Ministry of Grace Church

Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Truth to Learn

Buying into the world system, its values, ideals, and desires is a sure way to alienate yourself from God.

Behind the Words

The oldest manuscripts do not have “Adulterers and,” starting out the verse simply with “Adulteresses!”

The expression “Do you not know,” translated from ouk oidate, is difficult to translate into English with its full meaning. Ouk represents the absolute negative in Greek and the word oidate means “to see or perceive.” This verb is expressed in the perfect tense indicating a past, completed action with an ongoing result with the emphasis being on the result. So James is saying “Have you not recognized and now understand?”

Exhthra is the Greek word translated “enmity.” It refers specifically to hostility or hatred.

The word translated “wants” is boulomai, which expresses the desirous will. It is written here in the subjunctive mood indicating that it is likely not happening currently but possibly could. It might be translated as “Whoever might want …”

The words “makes himself” are translated from the verb kathistēmi. This is made up of kata, meaning “down” and histēmi, meaning “to stand” or “to be placed.” Hence, it refers to something that is firmly standing or firmly placed. It appears here in the middle voice indicating action that is done to or for the subject, by the subject.

Meaning Explained

Why does James call us adulteresses? Is he only talking to women? No. Does he think that none of us can remain faithful to our spouse? Certainly not! James is using the term in a spiritual sense. As Christians, our relationship to Christ is likened to a marriage relationship. The church is rightfully called “The Bride of Christ.” We are engaged to him now, the marriage will take place after the rapture, and will be followed by the wedding feast and a heavenly honeymoon! If we are spiritually unfaithful, meaning we place greater importance in something else than in our relationship to God, then we have committed idolatry, which is spiritual adultery.

James says that friendship with the world is idolatrous. The word translated “world” is kosmos. It does not refer to the physical earth, but to the world system. Christians need to be different than the unsaved inhabitants of this world. We need to guard against being caught up in all the trappings of the world system. And, in spite of what many are preaching today, we do not want to be world friendly! Otherwise, James says, we place ourselves in the position of being God’s enemies! We should be friends with those who are caught up in the world so we can be witnesses to them, but we must not buy in to their values, ideals, or goals.

Application

Christians should be distinctly different from those who are caught up in the world. We don’t need to be weirdly different. Instead, we should be delightfully different. Now, that’s something to think about!