It can be really tricky sometimes to know the difference between well-intentioned (but entirely misguided) wisdom and the kind of wisdom that is whispered directly from God. In this passage of James 3, we’ll dig into what, exactly, godly wisdom is, and the three questions you can ask yourself today to accurately discern it.

The Technicalities

If you followed along in the Dig Your Well Community when we dug through Galatians together, you might remember the part in Galatians 6:4 where Paul implored the readers of his letter to carefully examine their work—the same ergon-work that James has been saying here in his letter goes hand-in-hand with faith.

“If you think yourself to be someone special, too important to shoulder another’s load, you are sorely mistaken,” Paul warned in the Amplified Bible’s version of Galatians 6:3. We talked about taking a minute to get low in God’s presence, pulling your pride down with you, and scrutinize that too-important attitude. And the words I wrote there apply just as definitively here: Take a good, hard look at your feelings and actions, aims and endeavors, and ask yourself: Does it seem good to you? Are they reflecting the good Spirit-fruit from Galatians 5:22-23? If not, your ground for glory is in yourself alone.

James piggy-backs on this same truth, kicking off this part of his letter by asking a very specific question: “Who is wise and understanding among you?” And, with it, he’s continuing on with the topic of master-teachers from the verses immediately before this because, when he asks who is wise, he is asking who is a skilled expert, using a word that often refers to Greek philosophers, Jewish theologians, and (wait for it) Christian teachers. And the understanding word that James pairs with that wisdom? It’s a Greek word that’s only used here in James 3:13, and is rooted in epistamai – and intelligent and experienced kind of knowledge that is also called “expert” knowledge. It’s Apollos-level knowledge that we see in Acts 18:25 – where he had been instructed in the Lord and was not only fervent in spirit, but he spoke and accurately taught the things of the Lord, though he only epistamai-knew the baptism of John. Pause – we’ll come back to this in a second. You can also see this language in 1 Corinthians 3:10, where Paul calls himself a wise master builder according to the grace that God gave to him, having laid a foundation of faith that another teacher or preacher comes and builds upon.

Listen: it’s OK to say that God has gifted you with something. It’s OK to say that God created you to do this one specific thing for this one specific purpose and to say out loud that He’s made you really good at it. Paul just did that in 1 Corinthians 3:10 – he called himself a master builder. But, here’s the thing – it has to be tempered with meekness. In other words, it’s saying, “I have faith that God has made me an expert in this, and I will show evidence of that by pure, praiseworthy, and just, all-around good conduct (or, as the KJV aptly translates it: good conversation and, again, carrying the theme of the first 12 verses of James into these last six).

So, you have a believer with expert-level knowledge of something, showing that their works are done in the meekness of wisdom through their good conduct and pure and praiseworthy conversation. That specific Greek “conversation” word has roots in a few different verbs for “turning,” like turning yourself from a specific course of conduct or changing your mind on something you were wrong about. It’s the same “turning” word from James 1:17 that says God has none of. So, if you get His Word wrong, He isn’t the one that misspoke and needs to course-correct – you are, and you turn and repent and adjust accordingly. When a teacher is willing to do that, they give proof of their godly wisdom.

With that in mind, go back to Acts 18:25, where I paused you on Apollos’ accurate teaching “though he only knew the baptism of John.” In the very next verse, two other believers take him aside and explain to him the way of God more accurately. The text indicates that he received their instruction, and Acts 18:27 says that he was a great help to believers and a vigorous and public refuter of the Jews as he showed from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. Apollos wasn’t wrong in his teaching, but his information was incomplete in the most important detail of Jesus’ Messianic ministry because he didn’t know the story after John’s water baptism (which was before Jesus came on the scene publicly). And, when presented with that, he turned, adapted his teaching, and changed where he needed to change, proving the meekness of his wisdom (which some call a strong man’s self-discipline and a wise man’s humility).

That said, glance back up a few verses to James 3:11, where James asked another rhetorical question: “Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?” He uses that same “bitter” word again in verse 14, showing what, exactly, a bitter spring looks like envious and contentious rivalry and jealousy. You can see a very clear example of that in John 3:26-27 and John’s baptism, which Apollos had so much knowledge of. He wasn’t the only one, by the way. John was famous at that time for his baptism. He was at that master-teacher level, drawing massive crowds to his preaching and baptizing. But then Jesus comes on the scene with his disciples (who also begin baptizing), and John’s followers begin resenting Jesus for “stealing” John’s idea. That is the bitter kind of contentious rivalry James is talking about – it’s getting stirred up about something that inevitably leads to a heated and emotional outburst (remember, those Galatians 5:20 works of the flesh). The root word for envy describes boiling with heat or being hot (and, side note, if you go back to the deadly poison words from James 3:8, the symptoms of a poisonous snake bite are, among other things, heat, and fever.)

And, keeping up with this rivalry example, James also mentions self-seeking and strife, which is another word for electioneering, or what it would look like if John didn’t nip that rivalry in the bud and, instead, began a political campaign of “John the Baptist for Messiah!” It’s courting popular opinion and applause with trickery and low blows. It’s spinning and weaving words that put you in the best possible spotlight on the biggest stage (and is the same “selfish ambition” flesh work from Galatians 5:20). But John did nip that rivalry before it could go any further, showing by pure conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. And, side note, go back and pair John 3:26-30 with James 1:17. The meekness of wisdom knows what John knew at his master level: that he was just a branch of the tree. He was not the root.

“If you have that kind of bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts,” James says in James 3:14, “don’t cover up the truth by boasting about your good qualities and your master-level expertise and don’t lie about it either. That kind of wisdom is not a James 1:17 good and perfect gift from above but is earthly and sensual. Secular and entirely unspiritual. It’s demon-like, not Christ-like. Devilish, not Jesus-ish. It resembles (and also proceeds from) an evil spirit, not the Holy Spirit. (And, for what it’s worth, that same “demon” word is used in Luke 8:29 to describe the demon that could not be tamed, just like the tongue.)

But, James says, the good and perfect gift of wisdom that God gives to the ones who are dependent upon Him and not themselves, to the ones who see themselves as only a branch, never the root, to the ones who ask Him for it? It’s pure. And peace-loving. It’s gentle at all times and willing to yield. It’s teeming with mercy and good, ready-to-be-juiced fruits. And it’s without partiality or any hint of hypocrisy.

The believers with expert-level knowledge whose wisdom has those eight characteristics – who (as James 2:12 says) so speaks and so does? They are the ones who make peace in James 3:18 or, using the same Greek word from James 2:12, do it. They sow the fruit of rightness and their correct thinking, planting it into the hearts of the ones listening to their teaching in peace because they know: God alone is the root. They are just the branches that are forever grafted onto Him.

Making it Personal

I find it so interesting that James tells you at the very beginning of his letter to ask God for wisdom if you lack it. Then, there’s a little bit of a pause on the wisdom talk and a whole lot of talk about talking. But then he swings back around to this wisdom conversation and, very subtly, without outrightly telling you that he is about to teach you how to recognize the voice of God speaking in your life, he teaches you how to recognize the voice of God speaking in your life.

I sat with this for a little while, absentmindedly chewing on the inside of my cheeks the way that I do when I’m deep in thought. And when I say I sat with it, I literally mean sitting cross-legged on the floor of my daughter’s bedroom in the three-foot gap between her bed and the wall. I had my Bible on my lap and an afternoon coffee in my hand, forcing a nap on her, refusing to leave the room until she fell asleep. As I sat there, chewing, I realized that, in doing so, I had also crept my way into the Holy of Holies, locking eyes with God and refusing to leave until He gave me some insight into this. I wanted to hear the rhythm of James’ words and find a melody somewhere else in Scripture that it harmonized with.

Some time had passed. I glanced up to the bed, saw my daughter asleep, and quietly made my way to my desk to begin piecing things together when I whisper-prayed and asked God for His wisdom.

“Make the words flicker like fireflies on a summer evening,” I said. No sooner had the words left my mouth than some words from the book of Job began to flicker in my mind.

Talk about trials, my goodness. Job experienced just about every trial you could possibly imagine in an instant. He is the living, breathing example of James 1:3-4. His life completely fell apart. Completely. It was so sudden and so dramatic (and so shocking) that everyone in his life sat around with him in stunned, grief-stricken silence for an entire week. After seven days, Job 2:13 says, Job spoke. Very soon after, his friends started talking. They had the right language (talking of sin and repentance and God’s chastening), but their theology was blurry. They didn’t speak rightly or communicate God’s heart and intention behind Job’s suffering correctly. They responded to Job with the world’s wisdom – not God’s.

Fast forward to Job 38:2, when God finally interjects all of the back-and-forth talking, and He says Himself that they all (Job included) blurred the truth by “words without knowledge” or what can also be described as speaking without thinking. And The Living Bible’s translation of James 3:1 suddenly holds a little bit more contextual weight.

“Don’t be too eager to tell others their faults,” it says. Job’s friends did a whole lot of that. They were very quick to assume his guilt, to explain why his sin brought on his suffering. They quickly and continually urged him to repent of his sin to end his suffering, and Job had to sift through the trash to get to the truth.

That’s why, James says, if you need wisdom, ask God. Because everyone else? We all get it wrong at one point or another (James 3:1-12 already gave evidence of that). But God? His wisdom is never wrong. Ask Him what He thinks. Listen for His voice the way Samuel did in 1 Samuel 3. When you think you’ve heard from Him, run the wisdom that you receive first through the lens of the Greek language we’ve already talked about from James 1 and the nature of God’s wisdom-giving. Ask yourself, Is this simple? (Take a gander through the Bible – God’s instructions for doing are never ten steps long. They are quick and concise.) And then, ask: Does it resemble Jesus and the wisdom God has already given through His Word? Then, one more: Does it seek God’s glory or your own?

If the answer to all three of those questions is yes (it is simple, it does resemble His Word, it does not seek my glory, only His), you can take that wisdom you think you’ve heard from God and pass it through the filter of the eight characteristics of His wisdom from James 3:17: Is it pure? Is it peace-loving? Is it gentle at all times and willing to yield? Is it teeming with mercy and good, ready-to-be-juiced fruit? And is it without partiality or any hint of hypocrisy?

This same wisdom test for knowing God’s voice also applies when a person who thinks they have heard from God is speaking into your life. You need to run it all through these same checkpoints, just like it says in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 – “Test all things; hold fast what is good.” And also, 1 John 4:1 (which also applies to the overall context of James 3 and master teachers): “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (And that, friend, is why not many should be teachers.)

The last thing I want to talk about is an obscure definition inside of the “without partiality” part of the godly wisdom that James 3:17 mentions. The Thayer’s Greek Lexicon first defines that Greek word, adiakritos, as “undistinguished” or “unintelligible” with a reference to Genesis 1:2, which is quite possibly my favorite verse in the entire Bible. The verse describes the earth as being without form and void and as darkness over the face of the deep. And Genesis 1:2 says that the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.

I can tell you from experience that whether you are learning to recognize God’s voice for the first time or you’re already well-acquainted with it, when you ask God for wisdom, it can often feel suffocatingly silent. The room in which you sit can feel very empty. But, in that silence, the Spirit of God hovers. And then, just like in Genesis 1:3, after God hovered, He spoke, founding the earth (as Proverbs 3:19 describes) with wisdom.

So, friend, ask God for His wisdom and sit in that awkward and suffocating silence of the pause in which He takes a holy breath and His Spirit hovers over you. And then? Listen to Him speak, pray it all back to him, and be a doer of His wisdom.Thanks so much for listening!