NOTES for Jam 3:18
At the end of the third chapter of his catholic epistle, the apostle James speaks about the difference between human and divine wisdom. In this case wisdom is being discussed in the ancient sense of the word: following the path of life, choosing the right path. A few decades after the apostle James, the Didache, the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, will formulate the generally biblical idea of wisdom, accepted also by Christians, in these words: "There are two ways; one of life and one of death; and there is a great difference between them." For the apostle James, wisdom first of all gives the possibility of choosing the path of life. The apostle says that such wisdom is given only by God; the rest he calls earthly, soulish, and demonic wisdom, distinguishing, like the Didache, only two ways.
Divine wisdom, given to people, according to the apostle's word bears good fruit in a person's life, which he calls the fruit of righteousness. The apostle uses this term following the Lord Jesus Christ, who more than once spoke about the fruits brought 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 correspondents maximally practical instructions on 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: "The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who keep 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 by those who make peace." Thus the subject is more than preserving peace in one's own heart. The apostle speaks of creating peace in ourselves and, of course, around ourselves; the entire third chapter is devoted to this. Creating peace, the ministry of reconciliation, is the main thing that leads a person to life. All other paths the apostle calls demonic.