James 4:16 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

But now.... — How different is the case with you, cries St. James; you actually glory and delight in your own self-confidence and presumption, and every such rejoicing is evil. The word for “boastings” is the same as that translated “the pride of life” in 1 John 2:16 — i.e., its braggart boastfulness, not the innocent gladness of living. It is the trust of the “ungodly” (Psalms 10:6, “There shall no harm happen unto me”), and the mistaken confidence of even such godly men as Job (Job 29:18, “shall die in my nest”), before the Almighty instructs them by trouble, and loss, and pain.