James 3:13-4:3 continues the thread begun in 3:1 about teachers. The theme also recalls what the author had previously said: "If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives too all generously and ungrudgingly" (1:5).
The section can be divided into two parts: the contrast between earthly wisdom and wisdom from above (3:13-18) and the lack of true wisdom (4:1-3). James 4:4 begins a new theme: friendship with the world1. The two parts of James 3:13-4:3 are brought together in 3:18, "the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who do peace." The wisdom that comes from above produces peace (cf. v. 17). In 4:1-3, James describes a situation where there is no peace, because of a lack of true wisdom.
An outline of the section can be drawn as follows:
- Earthly Wisdom and Wisdom from Above
- Let the wise show their wisdom by a good life and humility (13)
- Bitter jealousy and selfish ambition is not from true wisdom (14-16)
- The marks of true wisdom and its fruit: peace (17-18)
- Absence of Peace
- Lack of peace and the passions that war (4:1)
- Covetousness, murder and envy (4:2)
- Unanswered prayers (4:3)
Wisdom that is from Above
The wisdom tradition of the Old Testament provided the early Christian writers with the language that would help them put into words the kind of
lifestyle that has been touched by God's revelation in Christ. Authors have noted the similarity of the author's idea of wisdom here with that of
Paul in 1 Cor. 1-4. True wisdom is not divisive nor disorderly, but rather shows itself in fruits of righteousness sown in peace by those who "do
peace" (v. 18). True wisdom is from above, like all the good things that come from God (see 1:17). James refers to the "meekness of wisdom" (
), a semitism which means "meekness/humility deriving from wisdom" (cf. v. 13, NAB). In James 1:13, what the author has been saying about faith expressing itself in works (2:14-26) is related to wisdom.
Earthly Wisdom
James associates a wisdom that is "earthly" with what is opposite to meekness and humility, bitter jealousy, selfish ambition, and the disorder and foul practice these produce. In 4:1-3, the manifestations of earthly wisdom is identified with the disorderly passions within each person. The author may be influenced here by a Stoicism that has become part of later Jewish wisdom tradition and finds expression in Sirach and Wisdom. Greek Stoicism is characterized by the struggle against passions and its eradication. The author however, does not go so far as to tell his audience to eradicate the passions, since He posits the presence of a principle within man that is passionate towards God, the Spirit (see 4:5). In any case, the passions that war within man (1) produces fruits that are the opposite of that peace which true wisdom generates (3:18). Covetousness is the first passion he mentions, followed by envy and murder which escalates into fighting and waging war. Here one notes the exteriorization (in murder, fighting and war) of what begins as something within man (covetousness and envy). The wars we see outside of us are but reflections of the war we allow to fester within each of us.
Prayer
The verb aiteisthai appears three times in 4:3. In James, it is the verb for prayer in 1:5.6 and its object there is wisdom. In 4:1-3, the desire to possess escalates into greater external disorder because it is frustrated. One's covetousness does not lead to possession because one does not pray, and even when one prays, one does not receive, because one prays wrongly (4:3). And one prays "wrongly", when prayer itself is due to one's covetousness. All good things worth having -- the author had said earlier -- comes from above (1:17). This being so, these can only be received through prayer. And since God listens to the prayer of the humble (see 4:6), only those receive who have the humility deriving from true wisdom (see 3:13)
A Note on the Liturgy of 25th Sunday OT B
For the 25th Sunday (OT B), the Gospel theme of the Suffering Messiah and its relationship with the value of humility in the community of disciples (Mark 9:30-37) is underlined. The first reading from Wis 2:12, 17-20 corresponds to the idea of the suffering innocent man that is implicit in the idea of the Suffering Messiah. The second reading from James 3:16-4:3 corresponds to the attitude of the disciples that Jesus corrects in the second part of the gospel selection. The example of the child that Jesus puts before the disciples is that of the humility that the disciples are to make a part of their lives. Greatness in the mind of Jesus is not about the ambition and domination of the proud, but of the humility that puts one at the service of all. Read in the light of James 3:16-4:3, the second part of the gospel selection becomes an exhortation about the humility that comes from wisdom (James 3:13)
- 1. It can still be argued that the theme of 4:1-3 is continued in 4:4-10 because of the idea that wisdom makes one a friend of God (Wisdom 7:14) and the use of the keyword for "humility" (4:6.10).
