James 4:1

James 4:1 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
• New International Version (NIV)What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?
• English Standard Version (ESV)What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
• New King James Version (NKJV)Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?

Context of James 4:1

What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. 3And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.

James 4:1 word by word

Πόθεν πόλεμοι καὶ πόθεν μάχαι ἐν ὑμῖν; οὐκ ἐντεῦθεν, ἐκ τῶν ἡδονῶν ὑμῶν τῶν στρατευομένων ἐν τοῖς μέλεσιν ὑμῶν;Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• From whenceπόθενpothen · whenceG4159
• warsπόλεμοςpolēmos · warG4171
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• fightingsμάχηmachē · quarrelG3163
• amongἐνen · in/on/amongG1722
• youσύsu · youG4771
• notοὐou · noG3756
• henceἐντεῦθεν, ἔνθενenteuthen · from hereG1782
• ofἐκek ex · out fromG1537
• lustsἡδονήhēdonē · pleasureG2237
• that warστρατεύωstrateuomai · to battleG4754
• membersμέλοςmelos · memberG3196

Cross-references for James 4:1

• James 3:14But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying.
• James 1:14Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.
• Genesis 4:5but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.
• Jeremiah 17:9“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?
• Matthew 15:19For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.
• Mark 7:21For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder,
• John 8:44For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.
• Romans 8:7For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will.
• 1 Timothy 6:4Anyone who teaches something different is arrogant and lacks understanding. Such a person has an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. This stirs up arguments ending in jealousy, division, slander, and evil suspicions.
• 1 Peter 1:14So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then.
• 1 Peter 2:11Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.
• 1 Peter 4:2You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God.
• 2 Peter 2:18They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception.
• 2 Peter 3:3Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires.
• 1 John 2:15Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.
• Jude 1:16These people are grumblers and complainers, living only to satisfy their desires. They brag loudly about themselves, and they flatter others to get what they want.

Commentaries on James 4:1

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 1From whence come wars and fightings - About the time in which St. James wrote, whether we follow the earlier or the later date of this epistle, we find, according to the accounts given by Josephus, Bell. Jud. lib. ii. c. 17, etc., that the Jews, under pretense of defending their religion, and procuring that liberty to which they believed themselves entitled, made various insurrections in Judea against the Romans, which occasioned much bloodshed and misery…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 1From whence come wars and fightings among you? - Margin, “brawlings.” The reference is to strifes and contentions of all kinds; and the question, then, as it is now, was an important one, what was their source or origin? The answer is given in the succeeding part of the verse. Some have supposed that the apostle refers here to the contests and seditions existing among the Jews, which afterwards broke out in rebellion against the Roman authority, and which…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 1Here are cautions against corrupt affections, and love of this world, which is enmity to God. (1-10) Exhortations to undertake no affairs of life, without constant regard to the will and providence of God. (11-17) Verses 1-10 Since all wars and fightings come from the corruptions of our own hearts, it is right to mortify those lusts that war in the members. Wordly and fleshly lusts are distempers, which will not allow content or satisfaction. Sinful…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1Conflicts and quarrels (literally wars and battles): James uses military imagery to show that their own evil desires cause the battles among church members. These desires are at war within themselves. James uses the Greek word for passions again in 4:3 (translated as “pleasures”). This frames the entire paragraph and show the source of conflict and unanswered prayer (Luke 8:14; Titus 3:3).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1-171. whence--The cause of quarrels is often sought in external circumstances, whereas internal lusts are the true origin. wars, &c.--contrasted with the "peace" of heavenly wisdom. "Fightings" are the active carrying on of "wars." The best authorities have a second "whence" before "fightings." Tumults marked the era before the destruction of Jerusalem when James wrote. He indirectly alludes to these. The members are the first seat of war; thence it passes…Read the comment

Topics related to James 4:1

• Ambition
• Lust
• Sin
• Strife

In the dictionaries

• Adulterer
• Amiss
• Consume
• Enmity
• Flee
• Hence
• Lust
• Resist
• Sin
• Unruly

Commentaries on James 4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings