James 4:7–10
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
Arthur Bennett has edited a wonderful collection of Puritan prayers entitled The Valley of Vision. In the introductory prayer by that same title, he writes:
Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.¹
This prayer captures the essence of James’s instruction for how to receive grace from God. Wisdom from above teaches us that God shows favor not to those who build themselves up but to those who make themselves low.
Every demand that God makes is met with His all-sufficient grace. He has more than enough grace to enable you to live a committed life. How do you receive it? By humility alone! Flowing directly from James’s quotation of Proverbs 3:34, “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble” (4:6), is a series of 10 commands. These imperatives center on the genuine humility through which God promises to give grace. These are an urgent call for his readers to take decisive action. If we have wavered between being friends of the world and the friends of God, we must make up our minds once and for all as to where our allegiance lies. Now is the time to get God’s grace through humility.
We could study this passage in various ways. The first would be to consider these commands as 10 separate imperatives. Our understanding, however, would be somewhat limited because these commands are interconnected. They comprise a series of steps in humbling oneself before God. The second approach would be to survey these commands from the priest-prophet perspective. Since James is writing to a Hebrew audience, they would note within the first five commands the image of a priest coming to minister in the temple—“draw nigh to God,” “cleanse your hands,” and “purify your hearts” (James 4:8). Within the last five commands, we see the depiction of an Old Testament prophet crying out against the sins of God’s people and calling them to repentance—“be afflicted,” “mourn,” and “weep” (James 4:9). The third approach would be to view the first and last commands—“submit yourselves therefore to God” and “humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord”—as bookends. These two imperatives introduce and summarize the overall truth that grace is received through humility. The rest of the commands divide into three couplets that further explain the theme. We will follow this last approach by studying the overarching imperatives in this chapter and then the explanatory ones in the following chapter.
The First Command
James 4:7
Submit yourselves therefore to God.
WORD STUDY
Submit—to be subjected; to enlist under; to surrender one’s will, leading to obedience
The first command, “submit yourselves therefore to God” (James 4:7) introduces; the last command, “humble yourselves” (James 4:10), summarizes the primary actions God requires to receive His grace. Submission describes a soldier who enlists in the military, swears allegiance to his country, and puts himself in subordination (literally, “to rank under”) to the authority of his commanding officer. The soldier’s will is in complete subjection to the captain’s will.
A survey of how the New Testament writers use the word submit provides additional context for understanding its meaning. First, various references emphasize that God is in complete control. Nothing escapes the reach of His sovereignty. The 70 disciples whom Jesus sent out to minister in His name returned with excitement because they commanded the submission of even demons in Christ’s power (Luke 10:17). In Paul’s exposition of the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 he declares that God the Father is subjecting all creation to the rule of His Son. This reality has sweeping, universal significance. It also has very personal implications. You lie at the heart of God’s master plan to bring everything under the gracious rule of Jesus Christ.
Second, we are not by nature submissive. In Romans 8:7 we are told that our flesh is at war with God and will not submit to Him. Therefore, we need God’s grace to surrender ourselves to God’s rule. God provides a metaphor for submission in the ancient practice of bond-slavery. Several passages refer to the necessity of slaves submitting themselves to their masters (Titus 2:9; 1 Pet. 2:18). The New Testament does not commend slavery, especially slavery of the sort that casts such a dark shadow over American history. However, God does command His people to honor those in authority over us. And the picture of a bondslave submitting to his master helps us understand how unreservedly we must serve the Lord. Just as Roman landlords had complete command over the lives of their slaves, so too God must have complete control over our lives. And the amazing truth is that this submission is not only the right approach to life—it is the only one that truly brings joy.
Third, several passages teach that our relationships with others relate to our submission to God. The first occurrence of this word submit refers to Jesus’ submission to imperfect human parents, even though as Son of God, He was also their Creator (Luke 2:51). This isn’t the last time Scripture speaks about submission within a home. God uses family relationships as both a testing ground and an illustration of our need to submit to His loving rule. It is a testing ground because through appropriate submission in contexts like the home we demonstrate that God’s Spirit fills, or controls, us (Eph. 5:18). However, Paul’s teaching on submission in the home is not simply a premarital counseling text. He describes how a wife’s submission to the loving leadership of her husband is a picture of the church’s submission to the perfect, sanctifying rule of Christ (Eph. 5:24). By submitting to God, we are not subjecting ourselves to an ogre or a totalitarian but rather to a perfect ruler. And He is a loving father too. If we appropriately give respect to a well-meaning earthly father who helps us live successfully by disciplining us, how much more should we submit ourselves to “the Father of spirits” (Heb. 12:9)? His plans are far greater and His love far deeper.
The Last Command
James 4:10
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
WORD STUDY
Humble — make yourself low
Before — in the presence of; in the sight of; in front of
Exalt — to lift or raise up
Humility is depicted in one lying prostrate at the feet of a sovereign king. The subject senses his own unworthiness in the presence of the majesty of his ruler and waits dependently on his king to raise him up. A humble believer acknowledges God’s authority and his need of God’s favor. A grace-filled life overcomes worldliness not through self-effort but by full and complete surrender to God. Failure is unavoidable and defeat is inevitable if we operate according to our own natural abilities, limited resources and human wisdom. Instead, we must cast ourselves in total dependence on God. Success is not a matter of performance but of reverence.
We noted in the introductory chapter that James’s letter bears many resemblances to the teaching of his half-brother, Jesus. In one of His most memorable calls to discipleship, Christ stated, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matt. 11:28–29). The word translated lowly is the adjective form of the verb that is translated humble yourselves in James 4:10. In other words, part of what it means to follow Christ is to adopt His humility. Rest for our souls is not found in achievement but in dependence on Him who bore our burdens all the way to the cross. As Bennett acknowledges in his prayer, “The broken heart is the healed heart.”² Spiritual strength and vitality flow through the gates of submission and humility.
¹ Arthur Bennett, ed., The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1975), xxiv–xxv. (banneroftruth.org) Used by permission.
² Bennett, xv.
This post is from Wisdom from Above: A Study in James by Steve Pettit. Copyright 2015 by BJU Press. Printed by permission of BJU Press.
This post is part of the study designed to correspond with the 2020 Spring Chapel Series. Watch the chapel message:
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