James 4:7
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
American King James Version (AKJV)
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
American Standard Version (ASV)
Be subject therefore unto God; but resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
For this cause be ruled by God; but make war on the Evil One and he will be put to flight before you.
Webster's Revision
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
World English Bible
Be subject therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
English Revised Version (ERV)
Be subject therefore unto God; but resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Definitions for James 4:7
Clarke's James 4:7 Bible Commentary
Submit - to God - Continue to bow to all his decisions, and to all his dispensations.
Resist the devil - He cannot conquer you if you continue to resist. Strong as he is, God never permits him to conquer the man who continues to resist him; he cannot force the human will. He who, in the terrible name of Jesus, opposes even the devil himself, is sure to have a speedy and glorious conquest. He flees from that name, and from his conquering blood.
Barnes's James 4:7 Bible Commentary
Submit yourselves therefore to God - That is, in his arrangements for obtaining his favor. Yield to what he has judged necessary for your welfare in the life that is, and your salvation in the life to come. The duty here enjoined is that of entire acquiescence in the arrangements of God, whether in his providence or grace. All these are for our good, and submission to them is required by the spirit of true humility. The object of the command here, and in the succeeding injunctions to particular duties, is to show them how they might obtain the grace which God is willing to bestow, and how they might overcome the evils against which the apostle had been endeavoring to guard them. The true method of doing this is by submitting ourselves in all things to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you - While you yield to God in all things, you are to yield to the devil in none. You are to resist and oppose him in whatever way he may approach you, whether by allurements, by flattering promises, by the fascinations of the world, by temptation, or by threats. See 1 Peter 5:9. Satan makes his way, and secures his triumphs, rather by art, cunning, deception, and threatenings, than by true courage; and when opposed manfully, he flies. The true way of meeting him is by direct resistance, rather than by argument; by steadfastly refusing to yield in the slightest degree, rather than by a belief that we can either convince him that he is wrong, or can return to virtue when we have gone a certain length in complying with his demands. No one is safe who yields in the least to the suggestions of the tempter; there is no one who is not safe if he does not yield. A man, for example, is always safe from intemperance if he resists all allurements to indulgence in strong drink, and never yields in the slightest degree; no one is certainly safe if he drinks even moderately.
Wesley's James 4:7 Bible Commentary
4:7 Therefore by humbly submitting yourselves to God, resist the devil - The father of pride and envy.