In verses 11 and 12 James gives us a word about not speaking against the brothers: “Do not speak against one another, brothers. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge. One is Lawgiver and Judge, who is able to save and destroy. But who are you who judges your neighbor?” Notice that in these verses James mentions the law four times. In verse 12 he refers to God as the Lawgiver. James’ word here and in 2:8-11 regarding the Old Testament law and his words in 1:25 and 2:12 regarding the perfect law of freedom may indicate that in his understanding there is no distinction between keeping the Old Testament law and living by the perfect law of freedom, the inner law of life. But according to the divine revelation in the entire New Testament, there is a definite, clear distinction between the two. Keeping the Old Testament law merely makes us right with God and men so that we might be justified by the law. But living by the inner law of life (Heb. 8:10-11; Rom. 8:2) is to live and magnify Christ (Phil. 1:20-21) for the building up of His Body to express Him (Eph. 1:22-23) and for the building of God’s house to satisfy Him (1 Tim. 3:15). This is for the accomplishment of God’s eternal goal according to His New Testament economy. Though we become perfect by keeping the Old Testament law, we are still void of God’s eternal goal. Only living by the inner law of life avails for this. Such a living spontaneously and unconsciously fulfills more than what is required under the Old Testament law (Rom. 8:4), even to the standard of the constitution of the kingdom, as revealed in chapters five through seven of the Gospel of Matthew.
Thus far, we have covered nine aspects of the practical virtues of Christian perfection: enduring trials by faith (1:2-12), resisting temptation as God-born ones (1:13-18), living a God-fearing life by the implanted word according to the perfect law of freedom (1:19-27), having no respect of persons among the brothers (2:1-13), being justified by works in relation to the believers (2:14-26), bridling the tongue (3:1-12), behaving in wisdom (3:13-18), dealing with pleasures, the world, and the Devil (4:1-10), and not speaking against the brothers (4:11-12). In the next section (4:13-17) we have another virtue of practical Christian perfection: confiding not in self-will but in the Lord.
In verse 13 James says, “Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that city and spend a year there, and do business and make a profit.” This verse begins with the words “Come now.” James uses this expression a second time in 5:1, where he speaks to the rich. What does the expression, “come now,” mean? It may be an idiom somewhat equivalent to saying, “Listen to me.”
In reading verse 13 we need to pay attention to the word “will.” Fighting for fleshly pleasures (v. 1), making friendship with the world (v. 4), speaking against a brother, that is, judging the law (v. 11), going to do business according to one’s own will, and boasting in arrogance (v. 16) are all signs of the ungodly and presumptuous confidence of a God-forgetting person. James taught all this based, probably, upon his view concerning practical Christian perfection.
Once again, I would like to point out the contrast between James’ emphasis on practical Christian perfection and Paul’s emphasis in his Epistles concerning the experience of Christ for the producing of the church. If we have a clear view of this comparison, we shall see the need to go on from the human level, stressed in the book of James, to the divine level, stressed in the Epistles of Paul. On the divine level we know Christ, experience Christ, and possess Christ for the building up of the church, His body, as His expression. I hope that the book of James will help us to see this contrast.
In verses 14 and 15 James continues, “You who do not know what your life will be tomorrow; for you are a vapor, appearing for a little while, and then disappearing—instead of your saying, If the Lord wills, we will both live and do this or that.” James’ word here again sounds somewhat like the tone of the Old Testament (see Psa. 90:3-10). In any case, his word arouses a fear of one’s self-will and a confidence in God, as expressed in verse 15.
In 4:16 and 17 James concludes, “But now you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” The word “arrogance” in verse 16 also means pretentiousness, vainglory.
The word “therefore” in verse 17 indicates that this verse is a concluding word to all the charges in the preceding verses. This concluding word indicates that if the recipients have been helped by James’ writing and yet will not do as he has written, to them it is sin.