Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.”
Parallel translations
- WEB For you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that.”
- KJV For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
- NKJV Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”
- NASB Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”
- NLT What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”
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
We should plan while submitting to God's will: 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this.' All our plans must bow to God's sovereignty.
Overview
James offers the corrective to presumption: hold every plan under the Lord's will, acknowledging that both life and action depend on him. This is not a mere verbal formula but a posture of genuine submission to God's sovereign rule over our futures. It teaches believers to plan humbly and prayerfully, trusting the God who works all things according to his purpose (Proverbs 16:9; Acts 18:21).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Prov 19:21Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the purpose of the LORD will prevail.
- Heb 6:3And this we will do, if God permits.
- Lam 3:37Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
- Acts 18:21But as he left, he said, “I will come back to you if God is willing.” And he set sail from Ephesus.
- Rom 1:10in my prayers at all times, asking that now at last by God’s will I may succeed in coming to you.
- 1 Cor 16:7For I do not want to see you now only in passing; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.
- Rom 15:32so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed.
- 1 Cor 4:19But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only what these arrogant people are saying, but what power they have.
- 2 Sam 15:25–26Then the king said to Zadok, “Return the ark of God to the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the LORD, He will bring me back and let me see both it and His dwelling place again.
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Christ at the center
The wisdom from above and the royal law of love are the life of those who belong to 'our glorious Lord Jesus Christ' — faith in him made visible in works.
How James 4:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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