Envy vs Grace

James 4:5

5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?(KJV)

Last week I said I would get into this verse after some investigation. I have investigated. Now I don’t know how many of you use the King James Bible, but it looks as though the New American Standard and the Revised Standard Versions do not give a correct interpretation of the verse. But it does seem that the King James, New King James and New International Versions give us a correct translation. I don’t know about other translations-as I don’t use them.

My Barnes’ notes and my Matthew Henry notes all seem to agree that in this verse, James is referring to the natural spirit in man, not the redeemed spirit. The natural spirit in man obviously tends towards envy and jealousy. This is the old man, the Adamic nature, the carnal nature of man. And looking at the context of the verse-both verses above and below, James is talking about what needs to be corrected in man, what is wrong with mankind, and the need to live by God’s grace purity.

Looking at the grammatical structure in the Greek, I find that the word "spirit" is the noun subject of that clause and "lusteth" is the verb for that clause. There is an internal clause "that dwelleth" that acts as a modifier for the word "spirit". So Matthew Henry and Barnes both come to the same conclusion that I have, and I believe their conclusion is based on the Greek grammar. When I first read their comments, it made sense to me, but I decided, just to be sure-since there were other interpretations-to go into the info I have on the Greek grammar. By the way, if you like to do in depth studies on verses in the New Testament, buy for yourself a book called The Complete Word Study New Testament edited by Spiros Zodiates, Th.D. This is a Greek Christian who really knows not only Greek, since he grew up speaking it, but also the New Testament Greek and is a reliable expositor of the Word of God. The grammatical information in that book is invaluable in my opinion.

So now we are faced with James’ statement that the scriptures have made it clear that we have in our old nature a spirit that loves to envy. You know Adam and Eve envied God-it played a part in their down fall. People throughout history have envied others and it has caused them all kinds of grief.

Do you have problems with envy? Look at a verse I pointed out last week.1 Pet 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;(KJV)

These fleshly lusts are part of the old nature and old spirit. And these fleshly lusts constantly war against our saved nature. But look at the comfort in James’ next statement.

James 4:6

6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore (the scripture) saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.(ASV)* See Prov. 3:34 for the same concept.

God gives us grace as we battle within ourselves to be free of the guilt of envy or jealousy. His grace is actually greater than our natural nature. But to receive that grace, look at the attitude we must have. We have to be humble. God will resist you if you are proud and unteachable. But if you are humble you receive God’s grace because you realize you need it. The proud don’t think they need anything.

In James 4:7 we also have the point that we need to subject ourselves to the authority and rulership of God

James 4:7

7 Be subject therefore unto God; but resist the devil, and he will flee from you.(ASV)

And we are to resist the devil’s temptations, resist him in all the things he offers us or throws at us. And as we subject ourselves to God and resist the devil, look at the great consequences! He runs away from us. He flees. Why, the presence of God just sends him running cause he is not only scared of it, but it reveals to us Satan’s deceptive and evil tactics. He does not like exposure. He is like a cockroach that runs to hide in the dark places rather than be seen in the light.

So what we must do, as you see, is we must submit our wills to God’s, be humble enough to receive God’s grace, recognize when the dead nature is trying to rise up and rule our behavior and put a stop to that wrong attitude and behavior. And Satan and his cronies just run away fast as they can.

Verses 8-10 are continuations of this subject, but we will get into them next week.

Have a humble and grace filled weekend. The Good News Lady