ris3n's Apologetics Codex
James 3.13-18
Page Nav

Passage

James 3.13-18

Book: James · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

There are ads on our codex that pay for hosting and keep the codex free. If you can, please consider whitelisting ris3n.com or allowing scripts to support the work.

Sponsored

Brands, events, influencers advertise here

ASV

11. Doth the fountain send forth from the same opening sweet water and bitter? 12. can a fig tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a vine figs? neither can salt water yield sweet.

13. Who is wise and understanding among you? let him show by his good life his works in meekness of wisdom. 14. But if ye have bitter jealousy and faction in your heart, glory not and lie not against the truth. 15. This wisdom is not a wisdom that cometh down from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 16. For where jealousy and faction are, there is confusion and every vile deed. 17. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without variance, without hypocrisy. 18. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for them that make peace. (James 3:11-18, ASV)

WEB

11. Does a spring send out from the same opening fresh and bitter water? 12. Can a fig tree, my brothers, yield olives, or a vine figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh water.

13. Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good conduct that his deeds are done in gentleness of wisdom. 14. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and don’t lie against the truth. 15. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonic. 16. For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil deed. 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. 18. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (James 3:11-18, WEB)

KJV

11. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? place: or, hole 12. Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.

13. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. 14. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. 15. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. sensual: or, natural 16. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. confusion: Gr. tumult or unquietness 17. 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. partiality: or, wrangling 18. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. (James 3:11-18, KJV)

YLT

11. doth the fountain out of the same opening pour forth the sweet and the bitter? 12. is a fig-tree able, my brethren, olives to make? or a vine figs? so no fountain salt and sweet water [is able] to make.

13. Who [is] wise and intelligent among you? let him shew out of the good behaviour his works in meekness of wisdom, 14. and if bitter zeal ye have, and rivalry in your heart, glory not, nor lie against the truth; 15. this wisdom is not descending from above, but earthly, physical, demon-like, 16. for where zeal and rivalry [are], there is insurrection and every evil matter; 17. and the wisdom from above, first, indeed, is pure, then peaceable, gentle, easily entreated, full of kindness and good fruits, uncontentious, and unhypocritical: 18. and the fruit of the righteousness in peace is sown to those making peace. (James 3:11-18, YLT)

See this page's graph and discover linked topics

Setting

  • Speaker: James (Iakōbos), identified by the great majority of interpreters as the brother of Jesus (Galatians 1:19; Mark 6:3), leader of the Jerusalem church (Acts 15:13; Acts 21:18). He introduces himself simply as "a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" (James 1:1), never as a relative.
  • Audience: Jewish believers outside Palestine, addressed as "the twelve tribes which are of the Dispersion" (James 1:1). The congregations meet in a synagōgē (James 2:2) and include both poor members and wealthy visitors.
  • Location: Jerusalem, from which James led the mother church.
  • Time period: Date disputed. An early date (c. AD 44-49) would make this the earliest surviving Christian writing; a later one places it before James's death, which Josephus dates to AD 62 (Antiquities 20.200). The letter shows no awareness of the Gentile-circumcision controversy settled in Acts 15, which many take as evidence for the early date.

Theological reading

"Who is wise and understanding among you? let him show by his good life his works in meekness of wisdom."

Wisdom is shown, not claimed. The opening question parallels the faith-and-works argument of chapter 2: as faith is shown by works (2:18), wisdom is shown "by his good life." The character of that life is "meekness," the opposite of the self-promotion James goes on to describe.

Two wisdoms. The first is marked by "bitter jealousy and faction" in the heart (3:14). "Jealousy" is Strong's G2205 in the KJV, zēlos, here in its bad sense. This wisdom "is not a wisdom that cometh down from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish" (3:15); the KJV margin offers "natural" for "sensual." Its fruit is "confusion and every vile deed" (3:16). The second is the wisdom "from above," which is "first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without variance, without hypocrisy" (3:17).

"From above." The phrase links back to the opening chapter: wisdom is something to ask of God, "who giveth to all liberally" (James 1:5), and "every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights" (James 1:17). True wisdom is received, not generated by cleverness.

"The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for them that make peace." The section closes with a harvest picture. Righteousness (dikaiosynē) grows where peace is sown, by those who make peace. Faction cannot produce it. The next chapter opens by asking, "Whence come wars and whence come fightings among you?" (4:1), carrying the contrast forward.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Notes

Your annotations.

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.