James 4:7

Be subject therefore unto God; but resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

As noted in the introduction, James here included a series of blunt, power-packed exhortations, running through James 4:10. The expression "ye sinners" coming right in the middle of this (James 4:8) forbids referring this particular paragraph to Christians, the unmodified designation "sinners" not being an appropriate address for members of the body of Christ to whom the whole letter is written. Carson pointed out that "The verbs in these exhortations are in the aorist tense, indicating that these things are to be done `once for all,' as a settled thing for the soul."[21] We might add also, "indicating that the people addressed had not already done them." The unconverted, who make up a part of every Christian audience, are plainly intended as recipients of the exhortation here. This conclusion is made more certain by James' immediate employment of a number of expressions used elsewhere in the New Testament for conversion, or primary obedience to the gospel.

Be subject therefore unto God ... That primary Christian obedience is inherent in this admonition is apparent from McNab's comment:

Herein are blended perfectly the true activities of faith and works. By faith we submit to God in a fuller, deeper surrender to his will ... in our act of submission, we are prepared for conflict with the evil one?[22]

Of course, if men submit to God, they must resist Satan in order to do so initially, and recurrently ever afterward.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you ... brings to mind the initial scene in our Lord's ministry, that of his resisting Satan in the wilderness temptation (Matthew 4:8), which ended by Satan's "leaving him for a season." This also suggests that it is initial Christian acceptance of the gospel that is in view here. Let James' continued relation of all that he wrote to the life and teachings of the Master be noted. This admonition has its relevance to Christians in the fact of their original victory over Satan when they became children of God not having been due to their own strength, but to that of the Lord; and a reminder of this would steer them in the right direction for subsequent struggles against evil.

[21] T. Carson, op. cit., p. 579.

[22] McNab, as quoted by A. F. Harper, op. cit., p. 232.