A New Attitude

Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters. He who speaks against a fellow believer or judges a fellow believer speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but its judge. But there is only one who is lawgiver and judge – the one who is able to save and destroy. On the other hand, who are you to judge your neighbor? Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? For you are a puff of smoke that appears for a short time and then vanishes. You ought to say instead, “If the Lord is willing, then we will live and do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows what is good to do and does not do it is guilty of sin.

(James 4:11-17, NET. Biblical text and some background from www.nextbible.org).

The apostle continues his hard-hitting approach in these verses. Remember that James is speaking to Jewish Christians who are scattered and persecuted. Throughout the book, he has emphasized the practical side of faith -- that servant-love that is demonstrated in practical ways. One practical theme he emphasizes in every chapter is the tongue.

Here, James addresses two "sins of the tongue": Slandering other believers and prideful boasting about plans. He provides a solution to both, linking these "sins of the tongue" to his predominant message of a practical outworking of faith. The solution: A new attitude.

Speaking against another believer. The word for "speak against" is katalaleo, and it basically means literally to "speak evil of" or "slander" another person. Barclay adds that usually it is used when the party in question is not even present to defend himself. The only other use of katalaleo in the New Testament is in 1 Peter, where Peter uses it to refer to accusations of evil made by non-Christians against Christians (1 Pet. 2:12, 3:16). Its root word means "backbiter" and is used in the New Testament only by Paul, who wrote that the prevalence of "backbiters" is a sign of man's depravity (Rom. 1:30). The negativity of these contexts indicates that mere disagreement with another believer does not rise (or rather, fall) to the level of katalaleo. Instead, this is an accusatory speech, one that attributes evil motives or makes slanderous claims about a brother in Christ -- the type of claims made in that day by non-Christians against Christians according to Peter.

James' warning is that this type of harsh speech is the harsh judging which we are not to engage in by command of Jesus Himself (Matt. 7:1). "Judging" is a difficult topic to understand, for we are told in Matthew not to judge in one sense, and yet in another sense we are told that believers judge within the church but not outsiders (1 Cor. 5:12-13) so as to confront sin within the body. The topic of "judging" is a study in itself, and I refer interested students to word studies of krino (Strong's #2919) and its word family and synonyms available at http://www.blueletterbible.org/ and http://www.nextbible.org/ . However, within the context of James, we can clearly see that James' use of this same word is associated with motive.

James 2:4 If so, have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil motives?

Earlier James dealt with the problem of prejudice by establishing that the distinctions they were making were based in "evil motives" and that the judge in these matters was the law of liberty:

James 2:12 Speak and act as those who will be judged by a law that gives freedom.

In chapter 4, James returns to a similar theme to address the problems of slanderous speech about other believers. He reminds us that we too face a judgment and that there is something beyond the issue between individual believers. Biblical guidelines on "judging" (for example, Matt. 18:15-20; Gal. 6:1-2; 1 Cor. 4:2-6) admonish believers to stay within the limits of Scripture (what these Jewish Christians would have called the law), and strictly forbid judging based on matters of conscience (Rom. 14). These guidelines also prohibit harsh judging or holding others to standards higher than those for ourselves (Matt. 7:1-5). Thus, James' answer to those who would slander other believers is to remind them that they too will be judged, and that their harsh judgment of a believer is really a judgment of the law. Thus, a new attitude is needed toward other believers - an attitude free from jumping to conclusions and assuming evil motives.

Arrogant boasting. James immediate transition to a discussion of boasting seems at first to be unconnected, but we shall see momentarily that it really is relevant. James still is addressing the need for a new attitude. In this case, he calls focusing on our own plans apart from God's will "evil" and "arrogant". Remember that "speak against" means literally to "speak evil of" - so James has transitioned from explaining the problem with speaking evil of someone else, to explaining something that is really evil.

What is striking about this passage in modern Christendom is that it seems to be such a good statement of faith. Some churches would call it a positive confession. Yet James calls is boastful, evil, arrogant -- because it leaves God's plan out of the picture. Here James echoes Prov. 27:1, which warns us not to boast about tomorrow, and Luke 12:18-20, where we see in stark reality the folly of one who boasted.

The "new attitude" that ties these two examples together is summed up in verse 17: "So then..." lets us know that this admonition is the point he is trying to make with what he has just said. And what is that point? Simply this: "Whoever knows what is good to do and does not do it is guilty of sin." James reiterates his basic message - a faith that works - in a way that strips away the judging of the slanderer and the pride of the boaster. Instead of focusing on the perceived wrongs of others or our own selfish ambition, James reminds us to do what we know is good to do. Our focus should be on the brevity of life (v. 14) and doing what is right today (v. 17) -- which will involve others, not ourselves! James has made clear early on that the true religion he speaks of helps the weak and meets real needs in practical ways - today.