James 4:13-17

THE PRESUMPTION OF PLANNING WITHOUT GOD

Text 4:13-17

James 4:13.

Come now ye that say, to-day or to-morrow we will go into this city, and spend a year there, and trade and get gain:

14.

whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. What is your life? For ye are a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

15.

For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will we shall both live, and do this or that.

16.

But now ye glory in your vauntings; all such glorying is evil.

17.

To him therefore that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Queries

351.

Come now is an interjection used to gain attention. What interjection would you probably use to gain attention today?

352.

Comparing James 4:13 with James 5:1, what might be said about the financial status of the people addressed?

353.

Is there any evidence in the section of James 4:13-17 that shows the people addressed are rich? What?

354.

Since James used the expression today or tomorrow, do you think there was anything indefinite about when the rich would trade and get gain?

355.

If the rich were making definite plans, then why does James say today or tomorrow?

356.

What about James 4:13 shows that definite plans for the future were made?

357.

James is very indefinite in referring to these definite plans. Why?

358.

Is James condemning the making of definite plans about the future? What is he condemning?

359.

See if you can reword the question in the middle of James 4:14 to make it a statement contained in the first sentence of the verse.

360.

James says ye know not what shall be on the morrow. Is this true of all men on earth? (Or does it only apply to these rich being addressed?)

361.

What is the point of the question of James 4:14?

362.

You are a vapor. What does this mean?

363.

In James 4:15 is James indicating that these words should be repeated before making plans for the future? If not that, then what does he mean?

364.

What is the significance of if the Lord Will? (Can you expand the expression and put it into your own words?

365.

What are the vauntings? (i.e. what does the word mean?)

366.

Over what vauntings are they glorying?

367.

This vaunting is evil. Why?

368.

What does James 4:17 have to do with the argument that went before?

369.

Is James giving added information in James 4:17, or proving a point?

370.

In either case, what is the added information, or what is the point?

Paraphrases

A. James 4:13.

Come, come, now, you who plan your future trips and transactions even to the time that you shall do thus and so and even to the profit you shall make:

14.

You don-'t know a thing that shall happen to-morrow, not even whether or not you shall be alive. You are like a breath of smoke that is seen for a moment and then disappears.

15.

You make your plans this way instead of saying, If God sees fit to allow me, I shall live, and I shall do thus and so.

16.

Your plannings without God are really boasting in your arrogances: it is sin to boast against God.

17.

If you refuse to do that which you know to be right, it is sin.

B.*James 4:13.

Look here, you people who say Today or tomorrow we are going to such and such a town, stay there a year and open up a profitable business.

14.

How do you know what is going to happen tomorrow? For the length of your lives is uncertain as the morning fog; now you see it, soon it is gone.

15.

What you ought to say is If the Lord wants us to, we shall live and do this or that.

16.

Otherwise, you will be bragging about your own plans, and such self-confidence never pleases God.

17.

Remember, too, that knowing what is right to do and then not doing it is sin.

Summary

Listen, you who lay out your life without God. It is sinful and arrogant when you refuse to take God into your plans.

Comment

Come, come, now says James. In effect, you know better than this! Had he been speaking with our modern vernacular he might have said, Listen here, now! This kind of an expression was used to gain the attention of the hearer; and in this case, to get them to notice, he had begun a diatribe with the unbelieving rich. Today the expression is still quite common in the English language to separate two opposing views when given by the same speaker in a public discourse, especially when the first view is incorrect and the second is correct. Here James seems to be using it to separate his real audience from his pretended audience.

Although the admonition given to the absent rich certainly applied to them, it likewise applies equally well to any Christian. If the shoe fits, wear it. But try it on for yourself! This practice of making plans for tomorrow without considering God's will and the fact that God may have other plans is not only arrogant and presumptuous of the rich, but a sin for the Christian (James 4:16-17).

James is not concerned with any particular plan, but wishes to admonish all such planning. His today or tomorrow includes any definite plans, whether in the near future or the far future. To make such plans without taking into account the fact that God may have other plans is wrong.
The error is not confined to the unbeliever who is not present, but is a mistake often made by the Christian worker. Young men and women who plan to go to this or that mission field after so many years training should be warned not to make their plans too definite nor too inflexible. God, who holds the future, might have other plans for them. He then might open avenues of service and training that go unnoticed by the would-be missionary. The young Christian, having definite future plans of his own, counts all closed doors as obstacles which the Lord must remove before the saint can work in the field of his choice. His inflexible planning may blind him for years to the will of God and opportunities of service and he would thus bypass much work that could have been done for the cause of Christ.
The Christian who thinks he must work in this or that particular job may be committing the same sin. The church member who thinks he must spend the rest of his life in one particular locality may have planned this choice out of selfish motives rather than considering that God may reveal other plans as time passes.
God does not remove our will, but He leaves it up to our own will and intellect to seize opportunities of service which He places before us. Selfish desire and wilful planning can blind us to the will of God as effectively as any other sin. If we as Christians desire to work in another locality this desire may be so strong as to blind us to the opportunity in our own home or home town. Likewise, if we have a selfish desire to remain where we are at all costs, we may ignore all opportunities of serving the Lord that are open to us elsewhere. God grant that our wills would be so submitted to Him that we would be willing to submit ourself to His plans whatever they might be.

This unwillingness to conform to God's will can cause the Christian untold worry. The self-willed saint suspecting that God may alter his own selfish plans, will often be overly concerned with worry over losing that which is of no spiritual significance nor lasting consequence. His prayer requests will reflect his planning to be arrogant rather than being the will of God. His work will be designed to achieve these inconsequential goals rather than to fit into an overall plan of God which he may not know in advance. For this reason he become an unhappy and thwarted worrier because he makes his plans without considering that God's will may be otherwise.
James-' indefinite references show he is referring to any specific plans; thus his references are today or tomorrow (or today and tomorrow), and spend a year there, and trade, and get gain.
The fact of the matter, says James, is that you do not know what is to happen tomorrow. The question that follows: What sort (is) your life? may also be a portion of the same sentence. James could be saying: You do not know of the thing of tomorrow: what sort of life you will have. This is really a smoother reading and a likely meaning.
The question is not necessary to a proper translation. If the phrase What sort is your life? were made a separate sentence but not a question, then James might be saying, The fact of the matter is that you do not know what is to happen tomorrow. How miserable is your life! This would still be in keeping with the shortlived vapor that is described in the sentence that follows.
Whichever way the sentence is read, the meaning is consistent with the Scripture. There is no certainty of life, and we are not aware of all of God's plans for our tomorrows. These uncertainties are big ifs in our plans. God does not object to our making plans; but we should always consider the will of God, both in making our plans and in the possibility of changing our plans. The uncertainty is very vivid the way James puts it. You are a vapor.., using a metaphor (instead of a simile, You are like a vapor.).

A mist, or breath of air, vaporizes immediately and vanishes; so also is our life's span in relation to eternity. Those who are spiritually discerning realize this and plan for eternity accordingly. They plan their days as best they can, but always to His plans. Those who are earthy make their plans as if they were in complete control of tomorrows and God had nothing to do with them.
James says these plans made which ignore God are really boasting. The man who counts himself to be something when he is nothing is vaunting; and when he makes his definite plans discounting God, he is glorying in these vauntings. The fact that he is vaunting may imply that he does know better. He sins doubly. He sins in vaunting in the first place, and he sins because he knows he should honor God and he does not do so when he makes his plans. His sin is both a sin of commission and a sin of omission. Thus verse sixteen ties to verse seventeen.