---
title: "Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles"
author: "John Calvin"
translator: "John Owen"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Commentaries"
section: 102 of 107
url: https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentaries-on-the-catholic-epistles/102/
cite: "John Calvin, tr. John Owen, Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles, section 102. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentaries-on-the-catholic-epistles/102/"
---

# Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles

*John Calvin, tr. John Owen*

Calvin on James, Peter, John and Jude.

## 102. Chapter 4

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentaries-on-the-catholic-epistles/102/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/john-calvin-commentaries-on-the-catholic-epistles/102/#p-N

[¶0] 1 Whence wars and fightings among you? are they not hence,--from your lusts which war in your members?

[¶1] 2 Ye covet and have not; ye envy and emulate, and cannot obtain; ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye do not ask;

[¶2] 3 Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it on your lusts.

[¶3] 4 Adulterers and adulteresses! know ye not, that the friendship of the world is enmity to God? Whosoever then will be a friend of the world, becomes the enemy of God.

[¶4] 5 Do ye think that the Scripture speaks in vain? Does the Spirit who dwells in us, lust to envy?

[¶5] 6 Nay, he giveth more grace: hence He saith, God resists the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.

[¶6] 7 Be ye then subject to God; resist the devil and he will flee from you.

[¶7] 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] 9 Be afflicted and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to sorrow.

[¶9] 10 Be humbled before God, and he will exalt you.

[¶10] 11 Defame not one another, brethren; he who defames a brother and judges his brother, defames the law and judges the law; but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

[¶11] 12 One is the lawgiver, who can save and destroy; who art thou who judgest another?

[¶12] 13 Come now ye who say, “To-day, or, to-morrow, we shall go into the city and pass there a year, and trade and make gain:” who know not what is to be to-morrow; for what is your life?

[¶13] 14 It is indeed a vapor, which for a short time appears, and then vanishes away.

[¶14] 15 On the contrary ye ought to say, “If the Lord will, and we live, we shall do this or that.” But now ye glory in your presumptions: all such glorying is evil. He then who knows to do good and doeth it not, is guilty of sin.