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December 20, 2025 |
| We Will Go to a City | ||
In his book, James speaks of a hypothetical person saying he will go to a city for a year and earn money. Most people understand him to be saying we shouldn't make such confident statements, but they are unable to apply that in their lives. The reason is that they don't understand the basic principle. Therefore they do something different from James' example, which is exactly the same kind of thing James said not to do.
In this study, we will look at the context of what James is saying there, which includes more verses than people realize. We will see the basic principle.
The verse we've been discussing is James 4:13, but James begins his point, actually his points, back at verse 9, and the context continues through verse 16.
Be humble and make lamentation and let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to grief. (James 4:9)
The key to our passage is these first two words, "be humble." James will be speaking about humility.
He also instructs us to lament. To lament is to express grief, to mourn, or to regret deeply. Then he expands that to change from laughter and joy to mourning and grief. We aren't ready to understand what he is saying yet, so we'll come back to this.
Be humble before the Lord Yahweh, and he will exalt you. (James 4:10)
James uses the key words again, "Be humble."
This is a commonly quoted verse, but it is taken out of its context and becomes, "If I want to be exalted, which I very much do, then I have to make myself be humble or at least as humble as I can be." Or sometimes it becomes, "I'm humble; why hasn't God exalted me yet?" Neither of those attitudes is humble.
James means we should be humble, not because we expect to gain something by it, but because being humble has its own blessings. In his own time, but maybe not in this life, God will exalt those who are humble.
Do not speak against each other, my brethren, for he who speaks against his brother or judges his brother speaks against the Law (Torah), and judges the Law; if you judge the Law, you are not a doer of the law, but its judge. (James 4:11)
Most people read this and think that James has moved on to another topic. He hasn't. This is the first of two examples about being humble. In this one, he says do not judge your brother in the faith.
People always misunderstand what the Bible means when it says, "Judge not." Fake Christians use it to mean, "Don't tell me I'm doing wrong." But the Apostle Paul, who also said, "Judge not," describes a process for a person in the church to tell a brother he is doing wrong and to kick him out if he persists.
The problem here is translation. Our word "judge" has many meanings, which include:
In our legal system, there are three sequential phases: weighing the evidence, pronouncing the verdict, and specifying the judgment. It was not that way in Bible times. Justice was much swifter. The judge would do all three in one session. So, when the Bible says "judge," it is referring to the whole process.
So we are not to judge as though we were God, but we can judge who is included in our assembly.
Having said "don't speak against each other," James explains to us how God sees that. He says that speaking against a brother is the same as judging a brother, and to do that is to judge the law, God's law. You've put yourself above the law. Now we get to James' point: a humble man would not make himself a judge over God's law.
One is he who lays down the Law and judgment, who is able to give life and to destroy. Who are you who are judging your neighbor? (James 4:12)
James elaborates his point. In the process, he supports the explanation I provided above. He speaks about the judgment phase, "to give life and to destroy." Only God does this, says James. Who do you think you are that you would do that?
James expands the scope from what he said before, "brother," to "neighbor." We shouldn't be judging unbelievers that way either. A humble man would not do that.
But what shall we say about those who say: "Today or tomorrow we shall go to a city, where we shall also work one year; there we shall earn wages and make profits?" 14 and they do not know what tomorrow is. What are our lives except a vapor that appears for a little while and vanishes and passes away? (James 4:13-14)
James moves into his second example of humility, where he calls out people who, unwittingly, claim to know the future. He says they do not even know what tomorrow will bring. They don't even know if they will live … and they are powerless to do anything about that or anything else that will happen.
A humble man would not make such a statement.
Therefore, they should say, "If the Lord Yahweh pleases, and we live, we shall do this or that." (James 4:15)
James isn't giving us words to say. This is only an example of how we can speak humbly when speaking about the future.
They boast in their pride. All such boasting is evil. (James 4:16)
James now connects back to the first verse, but instead of using "humble," he uses its opposite, "pride."
He summarizes the people from both of his examples. Pride → Boasting → Evil. Pride leads to boasting, which is evil.
Be humble and make lamentation and let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to grief. (James 4:9)
We can now come back to our first verse as well. We can laugh and be joyful for many reasons. James is speaking about laughing and being joyful as a result of our pride. For example, "Hah! Hah! Yes, we will travel there and make much money."
James gave us two examples of people who lacked humility. Their pride led them to do evil with the words they spoke.
The people in the first example were judging in the place of God and declaring the sentences for people whom they had judged as having done wrong. James says these people have raised themselves from being a person who does (obeys) the law to being a judge of the law. Only God judges that way. A humble person wouldn't do that.
In the second example, we saw people who spoke of the future as though they knew what would happen. Again these people have raised themselves to the level of God.
We live in a culture that lacks humility. The people regularly predict the future. When we hear that all day, it is natural to begin to speak and think that way. We need to be careful about that.