james 4 commentary easy english

Whence are wars, and whence fightings among you? (9) Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep.—For wretchedness, sorrow, and tears are the three steps of the homeward way to peace and God. (Exhaustive notes, with references to most authorities, are in Alford; or an easy summary of the matter may be read in Plumptre’s St. a parallel scripture, Romans 14:4. 9 Be sorry about your sins and weep. (17) Therefore . James 4:8 so clean sin out of … It is written in every national epic; its elements abound in the life of each individual: the slaughter in Etzel’s halls overshadows the first lines of the Nibelungen-lied; the curse of Medea hangs like a gathering cloud around Jason and his Argonauts. But you cannot get them. Safety is only to be found in our Lord’s own manner of petition, “Not my will, but Thine be done” (Luke 22:42). . Wordly and fleshly lusts are distempers, which will not allow content or satisfaction. But if you know that and you do not do the right thing, then you have done a wrong thing. Study the bible online using commentary on James 4 and more! . Sinful desires and affections stop prayer, and the working of our desires toward God. In “The Beautiful Legend” there is a strife between the call of duty to give out a dole of bread to the hungry, and the temptation to linger in religious ecstasy over a vision of Christ. For the word ‘receive’, Paul uses the word ‘prosagoge’, which means ‘introduction’. in shameful contrast to this we read of many an evil-hearted prayer offered up to the Lord our Righteousness; invocations of saints for help in unholy deeds; of angels, for acts rather befitting devils of the pit; and can hardly have the conscience to reproach the heathen for supplicating their gods in no worse a manner for no better cause. . . The word for “boastings” is the same as that translated “the pride of life” in 1 John 2:16—i.e., its braggart boastfulness, not the innocent gladness of living. 1 Do you know where your fights and arguments come from? You try to take things that are not yours. (8) Draw nigh to God . Patience Until the Lord's Coming. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. James 4:10, NASB: "Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you." The lust of the eye and the pride of life are at the root of all the wrong-doing. (See Wordsworth.) .—Better thus: One is the Law-giver and Judge, Who is able to save and to destroy: but thou—who art thou that judgest a neighbour? St. Paul speaks in similar tone of coming to Corinth, “if the Lord will” (1 Corinthians 4:19); and “God willing” (D.V. .—Do not “back-bite,” as the same word is translated in Romans 1:30, and 2 Corinthians 12:20. The good reason why not is given in the graceful interjection “brothers.” Omit the conjunction in the next phrase, and read as follows:—. Admit you do pray for the good things you want, or, though you pray for them. We must be sorry about the wrong things that we have done. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. So, you fight and you quarrel with each other. Probably both ideas are correct. In this way the cumulative force of St. James’s remarks is best preserved. The term is really pleasures, but in an evil sense, and therefore “lusts.” “The desires of various sorts of pleasures are,” says Bishop Moberly, “like soldiers in the devil’s army, posted and picketed all over us, in the hope of winning our members, and so ourselves, back to his allegiance, which we have renounced in our baptism.” St. Peter (1 Peter 2:11) thus writes in the same strain of “fleshly lusts, which war against the soul”; and St. Paul knew also of this bitter strife in man, if not actually in himself, and could “see another law” in his members—the natural tendency of the flesh—“warring against the law of his mind, and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin which is in his members” (Romans 7:23). .—Referring to James 4:13, in some such a continuation of reproof as this: Woe unto you that say, . Nevertheless, remember, He gave the Israelites “their desire, and sent leanness withal into their soul” (Psalms 106:15). Thus many understand these expressions, because God himself represented his relation to the Jews as his people under the idea of a marriage, and because the prophets, in conformity to that idea, represented the idolatry of the Jews as adultery. Friendship with God. View the entire commentary. Alas! 1:1 James is the brother of Jesus, but he describes himself as a servant of Jesus Christ. To what extent is your life directed by the knowledge that Christ is coming back? 1. James 4:6-10. See also Note on 2 Corinthians 12:7. Again in the New Testament: Matthew 12:39; Matthew 16:4; Mark 8:38; Revelation 2:20-22; Revelation 17:1; Revelation 17:5; Revelation 17:15, &c.; St. Paul’s description of the church (2 Corinthians 11:2), espoused “as a chaste virgin to Christ;” and comp. 1905. . But you do not have these things because you do not ask God for them. E. Verse 5 is very ambiguous because. 4 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? James 4. It is because of the troubles in your thoughts. . Isaiah: God controls the Nations - by Norman Hillyer. And if God be just, so also is He jealous (Exodus 20:5). Learn how to understand almost everything you hear right now in 4 easy steps! Surely the substance was sufficient for him, as for other inspired writers, without a slavish adherence to the form: comp. Tweet . “It is not our part,” said Bengel, “to judge, since we cannot carry out our sentence.” (Comp. So you argue and fight. The marginal note to the second of the above paragraphs gives envy as an alternative reading for “kill”: but this is an error. Surely, the penitent as well; the murderous hands “which all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten,” the hearts polluted with the most abominable lusts, may and must be cleansed; sinners and double-minded (refer to James 1:8) though they be, and both in one, the Lord of mercy will “draw nigh” to them, if they to Him: all their “transgressions shall not be mentioned,” they “shall live and not die” (Ezekiel 18:21-22). . 20:5. James 4:2 Parallel Verses [⇓ See commentary ⇓] James 4:2, NIV: "You desire but do not have, so you kill. Sinful desires and affections stop prayer, and the working of our desires toward God. So God will give to us all that we need. Then he will lift you up to a good place. . 3:34. 1 This letter is from me, James. Click the link below for in depth comments on this verse. He wants very much to keep us for himself.’ 6 But God will be very kind to us and he will help us. The reply is obvious; Ye ask not in the true sense; when ye do ask ye receive not, because God is too loving, even in His anger. Your life is like a cloud which appears for a short time and then it quickly goes away. for “lusteth to envy,” or enviously, would imply evil and not good. Do you know why that happens? Isaiah 4:1 is joined to Isaiah 3 in most versions of the Bible, because it is further prophecy of the ruin of the chosen people. James 4 – The Humble Dependence of a True Faith A. The Jerome Biblical Commentary outlines these verses as (1) root causes of conflict (James 4:1-6) and (2) remedies (James 4:7-10) (p. 374). ), Able to save and to destroy.—Life and death, salvation and utter destruction, seem to be placed in intentional contrast here. He, as the author and conveyer of all good gifts, in their mystic seven-fold order (Isaiah 11:2) adds to the wasted treasure, and so aids the weakest in his strife with sin, resisting the proud, lest he be led to destruction (Proverbs 16:18), and helping the humble, lest he be “wearied and faint in his mind” (Hebrews 12:3). 1 You very often fight and quarrel among yourselves. 2 Peter 2:14, specially the margin. The thought of annihilation meets us with awful suggestiveness, yet let us leave the mystery for awhile in happier thought—, (13) Ye that say . “God,” says Thomas à Kempis, “protects the humble and delivers him; He loves and consoles him; He inclines Himself towards the humble man, He bestows on him exceeding grace, and after his humiliation He lifts him up to glory; He reveals his secrets to the humble, and sweetly draws and leads him to Himself.”, (11) Speak not evil . Paul uses the … We have the law of God, which is a rule to all; let us not presume to set up our own notions and opinions as a rule to those about us, and let us be careful that we be not condemned … You do not have, because you do not ask. We must listen to God. “Let us not weakly slide into the treason: Whosoever therefore will be (or, wills to be) a friend of the world is the enemy of God.—The choice is open; here is no iron fate, no dread necessity: but the wrong determination of the soul constitutes it henceforth as an ally of Satan. Make your minds clean. It must, however, be noted that a slightly varied punctuation of the verse will give quite another sense to its questioning. 4 You are turning away from God, like a wife who has sex with other men. Christians should be servants too. James.). The sense is familiar to us from many passages in the Old Testament, in which God speaks of Israel in a similar manner, e.g., Psalms 73:27; Isaiah 54:5; Jeremiah 2:2; Ezekiel 16 passim; Ezekiel 23:37-43; Hosea 2:2. 15 So, what you ought to say is, ‘If the Lord agrees and we are still alive, then we will do this or that.’ 16 But instead, you talk about what you have decided to do. That is because you ask for the wrong reason. But the *apostles and leaders of the church did notgo. James 4 Commentary, One of over 110 Bible commentaries freely available, this commentary provides notes on all 66 books of the Bible, and contain more than 7,000 pages of material We will buy and sell things, and we will become rich.’ If you say things like that, listen to me. The original is represented a little more closely, thus: Today and tomorrow we will go into this city, and spend a year there, and trade and get gain. They are being like the Devil. He traces the conflict raging around him to the fount and origin of evil within. Commentary on James 4:1-10 (Read James 4:1-10) Since all wars and fightings come from the corruptions of our own hearts, it is right to mortify those lusts that war in the members. Finding the new version too difficult to understand? Prœjudicium was a merciful provision under Roman law, and often spared the innocent a lengthier after trial; but prejudice—our word taken from it—is its most unhappy opposite. as accusing those who have broken their marriage vow to God. So, you yourselves become enemies of God. Is it not this, that your passions 1 are y at war within you? English Standard Version (ESV) Bible Book List. James 4 Commentary, One of over 110 Bible commentaries freely available, this commentary is one of the most respected interdenominational commentaries ever written. . 4. The forces of good and evil divide the land so sharply that there is no debatable ground, nor even halting-place between. Occasions of well-doing lie in the abject at our doors, and the pleadings of pity in our very hearts. James wrote to help them. English Standard Version Update. © MissionAssist 2020 Don't You Know the Choice to Be Made? 17 So, you know the right thing that you ought to do. It is related to the improper use of the tongue as in chapter 3. You fight and war. Font Size. You just want to use these things to make yourselves happy. Ye adulterers and adulteresses — Who have broken your faith with God, your rightful spouse. James 4. 1 Peter 5:6.) He that speaketh evil . Ye lust, and because ye have not what ye lust after ( james 4:1 james 4:2), ye envy your neighbor who has, and so the spirit of envy leads you on to "fight." Lust, envy, strife, and murder:—like the tale of human passion in all ages, the dreadful end draws on. Wordly and fleshly lusts are distempers, which will not allow content or satisfaction. But he is kind to people who do not feel important.’ 7 So, obey God's authority. Suppose ye that the Scripture speaketh in vain? You want to do bad things that you think will make you happy. 11 My Christian friends, do not say bad things against each other. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. And defensible or not as this translation may be, at least it escapes some of the difficulties of the foregoing. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/ebc/james-4.html. There cannot be a passive condition to the faith of Christ: “he that is not with Me is against Me” (Matthew 12:30). 3 Even when you do ask God, you do not receive anything. “Woe unto you, when all men speak well of you” (Luke 6:26), for the world, as our Lord has taught us, must “love its own” (John 15:19). Like the father of the prodigal son (Luke 15), He beholds us while we are “yet a great way off,” and runs, as it were, to hasten our return. Warning Against Worldliness. 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. James 4:4. I am a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. You don’t get what you want because you don’t ask God. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. … James 4:3. So God will give to us all that we need. If we only want to make ourselves happy, God will not hear us. 14 You do not really know what will happen tomorrow. You lust and do not have. Font Size. He wrote to encourage them to live asChristians should, i… When you do that, you are not obeying the Law. . (Comp. “God is the Lord and husband of every soul that is His;” and in her revolt from Him, and love for sin, her acts are those of an adulterous woman. The text is another proof of the personality of Satan; no amount of figures of speech could otherwise interpret it. .—The Apostle would reason next with the worldly; not merely those abandoned to pleasure, but any and all absorbed in the quest of gain or advancement. James 4:6 Quote from Prov. ... Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible. . We must listen to God. .—Punctuate thus: He that speaketh evil of his brother, judgeth his brother; speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law. But the apostolic condemnation is in no way meant to condone a vicious life, and leave it unalarmed and self-contented; for boldness in rebuke thereof we have the example of John the Baptist. Warning Against Worldliness. .—How different is the case with you, cries St. James; you actually glory and delight in your own self-confidence and presumption, and every such rejoicing is evil. It is wrong to speak like that. . As James poses (in 4:4) the third question of this section, I paraphrase it in order to display the heart of the matter... View the entire commentary. If we only want to make ourselves happy, God will not hear us. (7) Submit yourselves therefore to God. James 4:6 Commentary; James 4:7 Submit therefore to God. instead of saying, “If the Lord will”. The Sin of Partiality. Christians are brethren. .—Translate, come they not hence, even from your lusts warring in your members? (6) But he giveth more grace—i.e., because of this very presence of the Holy Ghost within us. You do not have, because you do not ask. 2 My brothers, 1 w show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, x the Lord of glory. (2, 3) Ye lust, and have not . If we say bad things about God's word or about his people, we are being like the Devil. “I,” said He by Ezekiel (Ezekiel 14:4), “will answer him that cometh to Me, according to his idols.” What greater curse could fall than an eternity of avarice to the miser, of pollution to the sensual, of murder to the violent? English Standard Version Update. (12) There is one lawgiver . The humble character of a living faith. Many a man of quiet Christian life will thank God by-and-by, when he knows even as he is known (1 Corinthians 13:12), that not a few of his prayers were unanswered, or at least that they were not granted in the way which he had desired. 13 Some of you say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to a certain city. Heinrich Meyer's Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Only he has the authority to judge whether people have done what is right. And in proof of real conversion there must be the outward lamentation, as well as the inward contrition. easyenglish.bibleBooks > EasyEnglish Bible >. A large number of the Christians had left *Jerusalem and had goneto live in other countries. Go to, To report dead links, typos, or html errors or suggestions about making these resources more useful use our convenient, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, Commentary Critical and Explanatory - Unabridged, Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible, Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures. Verse—Whether the application be general, or, though you pray for them happen. Fights come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members a cloud which appears for a time. Was sufficient for him, as well as truth and justice to do the james 4 commentary easy english that you think will you! Wordly and fleshly lusts are distempers, which will not allow content or.... 4 ), even the promised comfort of God and he will come near to you. his jealous.. Stand alone in their content those who have broken their marriage vow to God and the pleadings of in! Say things like that, you are turning away from you. do pray them. 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