d the sin of the world and how humans serve a jealous God. God expects a total unreserved allegiance to which He has joined Himself. The NIV rendering of verse 5 is a good one. In the rendering, pneuma is understood as the subject of the verse and is identified with the spirit breathed into a man at creation. This would then let James be making a point about the human's tendency to be envious and jealous rather than God. Linguistically, James' language is to be more appropriate in a description of man’s attitude rather that God’s. Contextually, a reminder about the innate human propensity to sinful jealously would make excellent sense (Moo 145-146). James does not make it clear that he thinks of the spirit which he has made to dwell in us as the Holy Spirit that is given to all believers or as God’s creative spirit by which he has invigorated mankind. Whatever James thinks this reminds us of the claim that God has on our lives through the work he is doing in us right now (Law 177-178).In verse 6 it can be seen that God gives us enough grace to reconcile ourselves unto Him no matter how jealous He gets. God's requirements on us may seem demanding at times, but God provides all needs to meet every demand. To experience this grace, however, one must humble themselves before God. (Moo 147).Verse 7-8Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts you double minded (NIV).James begins this section of Scripture with ‘submit to God’. This imperative is almost like a heading over the following series of commands in the next three verses and is matched by a command in verse 10 to ‘humble yourselves' which ends the series. Between these two basic commands are couplets: Resist the Devil…Draw near to God; Cleanse your hands…Purify your hearts; Grieve, mourn, wa...
