True Wisdom: Merciful, Fruitful, Impartial, Sincere

Continuing to describe the characteristics of true, God-given wisdom in contrast to the false wisdom of the world, the flesh, and the devil, James in today’s passage gives us four more traits to look for when we are evaluating whether divine wisdom is present. The wisdom from above, he tells us, is “full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere” (James 3:17b).

Unsurprisingly, these characteristics are all reflective of the Lord Himself. Exodus 34:5–7 gives us an important list of the attributes of God in Scripture. The first thing that these verses tell us about our Creator is that He is “a God most merciful and gracious.” Scripture makes clear the justice of God that motivates His wrath on impenitent sinners, but we dare not forget His mercy and graciousness. Our only hope, in fact, is that the Lord will be merciful to all who turn to Him in faith and repentance. For such persons, “he does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love” (Mic. 7:18). Dr. R.C. Sproul comments that wisdom that is full of mercy is “not stingy in mercy but demonstrates charity in broad measure.” Like God, its source, the wisdom from above seeks to be as merciful as possible when it works to resolve a conflict or other problem.

James 3:17b tells us also that wisdom is “full of . . . good fruits.” We will consider this idea a bit more in our next study. For now, let us note that true wisdom is inherently productive and creates good fruit. Those who exercise such wisdom will be known by the good that they do for their neighbors and their communities (1 Tim. 5:25).

Finally, the wisdom from above is “impartial and sincere” (James 3:17b). Here the Greek word translated as “impartial” is related to the Greek words used in James 1:6 and 2:4 to warn us about doubting and making wrong distinctions, about being divided in our loyalties to God and our affections toward other people. The word translated “sincere” could be more literally rendered as “not hypo­critical.” Together these descriptors of the wisdom from above show us that it is “fair and without deception, deceit, or fraud,” as Dr. Sproul writes. Men and women who exercise the wisdom from above are stable and trustworthy. They say what they mean and mean what they say. Their public persona matches who they are in private. Like God, they have no “variation or shadow due to change” in their character whereby they are honest one moment and dishonest the next (1:16–17).