James 3 Commentary…
01.19.25
For this week’s devotional time, I want to encourage your groups to read through James 3 again as there is a lot to take in and discuss. Here are a few commentary quotes to help unveil some of the significance of this passage that you may find helpful while working through the text.
“The source of defilement isn’t out there among a set of people to avoid; it is in us.”
“Speech is a primary means by which doublemindedness is manifest: one moment we are praising God, and the next we find ourselves tearing down a fellow human being that is made in the image of God.”
“Wisdom is a gift from God available to anyone who seeks it. James’ list of wisdom characteristics sounds a lot like the fruit of the Spirit, a connection strengthened by James’ own repetition of the Greek word for fruit… “full of mercy and good fruits… the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.””
The wisdom that is not of God bears fruit as well. “Jealousy, selfish ambition, bragging, disorder and living in the ways that deny truth. Scholars note that these vices are grouped together under the principal vice of envy. “Not having” is deeply threatening and produces a string of vices such as jealousy, strife, partisanship, warfare, arrogance, and boasting.”
“Wisdom from above enables God’s people to live in a way that is “pure, and then peaceful, gentle, obedient, filled with mercy and good actions, fair, and genuine.”