5-Day Commentary Challenge - James 4Sample

   

THE REQUIREMENT OF GIVING GOD FIRST PRIORITY, 4:7–10

Having expressed the serious error of friendship with the world, James provides the solution to rectify the problem in a series of ten imperatives. These are practical exhortations to make God the first priority, rather than making pleasure the summum bonum of life. Each of the commands is in the aorist tense, suggesting urgency and decisive action.

The first imperative, “submit,” is a general command that introduces what is to follow. It speaks of voluntary subordination to God. One can obey without true subordination and humility, but a readiness to submit to another is a sign of true humility. God does not seek forced obedience; He desires voluntary allegiance and devotion. Submission is a key concept in the Christian life. Christians are to be subject to secular government (1 Peter 2:13), wives to their own husbands (1 Peter 3:1), younger people to the elderly (1 Peter 5:5), servants to masters (Titus 2:9), and believers one to another (Eph. 5:21). Someday all creation will be brought into subordination to God (1 Cor. 15:27).

The other side of submitting to God is to “resist the devil.” The Greek word translated “devil” means “slanderer.” The Septuagint uses it almost uniformly for the Hebrew term rendered Satan, meaning “accuser.” The believer is called upon to resist him, a military metaphor meaning “take your stand against.” The same imperative is used in 1 Peter 5:8–9, where we are also exhorted to “resist” the devil. In that passage Satan is given the epithet “your adversary,’’ and he is described as prowling “around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” According to Peter, our resistance must be done in faith. The devil also has his militia of evil forces whom we must “resist in the evil day” (Eph. 6:13). Satan, as a deceitful schemer (Eph. 6:11), may come disguised as “an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14) or a “roaring lion” (1 Peter 5:8; cf. “dragon,” Rev. 12:9). He is seeking to build his kingdom by subverting the people of God into changing their allegiance.

A comforting promise is added to the imperative: “He will flee from you.” When one takes a stand against Satan and his hosts, Satan will make a hasty retreat. Jesus, the author of our salvation (Heb. 2:10), was victorious over Satan in life (Matt. 4:1–11) and in death (John 12:31); because of that victory Satan has been rendered powerless (Heb. 2:14). Through Christ’s victory, those in Christ can be victorious. The Christian is called upon to be strong in the Lord and equip himself with the whole armor of God (Eph. 6:10–17), and then by faith put the enemy to flight. It is noteworthy that the command to resist Satan and the promised victory is not an isolated command; rather, it occurs between two imperatives: “Submit to God” and “Draw near to God.” It is only as the believer obeys those commands that he is able to put Satan to flight by resisting him.

Not only are we to submit to God as a servant to his master, but we are also to “draw near to God” (v. 8) as a worshiper entering into communion with God. The verb “draw near” is used often of the Levitical priest approaching God with the various sacrifices (Ex. 19:22; Lev. 10:3) and of individuals coming to God in worship (Hos. 12:6). It is through the new high priesthood of Jesus Christ that the Christian can “draw near to God” (Heb. 7:19). With that imperative there is also a following promise, “He will draw near to you.” Communion and fellowship go both ways—we have fellowship with God, and He with us (Rev. 3:20). To worship God properly, preparations must be made. In the Levitical system, the priests went through the ritual of washing before they could take up their various ceremonial responsibilities (Ex. 30:19–21). So also the penitent. For him to approach God, he needs a cleansing. In characteristic Hebrew poetic style, James gives two parallel imperatives: Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

David wrote that it is those who have “clean hands and a pure heart” who may ascend to the hill of the Lord and stand in His holy place (Ps. 24:3–4; cf. Isa. 1:16). The truth of spiritual cleansing was symbolically portrayed and verbally communicated by our Lord to Peter and the rest of His disciples as He began to wash their feet (John 13:3–17, especially vv. 5–10). Both hands and heart are defiled and need purging. The term “hands” is used symbolically of outward deeds, for the hands are instruments used to perform acts of a defiling, evil nature. The “heart” speaks of the inner life. It is out of the heart, the inner life, that evil thoughts and acts proceed (Mark 7:21–23). Peter wrote that since his readers had purified their souls, they were now “fervently [to] love one another from the heart” (1 Peter 1:22). A purified heart and clean hands cannot be separated. A godly lifestyle will flow from a pure heart. The appearance of seemingly clean hands without a pure heart is hypocrisy and a sham.

The readers are addressed as “sinners” and “double-minded.” Though James is addressing Christians, they were Christians who, by seeking the pleasures of the world, had not established the right priority of wholehearted devotion to God. They were sinners in that they were not living up to God’s standards; they were double-minded in that they had divided loyalties, desiring the world while also seeking to please God (cf. Matt. 6:24). “Double-minded” (used in 1:8) may also suggest a struggle in the mind between the heart and the hands: knowing what is right in the heart, but not doing it with the hands. Hiebert states succinctly, “God demands undivided affection as well as undefiled conduct.”4

The two parallel imperatives for cleansing are followed by a triplet of terse commands: “Be miserable and mourn and weep” (v. 9). Sin is serious business, and the call for cleansing must not be taken in a casual, lighthearted, or frivolous manner. “Be miserable” is the verb form of the adjective used by Paul when he recognized his helplessness in the face of the power of sin in his members: “Wretched man that I am!” (Rom. 7:24). Some have thought that that means “make yourself wretched,” in the sense of practicing some type of asceticism or self castigation. It is better understood, however, as having an inner feeling of shame and misery because of sin. The realization of the sinfulness of sin produces a sense of wretchedness.

The last two commands in the triplet, “mourn and weep,” express the outworking of the inner feelings of misery. Those two terms, which occur often together (cf. Luke 6:25), are roughly synonymous. In the Beatitudes Matthew records, “Blessed are those who mourn” (5:4), and Luke has, “You who weep” (6:21). Mourning is the outward expression of deep grief, indicating an intense hurt that cannot be easily disguised. Weeping is the tearful expression of mourning.

Evidently the pursuit of pleasure had been filled with hilarity and lighthearted gaiety; therefore James urges, “Let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to gloom.” Laughter in itself is not sin (Ps. 126:2), but the flippant laughter of unconcern and self-satisfaction should rather be turned to mourning. And further, the superficial joy experienced in worldly pleasures should be reversed to gloom. “Gloom” speaks of a downcast appearance due to a heavy heart. It suggests dejection because of shame. True joy is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22), rejoicing is commanded (Phil. 4:4), but the irresponsible frivolous joy of temporal pleasure is not to be considered proper Christian behavior. Moses chose not “to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin” (Heb. 11:25).

The final imperative in the series is “Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord” (v. 10). That completes the circle, bringing the thought back to the starting point: God “gives grace to the humble” (v. 6). The verb “humble” could be passive or middle, either “be humbled” or “humble yourself.” Clearly the thought is voluntary humiliation. In the presence of the Lord a man must acknowledge and deplore his utter unworthiness. By using “Lord,” James reminds the reader that there is a heavenly Master in whose presence and under whose watchful eye he stands. In similar fashion Peter writes, “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God” (1 Peter 5:6; cf. Matt. 18:4). As with two previous imperatives (vv. 7–8), there is a promise attached to the command “He will exalt you.” The way to exaltation is humility. Jesus reminded His listeners, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11; cf. Matt. 23:12). Self-exaltation leads to ruin; humility brings divine exaltation. To be truly significant one must not seek after the pleasures of this world; but one must make his first priority wholehearted, devoted allegiance to God. God has promised to honor such a person.