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Jam_4:14. James opposes to carnal security the uncertainty of the future and the transitoriness of life.
οἵτινες ] = ut qui; correctly Wiesinger: “Ye who are of such a character that,” etc.
οὐκ ἐπίστασθε τὸ ( τὰ ) τῆς αὔριον ] indicates the ignorance of what the next day will bring forth; comp. Pro_3:28; Pro_27:1 : μὴ καυχῶ τὰ εἰς αὔριον , οὐ γὰρ γινώσκεις τί τέξεται ἡ ἐπιοῦσα : thus whether life will still last. What follows shows that James had this chiefly in view.
ποία γὰρ ἡ ζωὴ ὑμῶν ;] γάρ gives an explanation of οὐκ ἐπίστασθε .
ποία ] as in 1Pe_2:20, how constituted? with the subsidiary meaning of nothingness. By the reading adopted by Buttmann: οἵτινες οὐκ ἐπίστασθε τῆς αὔριον ποία ζωὴ ὑμῶν , the genitive τῆς αὔριον is dependent on ποία ζωή ; thus, “Ye know not how your life of to-morrow is circumstanced.” This idea is evidently feebler than the usual reading, for it is supposed that they yet live on the following day, which according to the other reading is denoted as doubtful.
ἀτμὶς γάρ ἐστε κ . τ . λ .] γάρ refers to the idea lying at the foundation of the preceding question, that life is entirely nothing.
ἀτμίς (in the N. T. only here and in Act_2:19, in an O. T. quotation), literally breath; thus in Wis_7:25, synonymous with ἀπόῤῥοια , has in the O. T. and the Apocrypha chiefly the meaning of smoke; thus Gen_19:28 : ἀτμὶς καμίνου ; so also Sir_22:24; Eze_8:11 : ἀτμὶς τοῦ θυμιάματος ; Sir_24:15 : λιβάνου ἀτμίς ; see also Joe_3:3; Sir_43:4; in the classics it also occurs in the meaning of vapour. According to Biblical usage, it is here to be taken in the first meaning (smoke); thus Lange; Luther translates it by vapour; de Wette and Wiesinger, by steam.
ἐστε is stronger than the Rec. ἐστι ; not only their life, but also they themselves are designated as a smoke; as in chap. Jam_1:10 it is also said of the πλούσιος , that he shall fade away as the flower of the grass.
By ἡ πρὸς ὀλίγον … ἀφανιζομένη ] the nature of the smoke is stated.
πρὸς ὀλίγον ] = for a little time; ὀλίγον is neuter.
καί is to be explained: as it appears, so it also afterwards vanishes. In the corresponding passages, Job_8:9, Psa_102:12; Psa_144:4, the transitoriness of life is represented not under the image of ἀτμίς (Wiesinger), but of a shadow; differently in Psa_102:4.