Warning Against Worldly Indulgences: Part 6 - James 4:5

Warning Against Worldly Indulgences: Part 6 - James 4:5
Written by LaRosa Johnson
Wednesday, 04 June 2008

Up to this point, we have been looking at James' harsh words towards those who were giving in to their worldly passions and desires. Most recently, he was telling them that befriending the world is to make oneself an enemy of God. Our passage today continues that thought, but it presents some interesting interpretive challenges, which we will spend a fair amount of time taking a look at today. Of all the passages of Scripture that we will look at in James' epistle, this passage is likely to be the most difficult passage that we will encounter. Before we begin, let us make sure that we are in fellowship and ready to receive spiritual truth as we open our Bibles to James 4:5.

Quote :

James 4:5 (NASB) - Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"?

What is it about this verse that makes it so challenging? The problem lies in the Greek text itself and the difficulty of determining whether James is speaking of the human spirit or the Spirit of God (aka the Holy Spirit). From simply reading the Greek text, this is not clear, and it forces the reader or interpreter to look at surrounding context in order to properly understand how this verse should be translated and which spirit James is referring to. Another interpretive challenge comes in the fact that James says "the Scripture speaks," but then has no explicit Old Testament quotation that immediately follows. With some work, both of these can be easily resolved, around which we can then begin to understand what James is speaking of in this passage.

As we can see above, the NASB interprets this "spirit" as the Holy Spirit, and just about every other modern English Bible translation treats this text in much the same manner (except for two in particular, which I will note later). One would think that this is the most obvious answer, considering the word pneuma (spirit, Strong's #G4151) most often refers to God's Spirit or the Holy Spirit. I do not believe that this is the correct way to translate this text. In interpreting the spirit as the Holy Spirit, many questions come to mind, two of which are: 1) why would God jealously desire His own Spirit and 2) how does this fit with the surrounding text, especially the text that precedes and follows? One way or another, the answer that one normally comes up with is rather unspecific and forced into the text. Since we know that James spent the first four verses talking about fleshly lusts, why would he all of a sudden switch to talking about God desiring the Holy Spirit inside of us? On the one hand, it makes sense because God desires for us to obey Him, but that doesn't quite fit with the text presented. Then, if you look forward to verse 6, we see that God "gives a greater grace." Given the context, this doesn't make much sense because why is a greater grace needed for God desiring His own Spirit? At most, this translation of the text, with "spirit" being understood as the Holy Spirit, we find more difficulty in reconciling its understanding with the surrounding text than we ought; too much of its understanding is forced into the text.

So, if that is not correct, then we must render pneuma to be the human spirit, which is much more plausible given the context. Of the many translations that I used in studying this passage, only the King James Version and the New International Version interpreted the passage as such. The KJV reads, "Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?," while the NIV reads, "Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?" Considering the fact that James spent the previous handful of verses talking about lust, as we've already noted, it appears that this is the most appropriate and correct translation. But why the human spirit and not the Holy Spirit? There are several reasons why, but a few would include: 1) James prior use of the word pneuma and its reference to the human spirit (James 2:26), 2) it is the human spirit's natural fallen nature to lust and envy, and 3) this is the most natural rendering of the Greek text. It is also when you tie in verse 6, that the "greater grace" makes sense, which we will look at in our next devotion.

With that as our understanding of the passage, what does this verse now mean? Using the NIV & KJV, coming to an understanding on this verse is quite easy. There is a spirit (the basic life sustaining force) within us; and because we are fallen beings, we naturally have an inclination to lust and envy, and do so to a great degree. This falls right in line with everything that James has spoken up to this point concerning worldly indulgences and how these believers were giving in to the lusts of their flesh. And, it is here that James is giving them another reason as to why things are the way they are; that is, because it's (fallen) human nature to envy and lust after things that we cannot have, which then results in giving into such desires, as we saw previously. As present day believers, we need to realize that we are still housed in fallen flesh that has lusts and desires that are contrary to the will of God (Romans 7); in order to combat this, we need to walk in light of the Holy Spirit and continually have our minds renewed to walk in His ways (Romans 12:2). It is an everyday battle, and we must be prepared to wage war against our flesh and submit to the will of God.

We aren't done with this verse yet, though. What are we to do with the first half of the verse that says, "Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose?" Again, as we look at the NASB, and just about every other modern English translation, the latter half of the verse which we looked at above is used as the Scripture quotation. This is incorrect because the text that follows is found nowhere in Old Testament Scripture or extra-biblical literature; so, it is not appropriate to try and force this as the quotation simply because the text follows "Scripture says" type language. Instead, it is best to take the second half of this verse as the words of James and not as some obscure Scripture quotation. If we again look ahead to verse 6, we find a very clear Scripture quotation from Proverbs 3:34, and it makes the most sense to understand the first part of James 4:5 to be referencing this quotation of Scripture. It doesn't make much sense to try and force a quotation when there isn't one in verse 5, especially when there is an obvious one in the following verse and sentence. And, if that is indeed the case, then we can look at everything in-between as an explanation or aside to give context to the quotation, which is how I believe we should read and understand the text.

What can we walk away with after studying this verse? First, the importance of understanding the text and not relying solely upon a single translation of Scripture, especially when dealing with difficult passages. If we had simply stuck with the NASB translation, we would have forced an understanding into the text that was not there to begin with, and come away with an incorrect view of what James was saying. Secondly, we see James telling his readers, us included, that our natural spirit, and flesh have a tendency to lust and envy, which serves as a root as to why such nonsense was going on amongst this assembly of believers. In our study next time, we will start to receive the solution for lust and envy, and it all starts with the "greater grace" that we took a peek at in today's study. We will look at that next time. Until then, remain true to the Text and obey its commands!

devotion courtesy of Trailblazin Ministries
http://www.trailblazinministries.com/daily-devotions/06-04-2008.php

These are really blessing, man. Keep them coming and don't get discouraged.

thanks bro it's a labor of love

i think i spent a solid 2 weeks trying to figure out this particular verse

lj.