This morning I felt like reading the Letter of James to the Twelve Tribes scattered among the nations. I add that note, because that does actually help with context and understanding when reading his letter. He is writing to fellow Christians who were also Jewish. This is a different dynamic then that of Paul who was often writing to churches that were primarily Gentile, or a solid mix of Gentile and Jew. This fact doesn't seem to matter much in the particular verses that I am reflecting on this morning, but in general it is always important to understand context. As one of my pastor friends said, the three most important things in understanding scriptures are context, context and context. With that introduction, here are the verses I am reflecting upon this morning - James 4:7-10 NIV:
[7] "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [8] Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. [9] Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. [10] Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."
I love the first three sentences in these verses. We are given three actions, and solid promises based on those actions.
Actions:
1) Submit yourselves to God.
2) Resist the devil.
3) Come near to God.
Promises:
1) the devil will flee from you
2) God will come near to you!
That is an excellent summary of a life strategy for those of us who want to be close to God.
James continues into more specifics, and these are very pointed. Wash your hands you sinners. Purify your hearts you double-minded. As fellow believers, we understand that the way to wash our hands of sin, is to bathe them in Blood of Jesus (Matt 26:28, Eph 1:7 and Heb. 9:22), through confession ad forgiveness - see James 5:15-16).
The second direction, to 'purify your hearts you double-minded', at first reading seems to make no sense to me. We have scriptures where Jesus talks about loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30 & Luke 10:27) and in that encouragement from Jesus, differentiates between heart and mind, yet here we have James prescribing action on one which then is affecting the other. Looking at the original Greek, the word James used that has been translated heart is the Greek word Kardia. Its definition is pretty straight-forward and it means both the physical heart (the organ that pumps blood) and the center of the person from a spiritual perspective. One of the secondary definitions says it this way- 1) the centre and seat of spiritual life A) the soul or mind, as it is the fountain and seat of the thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes, endeavours. The word James used that has been translated double-minded is the Greek word Dipsuchos which is basically a compound word made up of Dis - meaning twice, and Psuche, meaning the the soul, the seat of the feelings, desires, affections, aversions (our heart, soul etc.). So, effectively, although it is translated in English double-minded, we could just as easily translate it double -hearted, double-souled or maybe split-affections.
With that refined definition, we can see that James is really addressing those that are trying to walk the fence, having a foot in the world and foot in the Body of Christ, and split in their mind, heart and affections between the two. A bit earlier (James 4:4), he called those that tried to maintain friendship with the world and with Christ, adulterous people. He is calling for them to purify themselves, or to choose one over the other and be done. Purity of heart is the equivalent of having one love, one over-riding affection. The Greek word translated purify is the word Hagnizo and it means to cleanse, to make clean ceremonially, or to purify. I believe this could be accomplished by deciding to choose the Lord, over the competing affections. Hagnizo is closely related to another Greek word that would be translated set apart or sanctified, and they have the same basic root. I don't think we would be far off base to say James is encouraging us to choose to separate ourselves from the other.
Continuing, James gives an interesting charge to His recipients, that they should, "Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom." This seems a bit strange, but in essence it appears to be a call to repentance. This would clearly be appropriate if one was confronted with one's friendship with the world, as causing separation from God. Sometimes, especially when we are blinded to our true condition, we think we are doing just fine, when in reality we need a serious course correction. No one is so lost as the person who is, but doesn't think they are!
Finally, James calls his listeners to humility, to bowing before the Lord! The word he used here is best defined as to bring down one's soul or one's pride; to have a modest opinion of one's self; to behave in an unassuming manner; devoid of all haughtiness. Humility is always a good thing before the Lord, for when we compare ourselves to Him, we should seem as a speck compared to a mountain, yet somehow pride lives within us easily. Thinking that we have things under control, or that we understand life, our purpose, or have a plan, are all forms of pride in the face of an all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful God. If we look to Him and bow before His Lordship, He will lift us up! What an encouragement! The Greek word is Hupsoo and it means to lift up on high, to exalt even! I like to think that this means that we get to participate in His glorification before men. I also believe it has to do with receiving God's favor and blessing.
So today, I am encouraged to submit myself to God, to resist the devil, to draw near to God, and to do so in humility. He promises to come near to me, to cause the devil to flee, and to lift me up! I will take God up on those promises any day and every day!
Amen!
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