The Order of Righteousness
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. James 3:17 NASB
From above – First let’s straighten out John 3:3. James uses the same word here (anothen) that we find in John 3:3. But the Christian evangelical world chooses to translate anothen as “again” (‘is born again”) in the passage in John whereas in every other use of the word the translation is “from above.” James has it right. We have it wrong.
With that in mind, shouldn’t we notice that James alludes to the One who comes down from above in his comment on the nature of wisdom. In fact, James may also be alluding to the personification of Wisdom in Proverbs 8, a personification that the sages considered equivalent to God Himself. If you were writing to the Messianic community in the first century, wouldn’t you try to tie your halachah to the Master? Doesn’t it make sense to suggest that the One who comes down in the prophecy of Moses is the same One who is called Wisdom in Proverbs and the same One who leads the community today? And, by the way, the same One who speaks of new conception from above as the hallmark of being in God’s image?
Proverbs suggests that wisdom begins with YHWH. He is the source and authority. Any man who refuses to acknowledge this ultimate source is a fool. All expertise begins with God. In fact, according to the sages, Wisdom was there in the beginning with God when the heavens and the earth were formed. As an expression of the Torah, Wisdom is eternal just as God is eternal. Wisdom can only come down from above. No man of the earth can ascend to find it. It must be delivered to us by way of divine revelation.
You might take a moment to consider how radically different this idea of wisdom is from the usual view of our culture. James tells us that this wisdom originates with God, is delivered by God, is understood through God and transforms us in relation to God. And thisis wisdom. Wisdom is not the collection of information, its application to the world, its manipulation of the world or its relation to power over the world. Wisdom is thoroughly spiritual. And for this reason, James is able to articulate the character of wisdom in biblical/spiritual terms.
Now that we have the correct approach in mind, we can investigate the words James uses to elaborate divine wisdom. But even here it is more than a collection. It is an order – a process by which wisdom becomes manifest. Wisdom comes according to a certain sequence – and James is about to tell us what that sequence is.
Topical Index: wisdom, sophia, James 3:17, from above, anothen, John 3:3
REMINDER; The second series of video lessons from Israel with Bob Gorelik, Skip Moen, Yoav Bruck and Donna Keyes are now available. Please order by clicking here.
Skip,
Thank you so much for all the time you spend in preparing Today’s Word it is a great blessing each day.
(Hopefully I can keep my thoughts strait, I have an ADHD mind that goes in many directions)
Last night I was reflecting and studying the yetzer hara and yatzer tov and came across the Ancient Hebrew Research Centers Living Words page. They had a study on the pictographic meaning of the word Wisdom and came up with a definition of separation of good and bad.
Link: http://thelivingwords.ancient-hebrew.org/wisdom.pdf
I also was reading an article on the Yetzer hara on Hebrew4Christians an found this statement very interesting:
“Yetzer is also used in Scripture to refer to something formed or shaped, like pottery fashioned by the hand of a potter. Just as a potter purposes in his or her mind before forming and object, so that which is intended within the mind will shape or form our character and disposition, especially with regard to our relationship with God”
James 3:13-18 seems to reflect a separation of what is from above and what is earthly…this same idea of separation found in the root letters of the word for wisdom.
It seems that even our ability to overcome the Yetzer Hara, to be able to separate good from bad comes from above.
One other thing…the word picture seems to also suggest the possibility of “To Reveal what divides Chaos”. When you said “And, by the way, the same One who speaks of new conception from above as the hallmark of being in God’s image?
Is not part of being in God’s image the continuing to bring order out of Chaos? Even our ability as image bearers must come from the hands of the one who leads us…Yeshua. We must walk with the Master so he can shape us and mold us into the work he desires of us.
All these things seem to always take me back to my favorite verse in Romans
Romans 11:36 (ESV) — For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
~ Hear, O Israel- the LORD our God is ONE ~ (even the “shema” reveals the Savior!)
~ I and the Father are ONE ~ (expressing covenant union)
~ and the two shall become ONE ~
Isn’t Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus (who is the) Christ, the Perfect Union of two houses?- the human and the Divine?
-And wasn’t God in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not counting their trespasses against them?
-And hasn’t God entrusted to us this message of reconciliation? (2 Corinthians 5.19)
-And isn’t this “good news?”- that if “any man” (whether Jew or Gentile, male or female) be “in Christ”- he (or she) is a new creation?
-And isn’t it wonderful ~ A new way of living has come into existence?~ all things have become new? (new and vastly improved!)
-And isn’t it wonderful to know the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom? (Why not bottom to top?- because dear friends, – it was God, the Source of our salvation who did this!)
-And isn’t (according to the word of God) ~ every good gift and every perfect gift from Above? ~
-And isn’t our salvation also the “gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast?”
-And what do we (now) have that we have not been given? – (nothing!)
-And isn’t it wonderful to know we (all) now have access to the throne of grace and may call upon the Name of the LORD, anytime, anywhere and anyplace? Privileged (up close and personal) access to the ONE who we (who are His) may now refer to “relationally” as “ABBA Father?”
-And isn’t it wonderful to know we are now the sons (and daughters) of God through the faithfulness of our LORD Jesus (who is the) Christ?
Blessed IS! the Name of the LORD!!
– And isn’t it wonderful to know God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a Name which is above every name?
-And that That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth?
– And that every tongue should confess that Yeshua (the) Anointed is LORD, to the glory of God the Father?
For every knee, every tongue..shall (one day) all be in agreement: Blessed is the Name!!- (for) His Name is Wonderful!
I will be curious where you are going with order and sequence. I see wisdom specifically for transformation and application within our world to line things up with the Word. Some have it more than others and it seems to come naturally…hmm. I see it also as common sensibility.
Some are taught by Godly parents who have wisdom…my father is very wise and usually meets it out in love. I wonder where my dad got that? (Divine?) I don’t really see super wise people in his past who taught him. He was raised as a Catholic and never read the bible. But, he is a Godly man, compassionate, will stop everything to help you or anyone, merciful, honest, keeps his tongue, frugile yet giving and wise in so many situations AND people get that; so much so that many call for his advice for everything from career choices, spouse, money, relational issues and on. The crazy thing is he is always right. It’s so seldom that he is wrong in his councel I can’t even remember any. But, he isn’t perfect! Everyone has their flaws, but he doesn’t have that many. I am in awe. We fight to spent time with him. When I think of wisdom I think of my dad.
Theresa – I was pondering this, as my dad is Catholic as well, but is a very godly man. I remembered some notes I had in my logos library when I was studying Solomon. I found this interesting. (I believe it came from Tom Bradford’s teaching in 1 Kings)
“The English word wisdom is in Hebrew chokmah, understanding is tabunah, and vast heart is rochab leb. Chokmah indeed means wisdom, but more in the sense of administrative acumen, good decision making, shrewdness and prudence. In other words it is a practical type of wisdom that we all hope to have, but leaders in particular require. We will appropriate this wisdom from one of two sources: as a gift from the Lord, or from our evil inclinations that lead us to deal with the world in all of our carnality. There is no separate Hebrew word for Godly Wisdom as opposed to Carnal Wisdom; chokmah covers both and it is within the context that we must discern the lower and the higher kinds. “
I can definitely see that. BTW, Tom Bradford is my congregational leader. Small world.
It is a small world. That is really neat, I like Tom’s material. He seems very thorough.