This is in the context of a command to love peace and harmony, to not envy each other. So I need to try to understand it in that context. So what does it mean by wisdom from above?
I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee… (Daniel 2:23)
And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. (Exodus 28:3)
The wisdom God gives is the ability to know what I need to do now. Wisdom from God is not general knowledge, but the ability to identify what knowledge is needed. We all have values, some are tactical, some are strategic. Tactical values govern the way we believe things should be done, strategic values govern what things we believe should be done. Wisdom is having a good set of strategic values.
The wise student knows what he needs to learn properly and what can be crammed just before the exam because he will never use them again. The wise man realises that nothing in this short life has any significance if he has a possibility of gaining a higher and greater life for eternity, and so true wisdom leads a man to salvation. (2 Tim 3:15) But the wisdom of the world is foolishness because it causes people to value the things of this short life more highly than eternity to their eternal regret. (Col 2:8)
Because God knows everything and always knows the best thing to do, we could also roughly define ultimate wisdom as "thinking about things like God does".
To continue on the verse. When it says first pure, what does that mean? Does it mean "at the beginning" or "above all else"? There doesn't seem to be anything in other translations that points to either over the other. I think it is a chronological reference, because it is contrasted with the other virtues, and it doesn't seem apparent to me why purity would be so much higher here that it rates a special mention but not especially elsewhere in scripture.
So I'll run with the chronological interpretation and you can correct me if I'm wrong.
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. (James 3:17)
God's wisdom does not lead us to argue with each other or want what other people have. The first result of knowing what I need to do to be saved is that I begin to get sin out of my life. Eventually this will mean that I begin to live up to a higher moral standard than those around me and I will be condemned as a legalist and a fanatic, and when people accuse me of this I will suddenly sympathise with legalists and fanatics and to a greater or lesser extent I will become one myself. But if I continue to let Jesus work on my life I will not stop there.
I will become more relaxed as I stop feeling so guilty and start realising that God cares more about my heart than legal details. So I will become peaceable. I won't argue with people any more. I won't get upset when I am accused of being legalistic or fanatical and people will stop accusing me of it. I will start to get on with everyone, even though most people will bitterly oppose me at every turn. I will be peaceable.
I will realise that pretty much everyone is seriously deficient in loving attention and I will realise that with the love Christ has given me for his children I will do them more good listening and smiling and agreeing where I possibly can than by giving them every argument and evidence imaginable where they are wrong. I will be gentle.
More could be said about the other things, but you get the idea...
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