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Introduction
Well, here we are on another Sunday evening ready to study God’s Word once again.
We back in James 3. So, please take out your Bibles and turn to that chapter.
We will read the paragraph we are working through and then come back to highlight our verse for study this evening.
Not look again at verse 17 which says:
As you may have noticed already, we are only one verse away from being finished with this paragraph.
Once we are done, we will come back and look at the entire paragraph.
We will then follow that by giving a summary of the entire chapter.
However, for now, we have a lot to know and study from verse 17.
So, let’s get right into our grammar study.
GRAMMAR STUDY
You will note that there is only one verb.
The word “is” is a state of being verb.
Thus, the subject exists as stated in the sentence.
Will also note that we have two nouns.
The first noun is our subject.
It is the word “wisdom.”
We have already stated the meaning of this word several times since it is also the subject of the entire paragraph.
However, so that we might refresh our memory, we will give it once again.
“Wisdom” is understood as the quality of having knowledge, skill, and experience in mastery over a particular subject or trade through practice and learning.
The other two nouns are the objects of two prepositional phrases.
Both phrases describe the subject, which is wisdom.
Wisdom is FULL OF (preposition) mercy and good fruits.
Mercy is a great word.
Take note that it means an outward demonstration of pity.
Furthermore, mercy assumes there is a need on the part of him who receives it, and, on the part of him who shows it, there are adequate resources to meet that need.
We know and understand, for example, that God is rich in mercy.
There is no doubt that we require God’s resources.
We need forgiveness, and God definitely has an abundant resource.
“Fruits” simply means the product or consequence of some effort or action.
We often relate fruit to trees and plants.
They produce fruit relative to their particular kind.
For example, an apple tree has apples.
However, we must also note that an apple tree can produce bad fruit or good fruit.
If a tree is genetically sound, it will produce good fruit.
The opposite is also true.
If that tree is genetically flawed, it will produce rotten or bad fruit.
In our verse, it is stated explicitly that the wisdom from above is full of GOOD fruits.
We must conclude then that this wisdom is fundamentally sound.
In fact, we know that the wisdom from above is pure.
This leads us then to our adverbs and adjectives.
Adverbs answer the questions when, where, how, and to what extent (how much or how long).
We have three in our verse this evening.
They are:
That is from above [from above; at or originating from a location above oneself] - it answers the question where.
First [firstly; before anything else] - it answers the question of when.
Then [then; subsequently or soon afterward] - it also answers the question when.
Thus, we learn where this wisdom comes from.
It comes from above.
A stark distinction from the wisdom of verse 15.
The word “first” and “then” gives us a sense of numerical order.
The wisdom that is from above is, first and foremost, pure.
Then, soon afterward, it is peaceable, gentle, easy to be intreated, full of mercy, full of good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
All of these attributes we just listed describe then the wisdom from above.
They are our adjectives.
The first adjective listed is the word “pure.”
It means utterly pure from defilement and contamination.
We will definitely be coming back to this description in a few moments.
The second adjective is the word “peaceable.”
This word has the idea of peace attributed to a harmonious relationship.
The following adjective is “gentle.”
The meaning in Greek here is a little different than our current English understanding.
We often understand “gentle” as having a tender disposition and thus docile or soft.
However, in Greek, the idea is someone or something equitable, fair, moderate, forbearing, not insisting on the letter of the law.
I believe that the second understanding listed in your notes is quite adequate.
Note that it says, “it expresses that considerateness that looks humanely and reasonably at the facts of a case.”
Thus, peaceful means to be humane and reasonable in every situation that arises.
Our following adjective is the phrase “easy to be intreated.”
You can sum that one up by simply saying, “ready to obey.”
Now, the following four adjectives are actually prepositional phrases.
The first two start with the word “full,” which means having the stated item’s full measure, extent, or degree.
The first item is, as we already noted, mercy.
The second is (good) fruits.
The word “good” modifies the word “fruits.”
Adjectives answer the questions what kind, how many, which ones, and whose.
Thus, the word “good” tells what kind of fruit.
It is good versus bad fruit.
Therefore, wisdom is full of mercy and good fruits.
It possesses the full extent of mercy and good fruits.
The other two prepositional phrases start with the preposition “without.”
“Without” denotes possession.
Thus, the wisdom from above does not possess two qualities.
It does not possess partiality and hypocrisy.
Partiality means uncertainty or indecision.
Hypocrisy is an interesting word.
It literally means to answer.
However, the connotation is play-acting as an actor or actress gives dialogue.
In other words, the actor is not really who he is portraying.
He is simply filling a role on stage.
Therefore, we know that the wisdom from above does not possess any uncertainty and does not deceive people into thinking something different than what it really is.
Okay, that was a lot of grammar.
Now, let’s move to this verse's spiritual understanding and application.
Spiritual Application
What is the Holy Spirit talking about?
The obvious answer is wisdom.
What is the Holy Spirit saying about wisdom?
Last week, we learned that God’s wisdom is quite different from man’s wisdom.
Man’s wisdom is earthly, sensual, and devilish, not from above.
In contrast, God’s wisdom is from above and far superior to anything man offers.
The Holy Spirit follows that by listing the characteristics of God’s wisdom.
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