James Chapter 4 — Commentary on Verse 4

    Youadulterouspeople,don’tyouknowthatfriendshipwiththeworld is hatredtowardGod?Anyonewho chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

    Because they were so overcome with worldly lusts that their very prayers and devotions looked that way, James now shows the danger and heinousness of these desires. There are two arguments in this verse: first, such lusts will make you commit adultery; and second, they will make you enemies to God.

    Youadulterouspeople. This must be understood spiritually, as appears from the following words and the drift of the context, which is to inveigh against those desires and pleasures that entice the soul and withdraw it from God. These are spiritual adulterers whom the love of the world alienates and estranges from the Lord. This metaphor is also used elsewhere (see Matthew 12:39 and 16:4).

    Don’tyouknow…? He appeals to their consciences; this is a rousing question. Worldly people do not sin out of ignorance so much as not thinking.

    That friendship with the world. By this he understands an emancipation of our affections to the pleasures, profits, and desires of the world. People try to please their friends, and they are friends of the world if they seek to gratify worldly people or worldly desires and if they court external vanities rather than renounce them—a practice that is inappropriate to religion. You may use the world but not seek friendship with it. People who want to be dandled on the world’s knees lose Christ’s friendship. “If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10). It is the same with gratifying worldly desires. We may use the comforts of the world but may not serve its desires and pleasures—a description of the worldly state (Titus 3:3).

    IshatredtowardGod. When you begin to please the world, you wage war against heaven and openly defy the Lord of hosts. The love of God and care to obey him is abated just so much as the world prevails in you. There is a similar expression in Romans 8:7, “the sinful mind is hostile to God.” In this way the world not only withdraws the heart from God but opposes him. It is hard for someone to serve two masters, even if they think alike. But God and the world are opposite masters; they command contrary things: “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15); “you cannot serve both God and Money” (Matthew 6:24). People who match covetousness with Christianity seek to reconcile two of the most irreconcilable things in the world.

    Anyone. General truths must be enforced by application, and so have a direct impact on the soul: “We have examined this, and it is true. So hear it and apply it to yourself” (Job 5:27).

    Whochoosestobeafriendoftheworld. Not everyone finds that the world favors them. Whatever they do, “the world has been crucified to” them; but they are not as Paul was, “crucified

    … to the world” (Galatians 6:14). Therefore, the Scripture takes notice not merely of what is, but of the aim. Besides, a serious purpose and choice reveal the state of the soul; and whoever chooses tobeafriendoftheworld is absolutely a worldly person. Similarly in 1 Timothy 6:9, “People who want to get rich fall into temptation.” In heavenly matters deliberate choice and full purpose reveals grace: “to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts” (Acts 11:23). Therefore Christians should look to their purpose and aim. What is it? What do you give your minds to? When someone sets himself to become rich, to lay up treasures on earth, he is a worldly man; and when he gives his heart and whole mind to do what God requires, whatever comes of it, he is a true servant of the Lord. Solomon says the same thing: “Do not wear yourself out to get rich” (Proverbs 23:4); that is, do not give up your heart and endeavors to discover and follow every way to increase your wealth and situation. “One eager to get rich will not go unpunished” (Proverbs 28:20)—one who has set that up as his purpose. Now this purpose of the soul may be known partly by our resolutely pursuing the end without weighing the means and consequences, and partly by our diligence and earnestness of spirit. When the end is fixed, we put up with the hard work but are impatient with hindrances and disappointments.

    BecomesanenemyofGod. Actively and passively, worldliness makes a person hate God and be hated by God. Duty will either make us weary of the world, or the world will make us weary of duty. Obedient children of God experience the one, and hypocrites experience the other.

    Notes on Verse 4

    Note 1. Worldliness in Christians is spiritual adultery. It dissolves the spiritual marriage between God and the soul; of all sins it is the most inappropriate to the marriage covenant, the covenant of grace in which God declares himself to be “all sufficient” (Genesis 17:1 [Geneva Bible; NIV, “Almighty”—Ed. note]). We have enough in God, but we desire to make up our happiness in the creatures; this is plain whoring: “you [God] destroy all who are unfaithful to you” (Psalm 73:27)—that is, those who seek in the world what is only found in God. There are degrees in this whoredom. There may be adultery by desire when the body is not defiled; unclean glances are a degree of lust. The children of God may have some wandering and straggling thoughts; when the devil is at their elbows, the world may be increased in their esteem and imagination. But soon they correct themselves and return to God’s arms: “Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD” (Psalm 144:15).

    Note2. Seeking the world’s friendship is the quick way to be God’s enemy. God and the world are contrary; he is all good, and the world lies in wickedness and commands contrary things. The world says, “Do not miss any opportunity for gain and pleasure; if you will be fussy in standing on conscience, you will do nothing but draw trouble on yourselves.” But God says, “Deny yourselves, take up your cross, renounce the world,” etc. The world says, “Why should I take my bread and water … and give it to men coming from who knows where?” (1 Samuel 25:11). But God says, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out” (Luke 12:33).

    OrdoyouthinkScripturesayswithoutreasonthatthespirithecausedtoliveinustendstoward envy …

    This verse has been twisted by the various expositions of the commentators, because it is not obvious which Scripture or what spirit the apostle is speaking about. Two opinions are worth looking at. Some people interpret it as the Spirit of God, others as the corrupt spirit of man. Those who think it refers to the Spirit of God read it as a double question: “Does the Scripture speak in vain? Does the Spirit who lives in us envy intensely?” And they interpret it thus: “Is it in vain that the Scriptures speak in the same way that I have spoken to you?” (meaning the last sentences spoken, which are scattered everywhere throughout the Word); “Does the Spirit who is in us envy intensely?” (that is, does the Spirit of God envy in such a worldly way?). They have three reasons:

    (1)      The sentence supposed to be in the latter part of the text is not found anywhere in Scripture, and therefore some people are forced to have recourse to some ancient book of piety now lost.

    (2)      The phrase thespirithecausedtoliveinus is most properly and usually applied to the Spirit of God, who is given so that he may dwell in us. It is not so appropriate to our corruption, which is not usually called a spirit, or at least not a spirit living in us.

    (3)      The word “he” in the first clause of the next verse, Buthegivesusmoregrace, must refer to the Spirit of God intended here.

    The other opinion, that it refers to the wicked spirit of man, expounds the passage like this: “Does the Scripture say in vain?” (that is, it is not for nothing that the Scripture says …)—what does it say? That “the spirit living in us [that is, our corrupt nature; some say Satan, but it is more probably the former] envies intensely”? I incline to this opinion, and my reason is that the sense is straightforward. The other interpretation is more difficult, as is its appropriateness to the apostle’s intention, which is to prove that worldly desires are natural to us but are inappropriate for someone who wants to be God’s friend.

    But how shall we answer the contrary arguments?

    (1)      To the argument that this saying is found nowhere in Scripture, I reply that the sense of it is found in Scripture, though not the exact words; and when Scripture is quoted generally, the sense is sufficient. The author of Hebrews was writing to Jews who were versed in Scripture, and he was always quoting it generally, as also does Peter in many places, and also Paul: “In the Law it is written: ‘Through men of strange tongues and through the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people’” (1 Corinthians 14:21). And in verse 34: “women … must be in submission, as the Law says.” Now these precise words are to be found nowhere in the Old Testament, but they are the drift of many passages. Similarly, consider Ephesians 5:14, “That is why it is said: ‘Wake up, O sleeper …’”—where there is a general citation. So here it is the drift of many Scriptures to speak of corrupt human nature and a wicked spirit living in us, though I imagine there is an allusion specifically to one place, as there is in all those other citations mentioned. The passage alluded to here is Genesis 8:21, “every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.” Though there is no mention of envy, yet the apostle might very reasonably apply a general passage to his particular purpose.

    (2)      The second argument is about the meaning of the words spirit and liveinus, but this may very appropriately be applied to the corrupt, natural spirit that we now have. I notice that it is common for Scripture to call the soul’s propensity to good or evil its “spirit,” as in 1 Corinthians 2:12, “We have not received the spirit of the world.” And the phrase “living in me” is used by the apostle, and applied to sin, in Romans 7:17. Nor is there any emphasis in the word to cause it to be peculiar to the gift of the Holy Spirit.

    (3)      To the argument concerning the beginning of the next verse, I reply that if you simply render it “it gives more grace,” it refers to the Scriptures; if you render it “he gives more grace,” it refers to God, who is mentioned in verse 4.

    Notes on Verse 5

    Note1. Though sin is natural to us, it is not therefore less evil. It is the apostle’s argument against envy and desire that “the spirit that is in us tends toward envy.” Poison by nature is more than poison by accident. Similarly, David says, “Surely I have been a sinner from birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). Lord,Ihavecommittedadultery,andIhavean adulterousheartandnature! We should fight all the more and be humbled with all the more grief over sins that are natural to us.

    Note2. DoyouthinkScripturesays. Note, from the fact that these precise words are found nowhere, that Scripture says whatever may be inferred from the whole of it and from what follows from it. Immediate inferences are as valid as express words. Christ proves the Resurrection not by direct testimony but by argument (Matthew 22:32). What the Scripture implies, therefore, should be received as if it were expressed.

    Note 3. Without reason (in vain, KJV). Worldly people make the Scriptures speak in vain to them: “we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain” (2 Corinthians 6:1)—that is, the offers of the Gospel. When God’s Word has no corresponding effect, it is a vain and dead letter to us. Do not let the Scriptures, by way of comfort, counsel, or reproof, speak in vain to you. When you find a passage moving, ask yourselves, why was this spoken in God’s Word? Was it spoken in vain, or shall I make it so?

    Note4. Thespirithecausedtoliveinus. As we mentioned above, some people understand this to be said of Satan, “who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (Ephesians 2:2); but it is more correctly understood of our own spirit, the bent of our worldly hearts. We all by nature have a wicked spirit living in us. We commit sin, just as heavy objects move downward—not from outward forces, but from our own spirit and nature. Be all the more keen to share the divine nature, and be more watchful over yourselves! Your own spirit is the cause of sin; inner concupiscence is your worst enemy (1:14).

    Note5. Tendstowardenvy. A worldly spirit is strongly carried off in the ways of sin; it desires it. Be suspicious of any desires that are too strong; panting after earthly things comes from worldly desire.

    Note6. Envy. Natural corruption betrays itself most of all by envy. We have it as soon as we come into the world, and it is hard to leave it before we go out of the world again. The devil first envied us God’s favor, and ever since we have envied one another. The children of God are often caught in this. So was Joshua (Numbers 11:28-29). Peter envied John as excelling him in the love of Christ (John 21:20-21). This is a sin that breaks both tablets of the law at once: it begins in discontent with God and ends in harm to man; it is the root of hatred against godliness.

    …buthegivesusmoregrace?ThatiswhyScripturesays:“Godopposestheproudbutgivesgrace to the humble.”

    Buthegivesusmoregrace. Some read this as “it gives,” applying it to Scripture. It gives grace because it offers it and is a means in God’s hand of bringing it about. But I prefer to apply this to God, for it is said in contrast to thespirithecausedtoliveinustendstowardenvy; and so it suits the context, which is to show that a worldly spirit is contrary to God. This clause, understood in this way, has been expounded in several ways; but the difference is mostly in the form of the expression, and the senses are all pious and subordinate to one another.

    (1)      You may refer it to the context thus: “Our spirit envies intensely, but he gives us more grace.” That is, we are envious, but God is bountiful. It is common in Scripture to contrast God’s liberality with our envy, his good hand with our evil eye (see Matthew 20:15). John Damascene calls God “one without envy” because he is most liberal or generous. Note that an envious disposition is very contrary to God. God wants sharing, but we want to keep things to ourselves. We want all blessings to be for us. We malign the good in others, but God delights in it. This may make envy odious to us; we all pretend to be like God. We want a cursed self-sufficiency; why can we not want holy conformity?

    a.      God has no need to give us his blessings; we need one another and the highest monarch. For us to want all good things fenced in, when our happiness is dependent and consists in mutual sharing, must be exceedingly vile.

    b.      This is not only unlike God but hurtful to him; we want him to be less good, and so we not only question the wisdom of his gifts but want to restrict the goodness of his nature.

    Certainly, then, there is little of the Spirit of God where there is such an envious spirit. Grace lies in conformity to God; that is why it is described as participating in “the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). Grace is nothing but introducing the virtues of God into our soul. Now, God delights in giving us more grace, and so those who do not share their good with others or are all for keeping their blessings to themselves or cannot rejoice in the excellencies of other people have nothing at all, or very little, of the nature of God in them.

    (2)      Our spirit is strongly given to envy, but God gives us more grace. That is, there is enough in him to check the strongest sins; there is enough in God to help the creature in its sorest conflicts. “For a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven … is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:23, 26). Usually we judge God by our own standard, as if what is impossible to our own efforts is also impossible for divine grace: “‘It may seem marvelous to the remnant of this people at that time, but will it seem marvelous to me?’ declares the LORD Almighty” (Zechariah 8:6). There is more in God than there can be in nature, and Satan is not so able to destroy as Christ is to save. So then, when desires are strong, think of a strong God, a mighty Christ, upon whom help is laid. You cannot cure your spirits of envy, pride, self-confidence, or vainglory; but God gives us more grace. A sense of weakness should not be a discouragement but an advantage. So it was to Paul; when he was weak in himself, he was always most strong in Christ (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). The chief thing that God requires of the creature is choice and will. All of God’s aim is to bring us to our knees and for us to receive power from the hands of his mercy.

    (3)      Another consideration is this: though we are wicked and sinful, God will make his grace abound all the more; our spirit envies intensely, and hegivesusmoregrace. Note that God often makes our sinfulness an occasion to reveal more grace. “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (Romans 5:20). What a wise God we serve, who can make our sins abound to his glory! And what a good God, who will make our wickedness the occasion of more grace! If Christ died for sinners, I am sure I can plead that “I am the worst” of them (1 Timothy 1:15). If you have no other plea, offer yourselves in this way to God and take hold of the promises.

    (4)      It is like this with us by nature, but hegivesusmoregrace. When you are renewed and converted to faith in Christ, you have another manner of spirit; you are not carried by the old envious spirit that lives in you, but by a more gracious spirit that God has given you. Note that the old spirit and the new spirit are quite different. Through grace you will be different from what you were by nature. Conversion is revealed by a change. Oh, what a sad thing it is when Christians are what they always were! You should have more grace.

    (5)      But hegivesusmoregrace; here more means better, as so often in the Scriptures. If you want to seek God in a humble manner, you want to be acquainted with richer things; you do not want to envy and contend with one another about external pleasures. What the world gives is not comparable with what God gives—moregrace. “I do not give to you as the world gives” (John 14:27). More excellent blessings! Here we encumber ourselves with much serving, but God gives moregrace. Faith will show us greater things than these. The main reason why people dote on the world is because they are not acquainted with a higher glory. People ate acorns until they were acquainted with the use of corn; a candle is very helpful until the sun rises. We do not have a right apprehension of grace until we can see that it yields us more than the world can. Created things give us temporary refreshment, and the world serves its time; but grace brings full and everlasting joy.

    That is whyScripturesays. What is the effect of this sentence? James applies it to his argument, which is to dissuade them from worldly pursuits and to urge them to address God humbly. Therefore it is no good leaving it out, as some people do—such as Erasmus, who thinks it started as a marginal note and was put into the text by some scribe.

    Where does Scripture say this? There is some disagreement about the passage to which this refers. Some people think it was a holy proverb among the Jews. But this cannot be. The phrase seems to allude to some passage of Scripture. Some people think it is Psalm 18:27, “You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.” But humility here does not imply a low and abject condition, but a grace and disposition of mind; and the place cited speaks only of saving the afflicted people of God. Many people refer it to other general passages, but most probably it refers to Proverbs 3:34, “He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble.” Some people think James is alluding to 1 Peter 5:5-8, for this is simply a summary of that passage and was written after it, and so he may be asserting the divine authority of that letter. But I prefer to stay with the previous opinion.

    “God opposes the proud.” That is, he stands in battle-array or in direct defiance and opposition against them. The proud man has his tactics, and God has his anti-tactics. The Word shows that there is a mutual opposition between God and the proud. And I note this particularly because in Proverbs it says, “He mocks proud mockers.” They mock God, and God mocks them. God still counteracts the proud, as he did Pharaoh.

    Mocking is a great sign of pride; disdain of others comes from overvaluing ourselves. God has made everyone an object of respect or pity; it is pride that makes them objects of contempt, and in them their Maker (Proverbs 17:5). Wicked men “sit in the seat of mockers” (Psalm 1:1). This is a sin so hateful to God that he takes notice of disdainful gestures—“the pointing finger and malicious talk” (Isaiah 58:9).

    Butgivesgrace. This is meant spiritually of the help and grace by which they may overcome their worldly desires; worldly desires cannot be overcome without the assistance of grace.

    Tothehumble. This does not mean a vile and abject condition, but a holy brokenness and contrition, just as by “proud,” in a spiritual sense, is meant stiff-necked and unhumbled sinners.

    Notes on Verse 6

    Note1. God not only offers grace but reveals the way in which we may share it and defines the way in which we may give ourselves to him. God is in good earnest in the offers of grace; he not only offers but teaches and indeed draws us (see John 6:44-45). He is as willing to give faith as to give salvation.

    Note2. Those who want to have grace must go the right way to obtain it. They must not only consider what God gives but what he says. God, who has decreed the end, has decreed the means. That is why we not only have promises in Scripture but directions; it calls to account those who want to have the blessing but do not want to use the means. Most people content themselves with lazy wishes; they want to have grace but lie on their beds of ease and expect to be snatched up to heaven in a fiery chariot, or for grace to drop on them out of the clouds. God, who says he will give grace, says something else—that you must be humble in order to receive it.

    Note3. It is excellent to rank Scriptures in their order and know why everything is spoken in the Word, so that we may match absolute promises with conditional ones and put every truth in its proper place. James links the general offers of grace with another promise: God givesgracetothe humble. It is good to know truth in its framework, in which all truths are joined in natural links and connections, just as the curtains of the tabernacle were looped to one another. Vague understanding only disposes us to error or looseness. Truths awe us most when we are aware of the relationship between them. “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). The word translated “pondered” means “compared them with one another.” A hint here and a hint there makes people loose and careless, as when absolute promises are not considered in the context of faith. Absolute promises may be our first encouragement, but conditional promises must be our direction; the former are a plank thrown out to save a sinking soul, but the latter show us the way to get into the ark. So then, do not be content with sermon hints until you have gotten a pattern of sound words and can discern God’s intention in the various passages of Scripture, so that you may rank them in their order. The apostle here shows the reason why God said he gives grace to the humble.

    Note4. Godopposestheproud. Of all sins God sets himself to punish the sin of pride. He abhors other sinners but professes open defiance and hostility against the proud. Someone asked a philosopher what God was doing; he answered that his whole work was to lift up the humble and cast down the proud. This is the very business of providence; the Bible is full of examples. This was the sin that turned angels into devils; they wanted to be above everyone, not under anyone, and therefore God tumbled them down to hell. As someone says, “God could not endure to have pride so near him.” Then pride wrecked all mankind when it crept out of heaven into paradise on earth. You may trace the story of it all along by the ruins and falls of those who entertained it. Pharaoh, Herod, Haman, and Nebuchadnezzar are sad instances and loudly proclaim that all the world cannot keep up the person who does not keep his own spirit down. Herod merely endured the flatteries of others. He had on a suit of silver cloth, according to Josephus, and the sunbeams beat upon it, and the people cried, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man” because the angels used to appear in shining garments. Because he did not rebuke them, he was eaten up by worms (see Acts 12:21-23).

    I notice too that God has punished this in his own people; there are terrible instances of his displeasure against their pride. Uzziah’s pride led to his downfall (2 Chronicles 26:16); he was smitten with leprosy and died “out of grief and sorrow,” says Josephus. David’s numbering of the people and glorying in his own greatness cost the lives of seventy thousand. Under Hezekiah, “the anger of the LORD” fell “on Judah and Jerusalem” (2 Chronicles 29:8). These judgments on pride are sure and resolved. A man’s pride will surely bring him down (Proverbs 29:23). If they do not visibly light upon the first person, they overtake their posterity: “The LORD tears down the proud man’s house” (Proverbs 15:25). All their aim is to advance their house and family, but within two or three ages they are utterly wasted and ruined. And judgments on pride are very shameful, that God may pour the more contempt on them: “When pride comes, then comes disgrace” (Proverbs 11:2)—not only ruin, but “disgrace.”

    Why should God so expressly set himself against pride? Because of all sins, he hates this sin (Proverbs 16:5). Other sins are more hateful to men, because they bring disgrace and have more baseness in them, whereas pride seems to have a kind of bravery in it. But the Lord hates it because it is a sin that sets itself most against him. Other sins are against God’s laws; this is against his being and sovereignty. Pride not only withdraws the heart from God but lifts it up against God. It is a direct contention as to who shall be acknowledged as the author of blessing and excellence: “Because you think you are wise, as wise as a god …” (Ezekiel 28:6). Babylon speaks in the name and style of God, and so does Nineveh: “I am, and there is none besides me” (Zephaniah 2:15). And as pride rises against his being, so it rises against his providence.

    It is also the greatest enemy to God’s law; there is pride in every sin. Sinning is a confronting of God and a despising of the Word of the Lord (2 Samuel 12:9). The will of the creature is set up against the Creator. But the sin of pride is much more against the law of God; it cannot endure the word that reproves it. Other sins disturb reason; this humors it. Drunkenness is more patient with reproof, the conscience consenting to the checks of the Word. But pride first blinds the mind, then arms the affections; it puts the judgment to sleep, and then awakens anger. Besides, pride is the cause of all other sins. Covetousness is the root of evil, and pride is the soul of it. Covetousness is just pride’s purveyor. We pursue worldly pleasures so that we may puff ourselves up in the possession of them; and usually what is pursued in desire is enjoyed in pride. It is only the soul’s complacency in an earthly excellence. “He is arrogant,” and therefore “he is as greedy as the grave” (Habakkuk 2:5).

    Application1. The use of all this is, first, to caution us against pride. There are two sorts of pride, one in the mind and the other in the affections—self-conceit and an aspiring after worldly greatness. Both are natural to us, especially the former.

    (1)      We are amazingly apt to be puffed up with an idea of our own excellence, be it regarding riches, beauty, abilities, or grace. The apostle calls this “boasting of what he has and does” (1 John 2:16), because it spreads throughout all the activities and comforts of life. Other desires are limited either by their end (such as lusts of the flesh, to content the body) or by their instruments (such as lusts of the eyes); but pride has a universal and unlimited influence. Only the whole of life is enough scope for pride. Those who have nothing excellent cannot excuse themselves from fearing it; we often find that people who have nothing to be proud of are the most conceited. We see this in our natures: man was never more proud than since he was wretched and miserable. Pride came in by the fall, and what should bring the spirit down has raised it. But those who excel have much more reason to be suspicious of themselves. Rich men, for example, are told, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant” (1 Timothy 6:17).

    Think about God’s judgment on pride in abilities. Staupicius was proud of his memory, and God struck it. We find nothing causes madness so much as pride. Nebuchadnezzar lost his reason and turned into an animal when he grew proud. Many young men who were proud of their gifts have, by the just judgment of God, lost all their quickness and smartness and quenched their vigor in bodily and worldly delights. Remember, whatever we have was given by grace; and if we grow proud of it, it will soon be taken away by justice. Not only able men, but those of much grace and mortification may be tripped by pride; it once crept into heaven, then into paradise on earth. The best heart can have no security. Christians are not so much in danger of intemperance and sensual lusts as of pride; as other sins decrease, it grows. That is why pride is put last in 1 John 2:16, as being Satan’s last device. Those who are set on the pinnacles of the temple are in danger of being thrown down in this way. Paul was apt to grow proud of his revelations (2 Corinthians 12:7). In heaven alone we are most high and most humble. A worm may breed in manna; strong comforts, raised affections, and strange euphoria may much puff up, and by gracious enjoyments we sometimes grow proud, secure, self-sufficient, and disdainful of other people (Romans 14:10). But this will cost you sharp decay.

    (2)      The other sort of pride is aspiring to worldly greatness. By such foolish pursuits you simply make God oppose you. Many people mistake ambition and think that desire for position is only unlawful when it is sought by unlawful means; but to feign greatness is contrary to the rules of the Gospel. We should leave our advancement to the sweet invitation of providence and stay where we are until the master of the feast asks us to sit higher. In our private choice we should be content with a reasonable supply of necessities: “everyone who exalts himself …” (Luke 14:11), not everyone who is exalted. In the Olympic games the wrestler never put on his own crown and garland; “Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest” but was “called by God, just as Aaron was” (Hebrews 5:4-5). When we do not wait for the call of providence, it is only an untimely desire for promotion, and either God prevents it or else it proves a curse and snare to us.

    Application2. We should not envy a proud person any more than we would someone on a gallows; they are only lifted up in order to be cast down forever. Chrysostom notes that we are apt to pity the drunkard but envy the proud. We need to pity them too, for they are near a fall: “Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud” (Proverbs 16:19); that is, it is better to be of the beaten party than to form a confederacy with those who grow proud of their success.

    Application3. Note the instances of God’s displeasure against pride on yourselves or those who are near you. Paul took notice of the thorn that was in his flesh, “to keep me from becoming conceited,” he says (2 Corinthians 12:7). So you may often say, “This was an affliction to correct and abate my pride.”

    Note5. God’s grace is given to the humble. We lay up the richest wine in the lowest cellars; in the same way God’s choicest mercies are laid in humble and lowly hearts. Christ did most for those who were most humble. There is enough excellence in God; he only requires a sense of emptiness in us. God loves to make all his works creations; and grace works most freely when it works upon nothing. It is not to God’s honor that the creatures should receive nothing from mercy until they are brought to their knees; the condition that he lays down is, “Only acknowledge your guilt” (Jeremiah 3:13). The humble are vessels of a larger size, fit to receive what grace gives. From this you may learn why humble people are most gracious, and gracious people most humble. God delights to fill up such people.