James continues to admonish his readers in the context of the "forgetful merchant" – the man who makes plans without consulting the Lord and thereby committing the sin of ungodliness. Ungodliness is acting as if the Lord does not exist and it produces ugly fruit: anxiety, anger, and discontentment.
To fight such sins we must repent and not just simply think or do but say -- exhorting ourselves (the Greek word for "say" has the connotation of exhortation) -- "If the Lord wills." And the principle of "If the Lord wills" applies to all areas of our life, for James has used the expression "we shall … do this, or that." But since James has used an illustration of a merchant, we should examine how Christ's will applies to the life of the merchant: in the city, (its communities and laws); regarding our time; our work; and, how we use the increase that comes from our work.
At first glance there seem to be no problems with verse 13: the merchant is just making plans as we all do. But verse 16, with James's condemnation of their boasting, makes plain the merchant's plans are sinful.
Finally, verse 17 seems out of place, as if it was an afterthought. But we are to connect it to the admonishment to do the Lord's will, and thereby avoid the sins of commission, but also the sins of omission. In the context of the book of James, this would especially mean to help the poor and the widows and make proper use of our tongue.
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Kurt Snow serves as a ruling elder at Covenant Reformed Church of Sacramento (RCUS). He served as a member of the Board of Governors of City Seminary of Sacramento from 2000 to 2020.
