~ Friendship with the World ~
James 4.1-4
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
James sees quarrels and fights among the church as deriving from 'passions' (or sinful pleasures) at war within us. Making such passions your life's priority results in a life characterized by the ruthless pursuit of those pleasures, a life marked by envy (coveting what others have), fighting with others, and even - at times - murder. Even our prayers become tainted: it's all about 'give me what I want!' rather than humble petition. When we live this way - putting our sinful pleasures at the top tier of our life pyramid - we are, in effect, cheating on God. This is why James calls out such people as adulterers: being a Christian involves covenant responsibilities (such as obeying God), and when we violate those responsibilities, we are breaking our covenant promises. Think of it this way: if a husband who has pledged to love only one woman forever places his love on another, he is an adulterer; in the same way, if a Christian pledges his love to God but actually loves something else more, he is breaking the 'love contract' and is an adulterer. In this way those Christians who love the world - those who make 'the world' their priority - are in a state of adultery against God and make themselves enemies of God.
This is rough language, but James is making a critical statement. Just as a tree shows its nature by the fruit it bears, so people show the character of their hearts by the way they live. Hearts 'in love with the world' showcase that love in a myriad of ways, just as those whose hearts are oriented towards god show that orientation by the way they live their lives (lives characterized, by example, by the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5). Those who live for their pleasures will reveal their love in envy, fighting, and the ruthless pursuit of their pleasures; such lifestyles indicate hearts oriented away from God. When Christians pledge their love to God but live contrary to what that love demands, we are rebelling against the covenant contract. It's important to note, of course, that we remain in the contract (it is why we are not merely enemies but also adulterers!). James has good news for those who are adulterers against the covenant, but we'll get to that next week. James' point here is that when you 'love the world' you make yourself an enemy of God. But what does it mean to love the world? We need to define two terms: 'Love' and 'The World' as James uses it.
Love doesn't mean warm, fuzzy feelings. To love something is to have deep affection for it, even if that affection isn't always 'felt.' When you love something, you naturally make it the object of your pursuit, putting it on a pedestal and making it your priority. It's interesting that we are, at our core, creatures designed to worship; we all worship something and are compelled to do nothing else. Even the world's greatest dictators were slaves to their disasters and lived in worship of power. Thus everyone worships; everyone loves; but the question is what (or whom) do we love? What holds our greatest affections? What do we make the priority in our lives?
The World as James uses the term here refers to the whole organized system of evil, made up of varying and changing philosophies that are expressed in the organizations and personalities of human beings. The world is a composite expression of the wickedness of man and the intrigues of Satan's rule, which are both in opposition to the rule and ways of God. James says that to have a deep affection for the world - to make it your priority and greatest pursuit - is to make yourself an enemy of God. Love for the world system and its ways is characterized by a triumvirate of three ruling pleasures: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The Apostle John tells us this in 1 John 2.16, where he writes, Everything in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - comes not from the Father but from the world. (NIV) The New Living Translation puts it this way: '[The] world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.' The Lust of the Flesh, the Lust of the Eyes, and the Pride of Life encapsulate the three task-masters behind worldly love; what do these refer to?
The Lust of the Flesh is the lowest form of worldliness, after which most of the world runs like wild animals in heat. The lust of the flesh encompasses all that is connected to the indulgence of our base animal propensities. Those who worship the lust of the flesh are those who live their lives ruled by their appetites, indulging anything and everything excites and inflames sensual pleasure. Drunkenness, drug use, sexual promiscuity, and pornography are all great temptations to the 'lust of the flesh.'
The Lust of the Eyes is the lust of covetousness and envy. Those who live by the lust of the eyes are those who live their lives with the aim of accumulating for themselves the vanities of the world: the costliest clothes, the sleekest cars, the most beautiful homes. Their attention isn't on their eyes so much as on the eyes of others; they want to be seen by what they have. The pursuit of the American Dream is, in many ways, an outworking of the lust of the eyes.
Those who live according to The Pride of Life are those whose lives are characterized by a thirst for honor, applause, and recognition. They thirst for their own kingdoms rather than God's kingdom. The current trend of 'Instagram Influencers' indicates that this driving force of love for the world is well and active.
These three aspects of love for the world infect fallen humanity. Some people express them in greater degrees than others, and each of us experiences a particular draw towards at least one of them. Part of being a Christian is resisting these draws: instead of living for pleasure, we live for purpose; instead of focusing on wealth in the here and now, we seek to accumulate wealth in the world to come; instead of striving to make a name for ourselves, we strive to bring honor and glory to God's name. Because our hearts are naturally in love with the world, resistance to the world is difficult and costly. It will be a struggle, but to make no effort against love for the world is to be a friend of the world and thus an enemy of God.
James says that Christians who make the world and the things of the world a priority in their lives are guilty of adultery against God. This adultery manifests itself in lives characterized by conflict, envy, and tainted prayers. Those who make themselves enemies of God by loving the world need to submit to God in humble repentance, and God will be gracious.
~ Turn to the Lord ~
James 4.5-10
Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, 'He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us?' But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourself before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
James has just finished writing about how friendship with the world is to be an enemy of God. He admits that our propensity as fallen human beings is towards sin, but he holds out hope: there is a way out of our lowly condition. The answer is repentance: turning to God and turning away from sin. Those who repent from 'friendship with the world' - those who make God and His kingdom priority in their lives and who fight against the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - will be accepted by God and 'lifted up' from the mire and placed on solid footing before their Creator.
Verse five is a perplexing text that can be translated various ways. James says that God yearns jealously over the spirit he has made to dwell in us. Though this is often taking to be the Holy Spirit, a more common-sense reading is that James is speaking of our basic human spirits. The Greek text can be translated to say that 'our human spirits are corrupted with lustful envy.' In this case, James is admitting that our hearts are naturally drawn towards sin. We are at nature friends with the world and enemies with God. This is a plain Bible teaching. The fact that this sentence is given as a quote ('Scripture says...'), but it's found nowhere in the Old Testament. What do we make of this? Likely James is summing up a principle teaching of the Old Testament, found page after page in the holy scriptures: mankind is a messed-up beast! Thus James' statement that the heart of man is naturally bent towards 'lustful envy' is a teaching concurrent with the Jewish scriptures. The good news, though, is that God gives 'more grace': God's grace is greater than the power of sin, the flesh, the world, and the devil. The question, then, is how do we partake of this power that overcomes our natural bent towards sin? James answers this question by quoting Proverbs 3.34.
Proverbs 3.34 tells us, 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' When Old Testament scriptures are quoted in the New Testament, they're usually not used as proof-texts of some particular point but as echoes of biblical concepts or callbacks to Old Testament texts. When James quotes Proverbs 3.34, he isn't calling attention to only that verse but the wider context of that verse. In this case, he is echoing Proverbs 3.29-35. The main point of this passage is that those who humbly seek God and refuse to do wicked will be favored by God. The 'humble' of whom James writes aren't an upper-echelon class of Christians but Christians generally. All Christians are 'humble' before God: to be humble, after all, is to acknowledge your frailty and need and to submit yourself willingly to a higher authority (in this case God). The way to experience God's grace - which is greater than our spirits that are filled with lustful envy - is to submit to God and resist the devil. Both submission and resistance are opposite sides of the same coin of repentance. Repentance is turning, and it involves turning to God and away from sin and the devil. Repentance is the natural by-product of submission to God. It is what happens when a man 'humbles' himself before his creator.
Repentance involves both submission to God and resisting the devil. James, as a good Jewish person, saw all humanity being under one of two masters: either God or the devil. To put your allegiance on one is to stand against the other. Human beings, infected with sin, naturally give their allegiance to the devil - who is the 'head' of all opposition to God - even if they don't know it or even believe it. As such they are naturally opposed to God. To become a Christian involves a changing of allegiance: we make a decision of the will to forsake old allegiances (the devil) and embrace a new allegiance (to God). When this is fleshed out in daily life, it involves submission to our new master and resisting our old master. James uses militant language to describe this submission and resistance, though we lose these militant undertones in translation. To 'submit' is to literally 'line up under,' and the word was used of soldiers under the authority of their commander. The submission James speaks of is a willing, conscious submission to God's authority as sovereign ruler of the cosmos. A truly humble person will give his allegiance to God, obey His commands, and follow His leadership. To 'resist' is to literally 'take your stand against,' so that resisting the devil is taking a stand against him. This involves refusing to live as he wants us to live, refusing to believe his lies, and refusing to willfully sin against God.
James gives us a flurry of Old Testament echoes to describe the nature of the repentance God requires. Repentance is 'drawing near to God' - it is making God our main priority and pursuing Him rather than our own wants and desires. Repentance involves 'cleansing hands and purifying hearts' - it requires the hard work of turning from sin and learning new ways to live that honor God and obey His commands. Repentance involves turning our laughter to mourning and our joy to sorrow - interestingly, the Greek word James uses for 'laughter' is used only here in the whole New Testament, and it refers to the flippant laughter of those foolishly indulging in worldly pleasures. The picture is of people who give no thought to God, life, death, sin, judgment, or holiness. These are the people who laugh hysterically as they take drugs in night clubs or engage in orgies or drunken revelry. Repentance requires these people to turn from such flippant laughter and to mourn over their rebellion against God. The end result of repentance will be exaltation, being lifted out of the mire of sin-driven, futile lives and placed on solid footing before the creator.
~ Judging the Law ~
James 4.11-12
Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
James has just finished writing about how friendship with the world is to be an enemy of God, and the appropriate response to such friendship is to turn from it and to turn to God. This 'turning' is done in humility, and such humility is contrary to judging one another. James instructs his readers to not do two things: to 'speak evil' of one another and to 'judge' one another. The first refers to slander, which is an outflow of what James wrote earlier in 3.1-12. The second refers to 'passing judgment,' and it's different from practical discernment. The Bible tells us to practice discernment; we are to be wise in our dealings with others and discern to the best of our abilities the nature of people and act accordingly.
What, then, is James opposing? There are three ideas: (1) James is addressing slanderous gossip that was spreading like gangrene through the churches, and James is addressing it at the root; (2) he is addressing sinful responses to different issues and hotheaded opinions in the church that would (ultimately) be resolved in the then-future Jewish Council of AD 49/50; or (3) he is opposing Judaizers in the church. The Judaizers were a group of pseudo-Christians who taught that in order to be saved, one had to have faith in Jesus and follow the 'works of the law' (certain Jewish practices, such as circumcision, eating a certain diet, and observing certain holy days). Judaizers believed that many Jewish laws - particularly those that served as 'boundary-markers,' differentiating those in God's covenant from those outside it - were still binding. The Apostle Paul deals with them at length in many letters; it is why he's so adamant that salvation comes by faith alone and not by 'works of the law.' The theory goes that the Judaizers were active in the churches of the Jewish diaspora, and here James is addressing them particularly: they are the ones who are 'slandering' their brethren and 'judging' them as outside the covenant because they were no longer adhering to Jewish boundary-markers and 'works of the law.' The Greek that James writes can be read, He that speaks evil of his brother judges his brother; and he that speaks evil of the law judges the law. The Judaizers were setting up their own tribunals in which they were simultaneously prosecutor, witness, law, lawgiver, and judge (and executioner, as well!).
It's likely that James' motivation in this text is to address either the Judaizers or cliques in the church that revolved around issues to be dealt with at the Jerusalem Council. This background doesn't mean the text has no meaning for us today. There's no excuse for slander or judgment in our churches. We have a tendency to slander brothers and sisters for assumed motives, supposed actions, and for differences in opinion that have nothing to do with the gospel. In politically polarized times, how many Christians are guilty of slandering their brethren who hold opposing political views? James opposes slander and defamation, but this doesn't exclude confronting those who are in sin, which is elsewhere commanded in scripture (Matthew 18.15-17; Titus 1.13, 2.15, 3.10). James is condemning careless, derogatory, critical, and slanderous accusations against others, and his doing so is consistent with scripture (Psalm 50.20; Proverbs 10.18; Romans 1.29; Titus 2.3). Those who do this are speaking evil of the law because they're disregarding God's law, which says not to do this. To do so is to 'judge' the law, because by refusing to submit to it's authority, you're submitting to your own (assumed) authority. You're placing yourself above the law. Thus, in an ironic twist, the Judaizers who presented themselves as defenders of God's law were actually placing themselves above it!
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