But if you have bitter zeal, and there be contention in your hearts: glory not and be not liars against the truth.
ει δε ζηλον πικρον εχετε και εριθειαν εν τη καρδια υμων μη κατακαυχασθε και ψευδεσθε κατα της αληθειας
7 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Men who love to rule and boast in the wisdom of this world preached in opposition to the Orthodox teachers. They envied them and mingled the human with the Divine, in order to attract hearers by novelty of teaching. From this the heresies arose. Therefore, after finishing his word about the rashness and unbridledness of the tongue, the Apostle turns his speech to envy, which is born in men from the same recklessness [...]
Since the divine James, as Saint Metrophanes explains, has already given many examples and likenesses to persuade Christians to bridle their tongue and not allow it to speak what is improper, he then notices that they remain insensible.
Therefore he continues in perplexity: Who is wise and understanding among you Christians? If there is such a man among you, let him show the works of a good life with wise meekness.
The prophet Hosea did the same at the beginning, and at the end of his prophecy said this: "Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? And prudent, and he shall know them? For the ways of the Lord are right, and the righteous shall walk in them, but the ungodly shall stumble in them" (Hos 14:10).
This saying of the brother of the Lord has the following meaning. I have given you, Christians, many and various examples to persuade you to cease from anger and bitter words against your brethren.
I have done this so that you may love and begin to practice meekness and soul-profiting conversations.
If anyone among you confesses that he has understood my foregoing discourse, has wisdom from above and divine understanding, and has profited from it by changing for the better, let him furnish his confession with good works.
Let him show the fruit of the benefit he received from my words by living a Christian life in meekness and longsuffering. Let him not boast in lofty and empty words that he has profited from my teaching.
For if such a man has bitter envy in his heart, according to Theophylact, this is a movement of a zealous and troubled soul. Likewise, if he produces rivalry, that is, vain disputes and accusation, let him not boast that he profited from my words.
Such a man is a liar and does not speak the truth. Therefore, if someone does not show virtuous works, longsuffering, and meekness toward his brethren, but speaks only plausible and rhetorical words in order to appear blameless, he is plainly convicted.
He does not have in his soul the indwelling of divine wisdom from above, of which the author of Proverbs said: "The Lord gives wisdom, and from His face come knowledge and understanding" (Prov 2:6).
The same one says in Wisdom: "Wisdom will not enter a soul that devises evil, nor dwell in a body subject to sin" (Wis 1:4).
For this reason the brother of the Lord says in order that this is not the wisdom from above, descending from God, of which I have already said to you: "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, Who gives to all without partiality and without reproach."
Rather, this is earthly wisdom, psychic wisdom, that is, fleshly wisdom, and demonic wisdom. He rightly called this wisdom by evil names, in order to separate it from the wisdom given from above by the Father of lights.
That wisdom does not have the fruits and signs of true and divine wisdom. It is falsely named, fleshly, and foolish before God, being composed of plausible words.
Concerning it blessed Paul wrote: "Not in fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we conducted ourselves in the world" (2 Cor 1:12). Again: "My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of human wisdom" (1 Cor 2:4).
And elsewhere: "The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God" (1 Cor 3:19).
The holy brother of God truly constructs and shows this whole meaning by consecutive phrases, saying that envy and disputes are disorder and every evil thing. Disorder and evil are the result of earthly, fleshly, and demonic wisdom, not of divine wisdom from above.
Since there are rivalries and disputes among you, you are possessors of earthly, fleshly, and demonic wisdom, not of divine wisdom from above.
Paul wrote almost the same thing to the Corinthians: "For you are still carnal. For where there are envy, rivalries, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and walking according to man?" (1 Cor 3:3).
Theophylact and Oecumenius say that certain Christians of that time loved to rule and were proud of worldly wisdom. Out of envy toward virtuous and true teachers, they preached to others.
Therefore they mixed much that was human with what was divine, so that by novel words they might draw their listeners to their own opinion. From this came heresies.
Therefore the divine James, having finished his teaching about the unbridled tongue and evil speech, here teaches against envy and vain disputes. He says that this teaching, which comes from envy, is not from divine wisdom, but from demonic wisdom.
Since the word "zeal" or "envy" has a neutral meaning, as it signifies both good zeal and evil zeal, he calls it bitter in order to distinguish it from good zeal. Zeal is a fiery movement of the soul toward something. Rivalry is vicious contentiousness.
“Do not lie against the truth.” Every lie is contrary to the truth, but that lie is especially outrageous and opposed to God which, presenting itself as truth, tries to make the truth appear false. Thus the father of lies, the devil, assured our first parents in Paradise that they would not die if they tasted the forbidden fruit. He lied against God Himself, the Source of truth, putting his lie in the place of truth. So also the Pharisees, deceiving the people by their feigned holiness, said of Jesus Christ that He deceived the people (Jn 7:12). Therefore the Apostle, teaching Christians restraint of the tongue and warning them against lying and deceit, especially urges them not to lie against the truth.
If meekness is proper to wisdom and understanding, then those who have bitter envy and contentiousness in their hearts boast of these virtues in vain. Without doubt, these passions are also expressed in outward conduct, and such men lie against the truth.
"Bitter envy" means, strictly, bitter zeal. Zeal is taken here, as often in the New Testament, in the bad sense of the word. This bad sense is further strengthened by the notion of bitterness.
It is a passionate feeling of envy toward others. Since the discourse concerns teaching in general, this means mutual envy among self-appointed teachers and their followers.
"Contentiousness": the Greek word means, strictly, love of strife (Phil 1:16; Phil 2:3 and parallels). It is a passion for disputes and factions in teaching, in relation to the subjects of doctrine.
"In your heart" means in the center of the feelings, from which both good and evil flow (Mt 12:35). The heart is indicated in contrast to the tongue, or the words of readers who boasted of their wisdom.
In words there was supposed wisdom, but in the heart there was evil zeal and a passion for contentiousness.
With such a disposition of soul, these supposedly wise and understanding men have nothing in which, and nothing by which, to boast. They have no reason to lie against the truth.
Truth is meant here in the general sense, as what ought to be, in contrast to a false condition and false understanding of things.
The inclination to excessive use of the tongue is especially found in people striving to display their intelligence and skill in speaking reasonably.
The apostle James does not attach special value to these qualities by themselves. He knows that with an impure heart, hatred, and contentiousness, neither intelligence nor eloquence has high value.
They can even lead to every kind of disorder, falsehood, cunning, and evil in general. Therefore, instead of imaginary wisdom, that is, empty eloquence, he counsels distinction by a good life and wise silence.
Subtle reasoning and flattering speeches of evil people are not only far from true wisdom. They are often a clear sign of the action of an alien evil power (see 1 Jn 3:10).
Especially the wisdom that proceeds from contentiousness is earthly, that is, hostile to God. It is sensual, that is, grounded in the sinful region of human nature (cf. 1 Cor 2:14; Jude 1:19).
Finally, it is demonic, that is, proceeding from the devil as the chief author of all divisions (cf. Jas 3:6; Jas 4:7). True wisdom is not like this.
In view of the double-edged significance of human speech in life, only he has the right to teach others who has tamed in himself the sinful tendency toward looseness in speech.
Such a man thereby possesses true wisdom, manifesting it "in deed by good conduct."
The essence of Christian wisdom is precisely that it is not only knowledge, nor only the mind's acknowledgment of certain truths. It is life itself, in accordance with these truths.
The one who possesses Christian wisdom is meek, pure in motives and intentions, modest in desires, obedient to elders and authority, full of mercy and good fruits, and free from bitter envy and contentiousness.
This is because the source of this "heavenly" wisdom is God.
In contrast to heavenly wisdom, there is "earthly, sensual, demonic" wisdom, whose source is the father of lies, the devil. Its characteristic manifestations are envy and contentiousness, and the result of its influence is disorder and every evil thing.
It is not difficult to be convinced that envy is a feature of false wisdom. Men envy in what they do not have. Therefore one who envies another in wisdom thereby shows that he himself does not have wisdom.
Zeal, that is, a partial effort to give predominance to one's own opinion, is the fruit of envy. Therefore this feature also belongs to the image of false wisdom.
True wisdom does not envy, because it possesses. It does not strain contentiously, because it has not opinion, but truth, which possesses inward, unconquerable power.
The follower of true wisdom peacefully sets forth the truth and acts for righteousness. He meekly instructs the ignorant and corrects those who are wrong.
If strife and enmity rise up against truth and righteousness, he will stand for truth and righteousness with firmness, but without irritation.
Having fulfilled the duty of just defense, he will not delay in returning to his inward peace. If not with joy over the triumph of peace, then at least with peaceful prayer even for the unpeaceful.
Thus one can and must understand him who said of himself: "With those who hated peace, I was peaceful" (Ps 119:6).
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 18 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS