A Word Of Wisdom: It’s About Being Compliant

People will do well in life if they are wise. Feel free to argue against that if you want.

As you do that, however, working on that assumption, this recent series on Above vs Below has contrasted wisdom from below with the wisdom that comes from God. The basis of that has been what James outlines about the two types of wisdom.

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is … submissive

James 3:17 (NIV)

On this occasion, we come to a very interesting characteristic. If you read it in a variety of English translations you come across a variety of words. I’ve used the NIV because it gets the closest to the term as I understand it at this time. By that, I refer to a fascinating old Greek word which is apparently the one written by James.

So we have this fascinating Greek word that only crops up once in the Bible and the meaning of it is interesting. Eupeithes means ‘easy to inteated’ or ‘compliant’. What a quality, eh. It definitely does not sound like a quality that you’d want to have if you want to present yourself as a strong character. Especially in a day and age where people who are compliant have often been manipulated, abused and mistreated. There is an understandable concern about the power dynamic that suggests that if you’re not careful, you will be the victim of one thing or the other. You have to be strong – so you’re told. Being strong certainly means that you cannot be compliant – so you’re informed. How on earth can James be saying that godly wisdom is marked by being compliant?

The first thing to consider is that wisdom from above keeps your focus looking up. You are all the good on the earth if your mind stays on things above. That direction is not a vague upwards glance to something in your head. That direction is faith-based focus on the Creator of the universe who reaches you as His child to look to Him to shape character in line with what He designed you to be in the first place. Thus, you are compliant with Him. His direction is something that you will agree with, find reasonable and submit to.

A key hallmark of Jesus on the earth was His compliance with the will of His Father. Jesus was content to leave the direction for His words and action to the direction of His Father. That level of compliance and dependence is the reason for His success in ministry from the things that He did to the things that He said and how everything turned out well for Him. That’s why Paul writes to the church in Philippi about this kind of mindset is the one that leads to every knee bowing and every tongue confessing that He is Lord. That is to say, because of His example of being compliant, the obedient Son was in the best place to rule.

Order and structure are based on compliance. Flowing in harmony is likewise based on that degree of compliance. The alternative is obstinance and resistance that makes for good reasons to be independent and self-reliant, but that is not a healthy expression of life at all. Thus the wisdom of God flows with the other attributes – peace-loving, gentle, that’s not about selfishness. It’s all about preferring others first and being willing to comply with others for whatever makes for peace. That’s the wisdom from above. It’s not about being soft because your first responsibility is to comply with God and allow that desire to determine how you engage with others. That will call for times of not accepting foolishness and injustice. That will call for making a stand where it’s needed. In all of those calls, though, wisdom indicates that the approach is to do that which promotes compliance to God and a preference to serve others.

The wisdom from above, as noted earlier, does face opposition from a prominent and pervasive view that goes for wisdom today. This is wisdom that says that you are number one and everything should comply with you and you should not need to comply with anyone else. the kind of perspective that makes the desire to comply a weakness. That paints a negative picture of what it is to be submissive.

This is why Jesus embodies the alternative. He is not an ideal that remains unattainable. He is the example exactly because He shows the way and gives us the ability to live that way and see why that way is the best way. As He was able to comply with the will of His Father and then showed the servant heart that submitted to others, so He shows that as the way to bring about a loving, flowing, harmonious community where relationships are about the other.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

C. L. J. Dryden