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.
James 4:4

This verse marks the beginning of a direct call to the church to repentance. The language of James referring to the church as adulterous people aligns with tradition (Jeremiah 3:7–10, 20; 13:27; Isaiah 1:21; 50:1; 54:1–6; 57:3; Ezekiel 16:23–26, 38; 23:45; Hosea 1–3; 9:1) and speaks to their disassociation with God and their association with the world.*

It may seem strange to associate adultery with friendship, but our understanding of friendship differs greatly from that of the ancient world.* In the ancient world, friendship was taken very seriously as a lifelong agreement between people with shared values and loyalties.* In James’ day, friendship indicated identification to and relationship with someone’s standards and priorities.* Think of how different this understanding is from the understanding of “friendship” as social media conveys.

With this understanding, remaining friends with the world while being friends with God is unthinkable as is the reverse. To be a friend of God, one must align to His values and loyalties and commit one’s life to Him. Thus, aligning one’s values and loyalties and commitment to the world places one in direct opposition to God by default.* By this definition, someone cannot maintain both a friendship with God and this world.

Scholars suggest that this criticism of James comes to a church that has turned its back on God not by willful choice, but by choosing to operate as the world does: discriminating against others (2:1-13), speaking negatively of others (2:1-12), holding bitter envy and selfish ambition (3:13-18), and pursuing selfish pleasures (4:1-3).*

This compromising conduct is not just a choice against God’s ways, but agains God Himself.* We must be deceived: we cannot turn our backs on God’s ways without turning our backs on Him.

Douglas Moo says,

God tolerates no rival. When believers behave in a worldly manner, they demonstrate that, at that point, their allegiance is to the world rather than to God.

The fact that this kind of adultery against God (turning from Him as the bride of Christ in order to flirt with this world) may occur without intentional effort should produce caution and pause in our life. The turning of our heart from God to this world may simply come as we perceive and believe the world’s ways as the best ways.

David Nystrom defines the world as the “whole complex of human institutions, values, and traditions that knowingly or unwittingly are arrayed against God.”* Anytime we look to what is created by man to live and interact with one another, we risk allowing our hearts to turn from God.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to turn back to Him. Perhaps today God wants you to turn away from this world, abandoning the ways that this world encourages. Maybe today God wants you to repent for allowing your heart to stray from Him.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.

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*Blomberg, C. L., & Kamell, M. J. (2008). James (Vol. 16, pp. 189–190). Zondervan.
Guthrie, G. H. (2006). James. In T. Longman III & D. E. Garland (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Hebrews–Revelation (Revised Edition) (Vol. 13, p. 254). Zondervan.
Stulac, G. M. (1993). James (Jas 4:4–6). IVP Academic.
Moo, D. J. (2021). The Letter of James (D. A. Carson, Ed.; Second Edition, pp. 234–235). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
Nystrom, D. P. (1997). James (pp. 226–227). Zondervan Publishing House.
Martin, R. P. (1988). James (Vol. 48, pp. 148–149). Word, Incorporated.