Fathers

James 4

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From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 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. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 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. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. 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. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another? 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: 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. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

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What the Fathers say

James 4:5

Eastern Fathers

Theophylact of Ohrid

Here the figure of omission is employed — a customary form of abbreviated speech. The apostle speaks as if to say: "I have with my own words been persuading you to use your wisdom rightly and without condemnation, so that you would not abuse it through pride, would not counterfeit and distort true teaching. …

Commentary on James ↗

Oecumenius

Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, or out of envy? That the spirit desires which dwells in you? But he gives a greater grace? This signifies something through these means, through the lack of using language, and again through the use of abbreviated wording. Therefore, James says: Indeed, I have criticized you in my own words regarding the correct and blameless use of your wisdom, lest you, abusing it out of arrogance, pollute and deceitfully handle the discourse of doctrine. But if you seek this from Scripture, listen. …

Commentary on James ↗

Western Saints

Bede

Does the spirit that dwells within you desire to envoke envy? It should be read as a rhetorical question, as if he were saying: Does the Spirit of grace, with which you were marked on the day of redemption, desire this, that you should envy one another? Not, indeed, a good spirit in you, but an evil spirit causes the vice of envy. There is a similar mode of expression in the psalm: "A brother cannot redeem; a man shall redeem" (Psalm 48). …

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