James 4:8

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?

Natural corruption shows itself by envying. The spirit of the world teaches us to lay up, or lay out for ourselves, according to our own fancies; God the Holy Spirit teaches us to be willing to do good to all about us, as we are able. The grace of God will correct and cure the spirit by nature in us; and where he gives grace, he gives another spirit than that of the world. The proud resist God: in their understanding they resist the truths of God; in their will they resist the laws of God; in their passions they resist the providence of God; therefore, no wonder that God resists the proud. How wretched the state of those who make God their enemy! God will give more grace to the humble, because they see their need of it, pray for it are thankful for it, and such shall have it. Submit to God, ver. 7. Submit your understanding to the truth of God; submit your wills to the will of his precept, the will of his providence. Submit yourselves to God, for he is ready to do you good. If we yield to temptations, the devil will continually follow us; but if we put on the whole armour of God, and stand out against him, he will leave us. Let sinners then submit to God, and seek his grace and favour; resisting the devil. All sin must be wept over; here, in godly sorrow, or, hereafter, in eternal misery. And the Lord will not refuse to comfort one who really mourns for sin, or to exalt one who humbles himself before him.

Jam 4:8 . Ἐγγίσατε , draw near ) The flight of the devil is followed, in the order of nature rather than of time, by an approach to God, in holy prayer, Jam 4:2-3 .— ἐγγιεῖ , He will draw near ) as propitious. A most joyous word.— καθαρίσατε , cleanse ) That you may be able to put to flight the devil.— ἁγνίσατε , purify ) that ye may be able to approach God, having laid aside adultery of soul.— δίψυχοι , ye double-minded ) who give yourselves both to God and to the world, Jam 4:4 . The form of address varies in this Epistle; and at one time they are addressed as holy brethren, at another time as sinners, at another time as waverers. The double-minded man is at fault in heart ; the sinner, in his hands likewise.

8. Draw nigh to God—So "cleave unto Him," De 30:20, namely, by prayerfully (Jas 4:2, 3) "resisting Satan," who would oppose our access to God. he will draw nigh—propitious. Cleanse … hands—the outward instruments of action. None but the clean-handed can ascend into the hill of the Lord (justified through Christ, who alone was perfectly so, and as such "ascended" thither). purify … hearts—literally "make chaste" of your spiritual adultery (Jas 4:4, that is, worldliness) "your hearts": the inward source of all impurity. double-minded—divided between God and the world. The "double-minded" is at fault in heart; the sinner in his hands likewise.

Verse 8. - Draw nigh to God ( ἐγγίσατε τῷ Θεῷ ). A phrase used of approach to God under the old covenant (see Exodus 19:22 ; Exodus 34:30 ; Leviticus 10:3 ). Equally necessary under the new covenant is it for those who draw near to God to have "clean hands and a pure heart" ( Psalm 24:4 ). Hence the following injunction: "Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded." James 4:8

Draw nigh to God; by faith, which is a coming to God, Hebrews 7:25 ; by true repentance, which is a returning to God, Hosea 14:1 Malachi 3:7 ; and by fervent prayer to him for the help of his grace, Psalm 25:1 . And he will draw nigh to you; by the manifestation of his grace and favour to you, particularly giving you strength against the devil and your lusts. Cleanse your hands; reform your actions, amend your lives. Hands, the principal instruments of bodily actions, being put for the actions themselves; cleanness of hands signifies the innocency of the outward conversation, Job 22:30 Psalm 24:4 26:6 Isaiah 33:15,16 . Ye sinners; you that are openly and notoriously vicious, whose wickedness appears in your ordinary practices: so such are called, Matthew 11:19 Mark 2:15 Luke 7:37 15:2 John 9:31 . And purify your hearts; your thoughts and inward affections, from whence the evils of your outward actions proceed, Isaiah 60:7 : see 1 Peter 1:22 1Jo 3:3 . Ye double minded; either by the former he understands the profane, and by these, hypocrites, or the same by both, viz. such as had wicked hearts, and led wicked lives; only he shows wherein true repentance consists, viz. in the reformation both of the inward and outward man.

(8) Draw nigh to God . . . —God waiteth to be gracious ( Isaiah 30:18 ). Like the father of the prodigal son (Luke 15), He beholds us while we are “yet a great way off,” and runs, as it were, to hasten our return. He has “no pleasure in the death of him that dieth” ( Ezekiel 18:32 ). But who shall come “into the tabernacle of God, or rest upon His holy hill” ( Psalm 15:1 ), except the man “of uncorrupt life”? Surely, the penitent as well; the murderous hands “which all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten,” the hearts polluted with the most abominable lusts, may and must be cleansed; sinners and double-minded (refer to James 1:8 ) though they be, and both in one, the Lord of mercy will “draw nigh” to them, if they to Him: all their “transgressions shall not be mentioned,” they “shall live and not die” ( Ezekiel 18:21-22 ).

8–10. The Call to Repentance 8 . Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you ] The “nearness to God,” to which the promise is attached, is primarily that which is involved in all true and earnest prayer, but it should not be forgotten that it includes also the approximation of character and life. We are to walk with God as Enoch walked ( Genesis 5:24 ). The former sense is prominent in the LXX. use of the verb employed by St James, as in Hosea 12:6 , where in the English we have “ wait on thy God continually,” and Psalm 119:169 . An illustration of its meaning in the second clause is found in Job 19:21 , where it answers to the English “have pity on me.” Cleanse your hands, ye sinners …] The words contrast, with an implied reference to our Lord’s teaching in Matthew 15:1-9 , the true cleanness of hands, which consists in abstinence from the evil that defiles ( Psalm 24:4 ; 1 Timothy 2:8 ), with the merely ceremonial cleanness on which the Pharisees laid stress. Comp. Ch. James 1:27 . purify your hearts …] The verb implies the same kind of purity as the adjective used in Ch. James 3:17 , primarily, that is, chastity of heart and life. It has here a special emphasis as contrasted with the “adulteresses” in James 4:4 , and with the special aspect of the “double-mindedness” which that word implied. See note on Ch. James 1:8 .

Jam 4:8 . ἐγγίσατε τῷ θεῷ , καὶ ἐγγίσει ὑμῖν : here, again, we have what to Christian ears sounds rather like a reversal of the order of things; we should expect the order to be that expressed in such words as, “Ye did not choose me, but I chose you” ( John 15:16 ). The words before us seem to be a quotation (inexact) from Hosea 12:6 (Sept.), … ἔγγιζε πρὸς τὸν θεόν σου διὰ παντός . The Hebrew phrase נגשׁ אל־ is a technical term for approaching God for the purpose of worship, e.g. , Exodus 19:22 ; Jeremiah 30:21 ; Ezekiel 44:13 . There is an extraordinary passage in Test. of the Twelve Patriarchs , Dan. vi. 1, 2 which runs, “And now, fear the Lord, my children, and beware of Satan and his spirits. Draw near unto God and to the angel that intercedeth for you, for he is a mediator between God and man” (the latter part here is not a Christian interpolation).— καθαρίσατε χεῖρας : Cf. Psalm 24:4 , ἀθῷος χερσὶ καὶ καθαρὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ …; in Is. Jam 1:16 we have, λούσασθε , καθαροὶ γένεσθε , and in Sir 38:10 , ἀπόστησον πλημμελίαν καὶ εὔθυνον χεῖρας , καὶ ἀπὸ πάσης ἁμαρτίας καθάρισον καρδίαν .

In each case it is a metaphorical use of language which otherwise expressed the literal ritual washing; the former, taken from the latter, was in use at least as early as exilic times.— ἁμαρτωλοί : the close connection with this word and the δίψυχοι which follows almost immediately recalls the language in Sir 5:9 , … οὕτως ὁ ἁμαρτωλὸς ὁ δίγλωσσος .— ἁγνίσατε καρδίας : the thought of these, as well as of the preceding words, is an adaptation of Psalms 72 (73) 13, Ἄρα ματαίως ἐδικαίωσα τὴν καρδίαν μου , καὶ ἐνιψάμην ἐν ἀθῴοις τὰς χεῖράς μου . The verb ἁγνίζω ( התקדשׁ ) means originally to sanctify oneself preparatory to appearing before the Lord by separating oneself from everything that might cause uncleanness; the idea of separating oneself is still present in the passage before us, because mourning implied temporary withdrawal from the world and its doings. Mayor quotes in connection with this verse, Hermas, Mand. , ix. 7, καθάρισον τὴν καρδίαν σου ἀπὸ τῆς διψυχίας .— δίψυχοι : Cf. Hosea 10:2 , and in addition to the passages referred to above, Jam 1:8 , cf. Barnabas xix. 5, οὐ μὴ διψυχήσῃς , πότερον ἔσται ἢ οὔ , and the identical words in Did. iv. 4.