This file can be printed for personal use and study. © Reachout Trust - www.reachouttrust.org
Cause and Effect (James 4:1-3)
The seventeenth century Jewish philosopher
Spinoza observed:
"I have often wondered that persons who make
boast of professing the Christian religion - namely, love, joy,
peace, temperance and charity to all men - should quarrel with such
rancorous animosity, and display daily towards one another such
bitter hatred, that this, rather than the virtues which they profess,
is the readiest criteria of their faith"
We all recognise the problem, one that is with us today, but what
is the cause of such rancour and animosity among people whose very
lives are meant to be a witness to the world of the truth of Jesus,
who said, "By this all men will know
that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another"? (Jn.13:35)
James has no hesitation in blaming "desires" (NIV); "pleasures"
(NASB); "cravings" (NRSV); "lusts" (KJV). The
word translated thus is "hedone", which simply means pleasure
but, in this context carries the negative connotation of sinful,
self-indulgent pleasure. "Hedone" is where we get the word Hedonism.
Now, there are Christians who have this section of James' letter
lead them to believe that the greatest quality of a Christian is
niceness. Nothing could be more unhelpful for a people who are challenged
to "contend for the faith" (Jude 3). There are battles worth fighting
- for truth, for souls and for the name of our Lord. James' use
of the word zeal in this letter, however, teaches us that there
is "the zeal of the Lord", which might be thought of as ardour,
and a zeal born of self-interest, which might be thought of as jealousy.
It is this last he warns us against.
It was this last, misguided, zeal that led the Sadducees to persecute
the early church (Acts 5:17); that led the Jews of Pisidian Antioch
to persecute Paul and Barnabus (Acts 13:45); and that caused Saul
of Tarsus himself to persecute the church (Philip.3:6).
The NIV translates v.2:
"What causes fights and quarrels
among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within
you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but
you can't have what you want. You quarrel and fight"
But the better translation is the NASB (see also NRSV, NEB):
"You lust and do not have; so you
commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight
and quarrel"
Here we can see more clearly the cause, lust and envy, and the effect,
violence. James goes on:
"You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive,
because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on
your pleasures (hedone)"
So long as we live in this sinful world we will have trouble, and
even in the church there will be contentions and battles to fight
in order to guard the deposit of faith. In all this Jesus has promised
to answer our prayers (Matt.7:7) But we need to ask with our hearts
set on the kingdom of heaven (Matt.6:9,10) It is well to consider
seriously James' words and examine our motives, in our witnessing,
our fellowshipping and our daily lives. Are we seeking to glorify
the Lord, edify the church, and reach the lost, or seeking our own
glory, using the church, and condemning those who, even now, God
may be saving?