Get the free app for more features and content.
Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play

Friendship with the World

1Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? 2You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. 4Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5Or do you suppose that it is for nothing that the scripture says, “God yearns jealously for the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6But he gives all the more grace; therefore it says,

“God opposes the proud,

but gives grace to the humble.”

7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Warning against Judging Another

11Do not speak evil against one another, brothers and sisters. Whoever speaks evil against another or judges another, speaks evil against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. So who, then, are you to judge your neighbor?

Boasting about Tomorrow

13Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.” 14Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.” 16As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Click here to learn more.

Featured Resources

Book of James Summary: A Complete Animated Overview

Book of James Summary: A Complete Animated Over...

Watch our overview video on the book of James, which breaks down the literary...

BibleProject

Is God Sovereign over Evil? James 4:13–16

Is God Sovereign over Evil? James 4:13–16

Subscribe by email or podcast: https://www.desiringgod.org/labs/is-god-sover...

Desiring God

Paul Tripp & J. D. Greear | What Did James Mean, 'You Do Not Have, Because You Do Not Ask'?

Paul Tripp & J. D. Greear | What Did James Mean...

In this episode of TGC Q&A, Paul Tripp and J. D. Greear discuss the question,...

The Gospel Coalition

Introduction to James

Introduction to James

Amos Yong introduces James, a letter written to an immigrant diaspora, encour...

Fuller Studio

Christians Are Called to a Life of Radical Hospitality (Abson Joseph: Session Two)

Christians Are Called to a Life of Radical Hosp...

Get the complete videos and study book here: https://my.seedbed.com/product/t...

Seedbed

Overview of the Book of James

Overview of the Book of James

▶ Do you know Jesus as your Savior? https://tonyevans.org/know-jesus-christ/ ...

Tony Evans

New Testament Summary: A Complete Animated Overview

New Testament Summary: A Complete Animated Over...

Watch our overview video on the New Testament. This video breaks down the lit...

BibleProject

Your Life Is a Mist: James 4:13–16

Your Life Is a Mist: James 4:13–16

Subscribe by email or podcast: https://www.desiringgod.org/labs/your-life-is...

Desiring God

What James Teaches Christians about Life & Faith (Abson Joseph: Session One)

What James Teaches Christians about Life & Fait...

Get the complete videos and study book here: https://my.seedbed.com/product/t...

Seedbed

New Testament Letters: Historical Context

New Testament Letters: Historical Context

In the New Testament, there are 21 letters or epistles written by early Chris...

BibleProject

Explore James 4