Page 44 - book_james

Jas 4:2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and
war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

Ye lust (epithumeia: have a strong desire for the good or bad, an insatiable desire for the
things of life), and have not: ye kill (murder), and desire to have (covet), and cannot obtain:
ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

Verse 1 tells us that what these people are lusting and coveting after are their own
pleasures instead of seeking after the things of God. To seek after self‐gratification without
the Word or the help of the Spirit of God is a never‐ending cycle.
The act of “killing” here is figurative and is the same thing Jesus talked about in Matthew
5:22, 28. The hatred in the heart becomes the murder and adultery God sees. The inward
thoughts and meditations are as bad as the outward acts in the eyes of God. This is what
James discussed here in verse 1 where fightings and wars were erupting in the members of
the congregation.

The more the people covet, the more they cannot obtain because they are doing all of this
outside of the Lord’s will. They face failure and frustration but refuse to change their
attitudes. This results in fighting and warring among the members of the congregation.
Instead of turning to God in their situation, they continue to strive in themselves to obtain
spiritual satisfaction and possessions.

If they would come to God under the right circumstances, they would have what they are
asking for and peace at the same time because the blessings of the Lord makes rich and
adds no sorrow with it. “You ask not” indicates a condition of utter prayerlessness. In their
desire for things, they never considered the rights of others or God’s conditions for
answered prayer (Matthew 7:7).

Jas 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your
lusts.

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume (dapanesete) it upon
your lusts.

There are many reasons for unanswered prayer, and this is a major one. Many of the people
in James’s congregation were praying with a wrong motive. Christians who are out of
fellowship, in unbelief, or living with unforgiveness in their hearts and homes can pray, but
these prayers will not be answered.

Praying to heap the results on one’s fleshly desires is also praying in vain. The Greek word
for consume (dapanesete) is the same word used of the prodigal son who wasted all of his
inheritance on his own lusts (Luke 15:14). Lusts crowd in on our relationship with God. God
wants first a relationship with us, not just to answer our prayers.

B. A Rebuke for the Condition of the Church

Jas 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is
enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.