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Passage Research

James 4 — Sermon Preparation

Below is a research summary for James 4, drawn from openly licensed scholarly databases — original-language morphology, classic sermons from the church fathers through the Puritans, and ancient geography data.

17
verses
276 / 136
Greek words / lemmas
29
classic sermon excerpts
5
preachers & commentators

James 4 in the Greek

Distinctive vocabulary of this chapter, based on original-language morphology.

Greek Transliteration Strong's Count KJV renderings
καταλαλέω katalaléō G2635 3 speak against
κρίνω krínō G2919 4 avenge, conclude, condemn, damn
νόμος nómos G3551 4 law
αἰτέω aitéō G154 3 ask, beg, call for, crave
ἡδονή hēdonḗ G2237 2 lust, pleasure
κριτής kritḗs G2923 2 judge
ἀδελφός adelphós G80 3 brother

How preachers through history handled this text

29 public-domain excerpts on James 4, from the church fathers to the Puritans.

Thomas Manton 10 Spurgeon 9 Calvin 5 Matthew Henry 3 John Wesley 2

“Our lips must be governed by the law of kindness, as well as truth and justice. Christians are brethren. And to break God's commands, is to speak evil of them, and to judge them, as if they laid too great a restraint upon us. We have the law of God, which is a rule to all; let us not presume to set up our own notions and opinions as a rule to those about us, and let us be careful that we be not condemned of the Lord. "Go to now," is a call to any one to consider his conduct as being wrong. …”

— Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise), on James 4:11–27 (Public Domain)

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