James 4:8 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

NIV: Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

NASB: Come close to God and He will come close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

CSB: Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

NLT: Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.

KJV: Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

NKJV: Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

How should we respond if we realize we've been living according to worldly wisdom, driven by envy and selfish ambition to get what we want? What should we do if we want to get back to living according to heaven's wisdom, trusting God to provide all the good we need and focusing ourselves on serving others?

Beginning in the previous verse, James describes how we should repent. First, he wrote that we should quit blindly chasing what we want. Instead, we should submit to God. Next, we should resist the devil, instead of continuing to cooperate with him. James promised that when we resist Satan, he will leave.

Here in verse 8, James calls us to draw near—to move closer—to God. This comes with an additional promise: God will respond by moving closer to us. That's an incredible act of mercy on God's part. The God of the universe owes us nothing, including His closeness. What grace on His part to come in our direction at all! This is especially gracious as a response to our step in His direction.

Next, James calls us sinners to clean our hands. He calls us double-minded people: trying to serve both self and God. James pleads with us to purify our hearts. For James's Jewish readers who had grown up under the law, these commands would have called to mind ceremonial washings. The idea here is to completely turn from our sin, to resolve that we will serve God, and to begin again.

That is what true repentance is.

James 4:1–12 builds on the end of chapter 3, describing how living according to the world's wisdom has led to great conflict among James's Christian readers. They were fighting with each other because they couldn't get what they wanted. James says that living that way is adultery. It's ''cheating'' on God. He calls them to quit their friendship with the world, humble themselves, repent from their sin, and receive God's grace. God is the Lawgiver and Judge, not man.

What was causing fights and quarrels among the Christians to whom James was writing? They were living by the world's wisdom. This false perspective says human beings should do whatever it takes to get what they want in this life, even if it hurts other people. James says that to live that way is adultery, but God gives grace. Christians should repent and move close to God again. We should trust Him to provide, to be the Judge, and to lift us up in His time. In humility, we must acknowledge that all of our plans are dependent on Him, and He can change them at any moment.

The book of James is about what it means for a Christian to live a life of complete trust in God. Chapter 4 builds on the end of chapter 3, where James described the self-seeking wisdom of the world. Following this worldliness was the cause of fights among James's Christian readers. He called them to repent and, in humility, receive God's grace. He called them to stop making their plans for business as if they could accomplish anything without God. In chapter 5, he will continue to talk about the dangers of trusting riches instead of the Lord.

The book of James is about specifically understanding what saving faith looks like. How does faith in Christ reveal itself in a believer's life? What choices does real trust in God lead us to make? Those are the questions James answers. Most scholars believe the writer was Jesus' half-brother, a son born to Joseph and Mary after Jesus' birth. James may not have come to believe Jesus was the Messiah until after the resurrection. Eventually, though, he became one of the leaders of the Christian church in Jerusalem. This is possibly the earliest-written of all the New Testament books, around AD 40–50. James addresses his letter to Jewish Christians scattered around the known world.