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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - James 4:16 - 4:16
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16. νῦν δέ, but now, as it is.
ἐν ταῖς ἀλαζονείαις ὑμῶν, in your boastful or presumptuous talk, or your false pretensions. ἀλαζ. from ἀλαζών lit. a wanderer, then of a boastful pretender. Aristotle defines the ἀλαζών as ὁ μείζω τῶν ὑπαρχόντων προσποιούμενος, Eth. N. IV. vii. 10 (‘a man who pretends to have greater things than he possesses’), adding according to the probable reading εἰ δʼ ἕνεκά τινος ὁ μὲν δόξης ἢ τιμῆς οὐ λίαν ψαλτὸς ὁ ἀλάζων, ὁ δὲ ἀργυρίου ἢ ὅσα εἰς ἀργύριον ἀσχημονέστερος. It is probably with this last reference in the word that the Apostle uses it. ἀλαζονείαις would thus signify the deception used to increase the value of goods—the tricks of trade.
Perhaps however ἐν ἀλαζονείαις is simply the presumptuous talk which forms plans and projects without reference to God’s will.