Discerning Genuine Wisdom in Conflict

Scripture — James 3:13-18 (NRSV)

Who is wise and knowledgeable among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be arrogant and lie about the truth. This is not wisdom that comes down from above but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Devotion

The Return of the Prodigal Son by Rembrandt

Love and unity should be foundational commitments for those of us who claim to follow Jesus. Sacrificial love is at the heart of Jesus’ final instructions before his death: “Love one another, Just as I have loved you” (John 13:34). And unity among his followers is at the heart of Jesus’ final prayer: “May all be one … as we (Father) are one” (John 17:21-22). Jesus even gave the world a litmus test to tell who his followers are: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). That’s a pretty challenging test for the church today, given all our deep differences and divisions.

But the reality is that profound differences and conflicts – especially political ones – were there from the beginning. Take, for example, two of Jesus’ twelve apostles: Matthew the Tax Collector and Simon the Zealot. Isn’t it interesting that the descriptions “tax collector” and “zealot” are deliberately associated with their names?

Matthew and Simon came from opposite ends of the political spectrum in Jesus’ day. Matthew was a tax collector and a collaborator with the hated Roman Empire. Simon was a “Zealot,” meaning he was part of a revolutionary group advocating the violent overthrow of Roman rule in Palestine. It’s hard to imagine two people with more different and opposing political views.

Yet somehow, they came to follow Jesus and learned to love one another. They took Jesus’ command seriously and learned to share life together in love and unity.

That should give us all hope for our situation today.

Now, no doubt, the situation in the church today is grave. Despite coming through a pandemic, which should have brought us together as we faced a common, worldwide calamity, that experience has further divided us and hardened our political divisions.

So, how are we to deal with this in our families, with our neighbors, at work, and in our churches? How are we to navigate these conflicts wisely? And how might we decide between different voices claiming to be wise at times such as this?

How can we tell what is Genuine Wisdom?

Many voices in the world and the church claim to be wise. How can we tell whether the wisdom on offer is genuine? In the words of today’s Scripture text, how can we tell whether the wisdom is “from above” rather than “from below”? The biblical narrative warns from the beginning that there are different kinds of wisdom. As the saying goes, “The devil is a liar and a conjurer, too, and if you don’t watch out, he’ll conjure you!” Or as the Apostle Paul wrote to the early church in Corinth (where people cared a great deal about wisdom): “Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Sometimes evil is most effective when it masquerades as goodness.

So how can we tell which is which? How can we tell genuine wisdom from its counterfeit?

Thankfully, we are not left to our own devices. Our text for today gives us helpful guidance on how to discern real wisdom from that which is fake. So, how do we tell the difference?

James’ description of the wisdom from above focuses on the character and behavior of the person who claims to be wise, not just on the counsel they offer or the agenda they advocate. Wisdom, in the biblical sense, is tied to a way of life embodied in a person. Wisdom is not found merely in a set of ideas, a religious creed, or a political cause. To underline this, James uses the metaphor “fruit.” In other words, what kind of fruit results from the purported wisdom? How does this wisdom work itself out in the lives of its advocates and followers? James concludes that the character of a person as lived out in a community in conflict is the acid test of whether we are wise or not.

I find it interesting that Jesus saw the question of wisdom in much the same way. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount (which is his teaching about wisdom), Jesus makes the same point:

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits… A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit … You will know them by their fruits (Matthew 7:15-16, 18, emphasis added).

And James picks up Jesus’ metaphor of fruit and describes true wisdom this way:

Who is wise and knowledgeable among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom … the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace (James 3:13, 17-18, emphasis added).

Wisdom in conflict retains its essential character. As James says earlier in his letter, genuine wisdom requires “everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger, for human anger does not produce God’s righteousness” (James 1:19-20).

That’s wise counsel for all of us who claim to follow Jesus today.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Selfish Ambition (James 3:13-4:12).