Destruction of Bitterness; James 3:14
We saw last time that the word for "gentleness" in verse 13 is the Greek word PRAUTES [prauthj] and has to do ultimately with the concept of humility. But it is different from another Greek word, TAPEINOPHRONSUNE [topeinofrosunh], the standard word for humility, and that emphasizes someone who is not self-absorbed. In the Greek culture someone who exemplified this category of humility did not assert his own self-rights. So this is a person who is not focusing on himself or what his rights might be but is someone who is more concerned with others than himself. PRAUTES is more the application of that attitude. Sometimes it is translated gentleness, other tomes it is translated meekness, but it also has the idea of someone who is very much in control and has strength under control and is operating on God's plan for their life. It is used to describe Moses. Numbers 12:3 NASB "(Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.)" This is to be one of the basic character qualities to characterise the believer.
Ephesians 4:2 NASB "with all humility [topeinofrosunh] and gentleness [prauthj], with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love."
Colossians 3:12 NASB "So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility[topeinofrosunh], gentleness [prauthj] and patience."
So the idea here that underlies this is that the person who is grace oriented understands his place and role in the plan of God, that God has saved him on the basis of who and what He is and not on the basis of who and what he, the believer, is. It also emphasises the fact that it is someone who in their thinking is oriented to the plan of God and is moving forward in their life with the application of doctrine. So if you are spiritually mature, or think you are, then this should be demonstrated in your life through your behaviour and your character.
Now there is a contrast here. Many times the way we learn things is by contrasting one thing with another. So let us read through this and see how James contrasts true wisdom which is derived from the Word of God and should characterize the believer's life with human viewpoint wisdom—James 3:14-18. Verses 14-16 describe human viewpoint wisdom and its results and verses 17 & 18 describe divine viewpoint wisdom and its results.
James 3:14 NASB "But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and {so} lie against the truth. [15] This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural [soulish], demonic.
Human viewpoint thinking is always called foolishness. In contrast there is divine viewpoint which is true wisdom, and the biblical concept of wisdom comes from the Hebrew concept of chokmah which always means skilful application of knowledge.
James 3:14 NASB "But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and {so} lie against the truth." "But if" indicates a contrast. The "if" is a 1st class condition, if and it is assumed to be true. So, If, and we assume that it is true, that you have jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart. The Bible uses the term "heart" to refer to that which is at the very core of our thinking. As we have seen before there are two words that are used to describe our thinking. One is NOUS [nouj] which means our mind, and the other is KARDIA [kardia] which refers to the very centre core of our thinking, the most deeply held convictions in the mentality of our soul. As a believer, in our KARDIA, we have two categories of knowledge stored in the innermost part of our thinking. One is divine viewpoint and the other is human viewpoint, and when we are out of fellowship and operating on our sin nature we are going to operate on human viewpoint thinking. Only when we have used our grace recovery procedure to confess our sins we immediately recover the filling of the Holy Spirit who helps us to understand, recall and utilize doctrine, so that we return to utilizing the divine viewpoint or Bible doctrine that is stored in the thinking of our soul. So when we read the word "heart" we can translate it "the core thinking in our soul" and we will have a better idea. So, "If you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition dominating the core thinking in your soul, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth."
One of the things that we see here as we make our way down is that James uses a very interesting word in verse 16. Two Greek words in v. 14 are repeated again in v. 16: "For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing." He uses a very different word for "evil" when it comes down to that particular verse, he uses the Greek word PHAULOS [fauloj]. This is a word that came to mean something that was worthless or contemptible. It is a very practical type of word. It is not talking about evil in its inherent sense of moral evil, of systems of evil. It characterises evil as something that basically doesn't work, evil as something that is good for nothing and is ultimately destructive. So James, in keeping with the whole scene of this epistle, chooses a word a word for evil that focuses on its natural outworking, that evil never produces what you think it will produce. So what James is saying here is that if you are operating on a human viewpoint concept of life it is going to end up producing something that is trivial and good for nothing, and is ultimately destructive. It has the idea of something which is unstable and this reminds us of what James says back in 1:6-8. The person who is not operating on divine viewpoint on the basis of faith is unstable. This means that what he does has no value and is ultimately destructive, and so the term PHAULOS also has this idea of instability and destructiveness.
"But if you have bitter jealousy…" Here we have the combination of two words. The first is ZELON [zhlon], the accusative of ZELOS, the standard word for jealousy, and it is modified by PIKROS [pikroj], which is the standard word for bitterness. If you want to really mess up your life, if you want a formula to really make yourself miserable, how to destroy your family relationships, destroy your life, then you just start being bitter. Nothing is more destructive in life than a person who gives himself over to mental attitude sins of bitterness and jealousy. And the terms are related. Remember, the context of James is facing trials. So often when we face trials we see certain adversity that comes into life and instead of responding through the application of doctrine what we do is try to handle it ourselves and we react in terms of mental attitude sins and in terms of emotional sins such as resentment and bitterness. Then the second term here is "selfish ambition." This, too, is a very interesting word in the Greek, ERITHEIA [e)riqeia], and it is listed in almost every list of sins of the flesh in the Scriptures. It relates to a feeling or attitude of hostility or opposition. It emphasizes a self-centred or self-absorbed individual, someone who focuses on what they don't have and what somebody else has. It is exhibited in an attitude of resentment based upon jealousy and it implies the connotation of rivalry. So ERITHEIA is more than simple selfish ambition, it is jealousy, rivalry, resentment, inordinate ambition and competition, and it is based on arrogance, self-absorption, and ultimately the pursuit of something for merely personal gain. It is realted in terms of its root to another Greek word ERIS [e)rij], which is translated, for example, in Galatians 5:20 where it is described as dissension. So we can see that this whole word group emphasizes disputations, arguments, self-centredness, personal ambition, and all of the division and divisiveness that comes from that.
James says that if this is how you find yourself, then he is going to give a mandate to avoid it: "do not be arrogant and {so} lie against the truth." In other words, you are going to have to recognize this.
The doctrine of bitterness
1) The Greek noun is PIKRIA [pikria] and it refers to the results from grief, disappointment, disillusion with circumstances, people or events; when life goes completely different from the way you think it ought to be. As a result of that we begin to focus more and more on self, so we become self-absorbed which is the first of the arrogance skills.
2) Bitterness is a mental attitude sin produced from the sin nature and has its source in arrogance and self-absorption.
3) Bitterness is often related to self-justification and self-deception; it is the opposite of humility and meekness. A classic example is in Hebrews 12. Remember in Hebrews the writer is addressing primarily a Jewish audience; James is addressing a primarily Jewish audience. The writer to the Hebrews is addressing a Jewish audience as primarily priests who are going through various tests and adversities, primarily pressure from the Jewish community because they have become Christians, and they are ready to throw away their Christianity and go back to the old Judaistic sacrificial system of the Mosaic law. So the writer of Hebrews is warning them that if they go back into the old ways then they will forfeit the blessings that they have as a believer, eternal rewards and eternal inheritance. In order to encourage the readers the writer has come to chapter eleven where he focuses on numerous Old Testament heroes and how they advance to spiritual maturity through learning doctrine and applying it in their lives. Then he comes to a conclusion in 12:1 NASB "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance [HUPOMONES/ u((pomonhj] the race that is set before us,