Humility
Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. (4:10)
As has been noted several times previously in this commentary volume, humility is actually the starting point and summary of salvation as far as the human response is concerned. The first Beatitude is “Blessed are the poor in spirit [the humble], for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:3). Earlier in this passage, James has declared that “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (4:6).
Tapeinoō (humble yourselves) means literally to make low. Here it means to make oneself low, not in the self-put-downs that many people use in order to induce others to build them up, but in a genuine realization of complete unworthiness and lostness because of sin. As the penitent sinner submits to God and draws closer to Him, like Isaiah he cries out, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isa. 6:5). The more an unbeliever sees God as He really is, glorious and holy, the more clearly he sees himself as he really is, sinful and depraved. Even Peter was overwhelmed and terrified when He saw Jesus miraculously fill their nets with fish, crying out, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Luke 5:8). Later the disciples became even more fearful of Jesus for stilling the storm than they had been of the storm itself, “saying to one another, ‘Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?’ ” (8:25).
God has always honored those who are spiritually humble. The Lord testified to Solomon: “[If] My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chron. 7:14). The psalmist praised the Lord, saying, “You have heard the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear” (Ps. 10:17). Through Isaiah God promised, “I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite” (Isa. 57:15).
Jesus made clear that “whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted” (Matt. 23:12). Again, the prodigal is the perfect example of contrite humility. When he came to his senses in the far country, he said to himself, “I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men’ ” (Luke 15:18–19). When he returned home and expressed that sincere contrition, “the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found’ ” (Luke 15:22–24).
That is a picture of the way in which God gives His “greater grace” (James 4:6) to those who come into the presence of the Lord in repentance and humility. He will exalt them lavishly.
It is of that gracious exaltation that Paul speaks in his letter to the church at Ephesus.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace. (Eph. 1:3–7)
More even than that, our loving heavenly Father has “raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (2:6).[1]
10 James wraps up the unit by reiterating the call for humility reflected earlier (v. 6) in his quote of Proverbs 3:34: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” The value of humility as the right path to exaltation is widely published in the OT, but the most immediate backdrop for James is the teaching of Jesus, who said, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Lk 14:11; cf. Mt 23:12; Lk 18:14). The thought is echoed in the writings of the early church (e.g., 1 Pe 5:6; see Moo, 196), due in no small measure to the example of the Lord himself, who lived a life of perfect submission to the Father in the face of suffering and was exalted as a result (Heb 2:9; Php 2:5–11). This forms a cornerstone of the Lord’s upside-down value system, which governs the kingdom. The way “up” is “down”; the path of freedom is submission; the road to joy is walked in mourning and with tears. Yet the end result is grace. The Lord lifts those who, recognizing their sin, repent, bowing before him in submission.[2]
Humility and Its Promise (4:10)
James now turns to a final summons, and it brings to focus the theme of the entire section from 4:7–9: repentance. As in 4:7b and 4:8a, this last commandment entails a promise: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” The language evokes once again the reversal theme of 1:9–11. But instead of talking so directly to the poor as James did there, in the word “humble” he summons the teachers to align themselves with those who are needy and dependent on God. His summons probably owes at least some of its origin to Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 23:12: “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted” (cf. Luke 14:11; 18:14). Paul, too, echoed the same saying of Jesus in 2 Cor 11:7 (cf. 12:21). It is possible, also, that the song behind Philippians 2:5–11 was already at work in the messianic community; there Jesus is the example of the one who humbled himself (2:8). Peter also echoes the saying of Jesus (1 Pet 5:6). James 4:10 brings to final expression, not so much as the culmination but as the final way of calling the teachers to repentance, what we have already encountered in 4:6 and 4:7–9.
The humbling is not just about what the teachers have done or what has now been exposed; nor is this the dishonor they may experience. It refers, rather, to an existential disposition “before the Lord,” one that expresses accountability before God. It is not James they have offended with their selfish ambitions; it is not the community; the teachers have offended the Lord in their proud behaviors and attitudes. As Paul states it, no one can boast in God’s presence (1 Cor 1:29). Genuine humility is profoundly theological because it is a proper recognition of one’s place in this world before the creator, the holy, loving God.
James speaks against the pride of the teachers, as Jesus so graphically did as well (cf. Luke 18:14), and James’s promise that God will exalt them follows from the grace God gives to those who are humble (4:6ab). The promise of exaltation captures the reversal theme, but only if the zealous, ambitious, proud teachers will enter into a state of humility before God. Thus, Job 5:11: “he sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.” The exaltation James has in mind does not appeal to the teachers’ zeal, ambition, and pride but takes them from their sinful condition into the realm of humble repentance and through that humiliation before God into the world of God’s blessing. The exalted place into which God will elevate them is nothing more than living before God properly, loving one’s neighbor as oneself, showing compassion for those in need, controlling the tongue, generating peace in the messianic community, and exercising gifts of teaching and leadership in the way God intended. Perhaps that state is best defined by 3:13: “Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.”
Repentance takes on its genius in this passage, not the least reason being that James never uses the typical word metanoia (“repentance”). First, repentance is about a person’s relationship, mind, and behaviors before God: it is profoundly theological. This is why this section begins and ends with the face of God (4:7, 8a, 10). Second, repentance leads to forgiveness that can be described in terms of purification (4:8b). Third, repentance is both embodied and emotive—as 4:9 makes clear. And, fourth, repentance leads to grace that elevates a person not into envy but into peacemaking, love, and compassionate deeds (4:10).[3]
Humble Yourselves before the Lord and He Will Lift You Up (4:10)
The prophets often declare that the Lord humbles the proud (1 Sam 2:7; Isa. 2:11–17; 26:5; Lam. 1:5; Ezek. 17:24; Hos. 14:9). Yet James does not say, “The Lord will humble you”; he says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord” (4:10). Therefore we do not wait for God or for circumstances to humble us. It is our duty to humble ourselves. James does not specify how we do this, but he does drop a hint in the phrase “before the Lord.”
If we remember that all we do is “before the Lord,” if his holiness is our standard, it is easier to humble ourselves. But if we compare ourselves to others, it is far easier to avoid humility. If a parent chides a child for a messy room, the child runs to the excuse, “You think my room is bad—you should see …,” whereupon the child names the messiest child he knows. Adults do the same thing when their flaws appear. We think, “I have a problem, but I’m not nearly so bad as so-and-so.” When we compare ourselves to others, we can always find someone who is worse. But if we compare ourselves to the Lord, who is the absolute standard, the excuse disappears and we are more likely to humble ourselves. When he stood before the Lord, even the prophet Isaiah, a godly man who served as God’s mouth, declared, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips” (Isa. 6:5 nasb). In a sense, he still compared himself to his countrymen, but not in a way that excused his sin.8 When God is the standard, humility comes easily.
If we humble ourselves, if we admit that we sin, and that we are sinful, and that we cannot reform ourselves, then, James promises, the Lord will lift us up. This is the gospel according to James. James does not mention the atonement of Christ, the cross of Christ, or the resurrection of Christ. He states the gospel his own way, a way deeply influenced by the teachings of Jesus. James says there is an antithesis, a choice between two ways of life: a way of selfish ambition and a way of purity and peace (3:13–18). We can be a friend of God or a friend of the world (4:4). We can be proud or humble and repentant. Jesus says, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11; 18:14). James says, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” When we grieve over our sins and turn to him in faith, he will extend his redeeming grace. When we come to God in repentance and humility, he will forgive us and lift us up.[4]
10. James concludes his series of commands with a summarizing exhortation, Humble yourselves, that reflects the promise of the Proverbs quotation in verse 6: God ‘shows favour to the humble’. The humility before the Lord that James commands means to recognize our own spiritual poverty, to acknowledge consequently our desperate need of God’s help and to submit to his commanding will for all our lives. This humility is beautifully exemplified in the tax-collector of Jesus’ parable, who, deeply conscious of his sin, called out to God for mercy. In response, Jesus pronounces him justified and summarizes: ‘all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted’ (Luke 18:14). This saying (parallel to others where humility before other people is the point: Matt. 23:12; Luke 14:11) was taken up as a popular motto in the early church (cf. 2 Cor. 11:7; 1 Pet. 5:6). It expresses the fundamentally important principle that the enjoyment of spiritual vitality and victory comes not through independent effort of our own but through complete dependence on the Lord. To try to ‘exalt ourselves’ by relying on our own abilities, status or money brings only failure and condemnation—God ‘humbles us’. James expressed this earlier in his letter when he encouraged believers in humble circumstances to boast in their ‘high position’ (or ‘exaltation’) and warned rich Christians to boast in their ‘humiliation’ (1:9–10).
Theology
If our interpretation of verse 5 is right, this passage in James contributes to the great biblical theme of the jealousy of God—and reminds us that we need to maintain a careful balance in our understanding of God. James insists that God is both one who makes frightful and all-encompassing demands of his people and one who gives in his grace to all who humble themselves before him. A jealous God who is not a God of grace is terrifying; a gracious God who is not also demanding is a weak and impotent being far from the God of the Bible. Much of our theology and many of the mistakes we make in Christian living arise from a faulty theo-logy: our view of God himself.[5]
[1] MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1998). James (pp. 213–215). Moody Press.
[2] Guthrie, G. H. (2006). James. In T. Longman III & D. E. Garland (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Hebrews–Revelation (Revised Edition) (Vol. 13, pp. 256–257). Zondervan.
[3] McKnight, S. (2011). The Letter of James (pp. 357–358). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
[4] Doriani, D. M. (2007). James (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & D. M. Doriani, Eds.; pp. 151–152). P&R Publishing.
[5] Moo, D. J. (2015). James: An Introduction and Commentary (E. J. Schnabel, Ed.; Second edition, Vol. 16, p. 191). Inter-Varsity Press.
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