Who is that Masked Man?

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 Without hypocrisy – Who is a hypocrite?  Someone who says one thing but does another?  Someone who acts in one way under some circumstances but in another way when the circumstances…

The Two-Edged Sword

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 Unwavering – Write up your list of excuses.  Go ahead.  Make sure you get them all.  I’ll wait. The root behind the Greek word adiakritos is krino, a verb that means…

A Trip to the Market

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 Good fruits – What is “good fruit?”  Don’t spiritualize.  Don’t start telling me about love, joy and peace.  Just tell me what you look for when you buy good fruit.  You’re…

99 and 44/100th Percent

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 Full of mercy – The Greek word mestos means “completely full, replete.”  It is not a term that allows qualification.  All or not all.  Those are the choices.  When James says…

Fight Club

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 Reasonable – Is faith reasonable?  In the post-Kiekegaardian era, this question might be answered, “No, faith goes beyond reason.”  But Kierkegaard’s distinction between faith and reason never crossed James’ mind.  Kierkegaard’s…

An Oxford Education

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 Gentle – When I arrived at Trinity College, Oxford as a graduate student, I was invited to dinner with the president of the college.  I assumed that this was a formal…

State of Play

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 Peaceable –  James writes in Greek, but he isn’t thinking in Greek.  The Greek word he uses is eirenikos.  The root is eirene, and in the Greek world this is a…

Two Come First!

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 First – As you may know, the Greek word for “first” is proton.  Not too hard to remember in this age of science and atoms.  As we discovered, James made a…

Triple Play

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 Pure – James, Paul and John agree.  They each use this rather rare Greek word for the same thing – moral purity.  Paul uses it in 1 Timothy 5:22.  John uses…

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…