valuable: A simple fix
A Minefield - James 4:5
5 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"? - New American Standard Bible (NASB)
5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us? - English Standard Version (ESV)
5 Or do you think the Scripture means nothing when it says that the Spirit that God caused to live in us jealously yearns for us? - International Standard Version (ISV)
Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, "The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously"?
- New King James Version (NKJV)
5 And do you suppose God doesn’t care? The proverb has it that "he’s a fiercely jealous lover."
- The Message - (MSG)
5 Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says, "The spirit that God caused to live within us has an envious yearning?
- NET2 Bible
Similarly to 1 Cor 7:36-38, here is another mystery verse that is solved by accurately translating Greek grammar. It also highlights the danger of mistranslation of God's Word by those not adhering to a wholesome Scriptural mindset, but who instead are in some degree thinking according to a worldly "Enlightenment" view of reality, and who end up "psychologizing" God's power in spiritual gifts and casting out demons. Yeshua, speaking to the worldly-minded Sadducees who did not believe in a literal resurrection, said, "You are deceived, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. (MT22:27-29)"
Groping in the dark
The United Bible Societies New Testament Handbook Series in 20 volumes, which is targeted toward translators, suggests among other things, from a critical text, "Or do you suppose it is in vain that the scripture says, 'He yearns jealously over the spirit which he has made to dwell in us'?" Now, I realize that this is a hard verse to understand, but James 4:5 has one of nine New Testament occurrences of the Greek noun for "envy" (NT5355). So where did the noun 'envy' go in this verse?
UBS goes on about James 4:5's unreferenced "the Scripture says", and the UBS says,
"...this is one of the most difficult sayings in the whole book [of James]. There are at least two difficulties. The first problem has to do with the source of the quotation. James says that the quotation is from Scripture. To the early Christians the Old Testament was their scripture, but no one is able to locate the passage in the Old Testament from which the quotation comes." [keep reading - problem solved]
The UBS Handbook continues:
"A more difficult problem is the meaning of the quotation. Unfortunately there is no clear consensus of scholarly opinion. There are several ambiguities in the text. First, is the spirit the subject or the object of the main verb 'yearns over'? Secondly, is the spirit to be understood as God's Spirit (Holy Spirit) or the spirit that God breathed into man at his creation? Thirdly, what exactly is the meaning of the verb rendered 'yearns over'? Is it to be taken in the good sense or the bad sense? Fourthly, is the saying a statement or a question?
"These questions are answered in different ways, and therefore a variety of renderings have been suggested. It is perhaps best just to list some of the more representative ones and to consider the good and bad points of each translation."
It is not necessary to read the rest of what The UBS Handbook says about this verse. You can skip to the end of the following section, but I quote UBS below just so that, if you are interested, you can browse the UBS list of a "variety of renderings", but the pros and cons they give for pages and pages in the handbook for each one are replaced below by red ellipses (three red periods - ... ).
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
(1) "He yearns jealously over the spirit which he made to dwell in us: ... This interpretation is favored by translations like Mft, TNT, TOB, NRSV... There are, however, some difficulties with this interpretation.
(2) "He yearns jealously over the Spirit he has put in our hearts" (Gspd). ...
CEV follows this interpretation and translates "God truly cares about the Spirit he has put in us." This interpretation also has a couple of difficulties. ...
(3) "The spirit that God placed in us is filled with fierce desires" (TEV). ... This understanding is reflected in other translations like NEB/REB, NAB, NIV, REB. This interpretation also has its drawbacks. ...
(4) "The Spirit he caused to live in us longs jealously" (NIV second alternative rendering). ...
(5) "Does the Spirit that God has made to dwell in us yearn with jealousy?" ...
(6) "ASV has a similar rendering, ... Grammatically this interpretation is a bit forced, and the meaning does not seem to fit the context as well as the others. Possible alternative translation models following the first five interpretations given above are as follows:
(1) "You must not doubt what we read in the Scriptures [or, book of God's words]: "God truly cares about the spirit that he has placed in us.
(2)..."God truly cares about his Spirit that he has put in us.
(3)..."God has placed a spirit in us that is filled with fierce desires.
(4)..."God's Spirit that he caused to live in us cares for us very much.
(5)... "Does God's Spirit that he has caused to live in us love us so much that he is jealous?
"We may also restructure the verse as noted above: 'We read in the Scriptures that "God truly..." This saying is true and you must not doubt it.'
"Faced with the possibility of multiple translations, and none of them clearly more appropriate and convincing than the others, it is suggested that the translator follow one of the interpretations, perhaps that reflected in RSV or TEV, and give one or two other translations as alternative rendering(s) in a footnote."
--------------(from The UBS Handbook Series. Copyright (c) 1961-1997, by United Bible Societies)
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
That ends the UBS list of a “variety of renderings”. In the overview that advertises this series for translators the UBS says, "God takes His Word pretty seriously, and you would certainly do everything in your power to make sure that you were not putting words into God's mouth, but that you were providing a text that clearly communicated God's Word as closely to the original as possible."
As the United Bible Society admit in the lengthy quote from their Handbook Series above, they are not sure what this verse is saying. The UBS detailing of the "problems" with this verse might clearly reveal what enormous difficulties and confusions can be proliferated by a few grammatical misunderstandings.
Instead of suggesting that the Greek noun (NT5355) maintain its noun function - 'envy (of something) / jealousy (over someone)', the UBS guide for translators seems to accept as possible that the noun function of NT5355 could also be adverbial, "jealously." Not only is this unnecessary, but it also obscures the original meaning of the verse by hiding the verse's topic, which is a spiritual statement about "jealousy/envy".
One of this verse's verbs is an ergative, which is a causative verb translated as "to cause/make-to-dwell." The earliest text witnesses have a past causative verb in this verse --"made/caused to dwell/inhabit/settle". However, The New King James Version has turned the noun into an adverb and the past tense verb into a present tense, “…the spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously.” There are many other differing noun-verb forms and combinations for this verse given in English translations, but the Greek text is the same in both majority and critical texts except for the Greek verb "to dwell" (NT5355). Also there is no word for "God" in this Greek verse, though some translations insert "He" or "God" in English "for clarity", but those are wrongly assumed.
Pulpit Commentary on James 4:5b - "Passing on to the translation of the second clause, πρoς φθονoν κ.τ.λ., it must be noted that φθονoς [NT5355 - envy/jealousy] is never used elsewhere in the New Testament or in the LXX (Wisd. 6:25; 1 Macc. 8:16), or in the apostolic Fathers except in a bad sense." What Pulpit Commentary are delicately pointing out, is that it is highly unlikely that God is the power behind a spirit of envy/jealousy in any human being.
James 4:5 has a reputation as a notoriously difficult passage to translate. I believe much of the problem stems from a mistranslation of the preposition Πρὸς (NT4314) into English. This preposition, when 'governed by' the accusative case as in this verse, can mean "for" followed by a noun of purpose or result. This combination occurs often elsewhere in the Scriptures: Mt 26:12; Mk 10:5; Jn 13:28; Ac 3:10; Ro 3:26; 1Cor 7:35, 10:11; 1Tim 1:16; 2Tim 3:16, etc.
Now if we translate the verb as in the critical Greek text of James 4:5 - κατῴκισεν, caused/made-to-dwell, then it can be read this way: "Or you think the Scripture says for nothing that the spirit which settled in us, yearns with envy/jealousy?" This narrows down what spirit is under discussion. The Pure Spirit of YHWH dwelling in "born-again" people does not yearn for envy or jealousy; nothing could be further from the truth. What is this talking about then? A spirit that was settled in us? What caused this spirit to settle in us?
The answer: We caused this spirit to make itself at home in us! When did a spirit of pride, with its attendant results of envy and jealousy come in? In the Garden, when our original parents, ignoring what YHWH commanded, decided to believe what the Adversary said, "You will be like gods, knowing good and evil." The verse under discussion in James says in the Greek that this spirit "settled in us", so we, the human race in the form of our first parents, Adam and Eve, through pride listened to and acted upon envious thoughts suggested by the Adversary. Then pride, envy and jealousy settled in us, resulting in a heritage of rebellion against God's commands.
As anyone can see, the sixteen verses of James 3:13 to 4:10 are an exhortation against pride, and near the end of it we find James 4:5. The context alone points the finger at pride. And it doesn't take much thought to link pride to envy and jealousy. Pride can come in various 'flavors'; such as envy and jealousy.
Envy is situational; someone has something you want. Sharing or duplicating it might not be possible, so sometimes someone might obtain what you think you alone were meant to have. Our pride makes us listen to resentful thoughts suggested by the Adversary, who is always ready to "make suggestions" in this kind of situation. Resentment unchecked builds to hatred.
Jealousy is personal; you see someone having or wanting something you think should be specifically yours, such as the love from your spouse. Satan, our Adversary, slipping in the door of our mind, suggests resentful thoughts, and unless these are rejected and quenched through repentant prayer, both envy and jealousy will "naturally", or should I say, "supernaturally", be built up to the point of destroying lives. Satan is self-employed as a personal trainer, and he takes his job very seriously.
We can see that pride's envy/jealousy is the central problem presented in James 4:5. Part of the translation problem lies in the fact that just one Greek word can be translated as both 'jealousy' or 'envy', according to the context. Perhaps this made it too difficult to pinpoint the verse reference which James was alluding to.
However, when the verse is accurately translated from a critical Greek text, then the Old Testament scripture referred to in the verse is not hard to find. Twice, yes, twice in one verse in the Old Testament, in Numbers 5:14, it says, "if a spirit of jealousy/envy overtakes a person..." But UBS couldn’t find that reference because they were wrongly assuming the verse was speaking of God's Spirit, even though God is not even referred to in this verse in James!
An education problem
If, as UBS say, God takes His Word "pretty seriously", we ought to trust "pretty seriously" exactly what His Word actually says, especially concerning the spiritual realm. The numerous reports that began to come out of the last few centuries of evangelization of non-Judeo/Christian-based cultures, opened the eyes of many Christians to the reality of demonic oppression. New media (film and video) coverage of unstaged exorcisms has steadily grown. The Bible in more languages and translations along with the charismatic renewal in the 1980's gave renewed power through Word-based prayer for healing and deliverance.
It became obvious that "traditional" Bible translations even quite recently were created by Christians whose world-view included neither such phenomena as demonic oppression nor believers equipped by God to deal with it. The idea of a spirit dwelling in someone was not seriously considered in the educated circles of Enlightenment Europe, even less so after the arrival of Freud. The world since then has trusted other explanations for what it perceives to be obviously primitive and backward behavior.
I hope that today the Church can repent from that hubris that was so efficient at watering-down, "civilizing" and otherwise changing the Word of God. Translating according to an agenda in spite of the plain literal meaning only perpetuates ignorance and error. In this case, it produces a sad and needless conclusion and temporary victory for the Adversary, who desperately wants the truth in this verse to remain hidden. He wants it assumed by believers that only unbelievers in insane asylums or inmates on 'death row' might have resident unclean spirits.
The Adversary doesn't want YHWH's reborn children to understand that the foundation for successful evangelism requires us to pray for Yeshua's direction on how to battle in prayer, ahead of time, against the unclean spirits influencing those who are about to hear the Word of God. This is why we must come out of a pretense of religion, because a religion of humanism and a culture of materialism puts us to sleep spiritually and quenches effective prayer.
The Adversary wants to weaken every church until he is able to divide it or kill it outright. It's not a political problem. A church not refined in the fires of oppression and persecution could kill itself with a three-pronged pitchfork of doubt, disappointment and disillusionment.
Look a bit further
The Called-out Gathering of YHWH can not become that shining city on a hill until all the giftings from YHWH's Pure Spirit are once again operational among His people, including casting out unclean spirits. For a compelling analysis of what should not even be an issue in the Body of Messiah, read Derek Prince's books Blessings and Curses and They Shall Expel Demons. For a close look at a new/old kind of street evangelism, go to: thelastreformation.com
Let's make this distinction: YHWH doesn't envy anyone. But because He Himself is personal, it is only YHWH who is worthy to yearn jealously over His creation: He yearns jealously over His Bride, over the seed of Jacob, over Jerusalem and over the purity of His Word and Name!
In a grammatically uncompromised, contextual and understandable translation of James 4:5, the full counsel of Scripture is apparent and is testified to within the OT Scripture itself, just as Numbers 5:14 says twice, “A spirit of envy/jealousy settles in a person,” so that James in his NT book, (3:11-4:10) could later reference this verse found in the OT in support of his assertion in the NT, that the spirit of pride which Adam and Eve carried with them into the human race yearns for envy and jealousy from others.
The verse following James 4:5 also confirms these conclusions. Verse 6 says,
"But He gives greater glad-acceptance. Therefore it says, 'The Mighty One opposes proud ones, but gives glad acceptance to ones humble."
In other words, God gives help that is greater than any spirit of pride trying to puff us up, but it is apparent that He usually gives it to the ones who humble themselves in His sight, confessing to Him their wrong thoughts and deeds coming from pride.
So here is The TENT version of James 4:5 -
"Or you think that the Scripture says for nothing that the spirit which settled in us yearns for envy?"
James specified what spirit he was talking about by immediately using a qualifying adverbial phrase to clarify it, "...which settled in us..." If that simple phrase of clarification had been absent, any 1st or 2nd century reader familiar with the Hebraic deistic article, would have read that article as deistic: "that the spirit [of-YHWH] ...yearns for envy", and James certainly did NOT want to communicate that! As he crafted his sentence, James knew he had to clarify his meaning as non-deistic, so he added the adverbial phrase, "...which settled in us" and also referenced the phrase found in the Scriptures twice in Numbers 5:14 , "...if [a] spirit of envy/jealousy comes upon him..." . So, James' problem was solved and our problem is also solved, thanks to our Mighty One and Rescuer who brings the hidden things to light.
Translating some NT verses into later languages such as English can be difficult, but many verses might have been much easier with a knowledge of the deistic article, which Bible translators lost probably well over a thousand years ago. Because of the Adversary's active support for pitting Jews and Christians against one another, the knowledge of the Hebraic deistic article was eventually lost. That fact alone made the work of modern translators much more difficult.
Through the progress happening in NT translating, especially since the discovery of very early NT manuscripts, and the revival of the importance of the ancient Hebraic worldview for Bible translation, along with use of the N2LR method for translating large texts, it is now possible to produce more accurate translations of these time-honored texts and to finally solve all the old problems that the Enemy has used to twist scholars' thinking and bring discredit to God's pure Word. [See this page for solutions to other traditional problems.]
A Minefield - James 4:5
5 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"? - New American Standard Bible (NASB)
5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us? - English Standard Version (ESV)
5 Or do you think the Scripture means nothing when it says that the Spirit that God caused to live in us jealously yearns for us? - International Standard Version (ISV)
Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, "The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously"?
- New King James Version (NKJV)
5 And do you suppose God doesn’t care? The proverb has it that "he’s a fiercely jealous lover."
- The Message - (MSG)
5 Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says, "The spirit that God caused to live within us has an envious yearning?
- NET2 Bible
Similarly to 1 Cor 7:36-38, here is another mystery verse that is solved by accurately translating Greek grammar. It also highlights the danger of mistranslation of God's Word by those not adhering to a wholesome Scriptural mindset, but who instead are in some degree thinking according to a worldly "Enlightenment" view of reality, and who end up "psychologizing" God's power in spiritual gifts and casting out demons. Yeshua, speaking to the worldly-minded Sadducees who did not believe in a literal resurrection, said, "You are deceived, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. (MT22:27-29)"
Groping in the dark
The United Bible Societies New Testament Handbook Series in 20 volumes, which is targeted toward translators, suggests among other things, from a critical text, "Or do you suppose it is in vain that the scripture says, 'He yearns jealously over the spirit which he has made to dwell in us'?" Now, I realize that this is a hard verse to understand, but James 4:5 has one of nine New Testament occurrences of the Greek noun for "envy" (NT5355). So where did the noun 'envy' go in this verse?
UBS goes on about James 4:5's unreferenced "the Scripture says", and the UBS says,
"...this is one of the most difficult sayings in the whole book [of James]. There are at least two difficulties. The first problem has to do with the source of the quotation. James says that the quotation is from Scripture. To the early Christians the Old Testament was their scripture, but no one is able to locate the passage in the Old Testament from which the quotation comes." [keep reading - problem solved]
The UBS Handbook continues:
"A more difficult problem is the meaning of the quotation. Unfortunately there is no clear consensus of scholarly opinion. There are several ambiguities in the text. First, is the spirit the subject or the object of the main verb 'yearns over'? Secondly, is the spirit to be understood as God's Spirit (Holy Spirit) or the spirit that God breathed into man at his creation? Thirdly, what exactly is the meaning of the verb rendered 'yearns over'? Is it to be taken in the good sense or the bad sense? Fourthly, is the saying a statement or a question?
"These questions are answered in different ways, and therefore a variety of renderings have been suggested. It is perhaps best just to list some of the more representative ones and to consider the good and bad points of each translation."
It is not necessary to read the rest of what The UBS Handbook says about this verse. You can skip to the end of the following section, but I quote UBS below just so that, if you are interested, you can browse the UBS list of a "variety of renderings", but the pros and cons they give for pages and pages in the handbook for each one are replaced below by red ellipses (three red periods - ... ).
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
(1) "He yearns jealously over the spirit which he made to dwell in us: ... This interpretation is favored by translations like Mft, TNT, TOB, NRSV... There are, however, some difficulties with this interpretation.
(2) "He yearns jealously over the Spirit he has put in our hearts" (Gspd). ...
CEV follows this interpretation and translates "God truly cares about the Spirit he has put in us." This interpretation also has a couple of difficulties. ...
(3) "The spirit that God placed in us is filled with fierce desires" (TEV). ... This understanding is reflected in other translations like NEB/REB, NAB, NIV, REB. This interpretation also has its drawbacks. ...
(4) "The Spirit he caused to live in us longs jealously" (NIV second alternative rendering). ...
(5) "Does the Spirit that God has made to dwell in us yearn with jealousy?" ...
(6) "ASV has a similar rendering, ... Grammatically this interpretation is a bit forced, and the meaning does not seem to fit the context as well as the others. Possible alternative translation models following the first five interpretations given above are as follows:
(1) "You must not doubt what we read in the Scriptures [or, book of God's words]: "God truly cares about the spirit that he has placed in us.
(2)..."God truly cares about his Spirit that he has put in us.
(3)..."God has placed a spirit in us that is filled with fierce desires.
(4)..."God's Spirit that he caused to live in us cares for us very much.
(5)... "Does God's Spirit that he has caused to live in us love us so much that he is jealous?
"We may also restructure the verse as noted above: 'We read in the Scriptures that "God truly..." This saying is true and you must not doubt it.'
"Faced with the possibility of multiple translations, and none of them clearly more appropriate and convincing than the others, it is suggested that the translator follow one of the interpretations, perhaps that reflected in RSV or TEV, and give one or two other translations as alternative rendering(s) in a footnote."
--------------(from The UBS Handbook Series. Copyright (c) 1961-1997, by United Bible Societies)
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
That ends the UBS list of a “variety of renderings”. In the overview that advertises this series for translators the UBS says, "God takes His Word pretty seriously, and you would certainly do everything in your power to make sure that you were not putting words into God's mouth, but that you were providing a text that clearly communicated God's Word as closely to the original as possible."
As the United Bible Society admit in the lengthy quote from their Handbook Series above, they are not sure what this verse is saying. The UBS detailing of the "problems" with this verse might clearly reveal what enormous difficulties and confusions can be proliferated by a few grammatical misunderstandings.
Instead of suggesting that the Greek noun (NT5355) maintain its noun function - 'envy (of something) / jealousy (over someone)', the UBS guide for translators seems to accept as possible that the noun function of NT5355 could also be adverbial, "jealously." Not only is this unnecessary, but it also obscures the original meaning of the verse by hiding the verse's topic, which is a spiritual statement about "jealousy/envy".
One of this verse's verbs is an ergative, which is a causative verb translated as "to cause/make-to-dwell." The earliest text witnesses have a past causative verb in this verse --"made/caused to dwell/inhabit/settle". However, The New King James Version has turned the noun into an adverb and the past tense verb into a present tense, “…the spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously.” There are many other differing noun-verb forms and combinations for this verse given in English translations, but the Greek text is the same in both majority and critical texts except for the Greek verb "to dwell" (NT5355). Also there is no word for "God" in this Greek verse, though some translations insert "He" or "God" in English "for clarity", but those are wrongly assumed.
Pulpit Commentary on James 4:5b - "Passing on to the translation of the second clause, πρoς φθονoν κ.τ.λ., it must be noted that φθονoς [NT5355 - envy/jealousy] is never used elsewhere in the New Testament or in the LXX (Wisd. 6:25; 1 Macc. 8:16), or in the apostolic Fathers except in a bad sense." What Pulpit Commentary are delicately pointing out, is that it is highly unlikely that God is the power behind a spirit of envy/jealousy in any human being.
James 4:5 has a reputation as a notoriously difficult passage to translate. I believe much of the problem stems from a mistranslation of the preposition Πρὸς (NT4314) into English. This preposition, when 'governed by' the accusative case as in this verse, can mean "for" followed by a noun of purpose or result. This combination occurs often elsewhere in the Scriptures: Mt 26:12; Mk 10:5; Jn 13:28; Ac 3:10; Ro 3:26; 1Cor 7:35, 10:11; 1Tim 1:16; 2Tim 3:16, etc.
Now if we translate the verb as in the critical Greek text of James 4:5 - κατῴκισεν, caused/made-to-dwell, then it can be read this way: "Or you think the Scripture says for nothing that the spirit which settled in us, yearns with envy/jealousy?" This narrows down what spirit is under discussion. The Pure Spirit of YHWH dwelling in "born-again" people does not yearn for envy or jealousy; nothing could be further from the truth. What is this talking about then? A spirit that was settled in us? What caused this spirit to settle in us?
The answer: We caused this spirit to make itself at home in us! When did a spirit of pride, with its attendant results of envy and jealousy come in? In the Garden, when our original parents, ignoring what YHWH commanded, decided to believe what the Adversary said, "You will be like gods, knowing good and evil." The verse under discussion in James says in the Greek that this spirit "settled in us", so we, the human race in the form of our first parents, Adam and Eve, through pride listened to and acted upon envious thoughts suggested by the Adversary. Then pride, envy and jealousy settled in us, resulting in a heritage of rebellion against God's commands.
As anyone can see, the sixteen verses of James 3:13 to 4:10 are an exhortation against pride, and near the end of it we find James 4:5. The context alone points the finger at pride. And it doesn't take much thought to link pride to envy and jealousy. Pride can come in various 'flavors'; such as envy and jealousy.
Envy is situational; someone has something you want. Sharing or duplicating it might not be possible, so sometimes someone might obtain what you think you alone were meant to have. Our pride makes us listen to resentful thoughts suggested by the Adversary, who is always ready to "make suggestions" in this kind of situation. Resentment unchecked builds to hatred.
Jealousy is personal; you see someone having or wanting something you think should be specifically yours, such as the love from your spouse. Satan, our Adversary, slipping in the door of our mind, suggests resentful thoughts, and unless these are rejected and quenched through repentant prayer, both envy and jealousy will "naturally", or should I say, "supernaturally", be built up to the point of destroying lives. Satan is self-employed as a personal trainer, and he takes his job very seriously.
We can see that pride's envy/jealousy is the central problem presented in James 4:5. Part of the translation problem lies in the fact that just one Greek word can be translated as both 'jealousy' or 'envy', according to the context. Perhaps this made it too difficult to pinpoint the verse reference which James was alluding to.
However, when the verse is accurately translated from a critical Greek text, then the Old Testament scripture referred to in the verse is not hard to find. Twice, yes, twice in one verse in the Old Testament, in Numbers 5:14, it says, "if a spirit of jealousy/envy overtakes a person..." But UBS couldn’t find that reference because they were wrongly assuming the verse was speaking of God's Spirit, even though God is not even referred to in this verse in James!
An education problem
If, as UBS say, God takes His Word "pretty seriously", we ought to trust "pretty seriously" exactly what His Word actually says, especially concerning the spiritual realm. The numerous reports that began to come out of the last few centuries of evangelization of non-Judeo/Christian-based cultures, opened the eyes of many Christians to the reality of demonic oppression. New media (film and video) coverage of unstaged exorcisms has steadily grown. The Bible in more languages and translations along with the charismatic renewal in the 1980's gave renewed power through Word-based prayer for healing and deliverance.
It became obvious that "traditional" Bible translations even quite recently were created by Christians whose world-view included neither such phenomena as demonic oppression nor believers equipped by God to deal with it. The idea of a spirit dwelling in someone was not seriously considered in the educated circles of Enlightenment Europe, even less so after the arrival of Freud. The world since then has trusted other explanations for what it perceives to be obviously primitive and backward behavior.
I hope that today the Church can repent from that hubris that was so efficient at watering-down, "civilizing" and otherwise changing the Word of God. Translating according to an agenda in spite of the plain literal meaning only perpetuates ignorance and error. In this case, it produces a sad and needless conclusion and temporary victory for the Adversary, who desperately wants the truth in this verse to remain hidden. He wants it assumed by believers that only unbelievers in insane asylums or inmates on 'death row' might have resident unclean spirits.
The Adversary doesn't want YHWH's reborn children to understand that the foundation for successful evangelism requires us to pray for Yeshua's direction on how to battle in prayer, ahead of time, against the unclean spirits influencing those who are about to hear the Word of God. This is why we must come out of a pretense of religion, because a religion of humanism and a culture of materialism puts us to sleep spiritually and quenches effective prayer.
The Adversary wants to weaken every church until he is able to divide it or kill it outright. It's not a political problem. A church not refined in the fires of oppression and persecution could kill itself with a three-pronged pitchfork of doubt, disappointment and disillusionment.
Look a bit further
The Called-out Gathering of YHWH can not become that shining city on a hill until all the giftings from YHWH's Pure Spirit are once again operational among His people, including casting out unclean spirits. For a compelling analysis of what should not even be an issue in the Body of Messiah, read Derek Prince's books Blessings and Curses and They Shall Expel Demons. For a close look at a new/old kind of street evangelism, go to: thelastreformation.com
Let's make this distinction: YHWH doesn't envy anyone. But because He Himself is personal, it is only YHWH who is worthy to yearn jealously over His creation: He yearns jealously over His Bride, over the seed of Jacob, over Jerusalem and over the purity of His Word and Name!
In a grammatically uncompromised, contextual and understandable translation of James 4:5, the full counsel of Scripture is apparent and is testified to within the OT Scripture itself, just as Numbers 5:14 says twice, “A spirit of envy/jealousy settles in a person,” so that James in his NT book, (3:11-4:10) could later reference this verse found in the OT in support of his assertion in the NT, that the spirit of pride which Adam and Eve carried with them into the human race yearns for envy and jealousy from others.
The verse following James 4:5 also confirms these conclusions. Verse 6 says,
"But He gives greater glad-acceptance. Therefore it says, 'The Mighty One opposes proud ones, but gives glad acceptance to ones humble."
In other words, God gives help that is greater than any spirit of pride trying to puff us up, but it is apparent that He usually gives it to the ones who humble themselves in His sight, confessing to Him their wrong thoughts and deeds coming from pride.
So here is The TENT version of James 4:5 -
"Or you think that the Scripture says for nothing that the spirit which settled in us yearns for envy?"
James specified what spirit he was talking about by immediately using a qualifying adverbial phrase to clarify it, "...which settled in us..." If that simple phrase of clarification had been absent, any 1st or 2nd century reader familiar with the Hebraic deistic article, would have read that article as deistic: "that the spirit [of-YHWH] ...yearns for envy", and James certainly did NOT want to communicate that! As he crafted his sentence, James knew he had to clarify his meaning as non-deistic, so he added the adverbial phrase, "...which settled in us" and also referenced the phrase found in the Scriptures twice in Numbers 5:14 , "...if [a] spirit of envy/jealousy comes upon him..." . So, James' problem was solved and our problem is also solved, thanks to our Mighty One and Rescuer who brings the hidden things to light.
Translating some NT verses into later languages such as English can be difficult, but many verses might have been much easier with a knowledge of the deistic article, which Bible translators lost probably well over a thousand years ago. Because of the Adversary's active support for pitting Jews and Christians against one another, the knowledge of the Hebraic deistic article was eventually lost. That fact alone made the work of modern translators much more difficult.
Through the progress happening in NT translating, especially since the discovery of very early NT manuscripts, and the revival of the importance of the ancient Hebraic worldview for Bible translation, along with use of the N2LR method for translating large texts, it is now possible to produce more accurate translations of these time-honored texts and to finally solve all the old problems that the Enemy has used to twist scholars' thinking and bring discredit to God's pure Word. [See this page for solutions to other traditional problems.]