Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
Did you know there are two kinds of wisdom? I hadn’t thought about this before. James takes the word “wisdom” and turns it on its head in this passage.
The first kind of wisdom is the kind I always think about when I read Proverbs. Who is “wise and understanding?” If we answer, “I am!”, how do we know? What little voice tells us that we are wise and understanding? How do we know what kind of “wise” we are?
James talks about two kinds of wise guys. One kind lives a good life. The things they do in life are done in humility. The other kind of “wisdom” comes from envy and ambition. He says such “wisdom” is “earthly, unspiritual, demonic.”
The reason he calls earthly envy and ambition “wisdom” is because the world values such things as “good.” In God’s eyes, this worldly “good” is very bad. Where we stand determines what we see. If we stand with God, the world looks very different than it does to someone who stands apart from God.
Remember, James is the one who teaches us that “faith without deeds is dead.” (James 2: 26b) Those who are spiritually wise are known by what they do and how they do it. What they do is good. The good they do is done in humility.
If someone says they have faith, but if they boast about their deeds they are missing the point about humility. That in itself is a warning sign. If their actions reflect envy and personal ambition, that is another sign of what is in the heart.
Application: James offers us a kind of compass for finding our way spiritually. What kind of person do we want to be? Humbly doing God’s work, or feeding our ambition and envy?
Food for Thought: Why is it good to be able to discern who is wise among a group of believers?
We can see wisdom’s results by the fruit born in our lives and the lives of others. It may be best not to evaluate if others are operating in wisdom instead of evaluating our own lives. I don’t think James was calling us to judge others as much as he was calling us to evaluate ourselves. The “you” in the passage is pointing us to evaluate ourselves as of first importance. This fits well in the larger context of us showing our faith by our actions.
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