James 4:6

4:1-10 Since all wars and fightings come from the corruptions of our own hearts, it is right to mortify those lusts that war in the members. Wordly and fleshly lusts are distempers, which will not allow content or satisfaction. Sinful desires and affections stop prayer, and the working of our desires toward God. And let us beware that we do not abuse or misuse the mercies received, by the disposition of the heart when prayers are granted When men ask of God prosperity, they often ask with wrong aims and intentions. If we thus seek the things of this world, it is just in God to deny them. Unbelieving and cold desires beg denials; and we may be sure that when prayers are rather the language of lusts than of graces, they will return empty. Here is a decided warning to avoid all criminal friendships with this world. Worldly-mindedness is enmity to God. An enemy may be reconciled, but enmity never can be reconciled. A man may have a large portion in things of this life, and yet be kept in the love of God; but he who sets his heart upon the world, who will conform to it rather than lose its friendship, is an enemy to God. So that any one who resolves at all events to be upon friendly terms with the world, must be the enemy of God. Did then the Jews, or the loose professors of Christianity, think the Scripture spake in vain against this worldly-mindedness? or does the Holy Spirit who dwells in all Christians, or the new nature which he creates, produce such fruit?

James 4:6-10 . But he — God, giveth more grace — To all those who, while they shun those tempers, sincerely and earnestly pray for it. Wherefore he saith, [see the margins] God, resisteth the proud — The unhumbled; those that think highly of themselves, and put confidence in their own wisdom, power, or holiness, and who seek the praise of men rather than the praise of God; against these God sets himself in battle array, as it is expressed, Proverbs 3:24 . He rejects them, and will not allow them access to, or communion with himself. He thwarts their undertakings, and renders their schemes abortive. But giveth grace unto the humble — Unto those that are humbled under a sense of their ignorance and weakness, their guilt and depravity, and therefore have no confidence in any thing they are or have. Submit yourselves — Or be subject, as υποταγητε signifies, therefore to God — Pursue your lusts no longer, but yield an humble obedience to God in all things. Resist — With faith and steadfastness; the devil — The father of pride and envy; and he will flee from you — And your progress in religion will become greater, and your victory over your spiritual enemies more easy and evident day by day.

Draw nigh to God — In faith and prayer; and he will draw nigh unto you — By his grace and blessing; which that nothing may hinder, cleanse your hands — From doing evil; and purify your hearts — From all spiritual idolatry, from all vile affections and corrupt inclinations, from the love of the world in all its branches; be no more double-minded — Vainly endeavouring to serve both God and mammon. Be afflicted — On account of your past sins, especially your ingratitude to God, your abuse of his blessings, and unfaithfulness to his grace; and mourn and weep — For the miseries to which you have exposed yourselves. Let your laughter be turned into mourning — Because of the heavy judgments that hang over you; humble yourselves in the sight and presence of the Lord, and he shall lift you up — Comfort you with a sense of his pardoning mercy.

Jam 4:6 . Μείζονα ) So much the greater the farther you depart from envy .— δίδωσι , He giveth ) God.— λέγει , it saith ) the Scripture , Jam 4:5 . James confirms the authority of Solomon, whom he quotes with great propriety, when he would dissuade us from the hinderances to wisdom .— ὁ Θεὸς — χάριν ) Proverbs 3:34 . Septuagint has Κυριος —the rest in the same words. James altogether agrees with Peter: see 1 Peter 5:5 .— ὑπερηφάνοις , the proud ) Pride is the mother of envy, respecting which see Jam 4:5 . The Hebrew is ללצים , scoffers, such are they who think that the Scripture speaks in vain.— ἀντιτάσσεται , resists) In the Hebrew יליץ , He will laugh at. The humble are of such a spirit, that if it were possible for God to require the service of any one, they would afford it; but the proud endeavour to resist Him, as Pharaoh did; therefore He repays each according to their own deservings. He resists the proud, but He gives grace to the lowly.— χάριν , grace) He, to whom God gives grace, learns to lay aside all envy.

6. But—"Nay, rather." he—God. giveth more grace—ever increasing grace; the farther ye depart from "envy" [Bengel]. he saith—The same God who causes His spirit to dwell in believers (Jas 4:5), by the Spirit also speaks in Scripture. The quotation here is probably from Pr 3:34; as probably Pr 21:10 was generally referred to in Jas 4:5. In Hebrew it is "scorneth the scorners," namely, those who think "Scripture speaketh in vain." resisteth—literally, "setteth Himself in array against"; even as they, like Pharaoh, set themselves against Him. God repays sinners in their own coin. "Pride" is the mother of "envy" (Jas 4:5); it is peculiarly satanic, for by it Satan fell. the proud—The Greek means in derivation one who shows himself above his fellows, and so lifts himself against God. the humble—the unenvious, uncovetous, and unambitious as to the world. Contrast Jas 4:4.

Verse 6. - God resisteth the proud. The connection of this with ver. 4 is very close, and is favorable to the view taken above as to the meaning of the first clause of ver. 5, as the words appear to be cited in support of the statement that whosoever would be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. The quotation is from Proverbs 3:34 , LXX., Κύριος ὑπερηφάνοις ἀντιτάσσεται , ταπεινοῖς δὲ δίδωσι χάριν . St. James's version agrees with this exactly, except that it has ὁ Θεὸς instead of Κύριος (the Hebrew has simply "he," ran). The passage is also quoted in precisely the same form by St. Peter ( 1 Peter 5:5 ), and with Θεὸς instead of ὁ Θεός by St. Clement of Rome. In St. Peter the quotation is followed by the injunction, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God .... Your adversary the devil , as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom withstand ( ω΅ι ἀντίστητε ) steadfast in the faith." There is clearly a connection between this passage and the one before us in St. James, which proceeds, "Be subject therefore unto God; but resist the devil ( ἀντίστητε δὲ τῷ διαβόλῳ ), and he will flee from you." This passage, it will be felt, is the simpler, and therefore, probably, the earlier of the two (cf. James 1:3 ). James 4:6

But he; either the Spirit of God, if spirit in the former verse be understood of the Spirit of God; or God, if spirit be there taken for the spirit of man. Giveth more grace; either, though we, according to our natural inclination, be envious, yet God (or his Spirit) is bountiful and liberal; or God gives to those that are renewed, more grace than to be hurried on by their own old spirit, to envy, strife, and suchlike lusts. Wherefore he saith; God saith, viz. in the Spripture: or it may be taken indefinitely, and impersonally, for, it is said. The particular place he refers to, is Proverbs 3:34 , according to the translation of the LXX., which not only James, but other New Testament writers, frequently follow. God resisteth; it is a military term: God sets himself, as in battle, against the proud, defying, beating down, exposing to contempt, and destroying them; he is so far from giving them more gifts, that he rather spoils them, as sworn enemies, of what they have. The proud; those that by reason of the gifts God hath given them, lift themselves above others: Solomon, in the parallel place, calls them scorners; it being the usual guise of those that think over-well of themselves, to despise others, and even contemn the warnings and judgments of God himself, which may well draw him out to fight against them.

(6) But he giveth more grace — i.e. , because of this very presence of the Holy Ghost within us. He, as the author and conveyer of all good gifts, in their mystic seven-fold order ( Isaiah 11:2 ) adds to the wasted treasure, and so aids the weakest in his strife with sin, resisting the proud, lest he be led to destruction ( Proverbs 16:18 ), and helping the humble, lest he be “wearied and faint in his mind” ( Hebrews 12:3 ). God resisteth the proud . . .—Excepting “God,” instead of “Lord,” this is an exact quotation from the LXX. version of Proverbs 3:34, which reads in our Bibles, “Surely He scorneth the scorners, but He giveth grace unto the lowly.” It is again brought forward by St. Peter (1Peter 5:5), and seems to have been a common saying—“a maxim of the wise that had become, as it were, a law of life.”

6 . But he giveth more grace ] Following the explanation already given, the sequence of thought seems to run thus: God loves us with a feeling analogous to the strongest form of jealousy, or even envy, but that jealousy does not lead Him, as it leads men, to be grudging in His gifts; rather does He bestow, as its result, a greater measure of His grace than before, or than He would do, were His attitude towards us one of strict unimpassioned Justice. Wherefore he saith …] The nominative to the verb is not expressed, and we may, with almost equal fitness, supply the Scripture, the Spirit, or God. God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble ] The point of the quotation lies in the last clause, as containing the proof of what St James had just asserted, that God gave His grace freely to those who thought themselves least worthy of it. It is to be noticed (1) that we again find St James quoting from one of the great sapiential books of the Old Testament ( Proverbs 3:34 ), and (2) that St Peter also quotes it ( 1 Peter 5:5 ). That maxim of the wise of old had become, as it were, a law of life for the Community at Jerusalem. Clement of Rome follows their example (c. 30).