James says "friendship with the world is enmity with God" (James 4:4). In the same passage he says God "gives more grace" and opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).
In James 4:4–6 James sharply warns that choosing “friendship with the world” puts a person in active opposition to God. He frames this as unfaithfulness, like a spouse breaking trust, and says the choice inevitably creates hostility toward God. He then appeals to Scripture to underline that God’s Spirit wants wholehearted loyalty. These lines sit inside a rebuke of quarrels, cravings, and conflicted desires among the readers (James 4:1–3). James treats outward fights as a symptom of inner loyalties pulled toward self-serving wants.
James presents divided loyalty as the core spiritual problem behind the conflicts he has been describing (4:1–3). Explicitly in the text, “friendship with the world” is set against loyalty to God: it is called “enmity with God,” and choosing to be the world’s friend is described as making oneself God’s enemy (4:4).
A careful answer keeps the immediate passage, the book's argument, and the whole-Bible storyline together, so the question is answered in context instead of as a detached idea.
Start with James 4:4, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
4You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you 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.