Tiago 4

Pride Promotes Strife

1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desiresfor pleasure *Rom. 7:23; (Gal. 5:17); 1 Pet. 2:11that war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 *Job 27:8, 9You ask and do not receive, *(Ps. 66:18)because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that *Rom. 8:7; 1 John 2:15friendship with the world is enmity with God? *Gal. 1:4Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, *Gen. 6:5"The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously"?

6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

*Job 22:29; Ps. 138:6; Prov. 3:34; Matt. 23:12; 1 Pet. 5:5"God resists the proud,

But gives grace to the humble."

Humility Cures Worldliness

7 Therefore submit to God. *(Eph. 4:27; 6:11); 1 Pet. 5:8Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 *2 Chr. 15:2; Zech. 1:3; Mal. 3:7; Heb. 7:19Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. *Job 17:9; Is. 1:16; 1 Tim. 2:8Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and *Jer. 4:14; James 3:17; 1 Pet. 1:22; 1 John 3:3purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 *Matt. 5:4Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 *Job 22:29; Luke 14:11; 18:14; 1 Pet. 5:6Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

Do Not Judge a Brother

11 *2 Cor. 12:20; Eph. 4:31; James 5:9; 1 Pet. 2:1–3Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother *(Matt. 7:1–5); Rom. 14:4and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is one Lawgiver, *(Matt. 10:28)who is able to save and to destroy. *Rom. 14:4Who are you to judge another?

Do Not Boast About Tomorrow

13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; 14 whereas you do not know what willhappen tomorrow. For what is your life? *Job 7:7; Ps. 102:3; 1 Pet. 1:24It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, *Acts 18:21; 1 Cor. 4:19"If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that." 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. *1 Cor. 5:6All such boasting is evil.

17 Therefore, *(Luke 12:47); John 9:41; 2 Pet. 2:21to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.