God's Righteous Jealousy
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”? (NASB95)
James 4:5 presents two interpretive problems in the second half of the verse. First, the NASB’s rendering differs from other English translations, attesting to its difficulty. The fact that “jealously” and “desires” can have both negative and positive connotations, and that the Greek term pneuma can be both a reference to the Holy “Spirit” or to the human “spirit” reveal some of the difficulty interpreting the verse. In addition, grammatically, the Greek pneuma (Spirit, or spirit) can be either the subject of the phrase or the object, and both are given to humanity by God, our spirit at our conception, and the Spirit at our rebirth (Rom. 8:9-11; cf. John 3:3).
Verse 5 causes us to ask a few unanswerable questions: Is it God who jealously desires, or is it our human spirit that envies sinfully? (KJV; NIV 1984; NET) Is God, in a righteous sense, jealous for our spirits? (ESV; NIV 2011; NLT) Or, does God righteously desire His own Holy Spirit within us? (NASB; LSB) Note some of the English translations:
At least four possibilities emerge for rendering James 4:5 in English:
The second interpretive concern in v. 5 is that though James appears to quote OT Scripture, there is no OT quote that says of God, “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us” (NASB) nor any of the other proposed English translations. But since James accuses some in the church of being “adulteresses” in v. 4, cheating on God through friendship with the world, God’s jealousy for His own makes sense. James thus had multiple OT passages in view regarding God’s righteous jealousy for His people (Ex. 20:5; 24:14; Zech. 8:2)—a jealousy like that of a husband for his wandering wife. The OT prophet Hosea illustrates this, for he married Gomer who became and adulteress, representing Israel’s spiritual adultery, Hosea representing God’s righteous jealousy. What was true for Israel who was in a covenant relationship with God, is also true with the Church, for God jealously longs for His people who have gone astray.
Food For Thought
Negatively, jealousy reveals our envy of someone. We desire what we do not possess. This is always a sin. By contrast, a man whose wife flirts with another man has every right to be jealous. After all, she belongs to him by marriage covenant. His jealousy is therefore not a sin. So it is with God. Those who claim to love Christ and have put our faith in Him alone for their salvation and joy should expect God’s stern rebuke should we flirt with worldly pleasures.
James 4:5 presents two interpretive problems in the second half of the verse. First, the NASB’s rendering differs from other English translations, attesting to its difficulty. The fact that “jealously” and “desires” can have both negative and positive connotations, and that the Greek term pneuma can be both a reference to the Holy “Spirit” or to the human “spirit” reveal some of the difficulty interpreting the verse. In addition, grammatically, the Greek pneuma (Spirit, or spirit) can be either the subject of the phrase or the object, and both are given to humanity by God, our spirit at our conception, and the Spirit at our rebirth (Rom. 8:9-11; cf. John 3:3).
Verse 5 causes us to ask a few unanswerable questions: Is it God who jealously desires, or is it our human spirit that envies sinfully? (KJV; NIV 1984; NET) Is God, in a righteous sense, jealous for our spirits? (ESV; NIV 2011; NLT) Or, does God righteously desire His own Holy Spirit within us? (NASB; LSB) Note some of the English translations:
- KJV: “The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy”
- NKJV: “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?
- ESV: “[God] yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”
- NIV 1984: “The spirit [God] caused to live in us envies intensely”
- NIV 2011 “[God] jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us”
- NLT: “God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him”
- NET: “The spirit that God caused to live within us has an envious yearning”
At least four possibilities emerge for rendering James 4:5 in English:
- The human spirit, given to us by God at creation, in its sinful state, “envies” sinfully.
- God is intensely jealous for us to honor Him with our human spirits at war with Him.
- God’s Spirit who indwells Christians is intensely jealous for our faithfulness.
- God is intensely jealous for us to honor Him through the Holy Spirit dwelling within us.
The second interpretive concern in v. 5 is that though James appears to quote OT Scripture, there is no OT quote that says of God, “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us” (NASB) nor any of the other proposed English translations. But since James accuses some in the church of being “adulteresses” in v. 4, cheating on God through friendship with the world, God’s jealousy for His own makes sense. James thus had multiple OT passages in view regarding God’s righteous jealousy for His people (Ex. 20:5; 24:14; Zech. 8:2)—a jealousy like that of a husband for his wandering wife. The OT prophet Hosea illustrates this, for he married Gomer who became and adulteress, representing Israel’s spiritual adultery, Hosea representing God’s righteous jealousy. What was true for Israel who was in a covenant relationship with God, is also true with the Church, for God jealously longs for His people who have gone astray.
Food For Thought
Negatively, jealousy reveals our envy of someone. We desire what we do not possess. This is always a sin. By contrast, a man whose wife flirts with another man has every right to be jealous. After all, she belongs to him by marriage covenant. His jealousy is therefore not a sin. So it is with God. Those who claim to love Christ and have put our faith in Him alone for their salvation and joy should expect God’s stern rebuke should we flirt with worldly pleasures.
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Our mailing address is:
Harvest Bible Church
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Cypress, TX 77433
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