Who is wise and understanding among you?
By his good conduct let him show his works
in the meekness of wisdom.
Three words stand out to me in this verse concerning wisdom--conduct, works, and meekness. Let's go backward and talk about how these may relate to wisdom.
Meekness. This seems to indicate that humility is a prerequisite to wisdom. As defined by Daniel Webster:
MEE'KNESS, n. Softness of temper; mildness; gentleness; forbearance under injuries and provocations.
1. In an evangelical sense, humility; resignation; submission to the divine will, without murmuring or peevishness; opposed to pride, arrogance and refractoriness.
Meekness is a grace which Jesus alone inculcated, and which no ancient philosopher seems to have understood or recommended.
It certainly appears that flaunting our "wisdom" with mere talk and without humility may just indicate that we are not wise at all.
2. Works. James uses works once again to indicate our spiritual strength. Earlier he indicated that without works, faith is dead. Now he is using our good works in conjunction with wisdom. It seems evident that unless we flesh out wisdom through good works, we are not really wise at all.
3. Conduct. "I don't care what people think about me. I'll live life as I please." Have you ever heard anyone say that? How ridiculous! First of all, I think we all care in one way or the other. But more importantly, if we want wisdom in our lives, our conduct must be good.
"In a general sense, personal behavior; course of actions; deportment; applicable equally to a good or a bad course of actions; as laudable conduct; detestable conduct." (Daniel Webster's definition of conduct)
How we live is another indicator of our wisdom.
As we seek wisdom with good conduct, good works, and meekness,