17 But the wisdom which is from heaven is first holy, then gentle, readily giving way in argument, full of peace and mercy and good works, not doubting, not seeming other than it is.
Every good and true thing is given to us from heaven, coming from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change or any shade made by turning.
But still we have wisdom for those who are complete in knowledge, though not the wisdom of this world, and not of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nothing: But we give the news of the secret wisdom of God, which he had kept in store before the world came into existence, for our glory;
And everyone who has this hope in him makes himself holy, even as he is holy.
But if any man among you is without wisdom, let him make his request to God, who gives freely to all without an unkind word, and it will be given to him.
Love is never tired of waiting; love is kind; love has no envy; love has no high opinion of itself, love has no pride; Love's ways are ever fair, it takes no thought for itself; it is not quickly made angry, it takes no account of evil; It takes no pleasure in wrongdoing, but has joy in what is true; Love has the power of undergoing all things, having faith in all things, hoping all things.
And as you have made your souls clean, being ruled by what is true, and loving one another without deceit, see that your love is warm and from the heart:
To say no evil of any man, not to be fighters, to give way to others, to be gentle in behaviour to all men.
And he said to man, Truly the fear of the Lord is wisdom, and to keep from evil is the way to knowledge.
And the spirit of the Lord will be resting on him, the spirit of wisdom and good sense, the spirit of wise guiding and strength, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; And he will not be guided in his judging by what he sees, or give decisions by the hearing of his ears: But he will do right in the cause of the poor, and give wise decisions for those in the land who are in need; and the rod of his mouth will come down on the cruel, and with the breath of his lips he will put an end to the evil-doer. And righteousness will be the cord of his robe, and good faith the band round his breast. And the wolf will be living with the lamb, and the leopard will take his rest with the young goat; and the lion will take grass for food like the ox; and the young lion will go with the young ones of the herd; and a little child will be their guide. And the cow and the bear will be friends while their young ones are sleeping together. And the child at the breast will be playing by the hole of the snake, and the older child will put his hand on the bright eye of the poison-snake. There will be no cause of pain or destruction in all my holy mountain: for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the sea is covered by the waters.
Till the spirit comes on us from on high, and the waste land becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field is changed into a wood. Then in the waste land there will be an upright rule, and righteousness will have its place in the fertile field. And the work of righteousness will be peace; and the effect of an upright rule will be to take away fear for ever.
Living uprightly in the approval of the Lord, giving fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
At the time all punishment seems to be pain and not joy: but after, those who have been trained by it get from it the peace-giving fruit of righteousness.
This wisdom is not from heaven, but is of the earth and the flesh and the Evil One.
Come near to God and he will come near to you. Make your hands clean, you evil-doers; put away deceit from your hearts, you false in mind.
My little children, do not let our love be in word and in tongue, but let it be in act and in good faith.
So putting away all wrongdoing, and all tricks and deceits and envies and evil talk,
For it is not right for the Lord's servant to make trouble, but he is to be gentle to all, ready in teaching, putting up with wrong,
I give you orders before God and Christ Jesus and the angels of God's selection, to keep these orders without giving thought to one side more than another.
For the rest, my brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things have honour, whatever things are upright, whatever things are holy, whatever things are beautiful, whatever things are of value, if there is any virtue and if there is any praise, give thought to these things.
Being full of the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Then Moses sent for Bezalel and Oholiab, and for all the wise-hearted men to whom the Lord had given wisdom, even everyone who was moved by the impulse of his heart to come and take part in the work:
Give your servant, then, a wise heart for judging your people, able to see what is good and what evil; for who is able to be the judge of this great people?
And news of this decision which the king had made went through all Israel; and they had fear of the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to give decisions.
But you will have a son who will be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from wars on every side. His name will be Solomon, and in his time I will give Israel peace and quiet;
But where may wisdom be seen? and where is the resting-place of knowledge?
God has knowledge of the way to it, and of its resting-place;
And he will be the judge between the nations, and the peoples will be ruled by his decisions: and their swords will be turned into plough-blades, and their spears into vine-knives: no longer will the nations be turning their swords against one another, and the knowledge of war will be gone for ever.
For to us a child has come, to us a son is given; and the government has been placed in his hands; and he has been named Wise Guide, Strong God, Father for ever, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his rule and of peace there will be no end, on the seat of David, and in his kingdom; to make it strong, supporting it with wise decision and righteousness, now and for ever. By the fixed purpose of the Lord of armies this will be done.
He will give food to his flock like a keeper of sheep; with his arm he will get it together, and will take up the lambs on his breast, gently guiding those which are with young.
Now as for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and made them expert in all book-learning and wisdom: and Daniel was wise in all visions and dreams.
He will take his seat, testing and cleaning the sons of Levi, burning away the evil from them as from gold and silver; so that they may make offerings to the Lord in righteousness.
At that time, when thousands of the people had come together, in such numbers that they were crushing one another, he said first to his disciples, Have nothing to do with the leaven of the Pharisees, which is deceit. But nothing is covered up, which will not come to light, or secret, which will not be made clear.
And so the Word became flesh and took a place among us for a time; and we saw his glory--such glory as is given to an only son by his father--saw it to be true and full of grace.
Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, that is, Dorcas: this woman was given to good works and acts of mercy at all times.
For he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith: and a great number were joined to the Lord.
And I myself am certain of you, brothers, that you are full of what is good, complete in all knowledge, able to give direction to one another.
For to one are given words of wisdom through the Spirit; and to another words of knowledge through the same Spirit:
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on James 3
Commentary on James 3 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 3
The apostle here reproves ambition, and an arrogant magisterial tongue; and shows the duty and advantage of bridling it because of its power to do mischief. Those who profess religion ought especially to govern their tongues (v. 1-12). True wisdom makes men meek, and avoiders of strife and envy: and hereby it may easily be distinguished from a wisdom that is earthly and hypocritical (v. 13-18).
Jam 3:1-12
The foregoing chapter shows how unprofitable and dead faith is without works. It is plainly intimated by what this chapter first goes upon that such a faith is, however, apt to make men conceited and magisterial in their tempers and their talk. Those who set up faith in the manner the former chapter condemns are most apt to run into those sins of the tongue which this chapter condemns. And indeed the best need to be cautioned against a dictating, censorious, mischievous use of their tongues. We are therefore taught,
Jam 3:13-18
As the sins before condemned arise from an affectation of being thought more wise than others, and being endued with more knowledge than they, so the apostle in these verses shows the difference between men's pretending to be wise and their being really so, and between the wisdom which is from beneath (from earth or hell) and that which is from above.