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James

Jameschapter 4

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A.Where Fights Come From: Wanting and Never Askingvv. 1-10

1 What causes conflicts and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from the passions at war within you? 2 You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures. 4 You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think the Scripture says without reason that the Spirit He caused to dwell in us yearns with envy? 6 But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.

B.One Lawgiver — Who Are You to Judge?vv. 11-12

11 Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. And if you judge the law, you are not a practitioner of the law, but a judge of it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

C.Tomorrow Is a Vapor: If the Lord Willvv. 13-17

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.” 14 You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your proud intentions. All such boasting is evil. 17 Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do, yet fails to do it, is guilty of sin.

Commentary on this chapter: read the Exposition
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Chapter summary

'Whence come wars and whence come fightings among you?

Read the rest, the context and the outline ▾

'Whence come wars and whence come fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your pleasures that war in your members?' 'Ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss.' Friendship of the world is enmity with God, but he giveth more grace, for Proverbs 3 says he resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. Hence the pivot: 'Be subject therefore unto God; but resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you' (4:7-8). Then the merchants' presumption (to-morrow we will go into this city and get gain), 'what is your life? For ye are a vapor.'

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary, John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and John Calvin, Commentaries.

Context

Epistle · James — James overview

  • A. 1–10 Where Fights Come From: Wanting and Never Asking
  • B. 11–12 One Lawgiver — Who Are You to Judge?
  • C. 13–17 Tomorrow Is a Vapor: If the Lord Will
Top cross-references8 chapters ▾
  • 1 Peter 53 verses
    • 1 Peter 5:5Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
    • 1 Peter 5:6Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time He may exalt you.
    • 1 Peter 5:8Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
    • Read 1 Peter 5 →
  • 1 Peter 22 verses
    • 1 Peter 2:1Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander.
    • 1 Peter 2:11Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul.
    • Read 1 Peter 2 →
  • James 12 verses
    • James 1:5Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
    • James 1:6But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
    • Read James 1 →
  • 1 John 22 verses
    • 1 John 2:15Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
    • 1 John 2:17The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.
    • Read 1 John 2 →
4 more chapters this one speaks with
  • John 152 verses
    • John 15:19If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
    • John 15:22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.
    • Read John 15 →
  • Matthew 231 verse
  • Romans 21 verse
    • Romans 2:1You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on another. For on whatever grounds you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
    • Read Romans 2 →
  • Proverbs 271 verse

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.