Chapter Four

Condemnation by the Apostle of sinful desires in the readers of the epistle (1–3). The incompatibility with true service to God of excessive love and attachment to the world (4–10). The criminality of judging and slandering (11–13). The inappropriateness and destructiveness of self-confidence in human affairs and ventures (14–17).

James 4:1. Where do the conflicts and disputes among you come from? Do they not come from your desires, warring in your members? In complete contrast to heavenly wisdom and its fruits—righteousness and peace (Jas 3:17-18), the holy Apostle now sternly and with great agitation of spirit condemns in his readers the dominion of earthly, fleshly wisdom, whose first signs are wars or conflicts and disputes or quarrels among them. “Wars” and “battles” (such is the literal meaning of the Greek terms the Apostle uses to describe the moral state of his readers) have here, without doubt, a figurative meaning: one cannot see here (as some interpret) actual wars and battles of the Jews against the Romans, since the epistle of Apostle James was written before the fateful war of the Jews with the Romans (66–70 AD). As the Apostle’s further speech shows (Jas 4:2-3 and further, Jas 4:13-17 and Jas 5:1-6), the object of his condemnation is primarily conflicts arising from greed and generally from excessive attachment to the world and its goods. Having posed in the first half of v. 1 the question of where among his readers such conflicts and disputes come from, the Apostle in the second half of the verse provides the answer about the cause or source of hostile conflicts, indicating—again in the form of a question—the same truth stated earlier in Jas 1:14-15—that the root of internal discord in a person consists of his desires, passions for pleasure—sinful cravings having their organ of expression in bodily members. People “devise pleasures for themselves, some seek luxurious tables, which Paul also condemns, saying that such people ‘serve not the Lord, but their belly’ (Rom 16:18), others wish to acquire estates; some desire wealthy houses; another something else still, which the devil inspires in them, striving to rob them of salvation” (Blessed Theophilus). “The internal discord in a person, of which the holy Apostle speaks here, should be represented as purely internal conflict between the flesh and spirit, between pleasures and reason. Here is the cause of external conflicts. The flesh pulls toward earth, the spirit—toward heaven; between them a struggle occurs, often ending sadly for the spirit, and from this come external conflicts arising from earthly interests and profit” (Bishop George).

James 4:2. You desire, and do not have; you kill and covet, and cannot obtain; you quarrel and fight—and do not have, because you do not ask. James 4:3. You ask, and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your desires. A vivid picture is given of chaotic mutual struggle in the society of the epistle’s readers. Their desires and strivings, usually lacking moral character, do not receive satisfaction. Because of this their passions burn even more intensely and impel them to harsh, violent acts of jealousy and murder. “Murder and envy, quarreling, evil deeds—why therefore do they not achieve what they strive for. But you should know that here we are not speaking of physical murder and enmity. For it is hard to hear of even robbers, much less of believers coming to the Lord. It seems he calls murderers those who murder their own souls with such undertakings, for which they have enmity against piety” (Blessed Theophilus). A sad but inevitable consequence of such an unmerciful and fleshly attitude in Christians is the ineffectiveness, the fruitlessness of their prayer: “if prayers for earthly goods are not answered by God, then the reason is none other than that prayers in this case are evil, for goods are asked for not for the purpose they should be asked: they are asked with the evil purpose of spending them to satisfy one’s desires and passions” (Bishop George). Such an attitude of the epistle’s readers testifies to exclusive attachment to the world with forgetfulness of God, and therefore the Apostle henceforth (v. 4 ff.) condemns betrayal of God on the part of his readers.

James 4:4. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? So whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. In the sense of unfaithfulness and betrayal of God (not in the sense of physical adultery), the Apostle threatens to call his readers adulterers or, according to the most authoritative manuscripts (the Alexandrian, Vatican, and Sinai codices), only adulteresses. The form of expression is entirely Old Testament, and was therefore especially understandable to Christian readers from the Hebrews. The sacred writers of the Old Testament often portrayed God’s relationship to Israel under the image of a marital union between husband and wife (Ps 44; Jer 1:2; Hos 1 and others), calling the people’s unfaithfulness to God, their turning aside to other gods, adultery, and the unfaithful Hebrews to the true God—adulterers (Isa 73:27; Hos 1:2 and others). This image and expression passed into the New Testament as well (Matt 12:39; 2 Cor 11 and others). “This image, transferred from the Old Testament to the New, is even more fitting in the New Testament in light of the spiritual union of each Christian soul with Christ, and should also give the name ‘adulteresses’” (Bishop George). Betrayal of God consists in a particular love for the world, friendship with the world, which the readers manifest. By “world” he means here all material life, as the mother of corruption, and whoever partakes of it immediately becomes an enemy of God. For in striving after the worthless, he becomes heedless and contemptuous of divine matters, which kind of relationships we hold toward people hateful and hostile to us. So as two objects occupy people’s attention—God and the world—and toward each of these two objects is directed love or hatred, then as soon as we become strongly attached to one, it is evident that we become careless about the other. So whoever cleaves to divine matters is and is called a friend of God, but whoever has neglected God and loved the world is among God’s enemies” (Blessed Theophilus).

James 4:5. Or do you suppose that Scripture says in vain: “The spirit dwelling in us yearns with jealousy”? James 4:6. But He gives greater grace; therefore it is said: God opposes the proud, and gives grace to the humble. Wishing to state even more emphatically and to prove to his readers the complete incompatibility of love for God with love for the world, the holy Apostle reinforces the thought he has expressed (Jas 4:4) by a twofold reference to the testimony of the sacred writings of the Old Testament. But the meaning of the first citation presented by the Apostle seems extremely difficult and obscure to interpreters, both because the words cited in v. 5 as testimony of scripture—in their literal form—do not appear in the entire Old Testament, and because of the difficulty of individual words and the entire expression of the first citation. However, it is certain that both verses 5 and 6 should affirm or establish the Apostle’s thought Jas 4:4 about the mutually exclusive relationship of love for God and attachment to the world, although each verse does this from one definite side. In the Greek text the first citation reads: “the Spirit that he has made dwell in us yearns jealously.” The Slavonic “yearns” is unclear; closer to the sense of the original is the Russian translation: “loves jealously.” This refers to God, who jealously loves the spirit of a human—that spirit which he himself breathed into a human (Gen 2:7; Eccl 12:7). The latter thought is evident if instead of the accepted reading “dwells,” we choose the reading of the most authoritative manuscripts (the Sinai, Vatican, Alexandrian, and others): “causes to dwell, made to dwell” (God causes the spirit to dwell in a human). Literally such a place is not found in the Old Testament; the citation presented is as it were a summary or generalization of several Old Testament passages about God—the Zealous (Exod 6:3-7; Deut 5:9; Nah 1:1; Zech 8:2), who created the spirit of a human (Gen 2:7; Eccl 12:7) and jealously requires the service of a human to God alone (Gen 6:3-7). But the thought and connection of the text with the preceding and following passages is clear. “God, loving the human spirit, as it were jealously guards it against the world, loves it not simply, but with jealousy or with jealous concern that the beloved may not be seduced by the world and drawn away by it. And when the beloved, turning away from the world, himself strives toward God, then God gives him even greater grace, bestows his grace upon him in reward for faithfulness in love toward himself” (Bishop Michael). The mentioned (Jas 4:4) worldliness of many Christians gave him occasion to speak of God’s jealous love. Further, in v. 6, to one Old Testament citation he joins another—from Prov 3 according to the Septuagint reading (changing only the word “Lord” to “God”)—essentially proving the same thought, that Christians, completely belonging to God—the Zealous—in their activity can be either enemies of God or his friends, wherefore God opposes the first and gives grace to the latter. Those who love the world or God’s enemies are called proud by the Apostle, inasmuch as they do not wish to know God and his goods, seek only worldly goods, relying entirely on their own strength. On the contrary, those who love God, God’s friends, are called humble: all their hope is in God; seeking heavenly goods, they rely only on God’s mercy and grace, having the most modest, humble understanding of themselves. Therefore God also generously grants them the help of his grace.

James 4:7. Therefore submit yourselves to God; resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:8. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you; cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. From the proven truth that friendship with the world is enmity against God and brings about loss of the greatest and eternal goods, the holy Apostle draws moral conclusions—instructions of a moral character addressed to his readers: since the greatest good consists in God and union with him, the Apostle advises his readers, putting aside pride, to submit themselves to God, and at the same time to resist the opposite evil principle—the devil. Submission to God is such a great force (cf. Matt 4:1-10) that the devil is easily overcome by it and turned to flight. As the devil retreats from a human, God approaches him; but it is necessary that the person himself actively, consciously strive to draw near to God: “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (v. 8a). The ways of drawing near to God are both external and internal: externally this drawing near is accomplished through cleansing of hands, that is, through removing all sinful and defiling acts and acquiring the purity of actions (the image is taken from Levitical ritual cleansings, which symbolized the spiritual-moral cleansing of a person, cf. Ps 17:21; Isa 1:15-16). Another means—the purification of heart—has a more internal, deeper meaning, since the heart is the source and center of all the inner life of a person (Matt 15:19), and the purification of the heart is the purification of the whole person (Ps 50:12). The Apostle requires that sinners, defiled by various unjust acts, and the double-minded, wavering between attachment to God and love of the world, achieve complete purity both in external actions and in internal dispositions.

James 4:9. Grieve, weep, and wail; let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to sorrow. James 4:10. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you. Complete moral reformation of people cannot be accomplished without repentance, and the Apostle persuasively calls his readers to repentant weeping and mourning, as the necessary preliminary condition for moral reform: “Be miserable, mourn, and weep” (v. 9). But the soul, the root or foundation of repentance and reform, is humility, from which alone can come repentance and renewal of life, leading a person to exaltation: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you” (v. 10), the Apostle teaches, in accord with the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt 23:12; Luke 14:11). “Just as from a seed thrown into the earth grows a beautiful plant, so from humility, from mixing oneself with dust, grows a wonderful tree of Christian virtues. This growth is accomplished through God’s grace (Jas 4:6), which is why it is said: ‘and he will exalt you’” (Bishop George).

James 4:11. Do not speak evil of one another, brothers: the one who speaks evil of a brother or judges his brother speaks evil of the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. James 4:12. There is one Lawgiver and Judge, who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you to judge another? Turning now to those same persons whom the Apostle earlier called adulterers, sinners, double-minded, but now with the loving address “brothers and sisters,” he warns them against the intolerable vice of slander and judgment of one’s neighbor in Christian community (cf. Matt 7:1 ff.). This vice is unacceptable in Christianity already because it goes completely against the Christian virtue of humility, which the holy Apostle has just spoken about (Jas 4:10), and is especially reprehensible as soon as it is directed against a brother or sister in spirit in Christ. But the Apostle goes further and deeper in analyzing and condemning the vice of slander and judgment. This is a very serious crime: a Christian who slanders and judges a brother, in essence, slanders and judges the law itself, namely the royal law of love (Jas 1:25): through slander and judgment of one’s neighbor a Christian does not fulfill but violates and by this very act denies this chief law in Christianity; consequently, as if judges and condemns the law itself, as if declaring it wrong, unsuitable for life. Thus whoever rejects the law of love and judges it as if places himself above the law and, so to speak, issues his own law, usurping what belongs not to him but to God alone—the right of lawgiving and judgment. God alone, as the supreme Lawgiver, by his sole will has given the law, and as Judge, judges righteously according to this law, of course stands above the law and is the only one, in the strict, absolute sense of the word, Judge. Such an exclusive right of his is witnessed by the fact that he alone can save and destroy (v. 12, see Matt 10:28). A person, by his very nothingness, shows the absence of the right to judge his neighbor and the law, and if he does this, he commits a grave sin and brings upon himself God’s condemnation (cf. Rom 2:1, see Rom 14:4).

James 4:13. Come now, you who say: “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there, and trade and make a profit”; James 4:14. you who do not know what will happen tomorrow: for what is your life? A vapor, appearing for a short time and then vanishing. James 4:15. Instead you ought to say: “If the Lord wills, and we live, we will do this or that”— James 4:16. but you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Not without association with what precedes, the Apostle now condemns the self-confidence and vanity of people who forget their complete dependence on God in all human matters and the absolute fragility, as it were, the transience of human life itself. As an example of this kind of self-confident people, he takes merchants, a profession apparently widely spread among his readers, but at the same time lacking moral integrity: their self-confidence, frivolity, and exclusive devotion to earthly profits and interests, with forgetfulness of the corruption and transient nature of earthly life in general, prompted the Apostle to condemnation, exhortation, and warning, the meaning of which is the same as that of Christ’s parable about the money-loving rich man (Luke 12:16-21). Showing (v. 13) how unreasonable is the thinking of people who reason as though their life and affairs depend exclusively on them, and as if there is no higher will that in a single moment can reduce all their plans and ventures to nothing—the Apostle “does not destroy free will, but shows that not everything depends on the person himself, but grace from above is needed as well. For one can run and conduct business and accomplish everything necessary for life, but one should not attribute it to one’s own labors, but to God’s lovingkindness” (Blessed Theophilus). In v. 14 the Apostle powerfully and in the spirit of Old Testament writers (cf. Job 8:9; Ps 101:12) depicts the fragility of human existence, warning his readers and all Christians in general against the unreasonable judgment of merchants condemned by him above (v. 13). “He shows the futility of our life and shames us for spending our whole life in futility, for all our labor is spent on temporary evil. David says the same: indeed human beings pass like a shadow, truly they hurry about in vain (Ps 38:7), that is, they busy themselves with what has no true being in itself, but appears only as it were in a phantom” (Blessed Theophilus). The true, reasonable, and religious view of human undertakings, affairs, and life itself should always, according to v. 15, be based on the believing thought: “If the Lord permits, and we live, we will do this or that.” The aforementioned speeches of merchants (v. 13), directly opposite to this humble submission to God’s will, obviously sin through self-assurance, arrogance, and ultimately flow from pride (v. 16). “Worldly pride” (cf. 1 John 2:16) alone can give birth in a person to the absurd and dangerous thought that he is the full master of his own life and actions.

James 4:17. So to the one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it is a sin. The Apostle concludes his condemnations and exhortations with a general maxim that whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it commits sin. This thought about the seriousness and guilt of conscious sin repeats a thought of the Lord Jesus Christ, spoken by him more than once (Luke 12:47-48; John 15:22 and others); for the Apostle it applies most directly to the content of chapter IV, more specifically the latter verses, but because of its generality and breadth, is applicable to all the moral teaching of the epistle.