James 4:5Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Therefore it is also said: "God resists the proud" (v. 6). He rises against them for their madness, as against Satan, who before all others became diseased with pride.

"But He gives grace to the humble." That is, He pours forth spiritual gifts upon those who strive to humble themselves for God's sake.

Above, the brother of God spoke of adulterers and adulteresses. He said that they and those like them, that is, those who walk in fleshly and shameful pleasures, are friends of the world and enemies of God. Then he brings forward the meaning of a saying in which divine Scripture speaks about the adulterous and unbridled giants before the flood: "My Spirit shall not remain in these men forever, because they are flesh" (Gen 6:3).

Does it seem to you, Christians, that holy Scripture speaks vainly and idly when it says that the spirit, that is, the soul that dwells in us, desires and longs for adultery, fornication, and the other pleasures of the flesh? So also those ancient giants before the flood desired. It is written of them: "The sons of God," that is, the descendants of Seth and Enosh, who were called God's, "saw the daughters of men," that is, the descendants of Cain, "that they were fair, and they took wives for themselves from all whom they chose" (Gen 6:2).

No, do not let it seem to you that Scripture says this idly and falsely. It speaks truly and to the point. Those giants gave themselves to passions and pleasures to such an extent that their soul, though immaterial and spiritual, became almost material and fleshly. Therefore God inclined not to leave His spirit in them, that is, the soul created by the Holy Spirit, but to put them to death through that universal flood.

So also now the soul that dwells in us desires fleshly pleasures. Why? "To envy," that is, because of the envy of the devil, which the accursed one showed against man from the beginning. This abominable one envied man's dignity, deceived him by evil counsel, and forced him to transgress God's commandment and taste of the beautiful fruit of the forbidden tree.

By this counsel he separated him from the noetic enjoyment of divine and spiritual things, and cast him down into love for sensory and bodily pleasures. Thus he pushed rational man, who was in the image and likeness of God, toward likeness to irrational beasts. Alas!

This all-wicked one killed the soul, separated man from life-giving grace and God's commandments, and enslaved him to all corruptible passions and forms of evil. In the end he also killed the body. He did this only and solely from his envy, as it is written: "Through the envy of the devil death entered into the world" (Wis 2:24).

But God, taking pity on man's extreme wretchedness, sent His Only-begotten Son into the world. He became Man, suffered, was crucified, died, and rose again. Thus, through the divine economy of the Incarnation and through Baptism, He gave the greatest grace and power to every Christian. He gave it so that each might resist the proud devil and conquer the fleshly pleasures which he brings, by keeping the holy and life-giving commandments of God.

Thus the Christian who resists and wages war against the devil conquers the passions and desires of the flesh. Through this victory he is humbled, ascribing everything concerning this victory to God. Such a one receives greater grace and power, so that he may attain other higher and greater virtues, as the writer of Proverbs says: "The Lord resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

The wise and ever-memorable former Metropolitan Gabriel of Petersburg interprets this saying of James in the same meaning, in his commentary on the seven catholic Epistles. That God has given every Christian much greater power and grace than Adam had is testified by the divine Augustine, who says: "Did Adam not have the grace of God? On the contrary, he had great grace, though of a different kind. He remained in the good received from the goodness of his Creator, for he had not prepared such a good for himself by his merits, a good in which he would not suffer any evil at all. But those saints to whom the grace of deliverance belongs remain in this life in evil, from which they cry to God: 'Deliver us from evil' (Mt 6:13). What grace is stronger than the Only-begotten Son of God, equal and coeternal with the Father, becoming man for their sake and being crucified by sinful men, though He Himself had no sin, neither ancestral nor personal?" This is from On Rebuke and Grace.

So as not to grieve lovers of the word and those who inquire, we bring here the interpretations of several Fathers on this saying. Cyril of Alexandria says: "If death entered the world through the envy of the devil (Wis 2:24), and if Christ, according to the Scripture, dwelt in our inner man (Eph 3:16-17), then He dwelt in order to abolish the death that came from envy. But He grants not only this, but also greater grace. 'I came,' He says, 'that they may have life, and have it abundantly' (Jn 10:10). That God dwelt in us because of His great love for us was clearly expressed by the prophet when he said that neither an Angel nor a mediator, but the Lord Himself will save us (Is 33:22), according to His love for us and His care for us. How, then, did the Savior grant greater grace? By overthrowing our plotter, Satan. Therefore it is added: 'God resists the proud.' For how is he not proud who cries out: 'I will grasp the whole world with my hand as a nest, and I will take it as abandoned eggs, and there is none who will escape me' (Is 10:14)? And again: 'I will set my throne above the stars of heaven. I will be like the Most High' (Is 14:13-14)." This is according to Theophylact.

Saint Metrophanes gives an interpretation almost in agreement with ours. He says the following: if you wish to have friendship with the world, O Christians, know that this is enmity against God, and it will bring you sufferings. It is one thing when this occurs from your own inattention, and another when it comes from the envy of the devil. He desires to possess the spirit dwelling in you, that is, the noetic soul, so as to make it subject and enslaved to himself through adulteries, fornication, and other fleshly enjoyments, by inserting their provocations.

Yet he, as if unwillingly, provokes Christians to receive greater grace. The attentive receive it when they resist the provocations, assaults, and incitements of the envious originator of evil. He also brings testimony from Scripture, from the book of Proverbs: "The Lord resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." By this the brother of God says, as it were: my Christian brethren, do not fear the devil's envy and his evil devices. You have as Co-worker and Helper in the invisible warfare against the enemy the Lord of spirits and God.

Since God resists and subjects to warfare all the proud, and gives grace to the humble, how much more does He resist the proudest of the proud, the devil, who boasts and lifts up his head against God Almighty. Therefore the Lord Himself resists him and fights with you. To you He gives grace and power, so that you may conquer his devices and deceits.

Metrophanes cites this saying of Saint James in his interpretation of the verse: "And the serpent said to the woman: Why has God said, You shall not eat from every tree of paradise?" and so on (Gen 3:1). He also cites this saying in his interpretation of the verse from the prophet Zechariah about Jesus son of Jozadak: "and the devil stood at his right hand to oppose him" (Zech 3:1).

The most wise Theophylact, together with Oecumenius, says that the false teachers of whom divine James spoke were proud of their wisdom, presenting an unreal teaching as words of truth. Therefore the brother of the Lord says: if you desire instruction also from Scripture, then listen: "The Lord resists the proud." If He resists the proud, and we usually resist enemies, then the proud must undoubtedly be counted among enemies. Scripture does not command us what is impossible vainly, groundlessly, or from envy. Rather, it strongly desires that grace dwell in us through its exhortations.

Therefore, if you are obedient to Scripture, humble yourselves before God and receive grace through exaltation from Him. Pride is malice swollen to the utmost, but it differs from conceit. Pride exalts itself over those subject to it, while conceit exalts itself over what does not exist at all.

Modesty also differs from humility. Modesty, or humility, directly opposed to pride, is a great good. Since both exist in us according to our free choice, everyone who exalts himself through pride is already condemned and is humbled by the Lord. But the one who has humbled himself through modesty He exalts in due time, for the very practice of humility raises the one who has acquired it to spiritual height.

Pride is evil exalted to the end, and it differs from conceit. If pride is exalted by the gifts a person has, then conceit is exalted by what he does not have. Thus conceit is a worse passion than vainglory and pride. It is born from the root of all evils, self-love.

If one understands the human spirit, which impels man toward envy, or in Russian, to love even to jealousy, then the cited passage is equivalent to: "The thought of man is diligently inclined to evil from his youth" (Gen 6:5; Gen 8:21).

In that case, however, the preceding verse is difficult to connect with the following one: "But He gives greater grace."

If, however, one understands the Holy Spirit, who has dwelt in Christians, then it fits the course of thought much better to imply Theos here. Instead of katokesen one should read, with the Sinaitic manuscript and some editions, katokisen, "He caused to dwell."

This will be equivalent to the expression, "He breathed into his face the breath of life" (Gen 2:7).

With this reading, which most corresponds to the Apostle's thought, the meaning of the passage presented will be this: you love the world and think to divide your love for God with the world.

But do you not know that God, who caused the breath of life to dwell in man, is jealous? With jealousy He demands man's love for Himself. And the more He demands this love, the more grace He gives man.

But if anyone resists Him, remains unyielding and proud, God is angry with him (compare Deut 6:5, 15; Ezek 23:25).

On this reading, the expression "Scripture says" (v. 5) refers to the quotation in verse 6: "God resists the proud," and so on.

That is, after writing the customary formula for citing Old Testament Scripture, "Scripture says," the Apostle again inserts his own strong saying. It explains the scriptural words cited below: "He loves the spirit to jealousy," and so on.

After this he cites the exact words of Scripture: "God resists the proud," and so on, with the repeated citation formula, "Therefore it says" (v. 6). This is because the cited words do not immediately follow the earlier citation formula, "Scripture says" (v. 5).

There are examples of similar interruptions in citations of Old Testament sayings; compare Rom 11:2-3.

As for the meaning of the saying itself, "He loves the spirit to jealousy," the most correct translation of the whole saying seems to be this: "God loves, even to jealousy, the spirit that dwells in us."

This means the human spirit, which He breathed into man (Gen 2:7). Yet He gives it greater grace if this human spirit itself strongly strives toward Him and not toward the world.