James 4:1-6
James chapter 4 is a continuation of the argument James was making in chapter 3 regarding the difference between earthly wisdom and Godly wisdom. He has been going back and forth describing what each look like. When we ended last week, James declared the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace. That is those who possess, and utilize, the wisdom from above.
In chapter 4, James is turning his attention back to the other form of wisdom, which is not really wisdom, because that is what the people he is writing to are displaying. For a while now we have noticed that there was some form of conflict going on in the church. People were showing favoritism, they were allowing anger and jealousy to dictate their actions and giving lip service to their faith in Jesus. James is going to put all the cards on the table here and address the heart of the issue head-on.
In verse 1, James asks, “What is the source of wars and fights among you?” James again puts a question before the people so let’s stop and answer it. What is the root cause of wars and fighting among people? It can all come down to not getting whatever it is that we want.
When we look at personal relationships, the source of conflict is somebody didn’t allow me to have my way. When we look at church conflict, and churches splitting, it is almost always because there was a disagreement on something and the group that did not get their way is upset and leaves. They may try and mask it by stating the other side is unbiblical and that they are trying to uphold God’s word, but at the heart is one side did not get what they desired.
I am not saying there are not some real serious theological issues that spilt churches but often it is things like style of music, or translation of the Bible, or the time the service starts, or what is the main course at the potluck. Some try and attach a Biblical reason behind their belief but at the core it is simply their desire. That is what James is saying in the rest of this verse. Looking at other translations (KJV, NLT) we see different words used but the same idea.
Here is what is behind all of this. What does the word “hedonism” means? According to the dictionary, it is the “prioritization of pleasure in one’s lifestyle, actions, or thoughts.” The Greek word here for passions, lusts, evil desires is the word hedonon from which we get the word hedonism. In the Bible it means desire for physical pleasure and all the uses of it in the Bible portray it in a negative context.
James explains the cause in verse 2. When we don’t get what we want we fight and wage war to get whatever it is we desire. But James says that the reason we don’t have something is because we don’t ask for it. I don’t know about you, but I ask for things all the time and don’t get them. It is not an issue of not asking but not asking with the right motives. Look at verse 3.
This verse gets twisted a lot in certain circles to say that if you are not getting something you are asking for it is not because you have the wrong motives but because you don’t have enough faith. The truth is we don’t have something because God knows that if we were given it then we would use it for our own selfish desires and not to glorify Him. We tend to think of our motives as pure and right and others as being selfish, but the truth is our motives are just as selfish.
The only person who can rightly determine motive is God. We can oftentimes fool ourselves into thinking our motives are pure but God knows the truth. Therefore, if you are praying for something and you don’t get it, maybe you need to go and reexamine your motivation.
In verse 4 James very abruptly calls the people adulteresses. What is interesting here is James uses the feminine form of the word. Why? It brings to mind the language used of the covenant relationship between God and His people. He is the bridegroom and His people are the bride. It shows there is a collective status within the church. It is not that some are faithful and some are committing adultery, but the church is a single entity and collectively she is being unfaithful to God.
We can only be faithful to one. It is either God or this world. This is James’ take on Jesus’ statement that you can’t serve two masters. One you will love and the other you will hate. There is no option to follow both.
Verse 5 is one of the hardest verses to translate in the entire Bible according to some scholars. One of the problems is nobody is sure what in Scripture James is quoting here. The most likely explanation is that James is using this statement to summarize a central theme throughout all the Bible. I want to spend a few minutes here this evening.
The way this verse is constructed there are a couple of ways to translate it and if you look through a few translations you will see that there are different ways of doing this. I don’t want to get too deep by looking at each of these and pointing out the difficulties. Instead, allow me to use broader strokes to get to the heart of the meaning.
First, if the Bible you are reading capitalizes “spirit” it is missing the point. James is not speaking of the Holy Spirit here. James hasn’t spent time discussing the Holy Spirit so to all of a sudden bring Him into it here would be strange. Instead, the way this should be understood is the spirit that is within us that makes us human.
We acquired that spirit from God when He breathed His spirit into Adam. In that sense, all human beings are filled with God’s spirit but we don’t speak of all human beings filled with the Holy Spirit. To do that would lead us to a Universalist belief where everyone gets saved and Jesus has no role. Clearly, James is not going down that road here.
Here is how one commentary summarizes James’ meaning. I think this makes the most sense. “The natural inclination of the spirit, especially when unguarded from the temptations of the world, is to envy. Here is the simple truth about your spiritual adultery. Without active faith, making prayerful request for wisdom from God, you will be at the mercy of your most base desires.” (Kurt A. Richardson, James, vol. 36, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1997), 180.)
This idea is certainly found throughout Scripture. This theme permeates the entire story of Israel. They constantly lusted after their desires and committed adultery against God. James is pointing out that theme is continuing in his time and we could argue it is continuing even today.
But there is good news. James gives the good news in verse 6. The good news is God gives us something greater, grace. Here James does quote, or at least paraphrase, Scripture and his brother Jesus. Look at Psalm 138:6; Proverbs 3:34; Matthew 23:12.
The big takeaway here is that grace is better and more than capable of meeting the challenge of our sinful desires. Grace is greater than our lusts, grace is greater than our passions, grace is greater than anything we think we want in this world. Grace is greater.