Charles Ellicott Commentary James 4:6

"But he giveth more grace. Wherefore [the scripture] saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble." — James 4:6 (ASV)

But he giveth more grace—that is, because of this very presence of the Holy Ghost within us. He, as the author and conveyor 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).

God resisteth the proud . . .—Excepting “God,” instead of “Lord,” this is an exact quotation from the LXX version of Proverbs 3:34, which reads in our Bibles, Surely He scorneth the scorners, but He giveth grace unto the lowly. It is again brought forward by St. Peter (1 Peter 5:5) and seems to have been a common saying—“a maxim of the wise that had become, as it were, a law of life.”