James 4:1

All the open wars among the Jews at this time, (see note [c] ch. v,) and all the lower strifes and dissensions and emulations wherein the Christian Judaizers are now engaged against others, (see Zonar. in Can. Ap. 65,) are far from any pious or divine supernal principle, ch. iii. 17, they proceed visibly from your own carnal hearts, your desires and pursuits of those things that are matter of satisfaction to your lusts within you, those sensual lusts which first war against your reason and upper soul, and then against the directions of God’s Spirit; first move a strife within your own breasts, rebelling against the law of the mind, Rom. vii, and then disquiet all others near you.

James 4:2

All your coveting and envying and contending and fighting brings you in no kind of profit, because praying to God, which is the only means of attaining, is neglected.

James 4:3

And for them that do pray to God, it is yet among many of you only, or principally, for such things which may be instrumental to your lusts, and

[a] as it were fire] That the words ὡς πῦρ, as fire, are to be joined with ἐθησαυρίσατε, ye have treasured up, and not with the former, the sense doth much enforce, and the ancient manner of writing without points doth well permit; and it hath a special significance in this place, agreeable to the times wherein this Epistle was written. For the last days, being the time of the Jews’ destruction, (see note [b] on Acts ii) and to treasure up wealth as fire, being no more than to lay up their wealth so as it should mischief, and devour, and consume, instead of advantaging them, this is here most truly said of the uncharitable and unchristian Judaizers at that time, in respect of the destruction of that people approaching, where the rich misers were the most miserably harassed of any. See note [c] on Rev. ix.

James 4:5

[a] the scripture saith] There is no place of scripture of the Old Testament which can own so much of this citation as that, Gen. vi, where in the Septuagint’s reading there is πνεῦμα, spirit, and παραμένει, abideth; and the παραμένειν, abiding, there, is all one with the κατοικεῖν, sojourning, here. Now whereas it is here added of that spirit, that it doth ἐπιποθεῖν εἰς φθόνον, desire to envy, first, it is clear that the πνεῦμά μου, my spirit, there, is the spirit or soul of man, given him by God, and so called God’s, in respect of the original, (see note [f] on 1 Pet. iii.] but signifies the mind of man as it is in him, and is corrupted by an habit of worldly and wicked desires, which cannot be affirmed of God’s holy Spirit, (and for any evil angel, it will be hard to say, either that such dwell in, or that it is they that lust in us: it is our own corrupt hearts, even when the devils move us, to which the lust and all the sin is to be imputed:) and, secondly, this is parallel to what, Gen. vi. 3, is said of that old world, that man is flesh, and the thoughts of his heart always evil, that is, his carnal or worldly desires are insatiable, bent to all manner of wickedness; the desires here being distinctly noted by ἐπιποθεῖν, desiring, and either the wickedness or insatiateness of them by φθόνος, envy, which sometimes in authors is the contrary to liberality, and signifies all manner of covetousness, pining to see any man have what we have not; and elsewhere signifies malice, violence, and the like. As for the addition here, ver. 6, But he giveth more grace, that seems to be the apostle’s own observation of that place in Genesis, that when the world so provoked God, yet he gave them time of repentance, (as it there follows, Nevertheless his days shall be an hundred and twenty years; they shall have that space allowed them to reform and escape punishment,) and so God in Christ doth now; and upon repentance there is yet mercy and pardon to be had, upon which is superstructed naturally that which follows, Wherefore he saith, &c.

James 4:6

[b] the proud] The word ὑπερήφανος here notes not particularly the vice of pride and haughtiness, but a general disobedience and resistance against the law of God, which is called ὕβρις, contumeliousness, and superbia, pride, in opposition to obedience; as in Virgil,

regum est, Parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos:

“It is the part of kings to spare those that submit, and subdue the proud:” a place directly parallel to this here out of the Proverbs, and which St. Augustine conceives to be had from thence. The place in the Proverbs reads, God scorneth the scorners, (because scorners use to

James 4:7

[b] coming of the Lord] The coming of the Lord is here expressly defined by Œcumenius to be Ῥωμαϊκὴ ἔφοδος, the expedition of the Romans;

James 4:9

[c] Grudge not] The practices of the zealots among the Jews, a little before the great miserable destruction of that people, are often mentioned in Josephus, and referred to in this Epistle especially, and in those of St. Peter, written about the same time, and to the same persons that this of St. James was, viz. to the dispersed of the Jews. And although those to whom the epistles were directed immediately were the Jewish Christians, yet of these there were so many that did stand for the continuance of the Mosaical law, and so were Judaizing Christians; and these lived so intermixedly with the unconverted Jews themselves, and so maliciously acted with them, to the persecuting of the orthodox Christians, that as some passages of this Epistle seem to belong only to the Jews unconverted, as the former part of this chapter, till ver. 7, so many more pertain to those that went on with them in their sins, those that reconciled Christianity and the world, and all the most enormous sensual sins, ch. iv. 4, and particularly the outrageous practices of the zealots. For so it appears, by Acts xxi. 20, that many myriads of converted, or believing, Christian Jews, were all ζηλωταὶ τοῦ νόμου, of the number of the zealots, that were very vehement persecutors of all that stood not for the law of Moses. To these refers the unruly tongue, ch. iii, compared to a fire that kindled so much matter, made such combustions among them, φλογίζουσα, setting into a flame the whole wheel, or course, of affairs, vv. 5, 6, untameable, ver. 8, full of cursing and bitterness, vv. 10, 11, and, in plain words, πικρὸς ζῆλος, bitter zeal, ver. 14; and again, ζῆλος, zeal or envy, ver. 16; and from thence, ἀκαταστασία καὶ πᾶν φαῦλον πρᾶγμα, sedition, or tumultuousness, and every evil deed, the very character of the zealots in Josephus. So again, ch. iv, the πόλεμοι καὶ μάχαι ἐν ὑμῖν, the wars and quarrels among them, ver. 1, which, as it is observed, were first intestine among themselves, begun by those of the zealots, and so prepared them to their wretched desolation when the Roman eagles came: and more punctually, ver. 2. φονεύετε καὶ ζηλοῦτε, ye kill and envy. And to this purpose the στενάζετε here most properly belongs, which though it signify sighing, or groaning, or murmuring, yet, because that is an effect of envy and emulation, which sighs at other men’s prosperity, and because envy proceeds wholly from uncontentedness, (as in the story of Cain it appears, first his countenance was sad, and then he maligns and slays his brother,) therefore by a figure it is set to signify the same thing that φθόνος and ζῆλος, envy and bitter zeal, had before so often done.

James 4:10

The only way to get into the number of those that then shall be delivered, is timely to repent and return unto Christ.

James 4:11

Speak not against them which do not observe those legal ceremonies which some of you Jewish Christians do still retain, nor condemn any man for not observing them, for he that doth so speaketh in effect against the law by which that Christian rules his actions, (that is, the law of Christ, the gospel,) censures that for imperfect, in that it commands not those things; and if thou dost so, then instead of obeying the law of Christ, thou undertakest to overrule and judge it, and canst not truly be called a Christian.

James 4:12

Christ, and none else, hath authority to give laws unto us and punish the refractory, and it is not for you to impose observances where he hath given liberty.

[d] condemnation] The ancient copies generally (and, beside those produced by others, the forementioned in Magdalen college library in Oxford) read εἰς ὑπόκρισιν, into hypocrisy. The word ὑπόκρισις, in the Septuagint, signifies ψευδολογία, false speaking; for the Hebrew ἡσί, which vulgarly signifies to be an hypocrite, to dissemble, signifies also to lie, to deceive, to deal fraudulently, (as near in signification as in sound to our knave, as it is now used among us;) and so one of these is taken for the other, the word ὑπόκρισις set to signify ψευδολογία, false speaking. And then the exhortation of this place will be

James 4:13

And (as now the times are, a sudden destruction approaching the Jews) one admonition will be very seasonable for those that use these or the like arrogant forms of speech, To day &c. assuming to themselves power over the future:

[c] To day or to—] It was an old saying of the Hebrews, mentioned by Ben Syra, “ Let no man say he will do any thing unless he first say, If the Lord will.” On which occasion there follows in him a story of a man, who, when he said, “ To morrow I will sit with my spouse in the marriage-chamber,” was admonished that he ought to say, אִם נָחַר הַשֵּׁם, If God will, and he answered, “ Whether God will or not, I will sit there.” Of whom, saith he, it followed, that he “ sat with her all the day, but at night when they were going to bed, before he knew her, they were both dead.” Wherefore they said, “ The spouse went up to her marriage-bed, and knew not what would befall her; therefore whosoever desires to do anything, let him first say, If God will.”

James 4:14

Whereas (beside the atheisticalness of it, in taking themselves off from depending on God) it is certain they do not know what they shall be able to do to-morrow: for even your life itself, on which all your designs must necessarily depend, is but a most frail, mortal, transitory thing, short and presently vanisheth.

James 4:15

And therefore your forms of language ought to be of another making, never mentioning any purpose of yours but with subordination to the good pleasure of God.

James 4:16

And for you to take pleasure in such insolent speeches as these is a wicked atheistical thing.

[d] boastings] Ἀλαζονεία signifies boasting, or assuming to oneself more than belongs to him, and differs from αὐθάδεια, self-pleasing or insolence, Tit. i. 7, in this, that this is a great love, or high opinion, of oneself, φιλαστία, self-love, 2 Tim. iii. 2, being puffed up, 1 Cor. xiii. 4, being wise in one’s own conceit, Rom. xi. 25 and xii. 16; but that is a fastuous speaking: and as this is ordinarily expressed in magnifying one’s own abilities or power above other men, so hath it here a notion little different from it, speaking in such a form as if he depended not upon God himself; and so it belongs to the fault reprehended, ver. 13, when a man promises or affirms that simply which is not in his power, but as God is pleased to enable or concur with him. And thus it is used Prov. xxvii. 1, Boast not thyself of to-morrow, that is, assume not to thyself arrogantly that thou wilt do this or that to-morrow; for, saith Solomon, thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. These kind of speeches then are here called ἀλαζονείας, boastings; and they that take pleasure in such language, in assuming thus to themselves, speaking thus magnificently of their own purposes, are here said καυχῶσθαι ἐν ταῖς ἀλαζονείας, to rejoice, or glory, in such boasting: and though all sort of rejoicing be not, yet πᾶσα καύχησις τοιαύτη, all such kind of rejoicing is evil, ver. 16, and that in an high degree.

CHAP. V.

James 4:17

And for Christians to be guilty of this, who

James 4:18

But they that love and follow peace shall accordingly be repaid the reward of the righteous, the peace and all the mercies of God shall be their reward. ### CHAP. IV. FROM whence come wars and ¹ fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your ² lusts that war in your members?