James 4:15

For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. Literally, 'instead of your saying.' etc. WE SHALL LIVE. 'We shall both live and do,' etc. The boaster spoke as if life and the particular action were in their power; whereas both depend entirely on the will of the Lord....

15_If the Lord will_. A twofold condition is laid down, “If we shall live so long,” and, “If the Lord will;” because many things may intervene to upset what we may have determined; for we are blind as to all future events. (135) By will he means not that which is expressed in the law, but God’s counsel by which he governs all things....

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 15. _FOR THAT YE OUGHT TO SAY_] Αντι τοι λεγειν ὑμας· _Instead of saying_, or _instead of which ye should say_, _IF THE LORD WILL, WE SHALL LIVE_] I think St. James had another example from the rabbins in view, which is produced by _Drusius,_ _Gregory, Cartwright_, and _Schoettgen_, on this clause: "_The bride_ _went up to her chamber, not knowing what was to befall her there_." On which there is this comment: "No man should ever say that he _will do this or that, without the condition_ IF GOD WILL. A certain man said, 'To-morrow shall I sit with my bride in my chamber, and there shall rejoice with her.' To which some standing by said, אם גוזר השם _im gozer hashshem_, '_If the Lord_ _will_.' To which he answered, 'Whether the Lord will or not, to-morrow will I sit with my bride in my chamber.' He did so; he went with his bride into his chamber, and at night they lay down; bu

FOR THAT YE OUGHT TO SAY - Instead of what you do say, “we will go into such a city,” you ought rather to recognise your absolute dependence on God, and feel that life and success are subject to his will. The meaning is not that we ought always to be saying that in so many words, for this might become a mere ostentatious form, offensive by constant unmeaning repetition; but we are, in the proper way, to recognise our dependence on him, and to form all our plans with reference to his will. IF THE LORD WILL ... - This is proper, because we are wholly dependent on him for life, and as dependent on him for success. He alone can keep us, and he only can make our plans prosperous. In a thousand ways he can thwart our best-laid schemes, for all things are under his control. We need not travel far in life to see how completely all that we have is in the hands of God, or to learn how easily he ca...

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...

FOR THAT YE OUGHT TO SAY,.... Instead of saying we will go to such and such a place, and do this, and that, and the other thing, it should be said, IF THE LORD WILL, AND WE SHALL LIVE, AND DO THIS AND THAT; the last "and" is left out in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions; and the passage rendered thus, "if the Lord will, and we shall live, we will do this": so that here are two conditions of doing anything; the one is, if it should be agreeable to the determining will and purpose of God, by which everything in the world comes to pass, and into which the wills of men should be resolved, and resigned; and the other is, if we should live, since life is so very uncertain and precarious: and the sense is, not that this exact form of words should be always used, but what is equivalent to them, or, at least, that there should be always a sense of these things upon the min...

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

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

This and the next paragraph denounce the vices of the rich, in the spirit of Amos and Isaiah; that they are Jews, and not Christians, seems obvious, if this epistle is to be got into the first centuries of Christian history, when the rich had small power to oppress the poor. First comes a warning suggested presumably by the Lord's parable of the Rich Fool. They make plans for a year, and know not what will happen the very next day; human life is transitory as a puff of steam. They were proud of big plans which fate might turn to folly. And such idle words (Matthew 12:36) were not meaningless frivolities; there was evil in them it is a strong word, that which closes the Lord's Prayer. Finally, since these people knew how to do good did they not boast of their Law? and would not do it, they were guilty of sin. For the NT with one consent here following the spirit of the prophets makes sin...