Who is really wise? James 3:13-18 asks this question and answers it by showing that people may be wise according to two different standards - the world or God.
The world has wisdom and God has wisdom. Throughout this passage, James never says that the world doesn’t have wisdom, but he’s very clear that it isn’t God’s wisdom. He puts a clear divider between the world’s wisdom and God’s wisdom. We need to know the difference because we have wisdom according to one of these two standards.
Self-exalting, pride-inflating wisdom is not of God. It may be a kind of wisdom, but it is the wisdom of this world, the flesh, and the Devil. You may think you’re wise, but if your wisdom proceeds from a heart set on self-exaltation, it isn’t God’s wisdom. Rather, it is the kind of wisdom that is the exact opposite of God’s wisdom.
