James asks a question that sounds like an invitation and works like a trap. 13"Who is wise and understanding among you?" The moment anyone answers "I am," James has the test ready. 13"By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom." It is the same test he applied to faith in chapter two. A claim of wisdom means nothing until a life demonstrates it. Wisdom is measured by God's standard and shows up first in how a person lives. Proverbs had said that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10), and James keeps the same wisdom but asks where it shows up in daily conduct.
Then James names the counterfeit. 14"Bitter jealousy and selfish ambition" are his two symptoms. The Greek word for selfish ambition was used of politicians angling for office, the zeal of a faction. Anyone who carries that and still calls it wisdom is, James says, 14"false to the truth," dressing something ugly in a name it never earned. He calls the result 15"earthly, unspiritual, demonic." Earthly means it never looks past what this world offers. Unspiritual means it runs on human instinct alone. Demonic means that a life lived entirely apart from God ends up serving the interests of the enemy, whether or not anyone would say so.
The fruit tells the truth. 16"Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice." That is the same word James used for the double-minded man in chapter one, unstable in everything he does. Jealousy and self-promotion produce instability as a way of life, a way of dealing with people that cannot help but come apart.
Then he turns the light around. 17"The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere." Nearly every word describes what wisdom does. Purity comes first for a reason. It means undivided devotion to God, the wholeness James has asked for since his first chapter, and the rest flows out of it. Peace, gentleness, openness to correction, mercy, fairness, and honesty are all fruit from one root.
This wisdom is a gift, and James has already said where gifts come from. 17"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above" (James 1:17). Whoever wants it only needs to ask, as he told them earlier, of a God who gives generously without reproach (James 1:5).
His closing line is a picture of a field. 18"And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace." Peace is the soil, and it has to be there first. Righteousness cannot take root in ground poisoned by bitterness.
Look at what your conduct showed today, and whether any jealousy or ambition passed itself off as insight. Name it for what it was. Then ask for the wisdom that is pure first, and sow peace where you stand.
Prayer
Father of lights, every good and perfect gift, wisdom included, comes down from you. Forgive us the jealousy and ambition we have called wisdom when it was earthly all along. Make us pure first, then peaceable, gentle, and full of mercy, as your own wisdom always is, and let a harvest of righteousness grow in the peace we sow. In Jesus' name, amen.