James 4:6
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The context
James 4 has just described quarrels, envy and friendship with the world, and has asked whether Scripture speaks in vain about the spirit that dwells in us. Verse 6 answers with a citation, and verse 7 turns to submission and resistance. The passage then calls for drawing near to God and warns against judging a brother.
What it establishes
The verse states a pattern of divine response: pride is opposed, humility receives grace. The citation is from Proverbs, and James uses it as scriptural warrant for the call to submission that follows. Grace is not merely offered but given, and the obstacle named is the posture of the proud.
What it does not establish
It does not define humility. The verse names the proud and the humble without describing either, and the following commands supply the content. Nor is the citation a proof text for a doctrine of grace in the later Pauline sense. It is a proverb applied to a quarrelsome community.
Short note, first pass, October 2026. Corrections welcome.
Cited in these answers
Part of Scripture, Opened — the exegetical layer behind every citation on this site. Scripture quotations are from the ESV.