Paragraph 4:4–6

James said that to love the world’s evil way is to hate God. God is angry with people who do this.

4:4a

You adulteresses!:

The King James Version translation “Ye adulterers and adulteresses” follows a different Greek text, but the meaning is also metaphorical.
) The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as You adulteresses is literally “adulteresses.” This word is feminine and often refers to women who are unfaithful to their husbands. Here this word is a metaphor. In this metaphor, James was rebuking some of his readers by comparing them (both men and women) to women who had committed adultery.

One way that they are similar is that they were not loyal.

Some of James’ readers had not been loyal to God. They had promised that they would follow God, just as a bride promises to stay with her husband. But they had been unfaithful to him like adulterous women are unfaithful to their husbands. So James rebuked them by calling them adulteresses. (This same word is also used metaphorically in Matthew 12:39 and Mark 8:38.)

There are several ways to translate this figure of speech here:

• Keep the metaphor. For example:

Adulterers! (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
You are adulterous people!

• Change the metaphor to a simile. For example:

You are like unfaithful wives (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
You are like married women who are immoral

• Translate the meaning without the figure of speech. For example:

You unfaithful people! (God’s Word)
-or-
you are not loyal to God! (New Century Version)

Make sure your translation is acceptable for public reading in church.

In some translations, it may be helpful to include a footnote to further explain the metaphor of adulteresses. An example for such a footnote is:

The word “adulteresses” here comes from a common Old Testament metaphor that describes God as the husband and his people as his wife. When God’s people were unfaithful to him by worshipping idols, they are described as “adulteresses” and “prostitutes.” See Jeremiah chapter 3; 13:27 and Isaiah 54:5–7; 57:3.

4:4b–c

Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?: This is a rhetorical question. James used this rhetorical question to express emphasis. He wanted to emphasize that friendship with the world is hatred toward God.

Some ways to translate this emphasis are:

• As a rhetorical question. For example:

Don’t you know that to be the world’s friend means to be God’s enemy? (Good News Translation)
-or-
Friendship with the world is hatred toward God. You know that, don’t you?

• As a statement. For example:

You should know that loving the world is the same as hating God. (New Century Version)

Translate this emphasis in a way that is natural in your language.

4:4b

friendship with the world: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as friendship may also be translated as “love” or “affection.”

The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as world here refers to evil ways of thinking and acting. These evil ways of thinking and acting are the characteristics of people who are opposed to God and his ways.

So friendship with the world means “having a love/preference for the evil ways of the people of this world.”

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

love for this evil world (God’s Word)
-or-
if you love the world (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
following the evil pleasures/ways of this world
-or-
preferring the ways of the ungodly people in this world
-or-
wanting to do whatever God hates

The word world also occurs with a similar meaning in 1:27c.

4:4c

is hostility toward God: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as hostility toward God refers to a state of hating God. It is being opposed to God. It is the opposite of “friendship” (4:4b).

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

you are God’s enemies (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
means to be God’s enemy (Good News Translation)
-or-
is the same as hating God (New Century Version)

4:4d

Therefore: The Greek word that Berean Standard Bible translates literally as Therefore is a conjunction that introduces 4:4d. This conjunction indicates that 4:4d–e is the logical conclusion to the points James has just presented in 4:4b–c. Another way to translate this conjunction is:

So (NET Bible)

whoever chooses: The phrase whoever chooses can also be translated as:

whoever chooses
-or-
the person who chooses

This phrase does not refer to any person in particular.

In some languages, a plural subject may be more appropriate than a singular. It is also possible to use the second person. For example:

All the people who choose
-or-
And if you decide (Contemporary English Version)

chooses: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as chooses means “deliberately decides” to live that way. Some other ways to translate this word are:

decide (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
want (Good News Translation)

to be a friend of the world: The phrase to be a friend of the world refers to “living the way that the world wants,” or “pleasing the people of the world.” (The people of the world are people who do not love God.)

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

to be a friend of this evil world
-or-
to be a friend of the ways of this evil world
-or-
to love all the evil pleasures of this world

This phrase is similar in meaning to “friendship with the world” in 4:4b.

4:4e

renders himself an enemy of God: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as renders himself can also be translated as “makes himself” (as in the Revised Standard Version). In other words, if a person decides that he will be a friend of the world, this decision automatically causes him to be God’s enemy. God does not have or want friendship with the world.

Some other ways to translate this phrase are:

makes himself God’s enemy (NET Bible)
-or-
you make yourself God’s enemy (Good News Translation)

an enemy of God: An enemy of God is a person whom God is against.

© 2012 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.