New Testament · Letter

James 4

Submit to God

What causes fights among you? Your own desires battling within you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Humble yourselves, and he will lift you up.

King James Version BSB KJV

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1From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

2Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

3Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

4Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

5Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

6But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

9Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

11Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

12There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

13Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

14Whereas 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.

15For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

16But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

17Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Understand This

James 4, explained

What James 4 is saying

James diagnoses the root of communal conflict: uncontrolled desires (hedonai) that wage war within. The community's prayers go unanswered because they ask with wrong motives. The striking accusation of spiritual adultery (moichalides) echoes the prophetic tradition of Israel's unfaithfulness. The chapter calls for radical submission to God, resistance of the devil, repentance characterized by mourning, and humility. It concludes with a prohibition against judgmental speech and a warning against arrogant planning that ignores divine sovereignty.

The background behind it

The 'friendship with the world' language draws on the prophetic marital metaphor (Hosea, Jeremiah, Ezekiel) where covenant unfaithfulness is characterized as adultery. The otherwise unknown quotation 'the spirit he made to dwell in us yearns jealously' has generated extensive scholarly discussion about its source and translation.

Themes running underneath

The internal warfare motif connects personal desire to communal conflict, revealing that church disputes are ultimately spiritual in nature. The call to 'draw near to God' with its accompanying promise that God will 'draw near to you' represents a condensed theology of divine-human relationality. The prohibition of arrogant planning reflects the wisdom tradition's emphasis on human finitude before divine sovereignty.

Why it still matters

This chapter diagnoses the root cause of relational breakdown: unchecked desire and displaced allegiance. The prescription is not conflict management but spiritual reorientation through humility, repentance, and submission to God's sovereignty over our plans and relationships.

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Scripture text: King James Version — public domain.