Take your Bibles, if you will, to open to James, the epistle of James. And we have been working our way through this letter rather slowly, and we are to chapter four now, finally. And today we will try to look through verses 1 through 10. James 4:1-10, the title of the message this evening is “Spiritual Adultery and the Love of the Holy Spirit.”
James 4, beginning with verse 1: “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. 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. 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’? But he gives more grace. Therefore, it says, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”
Let’s look to the Lord in prayer. Our Father, whenever we approach your Word, we recognize the need of your Spirit to open it for us, to give us understanding, and not just an intellectual understanding, but an absorbing of it into our hearts and our souls, so that it makes us what you’ve called us to be. Now from this passage this evening, we pray that you would do that, that you’ll help us to see our sinfulness as you see it, and help us to understand the love of the Holy Spirit for us in the midst of our backslidings and sins. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.
Well, we’ve seen it several times here now working through this letter of James, that James is very keen on an intent to promote unity in the congregation that he ministers to. He doesn’t give us a detailed look at the congregation that he’s writing to in this. We get a sense of what is going on in that congregation by the number of exhortations and even rebukes, as well as the commands that he gives them. And we get the sense then that not only is he intent on promoting unity in the congregation, more specifically, he’s intent on exposing and eliminating those sins in the congregation that cause disunity. And he’s very bold to do it, and he speaks of their attitudes, the way that they speak, the actions that they take with one another, and he has several times now already in this letter addressed those kinds of things.
He does it here, he’ll do it again. Chapter 4 verses 1 to 3 falls into that kind of thing where James is rebuking his congregation for the sinfulness and the sinful attitudes and what he calls worldliness, worldly thinking on the part of the congregation.
The Root Cause of Quarrels
The first thing he does is he traces this to the root cause of it all. That’s verse 1. “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?” And then he answers the question in verses 1 and 2, and he tells us it’s self-centeredness, it’s selfish ambition, it’s covetousness, these quarrelings. This really sounds like quite the congregational life, doesn’t it? Murdering one another, arguing with one another.
I remember one time a pastor friend of mine was driving through a rural part of one of the southern states, and it was a smaller city, smaller town, and as he drove in, there it was: Harmony Baptist Church. And he was reflecting on—I think the name of the town was Harmony. But he’s thinking, what a great name for a church, Harmony Baptist Church. And he’s thinking on this as he’s driving through the town, gets to the other end of the town, and he sees another church, and it’s called New Harmony Baptist Church. Okay, I know what’s going on behind that. There’s a story to be told about that. Well, that’s too often the case in churches, and it’s happened evidently from the beginning.
James is dealing with that kind of thing here, and he asks simply in verse 1, where does that come from? Now today the answers are, well, there are personality conflicts, pressures of life, miscommunications. But notice how he answers it in verse 1. Where does all this come from? What causes quarrels? What causes fights among you? Answer: “Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?”
Now that sounds a whole lot like what he’s already said, remember, back in chapter 1. Don’t blame God for your sin. Let no one say when he’s tempted, “I’m tempted of God.” You remember how he traces sin back to our own sinful hearts? The reason we sin is because we have sinful hearts that have this proclivity for sin. And we sin ultimately because we want to. And the blame falls with us. And that’s what he’s talking about here. This comes from you. And don’t make any other excuses for it. It’s not personality conflicts. It’s not just the pressures of life. It is because we, at heart, are still a twisted people. And although God’s work in us has begun and there has been a transformation of heart, that work is not complete and we still struggle with this kind of thing.
And James traces the sin back to the sinful heart. He says in verse three, all of that in turn disrupts your prayer life, renders prayer ineffective. “You ask and you do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions.” You have skewed motives in praying. You make a pious show in praying, but when you do, it’s all self-centered, self-serving. It’s not for the glory of God. And all of this just skews prayer life entirely. Well, that’s the setup in verses 1 to 3. There’s some quarreling in the congregation. They’re not getting along well. There’s warring back and forth. He blames it on them and their wicked hearts.
Spiritual Adultery and Friendship with the World
But what’s interesting now, beginning with verse 4, is how James characterizes all of that. And I want you to notice his condemning tone in verse 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.” He was using strong language here. You probably never thought that quarreling in the congregation, fighting with one another in the congregation, is spiritual adultery. There it is.
James says you are behaving just like the world. You’re adopting thought patterns, desires, ideals, ambitions, and selfishness that looks just like the world. And when you do that, he is saying, it’s like having a fling with a competing lover. Instead of being faithful to God, you’re flirting with the world, and you’re having this illicit affair. Adulterous people. Enmity against God. You’ve chosen someone else over him. It’s really digging deep. Talk about not making excuse for sin. You’re fighting with one another. You’ve taken sides against God. Enmity against God, that’s one thing, and then he characterizes it as adultery.
Now behind that, calling it adultery, behind all of that is a familiar marriage metaphor in the Bible. It’s very common in the Prophets. It starts way back in Genesis, but we have it often in the Prophets where God says, “Your maker is your husband. I’ve made you my wife.” The most famous one in the Prophets, of course, is the Prophet Hosea, who marries a woman by the name of Gomer. He should have known better right there. He marries this woman by the name of Gomer. Turns out she’s a prostitute. She’s playing around on him with other men. And yet Hosea chases after her and ends up—she finds herself as a slave and he buys her out of slavery, brings her back. It’s his wife and he loves her and despite what she’s done, he’s going to bring her back and all of that’s a pattern, a picture of what God is doing with Israel. They’ve run away from him, they’ve played the harlot and he runs after them and chases them and he promises to bring them back.
In the New Testament, the imagery continues in the same, but it’s Christ and the church. Christ is the groom, the church is the bride. That all comes to climax finally in Revelation chapter 19, where there’s the marriage supper of the Lamb, when finally the marriage, as it were, is brought to consummation. Christ comes, and we are united with him and made perfect with him forever.
In the Old Testament, Israel’s infidelity against God was generally with false gods, with idolatry, things like that, but also in the violation of the covenant in other respects. God and Israel entered into covenant relation at Sinai, and they became, as it were, his wife, and they each took marriage vows. Israel will do this, God will do that. And over and over again the prophets are just condemning Israel because they have broken their vows before the Lord, violated the covenant, and in so doing they become spiritual adulterers.
In the New Testament we have the same thing. Paul deals with it in 2 Corinthians 11, in a fascinating passage there, and there he deals with it in terms of false doctrine. Here these people are flirting with some false teaching that has come into the church. They still believe in Jesus, and they still talk about Jesus, but to be saved it’s “Jesus plus” or “Jesus and.” You know, it’s like we see in Galatia, that kind of thing. And Paul says, “I have betrothed you to Christ, and now you’re out flirting with this other Jesus.” It’s interesting language. You call him Jesus, but it’s not the Jesus that I betrothed you to. And in your false doctrine, you are playing the harlot and you’re cheating on the one who’s promised himself to you.
Well, that’s the imagery that’s going on here in James. Only here it’s in terms of the people’s behavior. James is not writing to people who have renounced Christ altogether. But by their behavior, they’re having an affair with another lover. They’ve left God. In terms of their behavior, they have left Christ, and they have this rival lover.
The Yearning of the Holy Spirit
Now then, James tells us in verse 5 that he’s grounding this in Scripture. And here he’s quoting an Old Testament passage. “Do you suppose that it is for nothing—that is, to no purpose—that the scripture says,” and here he quotes it, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us.” So he’s grounding his condemnation of the people as adulterers in scripture itself.
Verse five, though, presents two problems for interpreting it. Number one, it’s not clear at all what passage James is quoting. You can’t find this quote anywhere in the Old Testament. Evidently he’s paraphrasing. And the most obvious guess then is that he’s paraphrasing the condemnation of the prophets in their condemnation of Israel because of their spiritual adultery in leaving the covenant and forsaking their responsibilities in the covenant. So he’s giving a summary characterization, I think, of the prophets.
The more difficult problem in verse five now is a question of translation. You’ll have to follow with me carefully here. It’s not something you probably would notice reading through one English version. If you had read through multiple English versions, you would catch it. The question, the primary question involved is the word “spirit” in verse 5. Should it be with a lowercase or uppercase? Does it refer to our spirit? Or does it refer to the Holy Spirit? That’s the question, and how are we going to translate this verse?
So the ESV that I’m using here says, “Do you suppose that it is to no purpose that the scripture says, ‘He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us’?” The NIV does something similar. It says, “Do you think it says without reason that the spirit,” lowercase s, “the spirit he caused to live within us envies us intensely.” Interestingly here, the NIV has two marginal readings, one for each choice. If you want to call it the Holy Spirit here or your spirit, they have a marginal reading for each. So take your pick.
Now, the New American Standard Version, the Christian Standard Bible, the King James Version, the New King James Version, they have with an uppercase, the Holy Spirit. Now, a lot of smart people have labored over this, and the translations vary, and so I have to be humble about it and say it’s unclear. But I also want to say that after I’ve thought through it, I don’t understand why it should be that difficult. I think it is clearly speaking of the Holy Spirit; it should be uppercase S here, for the following reasons.
Number one, that fits best with the Old Testament quotation that James is giving here. It’s a familiar, it seems to be a familiar passage that he’s talking about, and the only way I know of to make sense of that is to say he’s characterizing the Old Testament prophets in their condemning of Israel for their spiritual adultery. This is familiar imagery to the people. The most obvious answer to that is “scripture says,” and he’s characterizing the prophets, speaking of Israel as God’s bride and God chasing after them in their spiritual adultery.
Second, and this is a little bit more technical here, the word spirit here is the subject of the verb. It seems easier to translate it rather than what you see in front of you with the ESV or the NIV to translate it: “The Spirit yearns jealously. The Spirit that he has made to dwell in us yearns jealously over us.” Now, this is very important for the interpretation of the passage. We just have to work through it, see what he’s saying. But it seems to fit best as the subject of the verb here, and I think it is.
Number three, the third reason, the Holy Spirit here fits the context, I think, much better. In fact, it fits it perfectly. The Holy Spirit longing, yearning jealously over the sinning Christian who is running away from him in his spiritual adultery. So verse 5 again: “Do you suppose it is to no purpose that the scripture says,” and here I’ll translate it this way, I think that’s the sense of the passage. He’s emphasizing the deep yearning which the indwelling Holy Spirit has for his people, and in particular for his people when they are running away in sin.
Because God loves his bride, and because he loves her so deeply, because he’s so committed to her, he pursues her even in her sin and her unfaithfulness. And so as they chase after a rival lover, the picture here then is that the Holy Spirit chasing after the Christian with a broken heart as it were. Now this is just astonishing kind of language: God the Holy Spirit portrayed as a heart-sick lover. It’s the kind of language you’d be—you’d be too afraid to talk about God that way, but here it is in the inspired scriptures. God the Holy Spirit is a heart-sick lover looking with envy on his people as they are attracted to that rival lover. It’s a love that’s due him, and they’re giving it to someone else, and he yearns to have it back.
God the Spirit as a heart-sick lover. You’ve given your love to the world. You’re playing around. That loyalty belongs to me. I want it back. That’s the sense. It’s just almost breathtaking to talk about God that way. But I think that makes sense of the passage. Verse 5, again: “The Spirit that He has made to dwell in us.” He has made His home in us. He’s redeemed us. He’s made us His. And He says, as it were, “This is how I love them,” and he longs for us, and he yearns after our affection and our loyalty, and he yearns for it jealously. And even when that love that he shows toward us is unrequited and we run after others, he wants it back. And so he chases after us, and he wants to woo us back, and he yearns after us jealously.
In Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 30, the Apostle Paul speaks of our sin as grieving the Holy Spirit. Here in James, we learn the nature of that grief. It’s the grief of a jilted lover. We’ve shown our affections for the world and so doing we’ve turned away from God and the Spirit of God yearns to have that loyalty back. It belongs to him. In fact, he presses the emotion of it here with the terminology he uses. Again in verse 5, the verb that he uses here, to long for, he yearns for. The same Greek word here is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament Psalms, that familiar psalm where, “As the deer pants after the water brook, so pants my soul after thee, O God.” That’s the word that’s used here. It’s a strong, yearning desire. And he doesn’t content himself simply with this strong word of yearning, but he gives this adverb with it as well. He yearns jealously, with envy. That love belongs to me. I want it back.
So I think that while on the one hand this passage is telling us how awful our sin is—and I think we have every warrant here to apply this not just to squabblings in the congregation that he’s dealing with here, but every time we adopt the world’s thinking and the world’s frame of reference and ideals and ambitions and every kind of sin, it is the same—that we’ve turned against God and we’ve forsaken our covenant vows. We’ve run after, as it were, run after another lover. We’ve left God. And God the Holy Spirit says, “I want that back. That belongs to me.”
And this, I think, is why we can say we will—this explains for us why we will persevere. Why when we wander away from God, we always come back. There’s a wonderful doctrine in the New Testament called the perseverance of the saints, that those who are genuinely saved will persevere. There may be fits and starts here and there, there may be setbacks, but in the end they will persevere. It’s a wonderful doctrine. But what we find here is not the perseverance of the saints so much as first, the perseverance of the Holy Spirit in chasing after His people when they sin. It’s passionate, determined, persevering love of the Holy Spirit chasing us down when we run away from Him. It’s a wonderful ground of confidence that God will never let us go. But even when we sin, he chases after us.
I want to take the time to read you a couple of paragraphs from Benjamin Warfield and his exposition of this passage:
“See us steeped in the sin of the world, loving evil for evil’s sake, hating God and all that God stands for, ever seeking to drain deeper and deeper the cup of our sinful indulgence. The Spirit follows us unwaveringly through it all. He is not driven away because we are sinners. He comes to us because, being sinners, we need Him. He is not cast off because we reject His loving offices. He abides with us because our rejection of Him would leave us helpless. He does not condition His further help upon our recognizing and returning His love. His continuance with us is conditioned only on His own love for us. And that love for us is so strong, so mighty, and so constant that it can never fail. When he sees us immersed in sin and rushing headlong to destruction, he does not turn from us. He yearns for us with jealous envy.”
And then he adds:
“It is into the hands of such love that we have fallen. It is because we have fallen into the hands of such love that we have before us a future of eternal hope. When we lose hope in ourselves, when the present becomes dark and the future black before us, when effort after effort has issued only in disheartening failure, and our sin looms big before our despairing eyes, when our hearts hate and despise themselves, and we remember that God is greater than our hearts and cannot abide the least iniquity, the spirit whom he has sent to bring us to him still labors within us, not in indifference or hatred, but in pitying love. Yea, his heart burns with all the stronger because we so deeply need his help. He is yearning after us with jealous envy.”
Now I think all of that then in turn helps us understand James’ question in verse 5. Do you think it is for nothing that the Bible tells us this? Is your heart so hardened that you don’t respond to that kind of pursuing love? When we see that this is how God feels for us, are our hearts so hard that it doesn’t melt us and bring us back? In other words, this ought to be—the recognition of this teaching ought to be a strong deterrent against sin.
Now this matter of the spirit’s struggling within us against our waywardness and unfaithfulness touches a wonderful New Testament theme, and that is that what God requires of us, He provides for us. That’s the promise of the New Covenant. He’ll cause us to walk in his ways. He’ll write the law on our hearts. He’ll take out the heart of stone, put in a heart of flesh. He’ll change us from the inside out. And what God requires of us, he gives us.
Christian Responsibility
And James makes reference to that then in verse 6: “God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.” God’s sufficiency in the face of all of our sin, even in our fits of rebellion, is what he’s speaking of. God gives grace to the humble. And yet on the basis of all of this divine initiative and giving us grace and making us what he calls us to be, on the basis of that now, James calls us to Christian responsibility. There’s our responsibility too.
Verses 6 and following: “But he gives more grace, therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil.” You notice the responsibilities here. Because God gives grace, “Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil.” Notice all the commands: submit, resist. Verse eight: “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.”
All of this then is a call to thoroughgoing repentance and a humbling of breaking of our hearts before God in repentance of our sin. Verse 6 and 7, call to humble ourselves before God, submit to Him. The last part of verse 7 here, charged to resist Satan steadfastly and the knowledge that we can overcome. Verse 8, it’s a call to rekindle our love for God, cleanse your hands, purify your hearts, so that you can again experience fellowship with him. Verse 9, another call to deep repentance. Language here is just “be wretched and mourn. Weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning.” Don’t be so stubborn. Don’t be so arrogant in your sin. Humble your hearts before God. If you want to see what that looks like, go to Psalm 51. Then again, verse 10, a call to humble ourselves before God.
Well, here then is James’ call for us to live out our lives for God, faithfully, faithful to our marriage vows that we have taken. That’s the vow we took when we bent the knee the first time. It’s the vow we took when we were baptized. We say that we belong to Him and that He is Lord. James is calling us here to live that out faithfully, but to live it out faithfully in light of His persevering and pursuing love for us even when we sin.
So he says to his people, no more of these squabbles and these fighting among you. No more of this self-centeredness. And I think, as I say, we have every warrant to refer this to any kind of sin. No more of that. It is infidelity. It is running against God who pursues us always. When we stray like that, God is the—amazing terminology—the heart-sick lover, running, pursuing His people, calling us to return and be faithful to our covenant vows.
I’ve said it before many times working through James that no one will ever accuse James or me preaching through James of not being practical. It’s very pointed, and I think that this instruction here is particularly poignant, reminding us who God is in the face of our sin. When you’re tempted to stray, remember that God, the Spirit, yearns over us jealously for our loyalty. Amen. Let’s pray.