“"Wisdom from Above"”

Sunday, February 23, 2025

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

(James 3.13-18)

In last week’s article, we considered the attributes of earthly wisdom, especially its moral ambiguity. Earthly wisdom often agrees with heavenly wisdom, but it does so for the wrong reasons. For example, a wise atheist may well conclude that parents ought to nurture and provide for their children, but his reasons will have to do with an orderly society. That’s a genuine concern, but the real reasons are, first, that God commands it; and second, that children are entrusted to parents by God, the parent-child relationship mirrors an aspect of God’s relationship to man, and parents stand in the place of God for their children, so they are obligated to represent him faithfully, enact his will, and raise their children in genuine love. Earthly wisdom has no time for this. It is ultimately demonic (v15), not because it consciously serves Satan’s will, but because refusing to acknowledge the spiritual realm submits to Satan’s influence just as well. But what characterizes heavenly wisdom?

Pure

We generally think of purity as uniformity, and specifically a lack of contamination. In English it has pretty well always meant that, but the Greek word here thus translated, ἁγνή-hagnē, only takes the meaning, unadulterated, by an extension of its core sense. Originally it was almost synonymous with holy, and was used to describe God and the things that pertain to him. Dedication to God means behaving in a way that pleases him. This conduct is morally upright in and of itself, and someone who is truly devoted to serving God does not disobey him and call it righteousness. Our wisdom, likewise, should be from God, and not superseded by earthly principles when they suit our desires.

Peaceable

Heavenly wisdom seeks peace, rather than conflict. That doesn’t mean conflict is wrong, or even unwise. Paul wrote to the Romans, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all” (Ro 12.18). This upholds the goal, but acknowledges that peace is not always possible, and may depends on others, who insist on strife. But the person who stirs up conflict does not have God’s wisdom.

Gentle

The word behind this is ἐπιεικής-epieikēs, which is tough to pin down. “Gentle” is a good translation, but built into this word is the notion that the “gentle” person has good reason not to be! Synonyms include indulgent and tolerant. As with the previous item, this doesn’t mean limitless toleration; but it does mean giving people the benefit of the doubt.

Open to Reason

If you never allow yourself to be persuaded, you’re not using heavenly wisdom. As usual, there’s a limit—this doesn’t mean being wishy-washy. The Bible often tells us to be steadfast! But that is about being firmly anchored in Christ, our foundation. When considering possible paths, or exercising judgment among—or even over—brothers, it’s important that they can reason with you.

Full of Mercy and Good Fruits

This seems self-explanatory; but what is mercy? In a theological sense, we usually think of mercy as withholding well-deserved punishment; and that’s fine, considering our relationship to God and the forgiveness he offers. But it’s not actually the way the word is normally used in the Bible. We can see its common usage in the lawyer’s response to the parable of the good Samaritan. Jesus asked,

“Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.”

(Luke 10.36-37)

It’s important to show mercy in the narrow sense of forgiveness; but also in the broader sense, showing kindness to those in need. This exemplifies good fruit, which Jesus also admonishes us to bear.

Impartial

Earlier in the book James warned,

if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

(James 2.3-4)

You can see fleshly motivations for dividing people into favored and disfavored classes, but this is foreign to heavenly wisdom.

Sincere

Literally “without hypocrisy,” this means the outward conduct is a genuine reflection of the inner thoughts, and not an attempt to mask them. The person who has heavenly wisdom has no need for dishonesty, and his fruits speak well of him.

§

What is the result of heavenly wisdom? The surrounding verses give us the answer. The wise man has “good conduct” (v13) that leads to “a harvest of righteousness…sown in peace” (v18). Earthly wisdom, on the other hand, led to “disorder and every vile practice” (v16)! Which path will you follow?

Jeremy Nettles

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