At the end of the third chapter of his General Epistle, the apostle James speaks about the difference between human and divine wisdom. In this case the issue is...
At the end of the third chapter of his General Epistle, the apostle James speaks about the difference between human and divine wisdom. In this case the issue is wisdom in the ancient sense of the word: following the way of life, the right choice of path. Several decades after the apostle James, the Didache, the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, would formulate the general biblical idea of wisdom, accepted by Christians as well, in these words: "There are two ways, one of life and one of death, and the difference between the two is great." For the apostle James, wisdom first of all makes it possible to choose the way of life. The apostle says that such wisdom is given only by God; the rest he calls earthly, merely natural, and demonic wisdom, distinguishing, as the Didache does, only two ways.
Divine wisdom, given to people, according to the apostle's word, bears in a person's life good fruit, which he calls the fruit of righteousness. The apostle uses this term after the Lord Jesus Christ, who more than once spoke about the fruits borne in our life by the seed sown by God. This fruit of righteousness, "truth" in the Synodal translation, is in essence a synonym for eternal life, because it implies freedom from sin, unity with God, and therefore freedom from death.
The apostle James gives his addressees the most practical possible instructions about how the fruit of righteousness, the good fruit of life, is attained. He devotes a significant part of the whole Epistle to this, but his thought is expressed most briefly in these words: "And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace." Here we encounter a certain feature of the Synodal translation. The Greek text of the Epistle literally says that "the fruit of righteousness is sown peacefully among those who make peace." The issue, therefore, is more than preserving peace in one's own heart. The apostle speaks of building peace within ourselves and, of course, around ourselves: the whole third chapter is devoted to this. Building peace, the ministry of reconciliation, is the chief thing that leads a person to life. All other ways the apostle calls demonic.
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3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure - From all that is earthly, natural, devilish. Then peaceable - True peace attending purity, it is quiet, inoffensive. Gentle - Soft, mild, yielding, not rigid. Easy to he entreated - To be persuaded, or convinced; not stubborn, sour, or morose. Full of good fruits - Both in the heart and in the life, two of which are immediately specified. Without partiality - Loving all, without respect of persons; embracing all good things, rejecting all evil. And without dissimulation - Frank, open.
3:18 And the principle productive of this righteousness is sown, like good seed, in the peace of a believer's mind, and brings forth a plentiful harvest of happiness, (which is the proper fruit of righteousness,) for them that make peace - That labour to promote this pure and holy peace among all men.
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4:1 From whence come wars and fightings - Quarrels and wars among you, quite opposite to this peace? Is it not from your pleasures - Your desires of earthly pleasures. Which war - Against your souls. In your members - Here is the first seat of the war.Hence proceeds the war of man with man, king with king, nation with nation.
4:2 Ye kill - In your heart, for "he that hateth his brother is a murderer." Ye fight and war - That is, furiously strive and contend. Ye ask not - And no marvel; for a man full of evil desire, of envy or hatred, cannot pray.
4:3 But if ye do ask, ye receive not, because ye ask amiss - That is, from a wrong motive.