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James 3:17b
“[The wisdom from above is] gentle, open to reason.”
James continues to list the qualities of “the wisdom from above” in today’s passage, telling us that such wisdom is “gentle, open to reason” (James 3:17b). These characteristics, of course, are closely related to the quality of peaceableness that is also true of godly wisdom (v. 17a). After all, it takes a certain degree of gentleness and reasonableness to produce peace. Those who are harsh and unreasonable will find themselves unable to make peace with other people.
The quality of gentleness includes a willingness to yield to others and not to always insist on our own way. It is the fruit of a desire not to deal with others in an overly harsh way but to respond appropriately to the offense or to the way that one is approached by others. Jesus, of course, refers to Himself as “gentle and lowly in heart,” the One who offers rest for our souls because He is gracious to those who come to Him in humility (Matt. 11:29). If gentleness includes the willingness to yield to others, Jesus is the supreme example of such godly yielding. As Philippians 2:1–11 says, He put others ahead of Himself in His willingness to take on our humanity for the sake of our salvation. In sum, Matthew Henry comments, gentleness means “not standing upon extreme right in matters of property; not saying nor doing any thing rigorous in points of censure; not being furious about opinions, urging our own beyond their weight nor theirs who oppose us beyond their intention; not being rude and overbearing in conversation, nor harsh and cruel in temper.”
We see in James 3:17b that godly wisdom is also reasonable. This means that the wisdom that is from above displays the characteristic of rationality, of making judgments according to truth and of taking into account the views of others as long as they are not sinful. The Greek word translated “open to reason” in today’s passage can be more literally rendered “easily persuaded.” This does not mean being gullible or easily induced to sin or error. Instead, the ease of persuasion refers to a willingness to defer to others when bedrock moral or theological truths are not at stake. Henry writes, “There is an easiness that is weak and faulty; but it is not a blamable easiness to yield ourselves to the persuasions of God’s word, and to all just and reasonable counsels or requests of our fellow-creatures; no, nor to give up a dispute, where there appears a good reason for it and where a good end may be answered by it.”
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Of all people, Christians should be the most reasonable and gentle of all. Because we have all things in Christ (1 Cor. 3:21), we have no need to insist on our own way when core truths are not at stake. Because we have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16), we can think through things in a godly and patient way. By the grace of God, let us endeavor to live our lives in all gentleness and reasonableness.
For further study
- Proverbs 24:5–6
- Acts 18:4
- Galatians 6:1
- Philippians 4:5
The bible in a year
- Isaiah 29–30
- Ephesians 6