MEN to-day are just the same as when these words were first written. We still find people saying what they are going to do to-day, to-morrow, or in six months time, at the end of another year, and perhaps still further. I have no doubt there are persons here who have their own career mapped out before them pretty distinctly, and they feel well-nigh certain that they will realize it all. We are like the men of the past; and this Book, though it has been written so long, might have been written yesterday, so exactly does it describe human nature as it is at the end of this nineteenth century. (Spurgeon)
4:13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” — 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
Their first and their last thoughts were of the earth earthy, and their one idea seemed to be that they might get sufficient to make them feel that they were rich and increased in goods. That was the highest ambition upon their minds. Are there not many who are living just in that way now? They think that they can map our their own life; and the one object of their efforts seems to be to buy and sell, and get gain; or else to obtain honour, or to enjoy pleasure. Their heart rises not into the serene air of heaven; they are still groveling here below. (Spurgeon)
The complexity of life (v. 13). Think of all that is involved in life: today, tomorrow, buying, selling, getting gain, losing, going here, going there. Life is made up of people and places, activities and goals, days and years, and each of us must make many crucial decisions day after day. ¶ Apart from the will of God, life is a mystery. When you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, and seek to do His will, then life starts to make sense. Even the physical world around you takes on new meaning. There is a simplicity and unity to your life that makes for poise and confidence. You are no longer living in a mysterious, threatening universe. You can sing, “This is my Father’s world!” (Wiersbe, 877)
The uncertainty of life (v. 14a). This statement is based on Proverbs 27:1—“Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” These businessmen were making plans for a whole year when they could not even see ahead into one day! See how confident they were: “We will go. We will stay a year. We will buy and sell and make a profit.” (Wiersbe, 877)
“My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle” (Job 7:6). “The cloud is consumed and vanisheth away” (Job 7:9). “Our days upon earth are a shadow” (Job 8:9). “Now my days are swifter than a post” (Job 9:25), referring to the royal couriers that hastened in their missions. “They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey” (Job 9:26). “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not” (Job 14:1–2). (Wiersbe, 877)
“To what extent is your life directed by the knowledge that Christ is coming back? Much of our thinking and behavior is shaped by what we can see of present circumstances or past events. Yet Scripture speaks forcefully of Christ’s return as a fact that should be directing how we live now. Christians are to be motivated by the certainty of this future event.”[256] (Stulac, p. 156 in Constable)
The frailty and fleetingness of human life is often alluded to in the Bible as:
- a shadow (cf. Job 8:9; 14:2; Ps. 102:11; 109:23)
- a breath (cf. Job 7:7,16)
- a cloud (cf. Job 7:9; 30:15)
- a wild flower (cf. Ps. 103:15; Isa. 40:6-8; 1 Pet. 1:24)
- vanity or mist (cf. Eccl. 1:2,14; 2:1,11,15,17,19,21,23,26; 3:19; 4:4,7,8,16; 5:7,10; 6:2,4,9,22; 7:6,15; 8:10,14; 9:9; 11:8,10; 12:8; […]). (Utley)
15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
“A study of the use of this conditional clause [“If the Lord wills …”] in the NT makes it clear that we are not to repeat it mechanically in connection with every statement of future plans. Paul, for example, employs it in Acts 18:21 and 1 Corinthians 4:19, but he does not use it in Acts 19:21; Romans 15:28; or 1 Corinthians 16:5, 8. Yet it is obvious that whether Paul explicitly stated it or not, he always conditioned his plans on the will of God.”[257] (Burdick, p. 197 in Constable)
It is important that we have the right attitude toward the will of God. Some people think God’s will is a cold, impersonal machine. God starts it going and it is up to us to keep it functioning smoothly. If we disobey Him in some way, the machine grinds to a halt, and we are out of God’s will for the rest of our lives. ¶ God’s will is not a cold, impersonal machine. You do not determine God’s will in some mechanical way, like getting a soft drink out of a vending machine. The will of God is a living relationship between God and the believer. This relationship is not destroyed when the believer disobeys, for the Father still deals with His child, even if He must chasten. (Wiersbe, 878)
16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
The frailty of man (v. 16). “As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil” (NIV). Man’s boasting only covers up man’s weakness. “Man proposes but God disposes,” wrote Thomas à Kempis. Solomon said it first: “The lot is cast into the lap: but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord” (Prov. 16:33). Man cannot control future events. He has neither the wisdom to see the future nor the power to control the future. For him to boast is sin; it is making himself God. (Wiersbe, 877)
The essential uncertainty of the future was deeply impressed on the minds of men of all nations. The Hebrew sage wrote, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth” ( Proverbs 27:1 ). Jesus told his story of the rich but foolish man who made his fortune and built up his plans for the future, and forgot that his soul might be required of him that very night ( Luke 12:16-21 ). Ben Sirach wrote, “There is that waxeth rich by his wariness and pinching, and this is the portion of his reward: whereas, he saith, ‘I have found rest and now will eat continually of my goods’; and yet he knoweth not what time shall come upon him and that death approacheth; and that he must leave these things to others and die” ( Sirach 11:18-19 ). (Barclay)
4:17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
The person that James just pictured was guilty of a sin of omission (cf. Luke 16:19-31). It is probably not just any sin of omission that is in view here but the sin of failing to acknowledge dependence on the Lord (v. 15).[259] (Alford, 4:2:320) The independent person in view failed to acknowledge the place that God occupies in life as sovereign over all things (cf. John 9:41). ¶ In concluding this discussion of conflicts James reminded his readers to put into practice what they knew. They should avoid presumption and self-confidence, and they should submit themselves humbly to God. Failure to do this is sin. (Constable)
The man who does not remember that, is guilty of arrogant boasting. The word is alazoneia ( Greek #212 ). Alazoneia was originally the characteristic of the wandering quack. He offered cures which were no cures and boasted of things that he was not able to do. The future is not within the hands of men and no man can arrogantly claim that he has power to decide it. ¶ James ends with a threat. If a man knows that a thing is wrong and still continues to do it, that to him is sin. James is in effect saying, “You have been warned; the truth has been placed before your eyes.” To continue now in the self-confident habit of seeking to dispose of one’s own life is sin for the man who has been reminded that the future is not in his hands but in God’s. (Barclay)
NOTE: These are helpful resources below. However, you are responsible for proper interpretation of the Bible. You must not relinquish your responsibility to any commentator. Therefore, one must use much caution in using the resources cited below. More mistakes are made the more humans speak and write. This author has not read everything published from the cited authors’ work. Therefore, authors may be quoted at times even though they may be heretical in some of their beliefs. This author is a true believer in “eat the chicken and spit out the bones.” One must use the Scriptures alone as the authority of all doctrine.
Please click here to access the web-page for all of the works cited–save those below under the “Other Works Cited” (if any). Most of the works cited on the web-page, correspond to the verses they are outlined with. In the case of background information and other general reference citations, one will find cited material with the Bible books the citations are associated with.
Scripture quotations [unless otherwise noted] are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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