Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

of the basic building blocks, the ABC’s of this world, as all of mankind encounters
them (Col. 2:8).
This undoubtedly included Heraclitus, Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle and
Plotinus in the NT time period, and would include Descartes, Hume, Kant,
Hegel and Heidegger in our day and age. However much (or little) they may
hit the jackpot clinically, they are and remain ultimately “empty and deceitful.”
Both James and Paul go to extreme lengths to drive this home. Too terribly
often the wisdom of the world is extolled in Christian circles in a “yes,
but” attitude. Sure, so goes the reasoning, we must take James’ and Paul’s
condemnatory judgment in account. But, since all truth is God’s truth, and the
Christian does not have an exclusive corner on it, it is permissible and advisable,
if not compulsory, to go to school and do extensive coursework “in the
world.”
Of course, my aim here is not to deny that all truth is God’s truth, and
that God’s truth is everywhere. No one can escape it because we live in God’s
world. But it is to issue a solemn warning for any sort of “pagan truth” not to
function as a “pacman” that gobbles up the sobering judgment of James and
Paul. In positing the chasm-like antithesis between worldly and divine wisdom
they alert the Church to a veritable matter of life and death! It is rather
ironic that the world in willy-nilly coming up with truths (plural) from the
perspective of the inconsistent application of their presuppositions, still suppresses,
and always will suppress the truth (singular) in unrighteousness by
virtue of these same presuppositions (Rom. 1:18)!
Ultimately therefore, the conclusion is warranted, if not obligatory, not
only that all untruths in a pagan and apostate framework are identical to Satan’s
lies, but also, as I mentioned already, and argue more extensively below,
that all God’s truths in that same framework are simultaneously Satan’s lies,
just as the undoubtedly “splendid and useful contribution” of Ananias and
Sapphira at the same time constituted a devilish, death-earning, lie against
God (Acts 5:1ff). The same pattern is in evidence here as in the
trial/temptation complex. James undeniably indicates that a trial is at the same
time a temptation, regardless whether it is a matter of poverty or riches, and
vice versa a temptation at the same time a trial, even if the objectives are
poles apart (See for details this Commentary on Jam. 1:2ff). Common grace
invariably constitutes a matter of riches. Regardless, it qualifies both as a trial
and a temptation.
(2) “Sensual” (psuchikos) here stands for the physical world, the world
of the senses, which humans share with the animals (Phil. 3:19) (Laws, 161-
162; Henry, III, 1296). The wisdom from below apparently does not transcend
the animate level either. “Sharing the life-force of the animals” (Laws,
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