In the Greek, the word "zēlon" means jealousy and it is different from envy. Envy says, "I should have had that instead of you." Jealousy says, "I should have had that too." Demonic wisdom is always motivated by jealousy. That bring us to the next thing James mentions, which is "selfish ambition"; which means it is motivated by self-interest. It's all about me; what's in it for me? Envy is the sin of covetousness. It is the resentful and even hateful dislike of the blessing of another. It violates the tenth commandment. It is the Greek word "eritheía," meaning to act on behalf for one's own gain, regardless of the discord it causes.
That is in contrast to what Scripture teaches, as Christians, which clearly tells us that we are to be looking out for God's interests and the interests of His Kingdom. In fact, in Matthew 6:33, Jesus tells us "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
And, the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 2:3-4, "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." Clearly, Scripture calls us to look out for the interests of others.
In Matthew chapter 16, I am sure you all remember when Jesus where He was foretelling of His death and how He would have to suffer at the hands of the chief priests and elders. In verse 22, "Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You." I'm sure to Peter, it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. However, what did Jesus do? He rebuked Peter! Verse 23, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s." In other words, Peter didn't have the interests of the Kingdom of God at heart. Meekness is the opposite of self promotion and self ambition. For the believer, meekness means to be under the control of God.
In Matthew 5:5, as part of The Beatitudes, Jesus said "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth." So, James is saying that real saving faith is not just your general conduct, it’s not just your specific acts, it's your attitude. If you have saving faith, then your life will be a pattern of revealing that wisdom of God, your deeds will reveal that wisdom of God, and your attitude will reveal that wisdom of God. That's the point he's making. So, again we see that the test of saving faith, is bound up in our conduct and in our attitude.
In order for us to understand the difference between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of man, we need only to go back the Old Testament wisdom literature. Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Songs of Solomon. The majority people believe it was penned by Solomon. However, the debate is whether or not he wrote it before he was a true believer in God, before he was truly converted, or after. It may well be that it was written some time before he had come to the fullness of the understanding of the truth of God which changed his life. It could have been in retrospect, as he goes back over the way he used to think. However, it reveals the folly, the uselessness, the senselessness, and the frustration of false human wisdom. I believe that it's really a very fascinating book.
To give you an example of the kind of wisdom found there, look at Ecclesiastes 1:16-18, I said to myself, "Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge." And I set my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I realized that this also is striving after wind. Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain."
This is the wisest man of all time! He not only knows it, he understands it. He set himself up to know not only wisdom but the extravagant madness and foolishness. In other words, I had wisdom, and in order for me to understand what wisdom is, I studied stupidity. That's what he's getting at here. Things are best know by comparison. I set out to know everything that I could know, and all I got was more grief and more pain.
In chapter 2, he says, still talking to himself, "I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself." And behold, it too was futility." If you look around at the world, this is exactly what you see. They are living for live for pleasure and possessions, they want more money, more degrees, a bigger house, a better car, nicer clothes, yet, none of them get any closer to reality. This is exactly where Solomon was. I believe the fallen world would do well to read this!
Then, in verses 2 and 3, he says "I said of laughter, “It is madness,” and of pleasure, “What does it accomplish?” I explored with my mind how to stimulate my body with wine while my mind was guiding me wisely, and how to take hold of folly, until I could see what good there is for the sons of men to do under heaven the few years of their lives." In other words, he's saying I hit the bottle, while still having some control over mind.
Verses 4-6, "I enlarged my works: I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards for myself; I made gardens and parks for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees; I made ponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees." I tried it all, in a mad pursuit to fulfill himself. This is typical of human wisdom. Always for self. He is absolutely consumed with himself.
In verses 7 through 11, "I bought male and female slaves and I had homeborn slaves. Also I possessed flocks and herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. Also, I collected for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself male and female singers and the pleasures of men—many concubines.
Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me. All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor. Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun." This guy tried it all, only to find he couldn't satisfy himself.
Go down to verse 17, listen to what he says, "So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind." He had more than anybody else and he hated it all. He hated all the silver; he hated all the animals; he hated all the plants; he hated all the women. he hated it all; he hated every bit of it.
Look at verse 18, "Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me." In other words, I'm going to die and somebody else is going to get it all. That’s worldly wisdom! Selfishness. He knows the answer’s with God, yet, he wasn’t reaching out to God to take a hold of that answer. You can’t get it from human wisdom, you can't pursue it from the vantage point of the world.
What then is the wisdom that can satisfy the heart of men? The wisdom of God! The wisdom of God always relates to a person's relationship with God. A selfless and humble approach to serving God.
Now, let's turn back to James, verse 17, "But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, free of hypocrisy." This takes us back to chapter 1:17 where we read that "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights." In comparison to earthly wisdom, the wisdom from above is first pure. There’s a pure-heartedness in a true believer. Purity speaks of one’s relationship with God and peace-loving characterizes our ability to get along with others.
Next he says the wisdom from above is "peaceable, gentle," It is not creating disorder. It is not self-promoting. It is peace-loving, peace-making. The word gentle is a beautiful word, which is very difficult to translate. In fact, William Barclay said its the most difficult Greek word of all to translate into the English language. It's the attribute of a redeemed character. Godly wisdom that is humbly patient, it submits to disgrace, mistreatment, persecution with an attitude of humility, with an attitude of kindness rather than hatred. James is saying that Kingdom citizens are that kind of people. They are peaceable and gentle.
Matthew 5:9, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." If you find that you are always looking for a fight, something is not right with your relation with God. The best thing to do is to make peace with God by putting your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Next he says that one who is characterize with the wisdom of God, is full of mercy. Here, he's speaking about a genuine concern for people who suffer, manifested not only in forgiving people who have wronged you, but reaching out to people with compassion. Worldly wisdom crowns self; heavenly wisdom crucifies self. If you will notice, James is intersecting in every one of these with a Beatitude. Matthew 5:7 says "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy."
He goes on to say that wisdom from above is "good fruits." Paul tells us in Galatians 5, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." It is also unwavering," this is a person who never vacillates, never making distinctions in persons and never wavering in commitment. This is the sincere, true-hearted, who moves in faithfulness to God. A person who let's their light shine before men, in seeing their good works.
"Without hypocrisy," Here, he is talking about the person who is not phony, not fake, no false pretense, no mask. A hypocrite is pretending to be something that they're not, whereas a person without hypocrisy is genuine. One can really see the difference between earthly wisdom and heavenly wisdom by looking at the outcomes, by what they produce.
So when a person who claims true wisdom he has pure motives and behavior that reveals a love for making peace, a humble, patient, non-retaliatory spirit, reasonableness, a willingness to yield in obedience, being merciful, compassionate acts toward others, a variety of righteous deeds that minister spiritual good and benefit to others, an undivided commitment to God’s truth without partiality toward anyone, and all of this is sincere and genuine, James says that person shows that they have the true wisdom. Wisdom from above!
Verse 18 "And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace." Here, James equates true wisdom with righteousness. In other words, if the root is right the fruit will be right. He's talking about reaping and sowing. The fruit of righteousness is re-sown in peace by them that are making peace. One righteous act harvested from the field of true wisdom becomes the seed to grow another one. And all of this is done in peace. What a beautiful thought! In other words, James is saying if one claims to be a Christian, then he must be able to prove it by living like a Christian.
Isaiah 32:17 says "And the work of righteousness will be peace, and the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever."
In Closing..
When bitterness is allowed to breed, it will always lead to an offspring of antagonism that hurts those around you while simultaneously destroying yourself You can be sure that it is not of God. Today, everyone seems to be doing what’s right in their own eyes, rather than what is right in the eyes of God. Authority is not only being questioned, but disobeyed and disdained. Where there is chaos and strife, you will find every evil work.
People are willing to step on as many as necessary to climb the ladder of success. When light enters a room it dispels the darkness, but itself cannot be influenced by the darkness. In the same way heavenly wisdom enters this sinful world, but is not affected by it.T he world is looking for peace without righteousness. However, true peace comes only through righteousness. Righteousness come through faith in God through Jesus Christ.
As believers, we are saved into wisdom, the Word of God then becomes the source of that wisdom. The Holy Spirit, whom indwells in us becomes the teacher of wisdom. Therefore, if we lack wisdom, we only need to ask God. What a beautiful truth!
God's wisdom is the mark of those people who truly belong to Jesus Christ.
May it be so..
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen