Proud or Humble

What is the source of wars and fights among you? Don’t they come from your passions(A) that wage war within you?[a] You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war.[b] You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.(B)

You adulterous people![c] Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the friend of the world becomes the enemy of God.(C) Or do you think it’s without reason that the Scripture says: The spirit he made to dwell in us envies intensely?[d](D)

But he gives greater grace. Therefore he says:

God resists the proud
but gives grace to the humble.[e](E)

Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.(F) Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.(G) Be miserable and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.(H) 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

11 Don’t criticize one another, brothers and sisters. Anyone who defames or judges a fellow believer[f] defames and judges the law. If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.(I) 12 There is one lawgiver and judge[g] who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?(J)

Our Will and God’s Will

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”(K) 14 Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes.(L)

15 Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.(M) 17 So it is sin to know the good and yet not do it.(N)

Footnotes

  1. 4:1 Or war in your members
  2. 4:2 Or You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and wage war.
  3. 4:4 Lit Adulteresses
  4. 4:5 Or Scripture says: He jealously yearns for the spirit he made to live in us?, or Scripture says: The Spirit he made to dwell in us longs jealously?
  5. 4:6 Pr 3:34
  6. 4:11 Or his brother or sister
  7. 4:12 Other mss omit and judge

不要与世俗为友

你们彼此冲突、互相斗殴的起因是什么呢?不就是你们身体中不断交战的欲望吗? 你们贪心,得不到就去杀人。你们嫉妒,得不到就争吵、打斗。你们得不到是因为你们不向上帝祈求。 你们求也得不到是因为你们动机不纯,只求享乐和满足自己的欲望。 你们这些对主不忠的人啊,难道还不明白与世俗为友就是与上帝为敌吗?所以,凡是与世俗为友的,都是上帝的敌人。 圣经上说:“上帝所赐、住在我们心里的圣灵深愿我们完全属于祂。”你们以为这是空谈吗? 但上帝赐给我们更大的恩典,所以圣经上说:“上帝阻挡骄傲的人,恩待谦卑的人。”

因此,你们要服从上帝,抵挡魔鬼,魔鬼必逃离你们。 你们亲近上帝,上帝就必亲近你们。有罪的人啊,洗净你们的手吧!三心二意的人啊,洁净你们的心吧! 你们要悲伤、忧愁、痛哭,转欢笑为悲哀,变欢乐为愁苦。 10 你们要在主面前谦卑,祂必擢升你们。

不要论断

11 弟兄姊妹,不要彼此批评。批评、论断弟兄姊妹就等于是批评、论断律法。如果你论断律法,你就不是遵行律法的人,而是以审判者自居。 12 设立律法和审判人的只有一位,就是能拯救人也能毁灭人的上帝。你是谁,竟然论断别人呢?

警戒自夸

13 你们有些人说:“今天或是明天,我们要往某某城去,在那里逗留一年半载,做生意赚钱。” 14 其实你们根本不知道明天会发生什么事。你们的生命是什么呢?你们只不过像一阵雾气,出现片刻,就无影无踪了。 15 你们只当说:“如果主许可,我们就可以活着,可以做这事或做那事。” 16 现在,你们竟敢傲慢自夸,这实属邪恶。 17 所以人若知道善而不去行,就是犯罪。

Passions and Pride

Where do the conflicts and where[a] do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this,[b] from your passions that battle inside you?[c] You desire and you do not have; you murder and envy and you cannot obtain; you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask; you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, so you can spend it on your passions.

Adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God?[d] So whoever decides to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy. Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says,[e] “The spirit that God[f] caused[g] to live within us has an envious yearning”?[h] But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.”[i] So submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded.[j] Grieve, mourn,[k] and weep. Turn your laughter[l] into mourning and your joy into despair. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.

11 Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters.[m] He who speaks against a fellow believer[n] or judges a fellow believer speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but its judge.[o] 12 But there is only one who is lawgiver and judge—the one who is able to save and destroy. On the other hand, who are you to judge your neighbor?[p]

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town[q] and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” 14 You[r] do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like?[s] For you are a puff of smoke[t] that appears for a short time and then vanishes. 15 You ought to say instead,[u] “If the Lord is willing, then we will live and do this or that.” 16 But as it is,[v] you boast about your arrogant plans.[w] All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows what is good to do[x] and does not do it is guilty of sin.[y]

Footnotes

  1. James 4:1 tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.
  2. James 4:1 tn Grk “from here.”
  3. James 4:1 tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”
  4. James 4:4 tn Grk “is hostility toward God.”
  5. James 4:5 tn Grk “vainly says.”
  6. James 4:5 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  7. James 4:5 tc The Byzantine text and a few other mss (P 5 33 436 442 1243 1611 1735 1852 2344 2492 M) have the intransitive κατῴκησεν (katōkēsen) here, which turns τὸ πνεῦμα (to pneuma) into the subject of the verb: “The spirit which lives within us.” But the more reliable and older witnesses (P74 א B Ψ 049 1241 1739 al) have the causative verb, κατῴκισεν (katōkisen), which implies a different subject and τὸ πνεῦμα as the object: “The spirit that he causes to live within us.” Both because of the absence of an explicit subject and the relative scarcity of the causative κατοικίζω (katoikizō, “cause to dwell”) compared to the intransitive κατοικέω (katoikeō, “live, dwell”) in biblical Greek (κατοικίζω does not occur in the NT at all, and occurs much less frequently than κατοικέω in the LXX), it is easy to see why scribes would replace κατῴκισεν with κατῴκησεν. Thus, on internal and external grounds, κατῴκισεν is the preferred reading.
  8. James 4:5 tn Interpreters debate the referent of the word “spirit” in this verse: (1) The translation takes “spirit” to be the lustful capacity within people that produces a divided mind (1:8, 14) and inward conflicts regarding God (4:1-4). God has allowed it to be in man since the fall, and he provides his grace (v. 6) and the new birth through the gospel message (1:18-25) to counteract its evil effects. (2) On the other hand the word “spirit” may be taken positively as the Holy Spirit and the sense would be, “God yearns jealously for the Spirit he caused to live within us.” But the word for “envious” or “jealous” is generally negative in biblical usage and the context before and after seems to favor the negative interpretation.sn No OT verse is worded exactly this way. This is either a statement about the general teaching of scripture or a quotation from an ancient translation of the Hebrew text that no longer exists today.
  9. James 4:6 sn A quotation from Prov 3:34.
  10. James 4:8 tn Or “two-minded” (the same description used in 1:8).
  11. James 4:9 tn This term and the following one are preceded by καί (kai) in the Greek text, but contemporary English generally uses connectives only between the last two items in such a series.
  12. James 4:9 tn Grk “let your laughter be turned.”
  13. James 4:11 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
  14. James 4:11 tn See note on the word “believer” in 1:9.
  15. James 4:11 tn Grk “a judge.”
  16. James 4:12 tn Grk “who judges your neighbor.”
  17. James 4:13 tn Or “city.”
  18. James 4:14 tn Grk “who” (continuing the description of the people of v. 13). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
  19. James 4:14 tn Or “you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.”
  20. James 4:14 tn Or “a vapor.” The Greek word ἀτμίς (atmis) denotes a swirl of smoke arising from a fire (cf. Gen 19:28; Lev 16:13; Joel 2:30 [Acts 2:19]; Ezek 8:11).
  21. James 4:15 tn Grk “instead of your saying.”
  22. James 4:16 tn Grk “but now.”
  23. James 4:16 tn Or “you boast in your arrogance.” The translation in the text is based on two points: (1) The verb καυχάομαι (kauchaomai, “boast”) often uses the preposition ἐν (en) to indicate the focus of the boast (see BDAG 536 s.v. 1). (2) ἀλαζονεία (alazoneia, “arrogance”) here is plural and likely refers to the specific plans mentioned in v. 13.
  24. James 4:17 tn Or “knows how to do what is good.”
  25. James 4:17 tn Grk “to him it is sin.”