James 4:1-17
DENUNCIATION OF GREED AND LOVE OF PLEASURE 1. Lusts] better, 'pleasures.'... [ Continue Reading ]
DENUNCIATION OF GREED AND LOVE OF PLEASURE 1. Lusts] better, 'pleasures.'... [ Continue Reading ]
'You eagerly desire something which another has and you have not. This unregulated desire may lead to hate and even murder (cp. Ahab, 1 Kings 21), but even so your covetous desires go on; they grow by what they feed on. Still you have not got your desire. Then comes the wholesale murder of unjust wa... [ Continue Reading ]
ADULTERERS AND ADULTERESSES] RV 'adulteresses' (without 'adulterers and'), meaning, of course, those who have forsaken God. The thought is very common in the OT. (Isaiah 57:3; Jeremiah 3:20; Ezekiel 16 Hosea 2). It is also found in Matthew 12:39. The metaphor of the Church as the bride of Christ occ... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SPIRIT THAT DWELLETH IN US LUSTETH TO ENVY] better, 'God' longeth eagerly for the spirit that He planted in us.' St. James is here alluding to several passages in the OT. rather than quoting accurately. The thought is found in Exodus 20:5; Exodus 34:14; Deuteronomy 4:24. 'God is a jealous God, b... [ Continue Reading ]
DOUBLE MINDED] Notice the recurrence of the keynote struck in James 1:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
HEAVINESS] better, 'dejection.'... [ Continue Reading ]
When a man speaks against his brother he is practically condemning the Law of Love, and thus arrogating to himself the office of a judge. In criticising that Law he is virtually criticising the divine Lawgiver. 13-C. JAMES 5:6. Stern denunciation of the presumption and tyranny of the rich. From the... [ Continue Reading ]
SUCH A CITY] RV 'this city.' The presumption rebuked is that of the rich (? non-Christian) Jewish merchant who travelled for purposes of gain.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT _is_ YOUR LIFE? IT IS EVEN A VAPOUR] RV 'Ye are a vapour.'... [ Continue Reading ]