The words “adulterers and” of the Authorized Version are not genuine,
occurring in late documents. The sudden outburst of “ye adulteresses,”
“wanton creatures” (Moffatt), leaves one in doubt whether James is
singling out one special form of sin so common in the world (Hort) or is
using the word in the figurative sense (Mayor) so frequent in the Old
Testament for the sin of idolatry (cf. Psalm 73:27; Ezek. 23:27; Hos.
2:2; Isa. 57). Jesus denounced his age in Palestine as “an evil and
adulterous generation” (Matt. 12:39). It will make good sense with
either interpretation.
Oesterley argues that “the depraved state of morals to which the whole
section bears witness must, in part at least, have been due to the
wickedness and co-operation of the women, so that there is nothing
strange in their being specifically mentioned in connection with that
form of sin with which they would be more particularly associated.” Such
a sin ought not, to be sure, to be found among Christians, but 1
Corinthians 5 shows how early it appeared in the church in Corinth, a
peculiarly licentious city.
The pressure of the easygoing, laissez-faire life of the world on this
point is hard upon true Christians in all the ages. It is not merely
that a double standard of morals is claimed by men of the world for
themselves, though denied to their own wives, but they are aggressive
against the virtue of the daughters and wives of other men. This agelong
evil is condoned even by women of the world who are clean themselves, in
a blind surrender to the fact that men seem to be hopelessly evil.
If the word “adulteresses” is here taken literally, as is probable,
James makes a bold appeal to women of pleasure to cease from sin and to
let God rule in their lives. It is surely worthwhile to make such an
appeal even to those who seem to be hopelessly abandoned to the evil
world. But it is pre-eminently worthwhile to seek to warn, and to
prevent from ruin, the young men and women of our day. “Know ye not,”
says James with heat, “that the friendship of the world is enmity with
God?” Pastors sometimes find men and women living in adultery and
complacently keeping up their church connections. James means to show
the utter inconsistency of such a course of conduct.
But if “adulteresses” is taken in the figurative sense, there is still
the friendship of the world that is enmity with God. The friendship of
the world is preferred to that of God. “World”[87] here is not the earth
with all its beauty and charm (God’s world made by him; cf. Psalm 19),
nor mankind, for whom Christ died (John 3:16), but that world of selfish
pleasure and sin out of which Christ called his disciples and which in
turn hated them as it hated Christ (John 15:18 ff.). This world will
only love as a familiar friend those who cater to its ideals and
standards, who condone its slackness of morals and neglect of God.
This cleavage between the wayward, wicked world and the kingdom of God
is a fact of the utmost significance (John 17:15 ff.). The Christian has
to learn the secret of living in such a worldly atmosphere without being
contaminated by it. One does not wish to be considered a religious crank
and queer. He desires to have influence with his friends and business
acquaintances. But one cannot be a “hail fellow well met” in sin and
every form of worldly indulgence and retain his influence for God. The
time comes when a choice must be made between friends, for that sort of
life in the world becomes incompatible with friendship with God. One
must make his choice. “If any man love the world, the love of the Father
is not in him” (1 John 2:15). One cannot run with the hare and the
hounds. The devil makes no objection to such a double life of hypocrisy,
but God does. God is gracious and forgiving to sinners who repent but
has no mercy for presumptuous sinners who defy his kindness and keep in
touch with the devil and his circles of evil.
The word “enmity” is the term for personal hostility. Preference for sin
constitutes a personal offense toward God, who can have no rival, any
more than a true wife can suffer a rival in the affections of her
husband. “The mind of the flesh is enmity against God” (Rom. 8:7). One
must make his choice. “No man can serve two masters: for either he will
hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and
despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matt. 6:24). Plummer
argues clearly that James does not condemn the scientist’s love of
nature or the sociologist’s enthusiasm, which is not always shared in by
preachers as much as is desirable.
Preaching often is so given to denunciation of sin that it fails to
exalt the possibilities of the right sort of manhood. It thus repels the
very men that it wishes to attract. So far from that, love for man is
one of the main proofs of love for God (1 John 4:20). The passion for
the souls of men is the true mark of the redeemed. Paul (Titus 2:12)
urges that “denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live ...
godly in this present world” (or “age” more exactly). “Whosoever
therefore would be a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of
God,” “whoever, then, chooses to be the world’s friend turns enemy to
God” (Moffatt).
A person makes his choice as he is able to do by the exercise of his own
will and purpose. But once and finally made, he renders himself _ipso
facto_ an enemy to God. There is no help for it so long as God is really
the God of purity and righteousness. Josephus calls Poppea, the infamous
wife of Nero and proselyte to Judaism, a worshiper of God (_Ant._ xx. 8.
11), but surely such “worship” was not acceptable to God. James (2:23)
has termed Abraham “the friend of God,” but he entered into that
relation to God on terms of obedience to God as Lord. On no other terms
is friendship with God possible. It is not a question of one’s feelings
but of the actual state of affairs. “To be on terms of friendship with
the world involves living on terms of enmity with God” (Hort).
The word “friendship” does not itself occur elsewhere in the New
Testament, though it is found several times in Proverbs; but the words
“friend” and to “love as a friend” are common enough. Gildersleeve
(_Justin Martyr_, p. 135) notes that Xenophon uses the two verbs for
love as synonymous. But in the New Testament there is a distinction
drawn in John 21:15-17. The one is the “deeper” and richer word, while
the other is the “more human.”[88] Certainly one has no right to claim
intimate family relationship with God as his friend while at the same
time living in adulterous relations with the sinful world that hates
God. The “seductions of the world” (Plummer) are very real and very
many, but surrender to them is not constant with the fellowship of God.
The law of spiritual life is not always understood. Some men wonder why
they are not spiritually happy, why they do not enjoy religion. They are
living in sin with the world and yet marvel at their lack of communion
with God.