James Chapter 4 — Commentary on Verse 17

    Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.

    In this verse the apostle deals with the prejudice by which people might evade his warning. People might reply, “We have no need to be taught such a plain lesson; we know that life is short and that God’s providence rules everything.” The apostle says, do you know all this? Then you are all the more obliged to subject your desires to his will and pleasure. James proves this by this general rule. There is nothing difficult in the words except for sins [KJV tohimitissin]—that is, “sin indeed.” There is more revealed here of the nature of sin and the effects of sin, which one will find in his own conscience and in hell’s torments and in God’s sentences. You have similar sayings elsewhere; see John 9:41 and 15:22.

    But you will say then, “Are people who sin out of ignorance wholly free from sin?” I answer no, for:

    (1)      Sins of ignorance are sins, though more forgivable (1 Timothy 1:13) and not punished so hard (Luke 12:47). God’s law was once impressed on our natures, and we are bound to do all that was written on Adam’s heart.

    (2)      Affected ignorance renders us highly culpable (2 Peter 3:5)—that is, when people shut the windows and resist the light, for then they could know but choose not to.

    Notes on Verse 17

    Note1. It is not enough to know good; we must do it also. Often we find that people who know a lot are apt to be enslaved by their appetites, the lower and more brutish faculties; though they are orthodox, they are unmortified. They are keen against errors but indulgent to vices. Remember that you are to add to knowledge “self-control” (2 Peter 1:6); otherwise, what good will it do you? Others are ignorant of God in their minds and deny him in their lives. Others question the truth of religion and deny the power of it. We are apt to say, “I know this well enough already.” Ah, but do I practice it? Is this not a new hint from God to convince me of my negligence? Surely God sees that I do not live up to this new knowledge, and therefore the same truth, this common truth, is brought back to my mind.

    Note2. Sins of knowledge are the most dangerous. They are more sins than other things are, because they have more malice and contempt in them. There is more contempt both of the law of God and of God’s kindness; see Matthew 11:20. This is a sign that you love sin as sin, for when you know what it is you embark on it. Besides, sins against knowledge have more of the marks of God’s vengeance on them. In the reprobate they are punished with great despair and horror of conscience (see Proverbs 5:11-14) or with hardness of heart. Iron that is frequently heated and cooled grows harder. It is fair of God to punish contempt for light with obduracy or with madness against the truth. The most moral heathens were the harshest persecutors, such as Severus, Antoninus, etc. This is clearly seen in apostates who carried on with most willful malice against the truths they once professed. People who were once the keenest believers turn into violent persecutors. They want to quench the light shining in their own hearts.

    Alexander was once a disciple but “shipwrecked” his faith (1 Timothy 1:19-20); the same man is intended in Acts 19:33, for he lived at Ephesus, as we learn from both the letters to Timothy. The Jews set him up as the best accuser of Paul. He knew his doctrine and had to appear to turn all the blame for the uproar on the Christians. Once more we read of Alexander as a desperate enemy of the truth (2 Timothy 4:14). Certainly the rage and malice of such men is all the greater because of the abundance of the light they have renounced. No vinegar is so tart as that which is made from the sweetest wine. “Those who forsake the law praise the wicked” (Proverbs 28:4); that is, they not only commit sin but approve it in other people. Still, they are the most violent and forward men.

    Sometimes God gives them up to sottishness; see Romans 1:21-32. It is very remarkable, and very much underlines the apostle’s observation, that the most refined and civil heathens (who are presumed to have the most light) were given up to the most beastly errors about the nature of God. The Romans and Greeks worshiped fevers and human passions—every paltry thing instead of God; whereas the Scythians and more barbarous nations worshiped the thunder and the sun, things terrible in themselves, which plainly shows the justice of God’s judgment in darkening their foolish heart because they were not thankful for the improvement of the light they had received. But God’s greatest displeasure against sins of knowledge is declared hereafter in the torments of hell, where the proportions of everlasting horrors rise higher and higher, according to the various aggravations of sin (Luke 12:48). Thus God punishes sins of knowledge in the reprobate; but his own children also perceive the difference between these and other sins. Nothing breaks the bones and scourges the soul with such a sad remorse as sins against light. This broke David’s heart: “you taught me wisdom in the inmost place” (Psalm 51:6, NIV footnote). He had committed adultery against the checks of conscience and the watchful light of the inmost place. I could say much more about this argument, if I did not want just to give hints.

    Note3. Sins of omission are aggravated by knowledge, as are sins of commission. The apostle says, Anyonethen,whoknowsthegoodheoughttodoanddoesn’tdoit. Usually in sins of commission natural light is working more, because there is an actual disturbance by which the free contemplation of the mind is hindered, and because foul acts bring more shame and horror than mere neglect. Yet to omit a duty against knowledge may be as bad as to tell a lie against knowledge. The rule is positive, enforcing duty as well as forbidding sin; and because we know it, we are obligated by it. Oh, that we might be more conscientious in this matter and be as sensitive about omitting prayer in defiance of the light and neglecting to meditate and examine our conscience in defiance of the light as we are of committing adultery in defiance of the light!