ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

James 3.14

Book: James · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

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.

  1. 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. (James 3:12-16, ASV)
WEB

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.

  1. 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. (James 3:12-16, WEB)
KJV

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.

  1. 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 (James 3:12-16, KJV)
YLT

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;

  1. 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; (James 3:12-16, YLT)

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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 bond-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 who are dispersed abroad" (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

"But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth."

The context is who counts as wise. Verse 13 has asked, "who among you is wise and understanding?" and answered with conduct: let him show his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. Verse 14 names the counterfeit.

Two terms. Zēlos pikros, bitter jealousy, and eritheia, selfish ambition. The second is a rare word whose background is probably the hired labor or partisan canvassing of politics, and Paul uses it in similar lists (Philippians 1:17; Galatians 5:20). Both are competitive vices, which fits a chapter about teachers (verse 1) and the tongue.

"Lie against the truth." Claiming wisdom while harboring rivalry is not merely inconsistent; James calls it a falsehood about reality. The claim and the character contradict each other, and the character is the evidence.

Two wisdoms, verses 15-17. The false wisdom is "earthly, natural, demonic", producing disorder and every evil thing; the wisdom from above is "first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy" (verse 17). James assesses wisdom by what it grows, which is the same test he applies to faith in chapter 2 and to the tongue in the first half of chapter 3.

See Biblical Goodness.

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; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Lexicon:

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.