"-Here is the
reason why some of these Christians were praying.
"you may spend it on your pleasures"-"your
object being to waste on your pleasures what you acquire"
(Wey). "Although they were more subtle than to pray outright
for evil things, they may have asked for such things as money
so as to spend it unworthily" (Kent p. 144). "Spend"-"to
waste, squander, consume" (Thayer p. 125); "spend freely,
with the connotation of wastefulness" (Arndt p. 171). "Whether,
therefore, God grants a petition for health, wealth, the ability
to serve, depends on the motive which prompts such a petition.
It is possible for one to pray for ability to serve others when
the chief reason for the desire is not the welfare of man, but
lust for power, fame, notoriety, etc" (Woods p. 206).
Point To Note:
James is not teaching that it is wrong to pray for things which
affect yourself, such as good health, children, or material prosperity.
But what is your true motive behind such prayers? Draper notes,
"our lack of satisfaction goes back to one thing: we will
either please ourselves or we will please God. We have one ultimate
choice: we are going to live for ourselves, trying to satisfy
every desire, greed and passion in our lives, or will we live
for God?" (p. 115).
4:4 "You adulteresses, do you not
know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?
Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself
an enemy of God."
"You adulteresses"-"Unfaithful
people!" (TCNT). Unfaithfulness to God is viewed as spiritual
adultery, spiritual fornication (Ezekiel 16:15; 23:43). In
both the O.T. and N.T., the people of God are pictured as God's
bride (Jeremiah 3:14,20; 31:32). Christians need to remember
that we are married to Christ! (Romans 7:4; 2 Corinthians 11:2
"for I betrothed you to one husband"). See the following
passages (Jeremiah 3:1,8,9; Ezekiel 23:4-7; Hosea 3:1; Matthew
12:39; Mark 8:38; Matthew 16:4; Revelation 2:22). Unfaithfulness
is breaking your marriage vow to God.
Points To Note:
"do you not know"-The
audience addressed did know better, but how often do we live far
below what we know and believe?
"friendship with the world is hostility
toward God?"-Our unfaithfulness and sins are not violations
of some abstract or impersonal law. God takes our sins very personally!
"Thus James is viewing worldliness not just as the violation
of a list of taboos but as an attitude of unfaithfulness to God"
(Kent p. 145). Notice the word "hostility", to love
the attitudes and ways of a society which is in rebellion to God,
is automatically hatred towards the attitudes and ways of God.
You just can't claim to love God and participate in sin at
the same time (Matthew 6:24; 1 John 2:15). It's like you can't
be having an affair and yet claim to love your mate at the same
time.
Point To Note:
But we are tempted to think that "friendship with the world"
only happens when we are living just as sinfully as the world.
Friendship with the world also involves simply giving our consent
to what the world is doing (Romans 1:32). "We may not necessarily
do the things of the world, but we accept what they do and have
become comfortable with it" (Draper p. 119). Friendship
with the world also involves simply becoming so comfortable with
the world that we are no longer offended by worldly attitudes,
speech, dress or actions.
"therefore whoever"-This
applies to everyone. James didn't have the attitude that a faithful
Christian could never fall (1 Corinthians 10:12).
"wishes to be"-People
don't accidentally end up in sin. And Christians just don't fall
away by accident. Friendship with the world demands a deliberate
will and wish (1 Timothy 6:9 "those who want to get
rich"). Once again we see that sin begins with a selfish
and unhealthy desire (1:14). I start envying people in the world,
I start thinking that true happiness is found in the world, I
start convincing myself that people in the world are much happier
than Christians, and so on. And then there are members, who
will not openly rebel against God, and they will keep on coming
week after week to services, but who inwardly wish that they could
do what people in the world are doing. God knows the heart!
(Hebrews 4:12-13).
"makes himself"-People
are not predestined to be the enemies of God. Rather, the person
who chooses the world instead of God has established himself
as God's enemy.
"an enemy of God"-one
who is hateful towards God, one of God's adversaries. Friendship
with the world places you in the alliance which includes the devil
(Matthew 13:39). And this is a battle that you can't win. We
already know the final score for this battle (Revelation 20:10).
Point To Note:
What a tragedy for one created in the image of God to become God's
enemy! What a waste! What a failure! Draper notes, "Many
of us know what Simon Peter went through when he cursed and said,
'I don't know Christ'. Too few of us know what he went through
when he went out and wept bitterly and repented" (p. 120).
4:5 "Or do you think that the Scripture
speaks to no purpose: 'He jealousy desires the Spirit which He
has made to dwell in us'?"
"the Scripture speaks to no purpose"-"do
you consider this an idle word of Scripture?" (Mof). The
word Scripture can at times mean more than one Scripture (1 Timothy
5:18), or Scripture as a whole (John 2:22; 7:38). "James
meant that the gist of the Old Testament teaching supports this
concept, just as persons may say today, 'The Bible says'
without
intending to refer to a particular chapter and verse" (Kent
p. 146). The idea that God will brook no rival and that He demands
our complete devotion is found in many Old Testament passages
(Exodus 20:5; 34:14; Deut. 6:15; 32:19-21).
Point To Note:
But there are many people, even religious people who would argue
that the Scriptures really do speak to no purpose. That is, that
God will change His mind and will simply save everyone, or that
hell doesn't really exist, or God will save people outside of
Christ and that Jesus isn't the only way. The above argument,
which is made by James cannot be made by those who argue that
time and culture have made irrelevant many of the teachings found
in Scripture.
"He jealously desires the Spirit
which He has made to dwell in us"-The Spirit here
could be either the Holy Spirit or our own spirit. Remember the
word rendered spirit was given a large "S" or a small
"s" by the translators. While the ASV and NASV has
"Spirit" the King James translators thought that the
human spirit was under consideration, hence the rendering "spirit".
Points To Note: