"You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."
The apostle Paul states in his letter to the church in Rome, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:2-3). There is great comfort in these words because they address the spiritual warfare every born-again man or woman faces on a daily basis. We are called to live in this broken and sinful world yet not be consumed or identified by it. Our identity is in Christ and our eternal destination linked with Jesus in His death and resurrection (John 17:16).
The line of distinction between flesh and spirit is at times difficult to comprehend both in our personal lives and in how we interact with other Christians and non-believers. James understood this dilemma though, which is why he so vehemently called out the hypocrisy he saw all around him. To declare members of the church "adulterous" is a serious claim, but one that James felt called by God to address without hesitation. In this sense, adulterous is a word used to convey how we violate and defile our marriage with Christ when we (the church, His bride) choose intimate union with the various idols and manifestations of sin in the world over fellowship with God. We yield to the temptations of our flesh by choosing what is temporal over eternal. What is most concerning though is that James is addressing the CHURCH with this claim! Therefore, we who proclaim identity in Christ and fellowship with the Holy Spirit must be boldly convicted of the hypocrisy we demonstrate when we choose friendship with the world over devotion to Christ and His Word.
This verse of James should strike incredible conviction upon our hearts because it also pin-points our fear of persecution. Taking a stand for the absolute truth of Scripture is polarizing in our culture. In truth, the world wants nothing more than to disregard our standard of righteousness and turn it against us by declaring our doctrine as hate-speech. One may balk at that notion, but at the rate our culture is spiraling down into degradation, it is only a matter of time before agreeing with the Word of God and simply quoting what the Bible says will result in judicial ramifications and penalties. That is why Jesus proclaimed to His followers, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you" (John 15:18-19). Therefore, we are not to cower in fear of the enemy but embrace the cross of Christ as our comfort in times where we face a tempestuous fork in the road and must choose to sin or resist temptation. "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21) is the standard to which we must adhere if we truly are the followers of Christ we testify to be.
There is a need to address how this verse applies in the sphere of evangelism. James is not conveying that because we cannot be friends with the world, we are to avoid proclaiming the Gospel. That would be inconsistent with Scripture and especially Jesus' Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20). Moreover, James is not insinuating that we are to avoid non-believers altogether. What he is admonishing is that we cannot accept the false doctrine of relative truth and post-modernistic thinking our world perpetuates as our personal theology. The Bible is our standard for righteousness, and we must unashamedly be willing to suffer or even die for the preservation of it and our identification to it. Many past martyrs of the church were faced with that choice, and we have the same choice today.
Bottom-line: How do we apply James 4:4 in our lives? Look no further that Paul's letter to the church in Rome: "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:14-21). If we apply these truths, we will not only resist friendship with the world as James warns, but we will transition from being God's enemy to His instrument of love and peace to a world in desperate need of salvation.
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