James 4:15

4:11-17 Our lips must be governed by the law of kindness, as well as truth and justice. Christians are brethren. And to break God's commands, is to speak evil of them, and to judge them, as if they laid too great a restraint upon us. We have the law of God, which is a rule to all; let us not presume to set up our own notions and opinions as a rule to those about us, and let us be careful that we be not condemned of the Lord. Go to now, is a call to any one to consider his conduct as being wrong. How apt worldly and contriving men are to leave God out of their plans! How vain it is to look for any thing good without God's blessing and guidance! The frailty, shortness, and uncertainty of life, ought to check the vanity and presumptuous confidence of all projects for futurity. We can fix the hour and minute of the sun's rising and setting to-morrow, but we cannot fix the certain time of a vapour being scattered. So short, unreal, and fading is human life, and all the prosperity or enjoyment that attends it; though bliss or woe for ever must be according to our conduct during this fleeting moment. We are always to depend on the will of God. Our times are not in our own hands, but at the disposal of God. Our heads may be filled with cares and contrivances for ourselves, or our families, or our friends; but Providence often throws our plans into confusion. All we design, and all we do, should be with submissive dependence on God.

Jam 4:15 . Ἀντὶ τοῦ λέγειν ὑμᾶς , whereas ye ought to say ) referring to ye that say , Jam 4:13 . An Imperative is here implied, rather say thus .— καὶ , and ) If the Lord will, we shall BOTH live AND act . We shall both live, is part of the Apodosis;[61] for, if it were part of the Protasis, and would not be placed before we shall act . Καὶ ζήσωμεν is expressed in Latin by si vixerimus , where the si is incorrectly added, and the καὶ which follows, incorrectly omitted; for ΚΑῚ ΖΉΣΩΜΕΝ ( i. e. vivemus ) belongs, as we have said, to the Apodosis: and the boasting man so speaks as though he had in his own power, (1.) the particular kind of action, (2.) the action, and (3.) life; whereas (1.) the life of men, (2.) action, and (3.) the particular kind of action, depend entirely on the will of the Lord. See again App. Grit. Ed. ii.— ζήσωμεν ·[62] ποιήσωμεν ) The Subjunctive gives to the discourse an expression of modesty.[63] [61] This is the punctuation also of Lachm. But Vulg. “Si Dominus voluerit et (Amiat. omits Si, which other MSS. here insert) vixerimus, faciemus hoc aut illud.” So Tisch.—E. [62] AB read ζήσομεν καὶ ποιήσομεν ; Rec. Text, without very old authority, ζήσωμεν and ποιήσωμεν .—E. [63] As making the future contingent .—E.

15. Literally, "instead of your saying," &c. This refers to "ye that say" (Jas 4:13). we shall live—The best manuscripts read, "We shall both live and do," &c. The boasters spoke as if life, action, and the particular kind of action were in their power, whereas all three depend entirely on the will of the Lord.

Verse 15. - For that ye ought to say ( ἀντὶ τοῦ λέγειν ); literally, instead of your saying ; ἀντὶ τοῦ , with the infinitive, "saepe apud Graecos" (Grimm). This verse follows in thought on ver. 13, ver. 14 having been parenthetical. "Go to now, ye that say... instead of your saying (as ye ought), If the Lord will," etc. Once more the text requires correction, as the futures ζήσομεν and ποιήσομεν should be read (with א , A, B), instead of the subjunctives of the Received Text. It is generally agreed now that the verse should be rendered," If the Lord will, we shall both live and do this or that." But it is possible to divide it differently, and to render as follows: "If the Lord will, and we live, we shall also do this or that." Vulgate, si Dominus voluerit et si [omit si , Codex Amiat.] vixerimus , faciemus , etc. (cf. Winer, 'Grammar of N.T. Greek,' p. 357). James 4:15

For that ye ought to say: it is the real acknowledgment of God’s providence, and the dependence of all our affairs upon him, which is here required; and this is to be done, either expressly with the mouth in such like forms of speech as this is, so far as is needful for our glorifying God, and distinguishing ourselves from those that are profane, as hath been customary with the saints in Scripture, Acts 18:21 Romans 1:10 , and other places, but always inwardly, and in the heart. If the Lord will; i.e. with his providential or directive will, which as yet we do not know, and therefore we say: If the Lord will: for all our counsels and determinations must be regulated by his preceptive or directive will, which we do know; and therefore, with respect to that will, we are not to say: We will do this, or that, if God will, i.e. commands it, but we must first see that it be commanded, and then resolve to do it if God will, that is, if in his providence he shall permit us. If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that; some read the words: If the Lord will, and we shall live, we will do this, or that; and then the latter copulative and is redundant, and the sense is, that all our actions depend not only upon our living, but upon God’s willing; God may permit us to live, and yet not permit us to do this or that.

But if we take the words according to our reading: If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that, the meaning is, that both our life and actions depend upon the will of God, nor the one, nor the other, is in our power. And so here is a double check to the vain boasts of those that were so peremptory in their resolutions, without considering the frailty of their own lives, or the dependence of their actions upon God’s will, when both the one and the other are at his disposal.

(15) For that ye ought to say . . . . —Referring to James 4:13 , in some such a continuation of reproof as this: Woe unto you that say, . . . . instead of saying, “ If the Lord will ”. . . . In fact, it is a thing of the past, not of time, but completed action on the part of God—“If the Lord have willed it, we shall both live and do this or that.” Such is far, be it noted, from Fatalism, in even its best form, as under the teaching of Islam. The sovereignty of God is acknowledged, but with it is plainly recognised the existence of man’s free will, dependent, however, on the permission of the Most High for its fleeting duration and power. St. Paul speaks in similar tone of coming to Corinth, “if the Lord will” ( 1Corinthians 4:19 ); and “God willing” (D.V.), “the reference of all the contingencies of the future to One supremely wise and loving Will, has been in all ages of Christendom the stay and strength of devout souls.”

15 . For that ye ought to say …] Literally, Instead of saying , but the English may be admitted as a fair paraphrase. If the Lord will, we shall live …] This is the reading of the better MSS. The Received Text gives “If the Lord will, and we live, we will do this or that.” The sense is substantially the same with either, but it is perhaps, more expressive to refer both life and action to the one Supreme Will. It is better here to refer the word “Lord” to God in His Absolute Unity, without any thought of the distinction of the Persons. The reference of all the contingencies of the future to one supremely wise and loving Will has been in all ages of Christendom the stay and strength of devout souls. It has left its mark, even where it has not always been received as a reality, in familiar formulæ, such as “God willing,” Deo Volente , or even the abbreviated D. V. There is, perhaps, a special interest in noting that St Paul uses the self-same formula as St James in reference to his plans for the future ( 1 Corinthians 4:19 ).

Jam 4:15 . ἀντὶ τοῦ λέγειν ὑμᾶς : “A classical writer would rather have said δέον λέγειν or οἵτινες βέλτιον ἂν εἷπον ” (Mayor).— ἐὰν ὁ κύριος θελήσῃ : Cf. Berachoth , 17 a , “It is revealed and known before Thee that our will is to do Thy will” (quoted by Taylor, op. cit. , p. 29); cf. John 7:17 , ἐάν τις θέλῃ τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ ποιεῖν , γνώσεται … In the Hebrew commentary on a curious little work called The Book of the Alphabet of Ben Sira there occur the words אם גוזר שׁם , i.e. , “If the Name (= God) wills”; and it is said that this formula should never be omitted when a man is about to undertake anything. This passage occurs in the comment on the eleventh proverb of the “Alphabet,” which runs: “The bride enters the bridal chamber and, nevertheless, knows not what will befall her”. The formula, “If the Name wills,” is, according to Ginsberg, of Mohammedan origin, “for the use of formulas was introduced to the Jews by the Mohammedans”. The formula is, of course, not Ben Sira’s, as it forms no part of the work ascribed to him; the commentary in which it occurs belongs to about the year 1000 probably (see Jewish Encycl. , ii. 678 f.). Cf. , further, Acts 18:21 , τοῦ θεοῦ θέλοντος , 1 Corinthians 4:19 , ἐὰν ὁ κύριος θελήσῃ ; and in Pirqe Aboth , ii. 4 occur the words of Rabban Gamliel (middle of third century A.D.), “Do His will as if it were thy will, that He may do thy will as if it were His will.