“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
It is not enough to “cleanse” our hands; we must “purify” our “hearts.”
and purify your hearts,
“Purify” is a different word than “cleanse” of the previous clause. The idea is to cleanse from defilement, […]
Archive for December, 2000
“Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.”
This verse contains five of 10 commands in a series. This verse calls us to repentance and hits a very sober note.
Lament
We now come to the 6th of 10 commands – “lament.” The word “lament” means to suffer […]
“Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.”
and mourn
The 7th command is “morn.” “Mourn” means to be sad, grieve. The idea is to suffer sadness or grief as the result of depressing circumstances. “Mourning” implies deep contrition, deep remorse. The idea is that we feel […]
“Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.”
and weep!
The 8th command is to “weep.” “Weep” means to wail, to bewail. The emphasis on this word is upon noise. Weeping is the outward expression of sorrow.
Ac 20: 37 “Then they all wept freely, and fell on […]
“Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.”
Let your laughter be turned to mourning
The 9th command has to do with change. The Greek word “be turned” means to turn around, return, to change the form. The idea of this word is to change our lives […]
“Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.”
and your joy to gloom
James does not condemn legitimate joy but flippant joy in a time when we should seriously come under conviction for our sin. It is evident from 1:2 and 5:13 that God desires that we experience […]
“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”
We now come to the 10th divine directive – “humble yourselves.”
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord,
James again takes up the subject of humility (4:6). The word “humble” means to make low, bring low. We make ourselves low when we […]
“Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.”
James now turns from personal and interpersonal conflict to the subject […]
“Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.”
To correct the problem of derogatory speech about others, James asks […]
“Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.”
and judges his brother,
Slander and judgment go hand-in-hand. These sins are […]