Expositional Study of James
A FEW HOME TRUTHS
Scripture Reading: James 4:1-12 (KJV)
James is still writing in that practical vein that has so markedly characterized all he has said so far. As before, he is more concerned with behavior than profession; and, led of the Spirit, he here offers a few home truths on four matters that have proved a constant trouble both among churches, and in individual Christians. First,
About wrangling
He deals with this matter in the opening three verses of the chapter, where we note:
A serious condition – "wars and fightings." What he says does not refer to national conflicts, although a good deal may certainly apply to it. Rather, he is thinking about personal squabbles, disputes, and discords. Such are described as existing "among you" – in churches, and "in your members" – in individuals. Evidently, there was a great deal of bickering going on; and obviously, after all these years, that has not yet ceased. What a terribly serious condition for any church or Christian; what a tragic weakening of testimony. Of course, it is all accounted for by -
A poisoned spring – "your lusts...ye lust." Different words are in the original: the first might be translated "pleasures," and the other rendered "longings" – longings after those pleasures. At the bottom of all this unrest, this widespread bellicosity, lay the eager desire of self-pleasing, the yearning of self-love. Consider some of the forms it takes, noting how these things are responsible for much of the strife and clashing that spoil our work for Him – love of money, a prolific cause of enmities; love of display, appearing in a good and important light among our fellows; love of power, gratifying our greed, if need be at the expense of others; love of pre- eminence, the pitiable reason for many a fight, and especially pitiful when it occurs, as sometimes it does, between Christians.
Consider that not very pleasant person Diotrephes, "who loveth to have the preeminence" (3 John 9). He loved it so dearly, clung to it so tenaciously, that he even refused to acknowledge the Apostle of love, lest his own position and authority should be challenged. This "lust" for pre- eminence, what havoc it has wrought in some churches, and in the hearts and characters of some Christians – what bitter opposition it has engendered among some who should have been "of the same mind in the Lord" (Phil. 4:2). This clash of selves on the part of those two keen women might have wrecked the peace and the testimony of the whole Philippian church. Thank God, by the power of His indwelling, these "lusts" of ours can be put right – not only the effects, but the causes; not only the symptoms, but the disease. Writing to those same Philippians (2:13), Paul shows that He can deal, not only with the deeds, but with the desires – "God...worketh in you both to will, and to do, of His good pleasure": not only to do it, but to will to want to do it. That is the root of the matter – the desire, longing, and "lust" to recur to the word of the passage. Yes, there is -
A better way – after all their fighting, what had they got? Even if they secured the thing, they found it illusory; it did not bring them the satisfaction they hoped for. "Ye have not." Why? Because they had eschewed the better way – "ye ask not." Let us remember that it is Christian people whose conduct is here under review. So it is legitimate to say that wrestling with God is much better than wrangling with men.
The point in dispute: don't argue about it, don't wrangle over it, tackle it in the prayer way. We must again emphasize that the motive, the "lust," must be adjusted to the Will of God – not according to our wish, but "His good pleasure." Anything other than this will spell failure in the prayer method – "ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your [own] lusts," our own desires, longings, and pleasures: which bring us back to the same old trouble, the same bad old poisoned spring. To sum up, it would secure the incoming of a delightful atmosphere of peace into our Christian life if disputes were referred to prayer, all discords referred to prayer, all desires referred to prayer – asking God, instead of attacking others. And now for more home truths on another potential problem in the church -
About worldliness
This difficult problem is dealt with in verses 4-5; and it is handled in a most arresting manner. To begin with, the writer uses -
A terrible name – "ye adulterers and adulteresses." Because the readers were Jewish Christians, the allusion would be thoroughly familiar, and like James they would have a good acquaintance with the Old Testament Scriptures. They would know their Book of Hosea, whose whole prophecy was colored by the theme that Israel was the Wife of Jehovah; they would know the fifty-fourth chapter of Isaiah, whose fifth verse declares, "Thy Maker is thy Husband." They would recall how often the sin of idolatry is spoken of as the crime of adultery – Israel broke her solemn vows. In the New Testament, the personnel changed, but the parable remains. Now it is the church – the body of all faithful, and believing people – that is conceived as being in the privileged position. In that glorious day of "the marriage supper," the church will become "the Lamb's wife" (Rev. 21:9). Until that day, she is His bride, being prepared by the Holy Spirit. Today it is worldliness, not idolatry that is looked upon as the bride's unfaithfulness. As Christians, and part of His bride, we are espoused to Christ (note 2 Cor. 11:2f) – we must not go flirting with His rival, the world. That word introduces us to the next point:
An awful position – "the enemy of God." It is dreadful to contemplate the possibility of a Christian placing himself in such a position – "enemy of God," "enemies of the cross of Christ" (Phil. 3:18) – friends of the world. We take "the world" to be whatever is (actively) hostile, or (passively) inimical, to God and His cause. First, there are worldly things – most are not deliberately anti-God, but incidentally and effectually spoil our spiritual experience, retard our spiritual growth, vitiate our spiritual appetite, and threaten our spiritual influence. We may cause others to stumble and fall into sad enslavement by doing things that for us offer no danger whatsoever. Such things might be "lawful" for us, but they would not be "expedient" – to use Paul's distinction (1 Cor. 6:12; 10:23) – and therefore, because of their baneful influence on others, we will not do them, as, for example, the apostle determines in 1 Corinthians 8:13. The effect any of these things would have on us; the effect they would have on others, if they saw us doing them – constitute them as "worldly" things, which, if continued would be disloyalty to God. Second, there are worldly people – often gifted, charming, upright, kind, but who are entirely god-less. "God is not in all his thoughts" (Ps. 10:4). While remaining friendly toward such, we must not have them as good friends. In order not to embarrass them, we should have to lower our standards, because their whole spirit is foreign – their outlook alien. We must not make friends of God's enemies. This is further pressed home by -
A remarkable statement – "The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy." Nowhere, does the Scripture say that, in so many words; but it does say it in effect. Moreover, it is not said "in vain." It is not an empty, meaningless statement, but rather an expression of a real and great truth. Observe that we have used a capital "S" for Spirit. Some expositors think that it refers to the human spirit that dwells in our bodies; but we follow the majority of commentators in holding that the Holy Spirit is meant. We do so principally because the description of the Spirit is, as far as we remember, never used of man's spirit, while it is the exact delineation of God's Spirit in several places – for instance, Romans 8:11. What a glorious truth; what infinite possibilities it opens: if we are Christians at all – however weak, however unsatisfactory, however young in the faith – the Holy Spirit of God actually does indwell us. Paul was astonished that the Corinthian Christians were ignorant of the fact (1 Cor. 6:19), and suggests that this ignorance explained the sad failure and low level of their lives.
Have we grasped the truth? But, in what sense does He "lust to envy" – or desire jealously? In Exodus 20:5; 34:14, and other passages, He discloses Himself as "a jealous God": but, how so? One translation puts it, "jealously yearns for the entire devotion of the heart." How grand to be so loved – how unworthy to squander any part of our love on some thing or someone other than on Him – away, then, with worldliness. And now -
About conceit
Such is the subject on which James next offers a few home truths, dealing with the matter in verses 6-10 of our passage. Wrangling and worldliness are so likely to minister to our self- esteem, to foster in us a good conceit of ourselves; yet the verses indicate that -
There is little to justify conceit – "in the sight of the Lord." However, they may be rated by others, whatever may be their own opinion of themselves, God has them in very low esteem. First, He calls them “sinners,” whose "hands," typical of their fighting, wrangling ways, need to be cleansed. Then, He names them “double minded,” whose "hearts," typical of their love, need to be purified of their worldliness, that unworthy division of their affection – part for God; part for His enemy. What room is there for conceit; describing with such opprobrious epithets those whom God has? On the other hand,
There is much to commend humility. Altogether apart from the deep appropriateness of such an attitude toward our Almighty and Holy God, we see here two results that flow from this lovely grace. First, "God...nigh" – could anything be more blessed than to have "God nigh" to us? The glorious possibilities of service and fellowship that lie in such nearness are beyond price.
"The proud" (v 6) God "resisteth" – puts away from Him, keeps at a distance. Make no mistake about it; no proud Christian is living close to God. But, "the humble" are given the privilege of this "grace," this undeserved benefit, this sweet secret of joy. Many other results flow from such a demeanor; a second is mentioned here: "He shall lift you up" (v 10). Instead of the "heady" and dangerous exaltation of the proud, here is promised true elevation to all that God counts high; and, in this sense of the words, the lower the higher.
This is God's purpose for us. Do not resist God, but rather resist that antagonist who, by any and all means, rules the world – "resist the devil and he will flee from you." When we "submit to God," He will "draw nigh." Happy the Christian who has learned to be done with every vestige of conceit, and to "walk humbly" with his God, as Micah 6:8 directs. And now, James has something to say:
About criticism
The two closing verses are given to this grave fault. As most Christians know, there are occasions on which, and circumstances in which, it is permissible and necessary to exercise a certain judgment of others. Those who occupy positions of responsibility, who are asked to give advice, those to whom application is made for references, are, of course, bound to judge, and pronounce judgment.
This is not what James has in mind. Rather, he has in mind that harsh uncharitable spirit that always seem to find fault with others – whether to their face or behind their back. This always disturbs the peace, and it is often cruel in its results to the Christian community. Unfortunately, it is a sin to which most of us are liable.
Four reasons
James provides four reasons why we should seek help from God to abstain from the practice. First, because we are brethren – "speak not evil one of another, brethren...his brother...his brother" (v 11). How good it would be if we had more brotherly attitude, more spirit of fellowship, more sense of family. Galatians 6:10 says, "Let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith" – kind to everybody, but especially to fellow- Christians. In one stroke, this rule would sweep away the horrid stigma of criticism that prevails in too many Christian circles.
Second, because we are judging the law itself, which by not keeping we are in effect criticizing. That seems to be the meaning of verse 11.
Third, because God is Himself the Lawgiver and the Judge – it is with Him that we all have to do. Since God will judge both the critic and the criticized, neither should assume the judge's role.
Fourth, because we are fine ones to be judges. In the Greek language, one of the ways of emphasizing a word is to give it the first place in the sentence, when normally it would appear later. In this 12th verse, the word that is written first is "thou" and the sentence should therefore be stressed reading, "Who are thou that judgest another?" In other words, "You are the last person to be judging others, seeing that you yourself are so open to criticism." Does it not make sense that on all grounds it would be well to drop this bad habit of criticism? Yes; but it is a habit hard to cure, as is wrangling, worldliness, and conceit – how can it be done? We have heard these home truths, and they have likely brought us conviction; but again we ask, how put things right?
There is one little bit of our passage that we have not yet dealt with, and which has been deliberately left to the last. It is at the beginning of verse 6 – "But He giveth more grace." We cannot, "but He" can. The greater the difficulty, the greater the opportunity, the greater the weakness, the "more grace" He gives – the loftier His commandments the larger His bounty. On the coins of God's currency among men, there are, of course, two sides – on one side is a precept, the reverse is a promise. But, unlike material coins, neither is ever worn away. Thus it is that, in the words of Exodus 18:23, "If...God command thee...thou shalt be able to..."
