Bible Commentaries

Questions For James Chapter Four

1.From whence come wars?

2.Among whom are these wars?

3.What causes their desires to fail?

4.Why does verse3not agree with Matthew 7:7-8?

5.To what class of evils does James refer?

6.What friendship is against God?

7.Who is counted an enemy of God?

8.How does this agree with Galatians 6:10?

9.Distinguish worldliness and the man in the world.

10. What scripture saying does James refer to?

11. What canses our evil spirit to lust as here considered?

12.Of what does God give more?

13.Is this given to aU indiscriminately?

14.How does God deal with the proud?

15.To whom must we submit?

16.Through what means may we do this?

17.Srare thc required attitude towaru the devil.

18.Compare this with Eph. Matthew 5:4?

49.How may we know what is good?

50.Would popularity affect thc case any?

Wars and fightings are virtually the same except the first refers to a state of conflict in general and the second to the single battles of the war. James is writing of spiritual or moral things and not of warfare in its usual sense. Lusts refers to unrighteous pleasures and the strife after such gratifications is bound to bring conflicts between different members of the body of Christ.

Lust and have not. They had the unholy desires but were not always able to obtain what they craved, and that caused them to kill (have murderous thoughts, 1 John 3:15) those who resisted their unrighteous desires. Fight and war is the same as-wars and fightings in the first verse. In some cases they might have obtained things they had asked for had they asked for them in a lawful manner.

While they did not ask in the proper way, some did make unlawful demands but were refused because of the impure motive that prompted the requests. That unrighteous motive was that their personal cravings might be gratified and not that lawful benefits might be obtained. The passage as a whole (verses1-3) pictures a group of professed disciples who were confused and unsettled in their lives, trying to partake of the same practices as those of the world, at the same time pretending to be serving the Lord in things spiritual.

In the temporal world a person who commits unlawful intimacy is guilty of immorality. Likewise in the realm of the family of God, those who are intimate with the sinful pleasures of the world are guilty of spiritual adultery because they are untrue to Christ, who is their lawful partner. This intimacy is here called friendship and James says it is enmity (at war) with God. On this principle James declares that a person cannot be a friend (be intimate with) of the world without being an enemy of the Lord. This is the same thing that Jesus teaches in Matthew 12:30.

Envy and jealousy have some phases of meaning in common and hence are used to show God's great concern for the purity of His people. Exodus 20:5 says He is a jealous God and Paul writes on behalf of the Lord and says he is jealous about his brethren ( 2 Corinthians 11:2). In Genesis 6:3 the Spirit of God is said to be striving with Acts 15:9. Double-minded is explained at James 1:8.

This verse is directed to- ward those who are unconcerned about their worldliness, and who are finding joy in such activities. They should reverse all of such false grounds of gratification, after which they will have something real and lasting in which to take joy.

This is virtually the same admonition as in verse6.

Speak not evil means to say that which slanders another and injures his reputation. This bad use of the tongue is treated in several verses of the preceding chapter. Speaketh evil of the law. One of the commandments is not to bear false witness against another ( Exodus 20:16), and the same is taught in many places in the New Testament ( Matthew 19:18; Romans 13:9). If a man claims the right to ignore this law he is thereby assuming that such a law is unnecessary. That is why James says such a person becomes a judge of the law instead of a doer.

There is one lawgiver who is the Lord, and no man should dare put himself up as a judge of His law. The author of the true law is able either to save or destroy ("To give over to eternal misery"—Thayer). Who art thou-—why do you dare judge another or slander him?

Go to is from AGE, a Greek word that Thayer defines, "Come! come now!" It is a pointed expression made to someone, calling attention to foolish presumptions. The things mentioned are not necessarily wrong in themselves, but the folly is in taking it for granted that nothing can prevent it.

The foolishness of the matter is in the uncertainty of human existence. Regardless of what one plans to do as to whether it is right or wrong, it cannot be carried out unless he lives. The comparison to a passing cloud by James shows this to be his principal thought.

If the Lord will has been much strained by many whose intentions were good toward God. The expression is made to mean if the Lord does not interfere with some "providential act" that will make the plan impossible. God is not doing such things as that in these days. During the formative centuries while the Bible was being revealed and God's dealings with man were not yet fully made known, He performed various miracles to demonstrate in the ears and before the eyes of man what it means to displease Him. That is all past now and no special act is theatened to show God's favor or disfavor for what man does; that has to be learned from the written word. The thought is, therefore, that we should make all our plans subject to two provisos, namely, that the Lord wills (that it is according to His will as revealed in the Bible), and that we live to do it. The additional conjunction "and" that is in the Greek text has been omitted by the King James Version. The Englishman's Greek New Testament renders this verse as follows: "Instead of your saying [the saying expressed in verse13; the thing they should say is], if the Lord should will and we should live, also, we may do this or that." This shows the two conditions mentioned above, and rules out any need for "special providence."

Rejoice in your boastings denotes they first presumed they could do whatever they wished, then used the presumption as a basis of boasting. Such rejoicing is evil because it iginores the truths set forth in verse Verse17. Know-eth to do good has special reference to the information offered in the preceding verses. We should first learn if what we plan is right, then also remember the frailty of human life and plan accordingly. This is the way to do that which is good and not in the boastful manner as described. But the principle expressed for this special-case would apply to all other relations of life.

Knoweth to do good has special reference to the information offered in the preceding verses. We should first learn if what we plan is right, then also remember the frailty of human life and plan accordingly. This is the way to do that which is good and not in the boastful manner as described. But the principle expressed for this special case would apply to all other relations of life.