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Flirting with Spiritual Adultery
(4:4)
"You
adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is
hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world
becomes an enemy of God." (4:4)
Now
James gets downright personal. Literally, he addresses the
pleasure-loving reader as "You adulteress!" You might think that he
would use the masculine form of the word, "adulterer" since most of the
readers would probably be men. He uses the feminine form deliberately,
however, because he is referring to believers as married to God. This is
a theme you can trace all the way from the Old Testament (where God's
people were thought of as God's wife, and he their Husband), to the New
Testament (where the Church is considered "the bride of Christ").
"For
your Maker is your husband-- the Lord Almighty is his name-- the Holy
One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth."
(Isaiah 54:5)
"I
will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and
justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and
you will acknowledge the Lord." (Hosea 2:19-20)
"I am
jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to
Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him." (2
Corinthians 11:2)
"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave
himself up for her.... This is a profound mystery -- but I am talking
about Christ and the church." (Ephesians 5:25, 32)
For the wedding of
the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready." (Revelation
19:7)
"One of the seven
angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and
said to me, 'Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.' "
(Revelation 21:9)
"The Spirit and the
bride say, 'Come!' And let him who hears say, 'Come!' Whoever is
thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of
the water of life." (Revelation 22:17)
Other passages of
"spiritual adultery."
Israel had committed
adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet
her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the
harlot also. So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she
defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees Jer 3:8-9
For they have
committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. They have committed
adultery with their idols, and even sacrificed their sons whom they bore
to Me, Ezek 23:37
is committing
adultery, just like the love of the LORD for the children of Israel, who
look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans." Hos 3:1
But I say to you
that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality
causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is
divorced commits adultery. Matt 5:32
having eyes full of
adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. 2 Pet
2:14
Indeed I will cast
her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great
tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. Rev 2:22
When we are married
to one husband, but flirt with another lover, we are adulterous. And
that is what we are doing when we cozy up to the world system that
doesn't love or follow Jesus Christ. Our love affair with pleasure, our
friendliness towards that which grieves God, "is hatred toward God,"
James says. "Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an
enemy of God."
Why
does James refer to church members as "adulteresses"?
What
does the adultery consist of?
Who is
the aggrieved husband?
What
is wrong with friendship with the world?
Envying Intensely (4:5)
"Or do
you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to
live in us envies intensely?" (4:5)
Verse 5 is difficult to understand with precision. We can't identify the
exact passage James is referring to. Certainly envy, jealousy, and
ambition afflict man (3:14-16)
and corrupt his spirit. On the other hand, the concept of God's jealousy
towards his people is a clear theme in the Old and New Testaments, for
example, in Genesis 6:3-7; Exodus 20:5; Zechariah 1:14; Matthew 6:24;
Romans 8:7; 1 John 2:15-17.
The
key Greek words in James 4:5 that the NIV translates "envies intensely"
are phthonon epipothei.
The
verb is epipotheō, "long for, desire something."8
The noun is phthonos, "envy, jealousy."9
There are two alternatives:
1.
Some English translations attribute this intense jealousy as God, the
jilted husband, toward is bride, his adulterous people, along the lines
of the theme of the Old
Testament book of
Hosea, such as the RSV's "He yearns jealously over the spirit which he
has made to dwell in us.”
2. Other English
translations attribute the envy and jealousy to the corrupt human
spirit. The New English Bible translates, "The spirit which God
implanted in man turns to envious desires." J.B. Phillips translates,
"Do you imagine that this spirit of passionate jealousy is the Spirit he
has caused to live in us?"10
The NIV translates more ambiguously: "Or do you think
Scripture says without reason the spirit he caused to live in us envies
intensely?"
The alternatives are discussed thoroughly by James Adamson, who
translates the verse: "Or do you suppose it is an idle saying in the
scriptures that the spirit that has taken its dwelling in us is prone to
envious lust?"
However you take
this verse, the idea is a conflict between how in his independence man
is acting and feeling, and the desires and purposes of his Creator for
him.
2
Grace to the
Humble (4:6)
"But he gives us
more grace. That is why the Scripture says, 'God opposes the proud but
gives grace to the humble.' "
(4:6, quoting Proverbs 3:34)
"Grace" is a word
you'd expect to find the Apostle Paul using. But here it is in James.
God's grace helps us in our struggles with sin, in our struggles with
the pleasure principle. God's Spirit woos us to him and, as we recognize
our sins and humble ourselves in repentance, we receive grace.
It seems that too
many conversions these days take place without a deep repentance. There
is often a sense of need, an emptiness, answered by a trust in the Lord
that fills us with joy and hope. And that is good. But at some point --
or points -- God needs to humble us so we are willing to turn away from
our ingrained sins. Often that requires the pain of self-discovery and
finally a heartfelt repentance. It's best when we can fully repent at
the beginning of our Christian walk, but often there are some deep
humblings as God lovingly strips back layer after layer of selfishness
and trains us to be his holy ones, his disciples.
I've struggled
with pride in my life. So when I encounter this passage: "God opposes
the proud...." I find myself distinctly desiring not to set myself up as
God's opponent. I don't want to find myself on opposite sides of the
ring "duking it out" with God. How about you? Where does your
stubbornness (an alternate word for "pride") place you in relation to
God?
Submitting
Yourself to God (4:7-10)
The next few
verses give clear instructions in repentance and – who knows -- may
arise straight out of a first century
Jerusalem
Church
revival meeting.
"Submit yourselves,
then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to
God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and
purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Grieve, mourn and
wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble
yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."
(4:7-10)
James takes the
words of his quotation from Proverbs 3:34 (resist/oppose, proud/humble)
and uses them in an exhortation:
1. "Submit
yourselves, then, to God"
(4:7a).
Here's the
general principle. To "submit oneself" (hupotassō) means to come
into voluntary obedience to a person, to bend your will to that
person's. If you've been proud you need to voluntarily (not only under
duress) bend your will to God's will.
2. "Resist
the devil, and he will flee from you"
(4:7b).
The word "resist"
is Greek anthistēmi. It means "set against, set oneself against,
oppose, resist, withstand."
Our problem too often is that we are double-minded,
clinging both to our selfish desires and a desire to please God.
We must clearly take a stand against the devil and at the same time let
go of the desire that gives him power over us.
What is the
relation between the devil and temptation? Does the devil make you do
it? Satan certainly tempted Jesus at the beginning of Jesus' ministry
(Matthew 4:1-11). Satan dangled before Jesus perverted means to
accomplish legitimate ends. Certainly eating when he was hungry, gaining
recognition as a spiritual leader, and reigning over the earth were part
of Jesus' plan.
But Jesus' way
was a different way, a less direct method of achieving the same goals.
Satan takes legitimate desires and twists them. The desire for sex, for
example, can be twisted into pornography or sex outside of marriage.
Good desire, wrong fulfillment. The desire to feed one's family can be
fulfilled by stealing or by hard work. But work is not the easy way.
The devil plays
on our own desires (James
1:14-15)
and tries to convince us that shortcuts will get us there better than
the right way.
Resisting the
devil means to stop flirting with his temptations. To say "no" to him
and "yes" to God.
"He will flee
from you." Strange, isn't it, what great power a little word from a
humble believer can do to the devil. As Martin Luther put it in his
great hymn "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" -- "... a little word can fell
him."
3. "Come near
to God, and he will come near to you"
(4:8a)
What is the
problem with double-mindedness? So long as we entertain thoughts of sin,
and serve them tea in our living room, we relegate God to the porch.
When we flirt with sin in our minds, we necessarily break off fellowship
with the Father. So resisting the devil (the negative) is followed by
drawing near to God (the positive), resolving our double-minded
condition.
There's a promise
in this verse, too. If we will draw near to God, that is, turn our wills
to doing his will, then he will draw near to us, empowering us to follow
him, and often, giving us a sense of his presence. We don't always
experience the joy of his presence -- even when he is very present.
Sometimes our emotions or other conditions block that sensory awareness.
St. John of the Cross wrote about "the dark night of the soul," that
difficult time that believers sometimes go through where there is no
emotional sense of God, only a faithful submission without the sensory
feedback.
4. "Wash your
hands and purify your hearts"
(4:8b)
James commands us
sinners, "wash your hands." What does this mean? He tells us to "purify
our hearts," but isn't God the only One who can cleanse us? James is
well aware of the necessity for God's grace; what he's talking
about in this exhortation is our job.
"Wash your hands,
you sinners" recalls the Prophet Isaiah's message from God to his
people:
"Your hands are full
of blood; wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my
sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right...." (Isaiah 1:15-17)
Washing one's
hands is another way of saying, "stop doing wrong". We see a similar
figure in the Book of Revelation. John sees a multitude in heaven
wearing white robes and praising God. One of the Elders tells who this
group is: "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation;
they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb" (7:14). No, they didn't save themselves. But they "washed" their
robes, they turned from their sin, and were cleansed by Christ's
sacrifice on their behalf.
"Purify your
hearts, you double-minded," is the second part of this directive. We
must stop doing wrong (wash our hands), and then turn our wills
decisively to God's will (purify our hearts). The double-mindedness must
go. We must decide which way to go and turn to it wholeheartedly. No
longer is our will divided, but now our will is "integrated" with our
faith and love for God, and we gain "integrity" again.
5. "Grieve,
mourn, and wail"
(4:9)
True sorrow for
sin is not being sorry that you were caught, but sorry that your heart
was so hard that you could commit this affront to God. So long as sin is
just in the moral category of "bad deeds," it can be looked at as an
unfortunate phase of our lives. But when sin is looked at as a proud and
independent spirit that stands up to God and deliberately goes the
opposite way to His, then we see its personal and ugly side. It is not
only morally wrong, it is personal rebellion against the One who loves
us. It violates a personal trust, a personal allegiance, a spiritual
marriage vow. It is about a relationship. Adultery is bad because it is
a taboo sexual relationship. But it is devastating because of what it
does to the relationship between husband and wife. We are "married" to
God, and our flirtations with the world are in defiance of our Husband.
The appropriate
response is grief. It is more than acknowledging our sin; it is owning
up to our guilt. I know that talking about guilt is not politically
correct. But a sense of guilt is the necessary precursor to genuine
heart repentance. Old fashioned revival meetings in the 1800s in the US
often included a "mourner's bench" where those convicted of their sins
would sit as they worked through this grief and came to a place of
repentance. It's still good medicine for the sin-sick soul in our own
day.
6. "Humble
yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up"
(4:10)
James now sums it
up. "Humble yourselves!" The word "humble" is Greek tapeinoō,
which literally means "lower, make low" and figuratively, "humble, make
humble" in a good sense.
James has been talking in this chapter about roots of pride
and an independent spirit within us: selfishness, hedonism, flirting
with sin, spiritual pride that thinks we know better than God what's
good for us. The antidote is to recognize our rebellions as foolishness,
acknowledge them ("confession"), turn from them ("repentance"), and come
before God again as his humble servants rather than his
independent-minded subjects. "Humble yourselves!" is a command. It
requires submission to God -- and an ongoing humility in contrast to a
life lived in rebellion against God.
The second half
of this command is a promise: "He will lift you up." God doesn't want a
bunch of groveling, servile disciples, but those who can stand before
him with joy. He wants and promises to lift us up out of our guilt and
misery to a place of wholeness and right standing ("righteousness").
Healthy Christianity isn't guilt-ridden, but joy-filled!
Verses
7-10 contain 10 different commands. Why are these actions so vital?
In
what way do they go against our nature?
Which
of these commands is most difficult for you?
Critics and Pickers
(4:11-12)
The
next several verses give examples of presumption, behavior habits that
are anything but humble.
"Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his
brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you
judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.
There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and
destroy. But you--who are you to judge your neighbor?"
(4:11-12)
"Brothers, do not slander one another," says James. Why does he bring up
slander? Because people in his church were slandering each other.
Of
course, they wouldn't want to call it slander. Perhaps "creative
criticism."
The
Greek word is katalaleō, "speak against, speak evil of, defame,
slander."
William Tyndale's early translation of the New Testament uses the
word "backbite."
If you've been
around church much then you've one person speaking against another.
Probably you've done it, too. Some people, of course, are fair game. You
can say horrible things about a president and his wife and call it
political speech.
People constantly
take shots at a preacher they don't like as well as the last one. They
criticize the spouse and children, too, when they don't exhibit the
requisite perfection. You expect that of unbelievers, but when
Christians -- family members -- do this, it hurts terribly.
What's wrong with
speaking against someone? It is wrong because it conflicts strongly with
the law of love. The Apostle Paul reminds us,
"Love is patient,
love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It
is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps
no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the
truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always
perseveres. Love never fails.” (1
Corinthians 13:4-8).
Certainly "love"
requires us to speak truth, even when it is difficult to do so. But we
are required to speak the truth lovingly (Ephesians 4:15).
Would we speak
against the person in their presence? Is our speech loving? Is it fair?
Is it kind? Does it come from offended pride?
James says
"Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the
law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but
sitting in judgment on it" (4:11-12).
How is speaking
against a brother like speaking against the law? When a Christian speaks
against someone, he is setting himself up as a judge -- but a judge who
is prejudiced, lacking all the facts, and failing to hear the accused
speak in his own defense. The evil speaker sets himself against two of
God's laws:
"Do not go about
spreading slander among your people"
(Leviticus
19:16)
and The
Royal Law: "Love your neighbor as yourself" (James 2:8)
The evil speaker
takes upon himself the role of deciding which laws to apply to himself,
and which to the accused. "There is only one Lawgiver and Judge,"
James says. "But who are you to judge your neighbor" (4:12).
In
what way does bad-mouthing a neighbor cause you to be a judge of the
law?
Why is
it tempting to bad-mouth others, do you think?
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