James Chapter Four, The Holy Spirit's Jealousy

 

James 4:1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? [2] You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. [3] You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

 

It is extremely sobering to remember that James is addressing fellow Christians. This portion of his epistle is not directed at unbelievers, but fellow saints. The same passions that inspire and conspire within us remain, subdued by the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence but always lusting against Him, Galatians 5:17. There seems to be the flavor of hedonism here. Twice James says the believers that his accusations are leveled against sacrifice all for the desire to gratify sensual pleasure. Now I don’t mean sensual in the purely sexual way, though that may also apply. What I mean is just that: sensual, or derived from the senses and the lure we are ensnared by when we follow them.

The apostle covered this ground more succinctly in James 1:13-15, but expands the scope of what he initially meant by temptation. Our desires originate internally; external stimuli would have no impact on us if something within didn’t stir when we beheld it. Our sin nature compels us to rebel against the sanctification of the Spirit, which, if pursued, leads to sin. When desire overrules our intellect, our wisdom, and the leading of the Holy Spirit, the results will always be disastrous. James tells us “you lust and do not have,” and so we murder, covet, fight and war to obtain. These Christians have fallen into a severely carnal state; they are worldly and behave no differently than the unsaved. In fact I posit that they are worse since they can see clearly that what they pursue is wrong, but rather than suffer conviction, guilt, and repentance, they pursue it regardless. To the Christian Paul says, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” Romans 8:32. But a wise Father knows when to say “no.” So when we ask and do not receive, one reason cited here is so that we cannot feed the lust that will separate us from our God, Isaiah 59:1, 2.

 

James 4:4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. [5] Or do you think the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in you yearns jealously”?

 

Saints conducting themselves in this manner are regarded as spiritual adulterers since we as Christians are already betrothed to Christ, 1 Corinthians 11:2. James and Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, reached the same conclusion about God’s jealousy for His people. God is jealous for His people; as a wise Father He wants only what is best for us, and being perfect in judgment, knows what is beneficial and what is injurious. We read from Hosea: “Bring charges against your mother, bring charges; for she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband! Let her put away her harlotries from her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts,” Hosea 2:2. Later in that same chapter and with a convicting anguish that should make us all ashamed it is written, “She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry, and went after her lovers; but Me she forgot,” says the Lord,” Hosea 2:13. Our actions can grieve God the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 4:30. And why not? What good parent, who sees their child running into a flood of dissipation, wouldn’t grieve for them?

 

John cautions his readers, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him,” 1 John 2:15. Why is that? “The whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one,” 1 John 5:19. That is, not the earth itself, but the cultures and kingdoms that inhabit it. When Satan tempted Jesus, he offered our Lord rule over all the kingdoms of the world. “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish,” Luke 4:6. When we turn our backs on God for the allure the world offers we have joined hands, knowingly or otherwise, with the enemy. That is why James states that friendship with the world creates enmity with God. To be worldly is to give in to our carnal nature. “To be carnally minded is death…because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God,” Romans 8:6-8.

 

Once more Paul and James reflect one another’s thoughts and utilize the word “enmity” when dealing with Christians who have succumbed to carnality. The word, defined by Oxford, just means, “hostility.” Insert that definition into the verses for effect. Friendship with the world is tantamount to declaring one’s hostility toward God. The carnal mind, Paul informs us, is hostile toward God. The worldly saint wants whatever his lust dictates and is driven from desire to desire like a ship tossed in a tempest. We’re no longer anchored to the Rock that sustains and supports us. We should heed the counsel God graciously offered to Cain long ago: “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it,” Genesis 4:7.

 

Verse 5, while appearing to be a quote from elsewhere in Scripture, seems instead to be a summary of God’s thoughts and intentions toward those who are called by His name. The term “Scripture” here may refer to references in the Old Testament when God declares His jealousy for Israel, His earthly people. They were His elect vessel, through which He revealed Himself to them, and through them to the world. Gentiles could approach the living God through the mediation of Israel and its priesthood by being adopted into it. The Jews were given a profound blessing, being the vehicle of God’s revelatory purposes for hundreds of years. It is worth considering that prior to God taking for Himself a people, the word “jealous” didn’t appear in Scripture until the giving of the Law and Israel’s covenant with Yahweh, Exodus 20:5. It appears to be a term intimately associated with God’s name and His people’s conduct beneath its banner. “(For you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God,)” Exodus 34:14. “You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God,” Joshua 24:19. “For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their carved images,” Psalm 78:58. “Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name,” Ezekiel 39:25. “God is jealous, and the Lord avenges,” Nahum 1:2.