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James (Jacob) Chapter 4

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September 28, 2025

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🤔 Why Do We Fight?

Have you ever wondered why kids at school sometimes fight or argue? James tells us it’s because we all have wants and desires inside our hearts that sometimes make us jealous or upset. When we really want something but can’t have it, we might get angry or mean to others. Sometimes we ask our parents for things, but we don’t get them because we’re asking for selfish reasons—like wanting a new toy just to show off to our friends, not because we really need it.

💔 Being Friends with the Wrong Things

James says something that might sound confusing at first: if we love the world’s way of doing thingsᵃ more than God’s way, it’s like we’re not being good friends with God. Think of it like this—if you had a best friend, but you spent all your time with someone who was mean to your best friend, how would your best friend feel? God loves us so much that He gets sadᵇ when we choose to love things that aren’t good for us more than we love Him. But here’s the amazing part—God gives us extra help (called grace) to make better choices! The Bible says: “God doesn’t like it when people are proud and think they’re better than everyone else, but He loves to help people who are humble.”

✋ How to Say No to Bad Choices

James gives us some great advice: “Come close to Me, and I will come close to you”, God promises. It’s like when you’re scared and you run to your mom or dad for a hug—God wants us to run to Him when we need help making good choices. If we’re humble (which means we don’t think we’re better than everyone else) and ask God for help, “I will lift you up and make you feel better”, He promises.

🗣️ Being Kind with Our Words

Have you ever said something mean about someone else? James reminds us that when we say mean things about other people, it’s like we’re saying God’s rules don’t matter. But God is the only one who gets to be the judge—kind of like how only the teacher gets to decide who’s in trouble at school, not the other students.

📅 Making Plans God’s Way

Sometimes people make big plans and say things like, “Tomorrow I’m going to do this, and next week I’m going to do that, and I’m going to be so successful!” But James reminds us that we don’t really know what will happen tomorrow. Our lives are like the steam that comes out of a hot cup of cocoa on a cold dayᶜ—it’s there for a little bit, then it disappears. That’s why it’s better to say, “If God wants me to do this, then I’ll do it.”

✅ Doing What We Know Is Right

The last thing James tells us is really important: if we know the right thing to do but we don’t do it, that’s not pleasing to God. It’s like knowing you should share your snacks with a friend who forgot theirs, but choosing to eat them all yourself instead. God wants us to not just know what’s right, but actually do it!
Kid-Friendly Footnotes: ᵃ The world’s way: This means doing things the way people do them when they don’t follow God—like being selfish, mean, or only caring about yourself ᵇ God gets sad: Just like parents feel sad when their children make bad choices, God feels sad when we choose things that hurt us or others instead of choosing His good way ᶜ Like steam from cocoa: James actually said “mist,” but it’s the same idea—something that appears quickly and then goes away, showing us that life is short and we should make it count
  • 1
    ¹What’s causing all these conflicts and quarrels among you? It’s the war raging inside you—your desires battling for control, wanting what you can’t have.
  • 2
    ²You crave something but can’t get it, so you become jealous and even violent. You fight and argue, yet you still don’t have what you want because you haven’t asked God for it.
  • 3
    ³And when you do ask, you don’t receive anything because your motives are completely selfish—you just want to spend what you get on your own pleasures.
  • 4
    ⁴You unfaithful peopleᵃ! Don’t you realize that friendship with this world’s system makes you an enemy of God? Anyone who chooses to love the world’s ways has declared war against God.
  • 5
    ⁵Do you think the Scripture is just empty words when it says, “God jealously desires the spirit He placed within us”ᵇ?
  • 6
    ⁶But He gives us even greater grace to overcome. That’s why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
  • 7
    ⁷So submit yourselves completely to God. Stand firm against the devil, and he will run away from you.
  • 8
    ⁸Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Wash your hands clean, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded people trying to serve two masters.
  • 9
    ⁹Let your laughter turn to mourning and your joy to deep sorrow. Humble yourselves before the Lord.
  • 10
    ¹⁰Humble yourselves in the Lord’s presence, and He will lift you up and honor you.
  • 11
    ¹¹Brothers and sisters, stop speaking against one another. Anyone who criticizes or judges a fellow believer is criticizing God’s Torah and judging it. When you judge the Torah instead of obeying it, you’re not a doer of the Torah but its judge.
  • 12
    ¹²There is only one Torah-giver and Judge—the One who has power to save and to destroy. So who do you think you are to judge your neighbor?
  • 13
    ¹³Listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we’ll travel to this city, spend a year there, conduct business, and make a profit”—
  • 14
    ¹⁴you don’t even know what tomorrow will bring! What is your life anyway? You’re like a mistᶜ that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
  • 15
    ¹⁵Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills it, we will live and do this or that.”
  • 16
    ¹⁶But right now you’re boasting in your arrogant plans. All such boasting is evil.
  • 17
    ¹⁷So whoever knows the right thing to do but doesn’t do it commits sin.

Footnotes:

  • ⁴ᵃ Unfaithful people: Literally “adulteresses”—James uses marriage imagery to describe spiritual unfaithfulness, comparing believers who love the world to unfaithful spouses
  • ⁵ᵇ God jealously desires the spirit: This may reference the concept that God desires undivided loyalty from the human spirit He created, or it could refer to the Holy Spirit’s intense longing for our faithfulness
  • ¹⁴ᶜ Mist: The Greek word describes a vapor or steam that quickly disappears, emphasizing how brief and fragile human life really is
  • 1
    (1) From where do wars and fightings in you come from? Isn’t it the source of your pleasures that wage war in your members?
  • 2
    (2) You lustfully desire and don’t have to commit murder, envious and can’t obtain, so you fight and make war. You don’t have because of you not asking!
  • 3
    (3) And you ask and don’t receive because you’re asking wickedly to spend in your lustful pleasures.
  • 4
    (4) Adulteress, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility towards יהוה YAHWEH? So then whoever wishes to become a friend of this world appoints יהוה YAHWEH, an enemy!
  • 5

    (5) Or do you think that The Writing speaks empty handed, “The ruach-spirit, which He’s made to dwell in us, desires towards jealousy.”

  • 6
    But He gives greater favourable grace! Therefore, the saying, “יהוה YAHWEH OPPOSES THE PROUD, BUT GIVES FAVOURABLE GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.”
  • 7
    (7) Submit then to יהוה YAHWEH and resist the accusing devil and he will flee from you!
  • 8
    (8) Draw near to יהוה YAHWEH and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners and purify your double-minded hearts.
  • 9
    (9) Feel miserable, mourn and weep, let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.
  • 10
    (10) Humble yourselves before אָדוֹן Adonai’s presence and He will exalt you.
  • 11
    (11) Don’t speak against one another brothers! The one who speaks against brother or judges his brother, speaks against Torah and judges by Torah. But if you judge by Torah and aren’t a doer of Torah, you rather are judged.
  • 12
    (12) There’s One Torah Giver and Judge, The One who’s able to save and destroy! But who are you? Judging your neighbour!
  • 13
    (13) Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city and spend a year there and be in business and make a profit.”
  • 14
    (14) Who don’t know what will happen tomorrow! What kind of life is yours? But you’re just vapour appearing for a little while and then disappearing.
  • 15
    (15) Instead you should be saying, “If The אָדוֹן Adonai wants, we will live and do this or that.”
  • 16
    (16) But now it’s you boasting in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
  • 17
    (17) So then, you knowing good to do and not doing it, to them it’s deviation.

Footnotes:

  • ⁴ᵃ Unfaithful people: Literally “adulteresses”—James uses marriage imagery to describe spiritual unfaithfulness, comparing believers who love the world to unfaithful spouses
  • ⁵ᵇ God jealously desires the spirit: This may reference the concept that God desires undivided loyalty from the human spirit He created, or it could refer to the Holy Spirit’s intense longing for our faithfulness
  • ¹⁴ᶜ Mist: The Greek word describes a vapor or steam that quickly disappears, emphasizing how brief and fragile human life really is
  • 1
    From whence [come] wars and fightings among you? [come they] not hence, [even] of your lusts that war in your members?
  • 2
    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.
  • 3
    Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume [it] upon your lusts.
  • 4
    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.
  • 5
    Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
  • 6
    But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
  • 7
    Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
  • 8
    Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse [your] hands, [ye] sinners; and purify [your] hearts, [ye] double minded.
  • 9
    Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and [your] joy to heaviness.
  • 10
    Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
  • 11
    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.
  • 12
    There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
  • 13
    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:
  • 14
    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.
  • 15
    For that ye [ought] to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
  • 16
    But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
  • 17
    Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth [it] not, to him it is sin.
  • 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.
  • 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?
  • 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.

James (Jacob) Chapter 4 Commentary

1What’s James 4 about?
2The Full Context
3What the Ancient Words Tell Us
4What Would the Original Audience Have Heard?
5But Wait… Why Did They…?
6Wrestling with the Text
7How This Changes Everything
8Key Takeaway
9Further Reading

When Your Heart Becomes a War Zone

What’s James 4 about?

James pulls no punches as he diagnoses the root cause of conflict in our communities and our hearts. It’s not about external circumstances or other people – it’s about the war raging inside us between what we want and what God wants. This chapter is like having a skilled surgeon expose the cancer of selfish desire that’s been eating away at our spiritual health.

The Full Context

James wrote this letter to Jewish Christians scattered throughout the Roman Empire, likely around 45-50 CE. These believers faced external persecution, but James zeroes in on an even more dangerous threat: internal division and moral compromise within their communities. Churches were splitting over favoritism, jealousy, and worldly ambitions. Members were gossiping, fighting, and pursuing their own agendas instead of God’s kingdom.

Chapter 4 sits at the heart of James’s practical theology, following his discussion of wisdom and preceding his warnings about wealth. Here James acts as both physician and prophet, diagnosing the spiritual disease of divided loyalty and prescribing the radical cure of humble submission to God. The passage addresses the fundamental question every believer faces: Will we live for our own desires or for God’s will? James makes it clear that neutrality isn’t an option – friendship with the world means war with God.

What the Ancient Words Tell Us

The opening question in James 4:1 hits like a medical diagnosis: “What causes fights and quarrels among you?” The Greek word for “fights” (polemos) literally means warfare – not just disagreements, but full-scale battles. James isn’t talking about minor squabbles; he’s describing communities torn apart by internal conflict.

Grammar Geeks

The phrase “desires that battle within you” uses strateuomai, a military term for soldiers fighting in formation. James pictures our selfish desires as an organized army waging war inside our hearts – this isn’t random temptation, but strategic spiritual warfare.

When James says “you desire but do not have” (James 4:2), he’s using epithumeo – a word that can mean either neutral longing or destructive craving. Context makes it clear he means the latter. These aren’t innocent wants but consuming lusts that drive people to murder and covet. The progression is chilling: desire leads to demand, demand to disappointment, disappointment to destruction.

The phrase “you adulterous people” in James 4:4 uses moichalis – feminine in Greek, connecting to the Old Testament image of unfaithful Israel as an adulteress. James isn’t primarily talking about sexual infidelity but spiritual betrayal. Friendship with the world (philos – intimate companionship) makes you an enemy (echthros – hostile opponent) of God.

What Would the Original Audience Have Heard?

Jewish Christians reading this letter would have immediately recognized the covenant language James employs. The adultery metaphor echoed prophets like Hosea and Jeremiah, who portrayed Israel’s idolatry as marital unfaithfulness. When James declares that “friendship with the world is hatred toward God,” his readers would hear an echo of the Shema: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” – demanding exclusive loyalty.

Did You Know?

In the first-century Mediterranean world, friendship wasn’t casual – it involved political alliance, mutual obligation, and shared values. To be “friends with the world” meant adopting its priorities and power structures, not just enjoying worldly pleasures.

The reference to God’s jealousy (James 4:5) would have resonated deeply with Jewish ears. Divine jealousy wasn’t petty human emotion but righteous passion for covenant faithfulness. Like a husband’s appropriate jealousy when his marriage is threatened, God’s jealousy protects the exclusive relationship He desires with His people.

When James commands them to “wash your hands” and “purify your hearts” (James 4:8), he’s using temple purification language. His audience would picture priests preparing for sacred service. But James democratizes this imagery – every believer must undergo this spiritual cleansing to draw near to God.

But Wait… Why Did They…?

Here’s something puzzling: Why does James seem to quote Scripture in James 4:5 when scholars can’t find this exact verse anywhere in the Old Testament? He writes, “Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?”

Wait, That’s Strange…

James appears to quote a Scripture passage that doesn’t exist in our Bible. Some scholars think he’s paraphrasing multiple passages, while others suggest he’s quoting from a lost source. The mystery deepens because early Christian writers often treated oral traditions as “Scripture” alongside written texts.

This interpretive puzzle actually strengthens James’s point rather than weakening it. Whether he’s synthesizing biblical themes or referencing a lost text, the truth remains consistent with Scripture’s overall message: God desires our undivided devotion and responds with jealous love when we give our hearts to other masters.

Another puzzling element: James’s seemingly harsh tone. Why does this “apostle of love” sound so confrontational? The answer lies in understanding ancient friendship. True friends told hard truths when necessary. James loves his readers too much to let them continue in self-deception about their spiritual adultery.

Wrestling with the Text

The most challenging aspect of James 4 is its absolute demand for choice. James offers no middle ground, no comfortable compromise between God and world. This binary thinking troubles modern readers who prefer nuanced positions and balanced approaches.

But James isn’t being simplistic – he’s being surgical. Like a doctor who must completely remove a cancerous tumor, James demands total extraction of worldly allegiance. Half-measures won’t work when dealing with spiritual adultery. You can’t be partially faithful to your spouse, and you can’t be partially committed to God.

“The humility that James demands isn’t self-deprecation or low self-esteem – it’s the accurate assessment that we’re creatures who need our Creator, rebels who need redemption, and wanderers who need to come home.”

The command to “grieve, mourn and wail” (James 4:9) sounds extreme to contemporary ears. Shouldn’t Christianity bring joy and celebration? James isn’t promoting permanent depression but appropriate sorrow for sin. Before you can experience the joy of forgiveness, you must acknowledge the weight of your rebellion.

The promise that God “gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6) reveals the path forward. Humility isn’t weakness but strength rightly oriented – recognizing God’s rightful place as Lord and our proper place as beloved servants.

How This Changes Everything

Understanding James 4 transforms how we view conflict – both internal and external. When relationships explode or communities fracture, our first instinct is to blame circumstances or other people. James redirects our attention inward: What desires are battling within me? What am I really fighting for?

This diagnosis changes our treatment approach. Instead of trying to change other people or manipulate situations, we submit to God’s transforming work in our own hearts. Instead of justifying our anger or defending our rights, we examine the selfish desires driving our behavior.

The chapter also reframes our understanding of spiritual warfare. The real battle isn’t against flesh and blood but against the desires that wage war in our hearts. Victory comes not through human effort but through humble submission to God’s grace.

James’s call to “come near to God” (James 4:8) with the promise that “he will come near to you” reveals the relational heart of spiritual transformation. God doesn’t demand perfection before relationship but promises to meet us as we move toward Him in repentance and faith.

Key Takeaway

The wars in our communities begin with the wars in our hearts. Peace comes not from getting what we want but from wanting what God wants – and discovering that His desires for us are better than our desires for ourselves.

Further Reading

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External Scholarly Resources:

Tags

James 4:1, James 4:2, James 4:4, James 4:5, James 4:6, James 4:8, James 4:9, spiritual warfare, worldliness, humility, prayer, submission, conflict resolution, jealousy, friendship, adultery, temptation, repentance, grace, drawing near to God

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