Bible Strands
James 3:16
For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every evil practice.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The author addresses a community of believers who are evaluating competing sources of wisdom. He speaks at the moment of contrasting demonic, earthly wisdom with heavenly wisdom to expose their practical results.
The words — ζῆλος (zēlos) denotes jealous rivalry, and ἐριθεία (eritheia) denotes factional self-interest. The text states that where these motives operate, disorder and every evil practice will exist.
The thread — This connection appears in James 3:14, where jealousy and selfish ambition are explicitly condemned, and in 1 Corinthians 3:3, where such traits define worldly conduct. Paul reinforces the pattern in 1 Corinthians 14:33 by stating that God is not a God of disorder but of peace.
Why it lands — The verse requires readers to inspect their internal motives before claiming spiritual insight. It demands the abandonment of factional ambition in favor of actions that produce peace rather than chaos.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
Cross-references
- James 3:14 But if you harbor bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast in it or deny the truth.
- 1 Corinthians 3:3 for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man?
- 1 Corinthians 14:33 For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace—as in all the churches of the saints.
- 1 John 3:12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain slay him? Because his own deeds were evil, while those of his brother were righteous.
- Galatians 5:20 idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions,
- Genesis 11:9 That is why it is called Babel, for there the LORD confused the language of the whole world, and from that place the LORD scattered them over the face of all the earth.
- Acts 19:29 Soon the whole city was in disarray. They rushed together into the theatre, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia.