Scripture Sunday: Season of Creation James 3:13 – 4:3, 7-8a

James 3:13 – 4:3, 7-8a
3:13 Who is wise and understandable among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. 3:14 But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be arrogant and lie about the truth. 3:15 This is not wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. 3:16 For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.

3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. 3:18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

4:1 Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you?

4:2 You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. 4:3 You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.
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4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

Our creation justice alert should be triggered when we read James 3:15: “This is not wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish.” Verses like this are often pulled out of context to support the idea that creation is bad, should be avoided, and that our goal is to move toward what is spiritual and better.

At first glance, this argument seems to make sense. As James describes, earthly wisdom and actions lead to envy, selfishness, arrogance, lies, wickedness, and disorder. On the other hand, wisdom from above is pure, peaceable, gentle, full of mercy, impartial, and without hypocrisy. Naturally, we want to strive for this heavenly wisdom, not the earthly kind that James condemns.
But this understanding—of leaving the earthly behind to pursue the spiritual—misses the full story of the Bible. The union of heaven and earth is at the heart of the biblical story. In the beginning, God created a garden where the earthly and spiritual were united, a place where humans could dwell in partnership with God—until the curse brought separation. Humanity sought to create their own world, and in doing so, the devil became the ruler instead of God.

Throughout Israel’s history, God provided spaces where heaven and earth could be united again. The temple, for example, was a physical place where God's Spirit dwelled, and through sacrifice, humans could experience a return to the unity with God that was intended from the start. In Jesus, we see the ultimate fulfillment of this union. Jesus himself was a temple, God’s physical presence among the people. His teachings emphasize the importance of bringing heaven to earth, as in the Lord’s Prayer: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus wasn’t interested in abandoning the earthly for the spiritual—he sought to bring the spiritual into the earthly, to bring them back in union.

When James refers to the “earthly” in 3:15, he’s talking about a fallen, sinful world ruled by injustice and the devil. On the other hand, the “wisdom from above” is the divine wisdom of God. It's also important to clarify what we mean by “from above” or “spiritual.” Just because something is spiritual doesn’t mean it’s good—the devil and demons are spiritual too! When James talks about spiritual wisdom, he is referring to the presence of God, filled with justice and truth.
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James calls us to do exactly what Jesus teaches us to pray: to bring heavenly wisdom to earth. We are to resist the devil and draw near to God, with the promise that God will draw near to us. As we do this, we partner with God to bring peace and justice—qualities that come from above. Through this partnership, we can heal the earth, not by abandoning it, but by transforming it through heavenly wisdom and fleeing from what is earthly.


Caroline Hiler is a Seminary Intern at Creation Justice Ministries.