Passage Research
James 4 — Sermon Preparation
Quarrels among believers are traced to unchecked desires, and readers are called to submit to God, resist the devil, and set aside pride. 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
- 30
- classic sermon excerpts
- 6
- 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
30 public-domain excerpts on James 4, from the church fathers to the Puritans.
“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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