You people aren't faithful to God! Don't you know if you love the world, you are God's enemies? And if you decide to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.

Adulterers! Do you not know that the love of this world is hatred toward God? Therefore whoever chooses to be a friend of this world is an enemy of God. Evil often seeks to sow discord and division among individuals and communities. Manipulative tactics, such as spreading lies, rumors, and hatred, are used to break down relationships and create animosity. Recognizing these divisive strategies empowers believers to foster unity, love, and understanding, thus counteracting the effects of evil. Exploitation And InjusticePulpit Commentary Verse 4. - Ye adulterers and adulteresses. Omit μοιχοὶκαί, with א, A, B. The Vulgate has simply adulteri; the Old Latin (ff), fornicatores. Similarly the Syriae. Very strange is this sudden exclamation, " ye adulteresses!" and very difficult to explain. The same word ( μοιχαλίς) is used as a feminine adjective by our Lord in the expression, " an evil and adulterous generation" ( Matthew 12:39; Matthew 16:4; Mark 8:38); and in this possibly lies the explanation of St. James's use of the term. More probably, however, it should be accounted for as a reminiscence of Ezekiel 23:45, where we read of Samaria and Jerusalem under the titles of Aholah and Aholibah: "The righteous men, they shall judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands." It is remarkable too that in Malachi 3:5 the LXX. has μοιχαλίδες, although the Hebrew has the masculine, and men are evidently referred to. If, then, in the Old Testament the Jewish communities were personified as adulteresses, it is not unnatural for St. James to transfer the epithet to those Judaeo-Christian communities to which he was writing; and the word should probably be taken, just as in the Old Testament, of spiritual fornication, i.e. apostasy from God, shown in this case, not by actual idolatry, but by that " friendship of the world" which is "enmity with God," and by " covetousness which is idolatry." Φιλία. The word occurs here only in the New Testament. With the thought of this verse, compare our Lord's words in John 15:18, 19. Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: 'I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

But you do not live as your human nature tells you to; instead, you live as the Spirit tells you to — if, in fact, God's Spirit lives in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ lives in you, the Spirit is life for you because you have been put right with God, even though your bodies are going to die because of sin. If the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from death, lives in you, then he who raised Christ from death will also give life to your mortal bodies by the presence of his Spirit in you. We were God's enemies, but he made us his friends through the death of his Son. Now that we are God's friends, how much more will we be saved by Christ's life! Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.While God’s wrath is real, repentance is also a central theme in the Bible, signaling a change of heart and a turning away from sin. Through genuine repentance, individuals can experience God’s forgiveness and receive the gift of salvation because God loves us enough to grant us grace through his son, Jesus. Understanding and recognizing the manifestations of evil is essential for believers in their quest to lead a righteous and God-fearing life. The Bible provides valuable insights into the various ways in which evil influences individuals and societies. By being aware of these manifestations, believers can guard themselves against the allure of sin and deception. Sin And Temptation Throughout Israel’s history, the followers of God have constantly encountered foes determined to destroy them. The Canaanites, the Egyptians, the Philistines, and the Babylonians represent only a handful of the brutal and tyrannical enemy nations mentioned in the Bible. All the nations mentioned were considered enemies because they opposed God’s people, and God battled on Israel’s behalf (2 Kings 19). Can Enemies Of God Be Reconciled? And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. If the death of his Son restored our relationship with God while we were still his enemies, we are even more certain that, because of this restored relationship, the life of his Son will save us.