James 3:17-18

WISDOM FROM ABOVE

Text 3:17-18

James 3:17

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without variance, without hypocrisy.

James 3:18.

And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for them that make peace.

Queries

259.

What is the source of this wisdom from above? (see James 1:17)

260.

Why do you think the text gives special emphasis to the fact that the purity of this wisdom comes before the peace?

261.

How much peace could one have without the purity of wisdom from above?

262.

Do you think it would be wise to compromise doctrine for the sake of peace? Why so or why not?

263.

How many characteristics does this wisdom from above have? (count them).

264.

Compare this number with the number of fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22 ff, and the number of Christian graces listed in 2 Peter 1:5-9.

265.

Do you think the purity is first above just peace, or above all the other qualities listed?

266.

What does the word pure mean?

267.

Define each of the qualities counted in question 263.

268.

Is the fruit of righteousness of James 3:18 a part of the description of the wisdom, or is it another thought? How can you tell?

269.

James 3:18 is an enlargement of one of the qualities of wisdom. Which one?

270.

Why all this emphasis upon peace if purity is really the most important?

271.

Does James 3:18 indicate that the fruit of righteousness may be sown in something other than peace? How could the fruit of righteousness be sown in strife?

272.

How can one make peace?

273.

How does this section of Scripture apply especially to the elders of the church?

Paraphrases

A. James 3:17

The good wisdom from God is first of all faultless, but a man who has it also seeks peace through kindness and is quick to be corrected. Like God, he shows mercy and the fruits of the Spirit are evident in his life; which is constant and unchanging, and true to the core.

18.

And he is able to witness righteousness in peace, because he is a man who seeks peace.

B.*James 3:17

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure and full of quiet gentleness. Then it is peace-loving and courteous. It allows discussion and is willing to yield to others; it is full of mercy and good deeds. It is wholehearted and straightforward and sincere.

18.

And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of goodness.

Summary

God's wisdom in the Christian must seek purity, and this is followed with the Christian graces and fruits with a sincere desire for peace.

Comment

The wisdom that is from above is contrasted with the wisdom that is earthly, sensual and devilish. This true wisdom that is a gift from God (James 1:5), and that always cometh down from the Father of lights, (James 1:17), is here described with seven characteristics.

It is interesting to note that there are seven fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5:22 ff), that there are seven Christian graces (2 Peter 1:5-9), and now seven qualities of the wisdom from above are noted. Some commentators see in this tendency to group items in numbers of seven within the Bible (days of the week, etc.) as making or revealing a particularly holy or perfect quality to the number. This is nowhere stated or even implied. We might also note that there are nine special spiritual gifts, listed in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Likewise, others feel there is something especially holy about the number three. There are three parts to man (so they say); body, mind, soul; or body, soul and spirit. There are the Father, Christ and the Holy Spirit. But why should three be chosen instead of two, we may ask. There is the outer man and there is the inner man. There is God and there is the devil. There is good and there is evil. There is worldliness and spirituality. There is a fleshly nature and a spiritual nature. There is light and there is darkness.

Since the Bible itself does not call any particular number as being more holy or complete than the other numbers, it might be the more reasonable conclusion to put no particular significance to the number seven, (or two or three, for that matter)! To do so would be to ignore the fact that the Bible is its own best commentary. It is poor hermeneutics to seek and find meanings not intended by the original author, or not clear within the text.
This wisdom from above is clearly the one that James recommends, even though it is understood from this text without being specifically stated. Original meanings of the author are not always specifically stated. They may be implied by statements, or (more commonly) implied by the context. The more forceful expression seems to be as James has here accomplished: to be content with the explanation and to leave the admonition to the reader. And now let us look at the seven qualities of wisdom from above:

(1) It is first pure. Purity has the significance of being without contamination. To be unmixed with evil qualities is to be Godlike. The clean, or holy, moral inward attitude, is that Christ-like perfection toward which the Christian aims. Wisdom, too, can have this quality. Such wisdom would be unmixed with worldly, sensuous, or devilish wisdom. It would take into account all knowledge from God, and discount knowledge contrary to God's revelation. It would be motivated by God's kind of selfless love rather than man's kind of self-love. It would be wisdom that seeks not its own, is not puffed up.

What about this wisdom is to be pure? All about it! Whether motivation that drives it, or knowledge that feeds it, or its very source. Its motivation is to be God's kind of love (agape). Its knowledge is just as obviously to be that revealed knowledge from God. Partial knowledge that comes from man's limited vision is often put in contrast with revealed knowledge. Descriptive sciences can never be as complete nor flawless as that knowledge that is revealed by the author of all that is. Although the Bible may contradict science (man's description of what he thinks he sees), God's revelation never contradicts existence! There is no disharmony between what God said and what God did in creation. Man's eyes, ears, and test tubes are entirely inadequate to discover all, and even correctly interpret what they do discover, of the things that God made. Wisdom that is pure, is wisdom built upon knowledge of revelation. Knowledge of science, no matter how thorough, would be entirely inadequate for such wisdom. This is the reason that Bible training is more important for a wise life than training in the liberal arts and sciences.

The peace is desirable, but never to be desired above purity. To be quick to receive correction is also admirable and a part of Godly wisdom; but never must this correction contaminate the purity of the saint or of his life. Wisdom from above is first pure! Purity is never to be sacrificed, even if all the other qualities must be sacrificed in its place!

(2) Wisdom from above is peacable. The desire for harmony and unity leaves no room for pleasure in division. Contention is to be avoided where it is possible with the preservation of purity. The peace of Christ is to arbitrate your hearts (Colossians 3:15) and to be the determining factor in all issues that do not tamper with the purity.

The Christian warfare is directed not against members of our own army. Soldiers fight and die side by side facing a common enemy. When the saints of God turn upon one another to bite and devour one another they act completely out of harmony with God's wisdom and throw the camp of God into bitter confusion. The devil, though in the end to be destroyed, does win temporary battles and overthrow pockets of Christian soldiers that have not the wisdom to seek peace within their own camps.
After stating that wisdom is first in importance of the characteristics of Godly wisdom, peace is listed secondly. Whether or not the order after the word purity is with a meaningful purpose may not be determined, but certainly few will deny the damage caused because peace is not sought. Like bantam roosters in their arrogance of self-love, those who love not peace spend their time looking for a fight. With chips on their shoulders they peck from brother to brother until they find someone who will take up the challenge. Then after weeks of furious activity and a flurry of feathers, the victor cries, I won, I won in the midst of the shambled wreckage of a destroyed church. The sweet taste of victory of personal pride is swallowed up by a greater victory, for the devil won the battle!
(3) Godly wisdom is gentle, or reasonable and gracious. The gentle spirit does not demand that which would bring harm or hurt to his neighbor, even if ones-' own right must be forfeited. Gentleness speaks of the manner in which one saint touches the heart and life of another person, whereas peace speaks of the inner desire for harmony. The two are related.

Paul speaks of this desire not to bring hurt as the gentleness of Christ, in 2 Corinthians 10:1. It is this gentle spirit that brings one to turn the other cheek rather than retaliating. This is true whether our activity had to do with other saints, or with non-Christians. Tough but O, so gentle should be the make-up of the child of the King. Tough when it comes to purity of doctrine and life, but gentle when it comes to bringing hurt to others. Our desire should be to hang on to Christ like a bulldog, but to love our neighbor like a kitten; but at all cost, hang on to Christ.

(4) Easy to be entreated is also descriptive of him who has Godly wisdom. This is the characteristic of being compliant, or obedient. Easily to be persuaded (except away from matters of purity), the Christian is himself a teachable person. Far from being dogmatic and unyielding, he is ready to learn, even from his pupils.
The wise man says, Let us sit together and learn from the Word of God. While the foolish (worldly wise) person says, I-'m right, and you-'re wrong. There's no purpose in looking it up in the Word of God. I-'ve read it many times! It is good human relations to admit the possibility of error rather than being absolute in one's knowledge and decision in all matters. The man who knows so much he is unwilling to learn more is losing knowledge. If one is not willing to grow in knowledge and understanding, then he will lose that which he has, as well as lose those whom he would teach.
One of the dangers in dealing constantly with those who are being taught is to grow stale and lose the learning spirit. The positive arrogance of a teacher who is no longer easily entreated will spoil his personal work. The person who spends a lifetime in the classroom situation needs the earnest prayers of his fellow Christians lest in the midst of teaching he find a rut and lose his learning spirit. (And cannot this also happen in the arm chair of the living room?)
(5) The truly wise man is full of mercy and good fruits. The mercy and compassion of Jesus are the subject of much Biblical teaching. We cannot expect forgiveness unless we, too, have the forgiving spirit. The merciful are blessed of God to the extent they shall find mercy.

Deeds of charity toward the poor and the sick are often associated with this mercy. (See James 2:13; Luke 10:37). The poor in spirit and the sick in heart could also be included in this love of those in need; mercy is associated with both compassion and forgiveness. Christians have a wonderful opportunity to express mercy when others who have treated them in an evil or harsh fashion come for repentance and forgiveness. The unmerciful may demand and eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but the merciful spirit of the saint is to forgive even seventy times seven. And is not this the mercy we seek through Christ?

Being filled with good fruits immediately reminds one of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. These fruits of the Spirit are all spiritual qualities within the saint that can be observed by others around him. Immediately after stating these fruits of the Spirit Paul says If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk. Galatians 5:25.

Thus the good fruits, even if they allude to the fruit of the Spirit, have to do with the effects of being filled with Godly wisdom. The produce, or effects, is the meaning of fruits. The deeds and acts that are manifest to others are good, rather than evil.
Note that mercy and good fruits are to fill the saint of God. Full of has the idea that the person's life and character are overflowing constantly with the particular quality mentioned. The idea expressed is to have full measure (metaphorically, of course, for the author is referring to spiritual qualities rather than measurable material substance). A person may be filled with evil things, thus having a full measure of hypocrisy (Matt. 28:38), or of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malignity (Romans 1:29); or adultery as in 2 Peter 2:14. For a person to have a full measure of these evil things might imply that there is no room left for a measure of the finer virtues, and the fruits of the Spirit are crowned from the life.

In the same way, to be full of mercy and good fruits might imply there is no room left for a measure of evil fruits. The best way to overcome evil is to so fill one's life with the finer things that there is no room for the evil. Thus one who fills his life with mercy finds that he has in the process overcome the temptations to bitter jealousy and strife. And one who has filled his life with good fruits has found that in the process the evil things have been crowded out. The idle hours are usually hours of temptation for the Christian.

(6) Without variance, or without doubtfulness in action, is the opposite from the doubleminded man described in James 1:8 who is unstable in all his ways. The Godly wise person has no discord for he has no uncertainty or partiality that would lead him to vacillate. His action is consistent for he has but one mind; the mind of Christ. The teacher who is not consistently noble and righteous in both his attitude and his deeds, will soon lose the respect of his pupils. The teacher who has variance is one who is cut apart or divided in two. This division within himself gives him an unstable character and vacillating deeds.

(7) Too many Christians are just play acting, is the way a Jamaica preacher states the quality of hypocisy. It is a very good expression for the original word refers to the acting of the stageplayer (from a word meaning to answer, because stage-actors answer one another in dialogue). The word is sometimes translated without dissimulation in 2 Corinthians 6:6; 1 Peter 1:22; Romans 12:9; (R.V.), or translated unfeigned (A.V.).

This discrepancy between what a person says and what he thinks; or between evil intentions and pretended good deeds, is soon discovered; or if not discovered, it is sensed. Hidden purposes and selfish motives are often covered up with a display of Christ-like purposes and pseudo affections. This is a quality naturally hated by all men, for it has the significance of sweet-tasting poison, or a skin-deep loveliness deliberately used to cover up a horrible ugliness.
In other people we admire the quality of honesty, and are ready to take at face value one whom we believe to be open and above board. But in our own selves we must fight the temptation to gloss over petty and selfish motives with a pretended righteousness rather than changing the motives themselves. Love of self coupled with a desire to be thought righteous leads to such a temptation.
And the desire to be thought righteous may come from noble or innoble tendencies. One may desire the righteous reputation for political, personal, or monetary reasons; or he may have the desire for a Christian reputation out of a sense of obligation and recognition of right. In other words, his desire for a noble front may spring from a conscience that is partially satisfied in the reputation alone. The saint should understand, however, that this partial satisfaction of the conscience is also a partial deadening of the conscience; and that in this play acting method of overcoming his awareness of a continued attitude of selfishness he is quenching the Spirit within him, and becoming habitual and automatic in the devil's fine art of deceit.

One may reason, I will not be deceitful. I hate hypocrisy, so I will lay bare my divisive and bitterly jealous heart. Then, proud of his lack of hypocrisy, he bowls his way through the hearts and lives of others about him, laying waste the church of the living God and sowing seeds of division in his arrogance. This action may overcome the hypocrisy, but does not overcome the sin. There is no peace, for the seed has been sown in anger and bitterness, and anger and bitterness are reaped at harvest-time. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for them that make peace, James 3:18.

If any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. Thank you, Lord, for showing the way in James 3:13-18!