James 4:5

“Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain? etc.] Some think that the apostle refers to a particular passage of Scripture in the Old Testament, and that he took it from (<010603>Genesis 6:3) as some; or from (<022005>Exodus 20:5), as others; or from (<050702>Deuteronomy 7:2,5) or from (<180506>Job 5:6) or from (<202110>Proverbs 21:10) others think he had in view some text in the New Testament; either ( <451202>Romans 12:2) or (<480517>Galatians 5:17) and some have imagined that he refers to a passage in the apocryphal book: “For into a malicious soul wisdom shall not enter; nor dwell in the body that is subject unto sin.” (Wisdom 1:4) and others have been of opinion that it is taken out of…”

“in vain--No word of Scripture can be so. The quotation here, as in Eph 5:14, seems to be not so much from a particular passage as one gathered by James under inspiration from the general tenor of such passages in both the Old and New Testaments, as Num 14:29; Pro 21:20; Gal 5:17. spirit that dwelleth in us--Other manuscripts read, "that God hath made to dwell in us" (namely, at Pentecost). If so translated, "Does the (Holy) Spirit that God hath placed in us lust to (towards) envy" (namely, as ye do in your worldly "wars and fightings")? Certainly not; ye are therefore walking in the flesh, not in the Spirit, while ye thus lust towards, that is, with envy against one another. The friendship…”

“Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain - Few passages of the New Testament have given expositors more perplexity than this. The difficulty has arisen from the fact that no such passage as that which seems here to be quoted is found in the Old Testament; and to meet this difficulty, expositors have resorted to various conjectures and solutions. Some have supposed that the passage is spurious, and that it was at first a gloss in the margin, placed there by some transcriber, and was then introduced into the text; some that the apostle quotes from an apocryphal book; some, that he quotes the general spirit of the Old Testament rather than any particular place; some regard it not as a…”

“Do you think that the scripture saith in vain - Without good ground. St. James seems to refer to many, not any one particular scripture. The spirit of love that dwelleth in all believers lusteth against envy - Gal 5:17; is directly opposite to all those unloving tempers which necessarily flow from the friendship of the world. James 4:6”

“4:5 Scriptures . . . say: James summarizes one of the messages of Scripture, that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him.”

“the scripture: Joh 7:42, Joh 10:35, Joh 19:37; Rom 9:17; Gal 3:8 The spirit: Gen 4:5, Gen 4:6, Gen 6:5, Gen 8:21, Gen 26:14, Gen 30:1, Gen 37:11; Num 11:29; Psa 37:1, Psa 106:16; Pro 21:10; Ecc 4:4; Isa 11:13; Act 7:9; Rom 1:29; Tit 3:3 to envy: or, enviously James 4:6”