Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
The oldest manuscripts omit "adulterers and," and read simply, "Ye adulteresses." God is the rightful husband; the men of the world are regarded collectively as one adulteress, and individually as adulteresses.
the world--in so far as the men of it and their motives and acts are aliens to God, for example, its selfish "lusts" (James 4:3), and covetous and ambitious "wars and fightings" (James 4:1).
enmity--not merely "inimical"; a state of enmity, and that enmity itself. Compare 1 John 2:15, "love . . . the world . . . the love of the Father."
whosoever . . . will be--The Greek is emphatic, "shall be resolved to be." Whether he succeed or not, if his wish be to be the friend of the world, he renders himself, becomes (so the Greek for "is") by the very fact, "the enemy of God." Contrast "Abraham the friend of God."
Other commentary entries containing this verse:
Song of Solomon 5:2
Amos 3:3-6
Galatians 1:10
James 3:17
James 4:6
James 4:8
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