James 4:4-10

 “Adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God? So whoever decides to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy. Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says, “The spirit that God caused to live within us has an envious yearning”? But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.” So submit to God. But 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 make your hearts pure, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into despair. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.”

— ‭‭James‬ ‭4‬:‭4‬-‭10‬‬

I haven’t taken much time with structure of James as whole. Need to see his overall argument to know how these very forward words fit. I know James doesn’t hold back throughout the book and everyone loves his practicality. But he must have some organization, too.

James does have this double-minded theme from ch 1. These people are unstable and lack faith. Here the double mindedness affects purity of heart and actions. There are people who are have affection for God and the culture of the world (obviously). James and others makes it clear that we can’t have both. Jesus would say you can’t serve two masters. Paul says light and dark don’t mix. It’s a very common idea, and we understand it logically/theologically, but when it comes to the daily, it’s very hard to discuss. 

What counts as friendship and what counts as engagement? How do I know if I am just living as a human, and how do I know if I’m being influenced, or just going with the flow, or not caring enough? Enemy is a strong word. Yikes.

Spirit is a debatable term. Most people take it as our human spirit, affected by the fall. It is marred by jealousy/envy. God gives grace to overcome these ambitions and passions. There is no OT passage that says this exactly, so either the original text has been lost or James is summarizing some passages. 

God opposes the proud and gives grace to humble. Not quite the text I would quote in a passage like this, but James focused on that phrase “give grace.” And well, humility is the antidote to many things, including pride and perhaps envy or jealousy. Most of what the world’s system/culture and philosophies try to distract us from kingdom pursuits can be countered with humility. This is James’ attempt at showing the great reversal from the gospels. 

The world says seek more, gain more, fight and claw at others to get more. Jesus says, die to self. Gospel implications are to gain the kingdom by showing how utterly dependent we are, not self-sufficient. This is submission.

We could have a whole post on resisting the devil. I wouldn’t recommend talking to him, engaging with him, finding him in every detail that goes wrong in the day, blaming him for all things. I think James is sticking with the devil as the source of opposing ambitions or passions. He is the lord of pride and greed. So run far away from these things.

Stop laughing about them. Taking joy in them. Cry over them. Weep at our haughtiness. Can we be joyful Christians? Absolutely…need much more of it. Can we be humble and happy? Yes, please. But James is arguing against some attitudes that clearly need adjusted. 

The path to being honored is to choose humility. I have no idea when or how or what that looks like. But God loves a humble person. Pursue that.