James Chapter 4

vs 10

Instead of boasting about all our sinful desires which separate us from God, we should realise our deficiency and be humble before God. There really is nobody who can be boastful and proud before God. We are to make ourselves low before God, and let him exalt us. Yes, we are children of God! Yes, we are worthy in his site to receive salvation! But everything that we are and have comes from God. And he will exalt us, he will boast about us, he will raise us up - so we don't have to.

vs 11

Speaking against someone doesn't just mean saying something bad about them. The word used is katalaleo, which means to incriminate or traduce. Katalalos means an evil or defaming speaker. So speaking against your fellow Christian isn't just calling them names - it is producing a very serious accusation against either their actions or their character. I am actually considering that these terms are of a legal bent, and that James is saying here that we shouldn't call each other before a court, much like Paul's attitude in I Corinthians. When we make judgements about a Christian's character or actions (assuming that they are living by the "faith visible through works" model that James has already supplied) then we are actually judging God's law which they are abiding by. What a terrible situation, to have Christians judging other Christians for abiding by the law of God? Because when you have a negative opinion of someone because they are following God's law, then you are not keeping God's law, but you are judging his law! You are saying "I don't agree with God's law at this point, and so therefore God must be wrong."

But if they aren't living by the law of God, then I don't think this applies. Not that I think you can go and slander them! But if a Christian really has been negligent in their character or actions, then we might have to report them to some sort of criminal investigation.

vs 12

Thank God that we don't have the power over heaven and hell, because if we did, then a lot of people who act Christian outwardly but are really empty inside would get to heaven, and a lot of people who love Christ but don't act the way we do would perhaps only just scrape in, and there'd be a bunch of people we didn't even know were Christians going to hell.

So we should not put ourselves in a place of judgement. We should fulfil our responsibilities as lawful citizens in reporting criminal activity.

vs 13

This is a fairly typical thing that we would say. I make plans about what I'm going to do all the time.

vs 14

But James says "How can you be sure of any of your plans? How can you be sure there will be a tomorrow, for you or for anyone?" And he's right, we can't be sure. We are like a mist - no one knows how long a mist is going to hang around for. Ok, meteorologists might have an idea, but they're still wrong sometimes. The point being that we're not just like a mist, but even if we survive till we're 102, we're still a bump on a grain of sand in the big egg timer of history.

vs 15

Now this verse created an entire movement for many hundreds of years who would constantly attach the term "DV" to anything and everything they said. There's nothing wrong with that. The problem, of course, is that no-one knows what DV means anymore! I mean I know, and anyone else who walks in Christian circles will probably know, and in reference to this passage you know now. But Do you know what it actually stands for? See if you know before you look it up. I had to look it up.

The point being that if we're going to walk around saying "DV" - some secret little code only understood by Christians - then we may as well not say it at all. And you'll find that when you preface or postface everything you say with it, it also gets meaningless and somewhat annoying too.

But what does the verse actually mean? In the context of verse 13 and of verse 16, I think you'll realise that this is talking about boasting about doing things and gaining things. So don't boast! "Oh, I'm going to go and sell a boat and make my next million dollars." Who cares? And it's not just about making money either. People do it with everything, including Christian mission! "Oh, I'm going to get 100 converts at my next evangelistic crusade." (You know, I can't help but waggle my head in derision even as I type these sentences). Now there is a difference between telling people what you've actually been able to accomplish for God, for the sake of prayer and the encouragement of your fellow Christians. But boasting about what is essentially God's doing is just stupid.

vs 16

Not just stupid, but evil. Certainly it shows a complete derision for the work of God.

vs 17

The NIV leaves out what I think is an important clause here. Now you can still get the gist of it from the NIV, and they probably took it out because it's repetitive. But I think it makes it clearer to leave it in. They left out that "to him it is sin". The idea being that if you know the right thing to do, and you don't do it, then it is sin for you not to have done it. That doesn't necessarily make it sin for other people not to have done it. You are culpable because of your knowledge. And having read this far in James, you're now pretty hella-cuplable.