Charles Ellicott Commentary James 4:16

"But now ye glory in your vauntings: all such glorying is evil." — James 4:16 (ASV)

But now ...—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. 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. It is the trust of the “ungodly” (Psalms 10:6, There shall no harm happen unto me), and the mistaken confidence of even such godly men as Job (Job 29:18, shall die in my nest), before the Almighty instructs them by trouble, and loss, and pain.