What is Wisdom? Part 1

Scripture — James 3:13-18 (NRSV)

Who is wise and understanding 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 boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come 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 a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

Devotion

“Wisdom” is one of those words we use that is unusually difficult to define. It’s rather like “love” and “truth.” We feel as if we know what wisdom is, and we’re pretty sure we can identify it when it’s active, but nailing down a clear, brief definition of “wisdom” . . . well, that’s not as easy as we would wish it to be.

If you go to a standard American English dictionary, such as Merriam-Webster, you find these primary definitions of “wisdom”: “ability to discern inner qualities and relationships; good sense; generally accepted belief; accumulated philosophical or scientific learning.” The Oxford English Dictionary offers this primary definition of “wisdom”: “Capacity of judging rightly in matters relating to life and conduct; soundness of judgment in the choice of means and ends; sometimes, less strictly, sound sense, esp. in practical affairs: opposed to folly.” The basic ideas overlap here, but only the word “sense” is shared between these two standard dictionaries.

Now, as one who majored in philosophy in college, I have wondered if philosophers have agreed on a more-or-less standard definition of wisdom. After all, “philosophy” comes from the Greek word philosophia, meaning “love of wisdom [sophia].” As you might guess, however, philosophers offer a wide range of definitions without a basic consensus. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, for example, offers five options: “(1) wisdom as epistemic humility, (2) wisdom as epistemic accuracy, (3) wisdom as knowledge, (4) a hybrid theory of wisdom, and (5) wisdom as rationality.”

In the last 50 years, psychologists have joined the definition debate about “wisdom.” A recent scholarly article in Current Psychology summarizes 29 different definitions of “wisdom” in recent psychological research. The article observes that “owing to its complex meaning, cultural embeddedness and variability—not to mention different academic disciplines, research perspectives, and researcher preferences—we have yet to reach a scientific consensus about wisdom.”

The Bible uses two main words that are translated as “wisdom”: chokhma in Hebrew and sophia in Greek. But, while there is much to be learned about wisdom from Scripture, the biblical words do not help us much in our search for a definitive answer to the question, “What is wisdom?”

Though we may not be able to come up with a brief, compelling definition of “wisdom” that will satisfy everyone, I do think we can get reasonably clear on what wisdom is so that we can talk about it sensibly and with shared understanding. Most commonly, people distinguish between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge, of course, has to do with what we know in our minds. Wisdom is a matter of using that knowledge in some beneficial way. We might say that wisdom is the capacity or ability to discern what’s right in life.

Wisdom is certainly more than this, but this rough-and-ready definition supplies a good starting point. As Tim Keller said in one of his sermons, “Wisdom can be defined as: competence with regard to the complex realities of life. It has to do with understanding a particular situation and then knowing the right thing to do.” This definition makes it clear that while wisdom resides in our heads, so to speak, it must be expressed through our bodies, through what we do and say. Wisdom points the way to what’s right, what’s best, what ought to be done.

Today’s passage from James 3 makes a strong connection between wisdom and righteousness. Verse 17 provides a stirring description of “the wisdom from above,” though not a definition: “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.” The next verse adds, “And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace” (3:18). In this passage, “those who make peace” are those who exercise and embody wisdom. True wisdom leads, not just to right actions every now and then, but to a “harvest of righteousness,” a life full of right judgments, right emotions, right words, and right actions. Thus, as verse 13 indicates, wisdom will be demonstrated by “your good life.”

In tomorrow’s devotion, I’ll reflect a bit further on James 3:13-18, which is a crucial text for understanding, not just wisdom in general, but God’s wisdom, or as James puts it, “the wisdom from above.” For now, I’d invite you to think about wisdom and how it has been present in your life.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here.