James 4:1-3 From where come wars and fights among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?… The words are obviously written as in answer to an implied objection: "Not ask," a man might say; "Come and listen to our prayers; no one can accuse us of neglecting our devotions." Incredible as it might seem that men plundering and murdering, as the previous verses represent them, should have held such language, or been in any sense men who prayed, the history of Christendom presents but too many instances of like anomalies. Cornish wreckers going from church to their accursed work, Italian brigands propitiating their patron saint before attacking a company of travellers, slave-traders, such as John Newton once was, recording piously God's blessing on their traffic of the year; these may serve to show how soon conscience may be seared, and its warning voice come to give but an uncertain sound. (Dean Plumptre.) Parallel Verses KJV: From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? |
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