"But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive ..." (James 3.17-18). When it comes to thinking about wisdom in our culture, "submissive" is hardly associated with it.
That's because our culture tends to think "submissiveness" is one-directional and asymmetrical, where one group or person asks another group or person to submit. In those instances you end up creating a power differential, with one group dominating and lording over another group. That's not, I think, what James has in mind.
I think what James has in mind is what I call "the economy of submission".
What's that?
An economy of submission is the mutual, reciprocal, flowing exchange of submission. What's More, it's an economy of gifts freely given and received. This is the notion of mutual submission, servant-heartedness, and koinonia. The vision here isn't one group trying to get another group to submit. That's an exercise of power. Rather, the vision is of participating in loving community with each responsive to the needs of the other. It's a radically Christian exercise of power in that it promotes the egalitarianism of baptism (Galatians 3.28).
The economy of submission is the economy of mutual gifts. Think 1 Corinthians 12.