James 4:16

νῦν δὲ : “but now,” i.e., as things are; cf. 1 Corinthians 14:6, νῦν δὲ, ἀδελφοί, ἐὰν ἔλθω … καυχᾶσθε ἐν ταῖς ἀλαζονίαις ὑμῶν : those vauntings were, of course, not on account of following out their own will in despite of the divine will, but because of the thoughtlessness which did not take God's will into account, and therefore boasted of the ability of following one's own bent. Both are bad, but conscious opposition to the will of God would, of the two, be worse. Ἀλαζονίαις comes from ἀλαζών which is literally a “wanderer,” then it comes to mean one who makes pretensions. Cf. Proverbs 27:1, μὴ καυχῶ τὰ εἰς αὔριον, f1οὐ γὰρ γινώσκεις τί τέξεται ἡ ἐπιοῦσα : the word occurs only here and in 1 John 2:16 (ἡ ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου) in the N.T. πᾶσα καύχησις τοιαύτη …: boasting of this kind must be evil because it forgets God, and unduly exalts self.