College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
James 4:1-3
SELFISH PLEASURE A SOURCE OF TROUBLE
Text 4:1-3
Whence come wars, and whence come fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your pleasures that war in your members?
Ye lust, and have not: ye kill and covet, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war; ye have not, because ye ask not.
Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it in your pleasures.
Queries
274.
Are these three verses addressed to nations that go to war, or to individual people like you and me? How do you know?
275.
What is the difference between wars and fightings?
276.
How could it be said that individuals have wars?
277.
How do you know that the first wars spoken of here are among Christians?
278.
Are these members of a person's body, as his arms, legs, lips, etc. or do they refer to members of the spiritual body, the church? Why?
279.
What kind of pleasures in verse one?
280.
The second war reference in verse one refers to what?
281.
Lust of James 4:2 refers to what in verse one?
282.
Do you think this kill refers to actual murder? Must it?
283.
The word covet is not the ordinary Greek word for covet. This word has a second meaning. to be jealous. How could the word jealous fit in where covet is? (Remember the comments of James 3:14).
284.
Does James 4:2 indicate that people who covet, fight and war would have what they want if they would ask for what they want while they covet, fight and war?
285.
Of whom do we ask in James 4:2? (Be careful - think of who really has what we want).
286.
How can James 4:2-3 be true when obviously many people have a great abundance of what this world wants and they didn-'t ask for it?
287.
What is the wrong manner of asking (praying) that is referred to in James 4:3?
288.
Are there other ways of asking amiss? If so what are some of them?
289.
How can we reconcile the fact that James says ye ask not in James 4:2, and ye ask in James 4:3? Is he not speaking to the same people in both verses? Then how can the same people both ask and ask not?
290.
What do you think amiss means? Would you be willing to change your mind if you found out it really meant something else?
291.
Does spend it refer only to money? How could it refer to anything, even a wife, or a husband?
292.
The word pleasures in James 4:3 is important in understanding what is amiss. How does this furnish an answer to number 284?
Paraphrases
A. James 4:1
What causes constant contention and continual battle between different factions of the church of God? Are these not caused by your spirits being in submission to the sensual pleasures within your own bodies?
2.
Your abnormal earthly jealousies drive you to destroy your brother. You want what he has, and being unable to get it, you make yourself his enemy; when the real reason you are unable to obtain is because you haven-'t asked God for it.
3.
And even if you have asked God for it, you still do not get it because you want it for the wrong purpose. Instead of wanting to be a better servant of God you are seeking only a more complete fleshly satisfaction.
B.*James 4:1
What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Isn-'t it because there is a whole army of evil desires within you?
2.
You want what you don-'t have so you kill to get it. You long for what others have, and can-'t afford it, so you start a fight to take it away from them. And yet the reason you don-'t have what you want is because you don-'t ask God for it.
3.
And when you do ask you don-'t get it because your whole aim is wrong - you want only what will give you pleasure.
Summary
The continual fighting within the church comes from your unsatisfied fleshly desires. These drive you to fighting your brother instead of serving your Lord.
Comment
Some people may assume that the wars referred to in verse one are literal, in that Christians actually take sides and arm themselves with lethal weapons and have gang fights in which they kill one another. This type of fleshly murder and literal warfare with lethal weapons would not only have brought the civil authorities immediately into the conflict (murder was against the civil law then, even as now), but does not fit the context of the bickering and feuding church described in the book. When James 4:1 is read within the context of the entire epistle, it is much more likely that the weapons of this warfare are the tongues of the saints and that which is killed is the spirit, peace, and souls of the saints.
Some may feel that referring to these tongue battles as war, and to these soul murders as kill is overly harsh; but in view of the true value of the human soul and the complete destruction of the grace of fellowship, war and kill might even seem too mild! In the eyes of God Himself, is not soul murder just as horrible as physical murder? Is not the destruction of the church a destruction of the most valuable kingdom this world has ever seen? Is not the entire Christian walk described as a continual war, and the individual saints, the soldiers of the cross, armed with spiritual armor? If this is true of the church's warfare with the forces of evil; it is certainly not too harsh for the Spirit to refer to this self-destruction between factions of the church as war within the church.
James-' real concern is to find the source of the trouble. The trouble within the church is quite obvious to the church that has this kind of trouble. James is not addressing a group of the Zealots among the Jews who wish to arm themselves against Rome. He is still speaking to my brethren who are having real trouble through the misuse of this little member called the tongue. Among you locates the war.
Although James has already spent half a chapter on the terrible destructive power of the tongue, it is obvious that the blame for the action cannot be placed upon the tongue itself. The tongue is only the weapon. What causes a Christian to use his tongue as a weapon against his brother? What is the real source of this warfare that ought not to be?
The Christians who are engaged in this ignoble battle will desire to place the blame on their brother who is now their enemy. James-' answer to the question will not be popular with those engaged in this tongue-slaughter who have no desire to repent. Whom a person will blame for his shortcomings is often very revealing of the character of that individual.
Honesty in facing one's sin is also assumed in this portion. Not only should a person admit the right source for his wrong-doing, but he should be honest in facing the enormity of the trouble. This is hard for a man to do. It makes one guilty and in need of God's grace. It robs one of pride in his own ability to be right. It drives one to remorse and repentance.
James does not pull any punches when he answers the question. Even though the question, as he stated it, is thought to be too harsh by some; his answer in the original language is harsher yet! Perhaps this is the real trouble with facing the issue. We do not like to admit the hedonic lusts he so vividly described so we would rather attribute the entire problem to a people away from the church, or at least far removed from ourselves to-day. And what is the answer?
Come they not hence, even of your pleasures that war in your members? The word pleasures here has a metonymical usage representing lusts. The word is used in an evil sense (here) and is very much like the lusts of James 1:14 that brings forth sin and death. These pleasures are really evil desires for gratification of the flesh. This is the word from which we get our hedonite, one who lives for pleasure.
This sinful and pleasureable desire is not a thing of the moment, nor a short-lived passing fancy. Rather this speaks of selfishness for the sake of the flesh; of wantonness in tramping over the rights of others while pleasing the self; of lasciviousness in revelling in the sensual appetites. It is a long-time revelled lust indulged at the expense of the brother's soul. Peace within the church and even the very existence of the local congregation must give way to the satisfaction of these inordinate desires.
Yet the devil is so clever with his deception that the warring church members do not readily see the true cause. Pointing accusing fingers and accusing tongues at one another they conveniently shrug off the blame and blind themselves to their own miserable state. Glibly they state: God hates division, while they proceed with wanton murder within the church.
And where do these pleasures war? In your members, states James. but in what members? Some would say within the members of the church; i.e. that one member has a sensual desire but fulfillment is barred by another member; and thus differences in sensual desires cause the church members to war with one another.
A far more likely interpretation is that these pleasures reside within the members of an individual, within one particular physical body. The tongue is described as a world of iniquity among our members. which defileth the whole body. (James 3:6). Even so these lustful pleasures reside within the inner man.
If this second interpretation be correct, then the pleasures that war in your members explain the situation. Within the individual it is the pleasures that drive and attack again and again, forcing the tongue into its fiery defilement, and forcing the other members of the body into creating strife within the church. Thus, the second war in James 4:1 refers to the war within the individual caused by pleasures within him.
There is no peace with the brethren because there is no peace within the individuals. There is conflict within the church because of the warring pleasure within the inner man. The peace that passeth all understanding is drowned out by evil desires to please the fleshly appetites, and so that which is within the individual causes that which is without the individual.
In verse two James uses another word for strong desires to appease the fleshly appetites; lust. (See comments on James 1:14). Lust here is used in the evil sense, as in James 1:14. There seems to be a progressive sense in these first two verses. From living for pleasure to inordinate desire (lust), and on to kill seems to have a parallel in coveting, then fighting, and finally war! (Westcott-Hort, margin).
The word for covet can be translated either bitter jealousy (James 3:14; Acts 17:5); or simply to desire earnestly (1 Corinthians 12:31). In the context of contention and evil here would favour jealousy as the proper usage.
The object of the desire as well as the purpose seem to indicate its good or evil sense. The better gifts of 1 Corinthians 12 are spiritual in that they are for purposes of edification and instruction, whereas the object of this James 4 coveting is evidently the satisfaction of the hedonic pleasures at war within the members of the body. Yet even the noble gift of God can be used for the wrong purpose and be turned into selfish edification (see 1 Corinthians 14:4 a). Both what a man longs for, and for what purpose he longs have to do with the quality of the longing. So James indicates in James 4:3.
It is interesting to note that these who lust and fight with bitter jealousy do not obtain. It would seem that such frantic and bitter zeal would accomplish the purpose of sensuous satisfaction, but not so! It is the nature of the senses within our members that when overly indulged and gratified, the body becomes fat with indulgence, yet hungrier than ever. The more a man eats, the greater his appetite. This is also true of the sex appetite, or of most of the other instinctive desires when they are pursued by a hedonite.
Solomon was probably the most notable example of this truth in the Old Testament. He had the wealth and position to gratify all his sensuous desires; and he held back on nothing his heart desired. After a lifetime of gratification, he declared it was all useless, futile, unfulfilled; All was vanity and vexation of spirit.
A lust that can never be satisfied is born of indulgence. Let the young man and woman realize this when they are tempted to indulge in a necking party. Let the man realize this when he begins to make frequent visits to the beer parlor. Let Mr. and Mrs. Overweight realize this when they approach the dinner table! Real satisfaction is only possible within the limits of self-control.
The asking of James 4:3 is in a reflexive sense (middle voice). This means the action is turned towards oneself. Thus one might say, since you want for yourself you do not pray for the kind of things the heavenly Father will give, so you are not willing to ask Him for it; and you do not receive it. And even if you do ask Him for it you do not receive it, because you ask it for yourself.
Successful prayer life has a great portion in the Saint getting what his heart desires, or should desire. If he does not desire what is good for him (i.e. what God wants for him) then he will not pray for it. Not praying for it he does not receive it. Who can determine the extent of spiritual blessings ready for the saint if he would but seek them? And what sense it makes to seek these blessings from the source. Every good gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights. To desire to succeed in spiritual matters is not enough. To work for success, good as it is, is not enough. Desire and work should be coupled with prayer. And this prayer should be for the right cause. the cause of Christ. When we realize that God has the blessings, and that God has the knowledge; we also realize that God knows what is best under all circumstances. With the justice, mercy, and love of God in mind, we ask that His will be done above all that we might think or desire. Our personal desires may be expressed, but with the understood condition (which may often be expressed) that if our desires are contrary to God's desires, He knows what is the better of the two, and His will we really want. If we really mean it, we want His will to be done even at personal inconvenience, or suffering, or a shortening of physical life itself! Not to pray with this understanding (in the name of or for the sake of) is to pray amiss; and we often do not get what we want because we want the wrong thing, or we want for the wrong purpose.
James expression (that ye may spend it in your pleasures) goes beyond the wrong purpose expressed above. The word for spend has the idea of excess, or waste. In Luke 15:14 the prodigal son spent all. Thus we ask of God with the unspoken desire to exhaust it upon our own fleshly pleasures. The initial selfish purpose balloons, which is the nature of selfishness. A man may pray for money, but the selfish purpose involved in his seeking expands so that even should he receive it, he is then unwilling to share and would resent even an unselfish token in the use of the money.