James 4:1-6

 (1) Connection with chapter 3

(PNTC) James’s discussion of wisdom in vv. 13–18 is very specifically focused. He is not really interested in talking about wisdom per se, but in that fruit of wisdom which brings order and peace to the church. Seen in this light, vv. 13–18 prepare the way perfectly for James’s rebuke of quarreling in the church. The beginning of chap. 4, then, does not introduce a new topic, but a shift of focus within discussion of the same topic.


(2) What is the wrong use of our passion:

4:1 Where do the conflicts and where do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, from your passions that battle inside you?

(BKC) v.1 Conflict comes out of (ek) inner sensual lusts or pleasures (hēdonōn; cf. v. 3). Hedonism, the playboy philosophy that makes pleasure mankind’s chief end, still wages battles in people’s hearts.

4:2 You desire and you do not have; you murder and envy and you cannot obtain; you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask;

(PNTC) v.2 Frustrated desire, James makes clear, is what is breeding the intense strife that is convulsing the community...Verbal argument, private violence, or national conflict—the cause of them all can be traced back to the wrongful lust to want more than we have, to be envious of and covet what others have, whether it be their position or their possessions.

(2) What makes James call his readers the adulterers who were friends of the world v.4? It is not because they were materialistic or they indulge in luxury lifestyle. It was because they indulge in the passions that led them to conflict and quarrel in v.1.  James did not leave the topic of being humble vs involving in quarrel and fight v.1, and 6. 

4:6 But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.”

Reflection: Are we worldly? Do we care too much about our own passion or desire that we dont care if we raise conflicts and quarrels in the church? How do you react when your desire is frustrated? 

Audrey