In the following you will find an excerpt from the forthcoming journal article, "Teaching The Scriptures: A Privilege of Many, An application of James 4:1-10," in the Review and Expositor (winter, 1999) by Sophia Steibel and Lorin Cranford. Both the conceptual process of interpretation and its application to a specific text, James 4:1-10, are presented. The materials below have been modified for the purposes of the guidelines in the Analysis Paper assignment. The objective here is to provide some detailed insight into how to use translations to do the initial phases of your exegesis of the assigned scripture text. Read through the process described below very carefully and implement it into your study procedure for this assignment.

            (1) What are the natural limits and wording of the passage?
            (2) What are the possible divisions of thought contained within the passage?
            (3) How does the passage move through its ideas from beginning to end?
            (4) Can a key theme be identified?

Answers to these questions are found through doing careful study of the text itself. When not working from the original language text, the next best procedure is to work from a comparison of several different translations of the passage.

            (1) What are the natural limits and wording of the passage? From translations the answer to this question can be reasonably determined by comparing the limits of paragraphs across the various translations. Also, many contemporary translations use headings for identifying units of scripture text. For example, the NRSV lists Jas. 4:1-10 under the heading, "Friendship with the World." A close examination of James 4 reveals that verses one through ten are typically grouped together in almost all English translations. Some translations will list all ten verses in one paragraph with or without a heading, while others will break the verses down into multiple paragraphs under a heading.

            Careful study of the scripture will pay close attention to these clues that identify a natural unit of scripture text, commonly referred to as a pericope. Preaching and teaching should not violate these natural boundaries of text, since they stand together creating a cohesive thought expression. To be sure, the original writing of the biblical texts did not involve paragraphs; no punctuation marks or spaces between words and sentences existed in the earliest manuscripts of the New Testament. But, these modern markers of thought division are not created superficially or arbitrarily! To ignore them is to easily fall prey to misinterpretation and distortion of the scripture text's meaning.

            Somewhat connected to the determination of natural limits of text expression is the determination of the exact wording of the scripture text. None of the original documents of the New Testament exists today. Our translations of the Bible are based upon a Hebrew and/or a Greek text developed from analyzing later copies of these documents usually no closer than three hundred years to the time of the original writing. Although this is a very technical discipline -- called textual criticism -- that ultimately has to work off the original Greek and Hebrew language texts, the serious Bible student can identify possible problem areas by noting the marginal readings indicated in various translations.

            Two most helpful English translations in this are the NRSV and the NIV. In the James four text one particular issue surfaces at verse five. In the quote introduced by the words (NRSV) "the scripture says,..." much uncertainty exists regarding what is being quoted. The Greek text here is capable of three distinctly different translations, which the NIV quite helpfully notes in the marginal readings: (a) "the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely"; (b) "God jealously longs for the spirit that he made to live in us" (c) "the Spirit he caused to live in us longs jealously." Noting these differences and how each translation treats this scripture statement is important. Comparative study will help sharpen the nature of the differences. Consulting commentaries will help develop arguments leading to your own personal conclusion about the preferred reading of the text. Also you will realize that some scripture texts contain an inherent amount of ambiguity that urge caution about dogmatic assertions regarding the text meaning.

           (2) What are the possible divisions of thought contained within the passage? The next phase of the study relates to gaining insight into the thought structure contained within the passage. Here again the translations prove quite helpful. Notice carefully where paragraph divisions occur across various translations. Once consistent patterns are observed, tentative conclusions about text structure can be formed, to be confirmed or revised at the end of the interpretative process after consulting various commentaries.

            The natural sub-units of Jas. 4:1-10 are suggested as vv.1-6 and 7-10, with the possibility of vv 1-6 being sub-divided into vv. 1-3 and vv. 4-6.

            (3) How does the passage move through its ideas from beginning to end? In order to gain a sense of the 'argument' of the passage, each sentence needs to be analyzed for core statements and expansion elements. Then, an assessment of how each of these connect up together follows.

            In Jas. 4:1-10, the patterns are relatively easy to follow:

            * Two questions in verse 1:
                        Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from?
                        Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you?

            The first of these two questions raises the issue the source of conflict. A check of commentaries will reveal this question was frequently raised in the ancient world, especially in Greek philosophical circles. The setting of the conflict could be cities at war with one another; families with conflict; individuals with inward conflict. Here James seems to be raising that ancient question in regard to the communities of faith, the "among you" perhaps in the mid-first century Jewish Christian setting when these Christians were still attending the synagogue as a part of their religious experience.

            The second question provides an answer to the first question by raising it in a way to seek agreement with the answer expected from the readers of this letter. The source of conflict is pegged as "your cravings that are at war within you." Interestingly, this answer is almost identical to that of the Greek philosopher Plato in Phaedo (66C-D) and the Jewish philosopher Philo in De Gigantibus (11) centuries before James. Human cravings (hedonon - the source of the English word hedonism) create the conflict found in human relations. James agrees with the general answer provided by many in his world. How do these cravings drive human attitudes and actions? This James addresses in the following sentences.

            * Two similarly structured statements in verse 2: ²

You want something           And you covet something           and                              and      do not have it;                  cannot obtain it;  so you commit murder         so you engage in disputes and conflicts.

The similarity of these sentences leads to the repeated pattern desire; non-fulfillment; reaction in both sentences. The repetition, a type of Hebrew parallelism, creates emphasis upon the chain reaction. Horrible results in human experience typically occur when cravings are not fulfilled, reflecting the awesomely destructive power inherent in human cravings.

            *Note the two interconnected sentences in verses 2 and 3.

                        You do not have,
                                                 because you do not ask.

                       You ask and do not receive,
                                                              because you ask wrongly,
                                                                                              in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.

            The sentence structure is an assertion followed by a reason (because...).

            The first sentence assertion repeats the non-fulfillment statement in the above pair of sentences, "do not have it", and suggests the reason for non-fulfillment: "because you do not ask." Here James begins to provide a distinctly Christian view, distinct from the philosophical answers that typically blamed the weakness on human flesh and suggested rigid self-discipline of the body as the solution. This self-discipline could take the forms of asceticism (denial of all pleasure and desire), vigorous education of the mind and the soul to empower it to control cravings, and many other answers. For James, the problem lies in not submitting the desires to God through prayer.
 

            "Do you not know...", "Or do you suppose...". The first question with its answer in the following sentence clearly raise the issue of friendship with the world. This, in the literary setting here, is connected closely to the human cravings theme in verses 1-3. The opposition to God and His will is quite clear in both motifs, "friendship with the world" and "human cravings."

            The second question, with its following assertion, poses interpretive difficulties. Quite clearly this pair of sentences is intended to advance the emphasis on friendship with the world contained in the first pair of sentences. In both sentences of the second pair James makes a rare use of reference to Old Testament passages. The second OT quote "therefore it says,..." is quite clear in its source; it is taken from Prov. 3:34 in the Greek translation of the OT, called the Septuagint (symbol, LXX), used by Christians in the first century. The difficulty is with the first reference, "the scripture says...". As noted above in section (1) on the wording of the text, the biblical text of James is very unclear. No similar such statement to any of the three possible English translations exists anywhere in the OT. A careful study of the possibilities of the statement should be made using commentaries and translations in order to come to a conclusion about the most likely expression intended here.

What shift in thought has occurred?

            Quite obviously the second pair of sentences intends to move the emphasis on friendship with the world to the involvement of God in overcoming worldliness. The second sentence with its reference to Prov. 3:34 makes this abundantly clear. The first sentence can be understood to either set up a contrastive assertion: our fleshly nature is inclined to envy leading to cravings, e.g., the NIV: "the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely." Or, the first sentence represents James' interpretative paraphrase of Ex. 20:5, "I the Lord you God am a jealous God." In that case then either of the other two possible translations would work: "God jealously longs for the spirit that he made to live in us" or "the Spirit he caused to live in us longs jealously." Thus this first statement sets up a divine opposition to friendship with the world, and the following sentence with Prov. 3:34 extends the thought to a divine solution to worldliness: the superior grace of God.

            However this pair of sentences is read, the last word of the Prov. 3:34 quote, "humble," provides the launch pad into the last section of verses 7-10.

            *Read verses 7-10 identifying the rapid-fire series of admonitions to humble oneself before God.

             The Command/Promise pattern in "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you"; "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you" and "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you." The admonition is reinforced by a divine promise once the admonition is obeyed. The identifying marks of this thought structure are an command in the first main clause, followed by a promise in the second as reflected in the future tense form of the verb.

            Compare the final admonition  in verse 10 to the quote of Prov. 3:34 in verse 6.

            What is the solution for conflict resolution suggested by the writer in the first admonition in verse 7? This sets the basic principle to win over the worldliness which drives human cravings.

             The following series of admonitions then amplifies and emphasizes aspects of that submission. (1) The first two command/promise statements form a pair of turning from the devil and turning to God. (2) The next set utilizes ancient Jewish metaphors for the inside (heart = inner attitudes) and outside (hands = external deeds) of human existence: "Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." (3) The following sets deal with the attitudes of remorse over worldliness necessary for the submitting to God: "Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into dejection." (4) The final command/promise returns to the Prov. quote in climatic emphasis upon turning to God in repentance as the divinely promised solution to worldliness that drives human cravings which in turn creates conflicts. Thus James has both answered the ancient question about the origin of conflict in human relationships, as well as having provided the solution to overcoming conflict.

            (4) Can a key theme be identified? The last question in the interpretative process comes naturally at the end: the identification of a key theme as the 'stack pole' around which the words of the text are organized and then serves as the heading for the body section of your paper.

Complete the following sentence:
            If I could define the central theme that seems to permeate James 4:1-10 it would be. . .

            For serious Bible students, several important tools should be a part of their personal library. Among them should be a good Bible dictionary. Two excellent examples would be The Mercer Dictionary of the Bible and the Harper's Dictionary of the Bible. In addition, a good one volume commentary on the Bible is important, such as the Mercer Commentary on the Bible and Harper's Bible Commentary. For those making extensive use of computers, many of these hard copy publications are becoming available in electronic format. In this form they are easier to use, do searches quickly and easily, and material can be copied directly into a lesson plan without retyping.

            Of course, this is but a beginning; numerous additional tools can be added gradually over time. Yet, we consider these two types, a dictionary and a one volume commentary, the absolute necessary starting tools.
 

_______________________

 ¹Ignore the verse markings. These 16th century additions to the scripture text more often than not are a hindrance to sensing the thought flow of the ideas in the text. It's the sentences in the text that are the focus of study.

 ²Although some translations confuse the thought flow in alternative punctuation, the NRSV cited represents the most accurate reading of the Greek text structure. The NIV would illustrate the alternative punctuation: "You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight."