James 4:13 - Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
Go to now, ye that say, and there are five things:
To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
That's presumption! There are five things. Number 1, concerning the date. To day or to morrow. Secondly the place. We will go into such a city. The Greek text denotes that there's a specific city as if they're looking at a map and they've got their finger on it. It's not just any old city. They've already got their city targeted.
Thirdly concerning time. We will continue there for a year. Fourthly the activity. We will buy and sell. Buy and sell is one Greek word (EMPOREUSOMETHA) and it's where we get our word emporium from. And fifthly the goal. And get gain, meaning make money.
That is the confession of presumption. It just means that the person believes that he is in control of his own life. I can pick what day I'm going to go, where I'm going to go, how long I'm going to spend there, what activity I'm going to do, and what my goal is when I go. That is presumption. It's presuming that's the way things are going to be.
In Proverbs 27:1, it says boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. We have no idea what God's will is. Even if we think we know, we have no idea what God's will is for today or even tomorrow.
But who knows what going to happen? Who knows if I'm going to reach my goal or do the things I think I need to do? It's very presumptuous to think that a person's going to control their own life, and this is the way it's going to go. Does it sound familiar? That's what we do. We plan our day!
In this post concerning this text about boasting about ones plans for tomorrow or the future I understand it this way.
Jesus did say that when one goes to build a house, they are to count the cost. So, planning is not the problem, but the attitude of being master of one's time, activities, and future is prideful which leads to boasting about ones plans. None of us are our own masters, in reality. God is the master. So we can make plans for tomorrow or the future and not sin.
I have a doctor appt. tomorrow. These need to be scheduled in advance. It is not sinful to do so. But I know that there may be something that comes in the way of me being able to get there. So, I must be conscious that we can make plans, but God in His sovereignty as the master of our lives has the absolute right to change what we think we will do.
We are to remain flexible in our planning and thinking, being in tune with the Holy Spirit and His lead just as Paul was when he had plans to go one place, but was prevented by the Holy Spirit from going there. Paul did not try to get around the "stop" that the Holy Spirit placed in his way.
I remember planning for retirement along with my husband. It was something we were looking forward to as most people do need to retire from their life's work at some point. We were thankful that everything worked out for us to retire when we thought we would. God had His hand in this as He does in all things. We are glad He is the one who ordains all things according to His perfect will, wise counsel, and good pleasure. If we keep in step with Him in faith we will be in agreement with what comes our way as being what God has foreordained and we can trust that He will be with us through the circumstances whether they are pleasing and helpful to us or if they are trying, painful and testing of our faith and patience pressing against the threshold of what we can bear up under, knowing that God is able to supply all.
Again, thanks for all the fine studies on the NT books so far. I have found them to be helpful and the many insights you brig forth cause me to think more intently at the verses you highlight.
May you be richly blessed for this work and may the Holy Spirit use what you have done here to help many. I was thinking of Momsage and how you began this study due to your conversation with her. We have not heard from her since that conversation. I do hope she is doing well and will return to this forum. I keep her and many others who we have not heard from for a while in my prayers along with you and others who contribute here regularly.
Thank you! I do miss the conversations I had with Momsage, and I also pray that she is well. I think our conversations were always friendly and sometimes humorous. She left off early on in Matthew. Yes, she did ask me to show her, after I had said that I have found differences between what the Greek text says and what we read in our English translations, mainly focusing on the KJB. I did make it clear from the very beginning that my intent was not to discredit the KJB other translation, but to show why I believe there is no perfect English translation. Even though my bible of choice is the KJB, I know it is not perfect as some believe, and that is why I agreed to share these things.
You, along with a few others have been an encouragement to me and I thank you so much for that. Yes, I hope Momsage is well and that she will return again to this forum. I also think about Adam. It has been a long time since he has posted here. I miss reading the things he had to share. His love for the Lord was quite evident, and what zeal he had. Hopefully he comes back too!
Thanks again and may the Lord continue to bless you!
Adam is another person I miss, too, along with Bro. Dan and T. Levis. I wish they would continue on with us as they contribute to our growth here in their own way and style.
Momsage is one who staunchly adheres to the idea that the KJV is perfect, along with Jim Bob and others who have come on here to press this point that they stand by even in the face of evidences such as what you are presenting. It is sad that those who believe extra biblical doctrines such as King James Onlyism disparage other translations and the slander the translators, speaking evil of these while claiming that other translations and translators are evil and intended to corrupt the Biblical text. This is patently not true.
People on this site, myself included, have spoken how many of the recent translations used manuscripts that have been discovered since the KJV was written which are in fact older. It has also been pointed out that the Textus Receptus was a translation made from a Greek translation made by Erasmus a century or so before the King James Bible was made. The KJV made use of English translations that preceded it such as the Great Bible, Bishop's Bible, and others that were made just a few centuries before the KJV. The manuscripts used for the KJV do not date too far back from 1600.
Pointing these things out is not disparaging the KJV. It just shows that KJV is just wat it is-a 16th century English translation that is subject to the same kind of errors that any other translation would have. We are wise to have a reasoned approach to this. KJV Onlyism is a recent development in church history dating only back to the late 1800's and into the 19th century. It is not a position held by the KJV translators or those across the church spectrum from the time of it's translation up to the time that those who would not accept any newer translation because they were brought up with the KJV and were wanting to preserve its use in the church. Sad that this can be so divisive.
I agree with you about KJV Onlyism. Those who hold this view struggle to present their case as to why they believe this way. And you are correct; the translators did not share the same view.
" That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:/The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints," (Eph.1.17-18) In the knowledge of Christ there is spirit of wisdom to work with; to know the hope of his calling is another. We do not even know how we should pays as we ought. St Paul speaks of "for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered./ And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God." (Rom.8.26-27) Our ministry also begins from the encouragement we have of our indwelling Spirit.
James 5:4 - Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
Behold, the hire of the labourers (that's their paycheck), who have reaped, or mowed down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, cries out:
Each one of these words are very pointed. The laborers have already reaped down according to the text, past tense, it is Aorist Tense. They have reaped or cut down your fields. And by the use of this word for "keeping back by fraud," with the APO in front of it, designates that it was deliberate.
It was done by fraud. He knew what he was doing. He hired these people to come out and to harvest his field so he could take the harvest and get some money for it. But he planned the whole time not to pay them. He said the hire of the laborers cries, and the cries of them which have reaped, notice Past Tense, are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
Sabaoth is a transliteration of the Hebrew word that means armies, or hosts. Hosts would be legions of angels, where armies would be the fighting angels. So, the ears of the Lord who's in charge, He's commander in chief of the armies in heaven, their cries have entered into His ears. And God's forces are going to come against you.
James 5:1 - Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
"Go to now," is the same expression we see in James 4:13. It means pay attention. Pay attention, you rich men, weep and howl, and the Greek text literally says weep while howling, over your miseries that are coming upon you.
How many times have you seen a rich person say, "I am so rich, if I start giving my money away, I still wouldn't run out of money?" Or a millionaire on television, and instead of having his TV program, he decides to weep and howl because of the miseries that are about to come upon him?
Rich people don't do that. But that's what James is calling rich people to do because of the realization of those miseries that are coming upon them. The word for miseries is the same word used by Paul in Romans 7:24 when he said O wretched man that I am!
When Paul says O wretched man that I am, he says O man that I am that's in adverse circumstances. A wretched man is a man that's in adversity all the time. Paul presented himself as one of those people. There is a wretchedness, a misery that is coming upon the rich because they have trusted in their wealth.
He says you favor the rich over the poor, but don't you know that God has appointed the poor to be rich in faith? And now he's directing it at the rich people. In Chapter 2, he says the rich people have all this money, and they oppress you and take you to court. And they use the Lord's name in vain. And you're showing favor towards them just because of their money.
Instead, whoever is leading the synagogue service should say "You rich people, weep, howling over your miseries which are coming upon you. The last line in Verse 1 is a Present Participle, the miseries that are coming upon you are coming upon you right now, and they're going to keep coming until the end, and your end will be to stand before God and answer to Him.
James 4:14 - Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow, showing how foolish it is. You don't know! For what is your life? It is even a vapour. ATMIS is the Greek word, and it is the word for steam. Do you see the steam coming out of the kettle on the stove? That's your life!
What is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away, literally in the Greek, that appears and then disappears. That's all it says. That's not very encouraging to hear, but it puts things in perspective!
James 4:16 - But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
But now you rejoice, and that's literally the word boast. You boast in your boastings:
We read about the pride of life in 1 John 2:15, and it means to use the necessities for prideful purposes? That's the word for boastings in this text. The word rejoice is the word boasting. But now you boast in your prideful necessities. And you know what they're boasting about? "Well, we're going to go into such and such a city, and we're going to make a killing. We're going to make lots of money!"
All such boasting is evil. And the word evil is PONAYROS, which is the word for Satan. He is the evil one. Not just bad, but evil.
James 4:13 - Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
Go to now, ye that say, and there are five things:
To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
That's presumption! There are five things. Number 1, concerning the date. To day or to morrow. Secondly the place. We will go into such a city. The Greek text denotes that there's a specific city as if they're looking at a map and they've got their finger on it. It's not just any old city. They've already got their city targeted.
Thirdly concerning time. We will continue there for a year. Fourthly the activity. We will buy and sell. Buy and sell is one Greek word (EMPOREUSOMETHA) and it's where we get our word emporium from. And fifthly the goal. And get gain, meaning make money.
That is the confession of presumption. It just means that the person believes that he is in control of his own life. I can pick what day I'm going to go, where I'm going to go, how long I'm going to spend there, what activity I'm going to do, and what my goal is when I go. That is presumption. It's presuming that's the way things are going to be.
In Proverbs 27:1, it says boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. We have no idea what God's will is. Even if we think we know, we have no idea what God's will is for today or even tomorrow.
But who knows what going to happen? Who knows if I'm going to reach my goal or do the things I think I need to do? It's very presumptuous to think that a person's going to control their own life, and this is the way it's going to go. Does it sound familiar? That's what we do. We plan our day!
Enjoying your posts on James.
In this post concerning this text about boasting about ones plans for tomorrow or the future I understand it this way.
Jesus did say that when one goes to build a house, they are to count the cost. So, planning is not the problem, but the attitude of being master of one's time, activities, and future is prideful which leads to boasting about ones plans. None of us are our own masters, in reality. God is the master. So we can make plans for tomorrow or the future and not sin.
I have a doctor appt. tomorrow. These need to be scheduled in advance. It is not sinful to do so. But I know that there may be something that comes in the way of me being able to get there. So, I must be conscious that we can make plans, but God in His sovereignty as the master of our lives has the absolute right to change what we think we will do.
We are to remain flexible in our planning and thinking, being in tune with the Holy Spirit and His lead just as Paul was when he had plans to go one place, but was prevented by the Holy Spirit from going there. Paul did not try to get around the "stop" that the Holy Spirit placed in his way.
I remember planning for retirement along with my husband. It was something we were looking forward to as most people do need to retire from their life's work at some point. We were thankful that everything worked out for us to retire when we thought we would. God had His hand in this as He does in all things. We are glad He is the one who ordains all things according to His perfect will, wise counsel, and good pleasure. If we keep in step with Him in faith we will be in agreement with what comes our way as being what God has foreordained and we can trust that He will be with us through the circumstances whether they are pleasing and helpful to us or if they are trying, painful and testing of our faith and patience pressing against the threshold of what we can bear up under, knowing that God is able to supply all.
I am glad to hear that you are enjoying the James study. And thank you for what you've just shared. I have nothing to add.
God Bless!!!
Again, thanks for all the fine studies on the NT books so far. I have found them to be helpful and the many insights you brig forth cause me to think more intently at the verses you highlight.
May you be richly blessed for this work and may the Holy Spirit use what you have done here to help many. I was thinking of Momsage and how you began this study due to your conversation with her. We have not heard from her since that conversation. I do hope she is doing well and will return to this forum. I keep her and many others who we have not heard from for a while in my prayers along with you and others who contribute here regularly.
Thank you! I do miss the conversations I had with Momsage, and I also pray that she is well. I think our conversations were always friendly and sometimes humorous. She left off early on in Matthew. Yes, she did ask me to show her, after I had said that I have found differences between what the Greek text says and what we read in our English translations, mainly focusing on the KJB. I did make it clear from the very beginning that my intent was not to discredit the KJB other translation, but to show why I believe there is no perfect English translation. Even though my bible of choice is the KJB, I know it is not perfect as some believe, and that is why I agreed to share these things.
You, along with a few others have been an encouragement to me and I thank you so much for that. Yes, I hope Momsage is well and that she will return again to this forum. I also think about Adam. It has been a long time since he has posted here. I miss reading the things he had to share. His love for the Lord was quite evident, and what zeal he had. Hopefully he comes back too!
Thanks again and may the Lord continue to bless you!
Adam is another person I miss, too, along with Bro. Dan and T. Levis. I wish they would continue on with us as they contribute to our growth here in their own way and style.
Momsage is one who staunchly adheres to the idea that the KJV is perfect, along with Jim Bob and others who have come on here to press this point that they stand by even in the face of evidences such as what you are presenting. It is sad that those who believe extra biblical doctrines such as King James Onlyism disparage other translations and the slander the translators, speaking evil of these while claiming that other translations and translators are evil and intended to corrupt the Biblical text. This is patently not true.
People on this site, myself included, have spoken how many of the recent translations used manuscripts that have been discovered since the KJV was written which are in fact older. It has also been pointed out that the Textus Receptus was a translation made from a Greek translation made by Erasmus a century or so before the King James Bible was made. The KJV made use of English translations that preceded it such as the Great Bible, Bishop's Bible, and others that were made just a few centuries before the KJV. The manuscripts used for the KJV do not date too far back from 1600.
Pointing these things out is not disparaging the KJV. It just shows that KJV is just wat it is-a 16th century English translation that is subject to the same kind of errors that any other translation would have. We are wise to have a reasoned approach to this. KJV Onlyism is a recent development in church history dating only back to the late 1800's and into the 19th century. It is not a position held by the KJV translators or those across the church spectrum from the time of it's translation up to the time that those who would not accept any newer translation because they were brought up with the KJV and were wanting to preserve its use in the church. Sad that this can be so divisive.
I agree with you about KJV Onlyism. Those who hold this view struggle to present their case as to why they believe this way. And you are correct; the translators did not share the same view.
God Bless!!!
" That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:/The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints," (Eph.1.17-18) In the knowledge of Christ there is spirit of wisdom to work with; to know the hope of his calling is another. We do not even know how we should pays as we ought. St Paul speaks of "for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered./ And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God." (Rom.8.26-27) Our ministry also begins from the encouragement we have of our indwelling Spirit.
Adam came to mind when Gigi mentioned those who left the site.
He certainly was zealous for what he believed in. I hope he's doing well.
God bless you.
As I follow the discussions here, I am helped by all I read. I remember Momsage, and hope she is well. I would certainly enjoy hearing from her also.
Let prayer continue.
James 5:4 - Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
Behold, the hire of the labourers (that's their paycheck), who have reaped, or mowed down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, cries out:
Each one of these words are very pointed. The laborers have already reaped down according to the text, past tense, it is Aorist Tense. They have reaped or cut down your fields. And by the use of this word for "keeping back by fraud," with the APO in front of it, designates that it was deliberate.
It was done by fraud. He knew what he was doing. He hired these people to come out and to harvest his field so he could take the harvest and get some money for it. But he planned the whole time not to pay them. He said the hire of the laborers cries, and the cries of them which have reaped, notice Past Tense, are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
Sabaoth is a transliteration of the Hebrew word that means armies, or hosts. Hosts would be legions of angels, where armies would be the fighting angels. So, the ears of the Lord who's in charge, He's commander in chief of the armies in heaven, their cries have entered into His ears. And God's forces are going to come against you.
James 5:1 - Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
"Go to now," is the same expression we see in James 4:13. It means pay attention. Pay attention, you rich men, weep and howl, and the Greek text literally says weep while howling, over your miseries that are coming upon you.
How many times have you seen a rich person say, "I am so rich, if I start giving my money away, I still wouldn't run out of money?" Or a millionaire on television, and instead of having his TV program, he decides to weep and howl because of the miseries that are about to come upon him?
Rich people don't do that. But that's what James is calling rich people to do because of the realization of those miseries that are coming upon them. The word for miseries is the same word used by Paul in Romans 7:24 when he said O wretched man that I am!
When Paul says O wretched man that I am, he says O man that I am that's in adverse circumstances. A wretched man is a man that's in adversity all the time. Paul presented himself as one of those people. There is a wretchedness, a misery that is coming upon the rich because they have trusted in their wealth.
He says you favor the rich over the poor, but don't you know that God has appointed the poor to be rich in faith? And now he's directing it at the rich people. In Chapter 2, he says the rich people have all this money, and they oppress you and take you to court. And they use the Lord's name in vain. And you're showing favor towards them just because of their money.
Instead, whoever is leading the synagogue service should say "You rich people, weep, howling over your miseries which are coming upon you. The last line in Verse 1 is a Present Participle, the miseries that are coming upon you are coming upon you right now, and they're going to keep coming until the end, and your end will be to stand before God and answer to Him.
James 4:14 - Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow, showing how foolish it is. You don't know! For what is your life? It is even a vapour. ATMIS is the Greek word, and it is the word for steam. Do you see the steam coming out of the kettle on the stove? That's your life!
What is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away, literally in the Greek, that appears and then disappears. That's all it says. That's not very encouraging to hear, but it puts things in perspective!
James 4:16 - But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
But now you rejoice, and that's literally the word boast. You boast in your boastings:
We read about the pride of life in 1 John 2:15, and it means to use the necessities for prideful purposes? That's the word for boastings in this text. The word rejoice is the word boasting. But now you boast in your prideful necessities. And you know what they're boasting about? "Well, we're going to go into such and such a city, and we're going to make a killing. We're going to make lots of money!"
All such boasting is evil. And the word evil is PONAYROS, which is the word for Satan. He is the evil one. Not just bad, but evil.
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