Commentaries:
The concept of self-denial is at the heart of Paul's teaching on submission to God: We have died with Christ and must sacrifice our lives for Him. In Titus 2:12, Paul writes of the grace of God training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, that is, to deny what the self desires. Self-denial requires genuine humility in submission, or it is merely a counterfeit.
Martin G. Collins
Overcoming (Part 5): Self-Denial
Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing James 4:9:
Leviticus 5:17-18
Isaiah 66:1-2
Colossians 3:12