James 4 (WK) - Bible Truth Library

Verse 2

Articles on

James 4

James 4:1 KJV (With Strong’s)

From whence come wars and κfightings among you? come they not hence, even of your λlusts that warp in your members?

or, brawlings.

or, pleasures

1 Peter 2:11• ¹¹Beloved, I exhort [you] as strangers and sojourners to abstain from the fleshly lusts such as war against the soul, (1 Peter 2:11)

More on:

To Lust,

War,

Wars

Cross References

Ministry on This Verse

1-3: We are to strive against covetousness;

4: intemperance;

5-10: pride;

11-12: detraction and rash judgment of others;

13-17: and not to be confident in the good success of worldly business, but mindful ever of the uncertainty of this life, to commit ourselves and all our affairs to God's providence.

whence.

James 3:14‑18• ¹⁴But if ye have bitter emulation and faction in your heart, do not boast and lie against the truth.
¹⁵This wisdom is not descending from above, but earthly, natural, demoniacal.
¹⁶For where envying and faction [are], there disorder [is] and every bad deed.
¹⁷But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, uncontentious, impartial.
¹⁸And righteousness' fruit in peace is being sown for those that make peace. (James 3:14‑18)

fightings.

or, brawlings.

come they.

James 1:14• ¹⁴But each is tempted when by his own lust drawn away and enticed; (James 1:14)

;

Gen. 4:5‑8• (Gen. 4:5‑8)

;

Jer. 17:9• (Jer. 17:9)

;

Matt. 15:19• ¹⁹{i}For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnessings, blasphemies;{/i} (Matt. 15:19)

;

Mark 7:21‑23• ²¹For from within, out of the heart of men, go forth evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,
²²thefts, covetousness, wickednesses, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:
²³all these wicked things go forth from within, and defile the man. (Mark 7:21‑23)

;

John 8:44• ⁴⁴Ye are of your father, the devil, and ye desire to practice the lusts of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and standeth not in the truth, because there is no truth in him: whenever he speaketh the lie, he speaketh out of his own things, because he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44)

;

Rom. 8:7• ⁷because the mind of the flesh [is] enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, for indeed it cannot; (Rom. 8:7)

;

1 Tim. 6:4‑10• ⁴he is puffed up, knowing nothing, but sick about questionings and word-disputes, out of which cometh envy, strife, revilings, evil suspicions,
⁵wranglings of men corrupted in mind and bereft of the truth, supposing that piety is gain.
⁶But piety with contentment is great gain.
⁷For we brought nothing into the world; because neither can we carry anything out.
⁸But having food and covering we shall be therewith satisfied.
⁹But those that wish to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and many unwise and hurtful lusts, such as sink men into destruction and perdition.
¹⁰For a root of all evils is the love of money, which some eagerly seeking were led astray from the faith and pierced themselves through with many pains. (1 Tim. 6:4‑10)

;

Titus 3:3• ³For at one time even we were foolish, disobedient, gone astray, in slavery to divers lusts and pleasures, passing time in malice and envy, abominable, hating one another. (Titus 3:3)

;

1 Peter 1:14• ¹⁴as children of obedience, not conformed to the former lusts in your ignorance, (1 Peter 1:14)

;

1 Peter 2:11• ¹¹Beloved, I exhort [you] as strangers and sojourners to abstain from the fleshly lusts such as war against the soul, (1 Peter 2:11)

;

1 Peter 4:2‑3• ²no longer to live the rest of time in flesh to men's lusts but to God's will.
³For the past time [is] sufficient to have wrought out the will of the Gentiles, walking as ye had done in lasciviousness, lusts, wine-bibbings, revels, carousings, and unhallowed idolatries; (1 Peter 4:2‑3)

;

2 Peter 2:18• ¹⁸For uttering overswellings of vanity, they allure in lusts of the flesh, by dissolutenesses, those that are just escaping from them that walk in error, (2 Peter 2:18)

;

2 Peter 3:3• ³knowing this first, that in the last of the days mockers shall come with mockery walking according to their own lusts, (2 Peter 3:3)

;

1 John 2:15‑17• ¹⁵Love not the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loveth the world, the love of the Father is not in him:
¹⁶because all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
¹⁷And the world is passing, and its lust; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. (1 John 2:15‑17)

;

Jude 16‑18• ¹⁶These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their lusts, and their mouth speaketh swelling things, admiring persons for the sake of profit.
¹⁷But ye, beloved, remember ye the words that were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,
¹⁸that they said to you, In [the] end of the time shall be mockers walking after their own lusts of ungodliness. (Jude 16‑18)

lusts.

or, pleasures.

James 4:3• ³ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend [it] in your pleasures. (James 4:3)

in.

Rom. 7:5,23• ⁵For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sins that [were] by the law wrought in our members bringing forth fruit to death;
²³but I see a different law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members. (Rom. 7:5,23)

;

Gal. 5:17• ¹⁷For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these things are opposed one to another, that ye should not do those things which ye would; (Gal. 5:17)

;

Col. 3:5• ⁵Put to death therefore your members that [are] on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry; (Col. 3:5)

• In all that follows (ch. 4) we have still the judgment of unbridled nature, of will in its different forms. (“James 4” by J.N. Darby)

• To gratify lust, the flesh is prepared to kill and fight. In a literal sense, this is true of the world and its wars. In a moral sense, if we are bent on carrying out our own wills, the flesh will ruthlessly belittle and override everyone that hinders the fulfillment of our desires. (“The Evil of the Flesh: James 3-4” by H. Smith)

J. N. Darby Translation

Whence come wars and whence fightings among you? Is it not thence,—from your pleasuresg, which war in your members?

JND Translation Notes

Lit. "pleasures," not "lusts"; there is an additional idea, the satisfaction the heart feels in satisfying, or rather gratifying, lust. see Tit. 3.3.

W. Kelly Translation

Whence [are] wars and whence fightings among you? [Are they] not hence, from your pleasuresa that combat in your members?

WK Translation Notes

The RV has the more vigorous, critical text, but hardly in as terse English as is desirable. The margin of the KJV is right in giving "pleasures."