James 3:18 – “Sowing”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹³Who [is] wise and understanding among you? Let him display his works out of the good lifestyle in humility of wisdom. ¹⁴But if you have bitter passion and factiousness in your heart, do not boast over or lie against the truth. ¹⁵Such wisdom is not coming down from above but [it is] earthly, animal, demonic, ¹⁶for, where [there is] passion and factiousness, there [is] disorder and every foul practice.

¹⁷But the from above wisdom is first pure, then peaceable, reasonable, agreeable, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, [and] without pretense. ¹⁸And [the] fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those making peace.

I have come finally to the end of chapter 3 and the end (sort of) of James’ discussion of real wisdom. The last verse, v18, is somewhat of a summary verse, so I have included above the whole section from v13 to the end. I’ve never before understood how v18 was connected to the other verses, or really what it meant, quite frankly. (For whatever it’s worth, I suspect that this isn’t the “end” of this section, that James’ thoughts continue on into chapter 4, “What causes fights and quarrels among you?” But I’ll have to wait until I study that to see if I am still convinced that is true and what truths those verses might add).

Like the rest of this passage, all the way back to verse 1, I think what James is saying is – or ought to be – a bombshell. I myself have read this passage a thousand times, memorized it, even taught through it, but I’ve never taken the time to let the Lord open my eyes and see what He’s saying. Now that I have, I think this passage and verse 18 in particular ought to strike our hearts like a million volt lightning bolt.

“And [the] fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those making peace.”

James asked in v13, “Who is wise and understanding among you?” What do we naturally think our “wisdom and understanding” will produce? Righteousness. Right living. Right behavior. Right choices. People who know how to “do right.” And that is certainly a good goal. In our lifetimes, we’ve all had the pleasure of knowing a few people who were “right” – people who just didn’t seem to have any bad habits or quirks, people you could count on to be there when they should be, doing what they should be doing. That’s righteousness, being “right.” To think we have “wisdom and understanding” and then to desire to impart that to others so they can be “right,” so relationships can be “right,” is one of the major motivations to “teach” whether it be in an official capacity, whether it be us as parents trying to guide our children, or simply the things we tell each other in everyday relationships. We’re wanting, in effect, to “raise a harvest of righteousness.”

The issue James is pondering in v18 is the question of how we go about it. James would have us to know the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace. This is precisely the bombshell I think we should all consider. Sown in peace. In other words (back to vv. 13-16), if my own heart is not at peace, it is very likely whatever I do will not result in righteousness. He said the same thing in 1:19,20: “… [Be] slow to become angry, because man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life God desires.” Once again, He would have us vigilant to monitor our hearts. And once again, I’m thinking it is so easy to justify my anger when I think I’m “right,” when I think I’m somehow trying to accomplish something “right.” But this, I think, is James’ whole point all the way back to verse 1 of this chapter. It’s easy to think we’re “right” but unfortunately we have these mouths set on fire by hell. It’s easy to think we’re “right” but even if we are, if there isn’t peace in our hearts, the “wisdom” that comes out may actually be demonic!

So what about my heart? Rather than majoring on the fact I think I’m “right,” I need to be most vigilant simply to know what’s in my heart. The fruit of righteousness is only sown in peace. This calls for more thought!

Sooooo …. Interesting that James talks about sowing “the fruit” of righteousness. You would think he’d talk about sowing the seeds of righteousness, not the fruit. You sow the seeds not the fruit. But then we do the same thing in English – for instance, if I stick an acorn in the ground I say I planted a tree. Of course you don’t plant a “tree” (unless it’s a little one!). You plant seeds that become trees. I think that is called a prolepsis – where you’re so focused on what your actions produce, you call it that. I think that is what the NIV translation is trying to bring out when they translate the verse, “Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.” It is literally, “[The] fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those making peace.” In a way the two translations are very different, but on the other hand they really mean the same. But, is righteousness what is sown or what is harvested? I think the actual Greek is a prolepsis, but the NIV just comes out and says it. That’s one of those cases where I’d rather stick more closely to the literal Scripture itself, but then I can’t fault the NIV for making it understandable either.

Continuing to ponder the passage … Interesting too that in the parable of the sower and the seed, it is actually the Word of God that is sown, and the sower is the Son of Man, Jesus.  I wonder if one of the ways we can stay at peace in our hearts is to be sincerely trying to keep Scripture in our minds even as we deal with others and also to remember that the real sower is Jesus, not me. In other words, even as I’m speaking, if any real righteousness gets sown, it will be Jesus doing it, not me. He’ll do it through me, but it’s Him doing it. I need to be thinking what He would think, saying what He would say. He is the ultimate “peacemaker.”

Another interesting note is that verse 18 presents the results of “from above” wisdom, while v16 tells us the results of the earthly wisdom. Earthly wisdom produces “disorder and every foul practice.” “From above” wisdom produces the fruit of righteousness. This would tell us that, as appealing as earthly wisdom may be, it doesn’t fix anything. Only “from above” wisdom makes things “right,” makes people “right,” makes relationships “right.” When in the long run what we think is wisdom isn’t making things “right,” there’s a good chance it isn’t “from above.”

In over 35 years of walking with God, there have been so many ways I thought I was doing the right thing, so many ways I even thought something was Biblical, yet it didn’t “work.” It clearly did not produce righteousness, no matter how hard I worked at it. Now looking back it makes perfect sense to me why not. Even what really was Biblical, if it wasn’t sown in peace, could not and would not produce anything right. God could not and would not bless it. I did not sufficiently fear my mouth set on fire by hell or my “wisdom” that could be Scripture and yet be demonic. The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those making peace. Only when the Son of Man is the sower will the seeds sprout the fruit of righteousness.

Legalism is a huge player in this problem, I think. It makes so much sense to reduce faith to rules and “principles” and “applications” and “do’s and don’ts.” It made perfect sense to the Pharisees and it still makes perfect sense to us today. That “wisdom” left them rotten back then and it is still leaving us rotten today. I specifically remember teaching things like music “standards” and being very aware “This is nowhere in the Bible,” yet telling myself, “These are good applications. These ‘principles’ and ‘standards’ will help people apply Scripture,” then taught them, in reality, as if they were Scripture. So much of what I taught and believed was really just all these “principles” and “applications” we’ve added to the Bible -- legalism. Yet for it all, people just went on being rotten. It didn’t help at all and I couldn’t understand it. In the long run all I could see was still “disorder and every foul practice.” Now I see why. Legalism does not somehow help faith. It eclipses it. It is not “from above” wisdom. It is earthly. And yes, let’s call it what God calls it – demonic. The tragedy in America is that I’m not sure 99.99999%  of us even see the problem. God help us all. No wonder “Christianity” has so dismally failed in America. For all the preaching, all the multiplied services, all the “ministries,” all the programs, all the “evangelistic” drives, this country has gone to hell in a handbasket. It has and it will until we learn to walk in “from above” wisdom, until we learn to fear these mouths set on fire by hell, until we cry out to God to give us His wisdom and help us live it, to be peacemakers who sow in peace, to let the Son of Man be the sower and us just willing vessels.

Where the wisdom really is “from above” and where it is sown in peace it will raise a harvest of righteousness, it will make us and make people “first pure, then peaceable, reasonable, agreeable, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, [and] without pretense.” Then and only then. “The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by ones making peace.”

Sower, sow in me.