February 17, 2008 · James 4:6

James 4 6-10

“That is why the scriptures say, God opposes the proud, but it gives grace to the humble. See, the solution to our sin problem, it isn't to pretend that sin does not exist. Let's put it this way, if God exists, then sin exists. Sin is living as if God did not exist. Sin is the interpersonal hurt and the hate that we've shoved in God's face. The solution to sin is God's grace. But to receive God's grace, it takes an act of humility. To receive God's grace, we have to first acknowledge that we need God's grace, and the proud are too loud and self-abound to have allowed their heads to be bowed. And so, God opposes the proud. Now, the word here for a pose is anti-tasso. In Greek, the verb taso is a word which means to assign a place or a task to a point or to the side, and anti, as we all know, means against. So, I think he's quoting proverbs 3, 34 here. In the Greek version, and what he's doing is he's saying God has decided against or he's appointed himself against the proud, just as they appoint themselves against God. And the grace of God, the solution to sin, it's not gonna be felt by the proud. The only way to receive God's grace is to become a humble person. To humble yourself before your creator.”