The Epistle of James, Part 5
What does it mean to be “a friend of the world” and therefore an enemy of God? Big questions like that arise from our passage this week, so let’s listen to what the Spirit is saying to us as we continue on in James’ letter.
St. James the Apostle, In the Archbasilica of St. John
This week’s passage has several tricky points. What does James mean when he talks about friendship with the world and enmity with God? What does this have to do with how we relate to people who aren’t Christians? Or have a look at verse 5: There are two different ways to translate this verse, and below I give two versions as examples. Is the “spirit” in verse 5 the spirit within us that is envious and sinful, or is it God being jealous for our souls? Scripture is both simple and complex. We don’t need to fear it being wrong. All scripture is God-breathed, but it doesn’t mean that we don’t wrestle with interpreting it.
Anchor Texts:
I encourage you to read both translations of the main passage in James this week, as there are some differences to explore:
Questions to Ponder:
Re-read verse 5 in the above translations. Do translation difficulties like v. 5 trouble you? We can still trust the scriptures, regardless of translation difficulties, but how would you explain this to someone who thinks we must choose just one, or must we choose one?
How would you define “friend of the world” (verse 4)? Does your definition fit with the context that James is speaking in here?
How should we define and differentiate between desires? Not all our selfish desires lead us to murder and bitter jealousy but does that mean they don’t matter as much? How do we know what good desires are?
Read James 4:11-12 again. Ponder the ways that these commands flow out of what has come before in James’ letter. How does judging here fit with the concepts of being “judgmental” in our contemporary culture?
The Theme in Song:
The contrast of choosing the world versus God is expressed in the classic hymn. While the melody may be new to most of you, the words carry the same promise that choosing God over the world is better in every way. The length and breadth and height and depth of the love of God far exceeds any worldly pleasures we are offered.
The Theme in Art:
It may be easy to miss that James points to the inner war raging inside these influential people in the churches. He said their members are at war within them. This can be taken to mean either the components of who we are as individuals that are at war inside us (Romans 7) and also that within the church we are members and conflicting with each other because of warped desires. I think both are valid. This scratchboard artwork by a young grade 7 student from the UK expresses the “inner turmoil” that exists within any one of us, and I thought it was of remarkable quality for someone so young.
by Brittany Treaster
Grade 7
Lakenheath MS
Category: Scratchboard