James 4 | King James Version

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Chapter Explanation

Explanations (1)

Author: Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Rank: Monk
Posted on: 2023-02-16
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The listed verse explanations of the individual persons have nothing to do with the explanations of the other persons. This also applies to the Bible translations.

James 4:1
From whence [come] wars and fightings among you? [come they] not hence, [even] of your lusts that war in your members?

Wars and fights stem not from others’ annoying us, but from the weakness of the inner man and his defeat in the inner war. Abbot Poemen (1) clarified that when the building is shaken and falls, it is because there was no strong foundation, not just because of winds. He said: [When man is defeated before the sin of anger, he has to realize that this is because of his own inner weakness and not because of the insult directed to him. Thus, we do not need to search for our outside peace, and not to think that the patience of others will benefit our impatience, for it is written that the kingdom of God is inside you, and also that “A man’s foes will be those of his own household.” [Matt 10:36] There is no enemy worse than one’s heart, which is like one’s own household.]

The cause of all fights is depriving the heart of the inner peace. St. Augustine said: [In the spiritual war if we overcome our lusts, we overcome our enemies (the devils). When we overcome these carnal lusts, no doubt, we overcome the devil that dominates us with these lusts. When God said to the devil (in the person of the serpent) that you will eat dust, it was said to the sinner (in the person of Adam) that you are dust and to the dust you will return. Thus, man became food for the devil. If we do not want to become like that, we have not to become dust.]

The source of all fights is one’s surrender to the ego that fights in our members, without any resistance. However, if one resists and not surrender, then even if all the surrounding circumstances bother him and he loses everything, yet he does not lose his inner peace and fear does not penetrate his heart. St. John Chrysostom (2) said: [No one can harm you unless you harm yourself. If you do not sin, there will be tens of thousands of swords, which will threaten you, but God will pull you so they won’t come near you.]

This is the effect of lusts to the one who surrenders to them. What does one benefit? St. James said, “You lust and do not have...” [Verse 2] These lusts are like the mirage that attracts man to run after, but soon one gets lost and becomes more thirsty without obtaining anything, for they are deceiving.

Footnote
(1) St. John Cassian: Conferences, 18:13.
(2) The Author: The Church Loves You, p. 36-38.

Author: Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Rank: Monk
Posted on: 2023-02-16
Source:

Tadros Yacoub Malaty

James 4

Author: George Leo Haydock
Rank: Author
AD: 1849
Source:

George Leo Haydock

James 4

Author: Clement Of Rome
Rank: Bishop
AD: 99

Clement Of Rome

James 4

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James 4:2
Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

Author: Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Rank: Monk
Posted on: 2023-02-16
Source:

Tadros Yacoub Malaty

James 4

Author: George Leo Haydock
Rank: Author
AD: 1849
Source:

George Leo Haydock

James 4

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James 4:3
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume [it] upon your lusts.

Earlier, St. James mentioned that the cause of not obtaining is due to not asking, “You do not have because you do not ask.” [Verse 2] How hard it is for a father to see his children in need and they do not ask from their father! However, there is a group of people who ask, yet they do not receive. The reason is not in the Grantor but in those who ask because their hearts are attached to the ego on earth, thus their prayers are an abomination before the Lord. Their prayers are means to achieve earthly goals, as if we are telling the Heavenly Father: “Grant us earthly gifts because we are attached to the earth and we do not want to prepare ourselves for heaven where we have a portion with You.”

How hard it is for the father when the son asks gifts from him to run away from him, and the bride who asks gifts from her bridegroom but does not want to see his face!

• Since evil forms a friendship with the world and virtue a friendship with God, virtue and evil cannot coexist (1).
Origen

• Whatever you ask from the Father in My Name, He will grant you. The name of the Son is “Jesus,” or Savior. Whoever asks in the name of the Savior is the one who asks for his salvation. So let us review our requests to see whether they are in the name of “Jesus,” that is, matters pertaining to our salvation. Do you request a field, a garment, material gifts, or do you “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness”?
St. Gregory

The Savior said: "Ask and you will receive. Everyone who asks will receive." How can it be then that some people pray but do not get what they ask for? To this it must be answered that if someone comes to prayer in the right way, omitting none of the prerequisites for intercession, he will receive everything he asks for. But if someone appears to be going beyond the permissible bounds laid down for intercession, he will appear to be asking for something in the wrong way and therefore will not obtain it (2).
St. Didymus the Blind

The hierarch, being a man of God, asks only for what is compatible with the divine promises, for what pleases God and for what God will freely give. He thereby demonstrates to God the lover of good that his own conduct is always modeled on the Good and shows those who are present what kinds of gifts the saints will receive (3).
Pseudo-Dionysus

Footnote
(1) Cf. Catena.
(2) Commentary on James, PG 39:1753.
(3) On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy 7.3.7 (Classics of Western Spirituality p. 256.)

Author: Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Rank: Monk
Posted on: 2023-02-16
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Tadros Yacoub Malaty

James 4

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James 4:4
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Author: Shenouda III.
Rank: Pope
AD: 2012
Source:

Shenouda III.

James 4

Some translate this as “Ye adulteress.” It is not strange that St. James uses this expression, for in the Old Testament (1), the treason against the covenant of God and deviation from true worship were likened to marital cheating. In the New Testament (2), the same analogy was used “spiritual adultery,” where one rejects to be united with her Bridegroom (3), in order to be united with another god.

But one may wander: Why do we consider the love of the world enmity to God and spiritual adultery, although God has created everything for the sake of man?

God does not want to bother us or deprive us of anything, but as the Bridegroom of the human soul, He does not want us to cleave to anyone else.

God wants us to use the world, and to feel the love of the Grantor, without our hearts loving the gift and not the Grantor. God created the world and saw that it was good. [Gen 1] But if someone is occupied with the world and does not have time for God, for “the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” [1John 5:19], then the world does not become a bridge to cross to eternity, but man is attached to it and is enslaved to it with all its lusts, thus falls in its trap.

• Whoever loves the world by committing sin is revealed as an enemy of God, just as, on the other hand, one who affirms friendship with God by not sinning is a constant enemy of the world. Therefore, just as it is impossible to serve both God and mammon, so it is also impossible to be a friend of the world and of God at the same time (4).
St. Didymus the Blind

• Love of honor and pride and boastfulness is hostile to God, for these things were the undoing of the fallen angels as well as of the first human couple, which is why to this day they are described as "enemies of God (5).”
Hilary of Arles

Footnote
(1) [Ps 7:3], [Ps 7:27], [Isa 54:5], [Jer 2:2], [Jer 3:1], [Ezek 16], [Ezek 23:37-43], [Hos 2:2]
(2) [Matt 12:39], [Matt 16:54], [Rev 2:20-22].
(3) [2Cor 11:2].
(4) Commentary on James, PG 39:1754.
(5) Introductory Tractate on the Letter of James, PL Supp. 3:76 (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture).

Author: Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Rank: Monk
Posted on: 2023-02-16
Source:

Tadros Yacoub Malaty

James 4

Author: George Leo Haydock
Rank: Author
AD: 1849
Source:

George Leo Haydock

James 4

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James 4:5
Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

Author: Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Rank: Monk
Posted on: 2023-02-16
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Tadros Yacoub Malaty

James 4

Author: George Leo Haydock
Rank: Author
AD: 1849
Source:

George Leo Haydock

James 4

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James 4:6
But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

Author: Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Rank: Monk
Posted on: 2023-02-16
Source:

Tadros Yacoub Malaty

James 4

Author: George Leo Haydock
Rank: Author
AD: 1849
Source:

George Leo Haydock

James 4

Author: Ignatius of Antioch
Rank: Bishop
AD: 108

Ignatius of Antioch

James 4

Author: Clement Of Rome
Rank: Bishop
AD: 99

Clement Of Rome

James 4

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James 4:7
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Author: Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Rank: Monk
Posted on: 2023-02-16
Source:

Tadros Yacoub Malaty

James 4

Author: George Leo Haydock
Rank: Author
AD: 1849
Source:

George Leo Haydock

James 4

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James 4:8
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse [your] hands, [ye] sinners; and purify [your] hearts, [ye] double minded.

Author: Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Rank: Monk
Posted on: 2023-02-16
Source:

Tadros Yacoub Malaty

James 4

Author: Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Rank: Monk
Posted on: 2023-02-16
Source:

Tadros Yacoub Malaty

James 4

Author: Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Rank: Monk
Posted on: 2023-02-16
Source:

Tadros Yacoub Malaty

James 4

Author: George Leo Haydock
Rank: Author
AD: 1849
Source:

George Leo Haydock

James 4

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James 4:9
Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and [your] joy to heaviness.

• Before anything, ask from God to grant you tears. Probably these tears will soften your prayer and reveal your sins [Ps 22:5], thus God will grant you forgiveness. Use the tears as a weapon to obtain your requests from God, for the Almighty God is pleased when you pray with tears. Beware of falling in an emotional excitement, for many forget the purpose of tears (1).
St. Nilos of Sinai

May God grant us to lift our eyes with tears toward Him as a child does toward his mother, so we may have “godly sorrow which produces repentance to salvation, not to be regretted.” [2Cor 7:10]

In the biography of St. Pachomius (2), it was mentioned that: [One night, Pachomius and his disciple Tadros passed by a cemetery where they found some women lamenting and weeping. St. Pachomius was touched by this scene and desired that all may weep for their sins so they may rise. So he told his disciple, “Do you see those who shed their tears on dead people who cannot rise, how about us, monks, who should lament our dead souls so the Lord Jesus may raise us with His mercy!” Anyway, weeping is beneficial if it is for a good purpose. David the Psalmist said, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” [Ps 30:5] He meant by night the world and by morning the world to come. Joseph wept for his brothers. Jeremiah wept for his people.]

• The person who repents after sinning is worthy of blessings, not of mourning, as he returns to the company of the righteous. First, confess your sins that you may be justified, for if someone is not ashamed of his sin he is miserable, not so much because he fell from grace but because he has remained in his fallen state. And if it is a wicked thing not to repent after sinning, what punishment will someone deserve who sins as a matter of course? If a person overcomes with the need to repent is Unclean, what forgiveness will there be for someone who suffers because he remains in his sins? (3)
St. John Chrysostom

Footnote
(1) Philokalia about prayer, p. 8-9
(2) The Author: Pachomius and his disciple Tadros, ed. 67, p.46.
(3) Catena.

Author: Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Rank: Monk
Posted on: 2023-02-16
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Tadros Yacoub Malaty

James 4

Author: George Leo Haydock
Rank: Author
AD: 1849
Source:

George Leo Haydock

James 4

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James 4:10
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

Author: Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Rank: Monk
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Tadros Yacoub Malaty

James 4

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James 4:11
Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of [his] brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

Author: Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Rank: Monk
Posted on: 2023-02-16
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Tadros Yacoub Malaty

James 4

Author: George Leo Haydock
Rank: Author
AD: 1849
Source:

George Leo Haydock

James 4

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James 4:12
There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

Author: Tadros Yacoub Malaty
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Tadros Yacoub Malaty

James 4

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James 4:13
Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

Verses that belong to this explanation: 13-14

Author: Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Rank: Monk
Posted on: 2023-02-16
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Tadros Yacoub Malaty

James 4

Author: George Leo Haydock
Rank: Author
AD: 1849
Source:

George Leo Haydock

James 4

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James 4:14
Whereas ye know not what [shall be] on the morrow. For what [is] your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

Verses that belong to this explanation: 13-14

Author: Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Rank: Monk
Posted on: 2023-02-16
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Tadros Yacoub Malaty

James 4

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James 4:15
For that ye [ought] to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

Verses that belong to this explanation: 15-16

Author: Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Rank: Monk
Posted on: 2023-02-16
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Tadros Yacoub Malaty

James 4

Author: George Leo Haydock
Rank: Author
AD: 1849
Source:

George Leo Haydock

James 4

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James 4:16
But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

Verses that belong to this explanation: 15-16

Author: Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Rank: Monk
Posted on: 2023-02-16
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Tadros Yacoub Malaty

James 4

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James 4:17
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth [it] not, to him it is sin.

Author: Tadros Yacoub Malaty
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Tadros Yacoub Malaty

James 4

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Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

King James Version

James 4

1 From whence [come] wars and fightings among you? [come they] not hence, [even] of your lusts that war in your members?

2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume [it] upon your lusts.

4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse [your] hands, [ye] sinners; and purify [your] hearts, [ye] double minded.

9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and [your] joy to heaviness.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of [his] brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

14 Whereas ye know not what [shall be] on the morrow. For what [is] your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

15 For that ye [ought] to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth [it] not, to him it is sin.

King James Version

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