The Book Of James

Chapter 4:6-12


4:6 "But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, 'God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble'".

"But he gives a greater grace"-"Whatever God demands of us, he provides the means by which we can produce it. Whatever demands of purity and holiness and whatever pressures the world may place upon us, James declares that God will give us enough grace for each moment" (Draper p. 122). This task of resisting temptation and opposing the influences of the world is far from a hopeless assignment. More than enough grace is available to every Christian to match the attractions and allurements of the world. Neither has God left us at the mercy of the devil.

Points To Note:

  1. This grace isn't irresistible for one must humble themselves to receive it. This grace doesn't overpower us, rather, we cooperate with it, humbly accept it. 2. This grace is manifested in a variety of ways: A. The grace of God monitors every temptation and ensures that we are never tempted beyond our abilities (1 Corinthians 10:13). B. This grace is manifested in the gospel message, a message that is far more winsome, persuasive and appealing to the humble than anything the world can offer. C. This grace is seen in God's forgiveness extended to the Christian who is willing to humble themselves and acknowledge their sins. "There is still an even greater graciousness of God. If one will simply humble oneself, God will extend his grace and mercy. This verse, then, is a solid basis on which to build an emphatic call to repentance, which James proceeds to do" (Davids pp. 164-165). Therefore, the Christian is never justified in giving up or giving into depression or an attitude which says, "it's no use". Grace can even forgive the Christian who has become a friend of the world, if that Christian will humble themselves. Grace can more than match any sin which we can commit---as long as we are willing to repent (Romans 5:20 "but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more").


"Therefore it says"-Quotation from Proverbs 3:34

"God is opposed to the proud"-"Opposed"-a military term, which means to range in battle against, to set oneself against, to resist (1 Peter 5:5). "God is against those who conceitedly show themselves above others. God accepts the challenge and arrays himself in battle against them" (Woods p. 222).

Point To Note:

This statement does bring up the question as to why God is so opposed to people who are arrogant: Barclay notes, "What then is this destructive pride?…This pride shuts itself off from God for three reasons. (1) It does not know its own need. It so admires itself that it recognizes no need to be supplied. It walks in proud self-sufficiency. (2) It cherishes its own independence. It will be beholden to no man; it will not even be beholden to God. It will admit dependence on nothing and on no one, human or divine. (3) It does not recognize its own sin. It is occupied with thinking of its own goodness, and it never realizes that it has any sin from which it needs to be saved" (p. 124)

"but gives grace"-that is the grace just mentioned, this greater grace!

"to the humble"-This verse admits that a lack of humility can be a problem among some Christians. Pride can even keep professed Christians from receiving the grace of God.

Points To Note:

  1. Which brings up another question, why is remaining faithful viewed as such a hardship by some professed Christians? This verse provides one of the answers. Too many Christians are trying to live the Christian life by their own sheer stubbornness and determination. A good number of professed Christians are trying to be Christians without really placing any dependence upon God. How many approach services, studying with others, resisting temptation, with the attitude, "Well I'm going to keep on doing this unpleasant task, even if it kills me. I don't really enjoy services, I don't like talking to people, I really would rather not study the Bible, but I'm just going to force myself to do those things". 2. The key here is humility, an utter dependence upon God a realization of our own short-comings, a complete surrender to His will, a full acknowledgment of His power (Galatians 2:20). 3. The humble realize that everything doesn't depend on them. God can work through providential means, the gospel message is extremely powerful (Romans 1:16), and the God whom they serve hears and answers their prayers (James 1:5). How many of us get up in the morning and face the day, without praying first? Is our attitude one of proud self-sufficiency? "I know what I am doing, I've done my homework, I don't need God's help today"? Christians with that attitude end up failing, sinning and struggling. Tomorrow, before you encounter the day, pray. Let God know what you are facing, what tasks lie ahead, what fears and worries are in your mind, and ask for His help and wisdom. Grace doesn't mean that we don't have to work, but it means that now we are working from a different perspective, with greater confidence, not in ourselves, but in God (Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me").



4:7 "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you".

"Submit therefore"-In view of the grace available to the humble child of God, submission to God makes all the sense in the world. "Submit"-another military term which means to rank oneself under, to obey, to subject oneself. The aorist tense denotes a sense of urgency and a call to do it and do it now. This submission involves our whole being including our minds and thoughts (Romans 8:7). "Submit…involves more than 'obey', although it obviously includes obedience. It indicates the surrender of the will to the leadership of another' (Kent p. 149). In the context, submission to God involves the acknowledgment that the world doesn't have the answers, the world can't provide for our true needs and the world is wrong.

"Resist the devil"-"Resist"-"to set oneself against, to withstand, oppose" (Thayer p. 45) (1 Peter 5:9; Ephesians 6:13). Note that the devil is a real being who can be resisted. But we can't resist the devil on our own (Romans 3:23). The verse suggests the devil can be resisted only when we completely place ourselves under God's authority. A half-hearted devotion to God won't stand up under the devil's attacks. "Most of us flirt with temptation and court evil, then wonder why we have problems" (Draper p. 125). This demands a decision, a willingness to commit ourselves completely to God, a willingness to put all our eggs in one basket, to depend entirely upon God for our well-being. Resisting the devil and submitting to God demands that we get off the fence (1 Kings 18:21).

Points To Note:

1. "The Christian is not here instructed to go out and attack the devil by looking for new ways to lure him into combat. It is assumed, rather, that the devil will do the attacking" (Kent p. 149) (1 Peter 5:8 "prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour"). 2. The reason that we yield to temptation is not the devil, but rather our own failure to trust God. The devil doesn't put the desire to do evil in our hearts (James 1:13), rather he only throws out the lure, and when we allow ourselves to become selfish, when we allow ourselves to mistrust and question God, then such lures start to look appealing.

"and he will flee from you"-The devil isn't all-powerful and neither can he simply overwhelm us. We cannot say, "The devil made me do it". "Man must resist (stand against) Satan, or be taken captive by him. There can be no armistice, no terms of amnesty offered…..It is important to observe that we resist Satan only by a total rejection of his efforts. One who yields, even in the slightest degree, takes a step that may eventually lead to complete surrender" (Woods pp. 224-225). While the devil "flees" he also comes back from time to time (Luke 4:13). The word "flee" also suggests that the devil simply doesn't have the stomach for the Christian who is completely depending upon God.


4:8 "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded."

"Draw near to God"-"come near, approach" (Thayer p. 164). Be impressed that one can be a professed Christian and yet be far from God. James isn't admonishing non-Christians, but rather Christians to draw near to God. One can be a Christian and yet not be close to God. We have already been told how to draw near to God, that is by humbling ourselves, and placing our selves completely under His authority. Some people try to draw near to God by attending more often, reading the bible more often, etc…., but they do all these important things without giving God their heart. Increased study and prayer will be to no avail if we continue to trust in ourselves.

"He will draw near to you"-Fellowship and intimacy with God are conditional. God wants to draw near to us! God wants a close relationship with us! "We couldn't possibly want to be close to God as much as he wants to be close to us. We couldn't possibly want to love God as much as he loves us" (Draper p. 125). What a thought! Knowing that when we draw near to God, God is drawing near to us, and God wants and earnestly desires our love and dedication. God can be approached by imperfect people, and God draws near to sinners who willing to humble themselves.

"Cleanse your hands"-a figurative expression which means to cleanse yourselves (Isaiah 1:15; Psalm 24:4; 1 Timothy 2:8). "Hands is an appropriate metaphor for outward activity, just as hearts in the next clause…refers to inward thoughts and attitudes" (Kent p. 150).

"you sinners"-The Christian who is a friend of the world is a sinner. Such a friendship can and does affect our relationship with God. Note, James has a tremendous amount of love for these brethren, but there at times when love must speak plainly. "It is noteworthy that the more common 'brethren' by which James usually addressed his readers, gives way to this sharp term of reproach in this instance. This was doubtless done to impress them with the seriousness of the situation, and to shock them into action to remedy it" (Woods p. 230).

"purify your hearts"-Without the purification of the heart, cleaning up the outward actions is vain. But how many of us when we repent, simply cleanse the hands? How many of us think that simply stopping the outward sin is an adequate level of repentance? And notice that we have the obligation to clean up our own hearts, for in the end, I'm the only one who can really change my attitudes and motives (2 Corinthians 7:1; Romans 12:1). Look at the hope found in this verse! The heart can be purified, the mind can be changed, and attitudes can shift! A bad attitude, a selfish disposition isn't set in stone---we can change if we want to. "Christianity is not just a way of putting on an act or a front; it is a matter of the heart" (Draper p. 126). True conversion, real change, is a real possibility.

"you double-minded"-"divided in interest" (Thayer p. 153). The person who can't seem to make up their mind. Someone wavering between two opinions. "A man who cleanses the outside and leaves the inside impure is a double-minded man" (Draper p. 126). The person who tries to get the best-for self out of the world and the best-for self out of Christianity at the same time. The friend of the world can be simply a person who has compromised, someone wavering between God and the world. The person who loves God, but not completely, they have some trust in God, but not fully, they don't like some things in the world, but they don't abhor every evil in the world. They see the value of Christianity, but they still want to flirt with sin.

4:9 "Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to gloom."

"Be miserable"-Notice the word 'be'. This must be a voluntary mourning. True repentance, in the end can't be forced. "Miserable"-"be wretched" (Arndt p. 803); "mental wretchedness brought about by the realization of their sinful condition" (Roberts p. 168)

"and mourn"-to mourn over their own selfishness and unfaithfulness (Matthew 5:4; 1 Corinthians 5:2; 2 Corinthians 12:21).

"and weep"-Such repentance must be more than just mental or theoretical. "It describes the sense of wretchedness and misery that sinning should produce in the lives of those who have been redeemed….It is obvious that James is calling for genuine repentance, not some casual apology or mild expression of regret" (Kent pp. 150-151). How many of us have truly grieved over our sins? (Matthew 26:75 "he went out, and wept bitterly"; "Luke 7:38). Why is it that we can grieve over the loss of a job, promotion, lost love and so many other things, but we can't grieve over our own selfishness?

"let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into gloom"

Points To Note:

  1. James isn't arguing for a gloomy view of life, but there are times when laughter is inappropriate (Ecclesiastes 7:3; 3:3-4). We can be tempted to make light of our sins. 2. God wants us to be filled with joy (1 Thess. 5:16), but how can we be joyful, how can we laugh when there is sin in our lives? How can we make merry as long as we are being a friend of the world? How can we be happy as long as our hearts are not pure?


4:10 "Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you."

"Humble yourselves"-Once again, we must cooperate with the will of God. We make the final decision whether or not we will be humbled. "The use of the aorist tense shows that he means a definite act, a decisive and full self-surrender" (Roberts p. 170). This humbling of self involves resisting the devil, drawing near to God, forsaking sinful deeds and thoughts, acknowledging the evil of our ways with serious reflection and appropriate grief. But how many people will say, "I know I am being selfish, I know that I am a sinner, I know that I am without excuse", but at the same time refuse to give up what is wrong? In the context we truly haven't humbled ourselves in the presence of God until we have abandoned our favorite sinful practices and attitudes.

"in the presence of the Lord"-Which should remind us that confessing our misdeeds to others doesn't make up for confessing them to God. True repentance involves more than just crying on another person's shoulder. Until we have admitted our sin to God, we still aren't where we need to be.

"and He will exalt you"-"to raise to dignity, honor, and happiness" (Thayer p. 647). Jesus used this same expression on various occasions (Matthew 23:12). "that He may exalt you in due time " (1 Peter 5:6). This exaltation doesn't mean that God will bring material wealth to all the faithful. "When a man gets elected to a political office, a few years pass, later he is defeated. He is elevated, then cast down. A man is a hero and then he is forgotten. But God elevates to eternal rewards" (Draper p. 128). "The immediate attractions of the world must not be allowed to blind us to the prospect of God's far-greater compensation" (Kent p. 152). (Romans 8:18)

4:11-12

The next two sections (4:11-12) and (4:13-17) are related to what has been previously said. What is commonly known as worldliness or being a friend of the world includes much more than what we typically place in that category. Kent notes, "In the next section (4:11-17), James continues to set forth instances, some of them seemingly innocent on the surface, that are nevertheless just as worldly and therefore harmful as the more popularly identified taboos. He talks about a critical spirit, which reflects itself in continually criticizing one's fellows. He writes about the making of plans that may appear to be reasonable and prudent but are actually worldly if God is ignored and unaided human wisdom is all that is employed" (p. 156).


4:11 "Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother, or judges his brother, speaks against the law, and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge of it."

"Do not speak against one another"-"Do not malign one another" (Ber). "The command in Greek means 'stop speaking evil, or slandering.' The habit was already there" (Roberts p. 170). Barclay notes, "The word that James uses for to speak harshly….Usually this verb means to speak evil of someone else in that person's absence, to criticize, to insult, to slander someone when he is not there to defend himself" (p. 130). "We are all especially prone to make excuses for those whom we appreciate and love; to excuse, justify and forgive them for their weaknesses; and to criticize, condemn and flay those whom we dislike" (Woods p. 237).

Points To Note:

  1. Of course we know that James isn't condemning all forms of criticism. There are times when we must confront a brother (Matthew 18:15), when we must determine or judge when someone is no longer being honest (Matthew 7:6; Titus 3:10). 2. It seems clear that James is talking about judging and criticism that comes not from a love for God and others, but from earthly wisdom (3:14-16). Criticism that is generated by envy, jealousy, and selfish ambition. Someone has said that if you love to find fault---then you are automatically disqualified to find it. 3. "We often think that such talk is a small thing. If we were classifying sins, it would be at the bottom of the list. But there are few sins that the Bible more uniformly condemns than this one (Ephesians 4:31, 1 Peter 2:1; Psalm 101:5; 34:12,13; Proverbs 6:16-19)" (Draper p. 131). 4. Paul noted that when others do sin---we need to be on guard, lest we develop sinful attitudes in trying to correct them (Galatians 6:1-2). Roberts notes, "We certainly are not to condone sin or wink at it. But neither are we to act from suspicion or from mere appearance or personal dislike. Our own attitude toward those who have been in error is naturally critical" (p. 171). (2 Timothy 2:24-25).

"or judges his brother"-Once again, the judging which is forbidden is judging which is hypocritical (Matthew 7:1ff), proceeds from sinful attitudes, judging which loves to find fault, which tries to impute the worst possible motives to others, or which attempts to place the worst possible interpretation on their words and actions. Remember, love always attempts to assume the best, to believe the best, unless there is clear evidence to the contrary (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).

"speaks against the law, and judges the law"-For the Christian, the law would be the perfect law of liberty (1:25), and specifically, the law being violated is the royal law to love your neighbor as yourself (2:8). The mindset which thrives on finding fault among brethren, is in essence condemning and declaring as worthless the Divine law which commands us to love our brethren as Jesus loved us (John 13:34). "Such a practice is, in effect, to say that the law of love is a bad one, or at best defective; and may, therefore, be disregarded" (Woods p. 239).

"and judges the law"-In reality, every time we sin and set aside the will of God, we are in effect saying that God's law isn't fit to be obeyed, that it lacks sense and wisdom. "When someone knows what God's Word commands and violates it anyway, he is saying in effect: 'I have made a decision that this is not a good law, and therefore I will set it aside'" (Kent p. 158).

"but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge of it"-"you are not a practicer but a critic of the law" (Wms); "thou art setting thyself up to be its censor, instead of obeying it" (Knox). "Such action, says James, means that one has taken himself out of the class of doers and has constituted himself a judge. The person with a critical spirit acts as if he can choose what parts of God's law he will obey and what aspects he may set aside. His performance gives the impression that he is not under God's law but over it" (Kent p. 158). It is very easy to justify our sins, especially when someone else is doing wrong. It is so easy to believe that the false practice or doctrine being advocated by another brother justifies or excuses or is more dangerous and sinful than my abusive or slanderous speech. When we deal with people in error, God doesn't give us the right to verbally abuse, gossip about, lie about, lose our temper with or misrepresent them.

There is another thought here: You cannot place yourself over the Bible as a critic or judge and place yourself under its teachings at the same time. The person, even if they claim to be a religious person, cannot maintain a submission to the Word of God, at the same time of claiming that various parts of verses are not inspired.

4:12 "There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?"

"There is only one Lawgiver and Judge"-Far more is at stake than just respect for a law. Disrespect for the law, is disrespect towards God. "James goes on to remind us…that, since God is the source of all law, what is ultimately at stake in a 'permissive society' is respect for the authority of God himself" (Adamson p. 177).

Points To Note:

These verses contain so many lessons: 1. It isn't our job to "judge" the value of God's laws, rather it is simply our job to comply with them. Those who set themselves up as judges over the authenticity of the Bible or those who attempt to judge what is genuine and what is not in the biblical text need to read again the above verses. God condemns the person who breaks His laws, but God also condemns those who presume to make laws for Him. 2. This verse should also remind all believers that God didn't give us the right to be in the "creed" making business. 3. While civil legislators have the right to enact new laws (Romans 13:1ff), they do not have the right to pass laws which interfere with the rights, privileges and obligations of children of God, and neither do they have the right to enacts laws which legalize or reward sinful behavior.

"the One who is able to save and to destroy"

Points To Note:

  1. Notice that the God who saves, who extends mercy and forgiveness is the same God who gives laws. Law and mercy and not to be viewed as opposites. There is a tremendous amount of mercy and grace reflected in the laws which God has given. 2. In the end only God can condemn and only God can save. 3. There is a place of condemnation, God isn't going to save everyone (Matthew 7:13-14; 2 Peter 3:9). 4. Condemnation and salvation, punishment and grace are both consistent with the nature of God (Romans 11:22). A loving God will condemn, a loving God will allow the unrepentant to end up lost. 5. We need to remind ourselves that we can't consign anyone to hell, at the same time, we need to remind ourselves and others and neither can we give anyone an automatic ticket to heaven.


"but who are you who judge your neighbor?"

Points To Note:

1. Again, we are talking about a judgment that doesn't come from pure motives. 2. We need to be very careful when we rebuke a brother or sister (2 Tim. 4:2). We are not all-knowing, we cannot see into their heart, we must be careful that we don't jump to conclusions, and presume the worst. Let us make sure that our information is correct, let us assume the best, unless clear evidence says otherwise, let also give the person a chance to explain themselves and time to change. 2. In addition, let us also remember that we have been guilty ourselves in the past and graciously forgiven, so remember to be humble. 3. The wisdom from above will rebuke sin and make judgments which Christians have been called upon to make (1 Thess. 5:14; 3:6-14). But at the same time this wisdom is very careful in not overstepping its bounds. Roberts notes, "Too often we suspect that people will do things or are guilty of them, and we say why they have done them, when we actually do not know and probably because we simply do not like them" (p. 173). When we starting becoming suspicious of every member, when we start enjoying and relishing the opportunity to rebuke someone, when we go out of our way to look for sins, and when we start suspecting everyone's motive for what they do and say, then we are operating by the wisdom that is from below.