James 4, Quarrels

James has finished a passage on the importance of wisdom and wise speech.  Now he takes on common arguments and disputes within the church.

James 4: 1-3, Fights and quarrels
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God.

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

A classic, straightforward description of strife and want. James accuses believers of acting in this secular way, without relying on God.

James 4: 4-6, Fights and quarrels
You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?  But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

The rich and proud are enemies of God!  This is a bit reassuring to the poor and vulnerable, as we receive "more grace".

The "envies intensely" phrase is unclear.  The NIV footnotes suggest several translations: "God jealously longs for the spirit that he made to live in us" or "that the Spirit he caused to live in us longs jealously".  This section is especially difficult since, despite its open phrase giving the appearance of quoting an Old Testament passage, there is no known passage of scripture that is quoted here. Maybe James is summarizing concepts he sees in scripture?

The quote in verse 6 is from scripture, Proverbs 3:34. (Peter also quotes this proverb in a similar passage.) James echoes the Jewish literature, mixing ancient proverbs with his own.

James 4: 7-10, Fights and quarrels
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

This is a very sober passage. Only God is worth trusting. We are to commit to God while "resisting the devil" and should then expect success as the devil "flees" and God "draws near" to us.

James expects the believer to be a friend with God, with a certain level of intimacy not experienced by the rich and proud

James 4: 11-12, Fights and quarrels
Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you--who are you to judge your neighbor?

Be serious about your life and you have no need to condemn others. Here judgement is equated with slander. Once again, correct speech is important.  (Paul expresses similar concerns about slander and related speech in II Corinthians 12:20.)

James 4: 13-17, Dust in the wind
Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, 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. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.

Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.

In this paragraph the Jewish wisdom comes from Ecclesiastes.  The phrase "you are mist" is reminiscent of Ecclesiastes 1:14.  To quote Kansas, we are just Dust in the Wind.  "Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky..."

We will finish James tomorrow.