James 4:14

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. WHAT, [ poia (G4169)] - 'of what nature is your life? - i:e., how evanescent. IT IS EVEN. B reads 'For ye are.' A reads 'For it shall be' (James 4:13). The former expresses, 'Ye yourselves are transitory:' so everything of yours partakes of the same transitoriness. AND THEN VANISHETH AWAY - afterward vanishing as it came [ epeita (G1899) kai (G2532) afanizomenee ...

14_For what is your life? _He might have checked this foolish license in determining things to come by many other reasons; for we see how the Lord daily frustrates those presumptuous men who promise what great things they will do. But he was satisfied with this one argument, who has promised to thee a life for tomorrow? Canst thou, a dying man, do what thou so confidently resolvest to do? For he who remembers the shortness of his life, will have his audacity easily checked so as not to extend too far his resolves. Nay, for no other reason do ungodly men indulge themselves so much, but because they forget that they are men. By the similitude of _vapor_, he strikingly shews that the purposes which are founded only on the present life, are altogether evanescent....

11-17 Our lips must be governed by the law of kindness, as well as truth and justice. Christians are brethren. And to break God's commands, is to speak evil of them, and to judge them, as if they laid too great a restraint upon us. We have the law of God, which is a rule to all; let us not presume to set up our own notions and opinions as a rule to those about us, and let us be careful that we be not condemned of the Lord. "Go to now," is a call to any one to consider his conduct as being wrong. How apt worldly and contriving men are to leave God out of their plans! How vain it is to look for any thing good without God's blessing and guidance! The frailty, shortness, and uncertainty of life, ought to check the vanity and presumptuous confidence of all projects for futurity. We can fix the hour and minute of the sun's rising and setting to-morrow, but we cannot fix the certain time of a...

Verse 14. _WHEREAS YE KNOW NOT_] This verse should be read in a parenthesis. It is not only impious, but grossly absurd, to speak thus concerning futurity, when ye know not what a day may bring forth. Life is utterly precarious; and God has not put it within the power of all the creatures he has made to _command one moment_ _of what is future_. _IT IS EVEN A VAPOUR_] Ατμις γαρ εστιν· _It is a smoke_, always fleeting, uncertain, evanescent, and obscured with various trials and afflictions. This is a frequent metaphor with the Hebrews; see Psalms 102:11; _My days are like a shadow_: Job 8:9; _Our days upon earth are a shadow_: 1 Chronicles 29:15; Our da

WHEREAS, YE KNOW NOT WHAT SHALL BE ON THE MORROW - They formed their plans as if they knew; the apostle says it could not be known. They had no means of ascertaining what would occur; whether they would live or die; whether they would be prospered, or would be overwhelmed with adversity. Of the truth of the remark made by the apostle here, no one can doubt; but it is amazing how men act as if it were false. We have no power of penetrating the future so as to be able to determine what will occur in a single day or a single hour, and yet we are almost habitually forming our plans as if we saw with certainty all that is to happen. The classic writings abound with beautiful expressions respecting the uncertainty of the future, and the folly of forming our plans as if it were known to us. Many of those passages, some of them almost precisely in the words of James, may be seen in Grotius and P...

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. JAMES 4:1 WHENCE WARS AND WHENCE FIGHTINGS AMONG YOU? The second "whence" (πόθεν) is omitted in the Received Text, after K, L, Syriac, and Vulgate; but it is supported by א, A, B, C, the Coptic, and Old Latin. WARS … FIGHTINGS (πόλεμοι … μάχαι). To what is the reference? Μάχαι occurs elsewhere in the New Testament only in...

WHEREAS YE KNOW NOT WHAT SHALL BE ON THE MORROW,.... Whether there would be a morrow for them or not, whether they should live till tomorrow; and if they should, they knew not what a morrow would bring forth, or what things would happen, which might prevent their intended journey and success: no man can secure a day, an hour, a moment, and much less a year of continuance in this life; nor can he foresee what will befall him today or tomorrow; therefore it is great stupidity to determine on this, and the other, without the leave of God, in whom he lives, moves, and has his being; and by whose providence all events are governed and directed; see Proverbs 27:1 FOR WHAT IS YOUR LIFE? of what kind and nature is it? what assurance can be had of the continuance of it? by what may it be expressed? or to what may it be compared? it is even a vapour that appeareth

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, even of your lusts that war in your members?_ Do they not arise from one desiring something, and another desiring the same thing? Is there not a competition or emulation of an evil kind, in which each one prefers himself, and seeks not the good of his neighbor? James 4:2. _Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not,-_ This is nature's way of trying to get by contention what it desires to possess,-fighting, and warring

JAMES 4:14 to. th/j au;rion {B} Of the several readings, ta. th/j au;rion, though supported by several good witnesses (A P 33 81 1739 _al_), is suspect as a scribal assimilation to Proverbs 27:1; and, in view of a certain tendency of B to omit the article, the reading th/j au;rion cannot be confidently regarded as original. The remaining reading, to. th/j au;rion, is supported by a wide diversity of witnesses (a K Y most minuscules vg syrp arm _al_)....

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 wisdom from beneath and the wisdom from above. It must be borne in mind that these exhortations are addressed to the twelve tribes scattered abroad; to say that these words mean believers only would be a serious mistake; while Christians are contemplated, those of the tribes of Israel who are not believers are equally in view. It applies therefore to those who were born of God, real believers, and to those who were not, an entirely different matter from the Pauline Epistles, which are exclusively addressed to th