TRUE WISDOM
TRUE WISDOM
JAMES 3:13-18
Truly wise people have a right sense of proportion: they are humble, thoughtful for others and genuine.
From the tongue James moves to the life as a whole and he contrasts the wise with the unwise, though he does not use the latter term. Rather he speaks of a “wisdom” not of heavenly origin. Just as earlier he has spoken of every good gift as coming from God (1:17), so now he thinks of all true wisdom as “from above.” The main point that concerns him is the self-assertion of the wicked, which he finds in sharp contrast to the meekness (humility) of God’s own people. Such a quality, incidentally, was not universally regarded as a virtue in the Greek world. It was held that real people would stand up for their rights and not allow themselves to be trampled on. It was humiliating not to be accorded one’s full rights and one’s proper place; rivals must not be allowed to usurp one’s proper privileges. So what James is rebuking as “bitter jealousy and selfish ambition” (3:14) was usually regarded as a proper concern for one’s rightful position. The point, and it is important, is that Christians do not take their standards from the world.
There is a reversal of values when a person knows they have been saved by Christ. Such a person knows they can contribute nothing to the process. Their sins have been put away not by their own best efforts, but by Christ’s atoning death. They see that they have sinned against God, but that God has refused to condemn them. Instead, God’s Son, Christ, has suffered to save them. When the significance of this has sunk in, a person cannot be selfish and self-assertive. They react to others as God has acted towards them, that is, in forgiving love. So they now look for that wisdom which comes from above. They look now for purity in life, and for an attitude of peaceableness and mercy to others (3:17). They reject jealousy and ambition as devilish (3:15). The connection between righteousness and peace (3:18) is noteworthy. The world has not yet realized, in its deep yearning for peace, that peace and righteousness are intimately connected. It is still not possible to have real peace if in our self-seeking we reject real righteousness.