Anyone Who Knows (James 4:17)

Well. The experiment seems to have been a success with postings ranging from personal response to outlining the echoes elsewhere in scripture this passage hooks up to.

Personally, the one line in this passage and indeed in the entire letter, that resonates most for me is this:

Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.

-- James 4:13-17 (NRSV)

I have mentioned fear before.

When I do a survey of my sins or my failures my weaknesses my challenges: I do not see the bad things that I do. I see the good things I left undone.

I see a woman rushing for the bus from the my seat warm inside and say nothing to the bus driver. I do not put the laundry on or do the dishes piling in the sink. I forget to tell my wife I love her. I vote with my ballot but not my wallet nor with my volunteer labour. I do not express my feelings, thoughts, hopes, needs, and then, I resent others for not living up to my expectations.

I do not create. I dabble. I dream of writing that great book, that amazing article, a poem, a short story. I write it but do not send it out. Or start it without finishing.

I will be remembered --

if at all -- not as lost
Violent souls, but only as the hollow men

-- T.S. Elliot

But with God all things are possible. I need only stop reserving the right to say, No Thank-you, when I call of Christ's Spirit for guidance and direction.

Marjorie on James 4:13-17

Foreward: I see that Crystal and RW have already posted on this and I have not read their posts yet so that my own will be unaffected by what they've written. This may be a mistake that I correct in the future. My response is based only on my personal reaction and is limited by that. I'm sure I'll learn more about the background of this passage from other posts.

Taken simply, this passage says to me that one should always realize God's supremacy. It is not by our planning that we accomplish anything but by God's grace. I've never been much of a long-term planner, so I love this idea. I know many people who have far reaching plans and visions as to what their future should hold. I don't (I've never known what I'd be when I grow up and still don't), I've oftened wondered if this was a shortcoming on my part (perhaps I'm an underachiever) but I realize that my way has its advantages as well. I am trying to live in the moment and enjoy it fully for we can never know what tomorrow or even the next moment will bring. Also, what happens when life deviates from our plan? It seems an invitation to disappointment. Painting myself positively as I am wont to do, I also think that by not planning I'm practicing a sort of humility, I cannot predict the future, I do not know where I am going but I am happy to go where the Lord leads me (Psalm 23 now running through my head). Of course, I'm sure that those who enjoy planning are equally as able to recognize and respect God's supremacy.

It seems to me that there is a disconnect with the last sentence -- anyone, then, who knows the right thing and fails to do it commits sin. Though I suppose it might make sense with regard to those who plan, that they should have flexibility in their plans to allow them to do the right thing, even when that deviates from their plan.

This passage reminds me of the announcement of my brother's ordination. It began "God willing" and continued with the time and place of the ordination. My husband (who is no great admirer of the Church) snickered at this, but its clearly in keeping with this passage.

4th of James 13-17

James is reminding the reader of the old lessons already learned in Proverbs.

Go to now, ye that say,
Today or tomorrow we will go
into such a city, and continue
there a year, and buy and sell,
and get gain.

Whereas ye know not
what shall be on the morrow.
For what is your life? It is even
a vapour, that appeareth for a
little time, and then vanisheth
away

For that ye ought to say,
If the Lord will, we shall live,
and do this, or that.

This is one complete thought. The "ye" of "ye that say" merely forgot to consider the idea of "God Willing."

James is admonishing them for forgetting the right order and reminding them of the Proverb 27:1 "Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth."

"God willing, we shall succeed" is simply gospel order. They forgot that.

But now ye rejoice in
your boastings: all such rejoicing
is evil.

Therefore to him that
knoweth to do good, and
doeth it not, to him it is sin.

(This is why when football players dance in the end-zone they are being foolish).

Continue the comparison of this to the following as Proverbs 27:2 continues: "Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips."

Again, after the manner in which I've been reading James, the writer is reminding people to be humble about their business, remember that successes and comforts and gain are mercies to you. Be thankful of them and recognize your life could be a thousand times worse; Therefore worship God and quit taking your life for granted.

In other, harsher words - especially if you have been a success - you need to get your butt into meeting on Sunday and shut up.

I have always felt that we men, especially, need the discipline of meeting. The way society is, we are for some reason given all this status and power by virtue of our gender. It's totally stupid but there it is. And if you look at some of us, especially the successful fellows, we emit self-sufficient power.

But we are not self-sufficient. We are full of hubris and self-worship. I think this is everyone, but from my experience in business - especially we men. We need to humble ourselves. And a few of us need to be humiliated, too.

My take on James 4:13-17

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we shall go into such and such a town,
spend a year there doing business, and make a profit" -
you have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a puff of smoke that
appears briefly and then disappears.
Instead you should say, "If the Lord wills it, we shall live to do this or that."
But now you are boasting in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it is a sin.

Well, I don't know at all what I'm doing, but here goes ...

The first thing that comes to mind is that expression - "Men plan, God laughes" :-). Probably it's a good thing to keep in mind our ephemerality and our truly utter lack of control over live's situations.

Another questtion is about ... "if the Lord wills it". Is everything that happens God's will? What is "providence"? Where's free will in this?

Finally, the idea that one who knows the right thing to do and doesn't do it is sinful is interesting. Socrates said that if a person knows the right thing, he WILL do it. But in real life, I often don't do what I think is the right thing ... sometimes, I don't even floss! Maybe I am sinful, if sinful means flawed.

James 4:13-17

My usual practice with this study has been to post the passage from the Letter of James and then comment upon it in my blog. Then all you folks who have been taking part comment on my comments. All very hyper-texty and post-modern.

I'm going to suggest another procedure today. We'll try it. If folks like it we'll stick with it for a spell. If not we can always go back.

Below is the text in the NRSV. I suggest we each write a blog here responding to some aspect of this passage. And then we can each comment on each other's responses. I'm not going to post my response immediately. I want to step back and see what develops. Besides, it frees me from the role of learned lecturer into which I seem to have fallen like some prehistoric wasp set in amber. This time I get to create the space and then step back and see what fills it.

Have fun!

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money." Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.

-- James 4:13-17 (NRSV)