Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to James · About this commentary
The Wisdom from Above
James 3:17-18
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. · WEB
The list describing real wisdom is almost entirely about how a person is with other people, and one item is ranked ahead of the rest.
Verse 17 answers verse 15 with a list, and the order is stated rather than incidental: first pure, then the rest. Purity comes first because it is the one quality that cannot be traded away for peace, and the letter puts it ahead of everything to prevent the list that follows from being read as a recipe for agreeableness.
Then the remaining terms, and what is striking is how few concern intellect. Peaceable. Gentle — a word for the person who does not insist on the letter of what he is owed. Reasonable, meaning open to persuasion, which is a remarkable thing to require of wisdom. Full of mercy and good fruits. Without partiality, which reaches back to chapter 2 and its seating James 2:1. And without hypocrisy.
Not one item is a claim about knowledge. Wisdom is being described entirely by how its holder behaves in a room with other people, which is the same standard the letter applied to faith and to religion James 1:27.
The last two items also close a circle. Impartiality is the Greek word for being undivided — the opposite of the two-souled man James 1:8 — and hypocrisy is speaking a part one is not.
Verse 18 supplies the image that ends the chapter. The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. Peace is both the condition and the crop, and it is planted by people rather than wished for.
settled What this mark means