Fight Club

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.  James 3:17  NASB Reasonable – Is faith reasonable?  In the post-Kiekegaardian era, this question might be answered, “No, faith goes beyond reason.”  But Kierkegaard’s distinction between faith and reason never crossed James’ mind.  Kierkegaard’s…

An Oxford Education

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.  James 3:17  NASB Gentle – When I arrived at Trinity College, Oxford as a graduate student, I was invited to dinner with the president of the college.  I assumed that this was a formal…

State of Play

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.  James 3:17  NASB Peaceable –  James writes in Greek, but he isn’t thinking in Greek.  The Greek word he uses is eirenikos.  The root is eirene, and in the Greek world this is a…

Two Come First!

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.  James 3:17  NASB First – As you may know, the Greek word for “first” is proton.  Not too hard to remember in this age of science and atoms.  As we discovered, James made a…

Triple Play

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.  James 3:17  NASB Pure – James, Paul and John agree.  They each use this rather rare Greek word for the same thing – moral purity.  Paul uses it in 1 Timothy 5:22.  John uses…

The Order of Righteousness

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.  James 3:17  NASB From above – First let’s straighten out John 3:3.  James uses the same word here (anothen) that we find in John 3:3.  But the Christian evangelical world chooses to translate anothen…

God’s Children

who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.  John 1:13 ESV Blood – Pretend you are a Jewish reader of John’s gospel living at the end of the first century.  You would find striking parallels between John’s opening verses and the…