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Translation
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What the Fathers say
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. …
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. …
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). …
Translation