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August 10th, 2026
by Lance Waldie

James 3:13 Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.

In both the Old and New Testaments there are two kinds of wisdom: God’s wisdom and worldly wisdom (cf. Jas. 3:15). In 3:13, James proposes the next test of true salvation: whether one possesses wisdom and understanding. James, however, is not talking about intelligence, and he is not talking about worldly wisdom; he is talking about saving faith in Jesus Christ—a faith that possesses a certain kind of wisdom contrary to worldly wisdom. This kind of wisdom is not measured in what a person knows per se; it is measured in how a person lives.

In the OT, when God offered to grant the newly crowned King Solomon anything he asked for, whether riches, honor, fame, etc., Solomon asked for only one thing: wisdom (2 Chron. 1:7-13). Since wisdom would guide him through economic, military, and social issues of his reign, the only way to rule over God’s people with any degree of success was to be given wisdom that comes from God. Solomon would later write, “The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 9:10; cf. 1:7; Job 28:28; Ps 111:10, LSB). Few knew this better than Solomon.

In the OT, possessors of godly wisdom were men and women of faith (e.g., Abraham, Noah, Moses, David)—people highlighted in Hebrews 11 as the stalwarts of OT salvation. This saving wisdom is a gift from God, seen not only in how He gave it to Solomon but in how He gave it to men like Daniel. For after Nebuchadnezzar took Judah captive to Babylon in 605 BC, God gave Daniel and his three friends “knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom; Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dreams” (Dan. 1:17; cf. 5:14).

In the Book of Proverbs, wisdom is personified as a woman calling to the simple to receive and embrace her (Prov. 8). True wisdom concerned not only hearing God speak but obeying the word of God: “So now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God ask from you, but to fear Yahweh your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of Yahweh and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?” (Deut. 10:12-13; cf. 8:6; 14:23; 17:19, LSB).

James says, “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (1:5). The Apostle Paul declared that Christ is “the power of God and the wisdom of God… who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:24, 30). He reminded the Colossians that in Christ “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3). And to the Roman Christians Paul wrote, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!” (Rom. 11:33).

One with the wisdom, or salvation, will “show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom” (Jas. 3:13). If one of the tests of true faith (cf. 2 Cor. 13:5) is godly wisdom—faith at work, then such a one will build his life on the rock foundation of Christ, not the sandy foundation of worldly wisdom (Matt. 7:24-26). Such a one is ready right now for Christ’s return, a man found busy in his faithfulness to Christ at the second advent (Matt. 24:42-52; 25:1-13). Since Jesus Christ Himself is “the power and wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:24, 30), and since His words found in Scripture are able to give us the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 3:15), then the wisdom that James is talking about is saving faith. And saving faith has a specific look, a look James describes in 3:13-18. He will describe as much what true wisdom is as to what it is not. So, “who among you is wise and understanding?” Answer: those who love Christ and whose behavior clearly indicates such. All others will be proven to be false believers, seeking worldly wisdom and shunning godly wisdom.