Wisdom is not the abstract Stoic
notion, but is practical in the concrete biblical perspective of knowing how to
lead a life following God’s law. According to the Scriptures, God is the source
of all wisdom: “The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord” (Prov 9:10).
“Indeed, though one be perfect among mortals, if Wisdom, who comes from you,
be lacking, that one will count for nothing” (Wis 9:6). Wisdom is the gift
required for perfection, wholeness, completion. James instructs his
hearers/readers that if they lack wisdom they are to ask God in faith. This
reflects the Q saying of Jesus: “Ask and it will be given to you” (Matt 7:7;
Luke 11:9). For James, a lack of faith in God is the cause of unanswered prayer.
James coins an innovative word “of two minds” (dipsychos, literally
“double-minded”) demonstrating a divided demonstrating a divided loyalty, as
Jesus notes in the Sermon on the Mount, “No one can serve to masters . . . You
cannot serve God and mammon” (matt 6:24). This becomes a central theme in the
letter culminating with a call to choose between friendship with God and
friendship with the world (4:4). It also reflects Jesus’ “two paths tradition”
found in Matthew 7;13-14 (and later in Did. 1;1). “But he should ask in faith,
not doubting,” echoes Jesus’ characteristic teaching of unwavering faith in
prayer: “Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive” (Matt
21:21-22; Mark 11:23-24). (Patrick J. Hartin, “James,” in The Jerome
Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century, ed. John J. Collins, Gina
Hens-Piazza, Barbara Reid, and Donald Senior [3d ed.; London: T&T
Clark, 2022], 1801)
