James 4

Chap. IV. Ver.1—17._ The evils of war, of private malevolence, and of rash conduct.—This chapter is equally pointed against national and personal hostilities. On the former subject we shall enrich our pages with a few lines from a truly Christian orator of the present day. The (Revelation 5)Rod. Hall remarks—‘‘The contests of nations are both the offspring and the parent of injustice. The word of God ascribes the existence of war to the disorderly passions of men. Whence come wars and fightings among you? saith the Apostle James; Come they not from your lusts, that war in your members? It is certain two nations cannot engage in hostilities, but one party must be guilty of injustice; and if the magnitude of crimes is to be estimated by a regard to their consequences, it is difficult to conceive an action of equal guilt with the wanton violation of peace.

Though something must generally be allowed for the complexriess and intricacy of national claims, and the consequent liability to deception, yet where the guilt of an unjust war is clear and manifest, it sinks every other crime into insignificance. If the existence of war always implies injustice in one at least of the parties concerned, it is also the fruitful parent of crimes. It reverses, with respect to its objects, all the rules of morality. It is nothing less than a temporary repeal of the principles of virtue. It is a system out of three military terms in this verse: 1. Submit, i.e. be subject to your commander; 2. Resist, engage the enemy; and, 3. He will fly, or be put to Ver. 8. Ye double-minded.—See (James 1:8). Ver. 12. One lawgiver.—According to Doddridge, God the supreme; according to Hammond and Macknight, Christ, the sole lawgiver of his church. Ver. 13, Go to now.—Doddridge, ‘‘Come now.” Ver. 14. A vapour.—Macknight, “smoke.” The LXX. use it for the cloud of incense. Ver. 15. If the Lord.—A style of this kind, referring all to the wisdom and providence of God, had been long in use among the pious Jews, and may be traced back to the days of Ruth and Boaz. (Ruth 3:4). It is observable, too, that the Gentiles acknowledged their dependence upon God. The Greeks used to say (sun Theo,) “with the help of God;” and the Latins, Deo volente, [be] willing”—terms very usual with our ancestors, but now almost obso- Ver.

17. Therefore.—Doddridge, ‘‘For.” Macknight, “Wherefore.”

Notes on the verses

Chap. IV. Ver. 5. To envy.—But where doth the Scripture say this? certainly nowhere in express terms. Whitby, Doddridge, Macknight, &c. divide this into two questions: ‘‘Do you think that the Scripture speaks in vain?” or to no purpose? i.e. in warning us against the friendship of the world. Or, “Does the spirit that dwells in us (i.e. the Holy Spirit) lust to envy?” Many, however, take this passage for a quotation, though they are not agreed from whence. Bishop Patrick refers to (Numbers 11:29); and Dr. Hammond, to (Genesis 6:34); Beza to (Genesis 8:21); Macknight suggests (Romans 8:7), but confesses the passage to be very difficult. Dr. John Edwards thinks this refers to the general sense of Scripture.

Ver. 7. Submit yourselves, &c.—Dr. John [Martin] saith that there are