James 4:7-16 Humble Yourselves In Light of God’s Righteousness, Justice, and Providence

Sermon & Translation by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 11 June 2023
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Introduction & Review

vs. 7-10 Humble Yourselves In Light of God’s Righteousness

vs. 11-12 Humble Yourselves In Light Of God’s Justice

vs. 13-15 Humble Yourselves In Light Of God’s Providence

CONCLUSION

James 4:7-17 – Comparison Of Textual Traditions & VersionsA

ByzantineB

NAW

KJVC

Vulgate

PeshittaD

7̈ ῾Υποτάγητε οὖν τῳ῀ θεῷ. Ἀντίστητε E τῳ῀ διαβόλῳ, καὶ φεύξεται ἀφ᾿ ὑμῶν·

7 Therefore, start submitting yourselves to God, and start standing up against the Devil, and he will flee from y’all!

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

7 subditi igitur estote Deo resistite [autem] diabolo et fugiet a vobis

7 Subject yourselves therefore to God; [and] stand firm against Satan, and he will flee from you.

8̈ ἐγγίσατε τῳ῀ Θεῳ῀, καὶ ἐγγιεῖ ὑμῖν. καθαρίσατε χεῖρας ἁμαρτωλοί καὶ ἁγνίσατε καρδίας δίψυχοιF.

8 Start drawing near to God, and He will draw near to y’all. Sinners, start purifying hands, and double-minded ones, start sanctifying hearts!

8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

8 adpropiate Domino et adpropinqua­bit vobis emundate manus peccatores et purificate corda duplices animo

8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners: sanctify your hearts, ye divided in mind.

9 ταλαιπωρήσατεG καὶ πενθήσατε καὶ κλαύσατε· ὁ γέλως ὑμῶν εἰς πένθος μεταστραφήτωH καὶ ἡ χαρὰ εἰς κατήφειανI

9 Start feeling the weight of it and mourning and weeping. Let your laughter be changed into mourning and your joy into sadness.

9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

9 miseri [estote] et lugete et plorate risus vester in luctum convertatur et gaudium in maerorem

9 Humble yourselves, and mourn X X: let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into grief.

10 ταπεινώθηκεJ ἐνώπιον Kτοῦ Κυρίου, καὶ ὑψώσει ὑμᾶς.̈

10 Let your­selves be humbled in the sight of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

10 humili­amini in conspectu Domini et exaltabit vos

10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

11̈ Μὴ καταλαλεῖτεL ἀλλήλων, ἀδελφοί. ὁ καταλαλῶν ἀδελφοῦ Mκαὶ κρίνων τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ καταλαλεῖ νόμου, καὶ κρίνει νόμον· εἰ δὲ νόμον κρίνειςN, οὐκ εἶ ποιητὴς νόμου, ἀλλὰ κριτής.

11 Stop talking derogatorily about one another, brothers. The one who is talking derogatorily about a brother or condemning his brother is talking derogatorily about the law and condemning the law. But, when you condemn the law, you are not being a doer of the law; instead you are being its judge.

11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speak­eth evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speak­eth evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

11 nolite detrahere de alterutrum fratres qui detrahit fratri aut qui iudicat fratrem suum detrahit legi et iudicat legem si autem iudicas legem non es factor legis sed iudex

11 Speak not against each other, [my] brethren; [for] he that speak­eth against his brother, orO judgeth his brother, speak­eth against the law, and judgeth the law. And if thou judgest the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but its judge.

12̈ εἷς ἐστιν ὁP νομοθέτηςQ καὶ κριτήςR, ὁ δυνάμενος σῶσαιS καὶ ἀπολέσαι· σὺ Tτίς εἶ ὃς κρίνεις τὸν ἕτερον;U

12 The Lawgiver and Judge is the One who is able to save and to destroy. So who are you who condemn your neighbor?

12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

12 unus est legislator et iudex qui potest perdere et liberare tu autem quis es qui iudicas proximum

12 There is one Law-giver and Judge, who can make alive, and can destroy: but who art thou, that thou judgest thy neighbor?

13̈ ῎ΑγεV νῦν οἱ λέγοντες· σήμερον Wἢ αὔριον πορευσόμεθα εἰς τήνδεX τὴν πόλιν καὶ ποιήσομεν ἐκεῖ ἐνιαυτὸν ἕναY καὶ ἐμπορευσόμεθαZ, καὶ κερδήσομεν·

13 Get with-it now, you who are saying, “Today or tomorrow we shall go into this town here and manufacture for one year there, then market and profit!”

13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and [buy and] sell, and get gain:

13 ecce nunc qui dicitis hodie aut crastino ibimus in illam civitatem et faciemus quidem ibi annum et mercabimur et lucrum [faciemus]

13 But what [shall we say of] those, who say: To-day or to-morrow we will go to such or such a city, and will abideAA there a year; and we will traffic, and get gainAB?

14̈ οἵτινες οὐκ ἐπίστασθεAC τὸ τῆς αὔριον· ποίαAD γὰρAE ἡ ζωὴ ὑμῶν; ἀτμὶςAF γάρ ἐστινAG ἡ πρὸς ὀλίγον φαινομένη, ἔπειτα καὶAH ἀφανιζομένηAI·

14who yourselves have no certainty of what will be morrow. (For what is your life? Indeed, it is smoke which is made to appear for a little while and then is made to disappear.)

14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

14 qui ignoratis quid erit in crastinum quae enim est vita vestra X vapor est ad modicum parens deinceps exterminatur

14 And they know not what will be to-morrow: for what is Xour life, but an exhalation that is seen a little while, and then vanisheth [and is gone]?

15̈ ἀντὶ τοῦ λέγεινAJ ὑμᾶς, ἐὰν ὁ Κύριος θελήσῃAK, καὶ ζήσομεν καὶ ποιήσομενAL τοῦτο ἢ ἐκεῖνο.

15 Instead y’all should say, “If the Lord wills, then we will live and do this or that.”

15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

15 pro eo ut dicatis si Dominus voluerit et vixerimus X faciemus hoc aut illud

15 Whereas they should say: If the Lord pleaseAM, and we live, XAN we will do this or that.

16̈ νῦν δὲ καυχᾶσθε ἐν ταῖς ἀλαζονείαιςAO ὑμῶν· πᾶσα καύχησις τοιαύτη πονηράAP ἐστιν.

16 But now y’all are boasting in your pretensions; all such boasting is evil.

16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

16 nunc autem exultatis in superbiis vestris omnis exultatio talis maligna est

16 X X They glory in their vauntingX. All such glorying is evil.

17̈ εἰδότι οὖν καλὸν ποιεῖν καὶ μὴ ποιοῦντιAQ, ἁμαρτία αὐτῳ῀ ἐστιν.

17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and isn’t doing it – to him it is a sin.

17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

17 scienti igitur bonum facere et non facienti peccatum est illi

17 X He that knoweth the good X X, and doeth it not, to him is sin.


1John Owen observed, “that the first thing is to be under the banner and protection of God, and then we can successfully stand up against the devil: apart from God, we have no power to resist him.”

2Cf. Ex. 24:2, Lev. 10:3, 21:21-23, etc.

3Matthew Henry pointed out that this also relates to our submission to God, for he who is a slave of sin is not submitting to God as his Master!

5"‘I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters,’ Says the LORD Almighty. Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” (NKJV)

6“If we are confessing our sins, He is faithful and righteous in order to send away from us the sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (NAW)

7See also historical examples in Acts 16:15, 21:25, 1 Cor. 5:3, etc.

8See also Romans 2 & 14, on the problem of hypocrisy in condemning in others sin that you tolerate in yourself, and passages like Eph. 4:29-32 & Titus 3:1-2 using the Greek root βλασφημ-.

9See also Hos. 7 & Mal. 3.

10Moo suggested James was obliquely referring to Lev. 19:16 “ Thou shalt not walk deceitfully [δόλῳ] among thy people; thou shalt not rise up [ἐπισυστήση] against the blood of thy neighbour [πλησίον]…” - two verses before the Mosaic command to “love your neighbor,” thus “slander” would be breaking the “law.”

11Vincent pointed out, however, that “doing time” was a Greek idiom (viz Acts 15:33, 18:23, 20:3 and 2 Cor. 11:25), so ποιήσομεν/-ωμεν may have simply meant “pass time,” although he favored the interpretation of “doing some­thing.” (On the other hand, ATR, Moo, and most English versions favored the interpretation of “doing time.”)

12cf. 9:26-27, Ps. 144:4, 1 Pet. 1:34, James 1:10

13 and, coincidentally of the more pagan-Roman-friendly deo volente – “God willing” rather than “Lord willing”

AWhen a translation adds words not in the Greek text, but does not indicate it has done so by the use of italics or greyed-out text, I put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is different from all the other translations, I underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the Greek word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original text, I use strikeout. And when a version omits a word which is in the original text, I insert an X. I also place an X at the end of a word if the original word is plural but the English translation is singular. I occasionally use colors to help the reader see correlations between the various editions and versions when there are more than two different translations of a given word. NAW is my translation. My original chart includes annotated copies of the NKJV, NASB, NIV, and ESV, but I erase them from the online edition so as not to infringe on their copyrights.

BThis Greek New Testament is the 1904 "Patriarchal" edition of the Greek Orthodox Church. The Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine majority text of the GNT and the Textus Receptus are very similar. The Westcott-Hort, Nestle-Aland, and UBS editions are a slightly-different family of GNTs developed in the modern era as a break from the traditional Greek Bible by compiling just a few of the oldest-known manuscripts, but even so, the practical differences in the text between these two editing philosophies are minimal.

C1769 King James Version of the Holy Bible; public domain.

DJames Murdock, A Literal Translation from the Syriac Peshito Version, 1851, Robert Carter & Brothers, New York. Scanned and transcribed by Gary Cernava and published electronically by Janet Magierra at http://www.lightofword.org

EThe Greek Orthodox and Textus Receptus editions of the GNT follow a half-dozen second-millennium manuscripts which omit the conjunction here. It’s hard to understand why they would do so. The Vulgate and Syriac and Critical GNTs followed the majority of manuscripts which insert δε.

FJames 1:8 is the only other instance of any form of this word in the Greek Bible.

GTurner and Blass & Debrunner interpreted these aorist imperatives as inchoative (“start to be miserable, start mourning …”) The first verb is only found elsewhere in the OT prophets, particularly Joel 1 and Jeremiah 4 & 9.

HThis is the spelling in the vast majority of manuscripts (including Sinaiticus and Alexandrinus) and of the Greek Orthodox GNTs, but, because P100 and Vaticanus read μεταtraphtw, the Critical GNTs carry on their spelling. Happily, στραφω and τραπω mean basically the same thing in Greek, so it doesn’t make a practical difference in meaning.

I Hapex Legomenon. Compound of “down” and “appearance.” A form of the word appears in Wisdom 17:4b “...noises [as of waters] falling down sounded about them, and sad visions appeared unto them with heavy [κατηφῆ] countenances.” (KJV)

JThis verb (like “submit” in v.7) is spelled in the Greek passive voice. There is a way in Greek to spell this verb in such a way that it is explicitly reflexive rather than passive, but the Greek passive spelling is sometimes used to denote reflexive action, so it is a matter of interpretation whether to translate this verb in this verse passively (“be humbled”) or reflexively (“humble yourselves”).

KThe majority of Greek manuscripts (including almost half of those dated to the first millennium, including the oldest-known manuscript of this verse) print the definite article before “Lord,” but modern critical editions of the GNT omit it because there are 15 manuscripts throughout history (including Vaticanus, Sinaiticus, and Alexandrinus) which omit it. This makes no difference in meaning, however, because “Lord” refers to the definite person of God, so it is definite whether or not it has a definite article.

LThis verb is only found in the GNT here and in 1 Pet. 2:12 & 3:16. The Present tense with the prohibitive connotes that it is a current practice they should stop. Cf. A.T. Robertson’s Word Pictures in loc: “Prohibition against such a habit or a command to quit doing it.” Moo agreed in his commentary (pg. 198), but disagreed in the footnote on the same page, however he provided a good word-association study on the previous page: “‘speaking evil’ is often linked to ‘jealousy’ (zelos) (2 Cor. 12:20, 1 Pet. 2:1), ‘selfishness’ (2 Cor. 12:20), quarrels (polemas in Pss. Sol. 12:3) and pride (T. Gad 3:3), and is said to be a manifestation of double-mindedness (Hermas, Similitude 8.7.2; see Mandate 2).”

MAlthough the majority of second-millennium Greek manuscripts read “and/kai, the oldest-known manuscript that reads this way is from the 10th century, nevertheless, this is the reading of the TR and the KJV. All known manuscripts which have older dates than 10th century read “or/η” so that is the reading of the modern Critical GNTs and English versions, as well as of the Vulgate and Peshitta.

NFirst class conditional assumes the circumstance is true, therefore NIV and I translated it “when” not “if.”

OLamsa’s translation is “and,” but Murdock translated the word [ܐܘ] in the Peshitta accurately as “or.”

PBecause two of the oldest-known Greek manuscripts omit the definite article, the critical editions express doubt that it is authentic, but 80% of the first-millennium manuscripts contain it, including some of the very oldest, and, while only about three second-millennium manuscripts omit it. It is in all the rest, as well as in the majority of lectionaries, and it is the reading of the ancient Coptic and Ethiopic versions. Gramattically, this definite article denotes which nominative is the subject, and that is “The Lawgiver.”

QThe only other place this Greek noun occurs in the Bible is in the LXX of Psalm 9:20 “Appoint, O Lord, a lawgiver over them: let the heathen know that they are men.” (Brenton) The Hebrew word instead means “fear/terror,” and most English versions reflect that in their translation of Psalm 9.
Calvin commented, “[T]he whole majesty of God is forcibly assumed by those who claim for themselves the right of making a law; and this is what is done by those who impose as a law on others their own nod or will. And let us remember that the subject here is not civil government, in which the edicts and laws of magistrates have place, but the spiritual government of the soul, in which the word of God alone ought to bear rule.”

RAlthough the Majority of Greek manuscripts (followed here by the Textus Receptus and KJV) do not include the phrase “and judge,” the traditional Greek Orthodox and modern Critical GNT editions (and the contemporary English transla­tions based on them) include the phrase because the majority text is only a slim majority, and all the manuscripts which are older than the 7th century include the phrase, and the majority of the ancient translations into Latin, Syriac, and Coptic also all contain the phrase, and the phrase is consistent with the rest of Scripture (e.g. John 8:50). There is no problem with manuscripts not having this extra phrase, as long as we understand that the phrase was omitted by copyists, not based on a theological objection to God being Judge, but rather because the phrase simply wasn’t there in some manuscripts.

S The “implanted word” is “able to save” (1:21), but faith that does not work is “not able to save” (2:14). Cf. Hebrews 7:25 In view of which He is also able to save in any eventuality those who come through Him to God, since He is always living for the purpose of interceding on their behalf.” and Jude 1:5 “Although y'all know all [these] things, I'm wanting to remind y'all that once having saved a people from the country of Egypt, the Lord subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.” (NAW)

TCNTTS lists only three Greek manuscripts (all dated 12th or 15th century) which omit the conjunction here, but they are apparently what the Textus Receptus and Patriarchal editions of the GNT followed. The Critical editions coincide with the Majority editions of the GNT as well as with a newer Greek Orthodox edition.

UThe Majority of Greek manuscripts read ‘oV krineiV τονeteron (“Whom you judge the other”), and this is the reading of the TR and Greek Orthodox editions of the GNT. However, every one of the first-millennium manuscripts reads differ­ently: o krinwn ton plhsion (“the one who judges the neighbor” – although there is a 9th century manuscript and a 10th century manuscript which read “‘ετερον/other” instead of πλησιον/neighbor), and this is the reading of all the Latin, Syriac, and Coptic versions, so it is the reading of modern critical texts and English versions. It’s a hard call which to use, but at least they don’t mean anything contradictory.
Unlike Paul’s and Luke’s frequent use of heteros to refer to “another person,” James does not do that unless he does here; conversely, if plesion is the original reading here, it would correlate with James’ use of “neighbor” in the “royal law” of 2:8.

VLiterally “You lead,” but the singular second person form does not match the plural nominative “ones who say,” therefore, likely an interjection (Robertson’s Grammar) “common in ancient Greek like ide nun ēkousate (Matt. 26:65).” (Robert­son’s Word Pictures). Only found in this capacity here and James 5:1, but the LXX of Jdg. 19:6 also appears to be a case of interjection.

W “or … we will go … we will make … we will enter … we will make profit” (the reading of the Patriarchal GNT) comes from about 15 manuscripts (including 2/3 to 1/2 of the first-millennium manuscripts) and is followed by the Latin versions, Peshitta, Coptic, and all the English versions. On the other hand, the Textus Receptus and the Byzantine Majority of Greek manuscripts (including Alexandrinus) read και … πορευσωμεθα ...ποιησωμεν … εμπορευσωμεθα … κερδησωμεν (“and … let us go … let us make … let us enter … let us make profit”), which is also the reading of the Hiraclean Syriac. (The modern Greek Orthodox GNT keeps the Future indicative forms of the Patriarchal edition but switches to the Majority reading for the conjunction “and”.) Here is a rare instance where the KJV deviated from the 1550 Textus Receptus, so Scrivener’s reconstruction of the Textus Receptus (based on back-translating the KJV into Greek in 1894) reads ‘η … -ομεθα etc. The same thing happens in v.15. But this is just two ways of saying the same thing when expressing future plans, so there is no contradiction here.

X Vincent supported “this” (the primary meaning of the word) over “such and such.”

Y Eight manuscripts between the 4th and 13th centuries omit the number 1 (followed by the Vulgate and the modern Critical GNTs and all the English versions), but the clear majority of not only second-millennium but also first-millennium Greek manuscripts contain it (followed by the Syriac versions and Textus Receptus – although the KJV didn’t follow the TR here). But, as usual, it makes no difference in meaning, since “a year” is the same as “one year.”

Z This word only occurs one other place in the GNT – 2 Pet.2:3 “exploit you with words;” in the LXX, it occurs several times translated “trade/buy/acquire/merchant/traffic/sell/customer.” The distinction between this and the previous verb is the distinction between manufacturing and marketing. The previous verb literally means “to make,” so this verb means “to sell product.” This bears a remarkable resemblance to what Hamor and Shechem told the men of the town of Shechem about Jacob and his family in Genesis 34:21 “These men are at peace with us. Therefore let them dwell in the land and trade in it…” Little did they know that they were about to be slaughtered by Levi & Simeon’s vigilantism.

AA Etheridge and Lamsa translated more accurately “work.”

AB Cf. Lamsa “prosper.”

AC This seems to be a synonym for “know” (see Mark 14:68 & Acts 19:15, where it is used in parallel with οιδα), but it seems to have a slight distinction in that this is not intimate knowledge; it is often used in situations where we would say “I am aware/have some idea of” (as it is in Acts 10:28; 15:7; 18:25; 19:25; 20:18; 22:19; 24:10; 26:26; 1 Tim. 6:4; Heb. 11:8; Jude 1:10).

ADPoia is a qualitative interrogative (of what character).” ~ ATR, Word Pictures

AE Because a half-dozen Greek manuscripts (including Vaticanus and Sinaiticus) omit the conjunction “for,” the modern critical editions of the GNT all omit it, but 75% of the first-millennium Greek manuscripts (including the oldest-known one – P100) as well as the Byzantine majority, the Lectionaries, Vulgate, Peshitta, and Coptic versions all contain the γαρ, so I think the UBS committee was a bit overconfident when rating their omission with a {B} level of certainty. Six words later in this verse, when the Vaticanus is one of 6 Greek manuscripts which omit the participles’ definite article, the critical editors chose to ignore the Vaticanus.

AF This noun shows up six other times in the Greek Bible, all of which refer to literal smoke from a fire, but the one James seems to be quoting is Hosea 13:3.

AG “it [your life] is/will be” is the reading of the majority of Greek manuscripts, including Alexandrinus and 4 more out of the 8 known first-century manuscripts, thus it is the reading of the Textus Receptus, Greek Orthodox, and Majority editions of the Greek New Testament, as well as of the ancient Lectionaries and the Latin and Syriac and Coptic and King James versions. Critical editions of the GNT, however, follow 10 Greek manuscripts (the oldest of which are Vaticanus and Sinaiticus) which read “y’all are,” followed by practically all the modern English versions. As usual, it doesn’t make a significant difference in meaning because “y’all” and “your life” are practically the same subject.

AH The majority of Greek manuscripts insert an extra conjunction (δε και = but also/and yet), and the modern Greek Orthodox GNT edition follows that majority, but it is only a slim majority. The 1904 Patriarchal GNT, the Critical editions, and the Latin, Syriac, and English versions follow the significant minority (including the Sinaiticus, Vaticanus and Alexandrinus manuscripts) which read simply και (“and”). The Textus Receptus, curiously, follows four manuscripts from the 10th – 12th centuries which instead read δε (“and/but/yet”), but this makes no difference in meaning. Vincent argued that “The καὶ placed after the adverb ‘then’ is not copulative [‘and’], but expresses that the vapor vanishes ‘even’ as it appeared.” This however seems to smuggle in an idea that, if James had meant to communicate, he would have used a different word to express (‘ως).

AI This participle is the alpha privative of the previous participle (“appear”), which is why I translated it “disappear,” but it is never used in the Greek Bible of mere disappearance, but always of God’s judgment against the wicked. Both participles are spelled in the Greek middle/passive form, so it is a matter of interpretation whether to interpret them as middle (“makes itself appear… makes itself disappear”) or passive (“it was made to appear… it was made to disappear”). In light of the Bible’s teaching on the divine origin of life and on God’s eminent work of judgment, it seems most in-keeping with Biblical theology to chose the passive meaning of these words in English translation.

AJ The infinitive form “to say” leaves some flexibility in interpretation, because it can take on the mood and number of verbs related to it, but its subject in this case is defined by the accusative-case 2nd person plural pronoun which follows it.

AK 3rd class conditional grammar structure, indicating that the speaker doesn’t know whether or not it will be the case.
Calvin: “By ‘will’ he means not that which is expressed [revealed] in the law, but God’s [secret] counsel by which he governs all things.”

AL As in v.13, the Patriarchal text (and KJV) followed the 3 oldest-known manuscripts with the Alexandrian Grammar form with a future indicative, while the original Textus Receptus followed the Byzantine Majority grammar form with a subjunctive aorist, but both forms are ways of expressing a future plan, so there is no difference in meaning.

AM Lamsa translated the Syriac (and Greek) more accurately: “will.”

AN There is only one Greek manuscript (dated 10th century) which omits this “and,” so it is curious that both the Vulgate and Peshitta omit this “and.” I suppose it has more to do with writing style in Latin and Syriac than with any difference in meaning.

AO The only other place in the GNT that this noun appears is 1 John 2:16 “...the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the proud/showy lifestyle...” (NAW) Here in James it is plural, upon which Thayer commented, “the plural has reference to the various occasions on which this presumption shows itself.” On translating the word, Vincent commented that it is “derived from ἄλη, a wandering or roaming; hence, primarily, a vagabond, a quack, a mountebank. From the empty boasts of such concerning the cures and wonders they could perform, the word passed into the sense of boaster. One may boast truthfully; but ἀλαζονεία is false and swaggering boasting. Rev. renders vauntings, and rightly, since vaunt is from the Latin vanus, empty, and therefore expresses idle or vain boasting.”

AP cf. 1:9 – boasting in what is lowly is o.k, but not boasting in arrogance.

AQ cf. Matt. 23:23 “these you should have done without neglecting the weightier matters” and Matt. 25:44ff “to the extent that you did not do it to the least of these my brothers you did not do it unto me.”

2