James 4:1-3

James 4:1-4

-----What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? [2] You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. [3] You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. [4] You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

The Testimony of Fellowship

-----James has just finished telling his readers that worldly wisdom results in disorder and that godly wisdom produces peace. Now, lest his readers think that they are an exception to this principle, James addresses the reason there is disorder in their fellowship. The discord among them stemmed ultimately from spiritual adultery (v.4). Although James' audience tried to appear righteous, the condition of their fellowship testified against them. As Jesus said, “By this will all people know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

How is quarrellings a manifestation of spiritual adultery?

-----Because Christ creates and sustains all things, He is the only ultimate source all things must turn to for satisfaction. Christ is the only thing that people can pursue whole-heartedly and find riches abundant enough to satisfy themselves while still having abundant enough riches remaining that they may freely give to satisfy all those they are called to love. “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water (John 7:37,38).'”

-----Those who seek satisfaction in other things do so to the detriment of those around them. This is why the second greatest commandment is like unto the first. “'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:36-39).'” When James saw quarreling among his audience He knew that their religiosity was a false boast.

You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.

-----Those who have their affections set on Christ remember to be satisfied in all God has given. On the other hand, coveting never ends in satisfaction. To covet is to set our affections on those things that God has not given to us. Coveting is an act of rebellion which rejects satisfaction in Christ by seeking satisfaction in what He has not given. One can never obtain what they are coveting because as soon as one receives what they have coveted they continue their rebellion by desiring something else.

-----This constant striving leads to disordered relationships such as those among James' audience. Love and peace are not too high a sacrifice for those who are determined to be satisfied in things that can never satisfy them. While not really engaged in wars and murder, they spoke the poisonous words which characterize the unregenerate (Romans 3:13).

----John Calvin wrote eloquently about this passage, “God, indeed, whom they owned not as the author of blessings, justly disappointed them. For when they contended in ways so unlawful, they sought to be enriched through the favor of Satan rather than through the favor of God. One by fraud, another by violence, one by calumnies, and all by some evil or wicked arts, strove for happiness. They then sought to be happy, but not through God. It was therefore no wonder that they were frustrated in their efforts, since no success can be expected except through the blessings of God alone.”