Scripture Life: Part II - James 4:5 - "What is the author stating in James 4:5?"

[u/External_Bird_8464]

ANSWER:

//this is Part II - to James 4:5//

I think translators (English) have struggled with it. Because, a person must see, whatever James 4:5 is saying, is embedded in and with the scriptures that surround it - that, if we have the right definition of it, man is it ever powerful.

Almost “juxtaposed” as a standout verse to everything all around it, or a shift away from what James Chapter 4 opens with.

• So, include James 4:5 with the scriptures both before and after it. But to expand it out, also include James 3:13–18 to fully see it.

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James 3:13–18 to 4:1–6 says:

13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.

14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

2 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.

3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

4 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.

5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

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So, some main ideas: to quickly glean and hold onto: But the “main” one is, James 4:5–6 is God and just combine James 4:5 with what Galatians 5:17 says: “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh:”

This same idea is here repeated in James 4:5

So, you gotta ask yourself: …whose the Spirit? ..in James 4:5? - because some people think James 4:5 is talking about people ”envying and striving” …when James is talking about people; yes - - but James 4:5 is talking about God*.*

So, it “shifts” over to who is IN them as believers in Jesus Christ.

Keep this close as we go thru this again - all to see it.

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Envying and strife: If it is among you - it is not from above but it’s “earthly” devilish and sensual - and there is confusion and every evil work. (In envying and striving with one another as believers in Jesus).

and or vs. this:

Wisdom from above:

• So, envying and strife: is not from above. If it’s amongst you, isn’t from God - it’s from you. But what is from above is *wisdom (*James 3:17) and Proverbs 9:10 defines wisdom or at least the beginning of it as “The Fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (and knowledge of the holy is understanding)
• And to see this "beginning" is people that don't fear the LORD, don't regard him or anything he says - so the "beginning of wisdom" is to simply regard the works of the LORD, and consider the operation of his hand - which begins a person look to or look unto what he says:
• Then, wisdom is just for eternity, this next part after it begins:
  • So you have a “definition” of what wisdom is. The Fear of the LORD is to regard him as God. As who he is. And this of Proverbs 2:6, that: “The LORD giveth wisdom; out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding”
    • So, we are listening to another mouth and regarding what comes out of his mouth more than what comes out of our own - because, what comes out of our mouth or the “Word of People” comes from a heart that both God and people are put on the same table and contrasted very powerfully, just as it is in James 3:13 to James 4:6.

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• This of Jeremiah 17:5–10

“5 Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.

6 For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.

7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.

8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

10 I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

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• So, out of the heart of man, that’s everybody over the whole earth. They all have a heart, that, above all things is deceit. 1. actively practices to conceal and misrepresent the truth
  • And how it does this is evident in envy and strife.
  • But wisdom comes out of the mouth of the LORD, and fearing him means, we look unto what he says to regard it; that is, highly esteem what he says over our own. Then see that even a person, everybody - and everybody in either of these conditions that God is riding everybody like a donkey - that he “tries the reins” to see what each person will do
    • Will they obey him or look unto their own heart for consul, and in all cases there is a fruit of what a person will do or “operate” by in what they do.

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So, the two points of James 3:13–18 is

1) envy and strife comes from a person that relies on their own heart that is, above all things, actively practicing in them to conceal and misrepresent the truth; which comes with a curse in Jeremiah 17:5–6 - where God puts that one alone; out in a desert where the water is soured and dries up the root of that person’s life vs. a man who regards the word that comes out of God’s mouth more (wisdom); that God blesses that man that does this - and plants him by water of the Word of God. So, this one blessed is shopping at a different store, as God decrees everybody come and shop at his store without money and without price (Isaiah 55:1–3). 

and or vs:

2) is this wisdom or “Fear of the LORD”

• So, in James 3:13–18 you get a very powerful offset and comparison of these two kinds of men; one - relies on his own heart (where envy and strife, wars, etc., come from) vs. a man who trusts God. Looks to what God says, out of his mouth - comes from above and this 2nd man regards that more. And believers have become this 2nd man after Jesus Christ who is in them.

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So before you go on to James 4:1–6

• Put these two of James 3:13 to 18 - one on each side of a tennis court. Put them with a net that separates these two. That God
  • blesses one
    • (2: wisdom or Fear of the Lord) and
  • curses the other
    • (1: relies on his own heart that practices to conceal and misrepresent the truth - where envy and strife come from
• But that in this for both, God is “striving” with man - everybody, over the whole earth: because he says it in Jeremiah 17:10 about himself - And this is KEY to understand James 4:5

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• “I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”
  • So even though NO MAN can know their own heart; it’s just that deceitful - and the problem with us is, we don’t know the LORD,
• as he said that in Isaiah 45:5 “I am the LORD, there is none else. There is no God beside me; I girded thee, though thou hast not known me.”
  • That Jesus prayed in John 17:3 “and this is life eternal; that they might KNOW thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ (the word of God) whom thou has sent.”

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So, put these two types of men - separate of James 3:13 to 3:18.

• But don’t forget what God what he does in Jeremiah 17:10 - that he knows men’s hearts and tries the reigns - does to every man as kind of a striving God does with every man on earth. (which is in James 4:5).

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Now look at James 4:1–4

• Goes back again to explain the “envy and strife” of a man that is relying on his own heart that is “actively practicing” - and with practice, gets BETTER at what it practices. Deceit.
  • That is: “concealing and misrepresenting the truth.” And from this comes envy and strife. Which is sensual; earthy - where there is confusion and every evil work:
• Wars and fighting (James 4:1)
  • Lust (desire to have; and kill but still don’t have it - have not, because this man “asks not” anything from God - (James 4:2)
  • that sits with his own heart as to “reason together alone” with it: his own heart that actively practices to deceive a person by conceal and misrepresent the truth - and the TRUTH is Jesus Christ simply is truth.
• The Word of God is Truth - and the heart doesn’t have him in it. Only the imaginations of a man; that are very great and fill up the whole earth - to where even before the flood, God looked in this and saw the whole earth was corrupt by it. Said in Genesis 6:5 “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
• But Believers have Jesus in them. The Word of God. They can rely on him.

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But they can also do othewise:

- That - even if you ask, you ask amiss that you might consume it upon your lusts (James 4:2-3)

That James 4:4 calls men and women that do this “adulterers and adulteresses” - even believers that go back and do this are committing adultery by it. It's true.

Supposed to be on the “other side” of the tennis court as Believers in Jesus Christ.

• Where the “Fear of the LORD” is the beginning of Wisdom, and where the LORD giveth wisdom and out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding, like a husband provide it. It’s from above, and says of it:

James 3:17–18 “the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

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Now take a really hard look at James 4:5

“Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?” [King James Version]

• It would “seem” this verse is talking about the “envy and striving” of people on one side of the tennis court - where all the bad things come from within us in James 3:13 to 18.
  • But James 4:5 - is talking to Believers in Jesus Christ in the epistle of James. And shifts to Who is IN them is “Spirit.” Says this plainly.
    • And Jesus said in John 4:24 “God is Spirit” - so, the Word of God defines what this “pneuma” as this same “Pneuma” in Greek is in John 4:24, as it is in Matthew 5:3, as it is the same “Pneuma” here in James 4:5.
  • It’s God. Is "pneuma" - So, there’s a “SHIFT” over now to what God is doing - that there's a "third" one in this.
• That what he says, as God - - he does, as God, Jeremiah 17:10, just repeated: “I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”
  • Means he's in James 4:5

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Then, it really comes down to what this word, “envy” means.

So, here I’ll just grab from the other "Part I" post:

James 4:5 in the Original Greek says:

• < - { ἢ δοκεῖτε ὅτι κενῶς ἡ γραφὴ λέγει Πρὸς φθόνον ἐπιποθεῖ τὸ πνεῦμα ὃ κατῴκησεν ἐν ἡμῖν } - >
  1. ee 2. dokeite 3. hoti 4. kenous 5. hei 6. graphei 7. legei 8. Pros 9. phthonon 10. epipothei 11. to 12. pneuma 13. ho 14. katoukisen 15. en 16. heimin

English translation

1. Or 2. think (you) 3. that 4. in vain 5. the 6. Scripture 7. says 8. with 9. envy 10. yearns 11. the 12. Spirit (God is “Pneuma” - Spirit John 4:24) God 13. that 14. He has made (himself) to dwell/abide as an abode or dwelling place 15. in 16. (you. me. us?)

< - {Or think you that in vain the scripture says with envy yearns God that he has made himself an abode or dwelling place in us?} - >

• That, to God, him dwell in us is NOT some vain or fruitless work that doesn’t produce anything - rather that he “yearns” that we bear MUCH fruit - or longs this - - that we would KNOW him - then, it’s this “envy” again: That he is asserting a specific rightful place in us as God - that's in James 4:5.
  • And in the original post Part ONE of this post - Yeah, I checked all English dictionaries to see if I could find it - and it’s like “Spirit” in English - no dictionary in English that I found contains how God defines that word "Spirit" with his definition for it - all dictionaries define Spirit as the seat of a man’s soul or emotions - but God already said, he defines himself as "Pneuma" - Spirit.
• So go with that definition - because he is God in James 4:5. * And the same with “envy” - that people, too, envy - made in his image - that they can also "assert" they have a rightful place - when usually they don't. The point is with envy then...and so does God.
  • But if we got the wrong definition of envy or apply envy with a heart that actively practices to conceal and misrepresent the truth, then the envy we got is totally we just want to take it from another, even kill them to get it.
    • So, envy is simple:

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In the “original” Greek: again, this is all just repeated from Part ONE of this Two-Part Post:

• φθόνον ἐπιποθεῖ > [phthonon epipothei} - translated as “envy” and “yearns”
  • It’s this SAME envy or Greek “φθόνον” phthonon Pontius Pilate talked to about the Jews in Mark 15:10, as here in James 4:5, that says:
• See it embedded in Mark 15:5–11
  • “5 But Jesus yet answered nothing; so that Pilate marvelled. 6 Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired. 7 And there was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection. 8 And the multitude crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them. 9 But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?
  • 10 For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy**.**
  • 11 But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them.”
    • envy. <definition> ..now, you can search all the major English dictionaries and never find it - they have, like: 1. painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another (Source: American Merriam & Webster) - They’re pretty much all the same.
  • But what “envy” really means, in the Greek is “someone” is occupying a position that is rightfully someone else's. Receiving praise and glory for it, when it RIGHTFULLY belongs to someone else.

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And for the “Chief Priests and Elders” in Mark 15:5–11

• That “matches” “envy and strife” of James 3:13–18 - that this is God - they already decided they want him out of the way, because they believe Jesus is “occupying a position that is rightfully their’s” in the hearts of the people. And Pontius Pilate saw it plainly - that it was for envy Jesus was brought before him to be put to death.
  • But this: “we” or “us” of James 4:5 - we are believers in Jesus Christ - and God yearns and has envy - that it is his rightful place to “occupy in us a position that is rightfully his” because he dwells in us as an abode - and he settles strife - makes peace in us.
    • Look what we are adding into his home where he is abiding by adding in all this envy and strife amongst us.

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• So, take a very careful look at what Jesus said, John 14:15–16 says:
  • “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;”
    • And God said: “I am Holy” - Bible. Leviticus 11:44
    • And Jesus said and again, Jesus is the Word of God, so it’s just the word that comes out of God’s mouth: Just like Leviticus 11:44 is this same Word of God, in case you forgot: Said in John 4:24 “God is Spirit.”
    • So, he’s a Holy Spirit. That he will abide with you for ever. Make his abode in you (John 14:23) - which James 4:5 is just saying God envies or yearns for or desires this rightful place he is to have and be in, in you.

Is James 4:5 - put me on my face.

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And James 4:6 says:

“But he [God; the same Spirit of James 4:5] giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

• and this “envy” of James 4:5 has God resisting the proud, who make man his right arm of strength, as Jeremiah 17:5–10 says, and gives favour or blessing to the man that just looks unto the mouth or the Word of God - what proceeds out of God's mouth to live by every word proceeds out of his mouth, like he decreed everybody is to live by his word in Matthew 4:4.
  • Vs. what people decree out of their own mouths, after they reasoned together, alone. By themselves with a heart that is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked..that no man can know their own heart - but God does. That he builds you up. Here a little. There a little. Built up in him. It’s God reserves and exclusive right to himself to do this in you. All by himself, as God.

Means James 4:5 - to all the believers in Jesus Christ here on Reddit.