James 4

Therefore, when the devil tempts us, we must tell him simply: “Away from me, Satan” (Matthew 4:10).

8 Do we want God to come near to us? If so, then we must draw near to Him. If God seems to have drawn away from us, the reason always is that we have first drawn away from Him. Why have we drawn away from God? It is always because of some sin in our lives which we are not willing to give up.

How can we again draw near to God? James gives the answer: Wash your hands, you sinners. That is, we must cleanse ourselves from all sinful work and behavior. Not only that, James also adds: … purify your hearts, you double-minded. We must cleanse ourselves not only from outward sins, but also from the hidden inward sins of our hearts. God sees our inner heart and mind (1 Chronicles 28:9). He knows if we are being double-minded or not. The double-minded man tries to love God and the world at the same time. Therefore, such a man’s love for God is impure; his heart is unholy. Such a man will not be accepted by God; for only with clean hands and pure heart can we draw near to God (Psalm 24:3-4; Matthew 5:8; Hebrews 12:14).

How can our hearts be purified? We must repent and come to Jesus; that is, we must confess our sins and turn from them. We must humble ourselves, and He will give us grace (verse 6) and come near to us. Let us thank and praise Him for showing such mercy to sinners such as us!

9 Paul says: Rejoice! (Philippians 4:4). Be joyful always (1 Thessalonians 5:16). But James says here: Grieve, mourn and wail. Why should we grieve, mourn, and wail? Because of our sin. Here are two truths. Paul tells us, “Rejoice,” because God loves us so much. James tells us, “Grieve,” because we love Him so little. We must rejoice in God’s goodness and in His grace. We must grieve for our sin and unholiness. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn”—that is, blessed are those who mourn for their sins (Matthew 5:4).

10 Therefore, let us humble ourselves before God. … a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise (Psalm 51:17). And when we humble ourselves, God will draw near to us. He will give us grace (verse 6). And he will lift [us] up (see Matthew 5:3; Luke 18:9-14; I Peter 5:6).

11 James has been talking about our evil tongue (James 3:8) and about fights and quarrels among brothers (verse 1). Now he says: Brothers, do not slander one another. What is slander? Slander is showing our brother’s faults and weaknesses to another person. Since everyone has faults and weaknesses, slander is often true or partly true. When slander is false, it becomes false witness. But whether what we say is true or false, to talk about our brother’s faults to another is slander, and slander is a very great sin in God’s eyes.

To slander our brother and to judge him are very similar. In our heart and mind, we judge our brother; with our tongue and lips we slander him (see Matthew 7:1 and comment).

When we judge our brother, we judge the law, Christ’s law. To “judge” the law means to disobey it. When we do that, we make ourselves greater than the law. When we judge the law, we are saying that some commandments of the law are good and others are bad. We are, in effect, saying: “I will obey this command, but not that one.” We are saying: “If I want to slander or judge my brother, I’ll do so.” In this way, we make ourselves “judges” of the law.

12 But there is only one Lawgiver and Judge. When we judge the law, we are putting ourselves in God’s place, and that is the greatest sin of all. To seek to be like God is the greatest form of pride. It was for this sin that Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:5-6). Instead of humbling ourselves before God as we ought to be doing (verse 10), we are making ourselves lord and judge. What a mistake! What a sin! Because there is only one Lord and one Judge. There is only one who is able to save and destroy, namely God Himself. Only He can give men salvation or condemn them to hell. No matter how much we exalt ourselves, we cannot save ourselves. No matter how much we judge our brother, we cannot destroy or condemn him. Only God can save and destroy. Therefore, let us not dare to judge our Christian brother. Not only that, we must not even dare to judge our non-Christian neighbor.

13-15 Now James looks at another subject: the future. Does James say here that we should never plan ahead? No. We must, of course, make plans; we must look ahead. The farmer, when he plants, must look ahead to the harvest. Paul and the other apostles planned where they would go and how long they would stay there. But as we plan we must always say in our hearts: “If it is God’s will, I will do such and such” (see Acts 18:21; 1 Corinthians 4:19). Because our entire life is in God’s hands. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow. All is uncertain. We are like a mist of water: today we are here; tomorrow we are gone. Therefore, we must never put our trust in plans; we must trust only in God. Only He is certain and never-changing. Yes, we must plan and plant the seed; but God gives the harvest (1 Corinthians 3:7). We must plan and work, but God gives us success according to His will. In Him only must we put our confidence.

16 Therefore, let us not boast in our work, in our success. All our boasting must be in God. Ifwe take for ourselves the praise that belongs to God, we sin against God. To give ourselves the praise for what God has done is a very great evil!

17 In this verse there are two very important teachings. The first is this: God will judge us according to what we know. If a small child breaks a law in ignorance, he is not punished for it; he has not sinned. On the other hand, if a grown man knowingly breaks a law, for him it is a great sin. The more a person knows, the greater will be his punishment if he disobeys God (see Luke 12:47-48; James 3:1 and comments).

The second teaching in this verse concerns sin. Many people think that sin is only doing something bad. But here James teaches that sin is also failing to do something we ought to do. Not doing something we know we should do is just as much a sin as doing something we know we shouldn’t do. Ifwe do not help our brother when he is in need, we sin against him. Likewise, if we do not believe in Jesus, we sin against Him.