James 3:17

17. Contrasted picture of the wisdom that is from above.

First pure The pure is first as being foremost, and comprehending all the following points, and being inner essence of the whole. It stands in antithesis against the terrible trial of James 3:15. To be pure is to be untainted by the tempers expressed in James 3:16.

Then After the inner pure follow all the external qualities of character and action.

Peaceable In antithesis against envying and strife, James 3:16.

Gentle The reverse of roughness, violence, of word or manner, which exhibit themselves in sweeping assertions and hyperboles.

Easy to be entreated Or, rather, persuaded; the reverse of obstinacy, the pride of a false consistency, or a set persistence in one’s own way.

Full of mercy Pity for the unfortunate, and judicious compassion for the guilty.

Good fruits The reverse of evil work, James 3:16.

Without partiality, and without hypocrisy These two clauses are two Greek words in the original which have similar terminations, and so make a word-echo. We might nearly parallel them by the words, neither hypercritical, nor hypocritical. The first of the two Greek words may signify, making no undue distinctions, (hence fair, impartial,) as, for instance, between rich and poor. Or, it may mean unequivocal, unambiguous, clear from equivocation or just liability to being doubted. The latter of the two words is, accordingly, rendered rightly in the English translation. We might (with these last definitions of the two) preserve the terminal similarity of sound by, without equivocation or dissimulation.

In regard to the two contrasted wisdoms of 13-17 we may note: First, it is in accordance with the Old Testament use of the word wisdom, which makes it belong to the moral rather than to the intellectual sphere. It refers not so much to the degree of sagacity or scientific education as to the right state of the heart. Second, St. James does not intend to define wisdom in its broadest moral sense, but only as in reference to the vices he has just been reprehending; namely, a use of the tongue as an instrument of emulations and strifes. His wisdom, then, is peace, obtained by gentleness, fairness, sincerity, and silence.