It requires a greater degree of suffering to bring a man to a greater degree of the presence of Christ. -Paul Washer
In the next section James continues addressing those who wanted to be teachers. Up until now James has been concerned with what the teachers were teaching; the content of their words. Here he moves on to discuss the conduct and actions of the teachers; how they live their lives.
James 3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
The Greek word, sophos, translated here as wise, was the term of honor that the Jews used when referring to their teachers such as scribes and rabbis.
Who is wise and understanding among you?
In other words, James is signaling that he has more to say to the teachers of the church in exile. While he has three things to say about the teacher’s conduct, all believers would do well to heed his words.
First, James says that teachers should display good conduct. It is not enough for a teacher to be an expert with a deep understanding of God’s Word. Of course, a teacher should be an expert in understanding and communicating God’s Word, but he must also exhibit the Word by living it in his life. He must be skilled in applying God’s truth in the practical day-to-day living of his life: wise and discerning. Deuteronomy 1:13
Further, his conduct will be lived out in deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. Shepherds are not to be all talk and no action; all theoretical and not practical. On the contrary, their lives should exemplify the truth as a practical lesson to their congregation as to how life is to be lived. As Paul taught. Christians are to; imitate me as I imitate Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:1 Shepherds are you willing to be imitated?
Second, in contrast to how shepherds should live their lives, James gives this warning; But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.
Because, as pointed out previously, by the standards of the world, teaching is a position of prestige, some may want to be teachers for the wrong motives; jealousy, ambition, boasting. Peter gives the exact same instruction to teachers: Be shepherds of God’s flock… not out of greed but out of eagerness; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 1 Peter 5:2-3 See also Exodus 18:21-22
If you want to be a teacher out of greed, or ambition, or to exert your control over others, you are being false to the truth. Such an attitude is actually demonic, James 3:15, and will be judged as such. Rather, just as Christ said that he did not come to do his will but to do the will of the Father who sent him, John 6:38, teachers are to do the will of Christ. If you can’t do the will of the Savior you should not be a teacher. If God’s Word makes you uncomfortable because it clashes with the culture or if you are ashamed of what God’s Word has to say because it sounds archaic to today’s ears, you would be much better off if you were not a teacher. If you are, for your own selfish reasons, following your own will and watering down or changing God’s Word in order to gain acceptance, you are actually opposing God and following the will of Satan.
Scripture does not come alive when we twist it to say what the world desires to hear. Scripture comes alive when our lives are conformed to it. Dustin Benge
Jealousy and selfish ambition always lead to disorder and, ultimately, to the anarchy that destroys life. And isn’t that just what Satan wants? Strife, division and destruction. John 10:10
Third, in contrast to teachers who follow earthly wisdom, whose destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame, Philippians 3:19, James turns to discussing heavenly wisdom.
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
A crop of righteousness cannot be harvested from a field of greedy, bitter, self-seeking, tyrannical, ambition. Have you ever tried to reason with a bitter, self-seeking person?
Unfortunately you can see this played out on the news almost every night. Bitter, angry, folks who fashion themselves as victims of one sort or another, burning, looting, and bashing in heads. Theologian, Os Guinness, describes the situation:
Today we have the convergence of neo-Marxism (Critical Theory) and postmodernism where God and truth are dead and everything is relative and socially constructed. At its root everything is about power. These new modernists analyze all social relations in terms of oppressor and victim. When they have found their victim they weaponize the victim as an assault on the status quo.
If everything is power you can only retaliate. Action breeds reaction. Anger, hate and outrage mounts. Whatever small evil started the process you end up with a highly combustible situation like we’ve seen in our streets. Violence may be pragmatically successful in overturning an existing order but it is utopian to imagine that the next order will be free of all problems. All men are fallen.
Only forgiveness frees. Forgiveness cuts off the past and opens up the future. Forgiveness is radical. What does it mean in daily life to love our neighbor, to forgive the man who has wronged us, to seek change by reconciliation and not by means of violent revolution?
In some twisted way we might even come to expect such behavior; hate, rage, indignation, unforgiveness, from unbelievers who have aligned themselves with the father of lies, but, like James, we must always speak against such anger and bitterness within the Church, because we are to Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16
The sins of the church are far more offensive to God than the sins of the nation. George Whitefield
As James says, the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. These are the mature attitudes and traits that James expects his congregation to grow toward through the agency of their testing.
Again, as Paul taught the Galatians, we must cultivate the fruit of the spirit: the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23
Righteousness is sown by peacemakers; those who love peace, are gentle, open to reason, and strive to live in peace. This fruitful righteousness that the congregation is to model in their elders will only grow in a climate of peace.
I need to point out one thing here that we must be careful to understand. Frequently today a teacher, faithfully teaching the Scriptures, will be called divisive. As Paul warned Timothy; the time is coming when people will not have patience for sound teaching. They will gather around themselves teachers who say whatever their ears itch to hear, catering to their lusts. 2 Timothy 4:3 In this climate, the faithful teacher who is willing to humbly speak the truth will be pilloried as unloving, unbending, strident, and divisive. Being faithful to God’s Word will look like divisiveness to those who are compromising with the world! In the recent past many false teachers in the church were willing to reject the inerrancy of the Scriptures, making themselves the final authority over God’s Word, discarding or ignoring teachings that they found embarrassing or did not like, such as the resurrection. This set the stage for our current false teachers who are either in rebellion against or ignorant of the Scriptures, promoting Critical Theory, Social Justice, sodomite marriage, LGBTQA+ and abortion rights, and much more. Remember, considering the eternal consequences, consenting to or affirming an unbeliever’s sin is the least loving thing that a Christian can do.
There will be false teachers among you. 2 peter 2:1… but let not the teaching of modern divinity, however plausible it may sound, tempt you to forsake the old paths. The gate is small and the path is narrow that leads to life. Mathew 7:14 -J.C. Ryle
Or as Soren Kierkegaard put it, “The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand it, we must act accordingly. If I do that my whole life will be ruined. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to [pretend to] be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God.”
At age four Sejun’s parents gave him to a Buddhist monastery so that he could be raised by priests and become a monk. For the next nine years he studied and recited Buddhist texts for eight hours a day. If he misspoke he was beaten with an iron rod. Sejun could not understand how the priests could teach about love and yet beat him every day. At age thirteen he ran away and made his way back home.
Back home he met Christians at school who taught him about Christ. He soon started attending a local church. He was confused. “I found the people in the church to be so loving, kind, and caring. When I was in the monastery, I never received any love or care from my teachers. I saw how if people love Jesus then they learn to love and care for others. I found in the Bible, that our sins are forgiven by the blood of Christ. No matter what sin we have, Jesus is ready to forgive. Plus, there is no reincarnation in the Bible.
After two years, at age 15, Sejun, became a Christian. When his family and friends learned of his faith in Christ they were very angry. They couldn’t stand seeing a Buddhist monk become a Christian. One day when he was reading his Bible his brother began beating him with a pole. “My heart was crying, but I was not crying. I felt so sad for my brother.” Christian friends helped Sejun move into a Christian hostel in Kathmandu.
A year after his move his mother became partially paralyzed. Facing illness she began to attend church. There, after prayer by the elders, her condition gradually improved until was completely healed. Sejun’s mother then placed her faith in Christ. Sejun’s prayer is that “God would open the heart of his brothers and father so that they would know the truth and come to the saving knowledge of Christ.” Also, he says that, “Since I grew up in a monastery, I keep in touch with my friends there so I can pass my salvation on to them.”
Now 18, Sejun, has enrolled in a Bible College in Kathmandu.
Return to The Letter of James.