[AI translation] Last time, the author of James was talking about language. He said that the tongue is the organ of the word, the word is the expression of thought, and thought is man himself, the soul. Yes, the nature of the soul is expressed in certain fundamental ideas, axioms, principles, and the sum total of these ideas, principles, is "wisdom", wisdom of life, or in other words, the worldview. This wisdom, this worldview, can be so large that it encompasses the whole world, it can be a whole system of philosophy, or it can consist of one or two simple propositions, such as "I serve the one who gives me bread" or "pluck the flower of every hour". In such a wisdom of life, what is important is not the height or depth of the central idea, not the completeness of the system, but the wisdom, the quality of the thought it expresses, or in other words, as James defines it, what is important, the crucial question, is it wisdom from above or from below? What is important, then, is whether our basic convictions, our value judgments, our moral principles, that is, our wisdom of life, are from Christ, or from ourselves or from the demonic spheres? This is what the Word confronts us with in this section.And the most important thing here, which characterises James in general, is that it is not about abstract doctrines and theoretical truths, but about everyday practical life. Jesus once said, "...wisdom is justified from all his children." (Lk 7,35) And James immediately looks for the 'sons' of this wisdom, the parents, the results, the witnesses of this wisdom in the conduct of life. He says: let a man show his wisdom in his life, in his actions, in his conduct, in his character. Here we can see what kind of wisdom he is talking about: he is not talking about a theoretical system of thought that is only in one's head, but something that is reflected in real life. It is a theory that is theory, of course, but which immediately becomes practice. Because the way you think is the way you live.
What is "wisdom from above"? (Jas 3,17a) Nothing but the great thoughts of faith. The wisdom of the Word of God. The wisdom of the cross and resurrection of Christ. The wisdom of the grace of forgiveness of sins and eternal life. But the point is precisely that this wisdom is worth nothing if it remains only a theory, a theory, if it is only in one's head, but it is worth something if it becomes a force and a life, if it becomes in practice the divine energy that transforms and determines the whole course of one's life. He has truly heard the wisdom of God revealed in Jesus Christ who has been captured, overcome, transformed by the power of this wisdom, whose whole life has been brought under the power of this divine wisdom. "Who among you is wise and prudent?" asks James (Jas 3:13a) So in this sense, that the gospel of forgiveness of sins and eternal life is not only in the head, as a beautiful, majestic system of thought, but in the heart - that is, in the centre of one's thoughts, feelings and actions, in this deepest interior of the soul - from which one's thoughts, feelings, actions, take their origin, purpose and content. Yes. Who among you is wise and clever in this sense?
To make our introspection easier, he will tell us at once what this wisdom from above reveals. Thus he goes on, "Let him show of his good life his works with meekness of wisdom." (Jas 3:13b) Meekness is not exactly a sympathetic concept in the world. We tend to see meekness as a virtue of the weak, a weakness, a quality of the old, of children, of women. But the Bible says that meekness is not weakness. When Jesus says, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (Mt 5,5), it is clear that he was not referring to the weak, the chickens, for they could hardly inherit the earth. He said of Himself, "I am meek and lowly in heart" (Mt 11,29) - and Christ is the greatest power, for to Him "is given all authority in heaven and on earth" (Mt 28,18). He does this not by force, but by the powerful gentleness of forgiveness. Forgiveness of sins is the most powerful, the most mighty of all things, and yet it is also the most gentle. Gentleness requires strength, security, calmness, determination. Meekness is the gentleness of strength, the patience of conviction, the understanding forgiveness of goodness, the humble service of transcendence. So "wisdom from above" is gentle because Christ speaks in it. Which of us can show this wisdom from our own lives, from our dealings with family, friends, enemies, from our revolving among all kinds of people? Which one of us strives to show this wisdom, this wisdom of life, to the world with the gentleness of Christ?
James further explains the essence of this gentleness when he says, "But the fruit of righteousness is received in peace by those who work in peace." (Jas 3:18) This means that we have knowledge of the God who has embraced this world in His great love reconciled in Christ, who says to men, to all, "In spite of your rebellion and disobedience against Me, I am your God, your Father through Jesus Christ! This peace of God cannot be acknowledged except by being filled with it and immediately pouring it out on others. The man who lives in the peace of God sows seeds of peace all around him, as the Word says here, so he lives in a dissolved, unthinking, sincere, understanding relationship with others. So James says it literally: peace is at work, that is, it does its best to reconcile people to one another.
Now, when our fellow human beings around us are working so hard to bring about peace between peoples by convening a world congress, each one contributing to the great cause by taking his place, by increasing his productive work, the question arises: can we, the people of God, above and beyond all this, give something just, something good, something that people can justly expect of us? - Well, yes: that gentleness of wisdom from above which sows peace, which works on Christian peace in all human relations, which strikes at the root of all warlike intentions, nipping them in the bud where the angry, hateful impulse stirs: in the heart. In your own heart first and then in the hearts of others! People who live in the peace of God revealed in Jesus Christ can rightly be expected by the world to work for peace wherever there is envy, bickering, warfare of any kind: in the family between parents and children, in marriage between husband and wife, in the home between landlord and tenant, in the tram between passenger and ticket-taker, in the workplace between intellectual and manual worker, and in all kinds of relationships between people where they live, where they turn. So, in short: from the fullness of your heart, make peace with the one you are angry with, make peace with the one who hates you, make peace where you see quarrels between people!
Jesus calls those who seek peace happy. Who are they? Not those who simply always leave everything to him, just to avoid getting into a quarrel with someone. Not those who say: but those who seek to make peace where there is none! Those who carry peace in their being, carry it with them everywhere and spread it everywhere. So they do not simply negatively evade all struggles, but bring positive, productive, love-filled peaceful and peacemaking forces into the coexistence of people through their work, words and deeds. Are we doing this? Are we living and practising this service?
And here again the problem is that it remains only a theory. James seems to know the congregations he is writing to in this area too. He puts down all pretense of piety with harsh words, saying, in vain do they speak fine gracious words: 'But if there be bitter envy and bitter strife in your hearts, boast not, neither lie against the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes from above, but is earthly, carnal, and devilish. For where there is envy and strife, there is war and every evil work." (James 3:14-16) As if to say: You profess the wisdom from above, yet you live according to the wisdom from below. In this passage, James has three words to describe wisdom from below: earthly, carnal, devilish.
Earthly: that is, living as if there were no God who had laid his fatherly hand on each of us in the forgiveness of sins. Again and again we forget in practice that our neighbour, our fellow human being, with whom we are dealing: our brother or sister, is as much a child of the Father as we are ourselves. This wisdom of life sees and evaluates man, his spouse, his child, his friend, his enemy, not from above - not from the point of view of eternity, from which differences disappear or at least become insignificant, but from below, from a purely earthly point of view. And so, indeed, it is a difficult and disconsolate picture of the relations of men to one another.
Physical: here he is referring to our instincts, the area in which our feelings dominate and determine everything. It means that if our bodily impulses, our sympathies and antipathies, our good or bad moods, determine our attitude to another person: there is no wisdom from above!
And it is diabolical: that is, where one is so dominated by the passions of the flesh, where one forgets again and again the forgiving love of God, there the power of darkness, the demonic world, finds an open door. There dark forces and powers pour into people's lives through us. Every quarrel, every envy in the heart, every angry, hateful, hurtful word opens the door to the demonic powers of the underworld, which then leads to warfare and every evil deed.
Yes, says James, such is the wisdom of the underworld: earthly, carnal and diabolical! Who among us does not know it by his life, his words, and his deeds? Just look back over the last seven days, which wisdom has been made manifest in our actions: the wisdom from above or the wisdom from below? How much peace, understanding, cordiality, mercy, or how much envy, bickering and warfare have we brought into the environment in which we have spent the days and hours of the past week? Have we not here very many sins to be ashamed of and to regret?
James contrasts the wisdom from below with the wisdom from above, "Now the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, just, obedient, full of mercy and good fruits, not doubting and not hypocritical." (James 3:17) So this wisdom from above is, in short, Jesus Christ himself! God in Christ, dwelling in us, becomes ours. Christ in me: means that the peace of God begins to sprout, grow and bear fruit in my life. In the power of the gentleness that comes from Christ, no longer does a family life have to fall apart because of discord, no longer does a friendship have to end in hating each other. In the power of His gentleness, paths are made whereby even the most distant people and nations can come together.
In the power of Christ's gentleness, the greatest miracle would be possible: we would be able to truly love one another! Oh, that we would hear the word of God now calling and setting us in the current of His compassionate love, to send us out into the world in the power of the "wisdom from above" given in Christ!
Let us implore together with the words of our beautiful song:
Thou art all-pervading; let all shine upon me
Thy life-giving, blessed Spirit!
Like the little flower It unfolds of Its own accord,
When Thy silent light falls:
Let me, O Lord, be merry
Let me see thy light and work thy kingdom!
(Canto 165, verse 4)
Amen
Date: 21 June 1953.
Lesson
Jak 3,13-18