43 Context of Thought and Theology freedom’ is a Palestinian Jew’s way of describing the Christian standard of conduct found in the didache.”117 This standard of conduct is still law, because it continues into the new age of salvation the will of God expressed in torah; and it incorporates elements of the law of Moses within it. But it is now a law “that gives freedom” because it comes to us from the one whose “yoke is easy” and “burden is light” (Matt 11:30). James’s “royal law” may have more focus on the OT than does Paul’s “law of Christ” (the point is debated), but the two are not far from each other.
F. Wisdom In our discussion of the genre of James, we noted that James has often been classified as a wisdom document. This classification is based more on the letter’s proverbial style and general moral tone than on actual references to the concept of wisdom. Some interpreters see in James’s appropriation of Jesus’s teaching evidence of a wisdom teacher’s appropriation of tradition.118 But James does refer to wisdom specifically twice. In 1:5 he exhorts his readers to ask God for wisdom—perhaps so that they can understand and respond properly to the trials they are experiencing (see 1:2–4). As in the OT, wisdom here involves insight into God’s purposes and ways, and possessing it leads to spiritual maturity (1:4). Wisdom plays a central role in 3:13–18, where James contrasts “earthly, unspiritual, demonic” wisdom (v. 15) with “the wisdom that comes from heaven” (v. 17). Again, as in the OT, wisdom in this passage is tied to behavior. People with the wrong kind of wisdom are selfish and contentious and become embroiled in “disorder and every evil practice” (v. 16). But those who possess divine wisdom are humble and anxious to perform good deeds (v. 13). For this kind of wisdom, James says, is “first of all pure; then peace- loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere” (v. 17). What James says about wisdom in these passages is reminiscent of the OT teaching found in Proverbs and some of the Jewish books, like Sirach, that continue the OT tradition. Other intertestamental Jewish books reveal signif117. Wessel, “Epistle of James,” 960; see also R. J. Foster, The Significance of Exemplars for the Interpretation of the Letter of James, WUNT 2/376 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014), 55–57; L. Goppelt, Theology of the New Testament, 2 vols. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975, 1976), 2:203– 6; D. Guthrie, New Testament Theology (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1981), 699. 118. E.g., R. Bauckham, “James and Jesus,” in Chilton and Neusner, Brother of Jesus, 100–137.
