Jakobus 4:4

4 Ihr Ehebrecher und Ehebrecherinnen, wisset ihr nicht, daß der Welt Freundschaft Gottes Feindschaft ist? Wer der Welt Freund sein will, der wird Gottes Feind sein.

Jakobus 4:4 Meaning and Commentary

James 4:4

Ye adulterers and adulteresses
Not who were literally such, but in a figurative and metaphorical sense: as he is an adulterer that removes his affections from his own wife, and sets them upon another woman; and she is an adulteress that loves not her husband, but places her love upon another man; so such men and women are adulterers and adulteresses, who, instead of loving God, whom they ought to love with all their hearts and souls, set their affections upon the world, and the things of it: the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions, leave out the word "adulteresses": these the apostle addresses in the following manner;

know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?
that an immoderate love for the good things of the world, and a prevailing desire after the evil things of it, and a delight in the company and conversation of the men of the world, and a conformity to, and compliance with, the sinful manners and customs of the world, are so many declarations of war with God, and acts of hostility upon him; and show the enmity of the mind against him, and must be highly displeasing to him, and resented by him:

whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of
God;
whoever is in league with the one must be an enemy to the other; God and mammon cannot be loved and served by the same persons, at the same time; the one will be loved, and the other hated; the one will be attended to, and the other neglected: this may be known both from reason and from Scripture, particularly from ( Matthew 6:24 ) .

Jakobus 4:4 In-Context

2 Ihr seid begierig, und erlanget's damit nicht; ihr hasset und neidet, und gewinnt damit nichts; ihr streitet und krieget. Ihr habt nicht, darum daß ihr nicht bittet;

3 ihr bittet, und nehmet nicht, darum daß ihr übel bittet, nämlich dahin, daß ihr's mit euren Wollüsten verzehrt.

4 Ihr Ehebrecher und Ehebrecherinnen, wisset ihr nicht, daß der Welt Freundschaft Gottes Feindschaft ist? Wer der Welt Freund sein will, der wird Gottes Feind sein.

5 Oder lasset ihr euch dünken, die Schrift sage umsonst: Der Geist, der in euch wohnt, begehrt und eifert?

6 Er gibt aber desto reichlicher Gnade. Darum sagt sie: "Gott widersteht den Hoffärtigen, aber den Demütigen gibt er Gnade."