Wisdom is a matter of good life and good actions (3:13)

If I gave you a series of photographs, and asked you to identify which of these people were ‘wise’ and which not, how do you think you would go?

How do you tell whether or not someone has wisdom? Is it necessary to have knowledge?Is someone with a high IQ ‘wiser’ than someone with a lower IQ? What about practical experience? All of these, I think, would be common definitions of wisdom in the world today.

The first point that James wants to make about wisdom is what it results in:

‘Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.’ (3:13)

Clearly, in James’ day some where claiming to have ‘wisdom’, but were not actually doing anything about it. But is this still a problem today? In his 1986 book Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman accused the western world of being a bunch of LIARs. Not liars in the sense of not telling the truth (though there may also be substance to such an accusation). Rather, Postman meant that we have a low ‘information-action ratio’ (L. I. A. R).¹ Prior to the invention of the telegraph most of what people knew was actionable, relating to their local community, work, neighbours, family etc. However, with the telegraph, radio, modern newspaper, television etc., we are constantly flooded with information that is no relevance to us, makes no difference to the way we live our lives. We make a virtue of being well-informed and knowledgeable, and invent games that allow us to exercise our endless store of trivia. Only a small proportion of what we know ends up being converted into action, and even this is being eroded away as we are exposed to Facebook, Twitter and other technologies that overwhelm us with even more information.

Wisdom without action is as impossible as faith without works.

But what kind of action? Here in this one verse are three ways in which wisdom is demonstrated: (i) the way you live; (ii) the things you do; and (iii) the attitude with which you do both. All three are necessary – miss one and you miss them all! Unless you are living right, then your actions will not carry conviction or credibility. People do not care what you do or say until they can see who you are. Similarly, humility that is not rooted in a good life and good actions is simply an invitation for pity.

This contrasts strongly to the way the world expects people to manifest wisdom. The stereotypical ‘wise’ person is one who, having lived a long time and gained knowledge and experience, now sit around and pontificate, rendering judgment on all and sundry who cross their path. But those qualities – age, knowledge, experience – are all about things that have happened in the past. For James, however, wisdom is about what you do in the present! To be sure, experience will help to build wisdom in you; knowledge will help you to understand your situation and respond accordingly. But it is that response that is all important. Wisdom results in continual action today, not continual reflection on the actions of yesterday.
But James does not stop there, for he wants to make his hearers aware that there are two kinds of ‘wisdom': counterfeit and genuine.

Two Kinds of Wisdom (3:14-18)

How do you spot a fake? The simple answer is by being intimately aware of what the real deal should look like, then closely examining the object in front of you. So if I gave you a $100 note, you would draw on your knowledge of what Australian currency looks like. Perhaps you would even know what some of the distinguishing marks of a hundred dollar note are, and if they are not present, or something else is in their place, you would rightly refuse to accept it. Sometimes it’s obvious; sometimes not. But the better you know the real thing, the easier it will be to spot a fake.

So it is with wisdom. Perhaps someone seems wise, but there are just these one or two things that seem off. Or perhaps you are trying to decide on the wisest course of action, and one seems at first glance to have merit, but when you reflect on it later and it wasn’t really right after all. As one commentator notes, ‘The most natural thing in the world is to think that your own reaction as a Christian is surely of divine origin. If you’re a new Christian, there may be a feeling that because God is with you and he’s for you and you’re doing something right for a change then everything you’re going to say is going to be right. And then you find yourself saying something that is wrong and somebody rebukes you for it.’² How, then, can we tell the difference between wisdom that is real, and that which is fake? James is very helpful in giving us a couple of major warning signs to watch out for.

Counterfeit wisdom (3:14-16)

The first is what he calls ‘bitter envy’ (3:14). This might be characterised as an action or attitude which seeks to pull others down because of jealousy. This is common in the world today: the student who denigrates their high-performing classmate; the person who speaks ill of the wealthy, all the while wishing they had that wealth; the hypocritical backlash against ‘celebrities’ who don’t live up to standards we ourselves have no intention of heeding.

When considering what you will do and what you will say, then, stop and consider the other people involved. What is your attitude toward them? Are you jealous of what they have or are? Do you resent them? Are you bitter and angry against them? If any of these things are true then, no matter how right or good the action itself is, you need to stop. ‘To the extent that you have bitterness you then and there surrender true righteousness.’³ Any work that grows from the root of bitterness will ultimately bear bitter fruit.

Similarly, James highlights ‘selfish ambition’ (3:14) as a sign of counterfeit wisdom. This happens in the world, of course, but sadly it often finds its way into the church as well. We fight for control, to be proven right, to see our needs met ahead of our brothers’ and sisters’. The worst thing is that we can fool ourselves into thinking that it is ‘right’.

Let me give you an example. At one church it was proposed that the time of the evening service on a Sunday be moved from 7pm to 6pm. This, it was argued, was to allow young families to attend, and still get their kids home to bed at a reasonable hour. Funnily enough, however, the people doing the arguing were – you guessed it – young families, who were doing so because they preferred the style of service that was conducted in the evening. As a result they would not hear the argument put against the idea that many amongst the youth who attended worked during the day on Sundays and would be unable to attend, or to contribute to the service by playing in the band etc., if the time was changed. Can you see that the ‘parties’ in this discussion were, by and large, driven by ‘selfish ambition’?

‘When we fight for power in Christian circles, evil establishes a foothold. When we operate with worldly values, seeking our own honor and status, we even offer Satan an entrance into the house of God! Our actions no longer demonstrate our faith (as throughout ch. 2), but rather show our commitment to the world and its standards of behavior (setting up ch. 4).’⁴

James says that counterfeit ‘wisdom’ is ‘earthly, unspiritual, of the devil’. This thing that these three descriptions have in common is that they are direct opposites to God. Just like any currency not printed at the mint is counterfeit by definition, the reason that this kind of ‘wisdom’ is counterfeit is that it does not originate from God. God gives good gifts (1:17), but counterfeit wisdom results in ‘disorder and every evil practice’ and is thus clearly not ‘good’ and so not from God.

Genuine Wisdom (3:17-18)

Genuine wisdom, on the other hand, does come from God. And it too, has particular characteristics:

‘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.’ (3:17)

First and foremost, James says, genuine wisdom is ‘pure’. This is a word that means that it is all of one substance, and has nothing foreign mixed in. Consider what James has said about speech (an aspect of wisdom) earlier in this chapter:

‘Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.’ (3:11–12)

Godly wisdom must not be diluted by triviality or inaction, nor sullied by being mixed with sin through compromise.

The truly wise person is also a lover of peace. This is a strong contrast to the counterfeit wisdom which results in ‘bitter envy and selfish ambition… disorder and every kind of evil practice’ (3:14, 16); genuine wisdom that comes from God seeks to promote peace within the community of God’s people and in the world. Yet, because wisdom is ‘first of all pure’, we know that this peace cannot be achieved at the expense of compromise with sin. Simply avoiding the issue is not wisdom. We must still contend for the truth of the gospel, even where that leads to conflict; the difference between counterfeit and genuine wisdom, though, is that even in the midst of conflict genuine wisdom longs for peace.

The rest of the words James uses in this verse to describe heavenly wisdom are variations on and contributors to the idea of peace.⁵ Being considerate towards one another is a good way to avoid unnecessary friction. To be submissive is often misunderstood as being a ‘doormat'; whoever wants to can walk all over you as and how they like. But this is not a biblical concept of submission, and conflicts with the stress on purity. In this context, it is better to think of the word as meaning ‘teachable’. The submissive person is willing to admit that they are wrong, and to learn from their mistakes; this, too, is wisdom. This is then complemented by mercy, which is a gracious acknowledgement that others may also be in the wrong. In particular, it means forgiving others who have wronged you. Impartial means not ‘taking sides’ on the basis of friendships or natural affinity or external things such as wealth or social status. This is a point that James made very strongly in chapter 2, as Ted shared with us last week. Finally, James tells us that true wisdom is sincere, a word which might more literally be translated ‘without pretense’ or even ‘without hypocrisy’.⁶ Once again, these things are barriers to peace within the people of God, for they drive people apart.

‘In essence, peace is the ultimate goal of wisdom, and wisdom only reaches its fullest potential in the midst of peace.’⁷

James is his own best example of the value of peace in the church, as the picture that we get of him in Acts makes clear. For it is James who chairs the Jerusalem council (Acts 15:13-21), the event above all others that made peace between Jews and Gentiles in the early church.

So the wisdom that comes from heaven is recognised by its purity, and the peace that it brings, in that order. And, just as counterfeit wisdom has its fruit, so too does genuine wisdom. On the one hand, earthly wisdom results in ‘disorder and every evil practice’ (3:16); but of heavenly wisdom James says, ‘Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness’ (3:18).

Trade in your counterfeit for genuine

But what do you do when you detect counterfeit wisdom in yourself or someone else? Well James tells us what not to do: don’t boast about it and don’t try to cover it up (3:14). But what should we do instead? The exact opposite of these two things: repent and confess! And the more you do these things, the more you will find that the gap in time between sin and repentance will shrink until, eventually, you find yourself stopping before you commit the sin. This is genuine wisdom.

Unlike counterfeit currency, it is always possible to trade in counterfeit ‘wisdom’ for the genuine wisdom. Well, ‘trade in’ is not quite right; what you actually do is to throw away the counterfeit, and go to God for the real deal. In chapter 1, James wrote: ‘If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him’ (1:5). Wisdom is a gift that comes from God – and only from God. No matter how much time you spend trying to increase your knowledge, no matter how old or experienced you are, these things will never be transformed into wisdom unless God by his Spirit does the transforming. And so we find we have come full circle to where we started: a wise man or woman demonstrates their wisdom by what they do… and the first thing they do is to ask God for wisdom!

Brothers and sisters, don’t settle for counterfeit ‘wisdom'; go to God for the real thing!

Bibliography

Blomberg, Craig, and Mariam J. Kamell. James, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary Series on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2008.

Kendall, R. T. Justification by Works: How Works Vindicate True Faith, New Westminster Pulpit Series. Waynesboro: Authentic Media, 2001. Reprint, 2005.

Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. 20th anniversary ed. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Penguin Books, 2006.

Endnotes

1. Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, 20th anniversary ed. (New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Penguin Books, 2006), 69.
2. R. T. Kendall, Justification by Works: How Works Vindicate True Faith, New Westminster Pulpit Series (Waynesboro: Authentic Media, 2001; reprint, 2005), 270.
3. Ibid., 271-2.
4. Craig Blomberg and Mariam J. Kamell, James, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary Series on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2008), 175.
5. The ordering here is less likely to be important – in the Greek, the words appear to be grouped in a manner that maximises assonance.
6. BDAG, “ἀνυπόκριτος”.
7. Ibid., 177.