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

Warning Against Worldly Indulgences: Part 4 - James 4:4
Written by LaRosa Johnson
Monday, 19 May 2008

With the first few verses of this chapter, we have taken a good amount of time covering the in's and out's of the quarrels and fights that were taking place amongst these believers; we got so far as to find out that the root was lustful desires and passions, even so far as going to the Lord praying for Him to fulfill their evil desires. In our passage today, James is beginning his rebuke towards these carnal believers and giving them the truth about where they currently stand. The rest of this section, down to verse 10, involves the sum total of the rebuke, which we will look at piece by piece, starting with verse 4. So, let us open our Bibles to James 4:4 and begin our study of James' rebuke towards these carnal hedonists.

Quote :

James 4:4 (NASB) - You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

One of the first things that you should notice about this passage is that James is once again asking a rhetorical question that is immediately followed with its answer. In asking these rhetorical questions, James appears to be implying that these are things that these believers should have already known, without the need to be reiterated. Instead, James is having to remind them of these spiritual truths so that they can once again apply them to their lives. The next thing that we should be noticed is the fact that James is returning to his use of harsh language. This harsh language is something that we really want to key in on today, as it really brings home a very important point on emphasis in this section of study; it serves to give us a glimpse at their spiritual condition, if we didn't have a clear enough picture already.

As it's pretty obvious, James chooses to use the harsh language of calling these believers "adulteresses." I think it will be a worthwhile study to take a look at what an adulteress is, especially considering that this would be very familiar language to his Jewish readers, so let us make sure that we have our bearings straight before we casually overlook this word. As we already know, adultery is sexual intercourse between a husband and a woman who is not his wife, or between a wife and a man who is not her husband. The key point in having an understanding of adultery is that it can only occur within the context of a marriage; otherwise it is merely fornication (although adultery is a form of fornication). Looking at this with spiritual lenses, adultery serves as a metaphor for spiritual unfaithfulness, which can be seen clearly in passages such as Matthew 12:39; 16:4; and Mark 8:38. As a believer, when you choose to go against the ways of God, you are literally committing spiritual adultery by giving your love and affection to another that is not God. And, as I already stated, this is not new language for a Jew to be hearing, as this is something that the nation of Israel was often referred to as in Old Testament Scripture (2 Chronicles 21:11; Jeremiah 2:20; and Hosea 1:2, just to name a few).

The next thing to point out is that James refers to them as "adulteresses," which is the wife who is committing adultery against her husband. This is important in the context of a believer's understanding of their relationship toward God. So, why is James referring to them as the wife, instead of the husband? Well, in Scripture, the church is commonly referred to as the Bride of Christ, with Jesus Christ being the bridegroom (Revelation 19:7). With that as their context, it makes perfect sense for James to refer to them as adulteresses. This is also the view that the Jews had in view of their relationship toward God, as can be seen in numerous Old Testament passages where prophets refer to Israel as the wife of God. A few passages that speak of this would include Isaiah 54:5; Jeremiah 2:2; and Ezekiel 16:32. Just to take a look at Ezekiel 16:32, it states, "You adulteress wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband!" The Old Testament also often refers to Israel as a harlot, which is again feminine in nature. With that in view, it is pretty easy to understand why James would use such language in referring to them as adulteresses in particular.

Now that we have an understanding of what adultery is, what does this have to do in the context of our passage and why did James feel the need to use this word? By using this word, James has a very distinct group of people in mind, and it is those who have chosen to have a longing and affection for something other than their "husband," Christ Jesus. To further clarify, these would be believers who openly profess Jesus as Lord and have the outward appearance of being a member of the church, but are putting their hearts elsewhere. It's significant to remember that most adultery, at least in our present time, is done completely in secret so that the spouse doesn't have any idea of what is going on. This is the picture that James is trying to paint for us here; we have believers who are involved in the church, but their desires are for the things of this world and its way of doing things, instead of having an affection for the things of God. Going back to verses 1-3, it's this kind of attitude and action that is causing so many quarrels and fights within the body; it is because there are those who are "sleeping with the world" while still trying to give service to God. Before this gets lost, I do want to emphasize again that these are believers that James is dealing with, not unregenerate, still dead in their sins, unbelievers; instead, these are Christians who are not walking in the light of the Holy Spirit, but are choosing to live carnally. That's why James' language is so harsh, because he is dealing with believers who ought to know better.

We have taken a lot of time today just to look at one word in this verse, but it will prove to be very fruitful when it is applied to the rest of this verse, which we will take a look at next time. If we don't first have an understanding of what it means to be an adulteress, then we lose a lot of the meaning behind this passage. As believers, we need to recognize that when we choose to not walk in the ways of the Lord, we are, in essence, playing the role of an adulteress who is giving itself over to another "lover." Let us guard our hearts and affections today so that we might not cheat on the Lord with this world system. Remain in prayer with your armor on, until next time when we unpack the rest of this verse. God bless!

devotion courtesy of Trailblazin Ministries
http://www.trailblazinministries.com/daily-devotions/05-19-2008.php