Demonic vs. Heavenly Wisdom
James 3:13-18
Wisdom. I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t pray for wisdom at some point. Whether it’s the need for wisdom in making decisions for the church or for personal trials and complications in my own life; I need wisdom all the time. When the Bible speaks of wisdom, it’s not talking about mere intelligence. Biblical wisdom is more than factual knowledge. The OT concept of wisdom was always rooted in behavior. To the Hebrew people, the biggest fool was the one who knew the truth and failed to apply it. Simply put, OT wisdom has always meant skill in living righteously.
Yet the NT makes clear that there are two kinds of wisdom. There is the wisdom of man from below and the wisdom of God from above. Human wisdom is the natural application of knowledge to life’s situations. No faith is required for this kind of wisdom. But heavenly wisdom, or godly wisdom, always results in righteous living that pleases God even when so-called human wisdom disdains it. Human wisdom devoid of faith is the OT equivalent of foolishness. The fool in OT nomenclature was not intellectually bankrupt; he was morally bankrupt. The OT fool may have been considered intellectually brilliant by his contemporaries and scholarly in his reading, but in terms of righteous living, he was less than nothing. So wisdom, like foolishness is rooted in one’s behavior, irregardless of the information they profess to know.
In James 3:13-18 we find another test for genuine faith. The kind of wisdom a person has will be revealed by the kind of life they live. Those who have only the wisdom of man will demonstrate by their behaviors and actions that they have no saving relationship with Jesus Christ. As such, they will have no real desire to worship, no desire to serve, and no desire to obey Him. But those who have genuine saving faith will manifest in their choices and priorities that they have the wisdom that comes from above. With that in mind, look at James 3:13-18. In honor of God and His Word, let’s stand for the reading of these verses.
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. 16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. 18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. [NKJV]
[Prayer] In this passage, James is telling Christians about two opposite kinds of wisdom. There’s natural wisdom which has no relation to faith and is earthly, sensual, and demonic. Then there’s godly wisdom which comes directly from faith in Jesus Christ. So we’re going to look at these two contrary types of wisdom. First, the lower, human, natural form of wisdom…
I. The lower form of wisdom produces envy and selfishness, which is earthly, sensual, and demonic (13-16).
Verse 13 begins with a question: “Who is wise and understanding among you?” The question is put before the whole gathering in this mainly Jewish congregation. Everyone wants to think of themselves as wise and understanding. So James says: if that’s you – prove it. “Let him show…” is an aorist imperative. His purpose is to take wisdom and understanding out of the speculative and drop it into the practical realm. “Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.” The NASB has, “the gentleness of wisdom”. This word for gentleness or meekness refers to great strength under control (again in v. 17). This is behavioral language. Remember, in the Hebrew culture, wisdom was always behavioral, not intellectual. Now, to the Greeks, wisdom was mostly intellectual; it was about rhetorical sophistry. So James says to this predominantly Jewish audience: if you’re so wise and understanding, show it! Show it by the way you live. Show it with your good conduct and your meekness.
Now James knows his congregation well. He knows they like to talk about their wisdom and boast about their understanding. But he also knows they have an “attitude” when it comes to relationships with other believers. There tended to be selfishness and arrogance when it came to dealing with members of the church who were different from each other. They all wanted to have their own way all the time. Each claimed to have wisdom. Each claimed to have understanding. But their petty envy and prideful selfishness was undermining their witness.
Verse 14 says: “But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.” The truth is – this envious and self-seeking wisdom is not from God. They claimed to have wisdom and understanding as if it came from God, but James calls their bluff. When your life doesn’t match your confession, you have an integrity problem. They were ignoring the obvious needs of fellow Christians in their own fellowship. On one hand, those who were feeling deprived began to harbor bitter envy toward those who were well-to-do; and on the other hand, the ones who were wealthier became self-seeking and ignored the plight of people they could help within the body. Where was the gentleness? Where was the meekness and good conduct? It didn’t exist. However, instead of saying that this bitter envy and self-seeking isn’t wisdom at all, he tells them it is wisdom, but not the kind a Christian wants to have.
Verse 15 says: “This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.” Let’s consider these three characteristics of false wisdom: earthly, sensual, and demonic. You may notice that these three correspond to the three enemies of the believer: the world (earthly), the flesh (sensual), and the devil (demonic).
First, this wisdom that produces bitter envy and self-seeking is earthly. This means it’s limited to the present, material world. So it’s restricted to things man can investigate, test, discover, and accomplish in his own strength. It has no need for God or the things of God. Earthly wisdom has no need for spiritual truth or illumination from God. (Like the “Jesus walked on ice” theory to dismiss the walking on water miracle.) This is wisdom entirely of man’s own making.
Second, this wisdom that produces bitter envy and self-seeking is sensual. It is natural and fleshly so that it appeals to the fallen, unredeemed nature of man. The outgrowth of this kind of wisdom is that it’s driven by feelings, impulses, desires, and appetites that are humanistic in nature. Sensual has to do with the senses and their carnal indulgence.
Third, this wisdom that produces bitter envy and self-seeking is demonic. The root source of this lower form of wisdom is Satan himself. Satan has always promised wisdom to those he tempts. He wants to convince people that God’s Word should be doubted and taken lightly. He did this with Eve in the Garden of Eden. To the worldly wise philosophers, biblical Christianity is a relic from a superstitious, pre-scientific age that relies now on fantasy and the suspense of rational thinking. This form of militant unbelief asserts: if you can’t see it or test it, then it doesn’t exist. Satan blinds the minds of those who are perishing (2 Cor. 4:4)… and only God can overcome it.
This destructive human wisdom which is earthly, sensual, and demonic will destroy marriages, churches, businesses, friendships, communities, and even nations. Where we find bitter envy and self-seeking, we’re sure to find that which is earthly, sensual, and demonic close at hand. Verse 16 summarizes this first point: “For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.” That’s the negative form of wisdom. But notice the positive side…
II. Wisdom that is godly and sacrificial comes from above and produces peace (17-18).
“But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. 18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
Notice how all of these traits of godly wisdom relate to godly behaviors. First, godly wisdom is pure. The way James refers to “pure” here means spiritually genuine and morally sincere. This person has a life without alloys or falsehoods that would render him or her impure.
Then peaceable… meaning this one brings God’s presence into tense situations. When someone reviles a true believer, they don’t yield to the fleshly urge to become violent and aggressive in response. For the believer, Jesus has become bigger than their ego. Jesus has become more important than their personal sense of pride. They love peace because they love Jesus and it shows in their relationships. Peaceableness is always tested when things don’t go your way. After all, even unbelievers can appear peaceable as long as people agree with them and do what pleases them. Believers can demonstrate remarkable peace even when facing great opposition.
Wisdom from above is also gentle. The NIV has “considerate” but gentle is more intense than what we view as considerate. This builds on what it means to be peaceable. But gentleness is also distinct from peace. Peaceable refers to the heart motive while gentle refers more to the expression of that motive. To be gentle is not to be weak. Like meekness, gentleness is great power under God’s control. Great physical strength combined with powerful strength of character is as attractive as it is rare. Our gentleness must be stronger than our wrath or we’ll end up destroying the very people God calls us to protect and instruct.
Listen to what Paul said to Timothy in 2 Tim. 2:24-25… “the Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth…” That’s the goal of gentleness: leading misguided men and women to the knowledge of the truth through repentance.
Next is “willing to yield”. Some translations have “reasonable” or “submissive” which conveys the same idea. It was used of a man who willingly submitted to military discipline, accepting and complying with whatever was demanded of him and of a person who faithfully observes legal and moral standards. When you’re willing to yield, it keeps pride in check and it lets the pressure out of tense situations. This isn’t about yielding to wrong or to abusive control; this is about letting go of our ego-centric ideas for the greater good.
From there he couples “full of mercy and good fruits”. This is like the Good Samaritan in the story told by Jesus. The Samaritan was full of mercy for a Jewish traveler even though there was racial animosity and bad blood between these two groups. Those who are full of mercy see beyond the carnal, man-made boundaries to envision the full expanse of God’s kingdom. They are also full of “good fruits”. This phrase always refers to works of righteousness. “Fruit” is the outgrowth of a root; so if the root is righteous, then the fruit will be good. In other words, to test the genuineness of your claim in Christ, inspect your own fruitful works beginning at the root. If we have only the appearance of good works for an outward show, but no life in Christ – then our fruit is like wax fruit: it looks good from a distance, but it’s dead; it’s fake. False fruit is only to be admired, but never eaten; it shines, but it never satisfies.
Then the NKJV closes verse 17 using two “withouts”: without partiality and without hypocrisy. The NIV abbreviates it to “impartial and sincere”. NASB says “unwavering and without hypocrisy”. This word for unwavering is rare and literally means “not to be parted or divided, therefore without uncertainty, without indecision, or doubtfulness. The word was sometimes used to indicate impartiality, treating everyone equally without favoritism.” “Sincere” or “without hypocrisy” is one of the issues Jesus condemned the most among the religious zealots of His day. They were insincere and hypocritical. Someone has said that hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue.
Finally, verse 18 wraps it up with: “Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” In other words, true righteousness is shown by the way we live in this world.
So how do we get this list into our lives? How do we go from point A to point B? The answer is life-changing and radical. Each of us must crucify pride and ego and submit to the Jesus of Holy Scripture and commit ourselves to obeying Him at all costs. Such a life will inevitably produce good fruit and will also resist the carnal gnawing impulses that stir up all kinds of wars and fights among us. James will get into that test in chapter four! Until then, let’s close in prayer.
(c) Charles Kevin Grant
April 6, 2006