A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Parallel translations
- WEB He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
- BSB He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
- NKJV he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
- NASB being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
- NLT Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The doubter is a "double-minded" person, divided and unstable in everything. A heart torn between God and the world cannot stand firm.
Overview
James coins the vivid term "double-minded" (literally "two-souled") to describe spiritual instability. Such a person tries to trust God and the world at once, and the resulting division pervades all of life. This theme of undivided devotion runs through the letter and echoes Jesus' teaching that no one can serve two masters (Matthew 6:24).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 1 Kgs 18:21And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
- Matt 6:24No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
- Jas 4:8Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
- Isa 29:13Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
- 2 Pet 2:14Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
- 2 Kgs 17:41So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day.
- 2 Pet 3:16As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
- 2 Kgs 17:33They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.
- Hos 7:8–11Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned.
- Matt 6:22The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
- Hos 10:2Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images.
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Original language
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