The presentation of this choice extends the parallel with Matthew 7 one step further. After inviting his hearers to ask the Father for what they needed, Jesus confronted them with a choice between wide and narrow ways leading to opposite ends—destruction and life (Mt 7:13-14). Now James's thought runs in the same direction; his purpose in this paragraph is to impress on his readers the importance and urgency of the choice.

First, the importance of the choice is clarified by the simplicity of the alternatives. It becomes a matter of whether we want friendship with the world or friendship with God. This use of world to encompass the patterns of human life contrary to God's will was apparently common enough in Christian circles for James to expect his readers to understand; Paul would use the term in a very similar sense. James thereby cuts through the complications and subtleties of our secondary goals and defines the matter in terms of primary values. Whether we will be described more accurately by 3:16 or by 3:17 will be determined by whether we want the world or God.

Second, the seriousness of the one alternative is made clear with shocking terms: you adulterous people, hatred toward God, an enemy of God. It all sounds so offensive that we are tempted to think he must be addressing non-Christians rhetorically (similar to his address of the rich oppressors in 5:1). Here, however, he must be addressing his Christian readers, for his immediate message is still too closely connected to the hypocritical wisdom and the fights and quarrels among you from 3:13 and 4:1. But he is again warning those who call themselves Christians that they may be false Christians who are really enemies of God.

James simply writes with a stronger conviction of the seriousness of sin than most of us are willing to hold. In fact he writes with a sense of moral outrage. Consider Davids's rendering of the beginning of this paragraph: " `Adulteresses!' the author cries" (1982:160). We should accept James's terms, learn from his acute sense of moral right and wrong, and apply it to ourselves in fear of the judgment that comes to any who are not true Christians. Harboring bitter envy and selfish ambition, with the actions of fighting and quarreling, makes us adulterous people who are treating God with hatred and enmity.

Third, the powerful reality of the other alternative is offered so that we will not miss it by indifference. The point of James's references to Scripture in 4:5 and 4:6 is to persuade his readers to choose God unreservedly instead of the world because God himself is jealous that they make this choice and is furthermore gracious toward them to welcome their humble commitment. Contrary to the NIV, God should be understood as the subject of the clause in the scriptural reference of 4:5 as well as 4:6.

However, 4:5 is one of the most problematic verses in the letter. We would be helped in determining the meaning if a definite Old Testament origin could be identified, but there is no verse like the last half of 4:5. In the absence of a definite reference by which to establish the meaning, two major understandings have been proposed.

One possibility is reflected in the NIV. Here the subject of the clause is spirit, pneuma, taken to mean the human spirit which God caused to live in us from creation. This is the spirit that envies intensely, so James is reminding his readers that human nature tends toward the envy and jealousy about which he has been warning since 3:14. The arguments in favor of this rendering are as follows.

1. Linguistic. James says literally that this spirit "yearns to jealousy." This verb epipothei is never elsewhere applied to God, and the noun phthonon is consistently negative in other instances.

2. Contextual. A reference to human envy would be consistent with what James has been emphasizing in the larger passage.

3. Logical. The next scriptural reference, in 4:6, would provide logical contrast by stating that God gives more grace to overcome this human tendency toward envy.

While these are worthy arguments, an alternative reflected in the NASB and the NIV margin is preferable. Here the subject of the verb is the understood he, referring to God. The object of his yearning is the spirit he caused to live in us. This spirit could be either the created human spirit or the Holy Spirit given to Christians, though the former seems more likely because it is consistent with James's only other reference to "spirit" in 2:26. In either case, the meaning is that God jealously desires us to belong wholeheartedly to him. (Even if one takes the Jerusalem Bible or Living Bible rendering with "spirit" referring to the Holy Spirit as the subject of the clause, one is left with the same meaning: that God jealously desires us.)

The arguments making this understanding of 4:5 preferable are the following.

1. Linguistic. Two terms for "envy," phthonos and zelos, are sometimes interchangeable, and zelos is used elsewhere of God. James would be choosing this more unusual use of phthonos simply for stylistic contrast, since he recently used zelos negatively of human envy in 3:14 and 3:16.

2. Grammatical. It is more natural to have the same subject for the two verbs yearns and caused to live.

3. Contextual. An emphasis on God's jealousy for righteousness in us is equally consistent with what James has emphasized in the letter.

4. Logical. A reference to human envy here would be awkward, because it would seem to ignore the point to which James has come in 4:4 and would instead return to his point in 4:1-3. On the other hand, a reference to God's jealousy fits the flow of thought well. The point of 4:4 logically raises the objection "How does friendship with the world make me an enemy of God?" James would be answering this in 4:5 by reminding us of God's jealousy. Then 4:6 would follow as a reminder of God's grace to the humble, which protects us from being overwhelmed by God's jealousy.

If this second alternative is the correct understanding, then the Old Testament Scripture James has in mind is probably a theme rather than a particular verse—the frequent theme of God's jealousy for undivided devotion from his people (e.g., Ex 20:5). The reference in 4:6 is more specific and definite, quoting Proverbs 3:34 about God's personal stance in regard to the choice before us. He is neither passive nor indifferent but quite active in opposing the proud and giving grace to the humble. The proverb is also reflected in Jesus' teaching in Luke 14:11 and 18:14. It fits James's context perfectly here, as it reminds the readers succinctly of the two alternatives James has taken trouble to portray since 3:13—pride and humility.

Altogether, the paragraph of 4:4-6 emphasizes God's requirement of Christians: "a total, unreserved, unwavering allegiance" to God rather than to the world (Moo 1985:144). It equally emphasizes that this requirement is not an achievement by which the proud can earn God's friendship, for the call to devotion is based on God's extension of grace to the humble. Grace is what opens the way for the steps prescribed in the next two paragraphs.