“But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.”
But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth — the conditional construction indicts those who harbor 'bitter envy' (pikra zēlos, sharp jealousy) and 'selfish ambition' (eritheia, literally party-spirit or factious zeal), revealing that these vices dwell in the heart (kardia) before they emerge in speech. The command not to 'boast about it' (kauchaomai) nor to 'deny the truth against it' (pseudesthai) suggests that such people lie about their condition, deceiving themselves and others. The passage exposes the disconnect between inner corruption and outward profession.
Church Fathers on James 3:14
There is, however, another wisdom, which you must repel from you, and pray against its remaining in you; this the same apostle expressed his detestation of when he said, But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, . . . this is not the wisdom which descends from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For wherever there is envying and strife, there is also confusion, and every evil work. But the wisdom which is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle,…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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