fruit (as plucked) · noun — nominative singular masculine
righteousness
δικαιοσύνηςdikaiosunēs
G1343
equity (of character or act) · noun — genitive singular feminine
sown
σπείρεταιspeiretai
G4687
to scatter · verb — present passive indicative, 3rd person singular
in
ἐνen
G1722
"in · preposition
peace
εἰρήνῃeirēnē
G1515
peace (literally or figuratively) · noun — dative singular feminine
them
τοῖςtois
G3588
the (sometimes to be supplied · article — dative plural masculine
make
ποιοῦσινpoiousin
G4160
to make or do (in a very wide application · verb — present active participle, dative plural masculine
peace
εἰρήνην.¶eirēnēn
G1515
peace (literally or figuratively) · noun — accusative singular feminine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Hosea 10:12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain right…
Philippians 1:11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
Isaiah 32:16-17 Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
Galatians 6:8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasti…
Proverbs 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.
Proverbs 11:18 The wicked worketh a deceitful work: but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward.
John 4:36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice togethe…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on James 3:13–end
As the sins before condemned arise from an affectation of being thought more wise than others, and being endued with more knowledge than they, so the apostle in these verses shows the difference between men's pretending to be wise and their being really so, and between the wisdom which is from beneath (from earth or hell) and that which is from above.
I. We have some account of true wisdom, with the distinguishing marks and fruits of it: Who is a wise man, and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom, Jam 3:13. A truly wise man is a very knowing man: he will not set up for the reputation of being wise without laying in a good…
"The peaceable fruit of righteousness." He says "righteousness"; because it is itself the true wisdom. As in the case of the earthly wisdom, after the characteristic description came its results; so in this verse, in the case of the heavenly wisdom. There the results were present; here, future.
fruit . . . sown--Compare Psa 97:11; Isa 61:3, "trees of righteousness." Anticipatory, that is, the seed whose "fruit," namely, "righteousness," shall be ultimately reaped, is now "sown in peace." "Righteousness," now in germ, when fully developed as "fruit" shall be itself the everlasting reward of the righteous. As "sowing in peace" (compare "sown in dishonor," Co1 15:43) produces the "fruit of ri…
And the fruit of righteousness is sown - The whole is the principle of righteousness in the soul, and all the above virtues are the fruits of that righteousness.
Is sown in peace - When the peace of God rules the heart, all these virtues and graces grow and flourish abundantly.
Of them that make peace - The peace-makers are continually recommending this wisdom to others, and their own conduct is represented as a sowing of heavenly seed, which brings forth Divine fruit. Perhaps sowing in peace signifies sowing prosperously - being very successful. This is not only the proper disposition for every teacher of the Gospel, but for every professed follower of the Lord Jesus.
Some render this verse…
The Church Fathers
You shall rejoice in the morning, that is, in the world to come, if you have gathered the fruits of righteousness by weeping and labor in this world.
The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. Everything we do in this life is a seed of future retribution, and that retribution itself is the fruit of present works, as the Apostle bears witness, saying: For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. And he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life (Galatians VI). And therefore it is rightly said that the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. For the fruit of righteousness is eternal life, which is rewarded for just works, because those who seek peace follow it; with that same peace which they study, they sprinkle the soil of their heart as with the best seed, so that through the daily growth of good works they may be able to arrive at the fruit of heavenly life. Concerning this, it is written elsewhere: Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy (Psalm 126), and so on to the end of the psalm. But the wicked also sow and reap, because they will receive according to their deserts in judgment. However, they are known to reap not fruit, but corruption, because they do not enjoy eternal goods (for fruit is named from enjoying), but they will pay eternal penalties for the corruption in which they lived.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Fruit — A word as used in Scripture denoting produce in general, whether vegetable or animal. The Hebrews divided the fruits of the land into three classes:, (1.) The fruit of the field, “corn-fruit” (Heb.…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
And the fruit of righteousness,.... Which is either eternal life, which is the fruit of Christ's righteousness, and shall be enjoyed by all those who are justified by it; and who, in consequence of it, through the grace of God, live soberly, righteously, and godly; see Romans 6:22 or else what is enjoyed in this life, as the fruit and effect of a righteous and holy conversation, which is peace of conscience; and may be truly called the peaceable fruit of righteousness; see Isaiah 32:17
is sown in peace of them that make peace; that is, either such as are possessed of that wisdom which is peaceable, and makes them so; that peace which they make, pursue after, exercise, and maintain, is a see…
James 3:13-18
13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
13 Quis sapiens et intelligens inter vos? ostendat ex honesta conversatione opera sua in mansuetudine sapientiae.
14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
14 Si vero aemulationem amaraem habetis, et contentionem in corde vestro, ne gloriemini, et mentiamini adversus veritatem.
15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
15 Non est haec sapientia de sursum veniens, sed terrestris, animalis, daemonica.
16 For where envying and strife is, there is con…
James uses an agricultural image to emphasize the benefits of living by the wisdom from above: Those who plant seeds of peace in relationships will enjoy a luxuriant harvest of righteousness in those relationships (cp. Matt 5:9).
