James 3:15

Webster's Bible (1833)

This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonic.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

Οὐκ ἔστιν αὕτη ἡ σοφία ἄνωθεν κατερχομένη, ἀλλʼ ἐπίγειος, ψυχική, δαιμονιώδης.

Transliteration

Not estin this the sophia from anōthen katerchomenē, but epigeios, psychikē, daimoniōdēs.

Grammar Details

• *estin*: present indicative, active, 3rd singular - is
• *sophia*: nominative, feminine, singular - wisdom
• *anōthen*: adverb - from above/from the beginning
• *katerchomenē*: present participle, middle, nominative, feminine, singular - coming down
• *epigeios*: nominative, feminine, singular - earthly/worldly
• *psychikē*: nominative, feminine, singular - natural/unspiritual
• *daimoniōdēs*: nominative, feminine, singular - demonic

Word Meanings

• *sophia*: wisdom/skill/knowledge
• *anōthen*: from above/from heaven/from God
• *katerchomenē*: coming down/descending
• *epigeios*: earthly/worldly/terrestrial
• *psychikē*: natural/unspiritual/belonging to the soul
• *daimoniōdēs*: demonic/devilish/inspired by demons

Referenced Verses

• Jas 1:17 : 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow.
• Jude 1:19 : 19 These are they who cause divisions, and are sensual, not having the Spirit.
• Jas 3:17 : 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
• 1 Tim 4:1 : 1 But the Spirit says expressly that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons,
• Jas 1:5 : 5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him.
• 1 Cor 3:19 : 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, "He has taken the wise in their craftiness."
• 2 Cor 1:12 : 12 For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God we behaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you.
• 1 Cor 2:14 : 14 Now the natural man doesn't receive the things of God's Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can't know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
• Phil 3:19 : 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who think about earthly things.
• 2 Thess 2:9 : 9 even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
• 1 Cor 3:3 : 3 for you are still fleshly. For insofar as there is jealousy, strife, and factions among you, aren't you fleshly, and don't you walk in the ways of men?
• 2 Cor 11:3 : 3 But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
• 2 Cor 11:13-15 : 13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as Christ's apostles. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is no great thing therefore if his ministers also masquerade as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
• Gen 3:1-5 : 1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, "Yes, has God said, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?'" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" 4 The serpent said to the woman, "You won't surely die, 5 for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
• 2 Sam 13:3 : 3 But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David's brother; and Jonadab was a very subtle man.
• 2 Sam 15:31 : 31 One told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. David said, Yahweh, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.
• 2 Sam 16:23 : 23 The counsel of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if a man inquired at the oracle of God: so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.
• Jer 4:22 : 22 For my people are foolish, they don't know me; they are foolish children, and they have no understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
• Luke 16:8 : 8 "His lord commended the dishonest manager because he had done wisely, for the children of this world are, in their own generation, wiser than the children of the light.
• John 3:17 : 17 For God didn't send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
• John 8:44 : 44 You are of your Father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn't stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it.
• Acts 13:10 : 10 and said, "Full of all deceit and all cunning, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
• Rom 1:22 : 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
• 1 Cor 1:19-20 : 19 For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing." 20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the lawyer of this world? Hasn't God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
• 1 Cor 1:27 : 27 but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong;
• 1 Cor 2:6-7 : 6 We speak wisdom, however, among those who are full grown; yet a wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nothing. 7 But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds for our glory,
• 1 John 3:8-9 : 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever is born of God doesn't commit sin, because his seed remains in him; and he can't sin, because he is born of God. 10 In this the children of God are revealed, and the children of the devil. Whoever doesn't do righteousness is not of God, neither is he who doesn't love his brother.
• Rev 2:24 : 24 But to you I say, to the rest who are in Thyatira, as many as don't have this teaching, who don't know what some call 'the deep things of Satan,' to you I say, I am not putting any other burden on you.
• Rev 9:11 : 11 They have over them as king the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is "Abaddon,"{"Abaddon" is a Hebrew word that means ruin, destruction, or the place of destruction} but in Greek, he has the name "Apollyon."{"Apollyon" means "Destroyer."}
• Rev 12:9 : 9 The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.