In James 4:4-6a he lets them know that their actions put them at odds with God and there was no way to be a ‘friend’ of the world without putting themselves as an enemy of God. “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” Clarke explained “The Jews, because of their covenant with God, are represented as being espoused to him; and hence, their idolatry, and their iniquity in general, are represented under the notion of adultery.”
James recognizes that we cannot both be friends of this world system in rebellion against God, and friends of God at the same time. Even the desire to be a friend (wants to be a friend) of the world makes that one an enemy of God. The strong statements James made here remind us that all was not beautiful in the early church. They had plenty of selfish desires and worldliness to deal with. While the New Testament church is a clear pattern for us, we should not over-romanticize the spiritual character of early Christians. They were sinners just as we are, and since God can’t tolerate sin, it puts us as an enemy of Him.
James summarizes truth that is in several old testament passages when he writes “Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? The Holy Spirit living within us wants to have a deep friendship with God. The Spirit will convict the Christian who lives in compromise. Barclay writes “The idea is that God loves men with such a passion that he cannot bear any other love within the hearts of men.” Think of the inner pain and torture inside the person who is betrayed by an unfaithful spouse; who must reckon with the truth, I am faithful to them, but they are not faithful to me. This is what the Spirit of God feels regarding our world-loving hearts.
So we are doomed trying to live a life worthy of a friendship with God on our own. So the answer is that God draws us to Himself. He gives us what we need to be in relationship with him. “But he gives more grace.” The same Holy Spirit convicting us of our compromise will also grant us the grace to serve God as we should. This wonderful statement – but He gives more grace – stands in strong contrast to the previous words. Spurgeon explains “Sin seeks to enter, grace shuts the door; sin tries to get the mastery, but grace, which is stronger than sin, resists, and will not permit it. Sin gets us down at times, and puts its foot on our neck; grace comes to the rescue… Sin comes up like Noah’s flood, but grace rides over the tops of the mountains like the ark.”
“Portions of this blog post have been taken from the Enduring Word commentary, (c) 2023 The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik – ewm@enduringword.com“
“Scripture (bold and italicized) has been taken from the English Standard Version, © ESV.org – www.esv.org”
Arlin Sorensen's Thoughts on Scripture 