What does it mean that the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace (James 3:18)?

It would seem that there are three possible translations of this scripture; viz., "The fruit of righteousness in peace is sown for them that make peace," or, "The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by them that make peace," and the rendering of the Authorised Version. But there is no great difference in the meaning; indeed the second given is practically the same as that in our Bibles. Before seeking to explain it a passage in Isaiah may be cited, which may throw light upon its significance. It is, "The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever." (Chap. 32:17.) That this refers to Messiah's reign is clear; but the statement contains a similar principle to that in the scripture in James, as may be seen from the context. James contrasts man's wisdom with that which is from above. The characteristics of the latter are, first of all, it is pure; then it is peaceable, gentle, and yielding; next, combined with mercy, it is full of activity in good; and, finally, it is unbiased and sincere. But this "is the reproduction, in the walk of a man, of the peace and love of God as it was manifested in Christ down here." He was the great Peacemaker, and it was He who pronounced the blessing upon all who should tread in the same path, that they should be called the children of God, inasmuch as they would thereby present moral likeness to Himself, and thus exhibit the divine nature. All such, those who make peace, sow in peace (for peaceableness is a mark of the divine wisdom of their conduct in opposition to the envying and strife of the earthly wisdom of the natural man - vv. 14, 15) the fruit of righteousness. Or if we take the other rendering, "The fruit of righteousness in peace is sown for them that make peace," it will mean that in the path of peacemaking the fruit of righteousness will be produced and enjoyed in peace. The term, "The fruit of righteousness," may be understood from Phil. 1:11 and Rev. 19:8 in both of which scriptures holy activity is seen as flowing from righteousness. Indeed, if believers are the righteousness of God in Christ, their lives are to be in moral agreement with this character; and hence every good deed or holy action, of which the Holy Spirit is the source and power, is a fruit of righteousness. Psalm 97:11 may be compared with these scriptures where we read, "Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart." That is, those who are practically righteous and upright in heart before God will find a crop, as it were, of light and gladness, so that every activity of the new nature is like a seed sown to produce further blessing. (See 2 Cor. 9:10.)

"But the wisdom which is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without contention, without hypocrisy; and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace." This is the other side, the manifestation of the wisdom from above, the true fruits of the new nature and of the Spirit of God. It is first pure and then peaceable. It is pure, because it comes from God and leads to God. That which is from God cannot tolerate evil; it repudiates 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, through the exercise of that love which the Holy Spirit describes in 1 Corinthians 13. It is gentle: "Let your gentleness be known to all men" (Phil. 4:5); it is easy to be entreated, ready to yield. It knows nothing of stubbornness, prejudice and opinionativeness, the sources of so much strife and contention among believers. When a man is conscious that his wisdom is of a superior kind, one can understand his unwillingness to have his mind or will disputed; but the truth is, that there is nothing which so marks the superiority of grace and truth and wisdom, that God gives, as patience, and the absence of anxiety to push what one knows is right and true. It is an inherent and sure sign of weakness somewhere, when a man is ever urgent in pressing the value of his own words and opinions, or caviling habitually at others. The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace, and produces peace.

If marked by wisdom from above, we shall bear the beautiful character of Christ. The wisdom “from above first is pure, then peaceful, gentle, yielding, full of mercy and good fruits, unquestioning, unfeigned” (N.Tn.). What is this but a lovely description of Christ as He passed through this world?

The wisdom of the Head first deals with our hearts. It will lead us to judge the secret evil, so that we may be pure in heart. Then, in our intercourse with others, it will teach us to be peaceable. It will restrain our tongues and the natural love of contention, thus leading us to seek peace. Seeking peace we shall express ourselves with gentleness rather than in the violent manner of the flesh. Instead of the aggressiveness of the flesh that ever seeks to assert itself, we shall yield to others with readiness to hear what they may have to say. Moreover, the wisdom from above is ready to show mercy rather than hasty to condemn. It is “unquestioning” and “unfeigned”. It does not seek to make a pretension of great wisdom by raising endless questions. It is marked by simplicity and sincerity. The wisdom from above thus produces the fruit of righteousness, sown in a spirit of peace by those who seek to make peace. The wisdom from the Head will never produce a scene of disorder and strife. The one marked by this wisdom will make peace, and, in the peaceful condition that is made, will reap the fruits of righteousness.

"And righteousness' fruit in peace is being sown for those that make peace" (ver. 18).

In the practical walk of the believer the fruit of righteousness is the prime requisite, but "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 reigns, the enemy of all righteousness, in an overbearing spirit, the seed of an ever-growing harvest of contention, as the beginning of the next chapter clearly indicates.

Even in the Lord Jesus we find the same order, as in Heb. 7:2, "first being by interpretation king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace." Such is the application of Melchizedek, king-priest of Salem. It is indeed a type more than fulfilled in the order of Christ's priesthood even now, about to be fulfilled by-and-by in its exercise, when the battle is won over the Beast and the kings of the earth and their armies at the end of the age.

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, mere insistence on righteousness will never accomplish righteousness. How good therefore to seek those things that make for peace, which can certainly be done without compromising righteousness. This is wisdom from above.

The Apostle James refers to fruit bearing a number of times in his epistle, telling us in chapter 3 that "the wisdom from above" is "full of mercy and good fruits." Among these good fruits is the "fruit of righteousness (which) is sown in peace of them that make peace" (James 3:17-18). Our apostle would have us realise the importance of sowing in relation to the production of this precious fruit for God; and he tells us that it is sown for them that make peace. The Lord on earth said, "Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the sons of God" (Matt. 5:9). God has no pleasure in those who do not love peace, for He is "the God of peace," and one of the seven things He abhors is "those that sow discord among brethren" (Prov. 6:19).

In making peace we take character from Christ who, in His unique and supreme sacrifice, "made peace by the blood of His cross." A watchful foe is ever seeking to disturb God's people, and the Scriptures witness to the many and varied ways in which he accomplishes his hateful work. But God would have us ever watchful, and with divinely-given wisdom discern, and endeavour to remove, in love, all that would hinder the promotion of peace among the saints. How blessedly was the Lord engaged in this gracious work when His disciples were disputing among themselves who should be the greatest, and how blessedly was His example followed by the Apostle Paul in His care for the church.

Making peace does not mean having peace at any price, but rather the maintenance of all that is according to the will of God, and the refusal of all that is contrary to His will and holy nature of love. The fruit of righteousness could not be sown where righteousness was ignored or set aside, but where peace was made through the manifestation of the divine nature and the refusal of all that is of the flesh.

But peace is also the soil in which the fruit of righteousness is sown, the fertile soil in which the soul in communion with Christ is rooted, even as He said to His own before leaving this world, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you." Only those who enjoy His peace can make peace, and it is for such that the fruit of righteousness is sown.

But the fruit of righteousness in peace, though acceptable to God, a blessing in itself, and a comfort to fellow-believers, is far from welcome to men in general, who know not God and do not obey the gospel but unrighteousness, living in malice and envy, hateful, hating each other. It is sown, as we are here told, "for those that make peace." The will of man, any more than the wrath of man, works not God's righteousness. Discord and every evil issue are the sad effect. "Blessed," says the Lord, "are the peace-makers; for they shall be called God's sons." But in that wondrous outpouring of blessing from His lips on the mount (Matt. 5), we may notice that the four descriptions of the blessed are of the righteous class (vers. 3-6), before the three of the gracious sort (vers. 7-9); with a blessing super-numerary on the persecuted for righteousness' sake, and another yet richer on those persecuted for His own sake. Righteousness necessarily precedes. For it is vain to think or speak of walking in grace, where we fail in consistency with our relationship. The fruit of righteousness in peace is being sown for those that make peace. Such are evidently walking in a spirit which grace produces; but the fruit of righteousness in peace is sown for them. Some contend strongly that we should understand "by" rather than "for." Grammatically the clause is susceptible of either sense; but the former seems hardly so suitable to the bearing of the context. Let the Christian reader judge for himself.

There is however another side to the question even in this matter. Though the wisdom from above is first of all pure, and only then is peaceable and gentle, it always proceeds upon the lines of making peace. It is never marked by the pugnacious spirit. The last verse of our chapter makes this very plain. Those who are making peace are faithfully sowing that which will make for a harvest of the fruit of righteousness. Peace and righteousness are not disconnected, and much less antagonistic, in Christianity. Rather they go hand in hand.

Peace comes last and in its due place as the outcome of righteousness, faith and love. Righteousness heads the list and peace closes it, for “the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace.” Unless guarded by the qualities that precede it, the pursuit of peace may degenerate into indifference to Christ and acquiescence in evil.

Then we are shown two kinds of wisdom, — just as with regard to temptations there were two sorts of them — one blessed from God, and a real glory to the man that endures; and the other a shame, because it springs from his own fallen nature. No otherwise is it with wisdom. "This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work." Its works prove its nature and its source. There is confusion in every evil way, "but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable." Never reverse this order; it is not only that this wisdom is pure and peaceable, but it is first pure, then peaceable. It first maintains the character and glory of God, and then seeks the fruits of peace among men. But this is not all. It is gentle, and easy to be entreated, or yielding. Instead of ever giving battle for its rights supposed or real, there is clearly the yieldingness of grace about it. It is not the stubbornness of self-assertion or opinionativeness. This, on the contrary, stamps the sensual aspiring wisdom of man; but what comes down from above is gentle, yielding, full of mercy and good fruits, uncontentious, and unfeigned. When a man is conscious that his wisdom is of a suspicious kind, one can understand him unwilling to have his mind or will disputed; but the truth is, that there is nothing which so much marks the superiority of grace and truth and wisdom that God gives as patience, and the absence of anxiety to push what one knows is right and true. It is an inherent and sure sign of weakness somewhere, when a man is ever urgent in pressing the value of his own words and way, or cavilling habitually at others. "The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated:" it is also "full of mercy and good fruits, without contention, and without hypocrisy." It is characterised by the self-judgment which delights in and displays the ways of God. "And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace." Thus if there is peace in the way, righteousness is alike the seed and the fruit. The seed, as ever, must produce its own proper fruit. "The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace." What an honour to be sons of peace in a world ever at war with God and those who are His!