In the Book of James where do 'conflicts and disputes among you' come from?

Answer 1

James 4:1-4 - Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. [NKJV]

James' epistle is addressed to Jewish converts to Christianity "scattered abroad" (James 1:1), and its contents concern the issues that effect them as individuals. The passage above specifically speaks to the difficulties all Christian converts struggle with regardless of their background - namely, overcoming worldly ways and self-serving attitudes - and the result of failing to rightly implore and allow God to help one overcome them ("...you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss").

This passage deals with inner conflicts between worldliness ("your desires for pleasure") and righteousness. For the "Christian" to continue in sin, James says, is perfectly comparable to cheating on a spouse ("Adulterers and adulteresses!").

"Among" (Greek en) doesn't mean "between;" it means "within" ("in your members"). James is sending a crystal-clear message that serving self in pursuit of pleasure is totally incompatible with serving God.

Answer 2

We tend to think of the General Epistle of James as actually written by James, the brother of Jesus and early leader of the Church in Jerusalem, and therefore within just a few years at most of the death of Jesus. It seems inconceivable that the eye-witnesses and followers of Jesus could possibly be in conflict and dispute over fundamental issues so soon after the crucifixion. Yet the deep divisions within the early Church are also attested by Paul, who wrote of others who taught a "different Christ".

Scholars now know that the early Christians were already divided into different sects, with vastly different beliefs and traditions. Some say that not all Christians even attributed Jesus of Nazareth as being the founder of Christianity. The conflicts and disputes arose as eaxh branch of Christianity sought to become the dominant movement within Christianity and have its doctrines accepted by other Christian groups.

James does not actually use the words, "conflicts and disputes", but nevertheless he does allude to conflict within the Christian community. At 5:9 he says (NIV), "Don't grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!" We know this was a serious issue from 5:6: "You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you." He asks, at 4:1 why the Christians fight among themselves: "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you?" and then answers the questions himself. The Christians are spoilt and selfish sinners. Was he being allegorical, or did the Christians really kill each other out of lust and pride.

If James was being allegorical we look at the deeper issues that he was referring to. The Christians were not fighting non-Christians, they were fighting and killing members of their own community. This could well have been the sectarian strife already attested by Paul.