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James 4:1-3
New Catholic Bible
James 4:1-3
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 4
The Need To Control Passions.[a] 1 What is the source of these conflicts and quarrels among you? Are they not the result of your passions[b] that are at war within you? 2 You want something that you cannot have, so you commit murder. And you covet something but cannot obtain it, so you engage in quarrels and fights. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 When you ask, you do not get what you want because you do not ask for it with the proper motives, seeking rather to indulge your passions.
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- James 4:1 Troubles, unjust and murderous confrontations, and wars are the scourges of social life, and Christians share in them. Murderous passions are given free rein even in the community, creating antagonisms and divisions. The desire to possess and to monopolize things seems to be without limits and takes over the human heart. Hence, let all Christians question themselves about their innermost affiliation and choice. Do they really opt for God or do they live under the weight of their evil passions? When someone became unfaithful to God in the concrete, the Old Testament as well as Christ designated it as adultery (see Hos 3:1; Mt 12:39; 16:4). All these evils are the result of a failure to pray. True prayer is a drawing near to God, and it requires a reversal of mentality.
- James 4:1 Passions: literally, “pleasures.” The author is not saying that pleasures are evil in themselves; the evil consists only in the way they are used.
