Friendship & Enmity

My husband and I have been teaching Biblical worldview to our youth group kiddos. The first category in the curriculum and the foundation for the other categories is theology. It boils the issue down to two options: God is (the God of the Bible) or God isn’t. Let’s apply this to biology. If God is the God of the Bible, then we believe that God created everything, and He holds all things together (Colossians 1:16-17). If God isn’t the God of the Bible, then we look to evolution or the Big Bang. To take this a step further, there are some, that because they are so opposed to God, would rather say creation came about by aliens rather than admit God is.

Creative evolutionists try to combine God and evolution by saying that God created all things, but He used evolution to do it. What is wrong with this thinking? Go back to the two options in theology: God is, or God isn’t. Can you merge those two into one? Of course not! The same applies as we form a worldview about other categories of life. We can’t mix creation and evolution because their foundations are opposed to each other. Creation as the Bible tells us is based on a real God who exists and created all things by His words – “God said, ‘Let there be…’” Evolution is based on God is not. There is no merging of the two.

Last week, we looked at how it is our own passions at war within us that cause quarrels and fights (vs 4:1-3). Our jealousy and selfish-ambition breed fights and quarrels (vs 3:13-16). This week, James digs even deeper into our heart wars.

4 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. 5 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”?[1]

James 4:4-5

“You adulterous people!” James doesn’t mince words. His language is reflective of the Old Testament prophets. Israel was spiritually unfaithful to God. They sought to worship God plus the idols of Canaan. They were unfaithful in their covenant relationship with God. “But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you have been unfaithful to me, O house of Israel” (Jeremiah 3:20).

James’ use of adulterous characterizes spiritually unfaithful people. We, like Israel, live with a God +                    mentality. We think we can seek after God and the things of this world. James emphatically states this is spiritual adultery.

Follow this connection of spiritual adultery – Israel worshipped idols – spiritual adultery. Paul wrote, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5, emphasis added). And as we’ve seen in the book of James, jealousy is evidence of worldly wisdom and part of why we quarrel and fight.

James presses on: “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.” Hold on, James! Don’t you think you are taking this a bit too far? An enemy of God? Really? James is not taking it too far. He wants to shock his readers, to open their eyes to their God +  mentality, and to prod them to repentance.

With social media, I think we have lost our understanding of friendship. How many friends do you have on Facebook or followers on Instagram and X? Think of all the people you call a friend. How would you describe those friendships? Daniel Doriani defines friendship: “But in antiquity, as today, true friends shared a mindset and an outlook on life. They shared interests, values, and goals. They saw life in much the same way. They shared goods as necessary. They cared for each other and worked together effectively because they agreed how the work should be done.”[2]

And John MacArthur describes the world this way: “The Greek word used here is Kosmos. It does not refer to the physical earth or universe but rather to the spiritual reality of the man-centered, Satan-directed system of this present age, which is hostile to God and God’s people. It refers to the self-centered, godless value system and moral contamination of fallen mankind. The goal of the world is self-glory, self-fulfillment, self-indulgence, self-satisfaction, and every other form of self-serving, all of which amounts to hostility toward God.”[3]

If we put these two definitions together, do you see why James says that friendship with the world is enmity with God or that if we wish to be a friend of the world, we make ourselves an enemy of God? Friendship with the world means that we share the interests, values, and goals of the world. We see things in a similar way, and that way is selfish ambition, moral contamination, a godless value system, hostile to God and His people, self-glory, self, self, self. MacArthur also said it is a “Satan-directed system.” James said that worldly wisdom was from Satan (vs 3:15). Remember the two options for a worldview foundation? God is or God isn’t. Friendship with the world is trying to merge God is and God isn’t, the things of God and the things of Satan.

James has not taken things too far. In fact, Jesus spoke about this very issue: “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24). Jesus was comparing earthly treasure versus heavenly treasure. We cannot pursue both God and the things of this world.

Now we get to the difficult portion of this passage: “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” (vs 5). We will start with the easy part of the verse – “Scripture says.” This is a common way to introduce a quote although commentators agree that James is not directly quoting a specific passage. It is likely James is summarizing man’s fallen condition – our sinfulness not one particular sin.

“He yearns jealousy over the spirit he has made to dwell in us” – there are two schools of thought about this sentence that center around how the following three aspects are interpreted.

1. Is James talking about our human spirit (Genesis 2:7) or the Holy Spirit? There are no capital letters in the Greek to differentiate when it is applied to God.

2. Is jealousy positive or negative?

3. Is spirit the subject or direct object?

One understanding is that James intends spirit as the human spirit, and it is the subject. Jealousy is taken in the negative. This reads in the NIV as “The spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely.” The word for spirit (pneuma) is used only one other time by James and it refers to the human spirit (vs 2:26). Jealousy is used only negatively in the New Testament. James has already talked about jealousy, selfish ambition, and the passions at war within us.

The second understanding is that James intends spirit to be the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is then the object of the verb yearns. The subject is God as in the ESV. Given the immediate context of verse 5 – the imagery of God as the husband to Israel – it would make sense for God to yearn jealously over the Holy Spirit He made to indwell us. Jealous is used in a positive way in the Old Testament when speaking of God in relation to Israel (Deuteronomy 32:16, 21; Exodus 20:5; 34:14). God demands and deserves unwavering (James has used this picture before) devotion from His children. We are not to be double-minded and unstable, double-tongued, or vacillating between the world and God.

Whichever way we may lean in our understanding of verse 5, I appreciate Douglas Moo’s conclusion: “It is not clear whether James thinks of the spirit which he has made to dwell in us as the Holy Spirit given to believers (cf. nasb) or as God’s creative spirit by which he has invigorated mankind (Gen. 2:7). In either case, the phrase reminds us that God has a claim on us by virtue of his work in our lives.”[4]

We belong to God. We have been bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:20). God alone deserves our unwavering devotion, worship, and faithfulness. But even when we are unfaithful and chase after idols, God patiently woos us back to Himself. He forgives us. He sees us with Jesus’ righteousness. We should run to Him in repentance, loving Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Reflection

1.     Do you agree with James that friendship with the world is enmity with God or do you try to soften the impact of friendship with the world? How has your understanding grown in light of James 4:4-5? How?

2.     Where in your life have you been pursuing friendship with the world? Be specific. What do you need to change for you to have unwavering devotion, worship, and faithfulness to God in this area?

3.     Take time to pray and repent of where you have been spiritually unfaithful to God. Then spend time in thanksgiving for God’s faithfulness to you.

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Jas 4:4–5.

[2] Daniel M. Doriani, James, ed. Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2007), 135.

[3] MacArthur, John F.. James: Guidelines for a Happy Christian Life (MacArthur Bible Studies) (p. 68). HarperChristian Resources. Kindle Edition.

[4] Douglas J. Moo, James: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 16, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 150.