Warning Against Worldly Indulgences: Part 1 - James 4:1

Warning Against Worldly Indulgences: Part 1 - James 4:1
Written by LaRosa Johnson
Monday, 12 May 2008

Now that we've had an opportunity to get a broad scope of what we're going to be dealing with in James 4, let us now begin our verse by verse exposition of this challenging passage of Scripture. We are starting with the first verse, and this will naturally lay the groundwork for what will come in the remainder of the chapter. So, let us open our Bibles to James 4:1 and read the Word of God.

Quote :

James 4:1 (NASB) - What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?

As we have already seen from the first three chapters, James is building a very logical progression with his topics, as they build upon one another piece by piece. When looking at this passage in James 4, we see clearly that it fits right in line with what James was talking about concerning worldly wisdom and heavenly wisdom. In verses 14-16 of James 3, we see very clearly the characteristics and motives for worldly wisdom, and it all boiled down to internal lusting. Is this not the very same thing that James is speaking of in this first verse of chapter 4? Our present day Bibles have chapter breaks, and rightfully so, in many respects, but in instances like this, it can make it difficult to notice the continuation of one thought into another. Hebrews 2:1 is another example of this as it starts, "For this reason..." For what reason? To know the reason, you have to go back to the previous chapter, and pick it up from there. With that aside, and knowing that we are picking up where we left off in James 3, let us press forward into looking at this verse.

Looking at this verse, we notice that James is yet again asking a rhetorical question, which he has done several times prior. The question this time is, "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you?" This seems as a bit of an awkwardly stated question, and that is because this is a very difficult passage to translate from Greek to English. So, with that in mind, let us take a look at how a few other English Bibles translated this question. The ESV gives us, "What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?," while the NET translates it as, "Where do the conflicts and where do the quarrels among you come from?," and finally the NKJV gives us, "Where do wars and fights come from among you?" For the most part, they all use similar wording, but they each have a slightly different way of constructing the question so as to make it more readable in the English. With that, we can walk away with the sense that James is asking them what their reasons are for fighting amongst one another.

Now, one would assume that "quarrels" and "conflicts" are synonymous terms, and they are, but we should definitely dig deeper to see why James felt the need to use both words back to back. To help us understand why, let's look at the Greek and see what differences exist between the two words. First, we have "quarrels" which comes from the Greek word polemos (Strong's #G4171) and most commonly refers to a battle or war. It is found a total of 18 times in the New Testament and is translated as "war(s)" a total of 15 times and "battle" once, with "quarrels" being the final usage. Our word "conflicts" has its root in the Greek word machē (Strong's #G3163) and represents the idea of "fighting, strife, or quarrels." This is a seldom used word in the New Testament, used only four times: "conflicts" twice, "disputes" once, and "quarrels" once. So, what is James' point in using both of these words? Rather simply, it serves as a point of emphasis to show just how bad the conflict was among them. Not only were they bickering amongst themselves, but they were literally (and figuratively) at war with one another, which gives us an idea of just how intense the conflict is.

There is one last thing to note about this question before we move forward to the second half of this verse, and it is the word "you." This is one of the instances where it helps to know Greek (or at least how to use language tools) so that you can properly understand the context of the passage. Here, "you" is not referring to a singular person, but it is the plural form of "you," which is better translated as "you all" (or "y'all" for us southerners). This helps us to know that James is referring to his entire audience and not just one particular person.

In the second half of our verse, James answers his question by offering up another question, and still very rhetorical in nature. This time the question is, "Is not the source your pleasures that wage war within your members?" As we already pointed out earlier, the root of this problem is a lust issue, which is one of the sources for sin and ungodliness. With that, in a sense, James is telling them that the reason they are at arms with one another is because there is a lust issue. This becomes more clear when you take time to again jump into the Greek language. The word that we want to take note of this time is "pleasures" which comes from the Greek word hēdonē (Strong's #G2237) and consists of the gratification of natural or sinful desires. This is where we get the word hedonism from, which is the devotion to pleasure as a way of life or that happiness is the highest form of good. Knowing that, we can see that this is much more than just a lust issue, but these desires that are found to be extremely gratifying or pleasurable. And since we are all very familiar with sin, we know that sin is much harder to combat when it is something that we know we're going to really enjoy.

Looking further, we can see that these pleasures are waging war; but, where is this war being fought? Our text says "in your members," but that's not a very clear picture. Many would try to translate this as the church or the assembly of believers, but this cannot be so. Lust is not something that is an external influence, but it is instead an internal one that takes place on an individual level. With that understanding, and a clear look at the text, we can come to the conclusion that James is not referring to an assembly of believers, but the physical body of a single believer, which it is in the plural. There are many members in the church, and this battle is going on inside each of them individually.

So, what is it exactly that makes this an internal war? First, let us remember that James is writing this to a group of believers, as having this understanding is paramount to making sense of this verse. Knowing that these are believers, we know that the Holy Spirit is living inside each of them, and is working to grow them in sanctification and holiness. And, while the Spirit is doing His work, we are still housed in fallen flesh. Living in fallen flesh, there is still a sin nature that wants to live and thrive within us, and it is what desires all of these lustful pleasures that are contrary to the ways of God. Therefore, the Spirit within us is literally at war with the sin nature within us (cf. Romans 7) and we ultimately choose who is going to win. In our passage, we can see that, ultimately, the sin was able to reign in their lives of the Holy Spirit, thus the need for James to write such words.

In summing up today's thoughts, we can already start to see the picture coming together about what was going on with this group of believers. They had allowed themselves to get caught up in their lusts and sinful pleasures. As a result of giving in to their lusts, they were fighting amongst each other. In subsequent verses, this picture will continue to unfold even further, as we get a very specific description of what it is that was causing such turmoil amongst these believers. Until then, keep your mind and heart guarded against the enemy and your flesh, and make sure that God's Word is written on your heart. God bless!

devotion courtesy of Trailblazin Ministries
http://www.trailblazinministries.com/daily-devotions/05-12-2008.php