A Living Faith Evidenced in God-Dependence (James 4:13-17)
We have been outlining the book of James in relation to one key command found in James 1:22—be a doer of the Word, demonstrating a living faith.
This command is then applied to several examples based on James 1:26–27. In James 4:1–12, James began addressing the last example of being a doer of the Word: keeping oneself unspotted from the world. I believe he continues that theme of worldliness in the next passage, James 4:13–17, since worldliness is living without reference to God. And each of the following subsections can best be understood as living without reference to God.
· Arrogantly living without reference to God leads to presumption (James 4:13–17).
· Arrogantly living without reference to God leads to mistreating others (James 5:1–6)—in response to such mistreatment, believers must be patient in suffering until the coming of the Lord (James 5:7–11).
· Arrogantly living without reference to God leads to hypocritical dishonesty—as if God won’t call you to account (James 5:12).
These sections do seem to be tied together. James 4:13–17 and 5:1–6 have some parallelism both in the literary form (“Go to now” or “Come Now” in James 4:13 and 5:1) and content (dealing with arrogance and wealth). James 5:7–11 is a response to James 5:1–6—the need to be patient under suffering at the hand of the rich who defraud them. At least James 4:13–5:11 comprises a new section. What about James 5:12? “Above all” could be taken as a final example. A final example of what? What ties this example to the others? It seems to exemplify a worldly mindset that ignores an accounting with God. James addresses worldviews and behaviors that fail to be in reference to God (eternity) and thus are worldly mindsets showcased in actions. Hiebert confirms this understanding of this section: “The author continues his warning to ‘people with a worldly mind.’”1
In this post, we’ll focus on the first subsection: worldly presumption and self-sufficiency (James 4:13-17).
In James 4:13–17, is James addressing wealthy believers or unbelievers? In contrast to clues about the audience in James 5:1–6 (a tone of future final judgement), these verses seem to imply a believing audience (a tone of admonishment that presumes correctives can be made). It seems as if these people ought to know better. They theoretically would understand that they are subject to the Lord’s will. But their lives are out of sync with what they theoretically know.
James, then, is admonishing believers to be wary of arrogant boasting that focuses on passing wealth (cf. James 1:10–11). Instead, they should subject themselves to God-dependent providence.
James 4:13 opens with a call to pay attention carefully, to listen up. Such a call is reminiscent of many prophetic calls to seriously consider errant ways in light of prophetic confrontation (e.g., Isaiah 1:18).
You who say: James summarizes the words, attitude, or approach of presumptuous self-sufficiency without reference to God. It is not a rebuke against success in business pursuits or making a profit. It is not a rebuke against planning. It is a rebuke against presumption. It is a rebuke against self-sufficiency. It is a rebuke against arrogance. It is a rebuke against living for the temporal. It is a rebuke against living without reference to and in dependence on God and His will.
James cautions believers to reckon with reality. We are not in the position to know or control our own futures. And we should not live for things that are gone tomorrow—like the vapor or mist that’s gone in an instant (Proverbs 27:1; Luke 12:15-20).
James contrasts this worldly mindset with a godly mindset: submitting humbly to the Lord’s will. Everything we accomplish is subject to the Lord’s will for our lives. Any mindset that fails to account for the Lord’s providential grace is arrogant and even evil.
Is forgetfulness a sufficient excuse—excusing such evil arrogance? No! Believers should know better and are without excuse. They are guilty of a sin of omission—living as a practical atheist. If you know you ought to do this, and you don’t do this, it is, in fact, sin.
Now let’s clarify: “What was important is not the verbalization [“if the Lord wills”] but that they had it as a principle fixed in their minds, that they would do nothing without the permission of God.”2 Certainly, there’s no need to be pedantic or corrective of others as if the verbalization must be a magic formula explicitly stated at all times.3 Nevertheless, we ought to keep always before us God’s sovereign rule over our plans (Proverbs 16:9).
Kevin Collins has served as a junior high youth leader in Michigan, a missionary in Singapore, a Christian School teacher in Utah, and a Bible writer for the BJU Press. He currently works for American Church Group of South Carolina. He also blogs at his other two sites, Gospel in the Marketplace and The Fire and Hammer.
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay