Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary James 4

Instead of the climate of peace necessary for the production of righteousness (3:18), James’s readers were living in an atmosphere of constant “fights and quarrels.” These two nouns were normally used of national warfare, but they had also become common, forceful expressions for any kind of open antagonism. James answers his question about the cause of fights and quarrels with an answer with which he expects his reader to agree: “Don’t they come from your desires [GK 2454]” The Greek word for “desires” is the source of the English word “hedonism,” the designation of the philosophy that views pleasure as the chief goal of life. James pictures these pleasures as residing within his readers as the overriding desires of their lives. Nothing will be allowed to stand in the way of their realization.

“You want something” (GK 2121) is not quite forceful enough to fit the context or to represent the Greek verb, which expresses anxious longing and eager desire. So strong is the desire that “you kill and covet.” This last statement has aroused much discussion. First, it is difficult to believe that James’s readers, whom he elsewhere addresses as Christians (2:1), were actually guilty of murder. Some, insisting that the word must be taken literally, say that James is not referring to any specific occurrences but is indicating what generally happens when people desire pleasure rather than God. This interpretation, however, does not do justice to the pointed accusation “You kill.” In the context of “wars and battles,” it seems best to take “you kill” as hyperbole for hatred (equivalent to murder in Mt 5:21–22). This also resolves the problem of seeming anticlimactic word order. To say “You hate and covet” is a much more natural order than to say “You murder and covet.” James then repeats his assertion that, with all their consuming desire and bitter antagonism, his readers were not able to obtain what they wanted, because they were going after it in the wrong way. They did “not ask God” for it. They were lusting and fighting rather than praying.

Even when James’s readers did ask God for things, they did “not receive” what they requested. Why? They asked “with wrong motives.” Their purpose was to “spend” what they got for “pleasures” (same word as “desires” in v.1). The prodigal son exemplifies one who spent his money in this way . It was the desire of James’s readers for pleasures that was battling within them for satisfaction (v.1) and even leading them to try to use prayer as a means of gratification. They wanted to gratify themselves rather than help others and please God.

Having identified the source of the bitter fighting as being the desire for pleasure, James next rebukes his readers for spiritual unfaithfulness. “Adulterous people” renders “adulteresses” (GK 3655). The people of God in the OT are considered the wife of the Lord (Jeremiah 31:32), and in the NT, the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:23–32). It is reasonable, therefore, to understand “adulteress” as a figure of speech for spiritual unfaithfulness. It is a blunt and shocking word, intended to jar the readers and awaken them to their true spiritual condition. The concept of spiritual adultery was no doubt taken from the OT (cf. Hosea 2:2–5; 3:1–5; 9:1).

For believers, however, there are two possible objects for affection: the world and God, and these two are direct opposites. James uses “world” (GK 3180) to refer to the system of evil controlled by Satan. It includes all that is wicked and opposed to God on this earth. James is thinking especially of pleasures that lure people’s hearts from God. By its very nature, “friendship with the world is hatred toward God.” To have a warm, familiar attitude toward this evil world is to be on good terms with God’s enemy. It is to adopt the world’s set of values and to want what the world wants. The person who deliberately “chooses [GK 1089] to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”

This verse is one of the most difficult in the letter. Various translations have been suggested, but there is good reason to believe that the first translation given in the NIV footnote for the last part of the verse is correct and fits the context better: “God jealously longs for the spirit that he made to live in us.” Verse 4 indicates that believers who are friends of the world are guilty of spiritual adultery. Although their love and devotion belong to God, they have fallen in love with the world. It is natural, therefore, to expect v.5 (closely tied to v.4 by “or”) to speak of God’s jealous longing for his people’s love, not the people’s own envious spirit (cf. Exodus 20:5; 34:14, which refer to God as jealously desiring the devotion of his people).

A second reason for preferring the NIV footnote rendering is that it more accurately represents the Greek text. The Greek words representing “envies” form an idiom meaning “jealously.” Together with GK 2160 (translated “intensely”), it means “longs jealously for.” In v.4 James has accused his readers of spiritual unfaithfulness. If they are not willing to accept this indictment, he asks in v.5 what they think about the OT passages dealing with God’s jealous longing for his people. This is the significance of the introductory conjunction “or.” Do they think Scripture speaks “without reason”? Of course they don’t think this. Consequently, it is necessary to believe that friendship with the world is enmity toward God, and thus it is spiritual unfaithfulness.