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Commentary Critical and Explanatory

James 4:7

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Submit yourselves therefore to God - so ye shall be among "the humble" (; also ; ).

Resist the devil. Under his banner pride and envy are enlisted: "resist" (stand against) these his temptations. Faith, prayers, and heavenly wisdom are the weapons of resistance. "Submit," as a good soldier puts himself in subjection to his captain.

He will flee - a promise of God: he shall flee worsted, as he did from Christ.

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See also James 4:7 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse 7. _SUBMIT - TO GOD_] Continue to bow to all his decisions, and to all his dispensations. _RESIST THE DEVIL_] He cannot conquer you if you continue to resist. Strong as he is, God never permit...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    SUBMIT YOURSELVES THEREFORE TO GOD - That is, in his arrangements for obtaining his favor. Yield to what he has judged necessary for your welfare in the life that is, and your salvation in the life to...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    IV. FURTHER EXHORTATIONS TO RIGHT LIVING CHAPTER 4 _ 1. Fightings and worldliness rebuked (James 4:1)_ 2. The Godly walk (James 4:7) James 4:1 A strong rebuke follows the statements concerning the...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    The climax of the last paragraph leads to a diagnosis of the disease that poisoned quarrelsome Jewish communities. Faction fights were the logical outcome of unbridled passions; they campaign against...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    MAN'S PLEASURE OR GOD'S WILL? (James 4:1-3)...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    Renegades to your vows, do you not know that love for this world is enmity to God? Whoever makes it his aim to be the friend of this world thereby becomes the enemy of God. Do you think that the sayin...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _Submit yourselves therefore to God_ The forms of the Greek verbs express a somewhat sharper antithesis than the English. God SETTETH HIMSELF against the proud, therefore, SET YOURSELVES AS UNDER God....

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    ὙΠΟΤΆΓΗΤΕ ΟΥ̓͂Ν ΤΩ͂Ι ΘΕΩ͂Ι. Therefore, in this warfare, take God’s side, place yourself under Him as Captain. Polyb. uses οἱ ὑποταττόμενοι or ὑποτεταγμένοι for ‘subjects.’ The passage which follows i...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    CH. 4:1–12. THE STRUGGLE AGAINST THE DESIRES OF THE FLESH WHICH ARE THE CAUSE OF EVIL CONTENTION...

  • Charles Box Commentaries

    _DO NOT BE GUILTY OF WORLDLINESS-- JAMES 4:6-10:_ James said, "God resisteth the proud." Pride is the great hindrance to righteousness. Pride leads the list of the seven things God hates. (Proverbs 6:...

  • Charles Rose Commentaries

    ΎΠΟΤΆΓΗΤΕ _aor. imper. pass. от_ ΎΠΟΤΆΣΣΩ (G5293) подчинять, покоряться власти другого, ΆΝΤΊΣΤΗΤΕ _aor. imper. act. от_ ΆΝΘΊΣΤΗΜΙ (G436) противостоять. Inch, _aor._, "занимать место против". _Aor. im...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    SUBMIT YOURSELVES— _"Subject yourselves therefore to God,_ and, being listed in his army, keep the rank which he hath assigned you." Thus much is implied by the word υποταγητε....

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    DEDICATION TO GOD ALONE IS THE ONLY ANSWER _Text 4:4-8a_ James 4:4. Ye adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the wo...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    CHAPTER VIII _CAUSE AND REMEDY OF STRIFE_ James 4:1-12 _Introduction_ Can it be possible that the church of Jesus Christ could descend to the sins mentioned here so soon after Pentecost? In less th...

  • Commentary on the Minor Epistles by Caton

    VERSE 7 SUBMIT YOURSELVES, THEREFORE, UNTO GOD. From the foregoing considerations James would say to the brethren addressed: It is plain to you that the course that you have been pursuing is wrong, an...

  • Concordant Commentary on the New Testament by A. E. Knoch

    5 This passage has puzzled the commentators, and there are many and various explanations offered to solve what seems to be one of the most difficult passages in the Scriptures. A simple explanation, w...

  • Darby's translation notes (1890)

    4:7 patience, (a-1) 'Have it done,' not 'be doing it;' the aorist tense. All the imperatives (ten) from vers. 7 to 10 are in the aorist....

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    DENUNCIATION OF GREED AND LOVE OF PLEASURE 1. Lusts] better, 'pleasures.'...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    WHAT *FAITH SHOULD DO JAMES _IAN MACKERVOY_ The word list at the end explains words with a *star by them. CHAPTER 4 DESIRES AND DIVISIONS 4:1-10 V1 You know where all the fights and quarrels...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    SUBMIT YOURSELVES THEREFORE TO GOD. (_But_) RESIST THE DEVIL. — The hardest advice of all, to a man reliant on himself, is submission to any, more especially to the Unknown. But, as a correlative to t...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CHAPTER 20 THE POWER OF SATAN AND ITS LIMITS-HUMILITY THE FOUNDATION OF PENITENCE AND OF HOLINESS. James 4:7 SUBMISSION to God is the beginning, middle, and end of the prodigal's return from disastr...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CHAPTER 18 ST. JAMES AND PLATO ON LUSTS AS THE CAUSES OF STRIFE; THEIR EFFECT ON PRAYER. James 4:1 THE change from the close of the third chapter to the beginning of the fourth is startling. St. Jam...

  • Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

    ὑποτάγητε οὖν τῷ θεῷ : _Cf._ Hebrews 12:9, οὐ πολὺ μᾶλλον ὑποταγησόμεθα τῷ πατρὶ τῶν πνευμάτων καὶ ζήσομεν. It is not a question of subjection either to God or the devil, but rather one of the choice...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    “DRAW NIGH TO GOD” James 4:1 The Apostle returns to “the jealousy and faction” of the previous chapter, James 3:14, and says that these evils are traceable to _lust_, that is, to inordinate desire. T...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    The writer now dealt with the effect of faith on character. Everything depends on desire. To attempt to satisfy a natural desire without reference to God is futile, and issues in internal conflict and...

  • Gary Hampton Commentaries

    THE MEANS OF OVERCOMING FLESHLY DESIRE God, in his great grace, provides a means of overcoming the fleshly desire that is the source of war and strife. He has promised to provide a way of escape from...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    (5) Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (5) The conclusion: We must set the positive virtues against those vices, and therefore whereas we obeyed the sugg...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    _Be subject therefore to God; humble yourselves in his sight, considering your own nothing. (Witham)_...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    (7) Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (8) Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye doub...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    To the reader who enters on the consideration of the epistle of James from the epistles of Paul, the change is great and sudden, and by no means least of all from the epistle to the Hebrews, which, in...

  • James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary

    _THE COMBAT WITH EVIL_ ‘Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.’ James 4:7 Temptation is the root of sin: if you want to fight against sin you must look to the root of it, and you must resist...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    7_Submit yourselves_. The submission which he recommends is that of humility; for he does not exhort us generally to obey God, but requires submission; for the Spirit of God rests on the humble and th...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    In all that follows we have still the judgment of unbridled nature, of will in its different forms: contentions that arise from the lusts of the natural heart; request made to God proceeding from the...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    Ver. 7 SUBMIT YOURSELVES THEREFORE TO GOD,.... To the will of God, with respect to worldly things, and be content with such things as are enjoyed, and be satisfied with the portion that is allotted; i...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Ver. 7. _Submit yourselves therefore to God_] Gr. υποταγητε, set yourselves under him, not above him; as the proud per...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _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...

  • Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament (1851)

    SUBMIT-TO GOD; be resigned to his will, be content with the allotments of his providence, and lay aside all envious desires. RESIST THE DEVIL; by refusing to do wrong, for the accomplishment of any o...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    A humble state of mind demanded of Christians:...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    SUBMIT YOURSELVES, THEREFORE, TO GOD. RESIST THE DEVIL, AND HE WILL FLEE FROM YOU....

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    This chapter, to the end of v.6, continues the subject begun in Ch.3:13. Sensual. devilish wisdom was accompanied by wars and fightings: but this proceeded from the lusts of the flesh active within th...

  • Manly Luscombe Commentary on New Testament

    What does it mean to submit? Explain - how we submit to: Authority, law, government Husband, head of house Christ, head of church What power does Satan have? Can we resist the devil? How can we resist...

  • Mark Dunagan Commentaries

    "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you"."Submit therefore" -In view of the grace available to the humble child of God, submission to God makes all the sense in the world....

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    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 allo...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    SUBMIT YOURSELVES THEREFORE TO GOD; viz. voluntarily and freely, and that not only in a way of obedience to all his commands, but (which is chiefly meant here) in a way of humility, and sense of your...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    James 4:7 Therefore G3767 submit G5293 (G5649) God G2316 Resist G436 (G5628) devil G1228 and G2532 flee...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    ‘Be subject therefore to God.' The phrase is possibly based on Psalms 37:7 LXX. ‘Submit yourself to YHWH'. They are therefore to subject themselves humbly to God, as Joshua the High Priest had done be...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    AS A CONSEQUENCE THEY ARE TO SUBJECT THEMSELVES TO GOD, RESIST THE DEVIL, AND DRAW NEAR TO GOD BY PURIFYING THEMSELVES AND TRULY REPENTING (JAMES 4:6). The condition of some of God's professed people...

  • Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary on the NT (4 vols)

    James 4:1-12. St. James warns his readers against those evil passions which gave rise to wars and fightings among them. They must moderate their desires, and guard against self-gratification. If they...

  • Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary on the NT (4 vols)

    James 4:7. Now follow several exhortations to enforce humility and the subjection of the passions. SUBMIT YOURSELVES THEREFORE TO GOD. Because God resisteth the proud, therefore submit yourselves to...

  • Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament

    BE SUBJECT THEREFORE UNTO GOD (υποταγητε ουν τω θεω). Second aorist (ingressive) passive imperative of υποτασσω, old verb, to range under (military term also). Same form in 1 Peter 2:23; 1 Peter 5:5...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    James 4:1. _From whence come wars and fightings among you?_ Whether between nations, or parties or individuals,-if there be wars and fightings, whence do they come? James 4:1. _Come they not hence,...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Rebuke of worldliness and exhortation to humility before God. CHARACTERS: God, Satan. CONCLUSION: Worldly and fleshly lusts are the distemper which will not allow contentment or satisfacti...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    James 4:1. _From whence come wars and fightings among you?_ St. James saw in the Spirit the bloody and cruel wars which would rise among christian powers, much the same as among the heathen. He had a...

  • The Bible Study New Testament

    SO THEN. "Submit yourselves to God, especially when you try to convert the pagans!" RESIST THE DEVIL, who by filling you with pride and anger, seduces you to use unholy methods to spread your religion...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Submit yourselves therefore to God_ SUBMITTING OURSELVES TO GOD I. THE DUTY OF SUBMITTING OURSELVES TO GOD. This submission has its commencement and abiding root in the reception of Christ as a Savi...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    JAMES—NOTE ON JAMES 4:7 The only way to RESIST THE DEVIL is by submitting and drawing near to God (compare 1 Corinthians 10:13)....

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES_ James 4:5.—The precise rendering is doubtful. There is no passage either in the Canonical or Apocryphal Scriptures that is here referred to. The _Revised Version_ gives...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION JAMES 4:1 REBUKE OF QUARRELS ARISING FROM PRIDE AND GREED. A terribly sadden transition from the "peace" with which James 3:1. closed....

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    This chapter could be entitled how to win friends and influence people. Guard your tongue, bring your tongue under control, use it for good, use it to encourage to build up, don't use it to tear down,...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    1 Peter 2:13; 1 Peter 5:8; 1 Peter 5:9; 1 Samuel 3:18; 2 Chronicles 30:

  • Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament (4 Volume Set)

    Submit yourselves [υ π ο τ α γ η τ ε]. Rev., be subject. The verb means to place or arrange under; as resist (ver. 6) is to array against. God sets himself in array against the proud; therefore, array...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    Therefore by humbly submitting yourselves to God, resist the devil — The father of pride and envy....

  • William Burkitt's Expository Notes

    That is, "Submit to his government and authority, to his preceptive and commanding will, and to his providential and disposing will: submit yourselves to the guidance of his word, to the direction of...

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