Christians in Conflict

Reflections on James 3:13-4:10

The end of James chapter 3 contrasts “earthly, unspiritual, demonic” wisdom with the “wisdom from above.” The people he sees as operating under earthly “wisdom” are those who have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in their hearts and who boast of it and spread falsehoods. Wisdom that comes down from God, James says, is “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.” I’ve been thinking about what happens, practically speaking, when you do have a member of the body who lives by earthly wisdom and not that of God. How does that unspiritual, demonic reasoning affect that individual? Perhaps more importantly, how does it affect the church body? And what of the world looking in at us Christians? What does that conflict look like to them?

A person that has bitterness, selfishness, and jealousy in their heart and goes about boasting and lying will bring corruption wherever he goes. The individual himself will be in turmoil, with no anchor of the soul, and no hope beyond tomorrow. A Christian who holds jealousy and bitterness close to himself is, by James’ definition, double-minded and unstable. A double-minded, or “double-souled,” person essentially serves two masters. Jealousy and bitterness need to be fed to survive and if a Christian is busy feeding these cancers of the soul, he is not able to then turn to God and worship unencumbered. The wisdom of men tells us to seek what we deserve and to revenge ourselves on those who do us wrong. The wisdom of Jesus Christ tells us to give to those who steal from us and to turn the other cheek. It’s meekness he calls for, in other words – the meekness that comes from wisdom (NIV combined with the ESV).

Above all of this, I have seen for myself that anybody, but especially a Christian, who lives with bitterness that has anchored itself deep within the soul is a slave to it. We, as believers, have been freed from all residue of sin so that we, now pure, may live before God by the law of liberty. Bitterness and jealousy are poison to the soul. They whisper to a person that he is being deprived of what he deserves, that justice is not being done. Even more dangerous is the fact that the bitter person clings to insults and affronts and is unwilling to forgive. Jesus had some things to say about that; in the Sermon on the Mount, he says that “if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you.” If the “wisdom” of the world has led you into bitterness, jealousy, and selfishness, you will inevitably become isolated from the church, as these things leave no room for love and forgiveness. Even worse, as James tells us, only “disorder and every vile practice” will follow.

Aside from the personal state of the Christian who trusts in earthly wisdom, this person also affects, or even infects, the community around him, specifically, the Church. James 3:14 tells the bitter and selfish person not to boast of their jealousy and ambition and “be false to the truth.” This double-hearted person, a Christian by confession, but split in his commitment, is described as speaking and even lying openly regarding his schemes and discontent. Just like 3:6 says, these boasts of the tongue stain the whole body and set on fire the entire course of life. This person’s words are a fire, and that fire is guaranteed to spread. It is again the tongue that fans these flames through the gossip that can never be fully quenched within any congregation. Who has ever become bitter about a problem you were never part of in the first place? If you haven’t, you’re lucky: I have certainly struggled to extricate myself from what seemed at first to be “harmless” gossip. The point is, a member of the church who is living in bitterness, with selfish ambition crowding out the Lord’s words in their heart is not just a danger to himself. Perhaps this is why it is important that the wise Christian is a peacemaker, as well as being sincere and impartial.

The final layer of influence that a bitter and jealous Christian has is the way he influences how unbelievers see us as they peek into our words and works. Unbelievers are often eagerly looking at us (self-professed) morally superior people to pick out hypocrisy and deceitfulness. Unfortunately, they never have to look very far. An unbeliever observing Christians should see us living the Word we preach, which means exercising the wisdom James describes here. We should be seen as “pure… peaceable, gentle, open to reason… impartial and sincere.” There are enough, however, who embrace the exact opposite behavior, though, to give those looking to malign Christianity plenty of ammunition. And it makes sense: remember, James described those operating on earthly wisdom as being boastful. The noise of these people’s boasts often drown out the patient, gentle wisdom of God.

What are we to do then? Is our goal to just shout louder than those boasting in their deceit? Because I do, personally, worry about which representatives of Christianity are most visible in the world these days. I don’t think, however, the answer is fighting the fire of hell with the wrath of man. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 2, describes the meekness of his testimony to the Corinthians as all the more effective because his weakness allowed for the demonstration of the Spirit of God in all its heavenly power. I recently wrote about learning to suspend my own anger and to allow God to judge and act in his own time. This issue feels similar to me. I must decrease, I want to decrease, to allow God room in my heart. Looking through the lens of earthly wisdom, the “wisdom from above” seems far too mild to counter the boasting of those who serve earthly masters; however, my faith does “not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

Earthly wisdom, bitterness, ambition, jealousy: they are poisons that course through the world as well as through the church. We must root them out at once. They only bring disorder and destruction, and the devil often uses them in very subtle ways. I, for one, pray for the wisdom from above, as James advised in chapter 1, and I first turn it upon myself, searching for any dark seeds of hurt or desire that I haven’t quite let go of yet. I am not surprised that “bitter jealousy” is one of the two negative traits mentioned opposite godly wisdom here in 2:14-16, because, by definition, it is something we cling to as tightly as we can. This soul-searching I’m doing, though, cannot be just a one-time thing. My heart, for one, has a lot of little pockets and blind corners where things are stored and even hidden. I’ll keep looking as long as God keeps prompting me and I’m guessing God will keep prompting me as long as I keep listening to him. Is it strange to ask for wisdom to discern what that wisdom in my life needs to look like? Regardless, my heart, mind, and soul rejoice together every day that the Lord Jesus Christ has saved me. It is his sacrifice that lets me draw near to God to ask for wisdom, and to ask freely, knowing that he longs to grant it to me. And so, I study, building knowledge, not on the unspiritual lies of the earth, but on the Rock that is the precious Word of God.