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From: James 3:13-18

True and False Wisdom

[13] Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good life let him show
works in the meekness of wisdom. [14] But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish
ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. [15] This wisdom
is not such as comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. [16]
For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile
practice. [17] But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle,
open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or insincerity.

[18] And the harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make
peace.

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Commentary:

13-18. These verses point out the qualities of Christian wisdom (cf. 1:5). After ex-
horting his readers to manifest their wisdom by their actions (verse 13), he at-
tacks the signs of false wisdom (verses 14-16) and explains the qualities of the
true (verses 17-18).

St. Paul also makes a distinction between worldly wisdom — the wisdom of man
when he veers away from his correct goal — and the wisdom of God, which rea-
ches its highest expression on the Cross (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:18-3:3). St. James
pays particular attention to the practical effects of godly wisdom—meekness, mer-
cy and peace.

False wisdom, on the contrary, leads to bitter zeal, rivalry and resentment: it is
“earthly” because it rejects things transcendental and supernatural; “unspiritual”
(merely natural, “psychi” in the original Greek), as befits people who follow their
nature as wounded by Original Sin, deprived of the help of the Spirit (cf. notes on
1 Corinthians 2:14-16; Jude 19-20); “devilish”, in the sense that such people are
inspired by the devil, who is envious (cf. Wisdom 2:24), “a liar and the father of
lies” (John 8:44).

18. What this verse means is that the “peacemakers” of the Beatitudes (cf. Mat-
thew 5:6 and note) create around themselves an environment making for righ-
teousness (holiness), and they themselves benefit from the peace they sow.
“There can be no peace,” Bl. John XXIII says, “between men unless there is
peace within each of them: unless, that is, each one builds up within himself
the order wished by God” (”Pacem In Terris”, 165).

The “harvest of righteousness” is the equivalent of righteousness itself: it is kee-
ping the law of the Gospel, doing good works, which show true wisdom. The pas-
sage is reminiscent of Isaiah 32:17-18: “and the effects of righteousness will be
peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust for ever. My people
will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings and in quiet resting pla-
ces.”

Every Christian who strives to live in accordance with his vocation is a sower of
holiness and justice-with-peace: “Through your work, through the whole network
of human relations,” St. Escriva says, “you ought to show the charity of Christ
and its concrete expression in friendship, understanding, human affection and
peace. Just as Christ ‘went about doing good’ (Acts 10:38) throughout Palestine,
so much you also spread peace in your family circle, in civil society, at work,
and in your cultural and leisure activities” (”Christ Is Passing By”, 166).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.