Two Threads in James 4

Jefferson Vann

Jeff just finished publishing his 80th book: James: A Resource. This is an excerpt from the book.

Two Threads in James 4

In “Two Threads in James 4,” Jefferson Vann argues that James 4 teaches two conditionalist doctrines: that the lost will be ultimately destroyed and that we humans are mortal.

The Bible is like an elaborate tapestry. It is a beautiful work of art as a whole, and wherever you look within it, you find threads that show how perfect its author is. I was thinking about that fact early this morning when He woke me up with the idea for today’s article.

Last Sunday evening we had a Bible study at my church on James chapter 4. It focused on two different ways of demonstrating your faith: by avoiding worldliness (1-12) and by submitting to God’s will (13-17).[1]

While leading the study, I noticed two threads in the text that relate to the doctrines of conditionalism. James describes Jesus as “the one who is able to save and destroy” in verse 12. He also describes human life as “a puff of smoke that appears for a short time and then vanishes” in verse 14. James assumes that the lost will be ultimately destroyed and that we humans are mortal. Those two threads of Bible truth are included in his tapestry. When seen in the context of James 4, these two Bible doctrines are shown to be consistent with the rest of Scripture.

Jesus, the Destroyer

James encourages his readers to stop living their lives ruled by their worldly passions and pride. He encourages them to humble themselves before the Lord. After all, their own desires and esteem cannot save them. Jesus is the Savior. But Jesus is also the destroyer. The truth that Jesus saves is accompanied by its corresponding truth: Jesus will destroy those who live by worldly passions and pride.

This is not a new doctrine. Jesus warned that taking the broad road would lead to destruction.[2] He said that every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction.[3] Paul described the lost as objects of wrath, ready for destruction.[4] He said that people who oppose the gospel are signifying their future destruction.[5] He taught that a focus on earthly things will result in destruction.[6] In fact, Paul’s term for the ultimate fate of the lost is permanent destruction.[7] Likewise, Peter taught that the fate of the lost is destruction.[8]

James’ contribution to the subject is to introduce Jesus himself as the means of that permanent destruction. James describes Jesus as “the one who is able to save and destroy.”[9] Even this is not a novel designation, since John the Baptist predicted that the one who came after him would clean out his threshing floor by burning up the chaff.[10] The same Psalm that predicts the coming Son also warns the kings of the earth to give homage to Him and take shelter in Him; otherwise “he will be angry, and you will die because of your behavior, when his anger quickly ignites.”[11]

James warns his readers that Jesus is not just a Savior to be worshipped. He is also a Judge to be feared and obeyed. To live a life of worldliness, passion, and pride is to ignore this fact. To simply identify Jesus as Lord is not enough. You must endeavor to do what he says. The reason is that he is coming to condemn to destruction all those who choose to ignore him.

The reality of a coming destruction is integral to James’ argument. To suggest that James meant that Jesus will not literally destroy anyone is to open a Pandora’s box. If “able to destroy” does not mean able to literally destroy, what does “able to save” mean? Is Jesus literally able to save? James’ point is that Jesus is literally able to do both.

Even the idea of Jesus as Savior – when coupled with that of his being Destroyer – has “for James an implicit eschatological and soteriological connotation.”[12] You cannot have one without the other. He saves his own not just from suffering a long time in hell, but from being destroyed in hell. Like the destroying angel in Egypt, Jesus looks on the doorposts of each life, and determines whether he will enter and destroy, or pass it by and grant life.

Gritz comments on this verse that “God possesses the power to enforce His judgment because He is able to save and destroy. He is Lord of life and death. He has absolute authority to reward those who obey His law and punish those who violate it.”[13] That last sentence is true, but the text says more than that. It not only asserts that our Lord has the authority to reward his own, it explains what that reward is. To word “save” (Greek σῴζω) is related to the word “life” (Greek ζωή). The reward is life instead of permanent death. James 4:12 not only asserts that our Lord has the authority to punish those he rejects, it specifies the punishment: not perpetual suffering, but destruction.

James’ warning against judging others is not a call to ignore one another’s failures. Jeske points out that the “Scriptures are full of admonitions for us to get involved in other people’s lives, to call them back from lives of sin, to rebuke, correct, encourage. Just look at what James writes in the very last verse of his letter about bringing someone back from his errors and rescuing him from hell (5:20).”[14] Actually, though, the wording of James’ encouragement is that “the one who turns a sinner back from his wandering path will save that person's soul from death” (NET) which aligns with what he had previously said about the fate of the lost – destruction, the death of the soul (Greek ψυχή).

a puff of smoke

Besides expanding our Christological understanding with his description of Jesus as the coming destroyer, James also endorses the true biblical anthropology. James reminds his readers that they are “a puff of smoke that appears for a short time and then vanishes” (4:14). The NET Study Bible notes that the “The Greek word ἀτμίς (atmis) denotes a swirl of smoke arising from a fire (cf. Genesis 19:28; Leviticus 16:13; Joel 2:30 [Acts 2:19]; Ezekiel 8:11).” Bauer (BDAG) says it refers to “what passes away” or “steam that rises from a pot, typical of nothingness.”[15]

Jones asserts that James is condemning “the sin of forgetting life’s uncertainty”[16] but to be exact, the sin is really forgetting life’s brevity. All the theologians in the world can argue that human beings are immortal, but they cannot compete with all the cemeteries of the world. Those sleeping places remind us that life is brief; then we sleep in death until the voice of Jesus wakes us from that sleep. Consequently, all our plans should be accompanied by the conditional “Lord willing.”

When tempted to boast about what we are going to do tomorrow, Keith Loy suggests that we pray the words of Psalm 39:4 NLT: “Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered — how fleeting my life is.”[17] James is reminding his readers of that truth. Unfortunately, many Christians have swallowed the Serpent’s lie and refuse to believe that we are mortal. They see death as a gateway to another existence beyond this one. If that were true, James’ argument would be meaningless.

There will be a life after this one, but this present life does not continue beyond death. The life after death is the resurrected life. It will result in the reward of permanent life for the saved, or the punishment of permanent death for the lost. Either way, what James is talking about is the brevity of this life for everyone. We can make plans, but we have no idea whether we will live to see those plans come to fruition.

Essential to James’ argument is a theological tenet that many religions (including many forms of Christianity) deny. That tenet is human mortality. Swindoll, for example, says that James is merely teaching that “we have no assurance of a long life.”[18] But what James says is a positive fact. We can be assured that we will have a short life. It will be as a vapor, a puff of smoke. Compared to God’s eternal existence, we are temporary. As Moses put it, “You make mankind return to the dust, and say, "Return, O people!" Yes, in your eyes a thousand years are like yesterday that quickly passes, or like one of the divisions of the nighttime. You bring their lives to an end and they ‘fall asleep.’ In the morning they are like the grass that sprouts up; in the morning it glistens and sprouts up; at evening time it withers and dries up.”[19]

James does not counsel his readers to deny their mortality. He encourages them to embrace it, to focus their temporary lives on submitting to the will of the one who does have immortality. By submitting to God’s will, we can become part of the plan of the one who holds the key to our potential for immortality. By surrendering our temporary lives to him, we can embrace the promise of new lives that will emerge from the dust to enjoy a permanent destiny.

James assumes that the lost will be ultimately destroyed and that we humans are mortal. Those two threads of Bible truth are included in the tapestry he presents in James 4.

[1] The outline of the study came from Baker, William H et al. The Books of James & First and Second Peter: Faith Suffering and Knowledge. AMG 2004.

[2] Matthew 7:13.

[3] Matthew 12:25.

[4] Romans 9:22.

[5] Philippians 1:28.

[6] Philippians 3:19.

[7]  2 Thessalonians 1:9. The noun destruction (Greek olethros – ὄλεθρος) refers to a final state, therefore our English term eternal is not appropriate to translate the adjective (aiōnios – αἰώνιος). You can talk about suffering perpetually, but you can only be destroyed once. Consequently, the better translation is “permanent destruction.”

[8] 2 Peter 2:1,3; 3:7.

[9]  ὁ δυνάμενος σῶσαι καὶ ἀπολέσαι.

[10] Matthew 3:12.

[11] Psalm 2:12.

[12] Brosend, William F. James and Jude. Cambridge University Press 2004. p. 72.

[13] Gritz, Sharon Hodgin. Galatians James. Lifeway Christian Resources 2003. p. 126.

[14] Jeske, Mark A. James Peter John Jude. Northwestern Pub. House 2002. p. 41.

[15] Bauer, Walter. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, ed. Frederick W. Danker, 3rd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. p. 355.

[16] Jones, Russell Bradley. The Epistles of James John and Jude. Baker Book House 1961. p. 52.

[17] Loy Keith. Celebrate James. Wesleyan Publishing House 2009. p. 65.

[18] Swindoll Charles R. James: Practical and Authentic Living: Bible Study Guide. Insight for Living; Distributed by Word Pub 1991. p. 155.

[19] Psalm 90:3-6 NET.