INDISPUTABLE COMMANDS, PART II: JAMES 4:8

 Indisputable Commands 3-5

#3→ 4.8a: Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

This is a depiction of our intimate fellowship with God. Obeying this command is dependent upon the positive volition of the believer with an understanding of the basis for their relationship with Him. By doing this we recognize our marvelous position in God’s plan.

The Scripture states that we are “a royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9) and that Christ is our high priest (Hebrews 4:14; 5:6, 10; 9:11). This is based on the fact that the moment when Jesus Christ died on the cross, the veil in the temple was split down the middle (Matthew 27:50-51). This opened an access to the Holy of Holies—the innermost room of the temple where God resided in Old Testament times.The high priest would enter there once a year to offer sacrifice for the sins of the people. Just as the high priest had offered up a sacrifice for sin, Our Lord sacrificed Himself for all sins once, effective for all times (Hebrews 7:27; 9:12; cf. 1 John 2:2). The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews fully explains how this relates now to our present access to God:

Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:19–22)

This holy place which the writer mentions is the presence of God—the place of fellowship with Him, made available to us by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. James doesn’t explain the manner in which we are to draw near, but the writer of Hebrews tells us that we must do so “with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience.” Our faith must contain sound doctrine, not demonic wisdom (3:15) and we must be clean (free) of sinfulness. This corresponds to the sinless nature of God and the fact that our sinfulness results in a broken fellowship with Him. 

The apostle John illustrates this relationship symbolically: walking in darkness as sinfulness (1 John 1:6); walking in the Light as sinless (1 John 1:5, 7). He specifies the remedy which restores our fellowship: confession of sin (1 John 1:9). Once the believer confesses their sin, they are restored to fellowship and have fulfilled the command of James to draw near. For this is the rightful place of our fellowship with God where “we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16)—and the empowerment needed to understand His divine wisdom and apply it in our lives.

 #4→ 4.8b: Cleanse your hands, you sinners

The word for cleanse has the implication in Scripture of ceremonial cleansing. The high priests in the Old Testament had to prepare themselves with ritual cleaning prior to going into the Holy of Holies (Exodus 30:19-21). Here, the cleaning of the hands is in reference to sinful activities. Now, we as members of the royal priesthood, we must implement this cleansing by recognizing our sinful activities and confessing them as sins to God (1 John 1:9). Being mindful that all sins, past and present, were judged by the blood of Christ’s cross. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews assures us of His eternal cleansing:

How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14)

The cleansing and confessing of sinful activities will ensure the believer of continuous fellowship with his Lord—the position of power for effective service.

 #5→ 4.8c: Purify your hearts, you double-minded.

To purify the heart means to make the core of a person virtuous—a righteous and worthy child of God. James’ readers have already shown that they are living in an unfaithful condition: friends of the world and enemies of God (4:4), and that they have embraced “earthly, natural, demonic” wisdom (3:15). This is a sound rationale that James would declare that they are double-minded. He has previously stated that “a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways (1:8).

The process for purifying the believers’ heart is a consistent regimen of sound doctrine: daily study of God’s Word. The apostle Paul describes this concept of cleansing and purification:

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1–2)

This is literally a renovation of the heart and mind of the believer. The process can be understood simply as:

The Word of God → Taught by the Spirit of God → To the child of God → To make the child of God → More like the Son of God.

The apostle John declares that we are His children, asserting that purifying ourselves should be the key aim in our life of faith in Jesus Christ.

See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. (1 John 3:1–3)

The believer with a purified heart is single-minded, having his hope fixed on Christ—meaning he is “fixing his eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2). The word fixing which the author of Hebrews uses, means “to look away from one thing so as to see another.”1 It is essential that we look away from anything which distracts our attention from a Christ centered life. Our strategy should be to purge our minds of demonic wisdom and fill ourselves with sound doctrine, so that divine wisdom—the mind of Christ—will saturate the streams of our consciousness, to consistently direct our walk of faith.

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1 Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W., Jr. (1996). Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. T. Nelson, 2.377.

 

© 2022 David M. Rossi 

 

INDISPUTABLE COMMANDS, PART I: JAMES 4:7

 Indisputable Commands 1-2

James 4:7-10 encompasses 10 Indisputable Commands for the rehabilitation of spiritually unfaithful believers—it is a call for decisive action.

In the opening verses of chapter 4, James summarized the mindset of the believers to whom he is writing: entangled in quarrels and conflicts; engaging in improper requests in prayer; persistent friendship with the world. This is the epitome of an unfaithful people towards God. James attempts in the next 4 verses to provide the Biblical approach for correcting the error of their ways.

#1→ 4:7a: Submit therefore to God.

Submit is a military term in the Greek meaning to “subject oneself, be subordinated, obey.”1 However, it does not infer inferiority of the one submitting. This is the same word Peter uses when he commands that wives should be submissive to their husbands (1 Peter 3:1). The implication being that wives are not inferior to the husbands, but instead, that there is a divinely instituted orderliness in the marriage relationship.  

There is also a divinely instituted order in God's relationship with His believers. The apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:20: “For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” And since that price is the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:19), it is only right that we should obey James’ directive: submit to God and diligently glorify Him with our lives.

The question is: How do we submit to God? What must specifically be done?

The answer is in the context of the preceding verses: they must relinquish their allegiance to jealousy and selfish ambitions (3:11); stop their quarreling and conflicts (4:1); cease their frantic search of pleasures (4:3); and untangle themselves from their unfaithful friendship with the Satan controlled world (4:4).

Submitting to God is a mental attitude that concentrates on obedience to divine directives, which can only be acquired by an intense and consistent study of His Word. There is a clever saying: “7 days without prayer makes one weak.” Although this is true but a more astute maxim would be: “7 days without studying God’s Word will make one weak and spiritually destitute.”

In addition to a daily consistent study of God’s Word, a total reliance upon the empowerment of the Holy Spirit is essential for a victorious walk of faith (Galatians 5:16). Lenski correctly states that submitting to God means that we should “do this effectively, definitely, once for all.”2 It is not something to be done some of the time, but all of the time.

 

#2→ 4:7b: Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

The Greek word James uses for resist (anthístēmi) means to “take a stand against”3—specifically, against the devil. But who is the devil? He is Satan, the one “who deceives the whole world...the accuser of our brethren...before our God day and night” (Revelation 12:9-10). So, while he is doing his accusing, his legions of demons are troubling believers today. And as James has already pointed out, they have influenced his readers with earthly, natural, demonic wisdom (3:15), making them friends of the world—which lies in the power of the evil one (1 John 5:19)—and therefore enemies of God (4:4). We believers should be aware of the devil’s powerful diversion from God’s truth and our place of fellowship with Him.    

How do we resist the devil? First, be alert. Peter warns us that we should recognize the reality of our adversary:

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

And secondly, we are to be firm in our faith:

 But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. (1 Peter 5:9)

This goes back to the first command to submit to God, which necessitates consistent study of His Word to acquire divine wisdom and to eliminate demonic wisdom.

Thirdly, we must fully arm ourselves for our spiritual battle. This is a real battle, one that can be won. But it can also be lost by those who are unaware that they are even in a battle. The apostle Paul states that God has provided the armament for an assured victory.

Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. (Ephesians 6:11)

Paul goes on to assert the reality of the adversary:

 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)

Paul commands us to “take up the full armor of God, so that we will be able to resist in the evil day...to stand firm (Ephesians 6:13).” And in doing as we are instructed, Paul concludes that by arming ourselves with the shield of faith—divine wisdom, sound doctrine—we will be able to “extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one (Ephesians 6:16).

James adds that the devil “will flee from you.” But the certainty of this is only true if we resolve to follow the Biblical guidelines on how to resist the devil.

Do we truly believe the Bible that we have an adversary?

Are we active in standing firm in our knowledge of our faith—sound doctrine?

Are we securing the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-17)?

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1 Arndt, W., Gingrich, F. W., & Bauer, W. (1957). A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. University of Chicago Press, p. 855.

2 Lenski, R.C.H. (2001). Commentary on the New Testament. Hendrickson Publishers, 10.631.

3 Blue, J. R. (1985). James. The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. (J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck, Eds.). Victor Books, 2.830.

 

© David M. Rossi 2022

GOD GIVES A GREATER GRACE: JAMES 4:5-6

Verses 5-6: Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose about jealousy? He desires the spirit that was made to dwell in us, moreover He gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”  [An amended translation]

 

These two verses are perhaps the most problematic passage in the New Testament. The difficulty may lie in the faulty division of sentences and verses. As previously noted at the beginning of Chapter 4, the chapter, verse and sentence divisions in the Bible are not a part of the divine inspiration of the Bible. By following the amended translation, the idea James is trying to convey to his readers can be understood more clearly.

James begins by questioning their capacity for right thinking. The Greek word for think means a “subjective mental estimate or opinion formed by man concerning a matter.”1 This emphasizes their use of subjective human viewpoint in their mistaken belief that Scripture speaks to no purpose about jealousy—that what Scripture states is irrelevant.

But to what does “jealousy” refer? First, it is a different Greek word than the one James already employed in 3:14 and 16 which meant strife and indignation.2 Here he uses a synonym implying “pain felt and malignity conceived at the sight of excellence or happiness...incapable of good and always is used with an evil meaning.”3

Secondly, this jealousy indicates God’s disposition of all that has preceded, specifically, the adulterous and unfaithfulness of James’ readers. The obvious question is how can jealousy be ascribed to God? This has been presented numerous times in Scripture:

A jealous and avenging God is the Lord; The Lord is avenging and wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies. (Nahum 1:2; Cf. Exodus 20:5a; 34:14; Deuteronomy 4:24; 6:15a; Joshua 24:19; Zechariah 1:14)

We might wonder how a sin (jealousy) can be attributed to God. This is what is known as anthropopathism and is portrayed many times in Scripture: hate (Romans 9:13), violent anger (Jeremiah 4:8; 12:13; 25:37; 51:45; Ezekiel 5:15); along with other human emotions: grieving (Genesis 6:6; Ephesians 4:30), sorrow (Genesis 6:6). Since God does not have emotions the Bible uses language of accommodation by attributing to God a human emotion so that we can understand His divine response in a particular situation. Therefore, God’s jealousy describes His divine aspiration that believers should not exchange their faithful devotion to Him with anything else.

This next phrase is an inspired Biblical principle: He [God] desires the spirit that was made to dwell in us. The word “desire” denotes an intense yearning or longing—to long for lovingly.4 The apostle Paul uses this word six times for his longing to see someone: Romans 1:11; 2 Corinthians 9:14; Philippians 1:8, 2:26; 1 Thessalonians 3:6; 2 Timothy 1:4. God lovingly longs for our faithful allegiance—which is our spiritual union with Him.

We must understand James’ specific use of the word spirit. He employs the word only one other time in this epistle in 2:165 referencing the immaterial life principle of man, the human spirit, not the Holy Spirit. This human spirit is the breath of life in man which makes him a living being (Genesis 2:7; cf. Ecclesiastes 12:7; Isaiah 2:22; John 4:24)—“the sinful, fallen spirit of man which is responsible for the propensity to sin and to indulge in worldly pleasure.”6

Man’s human spirit is the point of alliance between God and the believer where fellowship can be shared and enjoyed. There is abundant Scripture to support this view. As Jesus told the woman at the well: “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). Ryrie states that to worship “means to acknowledge the worth of the object worshiped. We should acknowledge God’s worth in spirit (in contrast to material ways) and in truth (in contrast to falsehood).”7

Other examples from Scripture of the human spirit’s interaction with God: we are to be fervent in spirit serving the Lord (Romans 12:11); the spirit is that which is saved (1 Corinthians 5:5); the spirit is the grace receptor for the believer (Galatians 6:18).

This answers the question of what God jealously desires: our full undivided fellowship. And in the immediate context, those to whom James is writing have instead been engaged in self-interests and pleasures. They have formed a friendship with the world and are now regarded as hostile enemies of God. Their trend towards hedonism has caused a breach in their spiritual relationship with God.

But there is hope for those who have established a friendship with the world: God does not abandon His own. The added phrase—moreover He gives greater grace—means that He makes a way for them to return to fellowship with Him. The way back is confession and cleansing of sins (1 John 1:9). The writer of Hebrews explains how this must be accomplished:

Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

James concludes with the quote from Proverbs 3:34:8 “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Here he concludes that those who have developed a friendship with the world are proud. A better word for proud is arrogant, meaning one who exaggerates their own importance and exhibits contempt and disregard for the Lord. In order to draw near to the throne of grace the believer cannot be an enemy of God.

However, arrogance often prevents a believer of admitting their sin, therefore, God is opposed to them. The word “oppose” is an “old military term, to range [arrange] in battle against”9 your enemy—as in this case, the unfaithful believer. In contrast, God gives grace (undeserved favor) to those who are humble, to those who recognize the error of their ways and seek forgiveness. Lenski is correct in his assessment of the contrast between the humble and the arrogant:

They are like empty vessels which God can fill; the haughty [arrogant] are full [of themselves]—how can God fill them?10

The emphasis of the opening verses of chapter 4:1-6 is that after salvation we are to be servants of our Lord, learning and embracing divine viewpoint. Do the characteristics of our relationship with God conform to His perspective or to that of the world's, derived from demonic wisdom (3:15)?

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1 Zodhiates, S. (2000). The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). AMG Publishers, G1380.

2 Zḗlos (ζηλος) from which we get our English word ‘zeal’.

3 Zodhiates, G5355.

4 Zodhiates, G1971.

5 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. (James 2:16)

6 Zodhiates, S. (1999). Faith, Love, & Hope: An Exposition of the Epistle of James (electronic ed). AMG Publishers, Jas 4:5.

7 Ryrie, C.C. (1995). Ryrie Study Bible, Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, p.1686, note.

8 From the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint (LXX).

9 Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament. Broadman Press, Jas 4:6.

10 Lenski, R.C.H. (2001). Commentary on the New Testament. Hendrickson Publishers 10.631.

 

© 2023 David M. Rossi