James 4:1 – “Freedom”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹Where [do] wars and where [do] battles among you [come] from? [Do they] not [come] from here – out of your pleasures which are soldiering among your members?

Well, it’s time to get back to James. As I think I noted back in chapter 3, this is one of those places where I’m afraid the chapter division is misleading. The fact that we’ve “moved on” to chapter 4 implies that James is taking up a new subject. I don’t think so. He just got done comparing the effects of worldly wisdom versus heavenly wisdom and concluded with the profound statement, “The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by ones making peace.” He now asks the question, “Where do all these wars and battles among us come from?” Peace is a wonderful thing – why do we see so little of it?

I think it notable to consider to whom James is speaking. There are a lot of opinions but I find it really hard to believe he’s speaking to anyone but believers. They are particularly Jewish believers but believers nonetheless. The book is addressed (1:1) “to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations” and then to (2:1) “my brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ ...” In 5:14, he will say, “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church …” Whatever James says is applying specifically to believers and he is talking about what goes on in their lives, in their relationships in their families and their churches.

This is important because he isn’t necessarily talking about international politics or corporate policies. It is hermeneutically indefensible to use this passage to promote pacifism. One may maintain it is true that all wars and battles, even internationally, are the result of lusts and therefore wrong. But that would be an extrapolation from this passage, which is specifically addressing believers in their relationships with one another. In fact, the Lord Himself specifically says that governments “do not bear the sword in vain,” and that one of their legitimate functions is to protect their people (Romans 13:4). Nowhere was this legitimate function of government ever seen more clearly than in World War II. Both Germany and Japan had evil intentions to cruelly dominate the entire world and they would have succeeded had not our government risen up and fought against them. Not one bomb was ever dropped on the continental United States, not one bullet fired here, but only because there was literally a human wall that stood between them and us. To take this passage and any other and teach that all war is wrong would be to rob our government and our military of this very important and necessary service.

It is also important to note James is speaking to believers because he really is speaking to believers when he asks this question, “From whence come wars and fightings among you?” Yes, it is true. Wars and fightings go on between believers and in churches. Anyone who’s been a Christian for more than ten or twenty seconds won’t find that statement incredible. American churches in particular are typically consumed with their own wars and fights, much to their utter disgrace in the community. Believers are often known, not for their love to one another (John 13:35), but rather for their constant and bitter feuding.

I would suggest part of the problem is that “religion” brings out a supposed sense of “right” that we think needs to be defended. When believers are embroiled in their in-fighting either side will be quite sure they’re “right.” If they hear James ask, “Where are these wars and battles coming from?” they would reply, “From our zeal for the Lord!” Johnstone noted, “For a century and a half after the beginning of the Reformation, almost every war in Europe, whether civil or international, was partly due, and many were due almost solely, to differences of view regarding religion.” As James already warned us, our mouths are set on fire by hell and our natural wisdom is demonic – and he’s talking about believers, and now he’s telling us that the wars and battles that go on among us have nothing to do with zeal for the Lord. They are borne of our own lusts. “The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace” … not war.

Once again, he’s not talking about international politics. He’s talking about you and me. And as the Lord always does, he reduces the battle to one very important front: our hearts. “Where do wars and battles among you come from?” Good question. Where do they come from? “From the lusts that war in your members” – from inside each one of us. Jay Adams said, “The reason why you quarrel with others at home or in the church in an unnecessary, sinful way is because you and/or they have lost the battle within.”

This may sound delirious, but I think this is actually one of the most liberating truths the Lord has ever taught me – that I am my own problem. It’s so easy and may seem  desirable to see our problems coming from a million different sources, but the problem with all those things is there’s usually nothing I can do about it. If the problem is me, then with the Lord’s help, all I need to do is see it and change it. That to me is enormously hopeful. Along the same lines, the other thing I find gloriously liberating is realizing everything comes down to a love problem. All that matters at all is that I love God and people. So no matter the problem, no matter how it affects me, if somehow I can see where and how I can still love God and others, I will find the only solution that really matters!

The truth that I am my problem He has taught me before and I have been wrestling with for years. But lately and looking at James, I am seeing something I haven’t seen before: sometimes after I think I’ve handled my part of a conflict I walk away thinking to myself that the other person still has issues – and those issues of theirs still bother me. But why? Why do their issues bother me? Actually it is still because I have issues! I may want to say, “Well, but it’s just plain wrong what they’re doing.” And that may be true. But what am I saying? Am I saying that I just have this really keen sense of right and wrong, that I am some kind of champion of the right, that I’m some kind of noble upholder of justice and peace? Yeah, Don, give me a break. What James is saying is still true – that the real source of the “trouble” for me is still something in me. The truth is their issues bother me because I still have issues. The problem for me is still arising from “the lusts which are soldiering in my members.”

Once again, someone else may think I’m daffy, but I find that gloriously liberating. With the Lord’s help, I can fight me. With His help, I can love. If the real battle is entirely within me, then between me and the Lord, we can fight it. To say it is in any way someone else’s fault makes me a helpless and hapless victim. I don’t want to be a victim. I want to be free – even if it is the freedom to see that my problems are something in the end totally inside of me … and even if, in the end that means letting other people have their issues, letting them off “scot-free,” so to speak.

Where do the wars and fightings in my life come from? Really they come from inside of me. And sitting in the Lord’s lap, with His big strong arms around me, I know I can handle me. I can enjoy love and peace because He gives me the victory. He has before and He will again. Now that’s freedom! What an Immanuel gift!