SUMMARY
The wisdomWisdom encompasses the qualities of experience, knowledge, and good judgment. The Old Testament book of Proverbs, which sometimes invokes a Woman as the personification of Wisdom, is a collection of aphorisms and moral teachings. Along with other biblical passages, it teaches, "The fear of the... More that is from above, given generously by God to all who ask for it, is full of mercyMercy is a term used to describe leniency or compassion. God's mercy is frequently referred to or invoked in both the Old and New Testaments. More and good fruits, while earthly wisdom is unspiritual and deadly.
ANALYSIS
These verses resume the focus on wisdom that is introduced in James 1:5-6, and they express a key theological perspective that shapes the whole letter with its predominant motifs of exhortation. Wisdom is certainly the most “perfect” gift that comes down from the Father as part of God’s gifts to creationCreation, in biblical terms, is the universe as we know or perceive it. Genesis says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In the book of Revelation (which speaks of end times) the author declares that God created all things and... More (1:17), for God gives wisdom generously and ungrudgingly to all who ask for it with sincere and single-minded faith (1:5-6). Just as this perspective breathes with the confidence that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10), it also lives in the confidence that wisdom endows the believer with a single-minded ability to act in responsible ways in the world. Wisdom endures with patience in the midst of testing, knowing that God tempts no one to sin, but that temptation comes from specific wants and desires. This wisdom from above enables and fosters a disciplined unity of hearing and doing that is expressed in impartial acts of mercy, justice, and peace. It is this confidence in the power of wisdom to have real practical consequences for living in the world that occasions the letter’s characteristic mood of exhortation.
