James 3:15

Wisdom (σοφία) See on σοφός, James 3:13. From above Compare James 1:17. Sensual (ψυχική) See on Jde 1:19. Devilish (δαιμονιώδης) Or demoniacal, according to the proper rendering of δαίμων (see on Matthew 4:1). Only here in New Testament. Devilish, "such," says Bengel, "as even devils have." Compare James 2:19.

Jam 3:15 . [ Ἄνωθεν , from above ) ch. Jam 1:17 .—V. g.]— ἐπίγειος , earthly ) not heavenly, such as descends from the Father.— ψυχικὴ , animal ) not spiritual, which is from the Holy Spirit. Comp. animal , 1 Corinthians 2:14 ; Judges 1:19 . This is a middle term between earthly and devilish .— δαιμονιώδης , devilish ) such as even devils have: Jam 2:19 : not that which Christ gives.

15. This wisdom—in which ye "glory," as if ye were "wise" (Jas 3:13, 14). descendeth not from above—literally, "is not one descending," &c.: "from the Father of lights" (true illumination and wisdom), Jas 1:17; through "the Spirit of truth," Joh 15:26. earthly—opposed to heavenly. Distinct from "earthy," 1Co 15:47. Earthly is what is IN the earth; earthy, what is of the earth. sensual—literally, "animal-like": the wisdom of the "natural" (the same Greek) man, not born again of God; "not having the Spirit" (Jude 19). devilish—in its origin (from "hell," Jas 3:6; not from God, the Giver of true wisdom, Jas 1:5), and also in its character, which accords with its origin. Earthly, sensual, and devilish, answer to the three spiritual foes of man, the world, the flesh, and the devil.

This wisdom, which they pretended so much to, who so criticized on other men’s actions, and inveighed against them, and which was accompanied with strife and envy. Descendeth not from above; i.e. from God the author of wisdom, from whom, though every good and perfect gift descends, Jam 1:17 , and even knowledge and skill in natural things, Isaiah 28:26,29 ; yet this wisdom, being sinful, is not from him, because it is earthly, of the earth, of no higher original than from the first Adam, who was of the earth, and earthly, 1 Corinthians 15:47 ; and likewise because it is employed, and fixeth men’s minds, on earthly things. Sensual; this may be understood either: 1. According to the reading in the text, the word here used being so rendered, Judges 1:19 , agreeable to 1 Thessalonians 5:23 , where soul, from whence the word is derived, is opposed to spirit, and taken for the sensitive powers, which men have in common with brutes, in distinction from the intellectual, which go under the name of spirit, and are proper to men: mere reason, without the Divine grace, being apt to degenerate into brutishness, and easily brought to serve the ends of sensual appetite, this wisdom may well be called sensual. Or: 2. According to Judges 1:19 , natural, in opposition to spiritual.

The natural man {1 Corinthians 2:14, where the same word, in the Greek, is used as here} is one that lives under the conduct of his own carnal reason, not enlightened, nor regenerated by the Spirit of God; a man of soul, (as the word imports), or that hath no better, no higher principle in him than his own soul. Accordingly, this wisdom here mentioned, is such as proceeds merely from a man’s own soul, in its natural state, destitute of the light and grace of God’s Spirit, and therefore may be termed natural. Devilish; because it is of the devil, or such as is in him, and makes men like him, who is a proud spirit, and envious, a liar and slanderer, John 8:44 , and who observes men’s faults, not to amend them, but accuse them for them.

Verses 15-18. - Contrast between the earthly and the heavenly wisdom : (1) the earthly (vers. 15, 16); (2) the heavenly (vers. 17, 18). Verse 15. - " This wisdom [of which you boast] is not a wisdom which cometh down from above." Vulgate, non est enim ista sctpientia desursum descendens. But is earthly, sensual, devilish. Dr. Farrar well says that this wisdom is "earthly because it avariciously cares for the goods of earth ( Philippians 3:19 ); animal , because it is under the sway of animal lusts ( 1 Corinthians 2:14 ); demon-like , because full of pride, egotism, malignity, and ambition, which are the works of the devil ( 1 Timothy 4:1 )." Sensual ( ψυχική ), Vulgate, animalis ; R.V. margin, natural or animal. The position of the word is remarkable, occurring between ἐπίγειος and δαιμονιώδης . it is never found in the LXX., nor (apparently) in the apostolic Fathers. In the New Testament it occurs six times - three times of the "natural" body, which is contrasted with the σῶμα πνευματικόν ( 1 Corinthians 15:44 (twice), 46); and three times with a moral emphasis resting upon it, "and in every instance a most depreciatory" (see 1 Corinthians 2:14 ), "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God," and Jude 1:19 , Ψυχικοὶ , πνεῦμα μὴ ἔχοντες .

The ψυχή in general in the New Testament is that which is common to man with the brute creation, including the passions, appetites, etc.; and therefore, by the use of this word ψυχικός to describe the wisdom which cometh not from above, but is "earthly, sensual [or, 'animal'], devilish," we are reminded of the contrast between the spirit of man which goeth upward and the spirit of a beast which goeth downward ( Ecclesiastes 3:21 ). The "animal" man, then, is one who is ruled entirely by the ψυχή in the lower sense of the word; and by the depreciatory sense given to the adjective we are strongly reminded that "nature" is nothing without the aid of grace. See further Archbishop Trench's 'Synonyms of the N. T.,' § 71, and for the later history of the word (it was applied by the Montanists to the orthodox), Suicer's 'Thesaurus,' vol. it. p. 1589. James 3:15

(15) This wisdom descendeth not from above . . . . —Better thus, This is not the wisdom coming down from above, but is earthly, natural, devilish. This—it were profanation to call it by the holy name of Σοφία ( Sophia ) , being in sharpest contrast to it, of the earth earthy; natural (as margin), or “psychical,” in the second sense of the tripartite division of man—body, soul, and spirit—explained under James 1:21 (comp. Jude 1:19 , “Sensual, having not the Spirit”); and even worse, akin to the craft of devils.

15 . This wisdom descendeth not from above ] St James returns to the thought of chap. James 1:5 , that true wisdom was the gift of God, coming, like every other good and perfect gift, from above (ch. James 1:17 ). But this was not “the wisdom” of which the “many teachers” of the party of the Circumcision were boasting. It was, however, that of the Proverbs of Solomon, and of the Wisdom of the Son of Sirach, on which so much of St James’s teaching was modelled. (Comp. Sir 1:1-10 .) It was that which had been manifested to mankind in all its fulness in Christ. earthly, sensual, devilish ] Each word is full of meaning. (1) The counterfeit wisdom is “earthly” in its nature and origin as contrasted with that which cometh from above. (Comp. St Paul’s “who mind earthly things,” Php 3:19 ). (2) It is “sensual.” The word is used by classical writers for that which belongs to the “soul” as contrasted with the “body.” This rested on the twofold division of man’s nature. The psychology of the New Testament, however, assumes generally the threefold division of body, soul, and spirit, the second element answering to the animal, emotional life, and the third being that which includes reason and will, the capacity for immortality and for knowing God. Hence the adjective formed from “soul” acquired a lower meaning, almost the very opposite of that which it once had, and expresses man’s state as left to lower impulses without the control of the spirit.

So St Paul contrasts the natural man with the spiritual ( 1 Corinthians 2:14 ), the natural and the spiritual body ( 1 Corinthians 15:44 ; 1 Corinthians 15:46 ). So St Jude describes the false teachers, whom he condemns as “ sensual , having not the Spirit.” What St James says then of the false wisdom is that it belongs to the lower, not the higher, element in man’s nature. It does not come from the Spirit of God, and therefore is not spiritual. (3) In “devilish” we have yet a darker condemnation. Our English use of the same word, “devil,” for the two Greek words diabolos and dœmonion , tends, however, to obscure St James’s meaning. The epithet does not state that the false wisdom which he condemns came from the devil, or was like his nature, but that it was demon-like , as partaking of the nature of the “demons” or “unclean spirits,” who, as in the Gospels, are represented as possessing the souls of men, and reducing them to the level of madness. Such, St James says, is the character of the spurious wisdom of the “many masters” of James 3:1 . Met together in debate, wrangling, cursing, swearing, one would take them for an assembly of demoniacs. Their disputes were marked by the ferocity, the egotism, the boasting, the malignant cunning of the insane. St Paul’s account of the “doctrines of devils,” i. e. proceeding from demons ( 1 Timothy 4:1 ), not from the Spirit of God, presents a striking parallel. St James’s previous allusion to “demons” (see note on ch.