James Chapter 4 Breakdown

1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?

Men start wars over their desire for pleasures. This usually is a direct result of greediness and desire for more money.

2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.

You have all these built up desires which cause you to do all these things, but you still have not obtained the things you want because you do not ask YHWH for them.

3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

When you do ask YHWH for things you do it wrong. You ask for things out of the desires of the flesh and any riches you may receive you may spend on the desires of the flesh, so you will not receive them.

4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

James calls out these people for their worship of other gods. Their desire to be well liked by the people of the world causes them to be hostile toward YHWH. Trying to fit into the world means you are going against the word of YHWH. Think about that. Fitting into the world is to go against the word of God. Therefore, keeping the word of God is not fitting in with the world. Now, really think about this. One of the major issues that seem to be contradictory in the bible is the dietary laws. Even the church today preaches they are no longer required to be followed. But, if we believe YHWH does not change then these rules should still be followed. But wait, there’s more.  The word of YHWH, the Tanakh, which is what Paul used to teach from, tells us what is acceptable to eat according to YHWH. Non-believers have always eaten unclean animals. Therefore, the dietary laws given by YHWH are against the ways of the world, and the ways of the world say it is okay to eat anything you want. The same can be said about several other topics we see being taught in the church today.

5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?

Does the Scripture say uselessly, the human spirit, which dwells in us, craves envy. The authors seems to translate this as YHWH’s spirit desires jealously within us. But, it seems more likely it is the human spirit that desires envy of men. We are told in a few places men are envious of other men.

Proverbs 23:17

Do not let your heart envy sinners, But be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day;

Isaiah 26:11

Lord, when Your hand is lifted up, they will not see. But they will see and be ashamed For their envy of people; Yes, the fire of Your enemies shall devour them.

As we see here believers see the lifestyle of the sinners and have an envy to live similarly, knowing it goes against the ways of YHWH.

6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

Proverbs 3:34

Surely He scorns the scornful, But gives grace to the humble.

YHWH has always given grace to the humble. This means you may slip up, but don’t fall into the desires of the flesh.

7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Bring yourself under the authority of YHWH. Resist the devil and he will run away from you. What does it mean to submit yourself? The Webster dictionary says this: accept or yield to a superior force or to the authority or will of another person.

The Strong’s Concordance says: to arrange under, to subordinate – to subject, put in subjection-to subject one’s self, obey- to submit to one’s control- to yield to one’s admonition or advice- to obey, be subject.

Based on these definitions, we can conclude to submit yourself to YHWH, is to keep the Law in which He gave to His people.

8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Bring yourself close to YHWH and He will bring Himself close to you. Do not do this only with your words, we are warned about that in Matthew.

Matthew 15:8

This people draw nigh unto me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

James goes on to tell sinners to they are double minded because they want two things. They want to be part of the congregation of YHWH, but they also want to be part of the world and fulfill the desires of the flesh. James calls them sinners. To sin is simply to break the Law of YHWH.

9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

You should cry and weep. You should not laugh, but mourn and your joy should be sadness.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

Bring yourself low in the presence of YHWH. It is He who will lift you up.

11 Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and 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.

Do talk bad about your brothers. If you do this, you are speaking evil of YHWH’s Law and judging YHWH’s Law. If you are judging YHWH’s Law then you are not a doer of His Law. It seems that not being a doer of YHWH’s Law is a bad thing according to James.

12 There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?

YHWH is the only one who can give a Law. He is the only one who can save or destroy. Why do you think you can condemn another brother?

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

James now redirects his attention to those who presume their lives are in their own hands. These people were making plans for at least a year into the future. This is a reminder that it is YHWH who allows your life to continue. A man’s life is short and comparable to a vapor that vanishes away.

15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”

It is YHWH’s will to allow you to continue to live in this world.

16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

Your boasting is evil full of arrogance.

17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

If a man knows what is right and wrong according to YHWH, but chooses to do wrong, it is sin to him. Therefore, once you know something is sin, but continue in such a manner that causes you to repeat that action, you are choosing to live a life of sin.