“Or think ye?” says James, as the alternative. Either the friendship of
the world is enmity with God or you think “that the scripture speaketh
in vain.” “What, do you consider this an idle word of Scripture?”
(Moffatt). This rhetorical question expects an indignant denial.
Therefore, the argument holds that the friendship of the world is enmity
with God. But what is the Scripture? Is it only the passage in verse 6
that is referred to? The punctuation of the Revised Version allows that.
We have two questions before the one quotation. But it may be that the
general sense of Scripture is meant by the first question. Usually “the
Scripture” occurs before a direct quotation, as in Romans 4:3.
Some would take the rest of verse 5 after the first question as a
quotation, although no such quotation occurs in the Old Testament. The
general sense appears in various parts of the Old Testament, as in
Exodus 20:5: “I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God.” Compare Isaiah
63:8-16; Zechariah 8:2. Oesterley even sees a direct allusion to
Galatians 5:17, 21; Romans 8:6, 8; 1 Corinthians 3:16, and an argument
for the late date of the Epistle of James. But this is forcing the
matter rather stiffly. The New Testament writers seem to have used
chains of quotations (catenae) as, for instance, in Romans 3:10-18. Paul
probably makes a free paraphrase of Isaiah 64:4 in 1 Corinthians 2:9,
and of Isaiah 60:1-2 in Ephesians 5:14. Either this is what is done
here, or James is already referring to verse 6, a quotation from
Proverbs 3:34.
It is not necessary to take the second sentence in verse 5 as a
question. We may follow the margin: “The spirit which he made to dwell
in us he yearneth for even unto jealous envy,” or “with jealousy doth He
yearn after the spirit which he causeth to dwell in us” (Hort), or “He
yearns jealously for the spirit he set within us” (Moffatt). In one case
(the question) we take “the Spirit” as a subject and as the Holy Spirit.
In the other case (the affirmation) we take “spirit” as object and as
our redeemed spirit planted in us by God (cf. Rom. 8:4-16 for both
ideas). In either rendering it is the Spirit of God (cf. Rom. 8:9) who
dwells in us and helps us strive against the evil forces of the world in
our own hearts.
God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts (Gal. 4:6), who
helps us in the fight with the flesh (Gal. 5:16-26). It is the doctrine
of the indwelling Spirit of God, a very precious doctrine in the New
Testament (John 7:39; 16:7; Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 3:16; Gal. 4:6; Eph. 3:17;
4:30). The Spirit of God has made his home in us. This is our glory and
our hope.
The word for “yearn” is a very strong one. It is the verb in Psalm 42:1:
“As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after
thee, O God.” Peter uses it of the longing of newborn babes after the
sincere milk of the word (1 Peter 2:2). So Paul yearns after the
Philippians (1:8).
There are many interpretations and many ways of punctuating the words
“unto jealous envy” or “with jealousy.” We may not tarry over them.
Probably the idea is that the Holy Spirit covets our souls. He does not
wish the devil to have us. Usually this word for jealous envy has a bad
sense, but the context here makes it clear. God is a jealous God. He can
brook no rival in our hearts. God wishes the whole of our heart’s love,
not just a part. He claims the rights of a loving husband to all our
heart’s devotion. In our hours of doubt and weakness “the Spirit himself
maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Rom.
8:26). We may thank God that he is a jealous God for his people Israel.
He broods over his children with a mother’s love, longing for their
growth and development.
“But he giveth more grace” (literally, “greater grace”), “yet he gives
grace more and more” (Moffatt). The words “giveth grace” come from the
quotation following (Prov. 3:34). The effect of this jealous affection
on God’s part is not to abandon us but to heap more and richer favors
upon us. God demands of us wholehearted surrender and service, but he
pours out the wealth of his love upon us. “God resisteth the proud, but
giveth grace to the humble.”
This Septuagint quotation (see also 1 Peter 5:5) is a free translation
of the idea in the Hebrew text. It is the striking figure of God
standing in the way, across the path of the proud man who carries his
head so high above others. He will in due time be brought low. Pride
goes before a fall, for God is to be met along that road (cf. Acts 18:6;
Rom. 13:2). The man of the world feels no need of God and feels secure
and serene. But he reckons without his Host. God shows favor to the
humble (cf. the contrast in 1:10).
The proud men think themselves the monopolists (Hort) of divine favor,
but they find out sooner or later that they are passed by in favor of
the man with lowliness of spirit and nobility of life, who makes God,
not the world, the Lord of his life. This man God honors with far more
grace than the world can offer. He will have trouble (“with
persecutions”), no doubt, “but he shall receive a hundredfold now in
this time,” while “in the world to come eternal life” (Mark 10:29 f.).
The prince in God’s kingdom and at his court is not the man who wears
the trappings of earthly rank and station but the one who caught the
spirit of Jesus and sought to do good to all as he found opportunity.
Plummer wonders if James had not heard his mother recite the Magnificat.
Certainly he here echoes the same beautiful spirit.