The Strand Study Bible

Written From Jerusalem (See Acts 12:25)

JAMES 3:18  4:14

2087

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. 7 Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye 9 double minded. 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 10 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 11 LAWGIVER , who is able to save and to destroy: 12 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 13 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? 14 It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

18 1 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. James 4 A mature Christian will avoid worldly living; he/she keeps the eternal perspective Date Written - c. AD 45 1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts 2 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 3 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 4 the friendship of the 5 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, 6 God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

1. Prov 11:18 2. Rom 7:23 & Gal 5:17 & I Pet 2:11 3. or, “ pray” 4. I Jn 2:15 5. Num 14:1-4 6. Quoted from the OT - Prov 3:34 (See - I Pet 5:5) 7. Josh 2:24 & Eph 4:27 & 6:11-18 8. II Chro 15:2 & Jere 29:13 9. Jms 1:8 10. Job 22:29 11. Isa 33:22 & Jn 5:22 & Acts 10:42 12. Mt 7:1-5 & Lk 6:37 & Rom 2:1-3 & 14:1-4,10,13 & I Cor 4:1-5 & Gal 6:1 13. Prov 27:1 14. Job 7:7 & Psa 78:39 & 102:11 & Eccl 6:12

4:1 These two words ( wars and fightings ) come from the Greek words SοOHPοL ( polemoi , meaning “ to make war; hyperbolically of private quarrels ”) and PDFDL ( machai , meaning “ to strive ”), “ to quarrel and argue .” According to James 4:2, if we prayed as much as we quarreled, we’d have a lot less to argue about. 4:2 Because many fear that God will say “no” to their prayer, they never ask. And yet we have not because we ask not. Tis better to ask and receive an answer (II Cor 12:8-9) than not to ask and receive no answer ( yet ye have not, because ye ask not ). Vernon Brewer, a Hodgkin’s Disease survivor, noted in his book called Why? : I don’t believe that God is obligated to heal me because I prayed, but I do believe that God is able to heal me because I prayed. 1 God is not compelled to heal, but He is capable . So ask, and stop fearing His will verses yours ( I Jn 5:14 -15). 4:3 We have not because we have the “wrong motive” (because ye ask amiss) for why we do what we do for God. 4:5 This quote ( The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? ) cannot be found in the Old Testament. Thus, it appears that James alludes to an expressed thought here: Can you imagine (says James) that there is no meaning to the Scripture that says, “The Spirit that dwell in us longs jealously over us? ” Meaning: Can you imagine God not being upset over our spiritual adultery? The Scriptures are clear about the fact that God is jealous for His people (Exo 20:5 & 34:14) and His work (Jn 2:17), and is greatly disturbed whenever they abandon friendship with Him to make friends with the world (vs 4). NOTE – This is the only scripture that attributes “envy” ( IθοQοQ – Mt 27:18/Mk 15:10, Rom 1:29, Gal 5:21-26, Phil 1:15, I Tim 6:4, Titus 3:3 and I Pet 2:1) to God, and in this case the SPIRIT OF GOD (Acts 5:1-5 and Jere 41:2 ). 4:8 THE ADAGE IS TRUE: God does business with those who mean business 4:14 Life’s not a game. It’s not to be played flippantly; it’s to be lived purposefully.

1 Brewer, Vernon. Why? , Forest, VA, World Help, 2006. Print