You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. [James 4:4 NIV]
James is not being diplomatic in his choice of language. He addresses his readers as adulterers. In fact, it is literally adulteresses but many modern translations avoid this political incorrectness. This would upset many 21st century readers especially if they have sympathy for feminism. This is seeming to present a one-sided perspective on adultery. But the choice of feminine here is deliberate. This was a metaphor which ran through many of the Old Testament writings.
Jeremiah was a prophet in Judah which was a small nation with Jerusalem as its capital. Jeremiah has a word from God for the people of Judah. He tells them that they have not learned a lesson from what happened to the kingdom of Israel which was the larger kingdom with Samaria as its capital. Jeremiah reminds the people of Judah that their northern neighbour had committed adultery. This was because they were obsessed with worshipping other gods and would not listen to the words of the prophet who were telling them that God was angry with them. Their conduct meant that they had broken their covenant with God like an unfaithful wife. And so God divorced them because of their adultery. In fact, he used a heathen nation the Assyrians to invade their country and take the people away into exile. But Jeremiah addresses the people of Judah and says "You did not learn the lesson from what happened to your sister. You continued to worship other gods of wood and stone and this has angered God." They would end up in exile just as had happened to Israel.
The people who received this letter from James many centuries later knew the Old Testament. They would immediately recognise the analogy that James is making. They knew that God, through his prophets, described the behaviour of Israel and Judah as adultery - even prostitution. So when James addresses them as 'adulteresses,' they immediately grasped the point that he was making. We are behaving just like our fathers many centuries before - that is what James is telling us. But, they might have thought - "Wait a minute, we don’t worship false gods such as Baal. We don't bow down to statues and idols." But James will explain that their conduct is just as bad.
James refers to 'their friendship with the world'. This is the only example in the New Testament where this Greek word is used - philia (which involves the idea of loving as well as being loved - Mayor quoted in Vine's Expository Dictionary). So James is comparing this to the behaviour of the nation of Judah and Israel many centuries before when they worshipped false gods. What does James mean by using this phrase = 'friendship with the world.' James is condemning them for loving the world and being loved by the world. Maybe you are thinking of the well-known verse in John chapter 3 and verse 16:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. [John 3:16 NIV]
So if God loves the world a great deal, surely this is what we should do also. Also, we are told in the first chapter of John's Gospel that the world was made by the Son of God (the Word is the title John uses). Surely, we are not expected to hate the created world - the mountains, the lakes, rivers, animals, plants etc? (John 1:10) Again these are both from the same Greek word. However, James is speaking about the world system which is dominated by Satan. It is anti-God and anti-Christian.
It is the system which man has built up for himself in an effort to satisfy the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. In this system there is no room for God or His Son. It may be the world of art, culture, education, science, or even religion. But it is a sphere in which the name of Christ is unwelcome or even forbidden, except, of course, as an empty formality. It is, in short, the world of mankind outside the sphere of the true church. [William MacDonald: The Believers' Bible Commentary]
James is not telling us that we need to separate ourselves from the world and enter a monastery.
He is not advocating that we follow the example of some Christian groups who cut themselves off completely from all family and friends who were not Christians. They even cut their ties with other Christians if they did not follow their practices. It is always good to refer to the example of the Lord Jesus. He certainly did not cut himself off from people who were sinners. "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them," was the criticism the Pharisees made of Jesus [Luke 15:2 NIV] In fact, it was the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who cut themselves off from people whom they considered to be sinners. However, Jesus lived a life which was distinct and different from his fellow Jews in the first century.
The verse is making a very strong statement that we must not ignore. This world system is diametrically opposed to God. It is under the control of Satan, the evil one. The values of the world are the opposite of what God teaches in His Word. For example, the world tells us to promote ourselves and to pamper ourselves. God is looking for self-denial from those who would follow Him. The world tells us that it is ok to sin against God. The Word of God tells us to live holy lives. Some commentators argue that James is specifically referring to the love of money and the desire for material possessions.
I have just read a biography of Andrew Carnegie. He became obscenely wealthy and he became a great philanthropist. He measured his success by the famous friends he had - William Gladstone, President Roosevelt, Matthew Arnold the English poet, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) the author of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. Etc. But Carnegie did not believe in God. He turned his back on God. He is an example of the type of person the world admires - a very successful business man who made making money his top priority. He was generous but his wealth was made by some unethical conduct such as by denying workers the right to be a member of a trade union.
James says that if we love the world, we are committing adultery. James is saying that we cannot be faithful to God and still love the world. He is comparing our attitude to God to an unfaithful wife who has turned her back on her husband and has committed adultery. In fact, she has become a prostitute. God wants our undivided affection.
I want to suggest that there is a likelihood that we will interpret this verse selectively. It would be easy for me to simply equate the world with sport. I have never been very sporty, and I am not particularly interested in football or any other spectator sport. But then I spend hours cycling - so I would probably make an exception for cycling - especially around Falkirk! When I was young enough to have a full head of hair, I used to hear preachers condemning the world and they referred to going to certain places of entertainment or talked about worldly - but sometimes they were very successful businessmen so they deliberately avoided referring to the whole world of business and how the Christian should have a different attitude to wealth. Recently, Christians have been strong in their condemnation of certain practices which are contrary to the Word of God. However, there is the danger that we simply label anyone who does not measure up to our standards as worldly and then shun them. This is also a convenient way to make ourselves feel superior to others.
Here is a good yard stick to see whether we are guilty of spiritual adultery - of friendship with this world system. What is there in my life which is taking the place of God? Do I have a substitute god which is claiming my affection and my attention? This requires a degree of honesty on our part.
We are often quick to judge other Christians harshly and condemn them for too worldly. Is there something in my life which I dearly love but I know deep down in my heart that it is taking the place of God in my life? Here is how this verse reads in Wuest's translation.
O spiritual adulteresses [untrue to God your husband, O.T. relation of Israel to God], do you not know that your friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore would desire after mature consideration to be a friend of the world is [thereby] constituted an enemy of God. [James 4:4 Wuest]
A Chemish Idol; Source unknown Chemosh was the god of the Moabites. In the Old Testament times, other nations worshipped gods of stone or wood such as this.
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