You adulterers and adulteresses, know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
adulterers.
Psalm 50:18 When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.
Psalm 73:27 For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.
Isaiah 57:3 But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore.
the friendship.
John 7:7 The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.
John 15:19,23 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you…
John 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
enmity.
Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
whosoever.
Galatians 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
is the.
Psalm 21:8 Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.
Luke 19:27 But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.
John 15:23,24 He that hateth me hateth my Father also…
Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?
"Friendship with the world" refers to adopting values and behaviors contrary to God's will. In biblical terms, "the world" often signifies a system opposed to God (1 John 2:15-17). This phrase suggests that aligning with worldly values creates enmity with God, as seen in Romans 8:7, where the mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God. The cultural context of James' audience involved pressures to conform to societal norms, which often conflicted with Christian teachings.
Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world
The act of choosing indicates a deliberate decision. This choice reflects a heart posture and allegiance. In the biblical narrative, choices often determine one's relationship with God, as seen in Joshua 24:15, where the Israelites are urged to choose whom they will serve. The concept of choice emphasizes personal responsibility and the consequences of aligning with worldly principles.
renders himself an enemy of God.
Becoming an enemy of God is a grave consequence, highlighting the incompatibility between God's holiness and worldly values. This echoes Jesus' teaching in Matthew 6:24, where one cannot serve two masters. The language of enmity recalls the broader biblical theme of spiritual warfare, where believers are called to resist worldly influences and remain faithful to God (Ephesians 6:12). The stark dichotomy presented here serves as a warning and a call to repentance.
James begins with a jarring accusation that mirrors the prophets’ language toward faithless Israel (Ezekiel 16:32; Jeremiah 3:20). Believers are the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:31-32; 2 Corinthians 11:2); any flirtation with sin is spiritual infidelity. The word choice exposes sin as relational betrayal, not merely rule-breaking, and calls the church to renewed covenant faithfulness like Hosea’s plea for Israel to return (Hosea 2:19-20).
• Our covenant with God is exclusive.
• Unfaithfulness breaks God’s heart.
• The strong tone shows love that refuses to let us wander unchallenged.
“Friendship” here means cozy alliance with the fallen world system—values, pursuits, and loyalties that ignore God (1 John 2:15-17). Jesus said, “I have chosen you out of the world” (John 15:18-19); Paul adds, “Do not be conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2). To embrace worldly thinking is to stand on the opposite side of the battlefield from our Lord.
• Values: applause, comfort, and self-promotion versus obedience (Matthew 6:19-21).
• Affections: loving what fades rather than the eternal (Colossians 3:2).
• Identity: blending into a system that rejects God (John 17:14-16).
Because God is holy, any alliance with the world is deliberate hostility (Isaiah 55:8-9).
The choice is stark and personal. Jesus declared, “You cannot serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24). Paul wrote, “The mind of the flesh is hostile to God” (Romans 8:7). Aligning with the world means stepping into open opposition to the Almighty.
• Mutual exclusivity: God and the world pursue opposite agendas (Galatians 1:4; 1 Corinthians 10:21).
• Consequence: enmity, not mere distance (2 Corinthians 6:14-17).
• Call: decide whom you will serve—worldly security or kingdom allegiance (Joshua 24:15 applied).
For believers, the warning invites confession and renewed loyalty (1 John 1:9).
James 4:4 unmasks spiritual adultery, showing that friendship with the world is outright hostility toward God. Covenant love demands exclusive devotion; any compromise puts us at odds with our Lord. The passage presses us to examine affections, values, and loyalties, reject worldly alliances, and walk in wholehearted faithfulness to Christ.
(4) Ye adulterers and adulteresses.--The phrase may seem to flow naturally after the former ones, but the Received text, from which our version was made, is wrong. It should be, ye adulteresses! as accusing those who have broken their marriage vow to God. The sense is familiar to us from many passages in the Old Testament, in which God speaks of Israel in a similar manner, e.g., Psalm 73:27; Isaiah 54:5; Jeremiah 2:2; Ezekiel 16 passim; Ezekiel 23:37-43; Hosea 2:2. Again in the New Testament: Matthew 12:39; Matthew 16:4; Mark 8:38; Revelation 2:20-22; Revelation 17:1; Revelation 17:5; Revelation 17:15, &c.; St. Paul's description of the church (2Corinthians 11:2), espoused "as a chaste virgin to Christ;" and comp. 2Peter 2:14, specially the margin. "God is the Lord and husband of every soul that is His;" and in her revolt from Him, and love for sin, her acts are those of an adulterous woman. . . . Verse 4. - Ye adulterers and adulteresses. Omit μοιχοὶ καί, with א, A, B. The Vulgate has simply adulteri; the Old Latin (ff), fornicatores. Similarly the Syriae. Very strange is this sudden exclamation, "ye adulteresses!" and very difficult to explain. The same word (μοιχαλίς) is used as a feminine adjective by our Lord in the expression, "an evil and adulterous generation" (Matthew 12:39; Matthew 16:4; Mark 8:38); and in this possibly lies the explanation of St. James's use of the term. More probably, however, it should be accounted for as a reminiscence of Ezekiel 23:45, where we read of Samaria and Jerusalem under the titles of Aholah and Aholibah: "The righteous men, they shall judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands." It is remarkable too that in Malachi 3:5 the LXX. has μοιχαλίδες, although the Hebrew has the masculine, and men are evidently referred to. If, then, in the Old Testament the Jewish communities were personified as adulteresses, it is not unnatural for St. James to transfer the epithet to those Judaeo-Christian communities to which he was writing; and the word should probably be taken, just as in the Old Testament, of spiritual fornication, i.e. apostasy from God, shown in this case, not by actual idolatry, but by that "friendship of the world" which is "enmity with God," and by "covetousness which is idolatry." Φιλία. The word occurs here only in the New Testament. With the thought of this verse, compare our Lord's words in John 15:18, 19.