King James Version
James 4
17 verses with commentary
Warning Against Worldliness
From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? fightings: or, brawlings lusts: or, pleasures
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<strong>From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?</strong> Conflicts (<em>polemai</em>, πόλεμοι) and fights (<em>machai</em>, μάχαι) arise from passions (<em>hēdonōn</em>, ἡδονῶν) at war within. James locates external strife in internal cravings. Self-centered desires turn community into battlefield.<br><br>Reformed anthropolog...
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(1) **From whence come wars . . .?**—More correctly thus. *Whence are wars, and whence fightings among you*? The perfect peace above, capable, moreover, in some ways, of commencement here below, dwelt upon at the close of James 3, has by inevitable reaction led the Apostle to speak suddenly, almost fiercely, of the existing state of things. He traces the conflict raging around him to the fount and...
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**13. he--**God.
**made ... old--**"hath (at the time of speaking the prophecy) antiquated the first covenant." From the time of God's mention of a NEW covenant (since God's words are all realities) the first covenant might be regarded as ever dwindling away, until its complete abolition on the actual introduction of the Gospel. Both covenants cannot exist side by side. Mark how verbal inspirati...
Read full commentary →Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
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<strong>Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.</strong> You desire (<em>epithumeite</em>, ἐπιθυμεῖτε) and do not have; you murder (<em>phoneuete</em>, φονεύετε) and covet yet cannot obtain; you fight and wage war. James uses hyperbole to expose the seriousness of unchecked desires leading to violence, literal or...
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(2, 3) **Ye lust, and have not . . .**—Better thus: *Ye desire, and have not; ye kill, and envy, and cannot obtain; ye fight and make war; ye have not, because ye ask not; ye ask and receive not, because ye ask that ye may spend it on your lusts.* It is interesting to notice the sharp crisp sentences, recollecting at the same time that St. James himself fell a victim to the passions he thus assail...
Read full commentary →Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. lusts: or, pleasures
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<strong>Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.</strong> You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss (<em>kakōs</em>, κακῶς), spending it on pleasures (<em>hēdonais</em>, ἡδοναῖς). Prayer motives matter. Self-indulgent requests hinder answers.<br><br>Reformed prayer emphasizes alignment with God's glory. James critiques utilitarian prayer that tr...
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CHAPTER 9 He 9:1-28. Inferiority of the Old to the New Covenant in the Means of Access to God: The Blood of Bulls and Goats of No Real Avail: The Blood of Christ All-sufficient to Purge Away Sin, Whence Flows Our Hope of His Appearing Again for Our Perfect Salvation.
**1. Then verily--**Greek, "Accordingly then." Resuming the subject from He 8:5. In accordance with the command given to Moses, "th...
Read full commentary →Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
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<strong>Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.</strong> James calls them adulterers (<em>moichalides</em>, μοιχαλίδες), invoking covenant infidelity. Friendship (<em>philia</em>, φιλία) with the world is enmity with God. Whoever chooses the world's favor becomes God's en...
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(4) **Ye adulterers and adulteresses**.—The phrase may seem to flow naturally after the former ones, but the Received text, from which our version was made, is wrong. It should be, *ye adulteresses*! as accusing those who have broken their marriage vow to God. The sense is familiar to us from many passages in the Old Testament, in which God speaks of Israel in a similar manner, *e.g., *Psalm 73:27...
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2. Defining "the worldly tabernacle."
**a tabernacle--**"the tabernacle."
**made--**built and furnished.
**the first--**the anterior tabernacle.
**candlestick ... table--**typifying light and life (Ex 25:31-39). The candlestick consisted of a shaft and six branches of gold, seven in all, the bowls made like almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch. It was carried in Vespasian's triu...
Read full commentary →Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? to envy: or, enviously? to envy: or, enviously
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<strong>Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?</strong> James appeals to Scripture: the Spirit He made to dwell in us yearns jealously (<em>phthonon epipothei</em>, φθόνον ἐπιποθεῖ) for our undivided devotion. God's holy jealousy demands exclusive love, echoing the prophets.<br><br>Reformed theology affirms that the indwelling Spirit will not ...
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(5) **Do ye think . . .?**—The tone of the Apostle is changed to one of appeal, which, perhaps (but see below), may be rendered thus: *Suppose ye that the Scripture saith in vain, The* (Holy) *Spirit that dwelleth in us jealously regards us as His own?* Our Authorised version does not allow of this apparent reference to the Spirit of God indwelling His human temples (1Corinthians 3:16; 1Corinthian...
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**3. And--**Greek, "But."
**after--**behind; within.
**second veil--**There were two veils or curtains, one before the Holy of Holies (catapetasma), here alluded to, the other before the tabernacle door (calumma).
**called--**as opposed to "the true."
But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
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<strong>But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.</strong> He gives more grace (<em>meizona charin</em>, μείζονα χάριν). Therefore: God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (Proverbs 3:34). Humility opens the floodgates of sanctifying grace.<br><br>Reformed believers rejoice that God's grace not only saves but supplies stren...
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(6) **But he giveth more grace**—*i.e.*, because of this very presence of the Holy Ghost within us. He, as the author and conveyer of all good gifts, in their mystic seven-fold order (Isaiah 11:2) adds to the wasted treasure, and so aids the weakest in his strife with sin, resisting the proud, lest he be led to destruction (Proverbs 16:18), and helping the humble, lest he be “wearied and faint in ...
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**4. golden censer--**The Greek, must not be translated "altar of incense," for it was not in "the holiest" place "after the second veil," but in "the holy place"; but as in 2Ch 26:19, and Eze 8:11, "censer": so Vulgate and Syriac. This GOLDEN censer was only used on the day of atonement (other kinds of censers on other days), and is therefore associated with the holiest place, as being taken into...
Read full commentary →Submit to God
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
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<strong>Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.</strong> Submit yourselves (<em>hypotagēte</em>, ὑποτάγητε) to God. Resist (<em>antistēte</em>, ἀντίστητε) the devil, and he will flee. Spiritual warfare begins with surrender to God's authority and continues with active resistance.
<br><br>Reformed teaching insists that victory over Satan flows from alignment...
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(7) **Submit yourselves therefore to God.** (*But*) **resist the devil.**—The hardest advice of all, to a man reliant on himself, is submission to any, more especially to the Unknown. But, as a correlative to this, the Apostle shows where pride may become a stimulant for good, viz., in contest with the Evil One.
**He will flee.**—Or, *he shall flee. *“The Devil,” says the strange old book called *...
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**5. over it--**over "the ark of the covenant."
**cherubim--**representing the ruling powers by which God acts in the moral and natural world. (See on Eze 1:6; Eze 10:1). Hence sometimes they answer to the ministering angels; but mostly to the elect redeemed, by whom God shall hereafter rule the world and set forth His manifold wisdom: redeemed humanity, combining in, and with itself, the highes...
Read full commentary →Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
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<strong>Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.</strong> Draw near (<em>engisate</em>, ἐγγίσατε) to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse hands, you sinners, and purify hearts, you double-minded. Repentance involves external actions and internal motives.<br><br>Reformed spirituality blends priestly imagery with ...
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(8) **Draw nigh to God . . .**—God waiteth to be gracious (Isaiah 30:18). Like the father of the prodigal son (Luke 15), He beholds us while we are “yet a great way off,” and runs, as it were, to hasten our return. He has “no pleasure in the death of him that dieth” (Ezekiel 18:32). But who shall come “into the tabernacle of God, or rest upon His holy hill” (Psalm 15:1), except the man “of uncorru...
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6. The use made of the sanctuary so furnished by the high priest on the anniversary of atonement.
**ordained--**arranged.
**always--**twice at the least every day, for the morning and evening care of the lamps, and offering of incense (Ex 30:7, 8).
**went--**Greek, "enter": present tense.
Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
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<strong>Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.</strong> Be afflicted, mourn, and weep; let laughter turn to mourning. James calls for godly sorrow over sin. Superficial happiness must give way to Spirit-wrought lament that leads to change.<br><br>Reformed repentance involves grief and hatred for sin that turns to God. Such seriousness...
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(9) **Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep**.—For wretchedness, sorrow, and tears are the three steps of the homeward way to peace and God. And in proof of real conversion there must be the outward lamentation, as well as the inward contrition. Grieve, therefore, with a “godly sorrow not to be repented of” (2Corinthians 7:10)—the remorseful anguish of a Peter, and not a Judas. Let the foolish laughte...
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**7. once every year--**the tenth day of the seventh month. He entered within the veil on that day twice at least. Thus "once" means here on the one occasion only. The two, or possibly more, entrances on that one day were regarded as parts of the one whole.
**not without blood--**(He 8:3).
**offered--**Greek, "offers."
**errors--**Greek, "ignorances": "inadvertent errors." They might have kn...
Read full commentary →Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
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<strong>Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.</strong> Humble yourselves (<em>tapeinōthēte</em>, ταπεινώθητε) before the Lord, and He will exalt (<em>hypsōsei</em>, ὑψώσει) you. God's kingdom reverses the world's playbook: those who stoop are lifted.<br><br>Reformed believers trust God's timing for vindication. Jesus' own path of humiliation then exaltation guarante...
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(10) **Humble yourselves . . .**—Read, *Humble yourselves therefore before the Lord, and He shall lift you up. “*For thus saith the high and lofty One” (Isaiah 57:15), “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.” (Comp. 1Peter 5:6.) “God,” says Thomas à Kempis, “protects the...
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**8. The Holy Ghost--**Moses himself did not comprehend the typical meaning (1Pe 1:11, 12).
**signifying--**by the typical exclusion of all from the holiest, save the high priest once a year.
**the holiest of all--**heaven, the antitype.
**the first tabernacle--**the anterior tabernacle, representative of the whole Levitical system. While it (the first tabernacle, and that which represents t...
Read full commentary →Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
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<strong>Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.</strong> Do not speak evil (<em>katalaleite</em>, καταλαλεῖτε) of one another. He who speaks against a brother judges (<em>krineis</em>, κρίνεις) the law and becomes a j...
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(11) **Speak not evil . . .**—Do not “back-bite,” as the same word is translated in Romans 1:30, and 2Corinthians 12:20. The good reason why not is given in the graceful interjection “brothers.” Omit the conjunction in the next phrase, and read as follows:—
**He that speaketh evil . . .**—Punctuate thus: *He that speaketh evil of his brother, judgeth his brother; speaketh evil of the law, and judg...
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**9. Which--**"The which," namely, anterior tabernacle: "as being that which was" [Alford].
**figure--**Greek, "parable": a parabolic setting forth of the character of the Old Testament.
**for--**"in reference to the existing time." The time of the temple-worship really belonged to the Old Testament, but continued still in Paul's time and that of his Hebrew readers. "The time of reformation" (...
Read full commentary →There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
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<strong>There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?</strong> There is one Lawgiver and Judge (<em>nomothetēs</em>, νομοθέτης) able to save and destroy. Who are you to judge your neighbor? James re-centers authority in God alone.<br><br>Reformed theology affirms God's sole prerogative to justify or condemn. Believers must resist arrogating divine pr...
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(12) **There is one lawgiver . . . .**—Better thus: *One is the Law-giver and Judge, Who is able to save and to destroy: but thou*—*who art thou that judgest a neighbour*? As a king is the fountain of honour, so the ultimate source of law is God; and all judgment really is delegated by Him, just as ordinary courts represent the royal majesty: to usurp such functions is to provoke the offended sove...
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**10. Which--**sacrifices.
**stood--**consisted in [Alford]; or, "have attached to them" only things which appertain to the use of foods, &c. The rites of meats, &c., go side by side with the sacrifices [Tholuck and Wahl]; compare Col 2:16.
**drinks--**(Le 10:9; 11:4). Usage subsequently to the law added many observances as to meats and drinks.
**washings--**(Ex 29:4).
**and carnal...
Read full commentary →Boasting About Tomorrow
Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell , and get gain :
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<strong>Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:</strong> Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go... and gain." James confronts presumption in business planning that ignores God's sovereignty. Boastful planning reveals arrogant independence.<br><br>Reformed doctrine of providence insists that al...
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(13) **Ye that say . . . .**—The Apostle would reason next with the worldly; not merely those abandoned to pleasure, but any and all absorbed in the quest of gain or advancement. The original is represented a little more closely, thus: *Today and tomorrow we will go into this city, and spend a year there, and trade and get gain. *“Mortals think all men mortal but themselves;” yet who does not boas...
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**11. But--**in contrast to "could not make ... perfect" (He 9:9).
**Christ--**The Messiah, of whom all the prophets foretold; not "Jesus" here. From whom the "reformation" (He 9:10), or rectification, emanates, which frees from the yoke of carnal ordinances, and which is being realized gradually now, and shall be perfectly in the consummation of "the age (world) to come." "Christ ... High Pries...
Read full commentary →Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. It: or, For it is
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<strong>Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.</strong> You do not know what tomorrow brings. Life is a vapor (<em>atmis</em>, ἀτμίς) that appears briefly and vanishes. James urges eternal perspective, countering arrogance with mortality awareness.<br><br>Reformed eschatology stresses b...
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(14) **Whereas ye know not . . . .**—Read, *Whereas ye know not aught of the morrow*—what, *i.e., *the event may be. The hopeless misery of the unfaithful servant comes into mind at this; he has left the greater business to perform the less; or, it may be, said in heart, “My lord delayeth his coming,” and so has begun “to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken.” And lo! t...
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**12. Neither--**"Nor yet."
**by--**"through"; as the means of His approach.
**goats ... calves--**not a bullock, such as the Levitical high priest offered for himself, and a goat for the people, on the day of atonement (Le 16:6, 15), year by year, whence the plural is used, goats ... calves. Besides the goat offered for the people the blood of which was sprinkled before the mercy seat, the hi...
Read full commentary →For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live , and do this, or that.
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<strong>For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.</strong> Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills (<em>ean ho Kyrios thelē</em>, ἐὰν ὁ Κύριος θέλῃ), we will live and do this or that." Incorporating "Lord willing" is not cliché but a heart posture acknowledging providence.<br><br>Reformed believers often use DV (Deo volente) as expression of James 4:15, ...
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(15) **For that ye ought to say . . . .**—Referring to James 4:13, in some such a continuation of reproof as this: *Woe unto you that say, *. . . . *instead of saying, *“*If the Lord will*”. . . . In fact, it is a thing of the past, not of time, but completed action on the part of God—“If the Lord *have willed* it, we shall both live and do this or that.” Such is far, be it noted, from Fatalism, i...
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**13. if--**as we know is the case; so the Greek indicative means. Argument from the less to the greater. If the blood of mere brutes could purify in any, however small a degree, how much more shall inward purification, and complete and eternal salvation, be wrought by the blood of Christ, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead?
**ashes of an heifer--**(Nu 19:16-18). The type is full of co...
Read full commentary →But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
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<strong>But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.</strong> You boast (<em>kauchasthai</em>, καυχᾶσθαι) in arrogance (<em>alazoneiais</em>, ἀλαζονείαις); all such boasting is evil. Prideful self-confidence in business or life offends God.<br><br>Reformed theology condemns boasting in anything but the cross (Galatians 6:14). James addresses practical boasting that ignores dep...
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(16) **But now . . . .**—How different is the case with you, cries St. James; you actually glory and delight in your own self-confidence and presumption, and every such rejoicing is evil. The word for “boastings” is the same as that translated “the pride of life” in 1John 2:16—*i.e., *its braggart boastfulness, not the innocent gladness of living. It is the trust of the “ungodly” (Psalm 10:6, “The...
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**14. offered himself--**The voluntary nature of the offering gives it especial efficacy. He "through the eternal Spirit," that is, His divine Spirit (Ro 1:4, in contrast to His "flesh," He 9:3; His Godhead, 1Ti 3:16; 1Pe 3:18), "His inner personality" [Alford], which gave a free consent to the act, offered Himself. The animals offered had no spirit or will to consent in the act of sacrifice; they...
Read full commentary →Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
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<strong>Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.</strong> To him who knows the good (<em>kalon</em>, καλόν) to do and does not do it, it is sin. Omission is culpable; knowledge increases responsibility.<br><br>Reformed ethics affirm sins of omission. James ties the planning discourse to obedience: ignoring known good, whether generosity or justice, is sin.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) **Therefore . . . .**—A difficulty presents itself in this verse—whether the application be general, or a particular comment on the words preceding. Probably both ideas are correct. We learn the converse to the evil of vainglory in life, namely, the good which may be wrought by every one. Occasions of well-doing lie in the abject at our doors, and the pleadings of pity in our very hearts. And...
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**15. for this cause--**Because of the all-cleansing power of His blood, this fits Him to be Mediator (He 8:6, ensuring to both parties, God and us, the ratification) of the new covenant, which secures both forgiveness for the sins not covered by the former imperfect covenant or testament, and also an eternal inheritance to the called.
**by means of death--**rather, as Greek, "death having taken...
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