This is not the wisdom which comes down from above, but earthly, natural, devilish.
James draws a line between two kinds of wisdom, and he draws it at their source. One kind comes down from God. The other does not. This verse gives the false kind three names, and each name marks a step further down.
Note: where the ESV says "unspiritual, demonic," older translations say "sensual, devilish." The writers quoted below use those older words.
The difference is not in how much you know. It is in the root the wisdom grows from. One writer traces both wisdoms back to two natures.
In verse 15 James clearly separates the two kinds of wisdom. To see the two natures clearly separated, read Romans 7 carefully. The two natures lie at the root of the two wisdoms. The wisdom that is from God displays the marks of the new nature, and like that nature it is from above. The other wisdom displays the marks of the old nature, and like that nature it is from the earth.
This wisdom is dangerous because of where it stands. It does not present itself as an enemy of God. It claims a place inside the gospel.
There is a wisdom that is not from God. It has its seat in human intelligence. It is earthly, sensual, devilish, and it is false to the gospel, because it claims to belong to the gospel.
One writer sets each of the three words against its opposite, and shows what each one costs.
This wisdom is earthly, not heavenly; sensual (or "soulish"), not spiritual; devilish, not Christ-like. Because it is earthly, it does not last. Because it is sensual, it runs mostly on human desire and feeling. Because it is devilish, it deceives, and the danger is deadly.
The word behind "sensual" points to the soul, not the body. One writer follows all three words to the end.
It is first "earthly." It brings in no motive that is not of earth. The word for "sensual" is the one we have had before as "natural." It is "psychic," soul-led... In it are the instincts and appetites that keep life going, and nothing more. The spirit does not have its supreme place; the man is soul-led, soul-governed... It is not only "earthly, sensual," but "demoniacal." Satan is the prince of the world, so a worse influence is over man than could be found in his fallen nature alone.
James does not ask you to inspect your reasoning. He asks what your wisdom keeps company with.
Wisdom, like faith, shows what it is by the spirit and conduct that go with it and reflect it... What is the source and character of any wisdom, however grand its claims, that joins itself to bitter rivalry and division? Is it not a lie against the truth? Does it flow from anything higher than hearts ruled by self-will, instead of hearts purified by faith?
The lie has a definite content. One writer shows why defending your own pride sets you against the truth.
Notice too that envy and strife lead to boasting and lying against the truth. These things come from pride, and the truth speaks firmly against self-exaltation. So if I justify my pride, I lie against the truth.
The three words are a slope, not a list. Once wisdom stops coming down, it does not stay level.
There is no middle ground. Man cannot be his own master. If his house is empty, all the sweeping and tidying will only make it ready for a tenant. If his wisdom does not come from above, it will not be only "earthly," but "sensual," and then "devilish."
James wrote this warning to believers. One writer shows what unjudged jealousy does among them.
The preacher speaks truly: "Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?" (Prov. 27:4)... It is good for all believers to take to heart the words of the apostle James, when he warns us against allowing "bitter jealousy and selfish ambition" in our hearts. If it is not judged in the heart, it will lead to confusion and every evil work, even among Christians.
The remedy is not better thinking but a different place. One writer locates the cure in the position Christ took.
To the mind of the world's wise man, the most offensive position of all is to be a servant, to be God's bondservant. This is love's place, and Christ took it and filled it without fail. Through His redemption we can follow in His path, having Him as our life, which He truly is, and we are free to cultivate this wisdom that comes down from above.
- Source — What marks wisdom is where it comes from, not how much it knows. One kind comes down; this kind does not.
- Descent — The three words trace a fall. Earthly has lost heaven. Soulish has lost the spirit's rule. Devilish has gained a new master.
- Disguise — It is dangerous because it claims to belong to the gospel while being false to it.
- Detection — Bitter envy and strife in the heart give it away. Defending that pride is a lie against the truth.
- Deliverance — There is no middle ground. Take the servant's place Christ took, and wisdom from above is free to grow.
For where emulation and strife [are], there [is] disorder and every evil thing.
This verse traces a short, sharp line: from something hidden in the heart to open ruin among God's people. Two questions follow — why does envy have such power, and why does disorder never stop at disorder?
The verse starts with jealousy. One writer measures its power by what it has produced:
Perhaps there is no greater power for evil in the world than envy. Envy led to the first murder in the world, when Cain rose up against his brother and killed him. And envy led to the greatest murder in the world, when the Jews killed the Prince of life. We read that Pilate "knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered Him up" (Matthew 27:18).
Envy hides itself. The same writer shows what it is quietly admitting:
We do well to remember that envy is always the confession of inferiority. To envy a man with a big income is to admit that one's own is smaller. In the same way, to be jealous of a man with gift is to confess that one's own is an inferior gift.
The verse names a place: wherever these two things are. One writer follows the chain from the hidden feeling to the public wreck:
If envy and strife in the heart lead to boastful and lying words, used to excuse and cover the envy, then those boastful and hypocritical words will produce scenes of disorder and confusion. Such scenes open the door to "every evil work". So here, in plain and searching words, we see the root cause of every scene of disorder among the people of God.
Envy and strife do not produce every evil work on their own. They produce disorder, and disorder leaves the door unguarded:
Envy involves both personal selfishness and ill-feeling toward another. Strife therefore accompanies it. This in turn upsets all proper balance. Disorder takes over, and leaves the door open for "every evil work." This is how Satanic activity thrives.
This same evil looks clever to the world. One writer traces it back to the devil's own fall:
At the root of it lies envy or rivalry. This was the original sin of the devil. By trying to exalt himself, envying what was above him, he fell. When this is found there is bound to be strife, and strife in its turn results in confusion and every kind of evil work. Many of these evil things, perhaps all of them, would be counted as wisdom by fallen men. It looks wise enough to the average man to scheme and fight for oneself — to be always out for "number one" as it is called.
Smooth talk can fool anyone, so there is a safer test — fruit, not words:
Its moral character gives away its evil source, even though smooth language and fair speaking might easily trap the unwary. The least intelligent believer who keeps the Lord Jesus before him can spot "envying and faction." Once these are allowed, they quickly bring in "confusion and every bad work." So by their fruits the earthly wise soon become obvious to those who are neither intelligent nor spiritual enough to discern otherwise.
Different writers use different words — envy or rivalry, faction or strife. The picture is the same: taking sides until everything falls apart.
Since the trouble starts inside, that is where it must be dealt with:
Never has there been a scene of confusion and strife among the people of God that has not had its hidden root, of envy and strife, in the heart. We may be sure that the heart that entertains bitterness, envying, and strife, will be no garden for the Lord.
- Root — Envy sits under the whole chain. It drove the first murder in the world and the killing of the Prince of life.
- Confession — Envy is always an admission of inferiority. That is why it hides behind boasting and lying words.
- Spread — Envy in the heart turns into boastful, lying speech. That speech turns into open scenes of disorder among God's people.
- Door — Disorder is not the end but the opening. It lets "every evil work" walk in, and Satanic activity thrives by it.
- Test — Earthly wisdom talks well, but its fruit gives it away. Anyone who keeps the Lord Jesus before him can spot envy and faction.
But the wisdom from above first is pure, then peaceful, gentle, yielding, full of mercy and good fruits, unquestioning, unfeigned.
James has just described a wisdom driven by jealousy and selfish ambition. Now he sets another kind against it, and he describes it by what it looks like, not by what it knows. The order of the list matters. So does its source: this wisdom comes down, so we have to ask for it.
James does not describe two levels of one wisdom. He describes two wisdoms with two different sources.
Then we are shown two kinds of wisdom. ... "This wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice." Its works prove its nature and its source.
So we ask God for it. He has already given us reason to expect an answer.
Grace has given us Christ. We are born of God and have His Spirit. How fitting, then, to look to that same source for a wisdom that does not spring up from the earth or from man! ... Will He not give it generously to all who wait on Him in faith and refuse all doubt? The love He has shown us, and the assuring word He has written for us, rebuke every such questioning. If we do not have, it is because we do not ask.
"First" here is not about importance. It is about order. Peace that arrives before purity is peace bought at God's expense.
It is first pure, "then peaceable," an order much to be kept in mind. Even believers are apt to make peaceableness their first object. But this would compromise the character and glory of God. He will have everything that defiles shut out.
There is a reason this wisdom is called pure, and a reason peace comes second.
It is pure, because it comes from God and leads to God. What is from God cannot tolerate evil; it rejects it. It aims at the glory of God and maintains His holy character. As a result it is peaceable; it seeks the fruits of peace among men.
So what does "gentle" ask of a person in practice?
epieikes (from epi and eiko, to yield) ... It is hard to represent by any one word in English. It means "equity" in contrast to the strict letter of the law. So it is a readiness to waive all harshness and severity, even in the matter of just legal redress. It is the opposite of standing on one's rights: "mild," "gentle."
A man who keeps pressing his own opinions looks strong. One writer reads that habit the other way.
It knows nothing of stubbornness, prejudice or opinionated pushing. These are the sources of so much strife and contention among believers. When a man is aware that his wisdom is of a superior kind, one can understand why he is unwilling to have his mind or will disputed. But the truth is different. Nothing marks the superiority of the grace and truth and wisdom God gives so much as patience, and the absence of anxiety to push what one knows is right and true. It is a sure sign of weakness somewhere when a man is always urgent in pressing the value of his own words and opinions, or constantly finding fault with others.
This mercy is shown to people who have done wrong. It also makes a demand on the person who shows it.
Next, it is said to be "full of mercy and good fruits," a precious help among faulty souls and their evil ways. Of all people, those who feel and act with divine compassion toward wrongdoers must themselves walk in fellowship with Him who is good to the ungrateful and the evil. They must give no real ground for the charge that they go easy on other offenders in order to smooth over their own inconsistencies.
The rest of the list is defined in plain terms. Translations differ on the final pair: some read "impartial and sincere", others "unquestioning and unfeigned".
Completing the seven pillars of wisdom in this verse, "full of mercy" is the hearty, compassionate care of those in need. "Good fruits" are those virtues that are active on their own, with no forcing. "Without partiality" is giving no preference to one above another, no favouring of relatives or special friends. And finally, "without hypocrisy" involves the simple honesty of not trying to give wrong or misleading impressions.
Together these marks describe a person, not a policy.
If marked by wisdom from above, we shall bear the beautiful character of Christ. ... What is this but a lovely description of Christ as He passed through this world?
- Source. Two wisdoms, two origins. You know the earthly kind by the disorder it makes, and the heavenly kind by its character.
- Asked. This wisdom comes down from God. If we do not have it, the reason given is that we do not ask.
- Ordered. Purity comes first, peace second. Reverse the order, and peace costs God's honour.
- Yielding. Gentleness gives up its rights, not its convictions. Constant insistence is a sign of weak wisdom.
- Whole. Mercy, impartiality and sincerity complete the portrait. It is the character of Christ as He walked through this world.
But [the] fruit of righteousness in peace is sown for them that make peace.
James closes his contrast between two kinds of wisdom with an image drawn from farming: a crop, a soil, and a sower. It raises an old question. Can you stand for what is right and still make peace? Which comes first?
This verse closes a chapter about strife. The person who grows this fruit is the opposite of a quarrelsome one.
Instead of such unworthy things, the call is to show your works by a good life, in the meekness of wisdom. That is the opposite of bitter rivalry and strife, which end in disorder and every other evil. But the wisdom from above (and what else matters?) is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, yielding, full of mercy and good fruits, free from quarrelling, and sincere. And righteousness' fruit in peace is sown for those who make peace.
Sowing works both ways. A self-willed spirit plants too, and the next chapter shows the crop.
In the daily walk of the believer the fruit of righteousness is the main thing needed, but it must be "in peace"; as we have seen, the wisdom from above is "first pure, then peaceable." In the natural man, as in the world, self-will rules — the enemy of all righteousness. Its overbearing spirit is the seed of an ever-growing harvest of strife, as the start of the next chapter shows.
The order is not accidental. It shows up in Melchizedek, a priest and king in the Old Testament story.
Even in the Lord Jesus we find the same order. Hebrews 7:2 says, "He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace." That is how Melchizedek, the king-priest of Salem, is applied.
Reverse that order and peace itself goes wrong.
Peace comes last, and rightly so, for it is the outcome of righteousness, faith and love. Righteousness heads the list and peace closes it, for "the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace." If the qualities that come before it do not guard it, the search for peace can sink into not caring about Christ and going along with evil.
Peacemaking is not just avoiding hard conversations. It has content.
Making peace does not mean peace at any price. It means holding to everything that agrees with the will of God, and refusing everything that goes against His will and His holy nature of love. No one could sow the fruit of righteousness where righteousness was ignored or pushed aside. It is sown where peace was made by showing the divine nature and refusing everything that belongs to the flesh.
Christ Himself is the pattern.
In making peace we take our character from Christ, who in His unique and supreme sacrifice "made peace by the blood of His cross." A watchful enemy is always trying to disturb God's people... But God wants us always watchful. With the wisdom He gives, we are to see all that would hinder peace among His people, and to try in love to remove it.
This verse can be translated in more than one way. One writer lists the options and finds the difference small.
There seem to be three possible translations of this scripture: "The fruit of righteousness in peace is sown for those who make peace," or, "The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace," and the older King James wording. But there is no great difference in the meaning... A passage in Isaiah throws light on it: "And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever."
Kelly renders it "for those who make peace." The ESV takes the other route: "sown in peace by those who make peace."
Nothing here is instant. The sowing decides the crop.
For the fruit of righteousness can only come from proper sowing. Fruit is not forced or sudden. A character that truly seeks peace will have its good fruits in righteousness. On the other hand, simply insisting on righteousness will never produce righteousness. So it is good to seek the things that make for peace, and you can do that without compromising righteousness. This is wisdom from above.
Peace is not only how you sow. It is also the ground you sow into, and that ground is a gift.
But peace is also the soil where the fruit of righteousness is sown. It is the rich soil where the soul that lives in communion with Christ takes root. He said to His own before leaving this world, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you." Only those who enjoy His peace can make peace.
- Received. Only those who enjoy Christ's own peace can make peace — the soil is a gift before it is a duty.
- Ordered. Righteousness first, peace after: Melchizedek is king of righteousness before he is king of peace.
- Guarded. Peace out of order "can sink into not caring about Christ and going along with evil" — never peace at any price.
- Sown. Self-will sows an ever-growing harvest of strife; meekness sows the opposite. Both are planting.
- Grown. "Fruit is not forced or sudden." Insisting on righteousness never produces it. Sowing in peace does.