Gospel Light Christian Church Thru-The-Bible Series (30.3)

The General Epistle of James

James Chapter 3:11-13 - Read this Bible passage once through before referring to the notes below.

v11.     In the preceding verse, James said that the it ought not so to be that the same tongue can praise God and also curse man who was originally made in the image or God, or curse believers who are being conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Now he gives a few examples to reinforce his point.

            The first example is this: Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? The use of a fountain here is interesting.  The fountain is an image of the human heart in the sense that it is the place where water circulates and bubbles forth in much the same way as the blood circulates as it is pumped through the various arteries in the heart.  The aperture of the fountain is an image of man's mouth.

The image here is appropriate to Palestine where salt and bitter springs are found. Though sweet springs are sometimes found near, yet sweet and bitter water do not flow at the same place (aperture). Therefore it is absurd that out of the mouth (aperture) of man can flow both blessings and cursing. True religion will not admit of contradictions; and a truly religious man can never allow of them either in his words or his actions. 

Now it is interesting to note that while bitter and sweet spring waters do not flow from the same source, God can turn bitter water into sweet water.  One example is Marah: And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah (Exo 15:23).  Now the people began to murmur against Moses (and indirectly against God).  What did Moses do?  And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet (Exo 15:25a).  This miracle is of course a picture of the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ where the sweet precious sinless blood of the Saviour cleanses us of all our bitter sins.   

v12.     In the last verse, James asked: Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Now in this verse he answers that this is not possible.  And he supports this answer with 2 illustrations.

            First he asks:  Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? That is of course impossible. When God did the creative works, He expressly stated that plants, are to bring forth fruits after its kind: And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good (Gen 1:11-12).

            What God has purposed, it is so.  Now some may argue that it is possible to cross fertilize fruit trees and produce new fruits.  That is true, but notice that the new fruits still belong to the same family of fruits (after his kind).  For example you may get different varieties of durians (D24, D8, Thai durians, etc) but they all come from the durian family.  You cannot cross a durian and a watermelon and hope to get a new fruit from this cross fertilization.  Similarly, you cannot expect a vine tree to produce fig fruits: either a vine, figs?  James is now taking the argument from the mouth to the heart.  What the mouth says is really reflective of what the heart feels.  If a man speaks bitterly, and afterwards speaks good words, the latter must be so only seemingly, and in hypocrisy, they cannot be real. That’s why he concluded: so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.

True religion displays heavenly wisdom (vv12-18)

True display of wisdom and understanding

v13.     True display of wisdom and understanding is to be seen in one’s conduct. In the next few verses, James shows the difference between men’s pretending to be wise and their being really so, and between the wisdom which is from beneath (from earth or hell) and that which is from above.

James starts by asking this question: Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you?  Wisdom shows us how to do good works.  Wisdom is not mere knowledge in our heads; it is lived out - so wisdom will be shown by good conduct. 

Notice first of all the question is who is the wise man?  Everyone wants to appear wise, but the fact is that very few are really wise. Notice next that there is a connection between being wise and being knowledgeable: Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you?  A truly wise man is a very knowing man! Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning (Prov 9:9).

Wisdom is also evident by its meek manner; those who do their good works in a manner designed to bring attention to them show that they are lacking in true wisdom: let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. The emphasis on the word shew is interesting, for it means to show by works and not merely by profession. 

The works that are shown is manifested out of a good conversation, or as we would say it today, out of a good conduct. There is an interesting parallel here to note.  Just as faith that is not evidenced by works is dead, so wisdom if it is not shown (or evidenced) by knowledge is also dead. You can appear to be wise and yet be without understanding: Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding (Prov 17:28).  A truly wise man is one who not only knows the subject well, but also knows how to apply it.

Finally it is noted that this showing of the works is to be with meekness of wisdom. True wisdom may be known by the meekness of the spirit and temper. Wisdom manifests itself in meekness and when we are mild and calm, then we can listen to reason.  In turn, when we can listen to reason, we can then speak rationally and calmly.  Wisdom produces meekness, and meekness increases wisdom.