James 4:4-10

4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?
6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
7 Submit yourselves therefore 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 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Our initial verse comes out swinging! James is not gentle with his audience, for he has a stern warning for them and us.

First – A truth statement. Friendship with the world is hostility (or hatred) toward God. I realize the translation says enmity with God, but the Greek term ἔχθρα échthra can be translated as either enmity or hostility/hatred. For me, enmity is not as defined as hatred or hostility.

So the truth is there are two camps each one of us will belong to. The world, or God. Joining one camp produces a war like attitude regarding the other camp. Love God – Hate the world (but not the people!). Love the world – Hate God.

Now that is some harshness coming of the apostle James! But remember this is simply a statement of fact. It is the next phrase is should shake us, for he takes a truth statement, and applies it to believers. Believers!

If you wish to be a friend of the world, you are making yourself an enemy of God. Did you get the jab? If you wish to be a friend of the world. It is a matter of desire, or better yet, an act of the will to be a friend of the world, a decision to pursue their acceptance, friendship, community or “gang”.

You see, when James speaks of “wishes”, he uses the Greek term βούλομαι boúlomai. Per Thayer’s Lexicon, this word has a range of meaning, from “to will deliberately, have a purpose, be minded”, to the idea of “an affection, to desire”

With this understanding, could James be telling us the mere desire to be friends with the world is casting us into the camp of the enemy? It certainly appears so. In the following verses, James submits pleas for those who desire/want/seek friendship with the world. Remember our context, for in our first verse, James comes out swinging, calling the audience adulterous. He has set the stage, and provided a truth fact, made application and is now making a plea to return to God. In the next few verses, James is pleading these believers to:

• Submit yourselves therefore to God.
• Resist the devil
• Draw near to God
• Cleanse your hands
• Purify your hearts
• Be wretched
• Mourn
• Weep.
• Let your laughter be turned to mourning
• Let your your joy be turned to gloom.
• Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

All of these previous actions are to come from our desire to be friends with God, our will to be right with the Father. This list of actions of our will should not be surprising to the believer who has walked with the Lord for any time, for as we walk with Him, we do get pulled away, we tend to wander, we get distracted and lured into alternate allegiances.

In the midst of this list exhibiting our brokenness towards God, God is ever there to provide motivation for us to turn back, to repent, to change our mind.  This motivation is that He is jealous for our devotion, willing to provide more grace, a promise that the grace of God is not limited, it is not of short supply.

Regarding the jealousy of God, check out my eight post series on “A Jealous God”. I think some of my findings will surprise you. But back to James.

He provides motivation and grace.

• He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us
• He gives more grace.

James also is not merely loading us up with requirements, and providing energy to perform, but defining the response we may expect from God as we turn back.

• The devil will flee from you.
• God will draw near to you.
• The Lord will exalt you.

If we have walked away, for a day or for a decade, to return to God will be a joyous event, with the enemy running, the Lord being close, and our being exalted. This is incredible, for as I have read this passage in the past, I had never took into account this exaltation.

Let me ask my readers. To come back to God will result in our exaltation. What does that mean for you?

---

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you would like to receive daily posts from Considering the Bible, click on the “Follow” link below

Follow Considering the Bible on WordPress.com