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NASB | James 4:5 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"? |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | James 4:5 Or do you think that the Scripture says to no purpose that the [human] spirit which He has made to dwell in us lusts with envy? [Gen 6:5] |
Bible Question: This question is for the translators. With the lack of any comma in the phrase, it can easily be misinterpreted to suggest that God made the Holy Spirit, thus the Holy Spirit is not God. I understand that James' Greek was very cumbersome and not at all smooth. Can you provide a simpler explanation of what James was saying in this passage? Why not put a comma after Spirit and before which? What does he jealously desire the Spirit to do? |
Bible Answer: Greetings Bleavell! This is a very difficult verse to translate, let alone interpret. Here is the literal reading of the Greek text: "Or do you think that in vain the Scripture says, to/for jealousy he longs for the spirit which he placed in us." The first phrase is fairly clear (Or, do you think that Scripture says in vain...".) However, in the second phrase there are several difficult tranlation decisions which must be made. 1) Is spirit the subject or the object of the clause? In form, spirit could be either. However, I think it is more likely that spirit is the object. For one thing, if spirit is the subject, there is no other object for the verb 'he longs for.' Secondly, the pronoun 'which' would have no antecedent. 2) How should 'for jealousy' be translated? The best option seems to be to treat it as an adverb, even though it is a noun. Based upon these choices, the smoother English translation would read something like this: "Or, Do you think that Scripture says in vain, 'He jealously longs for the spirit which He placed in us.'" Now that we have translated the verse, we still have to interpret it. This is just a difficult task as the tranlation, since it is not clear to what Scripture verse James is referring. 1) Is 'spirit' a reference to the Holy Spirit, or to man's spirit? I believe it is a reference to man's spirit (i.e. - life), since the context deals with man's attitudes towards one another and God. In fact, there is no clear reference in the entire book of James to the Holy Spirit. Consider the logic of the passage, which probably begins at 3:13. Chapter four begins with a discussion of evil desires. James asks in 4:1, "What causes fights and quarrels among you?...." He then answers that they come from our internal desires. We want something, but don't get it. We will kill or fight to get what we want - v. 2. However, we don't ask God. Even when we do ask God, we don't get what we want because we ask with wrong motives- v. 3. We ask for our own pleasure. James 4:4 is the key (I think) to understanding verse 5. This attitude that he has been describing is now equated with spiritual adultery. Rather than loving and longing for God, we are seeking the pleasures of this world. We have become His enemies. In this context, James 4:5 would be saying that God is a jealous God - cf. Exodus 20:5. He wants our worship and love. I hope this helps! Tim Moran |