THE FACES OF WISDOM
TEXT: James 3:13-18(NIV)
By: Genesis Leonor Fernandez
13 Who
is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good
life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
The above scripture is a comparison between wisdom which is godly and one that is earthly--mentioned in verse 17—the wisdom from heaven is pure, peaceable, gentle and so forth and in verse 15— the wisdom which is earthly, natural and demonic. Let’s note that what James is saying is what the Old Testament wisdom literature refers as divided into two kinds, the wisdom of man and the wisdom of God. Men might claim they have wisdom. But what kind, is it the wisdom of men or the wisdom of God? There's a great difference. In fact, in verse 13 James says, "Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him prove it by his good behavior manifest through his deeds with an attitude of meekness." So if you claim to have wisdom and you claim that that wisdom is from above, the burden of proof is by the behavior manifested in you.
Notice again back at verse 13, he says, "Who is wise and understanding?"
I think basically these two words are synonymous and put there for emphasis. But they do have a shade of difference in their meaning. This is the only time in the whole New Testament these two words appear together. The simple distinction is that wisdom probably relates to the application of principles whereas understanding relates to the understanding of those principles or the knowledge of those principles. One would have more impact on the mind and one might have more impact on the conduct.
Three Ways to Show Wisdom. v.13
1. Good Life ( Generally)
It's a general statement, good conduct. We could even translate anastrophes as lifestyle . And then the word "good.” means lovely, beautiful, winsome, attractive, noble, excellent, a very common New Testament word.
You claim to have the wisdom of God? Then show it by your good behavior, by your excellent lifestyle, by your attractive action. That's general. In other words, if you have the wisdom of God, it's going to come out by the way you live.
2.: Good Deeds (Specifically)
And now he goes from the general to the specific. And he identifies the specifics of daily life, those individual behaviors, those separate acts that he calls works, deeds. Here James focuses on the minutiae of life.
3. Humility and Meekness (Attitudinally)
We could say he says you must demonstrate that you have the wisdom of God not only generally and specifically, but attitudinally, because at the end of verse 13 he says, "All of this will be done in the meekness of wisdom." In other words, true wisdom has a meekness. What James is saying is if you have the wisdom of God, far from arrogant, you'll be meek. This is wisdom's meekness. Beautiful thought. It isn't arrogant at all.
Where did James get this? I mean, what's the basis of all of this? What foundation underlies it? Here, James is a Jew writing to Jews so he assumes their Old Testament understanding. And since we can't assume that for ourselves as Gentiles far removed from the Jewish context, we needed to fill up a little bit of our understanding. Remember that the wisdom of the Old Testament was basically initiated by the fear of the Lord. Do you remember that? The fear of the Lord is the..beginning of wisdom. Wisdom begins in fearing the Lord. To fear the Lord is to have a reverential trust in Him. When the Old Testament says "fear God, fear the Lord," it is a call to salvation, it is a call to reverential trust, to commitment in which a person turns from sin in faith to God and has a hatred of evil and a love of obedience.
So,
when a person put his faith in God, he was ushered into the sphere of
wisdom. And then became really the student of divine wisdom who lived
that wisdom out. True wisdom, we saw, comes from God. It is given to one
who comes into relationship with Him. And all of us who know God in a
personal intimate way have received from Him that wisdom. Now let me say
that again. All of us who know God through Christ in a personal way
have received the wisdom of God. And that wisdom of God is manifest in
the life of a true believer. Every true believer will manifest the
wisdom of God.
James brings us to the text. First of all, let's look at false wisdom, verses 14 to 16. He begins by analyzing the worldly wisdom that is not of God. It has no relationship to God. It has no obedience to God. It has no knowledge of God's truth. He goes under the surface of this worldly wisdom to tell us several things about it.
14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
I.FALSE WISDOM:
A.) MOTIVATION of False Wisdom v14
But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.V.14
Proverbs 4:23 says, "Keep your heart with diligence for out of it are the issues of life." So he's looking into the heart and as he looks into the heart, he sees what motivates the person. And there are two things that motivate.
1.Bitter envying
2.Selfish ambition
B). CHARACTERISTICS of False Wisdom V.15
15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
What wisdom that doesn't come from heaven? The wisdom that is bitter, jealous, selfishly ambitious, self-centered, self-focused, without humility, without love, just consumes on its own desire...that wisdom is not from above
Now he gives us three words to describe the wisdom that is false. Earthly, Sensual, Demoniacal.
C).RESULTS of False Wisdom v.16
16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
1.Disorder
Gk word,akatastasia, it means confusion coming out of instability, chaos. Earthly wisdom will never produce harmony, it will never produce love because earthly wisdom is, first of all, proud, self-seeking, self-serving, self-indulgent, it destroys intimacy, it destroys love, it destroys unity, it destroys fellowship, it brings discord, it brings chaos.
2. Evil work.
Every worthless and vile thing. It contemplates evil. R.C. Trench has a good word on this...it contemplates evil not from the aspect of its active or passive malignity but rather from its good for nothingness the utter impossibility of any true gain ever coming from it. Did you get that? So out of human wisdom comes disorder, chaos, confusion and absolutely no good at all.
II. TRUE WISDOM
17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
- MOTIVATION of True Wisdom V17
The word implies sincere moral spiritual character. It has more to do with the spiritual integrity moral sincerity-- free from bitter jealousy, free from selfish ambition, free from arrogant self-promotion. So the basic pure heartedness is the motive of the believer. It's not a heart of pride, it's a heart of purity.
B.)CHARACTERISTICS of True Wisdom
The motive, purity.. here are the qualities that will be characteristic of true wisdom.
1. Peaceable -Gk.eirenikos, peace loving, peace promoting.
The wisdom from God is not creating confusion. It is not creating disorder. It is not self-promoting. It is peace loving, peace making. It doesn't come to a compromise with truth, but it makes peace.
2.Considerate- gentle
That is steadfastly gentle, with an attitude of humility, an attitude of courteousness, an attitude of kindness, an attitude of patience, an attitude of consideration without hatred, without malice, without revenge.
3.Submissive-easy to be entreated
Gk.Eupeithes means they're willing to yield, willing to yield, not stubborn, easily persuaded, teachable, compliant.
4.Full of mercy
This really means a concern for people who suffer manifested not only in forgiving people who have wronged you but in reaching out to people with compassion who are in suffering.
5. Without partiality.
That's the only place in the New Testament this term is used. It means it's unwavering, it's undivided in its commitment. There's no vacillating. There's no shifting. There's no turning one way and then turning another way. It's consistent, no partiality.
6.Without hypocrisy
Utterly sincere, genuine, not phony, not fake, no pretense, no mask.
C.)RESULTS of Godly Wisdom v18
The fruit of righteousness.
True wisdom here is equated with Righteousness. The fruit of righteousness. Righteousness is equated with true wisdom because wisdom is righteous living. "And the fruit of this righteousness is sown..." Now that's a strange picture...fruit is sown. Usually seed is sown. But on the other hand, fruit harvested becomes seed for the next crop, doesn't it? The fruit of righteousness is resown in peace by them that are making peace.
And let me just summarize in closing thought...wisdom equals life style. The entry into wisdom is through faith in God through Jesus Christ. We are saved into wisdom. Once we come into wisdom, then Scripture becomes the source of wisdom, the Holy Spirit becomes the teacher of wisdom. What a wonderful thought. What a wonderful truth. And if we lack any wisdom, we can ask of God. So we have entered the sphere of wisdom. We possess the revelation of wisdom. We are indwelt by the teacher of wisdom. And whatever application of wisdom we lack, we may ask God who gives and holds back nothing.
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