“The possession of wisdom was made a claim to teachership” (Hort). So
the absence of wisdom is a positive disqualification. One may, no doubt,
possess wisdom and yet not be able to teach. But the lack of wisdom is
itself a sufficient bar. The wrong spirit shows the lack of wisdom. “But
if ye have bitter jealousy and faction in your heart,” what then? There
were many controversialists who had both of these vices.
Jealousy is not evil per se. It wavers between the good and evil sense
and in itself is merely zeal, which may be for good or ill. (For the
good use see 2 Cor. 11:2; Gal. 1:14.) Sometimes this zeal was not
according to knowledge (Rom. 10:2). Envy is distinguished from zeal
(emulation) by Aristotle (Rhet. ii. 11. 1). But in the New Testament the
bad sense of this word prevails (James 4:5; 1 Cor. 3:3; Gal. 5:20; Rom.
13:13), and it is listed with the works of the flesh. The bitterness of
jealousy is only too well understood by those who give way to this petty
vice. It tastes bitter, and the taste lasts a long time. Bitterness is
itself punishment enough for the victims of the sin (Eph. 4:31).
The other word, “faction” or “party spirit,” has an uncertain etymology,
probably from the word for hireling. At any rate, the word is soon
applied to partisans who court and bribe adherents to their candidate.
It presents the very quintessence of partisanship and of
narrow-mindedness. This is not a mark of wisdom and is not a thing to
boast of, at any rate. “Glory not” about it, “do not pride yourselves on
that” (Moffatt). And yet this is precisely what many of the Jewish
Christians were doing already. Thus they lied against the truth, were
“false to the truth,” as Moffatt has it. Such partisan triumph is
usually obtained by underhand methods and by the suppression of part of
the truth. There is such a thing as “poisoned truth.” So partisan
victory often leaves a bitter sting, because those in defeat know that
an unfair advantage has been taken of them and of the truth of God.
It is clear that these opening chapters in the Epistle of James reveal a
pitiful condition of controversy among some of the Jewish churches, such
as Paul has to rebuke in Corinth later (cf. 1 Cor. 1-4). “The whole
Christianity of many a devotee consists only, we may say, in a bitter
contempt for the sins of sinners, in a proud and loveless contention
with what it calls the wicked world” (Stier).
The point of James is precisely this. The very contentiousness which
they regarded as supreme proof of their qualifications as exponents of
the faith is here urged by James as absolute proof that they are
disqualified for the position of teachers. Their bitterness makes it
improper for them to talk about love and gentleness. Sometimes the very
fierceness of one’s contention for orthodoxy drives some people into
heresy. It is a sad outcome when one’s high and holy ambition to teach
the things of Christ is frustrated by a Christless spirit of wrangling
and personal abuse.