Jc. 4.5. Em direção a tal inveja cobiça o espírito dentro de nós

Jc. 4.5. Em direção a tal inveja cobiça o espírito dentro de nós

Will-Kinney

James4:5 "The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy"

The King James Bible vindicated in James 4:5

There is a particular verse of Scripture in the book of Jamesthat has been the source of a great deal of misunderstanding and confusion. Ibelieve the King James Bible, when properly understood, gives the correctreading in contrast to many other versions that miss the mark.

The King James reading perfectly fits the context of Jameschapter Four and is in agreement with the rest of Biblical truth.

Let's look at the context and examine the verse more carefullyas we compare the KJB reading to that found in other bible versions.

James 4:1-6 King James Bible

4:1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they nothence, even of your LUSTS that war in your members?

4:1 YE LUST, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, andcannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye mayconsume it upon YOUR LUSTS.

4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that thefriendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be afriend of the world is the enemy of God.

4:5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spiritthat dwelleth in us LUSTETH TO ENVY?

4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteththe proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

The difficulty here is what does verse five mean when it tellsus the Scripture says "The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth toenvy."

Some believe the spirit referred to is the fallen human spiritthat dwells in each of us and lusts with envy toward others, and others thinkit refers to the Holy Spirit who longs after us for His affections. The variousversions reflect this confusion and result in very different meanings; yet theyall supposedly follow the same Greek texts. There are no variant readings inthis passage that are of any consequence.

Let me state from the outset what I believe the correct meaningof this passage is as it stands in the King James Bible. There is no specificScripture reference that says "the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth toenvy". Rather it is a reference to the general teaching of the whole Bibleitself that reveals the fallen state of mankind. The combined testimony of theentire book of James and the whole Old Testament reveals the rebellious lust toenvy of the fallen human spirit in opposition to the living God.

Envy

Webster's dictionary defines the word "envy" asmeaning "a feeling of resentful discontent, begrudging admiration, orcovetousness with regard to anothers advantages, possessions, or attainmentsjoined with a desire to possess the same advantages."

Proverbs 14:30 "A sound heart is the life of the flesh; butenvy the rottenness of the bones."

Proverbs 23:17 "Let not thine heart envy sinners; but bethou in the fear of the LORD all the day long."

Psalm 37:1 exhorts the believer to not be "envious againstthe workers of iniquity"

In Psalm 73:3 David confesses that he "was envious at thefoolish" when he saw the prosperity of the wicked. 

The children of Israel "envied Moses in the camp, and Aaronthe saint of the LORD" - Psalm 106:16; 

Rachel envied her sister Leah when she bare children to Jacob -Genesis 30:1, 

and Joshua envied for Moses' sake when God began to use othermen too - Numbers 11:29. 

Proverbs 27:4 asks: "Wrath is cruel, and anger isoutrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?"

The Greek word used in the New Testament for envy is phthonos,with the noun occuring 9 times and the verb once, and every time in the KingJames Bible it is translated as "envy".

It is used in Matthew 27:18 and Mark 15:10 where Pilate knewthat the chief priests had delivered up Jesus to be crucified "forenvy".

Romans 1:29 describes natural man as "being filled with allunrighteousness...full of envy"

Galatians 5:21 lists among the works of the flesh"envyings, murders, drunkenness"

Galatians 5:26 exhorts Christians not to be "desirous ofvain glory, provoking one another, envying one another."

Philippians 1:15 tells us that some preach Christ "even ofenvy and strife"

1 Timothy 6:4 speaks of false teachers whose words produce"envy, strife, railings"

Titus 3:3 tells us that we ourselves once were "living inmalice and envy, hateful, and hating one another."

I Peter 2:1 tells the believers that we should lay aside"all envies, and all evil speakings" and desire the sincere milk ofthe word that we may grow thereby.

Most of the book of James is dedicated to rebuking the varioussins of God's people to whom he is writing. They had already been begotten byGod with the word of truth (James 1:18) and he continues to exhort them toreceive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save theirsouls. 

We are already "saved" and born again, but the apostlespeaks of the progressive outworking of this salvation or deliverance from oursins and its effects in our lives.

See how the word "save" is used in James 5:15 and 20where he addresses those who already are brethren in the faith. "Theprayer of faith shall SAVE the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up"."Brethren, IF ANY OF YOU do err from the truth, and one convert him (turnhim back), Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error ofhis way shall SAVE a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins."

Compare also the use of the word "save" in 1 Timothy2:15 and 4:16. "Notwithstanding she shall be SAVED in childbearing, ifthey continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety." 

Paul writes to Timothy saying: "Take heed unto thyself, andunto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt SAVE boththyself, and them that hear thee." This speaks of the progressive natureof working out our salvation and deliverance from sin.

Also compare the use of the word "death" in James 1:15where every man is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed, and sin bringsforth death. 

"To be carnally minded is death, but to be spirituallyminded is life and peace" - Romans 8:6. 

This "death" is not losing your redemption or thesecond death in the lake of fire, but rather is the loss of fellowship and lackof spiritual fruit we experience when engaged in open and deliberate sin. 

See Luke 15:24, 32 where the father says of his once errant son,"This my son was dead, and is alive again." The prodigal son neverceased being his father's son, but was out of fellowship in the farcountry. 

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue."Proverbs 18:21.

These are some things to consider and they will greatly affectthe way you understand the book of James, but for now, let's get back tolooking at how various bible versions have translated James 4:5 and what itreally means.

The King James Bible reads: "The spirit that dwelleth in uslusteth to envy." Notice the small s in the word spirit. The Biblefrequently speaks of the spirit of man as being part of our makeup. We arebody, soul and spirit.

Not only does the King James Bible say "the spirit thatdwelleth in us lusteth to envy" but so also do the following Bibleversions: Whiston's N.T. 1745, The Revised Translation 1815, Webster's 1833translation, The Commonly Received Version 1851, The Clarke N.T. 1913, the KJV 21st Century 1994, Third Millennium Bible 1998, the JubileeBible 2010, The Hebrew Transliteration Bible 2010

Wycliffe 1395 - The spirit that dwelleth in you, coveteth toenvy (Means the same as the KJB)

Tyndale 1525, Coverdale 1535 - The sprite that dwelleth in youlusteth even contrary to envie. (These both missed the true meaning)

Bishops' Bible 1568, Geneva Bible 1587, the Beza N.T. 1599 - Thespirit that dwelleth in us, lusteth after envie (These are good translations ofthis verse and equal the sense of the KJB)

Whiston's New Testament 1745 - "Do ye think that thescripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?"

The Living Oracles 1835 - "And does the spirit, who dwellsin us, strongly incline to envy?"

Murdock Translation 1851 - "The spirit dwelling in uslusteth with envy?"  

The Resurrection Life New Testament 2005 - "Do you thinkthe Scriptures teach in vain that the fallen nature within us drives us tolust, and to envy what others have?" 

The Conservative Bible 2010 - "Do you think that theScripture says for no reason, "The spirit that lives in us luststoward envy?"

The NASB and the NIV both continue to change from one edition tothe next, and both have altered the meaning from that found in the King JamesBible.

The NASB from 1960 through 1972 (six different editions) read:"He jealously desires the spirit which He has made to dwell in us".Notice the small s in spirit. 

Then in 1977 and again in 1995 the NASB changed this to read:"He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"They changed from "the spirit" to "the Spirit".

The NIV likewise continues to change its meaning. In 1977 theNIV read: "The spirit he caused to live in us TENDS TOWARD ENVY, but hegives more grace?" Notice the small s in spirit and the question markafter the word "grace".

But then in 1984 the NIV changed this to now read: "thespirit he caused to live in us ENVIES INTENSELY? But he gives us moregrace."

The NIV changed "tends toward envy" to "enviesintensely" and changed the placement of the question mark. The NIV isinteresting in that it seems to refer to the human spirit that envies, but itplaces the blame on God who caused this spirit to live in us.

The NIV 2011 has now come out and changed the meaning of theverse once again. The NIV  2011 now reads: "Or do you think theScripture says without reason that HE JEALOUSLY LONGS FOR the the spirit he hascaused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace."

Now, instead of the spirit doing the envying (old NIV), the new,new  NIV 2011 has God jealously longing after the spirit. Go figure.

NKJV - The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously (Thisdoesn't match the meaning of the KJB, nor even that of the NASB, NIV  1984or the NIV 2011, and the word is ENVY not "jealously")

The NKJV is quite different in meaning from the King JamesBible. The NKJV takes the view that it is God's Spirit who yearns jealouslyover us. Yet, to twist it to so read, they have to change the meaning of theword "envy", as first done by the liberal RSV and now followed byseveral modern versions. 

The Greek word used here is clearly the word for envy (pthonos),and envy is always portrayed as a sin in the Bible. 

The Greek word for "jealousy" (zeelos) is a verydifferent word, and jealousy is never considered a sin in the Bible. In fact,one of the names of God is Jealous.

Green's Modern KJV - The spirit that dwells in us yearns to envy(Basically is like the KJB)

RSV, ESV - He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has madeto dwell in us (Notice the small "s". These are like the older NASBversions, but not like the newer NASBs)

Catholic Douay-Rheims - To envy doth the spirit covet whichdwelleth in you (Awkward, but basically like the KJB)

Catholic The New Jerusalem bible 1985 - '"The longing ofthe spirit he sent to dwell in us is a jealous longing.'?" (Differentmeaning than the other Catholic bible.)

Catholic St. Joseph New American bible 1970 - "Do yousuppose it is to no purpose that Scripture says, "The spirit he hasimplanted in us tends toward jealousy"?

Young's "literal" - To envy earnestly desireth thespirit that did dwell in us

Holman Christian Standard - the Spirit He has caused to live inus yearns jealously (This is like the NKJV, but not like the NASB, NIV, or theKJB)

1998 Complete Jewish Bible - there is a spirit in us which longsto envy (This matches the sense of the KJB)

Rotherham's 1902 Emphasized bible - Is it, for envying, that thespirit which hath taken an abode within us doth crave (This is very awkward,but it matches the sense of the KJB)

The modern change in the true meaning of this verse isexemplified by the extreme paraphrase called The Message.  

The Message - And do you suppose God doesn't care? The proverbhas it that "he's a fiercely jealous lover."

Commentators as well as conflicting versions give contrarymeanings to this verse. Though I do not hold any commentator to be infallible,I will quote a few who see the passage as teaching it is the natural, sinfulspirit of man that lusts to envy and is in need of the greater grace of God toovercome this tendency.

JohnDarby comments on James chapter Four: "In all that followswe have still the judgment of unbridled nature, of will in its different forms:contentions that arise from the lusts of the natural heart; the desires of theflesh and of the mind developing themselves and finding their sphere in thefriendship of the world, which is thus enmity against God. The nature of mancovets enviously; is full of envy with regard to others. But God gives moregrace: there is counteracting power, if one is content to be little and humble,to be as nothing in the world."

MatthewHenry -

I believe Matthew Henry hits the nail on the head when hecomments: "Do you think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit thatdwelleth in us lusteth to envy?’’ The account given in the holy scriptures ofthe hearts of men by nature is that their imagination is evil, only evil, andthat continually, Gen. 6:5. Natural corruption principally shows itself byenvying, and there is a continual propensity to this. The spirit whichnaturally dwells in man is always producing one evil imagination or another...if we belong to God, he gives more grace than to live and act as the generalityof the world do.

AlbertBarnes in his Notes on the Whole Bible also agrees with the sensefound in the KJB.

JohnGill’s first explanation - “it seems best of all to conclude thatthe apostle has no regard to any one particular passage of Scripture, in whichthe following words are expressly had, since no such passage appears; but thathis meaning is, the sense of the Scripture everywhere, where it speaks of thismatter, is to this purpose:...- the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?- that is, the depraved spirit of man, the spirit of an unregenerate man; thatas it is prone to every lust, and prompts to every sin, the imagination of thethought of man's heart being evil, and that continually, so it instigates toenvy the happiness of others; see (Genesis 6:5) (8:21).”

Jamieson,Fausset and Brown even mention to erroneoustranslation found in some modern versions, and then sides with the meaningfound in the King James Bible.  Their commentary says: “ ALFORD attributesthe epithet "with envy," in the unwarrantable sense of jealously, tothe Holy Spirit: "The Spirit jealously desires us for His own." InEnglish Version the sense is, "the (natural) spirit that hath its dwellingin us lusts with (literally, 'to,' or 'towards') envy." Ye lust, andbecause ye have not what ye lust after (Jas 4:1, 2), ye envy your neighbor whohas, and so the spirit of envy leads you on to "fight." James alsohere refers to Jas 3:14, 16.” 

JohnTrapp Complete Commentary (English Puritan) comments- “an evil and an envious spirit possesseth us (such a spirit as lusteth tohave other men’s abilities eclipsed, that so our candle might shine alone”

MatthewPoole’s English Annotations - He discusses the variousways different men have interpreted this passage, and comments: “If spirit herebe understood of the spirit of man, corrupt nature, the sense is plain, as thewords lie; man’s spirit (especially by the instigation of the devil) lusts, orstrongly inclines, to envy, and consequently to other wickednesses, but he(that is, God, James 4:4) gives more grace.”

All Bible versions obviously do not teach the same truths evenwhen they translate the same underlying text. It is my firm belief that God hasprovidentially preserved His infallible, complete and true words in the BibleHe has honored and witnessed to far more than any other in print today - theAuthorized King James Holy Bible. Read it to be wise; believe it to be sure.

Will Kinney

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