James 3.13-4.3

Wisdom From Above is the Answer (3.13-4.3)

Now we come to the center of the entire message of the book of James. The book first presents the trials outside the community (1.2-18), then he talks about trials inside the community (1.19-3.12). The answer to all these trials is found in this section of scripture, the wisdom from above (3.13-4.3). After James presents his main point, the rest of the book is revealing how this wisdom works in seven different test cases (4.4-5.20). This is how his main point goes:

13 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. 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, of the devil. 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 raise a harvest of righteousness.

James 4

1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

This is where James comes out and says his thesis statement, his big idea, the principle that he has been developing for the entire book. Wisdom from above leads to life, desires from below leads to death. It’s the diagram we have been seeing over and over again:

Wisdom from above (thinking heavenly)--> truth---> good deeds --> Life

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Desires from Below---> leads to temptation----> leads to Sin-----> leads to Death. 

He begins by contrasting the wisdom from above and the “wisdom” from below. This is how it goes:

13 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. 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, of the devil. 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 raise a harvest of righteousness.

What is interesting is that humility, in vs. 13., is both the pre-requisite and outcome of wisdom from above. The good life, comes from the humility that leads to wisdom. But as you live the life that comes from wisdom from above, it produces more and more humility. But when envy, and selfish ambition become the pre-requisite for our actions, disorder and evil practices are the outcome. This kind of “wisdom” leads to death. But James shows what happens when humility remains as the pre-requisite for our actions, for our wisdom. It is pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. These kind of people raise a harvest of righteousness. James shows that: 

Wisdom from above (thinking heavenly)--> truth---> good deeds --> Life

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Then James makes the final contrast with the desires from below. He says: 

1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

This is when James completes the picture of the entire book, by showing what happens when we follow our earthly desires:

Wisdom from above (thinking heavenly)--> truth---> good deeds --> Life

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Desires from Below---> leads to temptation----> leads to Sin-----> leads to Death. 

And this is what was driving the trials inside and outside the community. The cultural seduction of materialism is driven by earthly desires. The material persecution, driven by earthly desires. Our warped view of religion, people, faith and how we use our tongue, comes from our earthly desires. The answer, think heavenly. In humility, live according to heavenly wisdom which leads to life. This is the answer to being the people of God. And the rest of the book, James shows how this kind of wisdom works in seven different test cases.