Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - James 4:13-15
James 4:13-15. Go to now Αγε νυν , come now, an interjection, calculated to excite attention; ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go, &c. As if future events were in your own power, and your health and lives were ensured to you for a certain time; whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow Whether your spirits before then shall not have passed into eternity; for what is your life? It is even a vapour An unsubstantial, uncertain, and fleeting vapour; that appeareth for... read more
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - James 4:17
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin - That is, he is guilty of sin if he does not do it. Cotton Mather adopted it as a principle of action, “that the ability to do good in any case imposes an obligation to do it.” The proposition in the verse before us is of a general character, but probably the apostle meant that it should refer to the point specified in the previous verses - the forming of plans respecting the future. The particular meaning then would... read more