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James 4

James 4 Summary, Context, and Full Chapter

James 4 confronts the inner desires that fuel conflict, pride, and double-minded living. It calls believers to submit to God, resist the devil, and approach the Lord with humility. The chapter also warns against judging others and planning with self-confidence instead of depending on God's will.

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What happens in James 4?

The chapter begins by tracing quarrels and fighting back to unfulfilled desires and wrong motives. James warns that friendship with the world puts a person in opposition to God, but also points to God's greater grace for the humble. He then calls believers to submit to God, resist evil, and draw near through repentance and cleansing. The passage also forbids slander and judgment of others, reminding readers that God alone is Judge. It closes by challenging boastful plans for the future and urging obedience to what is already known to be right.

James 4 continues the letter's practical teaching on wise, faithful living under God. After warning about speech, wisdom, and behavior in earlier chapters, this section focuses on the root causes behind conflict and self-centered planning. It prepares readers for the closing chapter by pressing for humility, repentance, and daily dependence on the Lord.

Themes to notice

  • HumilityGod resists pride but gives grace to those who lower themselves before him.
  • Godly dependenceBelievers are told to submit to God, seek his help, and speak with if the Lord wills in mind.
  • Right conductThe chapter warns against quarrels, slander, judgment, and ignoring known good.

Questions for James 4

  • What does James say is behind conflicts and quarrels among believers?
  • How does this chapter describe the difference between pride and humility before God?
  • What changes when a person plans with an awareness of the Lord's will?

Read the full text of James 4 below, then open it in the reader to highlight, take notes, or ask follow-up Bible questions. No account is required to read.

James 4

A Warning against Pride

1What causes conflicts and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from the passions at war within you?2You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask.3And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.4You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.5Or do you think the Scripture says without reason that the Spirit He caused to dwell in us yearns with envy?

6But He gives us more grace. This is why it says:

“God opposes the proud,

but gives grace to the humble.”

Drawing Near to God

7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.8Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.9Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom.10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.

11Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. And if you judge the law, you are not a practitioner of the law, but a judge of it.12There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Do Not Boast about Tomorrow

13Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.”14You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.15Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.”16As it is, you boast in your proud intentions. All such boasting is evil.17Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do, yet fails to do it, is guilty of sin.

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