James 1:8). Certainly "love" requires us to speak truth, even when it is difficult to do so. One can be a Christian and yet not be close to God. Cleanse your hands specifies what is to be done, and ye sinners designates to whom the demand applies. God’s omnipresence is, and the penitent heart is its own priest, able to offer an acceptable incense. But under the new dispensation, the holy of holies is wherever. He here addresses all those who were alienated from God and he does not refer to two sorts of men, but he calls the same sinners and double-minded Nor does he understand every kind of sinners, but the wicked and those of a corrupt life. In Titus 2:12, Paul writes of the grace of God training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, that is, to deny what the self desires.Self-denial requires genuine humility in submission, or it is merely a counterfeit. There were few real answers, mostly blaming it on the ultra conservative people that are legalistic in their manner, which in turn puts people off. The scriptural commentary presented here is based on books of scripture recognized by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, so you'll see scriptures from several books like the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, etc. God wants to draw near to us! ◄ James 4:8 ► Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. The priests before they ministered at the altar, and the people before they prayed, always washed their hands, thus intimating the purity with which we ought to approach God. Douglas J. Moo, in his commentary on James, writes about the background of the epistle: “The epistle of James has had a controversial history.Along with 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, and Jude, it belongs to that category of New Testament epistles called ‘general’ or ‘catholic’ (in the sense of ‘universal’) (See catholic epistles). James 4:9, ESV: "Be wretched and mourn and weep.Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom." God can be approached by imperfect people, and God draws near to sinners who willing to humble themselves. (Luke 7:39.) "purify your hearts"-Without the purification of the heart, cleaning up the outward actions is vain. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. And to break God's commands, is to speak evil of them, and to judge them, as if they laid too great a restraint upon us. Johnson says: “If we wish God very near to us we must seek to dwell very near to him.” Wash your hands. Note, James has a tremendous amount of love for these brethren, but there at times when love must speak plainly. James 4:8. , : here, again, we have what to Christian ears sounds rather like a reversal of the order of things; we should expect the order to be that expressed in such words as, “Ye did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). When we have been in the realm of the Devil awhile, and we turn toward God it brings us to the shocking realization of whom and what God is and how far from Him we have wondered. | 245 views. Cancel. The epithets ‘sinners’ and ‘double-minded’ refer not to different, but to the same class of persons. We hold to both commands simultaneously. We have already been told how to draw near to God, that is by humbling ourselves, and placing our selves completely under His authority. Barnabas xix. See Acts 21:24. Don’t allow pride to make you think you are above the law and beyond God’s reach. And further, to draw nigh to God was necessary before they could set themselves in array under his authority, so that there is a connection between this verse and the former: the ultimate object, stated first, was submission to God, and to be under his protection; and all that follows was necessary for that purpose. Then said I, Here [am] I send me.". Draw nigh to God—So "cleave unto Him," De 30:20, namely, by prayerfully (Jas 4:2, 3) "resisting Satan," who would oppose our access to God. "Cleanse your hands"-a figurative expression which means to cleanse yourselves (Isaiah 1:15; Psalms 24:4; 1 Timothy 2:8). Used here, 1 Peter 1:22. ‘Cleanse your hands.’ The hands were the means by which men performed their actions. 3. for I am undone; because I [am] a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. Bible Verses, Quotes, Christian Answers, Songs and More. 7, .— : Cf.Hosea 10:2, and in addition to the passages referred to above, James 1:8, cf. Some of these Jews were “Zealots.” See note on Mark 15:7. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. And notice that we have the obligation to clean up our own hearts, for in the end, I"m the only one who can really change my attitudes and motives (2 Corinthians 7:1; Romans 12:1). 2:22; 1Пет. двоедушные См. Commentary. "Christianity is not just a way of putting on an act or a front; it is a matter of the heart" (Draper p. 126). The Sin of Partiality. .—God waiteth to be gracious (Isaiah 30:18). But what some cavil at, and say, that God’s grace is secondary to our preparation, and as it were the waiting-maid, is only frivolous; for we know that it is no new thing that he adds now to former graces and thus enriches more and more those to whom he has already given much. The concept of self-denial is at the heart of Paul's teaching on submission to God: We have died with Christ and must sacrifice our lives for Him. James 4:8 Parallel Verses [⇓ See commentary ⇓] James 4:8, NIV: "Come near to God and he will come near to you.Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." James 4:8. The order in the following verse, the eighth, is worthy of notice, as an example of what is very common in Scripture. How Do I Humble Myself? Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." In vain does the wild guerilla imagine that his sanguinary deeds are done in the divine behalf and winning the divine favour. "A man who cleanses the outside and leaves the inside impure is a double-minded man" (Draper p. 126). Look at the hope found in this verse! For a doubleminded man is unstable in all his ways (James 1:8). Change Language {{#items}} {{local_title}} Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. But as God stands on our side, there is no reason to fear succumbing. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. It is a most excellent, yea, an essential means of nourishing the new nature, and of causing the soul to. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Greek. Cleanse therefore your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. The beauty of the Bible is found in its simplicity. Sin is serious business, a fact that many believers have not come in contact with. Bible scholars conclude that James might have coined this word. The Hebrew phrase is a technical term for approaching God for the purpose of worship, e.g., Exodus 19:22; Jeremiah 30:21; Ezekiel 44:13. James does not sugar coat the wrong, nor does he pull any punches on the way in which the problems must be corrected. We clean them by confession and repentance. Scripture: James 4:8. by Grant Richison | Nov 29, 2000 | James | 15 comments, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Lets reread those two passages and contemplate them in the coming days - some serious implications for believers today in our world. In vain does the wild guerilla imagine that his sanguinary deeds are done in the divine behalf and winning the divine favour. 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and [your] joy to heaviness. In Titus 2:12, Paul writes of the grace of God training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, that is, to deny what the self desires.Self-denial requires genuine humility in submission, or it is merely a counterfeit. This verse also indicates a voluntary action on the part of man. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. We must remove sin from our hands and duplicity from our hearts. ‘Purify your hearts.’ This emphasises the need for them to be cleansed within, in the inner man, which is responsible for men’s thoughts (Mark 7:21-23). Cleanse your hands-purify your hearts; be outwardly and inwardly pure. 1 John 3:3, in a spiritual sense. (A)Wash your hands,(B)you sinners, and purify your hearts,(C)you double-minded. (133). But if any one concludes from this passage, that the first part of the work belongs to us, and that afterwards the grace of God follows, the Apostle meant no such thing; for though we ought to do this, yet it does [not] immediately follow that we can. Verse 8 continues ten commands to believers. Version. Bible Language English. They are to cleanse their hands by letting go of all that has defiled them and walking in the will of the Father (compare Isaiah 1:16; Psalms 26:6), and purify their hearts by fixing them firmly on God (see 1 John 3:3) and obeying the truth (1 Peter 1:22), no longer being doubleminded. of the Twelve Patriarchs, Dan. "you double-minded"-"divided in interest" (Thayer p. 153). 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? That he separates himself from evil ways and evil companions, and devotes himself to God. 18:31; 36:25, 26; 1Тим. Cleanse … hands—the outward instruments of action. David Mathis Feb 19, 2020 6.6K Shares Article. For what is your life? Come near toGod. 8.Draw nigh—The reverse of resist. Purify your heart from the love of creatures, so that your affections be not divided betwixt God and this world, like persons of two minds (3) or two souls. I would like to repeat the previous verse with the next two. They are tied up in it so closely that they don"t recognize error when they commit it. “You must get rid of those evil desires and bad motives which make you act in such contradictory ways!” See James 3:9-12. 6:5 "Then said I, Woe [is] me! It seems he is serious about people that are not doing well with the Lord, correcting their problem. Anyway, there was little of value in the thread except the observation that it was clearly true, we as believers look like the world. Few Are the Plans of Many The Wisdom in Scheduling Well. The cleansing of the hands therefore indicates the cleansing of their personal, practical behaviour. If there is sin in your church there ought to be some of this humbling and purifying, and seriousness rather than the usual, "Sorry bud, didn"t mean nuttin by it bro!" For when he bids us to draw nigh to God, that we may know him to be near to us, he intimates that we are destitute of his grace, because we withdraw from him. The friend of the world can be simply a person who has compromised, someone wavering between God and the world. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. 1:22). Single-mindedness involves singleness of purpose, namely, living for the glory of God rather than for both God"s glory and our own selfish desires (cf. Cleanse [your] hands, [ye] sinners; and purify [your] hearts, [ye] double minded. "Draw near to God"-"come near, approach" (Thayer p. 164). A large number of the Christians had left *Jerusalem and had goneto live in other countries. Cleanse [your] hands, [ye] sinners; and purify [your] hearts, [ye] double minded. Scripture: James 4:10, 1 Peter 5:6, 2 Chronicles 32:26. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. They think they know the future, so they play God. In short, James meant no other thing in this passage, than that God is never wanting to us, except when we alienate ourselves from him. It is not only an outward amendment of life, but its beginning is the cleansing of the heart. James 4:8 - Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. To purify means to remove all mixture of evil desires, and the heart can be thus purified only "by [the] faith" Acts 15:9. These things thus set down, in the last place we are taught how we should draw near to God, which the apostle expresseth in these words: Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. How many of us think that simply stopping the outward sin is an adequate level of repentance? To draw near to God we must go through a purification process reminiscent of what the priests in Israel underwent. 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and [your] joy to heaviness. But under the new dispensation, the holy of holies is wherever God’s omnipresence is, and the penitent heart is its own priest, able to offer an acceptable incense. Alternately it might be saying, ‘do not just wash your hands, make sure that you wash your hearts as well’, but that weakens the statement and does not really fit in with the pattern which is of continual positive action in response to God’s commands. for I am undone; because I [am] a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. James 4:8 NIV • James 4:8 NLT • James 4:8 ESV • James 4:8 NASB • James 4:8 KJV • James 4:8 Interlinear • James 4:8 Commentaries • James 4:8 Parallel Texts • James 4:8 Bible Apps • James 4:8 Parallel • Bible Hub “Worship God with your life, with a deep sense of his holiness and justice, deal with others as he deals with you, and he will bless and assist you in your efforts to serve him! Draw nigh to God - so "cleave unto Him" (Deuteronomy 30:20): namely, by prayerfully (James 4:2-3) 'resisting Satan,' who opposes our access to God. James 1:16 we have, , , and in Sirach 38:10, , . Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.". Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. He is like one who brings the hungry to a table and the thirsty to a fountain. We couldn"t possibly want to love God as much as he loves us" (Draper p. 125). There is this difference, that our steps must be guided and sustained by the Lord, for our feet fail us. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. 3. 6 But he giveth more grace. Purify your hearts, [ hagnisate (Greek #48)] - make chaste of spiritual adultery (James 4:4; James 1:1-27 :e., worldliness) your hearts, the inward source of all impurity. True conversion, real change, is a real possibility. (8) Draw nigh to God . The regular order would be, Purify your hearts, cleanse your hands, draw nigh to God, and be subject to him. Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. "Hands is an appropriate metaphor for outward activity, just as hearts in the next clause…refers to inward thoughts and attitudes" (Kent p. 150). Feb 19, 2020. These letters were sent out as circular epistles to be passed around and read in several locations. and purify your hearts. The drawing nigh to God was ritually symbolized by the approach of the people, and especially the priests, to Jehovah in the holy of holies. Draw nigh to God - Approach Him, in the name of Jesus, by faith and prayer, and he will draw nigh to you - he will meet you at your coming. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. 1, 2 which runs, “And now, fear the Lord, my children, and beware of Satan and his spirits. "Let your laughter" is in the passive, thus the turning is a result of the mourning and weeping - the turning to God seems to bring some automatic changes. James 4:8 Context 5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? ", Isaiah 6:5 "Then said I, Woe [is] me! 8. The person who tries to get the best-for self out of the world and the best-for self out of Christianity at the same time. They see the value of Christianity, but they still want to flirt with sin. Reflection / Devotion / Commentary Monday, October 12, 2015. But the *apostles and leaders of the church did notgo. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Kind of seems James has something on his mind here. ν ἐν ἀθῴοις τὰς χεῖράς μοÏ, καθάρισον τὴν καρδίαν σου ἀπὸ τῆς διψυχίας, Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers. It is also necessary on the other hand that the fruits of inward repentance should appear in the brightness of our works. 8Draw nigh to God. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners. The main thing is first stated, to draw nigh to God: and then the things which are previously necessary, to cleanse their hands and to purify their hearts — an allusion probably to the practice among the priests of the law, of washing themselves before they engaged in the service of the temple. Sin is so every day that most people don"t realize what sin is. We should be the light of the world, light to show forth the desperate plight of the world. When we do, He will draw near to us. пояснение к 1:8. No person is accused nor even specifically admonished except the guilty ones. "We couldn"t possibly want to be close to God as much as he wants to be close to us. “Worship God with your life, with a deep sense of his holiness and justice, deal with others as he deals with you, and he will bless and assist you in your efforts to serve him! Knowing that when we draw near to God, God is drawing near to us, and God wants and earnestly desires our love and dedication. This isn"t the normal feel good, get fuzzy type teaching that we hear today. James 4:8 Parallel. James 4:7-10. He will draw nigh - propitious. There is not much difference in the two words here rendered ‘cleansing’ and ‘purifying:’ the former is freedom from stain or blemish, the latter is consecrated or set apart. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Four Seasons Of Life Part 2 Series. 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