War Has Its Sources

Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

—James 4:4–6

The real source of our personal and private conflicts lies not in the relationships we have with others or even in the relationship we have with our own selves. The wellspring of our external conflicts is found in our own rebellious relationship with God. James pointed specifically to our selfish desires that continually cause conflict. We constantly fight to have our own way. It is not an oversimplification to say that rebellion against God in the human heart is the root cause of every war, whether its battlefield is the home, the heart, or the other side of the earth.

James was clear: when we choose to be a “friend of the world,” we are choosing to be an enemy of God. After all, the prevailing world system of thought—“the world”—is utterly anti-God and anti-Christ. When we aren’t on our spiritual guard, we can develop an affection for the things of the world that God says we should avoid.

A friendship with the world can ultimately lead to a love for the world and what it offers. That’s why, in one of his New Testament letters, the apostle John warned, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). Do not be mistaken. There is no demilitarized zone for Christians who are out of fellowship with God. If you are a friend of the world, you are an enemy of God. There is no place for you to take refuge.

Some ancient manuscripts omit James’s use of adulterers in verse 4 but leave the word adulteresses. But James was not singling out only women here. Men are just as guilty of spiritual adultery. James’s emphasis on the feminine here is because he was talking about the bride of Christ, the church: you and me.

Are any of us guilty of this charge of spiritual adultery? Perhaps we once came to an altar and made a pledge openly and publicly to Christ. Surely we should have been as faithful to Him as we have been to our own husbands or wives. But in becoming “friends with the world,” we have sought the affection of such other gods as materialism or popularity. When we begin to desire the things of the world more than we desire the things of God, we commit spiritual adultery. We become like married spouses who begin to flirt and are ultimately seduced by other men or women.

Spiritual adultery was the sin of the church at Ephesus, to whom Jesus said, “I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent” (Revelation 2:4–5). This may be one of the most misquoted verses in Scripture. Jesus did not say we had lost our first love; He said we had “left” it. I would much rather admit I lost something than admit I left it behind. To leave something implies greater personal responsibility. We have a faithful and loving husband in the Lord Jesus Christ who always has our best interest in mind. Why would we choose to be at war with Him who seeks only to provide for us and protect us?

One more thing. I don’t believe James was speaking softly in these verses. I think he was shouting when he said, “Do you think that the Scripture says in vain, ‘The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously’ ”? He was expressing shock and surprise at those individuals who had embraced Christ, known His love, and now were flirting with the world around them. Essentially James was saying—and saying loudly—“What are you thinking? Have you left behind your moral compass? Don’t you know that your God is a jealous God?”

But James didn’t leave us there. Remembering the words of wise King Solomon, recorded in Proverbs 3:34, James added, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Our God is the God of the second chance. Our own internal wars can come to an end once we humble ourselves before God. We have this promise from Christ’s own lips: “He who humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12).

In light of all this, we do have hope: “He gives more grace.” This is the most beautiful phrase in James’s entire letter. Poet Annie Johnson Flint (1866–1932) said it well long years ago:

His love has no limit; His grace has no measure,

His power has no boundary known unto men.

For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,

He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!

As James said, “He gives more grace.” And the only reason we don’t have that grace is that we haven’t asked!