14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.
14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.
14 Mean-spirited ambition isn't wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn't wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn't wisdom.
14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.
14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don't cover up the truth with boasting and lying.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on James 3:14
Commentary on James 3:13-18
(Read James 3:13-18)
These verses show the difference between men's pretending to be wise, and their being really so. He who thinks well, or he who talks well, is not wise in the sense of the Scripture, if he does not live and act well. True wisdom may be know by the meekness of the spirit and temper. Those who live in malice, envy, and contention, live in confusion; and are liable to be provoked and hurried to any evil work. Such wisdom comes not down from above, but springs up from earthly principles, acts on earthly motives, and is intent on serving earthly purposes. Those who are lifted up with such wisdom, described by the apostle James, is near to the Christian love, described by the apostle Paul; and both are so described that every man may fully prove the reality of his attainments in them. It has no disguise or deceit. It cannot fall in with those managements the world counts wise, which are crafty and guileful; but it is sincere, and open, and steady, and uniform, and consistent with itself. May the purity, peace, gentleness, teachableness, and mercy shown in all our actions, and the fruits of righteousness abounding in our lives, prove that God has bestowed upon us this excellent gift.