The Offense in "I Will"
James 4: 16
It is not only presumption to put confidence in our will it is evil. Rejoicing in our boastings is evil because we speak as if we were independent from God. What pride! (Psalm 10: 4.) Pride is what James is dealing with in this letter: one is your Master (James 3: 1.) There is one Lawgiver (James 3: 12.) There is one Word and one who is able to give his law in the heart so as to make the tongue sing of grace and mercy in Christ Jesus while destroying our destruction. Therefore be not desirous of vain glory, envious to be many masters as if we were little gods over men. Dare we who have experienced the Power and Wisdom of God use our tongues to rail, to unjustly condemn, or to presume upon our will! To do so is not to walk in the Spirit but to mind the things of this earth. It is to speak evil of the law of liberty, the law of love and grace. It is to speak evil of the Lord who is able to save or to destroy. It is to deny the power of God!