F. Wisdom

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 peaceloving, 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 signif-

117. 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.

icant development in the concept of wisdom. Some of them implicitly identify wisdom with torah (a development that can be seen already in Sirach). Others take up the personification of wisdom in Proverbs, exploiting especially the metaphysical associations of the concept in Prov 8:22–36. Wisdom in these Jewish authors becomes a mediator between God and human beings and takes on semidivine characteristics. Certain NT writers may utilize some of these Jewish developments in their formulations of Christology (e.g., Col 1:15–20) and other doctrines. But none of these developments are evident in James. On the other hand, the OT (and some Jewish texts) suggest a close relationship between wisdom and the Spirit of God (e.g., Isa 11:2: “The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— / the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, / the Spirit of counsel and of might, / the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord”). James makes only one possible reference to the Spirit (4:5), but his description of the “fruit” of wisdom (3:17) is very similar to Paul’s famous list of the “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal 5:22–23). “Wisdom in James,” concludes Davids, “functions as the Spirit does in Paul.”119 We may grant Davids’s point only if we compare James’s wisdom and Paul’s Spirit on one specific point. For Paul, of course, develops a wide-ranging theology of the Spirit, and none of that development is evident in James. And, while wisdom certainly has its place in James’s theology, it cannot be given the central and integrating role that some scholars have wanted to give it.120 As Don Verseput puts it, while there are similarities with wisdom traditions, the letter “does not present itself to the reader on the whole as a product of wisdom reflection.”121

As we have noted, James only mentions wisdom twice, and in neither text is wisdom his real topic. Wisdom is not, then, prominent in James as a topic. However, as we noted, James and wisdom traditions focus on some of the same issues, and parts of the letter, at least, display a style reminiscent of wisdom.122 Therefore, while it is an exaggeration to call James a wisdom book, the letter

119. Davids, 56; see also J. A. Kirk, “The Meaning of Wisdom in James: Examination of a Hypothesis,” NTS 16 (1969–1970): 24–38. In his later book on James, however, Davids says, “For James, wisdom is a gift, and wisdom brings virtue, but wisdom is not personal. In this sense it is more like a gift of the Spirit than the Spirit himself” (Theology of James, 75–76). 120. Contra, e.g., R. Hoppe, who considers wisdom to be a powerful theological concept in James, related to the regenerating word of God (1:18) and possessing the power to produce those works needed for Christian living (Die theologische Hintergrund des Jakobusbriefes [Würzburg: Echter, 1977], 51–71). 121. Verseput, “Wisdom,” 706; see also McKnight, 6–7. 122. As Schnelle remarks, then, “The basic thought world of the Letter of James is marked by a theocentric understanding of wisdom” (Theology, 617).