Weekly Email: April 13, 2026

Weekly Email

Apr 13

We are heading into Week 2 of the Spring 2 term. I hope you all are settling in and finding your rhythm with your courses. This week I want to share something that's been on my mind as I've been teaching through James 1, and I also have a couple of things I want to make sure are on your radar for the next few weeks.

In this email:

Student Tip: Wisdom Is Not Knowledge
Program News: Preview Day and Graduation Campus Tours

Student Tip: Wisdom Is Not Knowledge

I'm currently teaching exegesis of James for Boyce College online, and my students are getting ready to start through James 1 this week. It's had me reading through the first chapter again and thinking about what James has to say to us today.

One verse that always strikes me is James 1:5. "Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without doubting." I don't know about you, but I find this verse easy to understand intellectually and much harder to actually live out. It's been a journey for me, trying to figure out what it looks like to ask God for wisdom and to do it in faith.

In seminary, so much of what you're doing is about knowledge, or at least it can come across that way. And knowledge of God and knowledge of His Word are important. They give you a foundation for understanding how to live, how to teach, how to think through things. But wisdom is different. When you read through the Jewish wisdom tradition that James is drawing from, you start to see that wisdom is far more than knowledge or good decision-making. For James, wisdom is a gift from God that enables you to stand firm when you're being tested. It's the capacity to see your life, your circumstances, your trials from God's perspective rather than the world's. Wisdom helps you look at a hard situation and recognize what God is doing in it, rather than just reacting to the pain of it. It reorients your whole posture toward life.

You could go through seminary and get all the good grades, feel good about where you're at, improve your writing, sharpen your exegesis. Those are all important things, and I don't want to denigrate them. But are you learning to be more wise? Oftentimes, that means letting the scriptures and what you're learning sink deep enough to provide a foundation for seeing life through God's eyes.

What I find compelling is how James describes God when that happens. God gives "generously and ungrudgingly." The word behind "generously" carries the sense of giving without hesitation, without mental reservation. God is not a reluctant giver. He doesn't hand you wisdom and then hold it over you. His commitment to you is total and unreserved. James is drawing on Jesus's own teaching here, that if earthly fathers know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more will the heavenly Father give to those who ask.

And then comes the flip side. The person who doubts, who is "double-minded," is someone whose loyalty is divided. James uses this vivid image of a wave on the sea, tossed and blown around. The problem isn't just a momentary lapse in confidence. It's a deeper issue of divided allegiance, trying to look to both God and the world for security and direction. You can't have it both ways. Single-minded devotion to God and prayer go hand in hand.

So as you go through this week, think about where your attention really is. Is your time in seminary strengthening your faith and your reliance on God, or is it just about the grades? Some of the wisest people I know never went to seminary. But they live their lives in complete dependence on God. Seminary can't just make you wiser. That takes an inner transformation, one that starts with asking.

Program News: Preview Day and Graduation Campus Tours

This week I want to highlight a couple of things coming up, one for current students and one for those of you getting ready to graduate.

Southern's Preview Day is this Friday, and I would love to see some of you there. Preview Day isn't just for new and incoming students. It's also for those of you who are online and have never visited campus, or who have been thinking about what on-campus studies might look like. It's a great day to see the campus, meet professors, and talk with others here about what studying on campus looks like, even if you don't have any formal plans for it and it's just been something on your mind. If you could make it out this Friday, we would love to have you. You'll get to hear from Dr. Mohler, your lodging is covered for up to two nights, and we'll even reimburse some of your travel costs if you register today.

If you're coming to graduation, our admissions team is doing campus tours on Wednesday, May 6. This will be the one time our team is offering tours specifically for graduating students, so it's a great opportunity for you and your family to see campus and learn more about Southern. Each guest planning to attend will need to register individually.

Southern Seminary Campus Tour (Graduation): Wednesday, May 6 | 2:00 - 3:15 PM

Outside of these designated times, our staff will likely be unavailable to offer additional campus tours.