Africa Study Bible Sampler - Flipbook - Page 81
J A M E S 4 : 1
Drawing Close to God
What is causing the quarrels and fights
among you? Don’t they come from the
evil desires at war within you? 2 You want
what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill
to get it. You are jealous of what others have,
but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war
to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have
what you want because you don’t ask God
for it. 3 And even when you ask, you don’t get
it because your motives are all wrong—you
want only what will give you pleasure.
4 You adulterers!* Don’t you realise that
friendship with the world makes you an
enemy of God? I say it again: If you want
to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. 5 Do you think the
Scriptures have no meaning? They say
that God is passionate that the spirit he
has placed within us should be faithful to
him.* 6 And he gives grace generously. As
the Scriptures say,
4
“God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble.”*
7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist
the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come
close to God, and God will come close to you.
Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your
hearts, for your loyalty is divided between
God and the world. 9 Let there be tears for
what you have done. Let there be sorrow and
deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of
laughter, and gloom instead of joy. 10 Humble
yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift
you up in honour.
Warning against Judging Others
11 Don’t speak evil against each other, dear
brothers and sisters.* If you criticise and
judge each other, then you are criticising and
judging God’s law. But your job is to obey
the law, not to judge whether it applies to
you. 12 God alone, who gave the law, is the
Judge. He alone has the power to save or to
destroy. So what right do you have to judge
your neighbour?
80
4:2
2 Sam 11:2-27
1 Kgs 21:1-16
1 Jn 3:15
4:3
1 Jn 3:22; 5:14
4:4
John 15:19
1 Jn 2:15
4:5
1 Cor 6:19
2 Cor 6:16
4:6
*Prov 3:34
Matt 23:12
1 Pet 5:5
4:7
Eph 6:12
1 Pet 5:6-9
4:8
Ps 73:28
Isa 1:16
Zech 1:3
Mal 3:7
4:9
Luke 6:25
4:10
Job 5:11
Luke 14:7-11
1 Pet 5:6
4:11
Matt 7:1
2 Cor 12:20
1 Pet 2:1
4:12
Matt 10:28
Rom 2:1; 14:4
Jas 5:9
4:13-14
Prov 27:1
Luke 12:18-20
4:15
Acts 18:21
4:16
1 Cor 5:6
4:17
Luke 12:47
5:1
Prov 11:4, 28
Isa 13:6
5:2
Matt 6:19
5:3
Matt 27:3-5
Luke 12:15-21
5:4
Lev 19:13
Deut 24:14-15
Ps 18:6
5:5
Jer 12:3; 25:34
Luke 16:19-23
5:6
Jas 4:2
5:7
Deut 11:14
Jer 5:24
Joel 2:23
5:8
Rom 13:11-12
Heb 10:37
5:9
Matt 24:33
1 Cor 4:5
Jas 4:12
Warning about Self-Confidence
13 Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will
stay there a year. We will do business there
and make a profit.” 14 How do you know what
your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is
like the morning fog—it’s here a little while,
then it’s gone. 15 What you ought to say is, “If
the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this
or that.” 16 Otherwise you are boasting about
your own pretentious plans, and all such
boasting is evil.
17 Remember, it is sin to know what you
ought to do and then not do it.
Warning to the Rich
Look here, you rich people: Weep and
groan with anguish because of all the
terrible troubles ahead of you. 2 Your wealth
is rotting away, and your fine clothes are
moth-eaten rags. 3 Your gold and silver are
corroded. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This
corroded treasure you have hoarded will
testify against you on the day of judgement.
4 For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay.
The cries of those who harvest your fields
have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
5 You have spent your years on earth in
luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have
fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter.
6 You have condemned and killed innocent
people,* who do not resist you.*
5
Patience and Endurance
brothers and sisters,* be patient as
you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the
farmers who patiently wait for the rains in
the autumn and in the spring. They eagerly
look for the valuable harvest to ripen. 8 You,
too, must be patient. Take courage, for the
coming of the Lord is near.
9 Don’t grumble about each other, brothers
and sisters, or you will be judged. For look—
the Judge is standing at the door!
7 Dear
4:4 Greek You adulteresses!
4:5 Or They say that the spirit God has placed within us is filled with envy; or They say that the Holy
Spirit, whom God has placed within us, opposes our envy.
4:6 Prov 3:34 (Greek version). 4:11 Greek brothers.
5:6a Or killed
the Righteous One.
5:6b Or Don’t they resist you? or Doesn’t God oppose you? or Aren’t they now accusing you before God?
5:7 Greek brothers; also in 5:9, 10, 12, 19.
Applica tio n
Why We Should Ask • James 4:2-3
Many people quote James 4:2-3, which says, “Yet you don’t the leader and the follower. Jesus did not ask people to
have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And follow him for their own ego but to learn and serve. “Yes, ask
even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are me for anything in my name and I will do it” (John 14:14).
all wrong—you only want what will give you pleasure.” People But he tells us the reason for answering our prayers in the
often pray self-centred prayers. We are asking amiss. When previous verse: “So the Son can bring glory to the Father”
(John 14:13). Our prayers should not be about us. They
the prayer is all about us, it is the wrong prayer.
Rather, God wants us to focus on others, to reverse the should be about serving others, as Jesus instructed us, to
gap between the rich and the poor, the adult and the child, bring glory to the Father.