James 3:1

The foregoing chapter shows how unprofitable and dead faith is without works. It is plainly intimated by what this chapter first goes upon that such a faith is, however, apt to make men conceited and magisterial in their tempers and their talk. Those who set up faith in the manner the former chapter condemns are most apt to run into those sins of the tongue which this chapter condemns. And indeed the best need to be cautioned against a dictating, censorious, mischievous use of their tongues. We are therefore taught,

I. Not to use our tongues so as to lord it over others: My brethren, be not many masters, etc., Jam 3:1. These words do not forbid doing what we can to direct and instruct others in the way of their duty or to reprove them in a Christian way for what is amiss; but we must not affect to speak and act as those who are continually assuming the chair, we must not prescribe to one another, so as to make our own sentiments a standard by which to try all others, because God gives various gifts to men, and expects from each according to that measure of light which he gives. "Therefore by not many masters" (or teachers, as some read it); "do not give yourselves the air of teachers, imposers, and judges, but rather speak with the humility and spirit of learners; do not censure one another, as if all must be brought to your standard." This is enforced by two reasons. 1. Those who thus set up for judges and censurers shall receive the greater condemnation. Our judging others will but make our own judgment the more strict and severe, Mat 7:1, Mat 7:2. Those who are curious to spy out the faults of others, and arrogant in passing censures upon them, may expect that God will be as extreme in marking what they say and do amiss. 2. Another reason given against such acting the master is because we are all sinners: In many things we offend all, Jam 3:2. Were we to think more of our own mistakes and offenses, we should be less apt to judge other people. While we are severe against what we count offensive in others, we do not consider how much there is in us which is justly offensive to them. Self-justifiers are commonly self-deceivers. We are all guilty before God; and those who vaunt it over the frailties and infirmities of others little think how many things they offend in themselves. Nay, perhaps their magisterial deportment, and censorious tongues, may prove worse than any faults they condemn in others. Let us learn to be severe in judging ourselves, but charitable in our judgments of other people.

II. We are taught to govern our tongue so as to prove ourselves perfect and upright men, and such as have an entire government over ourselves: If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. It is here implied that he whose conscience is affected by tongue-sins, and who takes care to avoid them, is an upright man, and has an undoubted sign of true grace. But, on the other hand, if a man seemeth to be religious (as was declared in the first chapter) and bridleth not his tongue, whatever profession he makes, that man's religion is vain. Further, he that offends not in word will not only prove himself a sincere Christian, but a very much advanced and improved Christian. For the wisdom and grace which enable him to rule his tongue will enable him also to rule all his actions. This we have illustrated by two comparisons: - 1. The governing and guiding of all the motions of a horse, by the bit which is put into his mouth: Behold, we put bits into the horses' mouths, that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body, Jam 3:3. There is a great deal of brutish fierceness and wantonness in us. This shows itself very much by the tongue: so that this must be bridled; according to Psa 39:1, I will keep my mouth with a bridle (or, I will bridle my mouth) while the wicked is before me. The more quick and lively the tongue is, the more should we thus take care to govern it. Otherwise, as an unruly and ungovernable horse runs away with his rider, or throws him, so an unruly tongue will serve those in like manner who have no command over it. Whereas, let resolution and watchfulness, under the influence of the grace of God, bridle the tongue, and then all the motions and actions of the whole body will be easily guided and overruled. 2. The governing of a ship by the right management of the helm: Behold also the ships, which though they are so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things, Jam 3:4, Jam 3:5. As the helm is a very small part of the ship, so is the tongue a very small part of the body: but the right governing of the helm or rudder will steer and turn the ship as the governor pleases; and a right management of the tongue is, in a great measure, the government of the whole man. There is a wonderful beauty in these comparisons, to show how things of small bulk may yet be of vast use. And hence we should learn to make the due management of our tongues more our study, because, though they are little members, they are capable of doing a great deal of good or a great deal of hurt. Therefore,

III. We are taught to dread an unruly tongue as one of the greatest and most pernicious evils. It is compared to a little fire placed among a great deal of combustible matter, which soon raises a flame and consumes all before it: Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity, etc., Jam 3:5, Jam 3:6. There is such an abundance of sin in the tongue that it may be called a world of iniquity. How many defilements does it occasion! How many and dreadful flames does it kindle! So is the tongue among the members that it defileth the whole body. Observe hence, There is a great pollution and defilement in sins of the tongue. Defiling passions are kindled, vented, and cherished by this unruly member. And the whole body is often drawn into sin and guilt by the tongue. Therefore Solomon says, Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin, Ecc 5:6. The snares into which men are sometimes led by the tongue are insufferable to themselves and destructive of others. It setteth on fire the course of nature. The affairs of mankind and of societies are often thrown into confusion, and all is on a flame, by the tongues of men. Some read it, all our generations are set on fire by the tongue. There is no age of the world, nor any condition of life, private or public, but will afford examples of this. And it is set on fire of hell. Observe hence, Hell has more to do in promoting of fire of the tongue than men are generally aware of. It is from some diabolical designs, that men's tongues are inflamed. The devil is expressly called a liar, a murderer, an accuser of the brethren; and, whenever men's tongues are employed in any of these ways, they are set on fire of hell. The Holy Ghost indeed once descended in cloven tongues as of fire, Acts 2. And, where the tongue is thus guided and wrought upon by a fire from heaven, there it kindleth good thoughts, holy affections, and ardent devotions. But when it is set on fire of hell, as in all undue heats it is, there it is mischievous, producing rage and hatred, and those things which serve the purposes of the devil. As therefore you would dread fires and flames, you should dread contentions, revilings, slanders, lies, and every thing that would kindle the fire of wrath in your own spirit or in the spirits of others. But,

IV. We are next taught how very difficult a thing it is to govern the tongue: For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed, of mankind. But the tongue can no man tame, Jam 3:7, Jam 3:8. As if the apostle had said, "Lions, and the most savage beasts, as well as horses and camels, and creatures of the greatest strength, have been tamed and governed by men: so have birds, notwithstanding their wildness and timorousness, and their wings to bear them up continually out of our reach: even serpents, notwithstanding all their venom and all their cunning, have been made familiar and harmless: and things in the sea have been taken by men, and made serviceable to them. And these creatures have not been subdued nor tamed by miracle only (as the lions crouched to Daniel, instead of devouring him, and ravens fed Elijah, and a whale carried Jonah through the depths of the sea to dry land), but what is here spoken of is something commonly done; not only hath been tamed, but is tamed of mankind. Yet the tongue is worse than these, and cannot be tamed by the power and art which serves to tame these things. No man can tame the tongue without supernatural grace and assistance." The apostle does not intend to represent it as a thing impossible, but as a thing extremely difficult, which therefore will require great watchfulness, and pains, and prayer, to keep it in due order. And sometimes all is too little; for it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Brute creatures may be kept within certain bounds, they may be managed by certain rules, and even serpents may be so used as to do not hurt with all their poison; but the tongue is apt to break through all bounds and rules, and to spit out its poison on one occasion or other, notwithstanding the utmost care. So that not only does it need to be watched, and guarded, and governed, as much as an unruly beast, or a hurtful and poisonous creature, but much more care and pains will be needful to prevent the mischievous outbreakings and effects of the tongue. However,

V. We are taught to think of the use we make of our tongues in religion and in the service of God, and by such a consideration to keep it from cursing, censuring, and every thing that is evil on other occasions: Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, who are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be, Jam 3:9, Jam 3:10. How absurd is it that those who use their tongues in prayer and praise should ever use them in cursing, slandering, and the like! If we bless God as our Father, it should teach us to speak well of, and kindly to, all who bear his image. That tongue which addresses with reverence the divine Being cannot, without the greatest inconsistency, turn upon fellow-creatures with reviling brawling language. It is said of the seraphim that praise God, they dare not bring a railing accusation. And for men to reproach those who have not only the image of God in their natural faculties, but are renewed after the image of God by the grace of the gospel: this is a most shameful contradiction to all their pretensions of honouring the great Original. These things ought not so to be; and, if such considerations were always at hand, surely they would not be. Piety is disgraced in all the shows of it, if there be not charity. That tongue confutes itself which one while pretends to adore the perfections of God, and to refer all things to him, and another while will condemn even good men if they do not just come up to the same words or expressions used by it. Further, to fix this thought, the apostle shows that contrary effects from the same causes are monstrous, and not be found in nature, and therefore cannot be consistent with grace: Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig-tree bear olive-berries, or a vine, figs? Or doth the same spring yield both salt water and fresh? Jam 3:11, Jam 3:12. True religion will not admit of contradictions; and a truly religious man can never allow of them either in his words or his actions. How many sins would this prevent, and recover men fRom. to put them upon being always consistent with themselves!

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Ch. Jas_3:1-12. Sins of Speech, and their condemnation

1. be not many masters] Better, “do not become, or do not get into the way of being many teachers.” The English word “master,” though perhaps conveying the idea of a “schoolmaster” in the sixteenth century, and therefore used in all the versions from Wycliffe and Tyndale onward, is now far too general in its meaning. What St James warns his “brethren” against is each man’s setting himself up to be a teacher, and in this he echoes our Lord’s command, (Mat_23:8-10). In the Christian Church, as in the Jewish, there was the peril of a self-appointed Rabbi-ship. The sages of Israel had given the same caution, as in the maxim, Love the work, but strive not after the honour, of a Teacher, (Pirke Aboth, 1. 10).

knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation] The change from the second person to the first is characteristic of the writer’s profound humility. He will not give others a warning without at the same time applying it to himself. The Greek word for “condemnation”, though literally meaning “judgment” only, is yet almost always used in the New Testament for an adverse judgment, (e. g. Mat_23:14; Rom_2:2; Rom_13:2; 1Co_11:29; 1Co_11:34). The very form of St James’s phrase is as an echo of our Lord’s words in the first of the passages referred to.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jam_3:1

Be not many masters--

The qualifications necessary for teachers of Christianity

The words might have been better rendered thus, Be not many teachers, knowing that we shall undergo a severer judgment; and were occasioned by certain novices assuming the office of teachers when utterly unqualified for it.

The meaning is, the office of a spiritual instructor is attended with great difficulty and danger, and the duties of it are hard to be discharged. Let none undertake it rashly, destitute of the gifts and graces necessary for so sacred a function; for teachers, as well as hearers, must appear before the judgment-seat of Christ. God will require more from teachers than from others; and their private miscarriages, or unfaithfulness to the duties of their office, will expose them to the severest punishment.

I. PERSONAL RELIGION is a necessary qualification in the Christian teacher. Those must be clean that bear the vessels of the sanctuary. Their Master is holy, their work is holy, and therefore it becomes them to be holy also. They engage in the work of the ministry, not seeking their own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved (1Co_10:33). Having tasted that the Lord is gracious, they are unwilling to eat their spiritual morsels alone, and earnestly wish to have others partakers of the same grace of life. Animated by such a spit it, the pious minister is vigorous and active, diligent and unwearied, in his Masters service. Grace, in lively exercise, makes the teacher honest and impartial, bold and courageous. He will not, through a slavish dread of man, put his candle under a bushel, or withhold the truth in unrighteousness; but endeavours to keep back from his hearers nothing profitable, however distasteful, and to declare to every one of them the whole counsel of God. He is no respecter of persons; but warns every man, and teaches every man, in all wisdom, that he may present every man perfect in Christ. With sacred sincerity, what the Lord saith that will he speak; though philosophers should call him enthusiast, the populace salute him heretic, or the statesman pronounce him mad. This integrity and uprightness preserves the minister from fainting under a prospect of outward difficulties and a sense of his own weakness. Grace, in lively exercise, not only animates the teacher to his work, but assists him in it, and greatly tends to crown it with success. It does so by disposing him to give himself to prayer, as well as to the ministry of the Word. He is a favourite at the court of heaven, and improves all his interest there for his peoples good. Further, personal religion promotes knowledge of the truth and aptness to teach, both which are indispensably necessary in the spiritual instructor. And as piety thus prevents men from mistaking the duties, so it preserves them from prejudices against the doctrines of Christianity. Just as one who perceived the light and brightness of the sun would be little moved by any attempts to prove that there was nothing but darkness around him. But, above all, inward piety assists in understanding and explaining experimental religion. Those are best suited to speak a word in season to weary souls who can comfort them in their spiritual distresses with those consolations wherewith they themselves have been comforted of God. True religion will promote in ministers a pious and exemplary behaviour.

II. ORTHODOXY, or soundness in the faith, is highly necessary in a spiritual instructor. Much more stress is laid upon this in the sacred writings than some seem willing to allow (1Ti_1:3; 1Ti_6:3; 1Ti_6:5; 1Ti_6:20-21; 2Ti_1:13; Tit_1:9; Tit_2:1; Tit_2:7-8; Jud_1:2). Is it either ridiculous or hurtful to judge of things as they really are? If orthodoxy, in this sense, has done evil, let its enemies bear witness of the evil; but if good, why do they reproach it? Do superstition, enthusiasm, bigotry, or persecution for conscience sake, flow from just sentiments of religion and of the proper means to promote it? or rather do they not flow from wrong sentiments of these? Truth and general utility necessarily coincide. The first produces the second.

III. A TOLERABLE GENIUS AND CAPACITY, WITH A COMPETENT MEASURE OF TRUE LEARNING, are requisite to fit for the office of a spiritual instructor. Infidels may wish, as Julian the apostate did, to see learning banished from the Christian Church. And men of low education, or of selfish spirits may think meanly or speak diminutively of a gospel ministry, as if the weakest abilities sufficed to qualify for it. But a Paul cried out, Who is sufficient for these things? (2Co_2:16). Elihu tells us that scarcely one of a thousand is qualified to deal with the conscience Job_33:23). Uncommon talents are necessary to explain obscure passages of Scripture, to resolve intricate cases of conscience, and to defend the truth against gainsayers--services to which ministers have frequent calls. But, above all, one who would teach others to be religious, must himself have a clear and distinct notion of religion. We cannot avoid despising the man who is ignorant in his own profession, whatever his knowledge may be of other matters. The spiritual instructor should be mighty in the Scriptures, able not only to repeat, but to explain them, having the Word of God dwelling in him richly, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

IV. Ministers have need to be persons of PRUDENCE AND CONDUCT, and to know men as well as books. A minister should study himself. He should not only be acquainted with his own spiritual state, but with the particular turn of his genius; for our usefulness will in a great measure depend upon knowing what our gift is. A minister should study the make and frame of the human mind; for till the springs of human nature are, in a good measure, disclosed to him, and he has learned how far the bodily passions, or a disordered imagination, may either cloud genuine piety or cause a resemblance of it, he will be often at a loss what judgment to frame of religious appearances. He should know all the avenues to the soul, and study the different capacities and tempers of men, that he may be able, with becoming address, to suit himself to them all.

V. A due mixture OF A STUDIOUS DISPOSITION AND OF AN ACTIVE SPIRIT is necessary in teachers of Christianity. The ministry is no idle or easy profession, but requires an almost uninterrupted series of the most painful and laborious services. (J. Erskine, D. D.)

Dissuasives from proud censure

1. The best need dissuasives from proud censuring. It is the natural disease of wit, a pleasing evil; it suiteth with pride and self-love, and feedeth conceit. It serveth vainglory, and provideth for our esteem abroad; we demolish the esteem of others, that out of the ruins of it we may raise a structure of praise to ourselves.

2. Censuring is an arrogation of mastership over others. It is a wrong to God to put myself in His room; it is a wrong to my neighbour to arrogate a power over him which God never gave me.

3. Christians should not affect this mastership over their brethren. You may admonish, reprove, warn, but it should not be in a masterly way. How is that?

(1) When we do it out of pride and self-conceit, as conceiving yourselves more just, holy, wise, etc.

(2) When we do it as vaunting over their infirmities and frailties in a braving way, rather to shame than to restore them: this doth not argue hatred of the sin, but envy, malice against the person.

(3) When the censure is unmerciful, and we remit nothing of extreme rigour and severity; yea, divest the action of extenuating circumstances.

(4) When we infringe Christian liberty and condemn others for things merely indifferent.

(5) When men do not consider what may stand with charity as well as what will agree with truth; there may be censure where there is no slander.

(6) When we do it to set off ourselves, and use them as a foil to give our worth the better lustre, and by the report of their scandals to climb up and commence into a better esteem. In the whole matter we are to be actuated by love, and to aim at the Lords glory.

4. A remedy against vain censures is to consider ourselves (Gal_6:1). How is it with us? Gracious hearts are always looking inward; they inquire most into themselves, are most severe against their own corruptions.

(1) Most inquisitive after their own sins.

(2) Most severe against themselves.

5. Rash and undue judging of others, when we are guilty ourselves, maketh us liable to the greater judgment. The apostle proceedeth upon that supposition. Sharp reprovers had need be exact, otherwise they draw a hard law upon themselves, and in judging others pronounce their own doom; their sins are sins of knowledge, and the more knowledge the more stripes. (T. Manton.)

Introduction into the office of religious teachers

Introduction into the office of religious teachers is the subject to which the admonition has reference. The unconverted Jews were vain of their privileges, and of their superiority in knowledge to the unenlightened Gentiles. This part of their character is forcibly drawn by Paul (Rom_2:17-20). There were some corrupters also of the gospel--mixing up its simple provisions for human salvation into a heterogeneous compound with the observances of the Mosaic ceremonial who manifested the same propensity to become teachers of others; their character, too, is graphically touched by the same apostle (1Ti_1:5-7; Tit_1:9-11). In the latter passage, the motive to which the teaching of such false doctrine is attributed--doctrine that trimmed itself to the prejudices and likings of the hearers for selfish ends--is inexpressibly base. But by various other motives besides avarice may the same desire be prompted. It may spring from vanity--from the ambitious love of distinction and fondness for pre-eminence--even when the teaching is not that of false doctrine, but of the true gospel, the doctrine of the Cross. Envy of the eminence of others, it would appear from Pauls representation, had actuated some in his day--a motive even more unworthy than the simple love of distinction for themselves Php_1:15-18). What a shocking way for malice to adopt to give itself indulgence!--preaching Christ from rivalry, and under the idea that the success of such rivalry might be a new element of distress to the suffering apostle! How little such men--who judged of others by their own narrow-minded selfishness--knew of the elevation and nobleness of principle and feeling by which this servant of Christ was animated. Still further. Ill-directed zeal, where there is a deficiency of prudence, or of self-diffidence and experience, may produce, without any morally-evil motive, the same effect. This is frequently the case with new converts. Undue eagerness, then, for the office of teachers in the Church--whether thus arising from such corrupt motives as vanity, avarice, ambition, and envious rivalry, or from the less censurable ones of self-ignorance, inconsideration, and misguided zeal--the apostle seeks to repress. The meaning plainly is, that the believers should be in no haste to become public instructors, in order that the number might not be multiplied of such as, in knowledge and in character, were not suitable for the office. The ground on which James here rests his caution, is that of the specially solemn responsibility with which the office of teacher is invested: Knowing that we (we who are, or become, teachers namely) shall receive greater condemnation--we shall be subjected to stricter judgment, as by some the words have been rendered--of which, as a necessary consequence, the result must be, when there is wilful or careless failure, or failure even from incompetency, greater condemnation. The errors of teachers--whether arising from want of proper and sufficient investigation and study, from prejudice and partiality, or from whatever other corrupt or defective source--as they are more extensively mischievous than those of others, so are they proportionally more criminal; the obligation lying upon them being the greater to find out, by diligent search and careful discrimination of truth from falsehood, what they ought to teach and what to shun, so thus they may faithfully and fully, without alteration, addition, or abatement, declare the thing that is right. And, while such considerations constitute the ground of a specially solemn account which public teachers have to render for what they teach, hasty aspirants after the office should further bear in mind that a station of public eminence exposes its occupant to observation, that the sins and failings of such a one are more marked, and are more injurious to the cause of God and of His truth than even grosser misdemeanours on the part of Christians in more private spheres; and hence, even in the present life, we need not be surprised should we observe discipline peculiarly severe dealt out by Providence to those who either, from any corrupt motive, go aside in their teaching from the Divine standard, or who, while they publish truth, fail to adorn it by their own consistent deportment. (R. Wardlaw, D. D.)

Shrinking from the ministerial office

Mark here how the apostle includes himself. He says, We shall receive. He does so in a spirit of humility and self-distrust, which serves to bring out more forcibly the magnitude of the danger against which he is warning his readers. We find Paul writing in a similar manner (1Co_9:27). The most eminent ministers of the Church in all ages have felt this, and to such an extent that they have often shrunk back at first from the sacred office altogether. It was so with Ambrose, who, when elected Bishop of Milan, fled from the city, and had to be searched out and brought back from his place of concealment. It was so with the still more celebrated Father Augustine, who went forward to receive ordination only after the most urgent solicitations. It was so with John Knox, for he, when called to the ministry in the Castle of St. Andrews, first made an ineffectual attempt to address the congregation that had chosen him, and then, bursting into tears, rushed out of the assembly and hid himself in his own chamber. His countenance and behaviour, from that day till the day he was compelled to present himself in the public place of preaching, did sufficiently declare the grief and trouble of his heart, for no man saw any sign of mirth from him, neither had he pleasure to accompany any man for many days together.

What a lesson is here to all who either have entered on, or are looking forward to, the work of spiritual teaching I (John Adam.)

Respect for authority

When Faraday was preparing to lecture in natural science at the Royal Institution, he advertised for a retired sergeant to help him with his experiments. Being asked why he sought for a military man, he explained that some of the materials that would be used were dangerous, and that, therefore, he wanted for an assistant not one who would follow his own ignorant judgment, and blow up himself, the professor, and the audience, but one who would do exactly what he would be told, and nothing else. (E. J. Hardy, M. A.)

Masters

i.e., self-constituted censors of others. (Calvin.)

The itch of teaching

Wiesinger heads this chapter, Against the itch of teaching. (Calvin.)

Inconsistent teachers

Words had taken the place of works. (Huther.)

Teachers to love their work

The sages of Israel had given the same caution as in the maxim: Love the work, but strive not after the honour of a teacher. (Pirke Aboth. 1:10.)

The teaching gift

It is obvious that true teachers must always be a minority. There is something seriously wrong when the majority in the community, or even a large number, are pressing forward to teach the rest. (A. Plummer, D. D.)

Self-assertion

Bishop Hall said, There are three things which, of all others, I will never strive for: the wall, the way, and the best seat. If I deserve well, a low place cannot disparage me so much as I shall grace it; if not, the height of my place shall add to my shame, while every man shall condemn me for pride matched with unworthiness. (H. O. Mackey.)

Self-glorification, a disqualification for Gods work

Dare any of us say with the French king, Letat cest moi--The State is myself--I am the most important person in the Church? If so, the Holy Spirit is not likely to use such unsuitable instruments; but if we know our places, and desire to keep them with all humility, He will help us, and the Churches will flourish beneath our care. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jas 3:1-2. Be not many masters — Διδασκαλοι, teachers. Let none of you rashly, and without proper qualifications, undertake the office of teachers of others; an office into which many are ready to intrude themselves, without being called of God to it. “The great desire which the Jewish Christians, to whom this letter was written, had to become teachers in the church after their conversion, and to inculcate the obligation of the law of Moses, is noticed by St. Paul, 1Ti 1:7. Desiring to be teachers of the law, &c. — These teachers of the law in the Christian Church were the great corrupters of the gospel.” Knowing that — If we err, we shall receive the greater condemnation — On account of our taking upon us an office for which we are not qualified, and in the exercise of which more is required of us, in many respects, than of others in a more private station of life. St. James here, as in several of the following verses, by a common figure of speech, joins himself with the persons to whom he wrote, to mitigate the harshness of his reproof: we shall receive — we offend — we put bits — we curse, none of which particulars, as common sense shows, are to be interpreted either of him or of the other apostles. For in many things we offend all — Through natural infirmity and strong temptation, we are all liable to fall. The original expression, πταιομεν απαντες, is literally, we all stumble. “It is a metaphor taken from persons who, walking on slippery or rough ground, slide or stumble without falling; as appears from Rom 11:11, μη επταισαν ινα πεσωσι, have they stumbled so as to fall? Therefore, as in Scripture, walking denotes the course of a man’s conduct, stumbling, in this passage, signifies those lesser failings in duty, to which common Christians are liable.” If any man offend — Stumble; not in word — Keep his tongue under constant government, so that no corrupt discourse proceeds out of his mouth, at any time or on any occasion, but only that which is either about necessary business as far as is necessary, or good to the use of edifying, (see note on Eph 4:29,) the same is a perfect man — Eminently good; one who has attained to a high degree of wisdom and grace, and able also to bridle the whole body — To keep all his senses, appetites, and passions under due regulation. The tongue is an index of the heart, and he who does not transgress the law of truth, or love, or purity, or humility, or meekness, or patience, or seriousness, with his tongue, will, with the same grace, so rule all his dispositions and actions, as to manifest that he has in him the mind that was in Christ, and walks as Christ walked.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Control of the Tongue

1, 2. Warning against undue eagerness to teach: cp. Mat_12:37; Mat_23:7; Rom_2:19-20; 1Co_12:28; 1Co_14:26-40; Eph_4:11. Masters] better, 'teachers.' The position of a teacher is one of great responsibility. Greater condemnation] RV 'heavier judgement' (Luk_12:48). We all frequently err (RV 'stumble,' better than AV offend). There is no such thing as human infallibility. That which is most likely to cause us to err is the tongue (Jam_3:3-12).

4. Governor] RV 'steersman.'

5. Great power is exercised by small things like a horse's bridle and a rudder. So also the tongue, although small, is very powerful, and generally for evil rather than for good. How great a matter] better, 'how great a wood.' A tiny spark can set on fire a great forest.

6. The tongue is.. a world of iniquity] better, 'the tongue maketh itself (or, becometh) like the wicked world.' The idea conveyed in this difficult passage seems to be that, while other members can sin only to a limited extent, the tongue can inspire and cause a whole cycle of wickedness—a whole world of evil. 'There is no divine law which the tongue cannot break' (R. W. Dale, 'Epistle of James,' 94). Course of nature] perhaps, 'the wheel of nature'—the whole circle or sphere of life.

Set on fire of hell (RV 'by hell')] i.e. the source from which this evil activity of the tongue springs is hell, the Gehenna of Fire.

8. Unruly] better, 'restless,' 'unstable,' 'never still.'

9-12. 'The tongue is not only mischievous, but also gives rise to inconsistency. With it we bless the God of love (and thereby profess that we are striving to be like Him), and in the same breath curse our fellow-men, made in His image. Nature should teach us to avoid such inconsistency. The purposes of nature are clear and single. Fig trees bear figs, and vines grapes. Salt water does not yield fresh.' The last clause means that, just as a fountain of bitter water cannot yield any that is sweet, so the man who speaks bitter words against his fellow-men cannot truly praise or love God (1Jn_4:20).

13. Here St. James returns from the digression of Jam_3:3-12 to the subject of Jam_3:1, Jam_3:2. His readers desired to become teachers. But the first qualification for a teacher is wisdom. True wisdom defined, and contrasted with its counterfeit. Out of a good conversation] RV 'by his good life.' True wisdom is practical and gentle; false wisdom shows itself in strife and party spirit. If a contentious man boasts of his wisdom he is a liar.

15. Sensual] better, 'carnal,' 'belonging to the natural man' (1Co_2:14; 1Co_15:44).

17. Easy to be intreated] better, 'teachable,' ready to welcome truth from whatever quarter it may come, not refusing the guidance of others. Without partiality] better, 'free from double-mindedness,'

18. Of them that make peace] better, 'by peacemakers.' The wise man is a peacemaker who sows good seed that in God's time will bear precious fruit.

To sum up. The heavenly wisdom is, (1) chaste, pure (in relation to its possessor); (2) peaceable (in its relation to others), (a) actively, 'reasonable,' (b) passively, 'easy to be persuaded'; (3) practical, 'full of pity and good works'; (4) certain of itself, 'without doubtfulness,' and therefore 'without hypocrisy.' Wisdom, in St. James's view, is moral rather than an intellectual quality.

J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. Christian synagogue, also, rejects many teachers with untamable and self-contradictory tongues, Jas_3:1-12.

1. My brethren—Our apostle’s standpoint is still in the Christian synagogue, where he is checking the errors and faults of his brethren. In the last chapter he reproved their obsequiousness to rich incomers, and refutes their excuses; he here checks their ambitious loquacity, aiming to be teachers before they had become competent learners. In Jas_1:19-26 he had criticised rather the garrulity of hearers and answerers; he here reprehends the assumptions of the speakers.

Masters—Rather, teachers. This did not forbid the expression of Christian experience and interchange of exhortation and counsel by the many. Nor did it forbid catechists and imparters of the elements of established Christian knowledge to be many. Nor does it forbid Sabbath-school instructors at the present day, who are happily very many; but it reprehends self-conceited and self-appointed doctrinaries, ready to blurt their individual notions and maintain them in the assemblies. The result would be crude theologies, heated disputations, and erratic sects and heresies. Alford and Huther condemn Grotius for interpreting many teachers as equivalent to all teachers. But as the whole Church is addressed in the caution it can hardly mean less. The picture it suggests is, that (as in 1Co_14:26-33) every member of the Church was free to use his tongue in the assembly, and used his freedom fully. The institute of the single pastorate for the single Church was, perhaps, as yet not fully established, though its need was fully felt, and its existence coming in.

Condemnation—Namely, for the offend of next verse, to which we are all liable. Greater condemnation will fall on him who assumes the higher responsibilities and exhibits his assumption most loudly.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

OUR SINS OF SPEECH

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

Jas_3:1. Masters.—Teachers. In the sixteenth century “master” meant “schoolmaster.” Do not get into the way of being teachers. Do not set yourselves up as teachers (Mat_23:8-10). The title of Doctor of the Law was highly coveted among the Jews. Greater condemnation, judgment, than those who are not judged by the standard for teachers. To assert ourselves as teachers is to bring upon ourselves the responsibilities of teachers.

Jas_3:2. Offend.—Or, “stumble.” Perfect man.—In the sense of holding himself in complete moral restraint. Control of speech is named, not as in itself constituting perfection, but as a crucial test indicating whether the man has or has not attained unto it.

Jas_3:3. Behold.—Better, εἰ δέ, “if now.”

Jas_3:4. Governor.—Read, “the impulse of the steersman willeth, or may wish.”

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Jas_3:1-4

Masterfulness in Speech.—Our Lord in His teaching reproved the pride of the Rabbis, or teachers, of his time: “They love the chief seats in the synagogues, and the salutations in the market-places, and to be called of men, Rabbi.” And He gives the counsel which St. James does but repeat in this passage: “But be not ye [My disciples] called Rabbi; for one is your teacher, and all ye are brethren.” In the tabernacle and temple services everything was kept in the control of the priesthood. There was no attempt at public religious instruction. When the school of the prophets was founded, authorised and systematic religious instruction may be said to have begun. These trained prophets went to and fro through the country using every opportunity for teaching the Scriptures, and the will of God as revealed in them, to the people. After the return from the Captivity synagogues were founded, and the services held in them included both worship and instruction. Persons held in good esteem, or claiming to be Rabbis, were at liberty to give expositions or exhortations, and in this practice is found the beginning of the modern sermon, as a part of Christian worship. But while there was much that was valuable and helpful in this custom, it opened the way to a possible serious evil. It proved difficult to keep unsuitable persons from giving these exhortations, and difficult to put the exhortations into any wise limitations. In every age, and in every society, there are men who love to hear themselves talk, and who push themselves in at every opportunity. In every age, and in every society, there are men who love to be masters, who must lord it over others. And they are often by no means the best persons for the positions they force themselves into. The masterful men and the talkers were a grave anxiety in the synagogue life of the Jews. And when synagogues of Christian Jews were established, the same evil cropped up; it even became more serious because Christianity encouraged the use of special gifts for mutual edification. St. James dealt with a serious and growing evil, when he thus warned the Jewish Christian disciples against too readily setting up to be “masters,” or “teachers.” In the Christian Church, as in the Jewish, there was the peril of self-appointed Rabbiship. The idea that he can teach often comes to a Christian disciple as a temptation from the evil one, which needs to be steadily resisted.

I. The disposition to put everybody else right.—This is not the spirit of the real teacher, but it is the spirit of the would-be teacher, whose masterfulness finds expression in that desire to teach. It is a characteristic of natural disposition, and is close kin with the energy that overmasters difficulties. But it is a perilous characteristic, and needs to be early placed in forcible restraints, and afterwards kept in wise control by the man himself. Unrestrained it makes a man positive, heedless of the opinions of others, and unlovely in his relations with others. It may even make him a heresy-monger, keen to observe any failures from the standard of what he happens to think to be truth. Morally the disposition to set everybody else right is altogether reprehensible: it involves an assumption of superiority which is essentially un-Christian. The man who appoints himself as teacher, whether other people recognise his teaching gifts or not, “thinks of himself more highly than he ought to think”; and consequently does himself as much moral mischief as he does others. St. James puts one thing upon the consideration of those who are so ready to make themselves teachers. They seriously increase their personal responsibility. The judgment of a teacher must necessarily be a more searching and severe thing than the judgment of a private Christian. Instead of wanting to be a teacher, the gifted teacher always shrinks back from the responsibility, saying, “Who is sufficient for these things?” (2Co_2:6). “The test of all ministry must come at last in the day of trial, and fiery inquisition of God.”

II. The need every man has for putting himself right.—The true teacher feels how much he has to learn; the would-be teacher feels how much he knows. Humility is the pervading spirit of the true teacher; self-confidence is the spirit of the man who thinks he can teach. He is confident of being himself right, and is not in the least likely to admit, with St. James, that “in many things we offend all.” Our Lord taught, in a similar way, that the man who could easily find “motes” in his brother’s eyes was most likely to have a “beam” in his own, and he had better see to his own “beam” before he presumed to attend to other peoples’ “motes.” All men have work enough in the disciplining of their own characters; and if a man has a masterful disposition, let him exercise it well on his own faults and frailties. He would do well to exercise that masterful disposition in getting his own masterfulness into good control. We all offend in some things: so we all need to teach and train ourselves.

III. The control of ourselves should come before attempting to control others.—If the would-be teacher means to gain control of his entire self, he will have to begin with his tongue. If he is like a masterful horse, he will have to put a bit in his mouth. If he is like a wayward, tossed-about ship, he will have to put on a rudder, and take care to hold it firm, and move it wisely. If such a man “offend not in word,” he is a “perfect man,” in this sense, that he is able also to “bridle the whole body.” Who cannot recognise the practical wisdom of St. James’s counsel? Who has not earnestly said to himself, “If I could only master my speech, I could easily master myself”? Men talk when they have nothing to say. Men talk before they think. Men talk without criticising what they are going to say. And therefore they constantly “offend in word.” “The work of ruling this one rebel [the tongue] is so great, that a much less corresponding effort will keep the other powers in subjection.” “Control of speech is named, not as in itself constituting perfection, but as a crucial test indicating whether the man has, or has not, attained unto it.” The true spirit of the teacher, whom God calls forth to teach, may be partly seen in Moses, and more fully seen in Jeremiah. With something like unworthy hesitation Moses exclaimed, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant; but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue.” With the shrinking back of a sincere humility, Jeremiah said, “Ah! Lord God, behold I cannot speak; for I am a child.” The man who thinks he can God does not use. In his case it is all the man; there is no room for God. The man who fears he cannot God will use, because He can make His strength perfect in the man’s weakness.

SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES

Jas_3:2. Control of Speech a Sign of Character.—“If any stumbleth not in word, the same is a perfect man.” Isaac Barrow says, “A constant governance of our speech, according to duty and reason, is a high instance and a special argument of a thoroughly sincere and solid goodness.” There are remarkable differences in natural disposition, which make the control of speech much easier for some men than for others. And, indeed, sometimes a naturally silent disposition is the real explanation of what seems to be a man’s self-control. And it also needs to be considered, that undue freedom of speech is allied to certain weaknesses of character. The self-assertive man is usually a great talker. So is the conceited man; so is the ambitious man; so is the man who has been a spoilt child. In public life the great talker often succeeds in making himself important. Character means that a man has got all the forces of his being into moderate limitations, and harmonious and mutual relations. His work in his speech gains prominence, because it is most difficult, but most influential when accomplished.

The Sense of Infirmity in Every Man.—“For in many things we all stumble.” This should prevent our showing any superiority, or masterfulness, in our dealing with others. “Were we to think more of our own mistakes and offences, we should be less apt to judge other people. While we are severe against what we count offensive in others, we do not consider how much there is in us which is justly offensive to them. Self-justifiers are commonly self-deceivers. We are all guilty before God; and those who vaunt it over the frailties and infirmities of others little think how many things they offend in themselves. Nay, perhaps, their magisterial deportment, and censorious tongues, may prove worse than any faults they condemn in others. Let us learn to be severe in judging ourselves, but charitable in our judgments of other people”.—Matthew Henry.

Jas_3:4. Christian Ability.—Dropping the particular reference to the tongue, or the power of the tongue, take the text as illustrating the fact, that man turns about everything, handles all heaviest bulks, masters all hardest difficulties, in the same way—that is, by using a small power so as to get the operation of a power greater than his own. We have no power to handle ships at sea by their bulk. The soul is a magnitude more massive than any ship, and the storms it encounters are wilder than those of the sea. And yet there are small helms given to us, by which we are able always to steer it triumphantly on, to just the good we seek, and the highest we can even conceive. It is assumed that we have no ability in ourselves, more than simply to turn ourselves into the track of another more sufficient power, and so to have it upon us. Helms do not impel ships. Ours is only a steering power, though it is a very great power at that. For when we so use it as to hold ourselves fairly to God’s operation, as we hold a ship to the winds, that is sufficient, that will do everything, turning even our impossibilities themselves into victory. Glance at the analogies of our physical experience. Great, overwhelmingly great, as the forces and weights of nature are, what do we accomplish more easily than to turn about their whole body and bring them into manageable service? Doing it always by some adjustment, or mode of address, which acknowledges their superior force. (Winds, waters, gunpowder, steam, electricity, etc.) Prepared by such analogies, our dependence, in the matter of religion, ought to create no speculative difficulties; but we have as much difficulty as ever in making that practical adjustment of ourselves to God, which is necessary in any and every true act of dependence. Some take it upon themselves to do, by their own force, all they are responsible for. But we have no capacity, under the natural laws of the soul, as a self-governing creature, to govern successfully anything, except indirectly, that is by a process of steering. We can steer the mind off from its grudges, ambitions, bad thoughts, by getting it occupied with good and pure objects that work a diversion. If we could wholly govern ourselves, our self-government would not be the state of religion, or bring us any one of its blessed incidents. The soul, as a religious creature, is put in affiance, by a fixed necessity of its nature, with God. Having broken this bond in its sin, it comes back in religion to become what it inwardly longs for—restored to God, filled with God’s inspirations, made conscious of God. And this is its regeneration. All “impossibilities” we can easily and surely master, by only bringing ourselves into the range of God’s operations. The helm-power only is ours; the executive is God’s. What is wanted is the using of our small helms so as to make our appeal to God’s operation. And there must be a clearing of a thousand particular and even smallest things that will steer off the soul from God—a clearing of the helm for free action. The faith which is the condition of salvation is simply trusting ourselves over to God, and so bringing ourselves into the range of His Divine operation. The reason why so many fail is, that they undertake to do the work themselves, heaving away spasmodically to lift themselves over the unknown crisis by main strength—as if seizing tho ship by its mast, or the main bulk of its body, they were going to push it on through the voyage themselves! Whereas it is the work of God, and not in any other sense their own, than that, coming in to God by a total trust in Him, they are to have it in God’s working. In a similar way many miscarriages occur after conversion. Nothing was necessary to prevent them, but simply to carry a steady helm in life’s duties. Many disciples fall out of course by actually steering themselves out of God’s operation. And there is danger that the man who is tending the small helm of duty with great exactness may become painfully legal in it—a precisionist, a Pharisee. The word “operation” may be taken as referring only to the omnipotent working of His will or spiritual force. But there is a power of God which is not His omnipotence, and has a wholly different mode of working; I mean His moral power—that of His beauty, goodness, gentleness, truth, purity, suffering, compassion, in one word, His character. In this kind of power He works, not by what He wills, but by what He is. What is wanted, therefore, in the regeneration of souls, and their advancement toward perfection afterward, is to be somehow put in the range of this higher power and kept there. And here exactly is the sublime art and glory of the new Divine economy in Christ. For He is such, and so related to our want, that our mind gets a way open through Him to God’s Divine beauty and greatness, so that we may bring our heart up into the transforming, moulding efficacy of these, which we most especially need. This exactly is Christianity—that Christ in humanity is God humanised, Divine feeling and perfection let down into the modes of finite sentiment and apprehension. In His human person, and the revelation of His cross, He is the door, the interpreter to our hearts, of God Himself—so the moral power of God upon our hearts. Christ, as the Son of man, is that small helm put in the hand, so to speak, of our affections, to bring us in to God’s most interior beauty and perfection, and to put us in the power of His infinite, unseen character; thus to be moulded by it and fashioned to conformity with it.—Horace Bushnell, D.D.

Ships and Rudders.—The ships that were “so great” in former days were, in fact, scarcely more than cock-boats, or small coasters, scraping round the shores of the inland seas; whereas, now, what we call the great ships are big enough to store in their hold a whole armed fleet of the ancient time, vessels and men together; and these huge bulks strike out into the broad oceans, defying the storms, yet still turned about as before, whithersoever the helmsman will. There he stands at his post, a single man, scarcely more than a fly that has lighted on the immense bulk of the vessel, having a small city of people and their goods in the world of timber under him, and perhaps with only one hand, turning gently his lever of wood, or nicely gauging the motion of his wheel, he steers along its steady track the mountain mass of the ship, turning it always to its course, even as he would an arrow to its mark.—Horace Bushnell, D.D.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

VI. FOURTH ADMONITION WITH REFERENCE TO THE FOURTH FORM OF TEMPTATION—PROPAGADISM

CAUTION AGAINST THE JUDAISTIC BIAS TO FANATICAL ACTIVITY OF TEACHING. REFERENCE TO THE POWER OF THE TONGUE AND TO THE DEPRAVITY, LICENCE AND DUPLICITY OF THE FANATICALLY EXCITED TONGUE. THE CONTRAST OF FALSE AND TRUE WISDOM IN SPEECH ACCORDING TO THEIR OPPOSITE OPERATIONS

James 3

1My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. 2For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the 3same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole1 body. Behold2, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and3 we turn about their whole body. 4Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds4, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever5 the governor listeth.6 5Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things.7 Behold, how great a matter a little8 fire kindleth! 6And the tongue9 is a fire, a world of iniquity: so10 is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and11 setteth on fire the course of nature12; and it is set on fire of hell. 7For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: 8But the tongue can no man tame;13 it is an unruly14 evil, full of deadly poison. 9Therewith bless we God15, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. 10Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. 11Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? 12Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries16? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh17. 13Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of Wisdom 14 But if ye have bitter envying 15and strife in your hearts18, glory not, and lie not against the truth19. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 16For where envying and strife is, there20 is confusion and every evil work. 17But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and21 without hypocrisy. 18And the fruit of22 righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Analysis: Caution against the Judaistic bias to fanatical activity of teaching, Jam_3:1. 2.—The power of the tongue Jam_3:3-4 (first half). The depravity of the tongue Jam_3:5-6.—The untamableness of the tongue, Jam_3:7-8.—The duplicity (German “doubletonguedness,” Doppelzüngigkeit) of the [fanatically excited] tongue, Jam_3:9-12.—The contrast of false and true wisdom in speech according to their opposite operations, Jam_3:13-18.

Caution against the Judaistic bias to fanatical activity of teaching.

Jam_3:1-2. The exhortation progresses from Judaistic visionariness (James 1) and from Judaistic particularism and exclusiveness (James 2) to Judaistic, fanatical activity of teaching, to the evil, exciting and pernicious tongue-sins of bitter emulation, cursing, envying and party-strife exhibited in a false, devilish wisdom in contrast with true and heavenly wisdom. That this section is an essential point peculiar to the entire Epistle, is evident from the fact that it has been announced already in Jam_1:17; Jam_1:26. The fanatical, proselyting and polemical mania for teaching, which is here described by James, had previously been delineated by the Lord Himself, Matthew 23., and by Paul the Apostle in Rom_2:17; it is here and there illuminated in Acts (James 15) and in the Pauline Epistles (2Co_11:13; Php_3:2; Galatians 2.), and it is finally condemned in Rev_2:9. Wiesinger heads this chapter “against the itch of teaching” and adds the observation—that “the author passes on to the ready-tongued teaching and finding fault with others, because this is the false actualization of the πίστις of his readers, whereby they think themselves warranted to dispense with genuine actualization [i. e. the practical exhibition of living faith by good works.—M.]. Nothing is nearer to a faith which consists in knowledge only than conceit of teaching and dogmatical-ness (cf. Rom_2:17 etc.). Thus James 3. is the carrying out of the censure James had already passed on his readers in Jam_1:19-20 and similarly as in Jam_1:26-27, where the author had indicated inability to bridle the tongue as the characteristic of a purely imaginary religion and the exhibition of compassionating love as the characteristic of true religion, he now returns to [we ought to say: he now takes up in earnest] this subject, and represents to his readers that the human inability, so strongly developed in them, of taming the tongue, ought to cure them effectually of the desire to teach others.” Huther: “Words had taken the place of works.”

Jam_3:1. Do not become many teachers.—The exposition of Huther (and of de Wette, Wiesinger) “be not teachers in great numbers,” gives hardly a satisfactory sense. For if reference were made to ecclesiastically ordained offices of teaching (as Wiesinger maintains with reference to 2Ti_4:5), the language of the Apostle would hardly convey the rebuke he intends to administer. It is evidently his purpose to censure the false mania for teaching, the dogmatizing contentiousness, which is thoroughly characteristic of the Judaizing Christian. We therefore connect (with Gebser and Schneckenburger) πολλοὶ with γίνεσθαι and so that πολλοὶ and διδάσκαλοι form one idea. Do not end with being a great host of teachers. Luther: “Let not every one dare to be a teacher.” The expression has consequently an ironical colouring and even stronger than the μὴ πάντες of Grotius.

Knowing that we.—They know it and they ought to be conscious of it. [Huther remarks that εἰδότες, being closely joined in the Imperative, is itself hortatory: “knowing, that ye might know.” James says here “we shall receive” and in Jam_3:2 “we all offend” and thus forcibly practises his precepts Jam_3:2; Jam_3:17-18. Cf. 1Co_6:12.—M.].

A greater condemnation.—Although κρἱμα cannot signify “responsibility” only (so Hottinger and Augusti) the ordinary N. T. usage does not necessitate us to insist with Wiesinger (who remarks however that a sententia damnatoria is out of the question) and Huther on the meaning “punitory sentence.” The fact that James includes himself is certainly against the latter construction. “The humility of love” (Wiesinger) surely could not cause him to assert something, which was inapplicable to Himself, and Huther’s observation that the punitory sentence might be postponed, does not by any means settle the difficulty. κρίμα denotes primarily judgment, then more definitely a Judicial sentence and it generally becomes a punitory sentence by the connection, just as the connection here does not make it so. Moreover, how were the readers of the Epistle to know that all teachers as such have to expect heavy punishment (German, punitory sentences). The increased measure of the sentence may be gathered from various sayings of our Lord (Mat_23:13 and elsewhere). The increased measure, to be sure, indicates that the severer sentence agreeably to nature may easily turn into a punitive sentence.

Jam_3:2. For manifoldly we offend all (ἅπαντες).—This assertion is absolutely valid. The Apostle includes himself without any qualification, just as Peter (Act_15:11), Paul (Php_3:12) and John (1Jn_1:8) include themselves in similar assertions. Although πταίειν does not bear directly on the errores, qui docentibus obvenire possint (Grotius), but comprehends moral offences in the widest sense (Huther), the word is so chosen as forthwith to point to moral errors and offences and these occur for the most part in the sphere of teaching (Lehrrede=didactic utterance).

If a man offendeth not in word.—The asyndeton indicates that James progresses in the same sphere of thought and hence aims not at an antithesis, as Wiesinger rightly observes. Although the ἐν λόγῳ may not have to be limited to ἐν διδασκαλίᾳ (cf. Jam_1:19), as Pott maintains, the context requires us to think of didactic offences which were the soul of Judaizing proceedings.

He is a perfect man.—Supply ἐστί. Every word is here significant; οὖτος denotes the rarity of such a man, ἀνήρ indicates that the Apostle refers in particular to a sphere of males and their doings, τέλειος describes once more the N. T. maturity of faith, principial completion. The proposition may easily be generalized and made to denote the ideal of the Christian life which none can attain here on earth (see de Wette); but James manifestly refers to something attainable, which is evident from what follows.

Able even to bridle the whole body.—This inference is founded on the thought that the tongue is that member of the body over which man finds it most difficult to establish the mastery and that he who does not offend in word, shows that he has established that mastery. Consequently: he who offendeth in no word and thereby shows himself to be the master of his tongue, has obtained the mastery over his whole body. But just as the inference is here not to the physical tongue as such but only as the organ and symbol of readiness of speech, so James does not “set the body as such in opposition to man” as a relative independent power which offers moral resistance to the will of the “Ego” (Wiesinger, Huther), but the body denotes here the organ and symbol of all human action with the exception of speech. The sense in brief is therefore as follows: he who truly masters his words, will also master his works. Life under the law of liberty is most difficult to be evidenced in the mastery of one’s speech. Huther also afterwards acknowledges the figurative in the language of James: “The καρδία indeed is the fountain of evil deeds (Mat_15:19), but the lust which is rooted therein, has so thoroughly appropriated the members of man and as it were fixed its dwelling in them, that they appear as lusting subjects and may be represented as such in living-concrete language.” But the figures of the horse and the ship, which follow, prove that the reference is not only to opposing sinfulness (the seeming law in the members Rom_7:23), but also to the naturalness itself which is subordinated to the spirit and needs guiding; for the horse does not resist its rider, and the ship its helmsman, as the old man resists the new. Huther moreover sets here aside several explanations (“the whole connection of the acts and changes of man” Baumgarten, etc.), which are more or less well suited to define the idea on which the “as it were,” in connection with the body needing to be guided, is based. But the organic concretion and membering (Gliederung=articulating) of the lusts of

the heart in the sinfully untuned corporealness must be held fast.

The power of the tongue, Jam_3:3-4.

James illustrates the power and import, of the tongue by two comparisons. In Jam_3:2 he had set it forth as being relatively the most mighty member among the members of the body, he now develops the thought that it is the ruling member, the control of which involves the control of the whole body. He takes for granted that it is only the spirit which can control the body; but the organ of its rule, the instrument to be controlled for the control of the body, is just the tongue. The word is the disposer of acts. “This whole discussion of the wild power of the tongue is not ‘bombast’ (Schleiermacher), but designed to make clear to his readers their perverseness.” Wiesinger. Right, but James knows also a power of the tongue in a good sense.

First figure. Jam_3:3. But if we put the bit into the mouths of horses.—The Apostle introduces first the figure of horses, because he had already before borrowed therefrom the figurative expression χαλιναγωγῆσαι (Jam_3:2; Jam_1:25). Hence the Genitive τῶν ἵππων should probably be joined with τοὺς χαλινοὺς (Theile), and not with τὰ στόματα (Oecumenius and al. Huther). [τῶν ἵππων appears to stand first for the sake of emphasis. Translating literally “But if of horses we put the bits into the mouth” is not English. (Alford). We have therefore expressed the idea in idiomatic English; the distinction of Lange to connect τῶν ἵππων with τοὺζ χαλινοὺζ instead of joining it with τὰ στόματα is really a distinction without a difference. We put bits into the mouths of horses, that is real, material bits; of course, such bits we do not put into the mouths of men. The sense is really the same on either construction. The similitude contains the application.—M.]. The bits [Lange throughout uses the word Zaum=bridle, but χαλινόζ is not the bridle, but its metal mouthpiece. I have therefore uniformly rendered Zaum=bit.—M.] of horses as literal bits are contrasted with the figurative. But both kinds belong to the respective mouths: the horse-bit belongs to a horse’s mouth, the man-bit to a man’s mouth. Thus the principal accent lies certainly on τὰ στόματα. These constitute the tertium comparationis, not “the smallness of the χαλινοι̇, as the majority of commentators suppose” Huther. The apodosis begins with καὶ ὅλον (Wiesinger, Huther); it is not contained in Jam_3:5 (Theile); nor does it require us to supply something in thought (de Wette). μετάγειν occurs in the N. T. only here and Jam_3:4—

Second figure.

Jam_3:4. Behold even the ships.—The organ of guiding, probably connected with the natural unruliness of the horse to be guided, was the principal idea of the first figure: the mouth, the tongue; in the second figure it is the contrast between the smallness of the organ, the fine touch required to influence it and the greatness as well as the storm-tossed condition of the ship to be turned. The small ruder on which the will of man with almost the stillness of spirits, exerts its impulse, governs the whole great ship with all the fearful reaction of the wind and the waves, which like infuriated elementary spirits oppose the firm spirit of the steersman. Hence the first καὶ, as well as ἰδοὺ, denotes intensification. The participial sentence ὅντα brings out the immense weight which the rudder has to overcome; which are so great, or though so great.—ἐλαύνειν to drive on, set in motion, is used elsewhere in the N. T. of navigating proper [cf. Mar_6:48; Joh_6:19, LXX., for שַׁיִט Isa_33:21.—M.], but then also of restless agitation 2Pe_2:17. Fierce winds are the wild navigators of the ship whom the human navigator opposes with his rudder. They have doubtless a symbolical import, as Bede did think, not however as the appetitus mentium originating within, but as the great temptations (πειρασμοό) of the world, coming from without, the place of whose nativity, to be sure, is within (see Jam_1:6). The little rudder is here obviously the antitype of the little tongue. [Bede’s exposition may be found useful in point of application, although it is hardly sound in point of exegesis. “Naves magnæ in mari, mentes sunt hominum in hac vita, sive bonorum sive malorum. Venti validi, a quibus minantur, ipsi appetitus sunt mentium, quibus naturaliter coguntur aliquid agere etc.”—M.].

Whithersoever the direction.—Although ὁρμή hardly denotes the impulsus externus, the steerman’s pressure on the rudder (Erasmus and many others), the translation “eager will, desire of something” (Bede, Calvin, Huther etc.) is hardly sufficient; ὁρμή always indicates active will developed into an effort or onset; hence here the direction, the course of the navigator, kept in action by the rudder. On similar comparisons among the classics see Gebser, Theile. [ὁρμή signifies primarily any violent pressure onwards (ὅρνυμι), then the first stir or move towards a thing, then impulse, eager desire in the sense of will. I render “will,” because the will of the steersman directs the impulse given to the rudder and thereby to the ship.—M.].—“The two similitudes of the bit and navigation have often been connected by the ancients in a similar manner, so that Pricæus even thought that James might have borrowed them from Plato or some other Greek writer.” Gebser. Huther further calls attention to the circumstance that the reference here is to the actual εὐθύνων, not to the technical or official εὐθυντήρ.

Jam_3:5. Thus also the tongue.—A little member like the little rudder.

And boasteth great things.—Since μεγαλαυχεῑ describes absolutely haughty and overbearing conduct, the reading μεγάλα αὐχε͂ι seems to be preferable (see note in Appar. Crit. above). For James had spoken of a great and praiseworthy doing; he could not with οὕτωζ pass at once from the figure of the rudder to the pernicious doing of the tongue. The ἰδού moreover separates the thought under notice from the contemplation of the pernicious operation of the tongue, which follows. The selection of the term simply intimates that the tongue not only does great things, but boasts of the great things. Bede: “Magna exaltat.” The explanation “accomplishes great things” Luther (similarly Oecumenius, Calvin and al.), gives tone to the fundamental idea without preserving the shading [i.e. the gradual shading off—M.]. Persevering to the idea μεγαλαυχεῖ (Huther, similarly Wiesinger) is not based on the context.

The pernicious doing of the tongue.

Jam_3:3 (second half), Jam_3:6. Behold how small a fire.—ἡλικον gives prominence to the quantity according to the construction, either in point of greatness or smallness; here in point of smallness (Cajetanus, Huther). de Wette understands it as denoting a great fire; but the Apostle’s design was not so much the aesthetic contemplation of a forest-conflagration, as to point to the wicked origin thereof in a little spark; against this Wiesinger justly lays stress on ἀνάπτει [which is not=consumed, but=lighteth up, kindleth. Seneca (Cont. v, 5) employs very similar language “quam lenibus initiis quanta incendia oriantur.”—M.].—Huther, adverting to corresponding descriptions in Homer, Pindar, Philo etc., points out that the concrete sense of ὕλη=forest, is preferable to the vaguer materia=combustible etc. [The classical descriptions are found in Homer, ll. xi. 115; Plutarch, Sympos. viii. p. 730; Pindar, Pyth. iii. 66; Virgil, Georg. ii. 303.—M.].

Jam_3:6. The tongue also is a fire.—The figure of a spark or a very small fire producing the conflagration of a forest, is now applied to the incendiary ravages of the tongue. The tongue is fiery as to its nature in general, i. e. the organ of speech, easily inflamed by spiritual fire, by passionate, vehement and consuming impulse. James here passes over the fact that the tongue is destined to become an organ of heavenly fire, Acts 2, for his eye is fixed on the pernicious fire of fanaticism which begins to inflame the Judaistic spirits throughout the world.

It, the world of unrighteousness [that world of iniquity].—Not an elliptical clause, requiring ὕλη to complete it in the sense “the tongue is the fire, the world is the forest.”—Morus and al. This cosmos then is a further designation of the tongue. According to Wiesinger κόσμοζ in general, denotes the sum-total of what is created (Mat_13:35; Eph_1:4), “the cosmos of unrighteousness,” hence here “the sum-total of unrighteousness.” So Huther citing ὅλοζ ὁ κόσμοζ τῶν χρημάτων LXX. Pro_17:8. Calvin: “Acsi vocaret mare et abyssum.” Olshausen and al., “it is as it were the unrighteous world itself, which has its seat in the tongue.” See the interpretations of Theile, Estius, Herder, Gebser, Clericus (who with others holds the words to be spurious), in Huther. Oecumenius and many others read κόσμοζ=adornment of unrighteousness: the tongue adorns unrighteousness by rhetorical arts. Wiesinger objects 1. that κόσμοζ is a passive idea, 2. that the sense would be too feeble. The word need not be taken in the sense of “adornment,” but we may nevertheless suppose that James here, as frequently, returns to the original signification of the Greek word. In point of fact it is the tongue which sophistically, rhetorically, poetically, parenthetically and imperatively gives to unrighteousness its worldly, apparently respectable and even splendid form. We therefore suppose that James wanted to say that “the tongue is the form of the world, worldliness, worldly culture, the seemingly beautiful world of unrighteousness.” At all events he could have described it as the sum-total of unrighteousness only in a highly figurative sense. We therefore hold with Tischendorf and Neander against Huther and the majority of commentators, that ὁ κόσμοζ τῆζ ἀδικίαζ does not belong appositionally to what goes before, but belongs to what follows. The addition “the sum-total of unrighteousness” would not explain the proposition “the tongue is a fire.” But it is to be understood that the tongue is prominent among the members as the world of unrighteousness. It is however matter of inquiry what is the meaning of καθίσταται? The following interpretations are idle, to say nothing of their incorrectness: it stands, it is placed, it is set; that of Huther also is inadequate; it sets itself, appears in connection with what follows, as that which polluteth the whole body. In agreement with the full meaning of καθιστάναι and with the context, the word according to the analogy of Heb_8:3 and other passages, taken absolutely, denotes the presidency, the domination of the tongue among the members. In virtue of its worldly culture, which understands even how to beautify unrighteousness, the tongue rules among the members. But what a contrast between its works and its position! And it is just it, which from its prominence pollutes the whole body.—Before the world it washes all unrighteousness clean, before God or truth it stains and pollutes the whole body, i. e. the tongue, by the preceding, sinful word paves the way to all the sinful acts of all the members. Although σπιλοῦν does not suit πῦρ (notwithstanding Bengel’s explanation “ut ignis perfumum”), it suits the saying “the tongue is the κόσμοζ” as its perfect antithesis. Apparent comeliness is the most essential deformity of life. How it pollutes the life is apparent from what follows. [But there seems really to be no objection to the rendering “makes itself,” which is preferable to Lange’s, because it is founded on better grammar than his and gives a good, clear and unforced sense. καθίσταται is used here as in Jam_4:4. Huther. “The tongue by acting in and upon the members, makes itself to be the defiler of the whole body. It is so made ἐν τοῖζ μέλεσιν ἡμῶν, which, as their name intimates, ought to move in harmonious melody and amicable concert with each other; and so glorify their maker. But the tongue mars their music by its discord. It is even like an intestine volcano; and sends forth a dark stream of lava, and a murky shower of ashes and smoke, and is thus a source of pollution, sullying and staining as with foul blots (σπιλοῦσα) the beauty of all around it; and also like a volcano, it emits a flood of fire.” Wordsworth.—M.].

And inflameth.—Wiesinger takes καὶ, καὶ in the sense “as well as,” and sets both in the relation of logical subordination to ἡ σπιλοῦσα. We object with Huther, because the following words are not only explanatory but intensive. The tongue inflames

The wheel of the development of life.—That τροχόζ denotes a wheel requires no further proof (see 1Ki_7:30 etc.; Eze_1:15; Eze_1:19-20). But the question is what is the meaning of γένεσιζ and what is therefore the meaning of τροχὸζ γενέσεωζ? According to Huther γένεσιζ denotes here “as in Jam_1:23” (see the passage), birth, the wheel of birth; that is: the wheel revolving from our birth, i. e. life. Similarly Oecumenius. Taking the separate features differently, Calvin and al. reach the same idea: the wheel is the cursus, the genesis is the natura; the two united—life.—Wiesinger (after Kern) passes from the interpretation “it inflameth the revolving wheel,” the spherical course of being (Pott, Schneckenburger), to another: “it inflameth the circumference of our corporeal being” (literally “of that which has become”). As the axis or centre of the circle it diffuses its fire over the whole circumference. However, genesis, taken in the sense of birth, is not life itself but itself only the first revolution of the wheel. Although we need not think (with de Wette following more ancient commentators) of the orb of creation absolutely, or of the cycle of the self-renovation of mankind (תּוֹלְדוֹת גִּלְגַּל, Wolf and al.); it does not follow that genesis here should be taken as birth only, and life only as individual life. The genesis of man rather progresses in an ethical sense through the whole of his earthly existence, and if it is said that the tongue setteth on fire the wheel or the revolution of the development of life, the word in this generality applies not only to individual life, but also to the life of humanity, primarily of course, to the life of the Jewish people, but in its widest sense even to the development of the life of this (earthly) cosmos. The fanatical fire, which at first made the development of the life of individual Jews a continuously growing fire of a burning and revolving wheel, at last seized the development of the life of the whole Jewish nation (for chiliastic worldliness lay at the bottom of the crucifixion of Christ and of the Jewish War) and imperceptibly communicates itself to all mankind and to the earthly κόσμοζ as the causality of the fiery day, the last day—immanent in the world. James is fully right in saying that it is the tongue which changes the wheel of the human development of life into a burning fire-wheel; or we might say: a ship on fire entering the port. Perhaps every man may find in his course of life a proportionate quantity of this feverish fire-impulse (see Psalms 90) “This verb φλογίζειν is ἅπαξ λεγ, in N. T.; it occurs in the LXX. Exo_9:24. Huther, with whom we should interpret the word of the fire of passion and not with Morus “de damnis quæ lingua dat,” although the self-consumption of this sin of burning passion is also alluded to, and the reference is not to a mere kindling (Michælis). [Alford renders “the orb of creation,” and Wordsworth “the wheel of nature.” The idea in both is really the same. The note of the latter will doubtless be prized; “The τροχὸς γενέσεως is the wheel of nature, the orbis terrarum, the world itself in its various revolutions; in which one generation follows another, and one season succeeds another; and so τροχὸς γενέσεως is used by Simplicius in Epict. p. 94, and other like expressions in authors quoted here by Wetstein, p. 670.—In a secondary sense, this τροχὸς γενέσεως is the wheel of human nature, of human life, of human society, which is compared to a wheel by Solomon Ecc_12:6; and so Greg. Naz. (in Sentent. ap. a Lapide), and Silius Ital. 3, 6, “rota volvitur ævi,” and Bœthius (de Consol. 2, Proverbs 1), “hæc nostra vita est rotam volubili orbe versamus.” This wheel is ever rolling round, ever turning apace, whirling about, never continuing in one stay, seeking rest and finding none. So these words of the Apostle are explained by Oecumen., Bede, and Bp. Andrewes, 1, 361; 2, 294, 319.—The functions of a wheel, set on fire by the internal friction of its own axis, are deranged, and so the organization of human society is disturbed and destroyed by the intestine fire of the human tongue; a fire which diffuses itself from the centre and radiates forth to the circumference by all the spokes of slander and detraction, and involves the social framework in combustion and conflagration.—M.].

And itself is inflamed.—Not only once, but habitually (φλογιζομένη Part. Pres.). It is as unwarrantable to change the participle into the preterite as to explain it of the future, as a prophecy of hell-fire (Grotius and al.).

By hell. Gehenna itself uniformly and throughout to be distinguished from Sheol (besides the synoptical gospel found here only), as a symbolically described fire-region (γέεννα τοῦ πυρός) will not be wholly completed before the end of the world. The positive primitive fire of Gehenna is brought about by the immanent heat of devilish passions which proceed from the devil through his kingdom. This devilish heat, therefore, is here described as the causality of that fanatical heat of men (cf. Jam_3:15). That fiery heat of fanaticism the origin of which the Judaists wanted to refer to God (Jam_1:13). James refers directly to the devil. And in this manner it exhibited itself by hatred, lying and death and particularly by frenzy. The strongest utterance concerning the evil tongue excepting the sayings of our Lord of the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost and the apocalyptic saying of the blasphemies of the beast (Daniel 7, 8 ReJames Jam_3:13)! Approximating descriptions are produced by Huther, Psa_52:4; Psa_120:3-4; Pro_16:26; Sir_5:15. Wiesinger in addition to the specification of sin according to the members of the body, as here indicated, cites also Rom_3:13; Col_3:5. But the latter passage belongs to another chapter; the seeming members (Scheinglieder) of the old man.—But Rom_6:13; Rom_6:19 belongs hither.

The untamableness of the tongue, Jam_3:7-8.

Jam_3:7. For every nature of the wild beasts.—γὰρ creates difficulty. Huther thinks that it substantiates, especially with reference to Jam_3:8, the foregoing judgment expressed concerning the tongue. But the assertion concerning the untamableness of the tongue does not substantiate the assertion concerning the depravity of the tongue. Wiesinger makes γὰρ substantiate even the preceding μεγαλαυχεῖ, while Pott holds that it simply indicates the transition. In our opinion the γὰρ substantiates the words immediately preceding: “itself is imflamed by hell.” Whereby will he prove that assertion? By the untamableness of the tongue. If the nature of the tongue were only animal, man, the power of human nature could tame it as well as every thing animal. But the untamableness of the tongue shows that there is something devilish in its excitement, over which human nature left to itself has no power. Only by the wisdom which is from above Jam_3:15, can be conquered the wisdom which is from beneath, i. e. devilish wisdom, Jam_3:15, and that not in the form of taming, breaking in and enslaving, but in the form of free transformation by regeneration. James first specifies what can be tamed,—universal animal nature, then what can tame it—human nature. Man as man is a match for a beast, but if the animal element in man is strengthened by the devils, he can acquire the superiority of the ἀνὴρ τέλειος only by Divine grace. James divides the animal world into four classes. He first mentions together quadrupeds (not beasts in general, Pott, or wild beasts in particular, Erasmus etc.) and birds, that is the higher and more noble species of beasts. Then the dismal creeping beasts (not “animalia terrestria” in general [Pott], not only serpents in particular [Luther, Calvin], but amphibia and worms as in Gen_24:25), and the stupid sea-animals (not only fishes in the literal sense [Huther], nor sea-wonders [Luther], nor sea-monsters [Stier]). Huther: “The classification is here the same as in Gen_9:2, which passage may have been before the Apostle’s mind.” James doubtless thought of serpents as the representatives of creeping beasts, with reference to the conjurers of serpents, of trained fishes, dolphins or the like as the representatives of sea-animals. We see here, moreover, that even menageries or the art of taming beasts have some reference to apostolical truth. The opinion of the Apostle really amounts to this: all φύσις, every φύσις, as further specified is subjected to human φύσις; the condition only, that man understand the natures, which are subjected to him and seize them at the right spot of want, docility or dependence. Huther rightly observes that James does not describe the relation of man the individual to individual beasts, but the relation of human nature to animal nature in general.

By human nature—So we must take the Dative [it is the Dative of the agent—M.], not as a dativus commodi. Human nature is here the whole power of mankind, as it is made to depend on itself in dependence upon God, Genesis 1; hence not only the “ingenii solertia” (Hottinger), but that ingenuity regarded as the most proper characteristic of human δύναμις in its superiority to animal power.

Is tamed and hath been tamed.—For this is a process which beginning with the most remote past continues to the most distant future. The beasts are more and more subjected to human nature, while the diabolically excited tongue (to which in the modern world must also be reckoned the pen, so that Satan now speaks more to men by the goose-quill [or the steel-pen—M.] than by the mouth of the serpent) becomes increasingly untamable (see Rev_13:6). δάμαζεσθαι δύναται is by this process illustrated as a fact, and consequently assumed in the two tenses of the verb, and not limited to the present only (Schneckenburger and al.); δαμάςειν moreover denotes not the conquest of our resistance (Huther) which also takes place in conversion, but the translation into a coerced-psychico-physical dependence by the use of appropriate means. If it is said therefore that the tongue cannot be tamed by human nature, this implies also that it cannot be tamed in the form of taming. This expression may also affirm with reference to the animal world that man’s original relation to the beasts has not altogether remained the same (see Gen_9:2; cf. Gen_1:28; Gen_2:20). Wiesinger: “In the opinion of James also man’s dominion over the creatures is not lost (cf. Psa_8:7; Psa_8:9) but it has been modified like his relation to the earth itself.” Jam_3:9 also furnishes a parallel to this verse.

Jam_3:8. But the tongue no one of men.—Estius and al.: the tongue of others; Huther, one’s own tongue. Doubtless primarily one’s own tongue, for the taming of the tongue must proceed from the heart; but the more general sense must not be lost sight of. Before the human tongue diabolically grown wild natural humanity stands as before a dragon, for whom there is not found a Knight St. George among men as they are. Bengel, who interprets: “nemo alius, vix ipse quisque,” overlooks that the antithesis between the natural power of man and a higher power is here postulated. But that which still causes James to utter an expression of indignation, is the pernicious working of the tongue in the Judaistic world of his time.

The turbulent evil.—We interpret κακόν in the positive ethical sense as wickedness or evil and the adjective ἀκατάστατον (see App. Crit.) with reference to Jam_1:8 and ἀκαταστασία Jam_3:16 according to the meaning of the word in Luk_21:9; 1Co_14:33; 2Co_6:5; 2Co_12:20. The revolutionary conduct of the Judaistic tongues became at that time more and more inflamed in order to prepare for the Jewish people nothing but evil, death and ruin. [Alford thinks that the figure here seems to correspond nearly to what is related of Proteus, that he eluded the grasp of Menelaus under many various shapes. Cf. Hermas, Pastor 2, 3, πονηρὸν πνεῦμά ἐστιν ἡ καταλαλία, καὶ ἀκατάστατον δαιμόνιον.—M.].

Full of death-bringing poison.—The diabolical nature, the death-bringing serpent-virulence of the strife of tongues; contains substantially the same idea, as the opinion expressed in the preceding verse; “inflamed by hell,” Psa_58:5; Psa_140:4.

The duplicity of the (fanatically excited) tongue, Jam_3:9-12. The new element which is introduced (but not noticed by Huther and Wiesinger) in Jam_3:9, is the falseness, the duplicity, the self-contradiction and consequently the self-judgment (i. e. self-condemnation) of the tongue. The serpent-like nature of the tongue, Jam_3:8, forms an apt transition to the duplicity of the same, inasmuch as it is simultaneously deceitful and venemous.

Jam_3:9. Therewith bless we the Lord.—(See Appar. Crit.) ἐν is instrumental. Blessing and cursing constitute a familiar antithesis; the blessing, εὐλογεῖν, בָּרַךְ as applied to God, denotes however praising Him. The unusual connection “the Lord and Father” appears to have been stated not without design. Although the Lord here does not directly designate Christ, yet it describes God as the God of revelation, who has finally revealed Himself in Christ as Father. In Him even the Jew praises unconsciously and reluctantly the revelation of God in Christ. (Rom_9:5).

And therewith curse we men which.—A difficulty, insufficiently noticed by many commentators, arises from the circumstance that the Apostle includes himself in we. In order to escape it, Benson, Gebser and al. suppose that the reference is solely to those who set themselves up as teachers. To be sure the reference is primarily to them, but then also in general to the Judaistic element as a whole. Is the proposition a general confession of sins concerning the abuse of the tongue? or a hypothetical judgment; if we curse men, we do so with the same tongue wherewith we praise God? The design of a particular reproof forbids the former, and the premising of the fact the latter. The difficulty may be solved either by taking the second clause as a question expressive of surprise or by hearing James speak as the representative of his people in the name of his guilty people. [Alford recommends the retention of which instead of who, which would personally designate certain men thus made, while which is generic. This distinction, he continues, which some modern philologists are striving to obliterate, is very important in the rendering of Scripture, and has been accurately observed by our English translators.—M.]. The latter is probably the most natural solution.

Have been created after the likeness of God.—That is, the subjects of this Lord, the children of this Father according to their destination, or also the images representing this Lord and Father. This is the glaring contradiction. Wiesinger and Huther (the latter with reference to Bengel’s “remanet nobilitas indelebilis”) here observe that sinful man also remains created in the likeness of God (Gen_1:26). Without detracting from the general application of the proposition the Apostle may be thinking of such men, in whom the likeness of God (ὁμοίωσις) i. e. the actuality and visibility of the image, has reappeared [Germ. “has become again,” wieder geworden—M.], i. e. Christians, and particularly according to their majority, Gentile Christians. With regard to them, the contradiction of the cursing Judaists, was perfect; they praised the Father of revelation, they cursed the children of revelation.

Jam_3:10. Out of the same mouth goeth forth.—It is the sinful mouth as to its fanactical excitement in general, but the mouth of Judaism in particular as at that time it continued traditionally to praise God in the Old Testament and began with talmudical rancor (the source of the later Talmud) to curse the Gospel and its adherents.

It shall not be thus. [οὐ χρή, ἀδελφοί μου, ταῦτα οὕτως γίνεσθαι. These things, my brethren, ought not so to be.”—M.]. This address to the brethren hardly means only: it is not right that these things (denoting the substance) are done thus (denoting the form). χρή has its full weight and denotes at once that the thing must not be done according to the oracle [here of course with reference to the revealed will of God—M.] and that the thing itself is unprofitable (with reference to χράομαι) Moreover the Plural ταῦτα and the emphatic οὕτως are to be noticed. [χρή is ἅπαξ λεγ. in N. T.—M.].

Jam_3:11. Doth a fountain perchance out of the same chink send forth the sweet and the bitter?—βρύειν, ἅπαξ λεγ., to bubble over, overflow [Lange renders “bubble” with an evident attempt to find a word as nearly intransitive as possible, βρύειν is generally intransitive, but it is used transitively by Anacreon, 37, 2 ἵδε πῶς, ἕαρος φανέντος, χάριτες ῥόδα βρύουσιν. It means therefore “to cause to burst forth,” and this is the reason why I render “send forth.”—M.], ὀπὴ, the opening of the fountain [ὀπὴ is probably connected with ὅψ, ὅπτομαι, to see; Wordsworth adds that so the word Ænon (the place of springs) is derived from the Hebrew עַיִן (ayin), an eye, Joh_3:23.—M.]; the sweet and the bitter describe the heterogeneous waters applied to blessing and cursing. Such an occurrence is unknown in nature, hence in the moral world also it only appears as something monstrously unnatural. The fountain is not exactly man, but the disposition, the heart. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth (the chink of the fountain) speaketh (Germ: Whereof the heart is full, the mouth overfloweth.—M.]. However here again the reference is not to the moral unnaturalness of this duplicity in general but the concrete bearing of the reproof on Judaism becomes increasingly apparent. It is not the Divine purpose and law that the fountain of Judaism in its historical going forth for the world should send forth such a contradiction between praising God and cursing the children of God. The application to the end of the Christian Middle Ages lies near.

Jam_3:12. Can a fig-tree, my brethren, yield olives?—The figurative statement of the preceding verse is continued in the figures taken from nature, i. e. the idea that nature does not bring forth that which is contradictory and inconsistent. But if the former figure was meant to say: “your duplicity [double-tonguedness] is like a fountain which sends forth at the same time sweet water and bitter, if it were possible to find such a fountain,” the figures which now follow set forth with still greater distinctness the impossibility of such a contradiction in nature. And this certainly brings out not only the reprehensible and morally unnatural character of duplicity, but it also expresses the idea that one of the two must be false, either the cursing or the blessing; so that if their cursing the images of God be true, their praising God must be lying and hypocrisy (Huther). To this must be added that in the metaphors which follow the reference is to the character itself, as is the case in the saying of our Lord Mat_7:16.—Thus we infer their double-mindedness of character which is false on the side of godliness (δίψυχος) from their duplicity of speech. It may however seem strange that James should use several examples in order to corroborate the thought that as nature is always at unity with itself, true and consistent, so also ought man to be true and consistent. The multiplying of examples has primarily the effect of illustrating more forcibly the general application of the law of life, which the Apostle had laid down. But the supposition might occur that the examples may have also a symbolical import. The fig-tree, the symbol of a luxurious natural life cannot bring forth olives, the symbols of spiritual life. The vine, the symbol of theocracy and ultimately of Christianity, cannot produces figs, happiness [i.e. outward], the fulness of the Jewish natural life. The meaning whereof would be as follows: if you want to be natural Jews you cannot bring forth the fruits of the children of the Spirit; but if on the other hand, you want to be Christians, you must not cherish Jewish ideals, sit under the fig-tree of outward prosperity and expect to enjoy its fruit. This would explain the last figure after this manner: as the salt-spring or the salt-current is a mixture which cannot yield pure and drinkable refreshment of life, so a mixture of Jewish severity and hardness and Christian vitality cannot produce the pure water of life of the New Covenant. We leave this symbolism undecided as a whole, but maintain at all events that the salt water is designed to denote a mixture, in which the two elements pure by themselves, have been stained and corrupted. Salt water cannot be drunk. This would give a train of thought which beginning with duplicity in speech passed on to double-mindedness and thence again to its final cause, doubleness of belief, the mixture of legalism and evangelical vitality. On similar biblical figurative modes of speech among the ancients, see Gebser, p. 290; Theile, p. 196.

The contrast of false and true wisdom in speech as to their origin, character and opposite operations. Jam_3:13-18.

Ver 13. Who is wise and intelligent among you?—The same words occur in LXX. Deu_1:13; Deu_4:6. Heb. חָכָס וְנָבוֹן. Wisdom is the knowledge of ends acquired by enlightenment; intelligence (or understanding, German, Einsicht—M.), the knowledge of relations acquired by experience and practice [Wisdom is the gift of God, intelligence and knowledge are the results of education.—M.]. The Apostle’s question sounds like an exclamation of the greatest anxiety; it characterizes the desperately bad spiritual situation of Israel. Their few wise and experienced men are to rise and conjure the storm by the wisdom of gentleness.

Let him show out of a good conversation.—James is here more explicit and definite in describing the works to which he had referred as evidences of faith in James 2. Such as flow from a good or beautiful life, in which it develops itself. And in order to remove all doubt concerning the main object he has at heart, he adds emphatically: in meekness of wisdom. We refer this clause to the whole proposition which precedes it: all the works of this good conversation are to culminate in meekness of wisdom.—The deviating construction of Neander: let him show it by his good conduct; “his works in meekness of wisdom” is recommended by a certain vivacity and pregnancy, but requires the verb to be mentally repeated; the αὐτοῦ also would be rather in the way while the demand of the exhibition of works, so common to James, would be rather obscured, αὐτοῦ is based on τίς, who wants to advance true claims to being wise. Every weakening of the expression ἐν πραΰτητι σοφίας either by reading “meek wisdom” (Bede and al.), or “wise meekness” (Laurentius), affects the full sense of the words: the meekness wherein wisdom evidences itself (Wiesinger somewhat different: which is proper to wisdom and proceeds therefrom), see Jam_1:19-20. [Alford: “in that meekness which is the proper attribute of wisdom”—M.]. Wiesinger thinks that it describes the disposition attending the doing; but James obviously calls for the activity of meekness, for meekness itself in corresponding acts. It alone was able to deliver the Jewish Christians as well as the Jews from fanaticism, conjure the storm and save the hope of Israel. See the promise Mat_5:5.

Jam_3:14. But if ye have bitter zeal [emulation].—This was the real situation of affairs and on this account James addresses them personally on the subject. We render ςῆλος not jealousy but zeal, for doubtless the reference is primarily to a religious and not to a moral passion. James means the specifically Jewish emulation which was considered by those who exhibited it as enthusiasm for the glory of God, as Paul describes it Romans 10. The adjective shows that it was a false, unholy zeal; πικρόν indicates passionateness and animosity; this certainly turns zeal into jealousy, for religious zeal becomes zealotical and fanatical through the admixture of jealousy and hostility. Ἐριθεία is really the envy, rivalry and party-strife rooted in venality; so Paul frequently uses the word (Rom_2:8; 2Co_12:20 etc.). ἔχετε denotes not only an active having but a real fostering.

In your hearts.—“In contrast with the word of the readers who make boast of their wisdom.” Huther.

Boast not.—The offence of their excited teaching, striving, judging and cursing was twofold: firstly a haughty self-elevation or proud demeanour against others, secondly a more or less conscious lying suppression of their better consciousness. But both sins were more aggravated from being directed against the truth itself. According to Wiesinger ἀληθεία denotes Christian truth (because otherwise ψεύδεσθε would be tautological: to lie against the truth). Huther seems to understand by it only the real fact that the condition of the heart is in opposition to the word. But with James theocratical truth and Christian truth converge into one truth of the revelation of God, the effect and import of which are in the lives and consciences of men. The boasting and lying therefore was directed not against a mere object and against a mere fact; but it was a haughty and hypocritical insurrection against the very truth which the zealots, with an evil conscience, professed to protect (see Rom_2:23). It becomes more and more evident that James addresses not only the Jewish Christians, but his nation in general.

Jam_3:15. [For] this wisdom is not that.—“Negatio cum vi præmissa” Theile. αὕτη must be taken in connection with ἡ σοφία, the latter is therefore introduced ironically here as in Mat_11:25; 1Co_2:6; false wisdom the opposite of the true. Luther’s translation: “This is not the wisdom which cometh down from above” must be corrected accordingly. The participle κατερχομένη emphatically denotes the continual coming down, as in Jam_1:17; it has therefore adjective force and must not be resolved into the Indicative as do Schneckenburger and al. The expression is a little difficult, but it ceases to be so if we consider that it is the purpose of James to give the most emphatic negation to the false pretence that it was ἄνωθεν κατερχομένη. Hence he gives his judgment: it is on the contrary (described false by the use of three adjectives) earthly, sensuous, devilish. It is earthly as to its earthly nature and origin and thus opposed to the heavenly (Php_3:19); it is sensuous or properly speaking psychical (Luther has the improper rendering “human;” the Vulgate better “animalis;” Allioli following it “animal;” Stier and de Wette: “sensuous,” which in consideration of the modern idea of “sensuousness” may pass [for want of a better term—M.], having its origin in a psychically restrained passionate constitution deprived of the rule of the Spirit (1Co_2:14; 1Co_3:3; Judges 19) and is opposed to the spiritual [pneumatical] wisdom—of the spiritual life excited by the Holy Ghost; it is devilish (δαιμονιώδης is ἅπαξ λεγ.), proceeding from the devil or inspired by accursed devils and is opposed to the Divine. Hornejus has not wrongly delineated the moral sides of these evil characteristics: “terrena, quia avaritiæ dedita est, quæ operibus terrenius inhiat; animalis, quia ad animi lubidines accomodatur; dæmoniaca, quod ambitioni et superbiæ servit, quæ propria diaboli vitia sunt.” These were surely also the characteristics of Judaistic and Ebionite zealotism. The earthly was peculiarly exhibited in their chiliastic claims to the rule of the earth, the psychical in their fanatical and hateful passions, the devilish in their great errors nourished by haughtiness and hypocrisy.

Jam_3:16. For where is emulation [zeal] and party-strife.—γάρ makes this assertion the proof of the one preceding it. In what goes before James describes a wisdom properly animated by evil zeal and party-strife, and designates it as earthly, sensuous and develish. The proof is that that spirit of emulation and party-strife is so disastrous in its consequences. He does not say “where is such wisdom,” for he has torn the mask of wisdom from this evil spirit of emulation. In its nakedness it is carnal and devilish conduct. ζῆλος occurring here without the adjective πικρός might lead one to think at once of jealousy, but the zeal is sufficiently characterized as evil from being connected with rivalry and party-strife. Everywhere is exhibited the rebellious element. ἀκαταστασία is not only mere disorder but the dissolution of order; in the theocratic sense it denotes rebellion (Numbers 16; Pro_26:28), in church-life a seditious spirit opposing the order of God, who has constituted civil order (Rom_13:1, etc.) and church order (1Co_14:33).

And all manner of [every] evil work.—φαῦλον might be rendered “foul ” (German “faul”) in an ethical sense. [Shakspeare uses the word in the sense of wicked, abominable. “A foul fault:” “Foul profanation.” The current value of ‘faul’ in German is rotten, lazy, its ethical value denotes moral rottenness, evil.—M.]. Such was the situation of Jewish affairs at that time. The rebellious attitude broke out everywhere in insurrections against the Christians, which were the prelude of the insurrection against the Romans, with numerous episodes of evil work, and all proceeding from the same fountain of diabolical fanaticism.

Jam_3:17. But the wisdom from above.—See Proverbs; the Wisdom of Solomon; Sirach; Matthew 11; 1 Corinthians 8. Its first characteristic is distinguished from the others, as its principle.

Consecrated [pure].—ἁγνή. Really consecrated or hallowed—M.], i.e. not only pure from the influence or even from the inspiration of worldly, carnal and devilish motives, but only chaste, free from the spirit of apostasy into which the fanatical zealots fell, but also animated by the Divine Spirit and therefore wholly consecrated to the service and glory of God; consequently full of a dignified and priestly character. From this principle flow its social virtues. It is peaceable, ironical (Mat_5:9), equitably disposed (1Ti_3:3), gladly yielding ([compliant—M.]. Εὐπειθής the opposite of stubborn, ἀπειθής Tit_3:5; not “easily persuaded,” but well inclined to enter into the views and reasons of others, compliant). All this as opposed to the contentiousness of false zeal. But it not only resists evil, but overcomes evil with good; it is full of compassion (in the widest sense, in its sympathy with the necessitous Jam_1:27; Jam_2:13) and good fruits, in which compassion is evidenced. The contrast is exhibited in the seditious character and the foul doings of false wisdom. So stood in those days Christianity over against its enemies and so it was to show itself also in the Jewish Christians over against Judaism. This attitude of wisdom induced James still further to add in its praise ἀδιάκριτος, ἀνυπόκριτος! de Wette, Wiesinger and Huther render the first word ‘without doubting;’ that is, consequently, confident, decided. This would give a good sense if 1. the reference here were not to social conduct and 2. if a certain correspondency between ἀδιάκριτος and ἀνυπόκριτος were not necessary.—Now since the word (as well as that which follows) has to be taken in an active sense, although its primary meaning is passive (not distinguished, undecided, so that the first word might mean “undivided,” “being a unit” [einheitlich], there being only one wisdom—“non duplex” Wetstein; “simple” Neander—and the second undivided, i.e., without any false admixture) the idea “not separatistic, not sectarian” seems to lie nearest (so Baumgarten, Schneckenburger and al.: “quæ non discernit homines;” Luther, Grotius, etc.: “without partiality;” Vulgate: “non judicans;” Semler: “non temere judicans”: With this corresponds then ἀνυπόκριτος, without hypocrisy, without dissembling, sincere Rom_12:9; 2Co_6:6. [The reader is referred for further information on ἀδιάκριτος to notes on Jam_1:6-8; Jam_2:4; on ἀνυπόκριτος to Jam_1:22; Jam_1:26; Jam_2:1].

Jam_3:18. Fruit of righteousness.—This difficult expression might be taken literally as follows: the fruit which consists in the life-righteousness as just described (Genit. appos. not only justification, Schneckenburger), is once more turned into seed, it is sown in the world, primarily among erring brethren, in peace, i.e., in the form of peace, in the exhibitions of a peaceful demeanour [not εἰς εἰρήνην, i.e., unto eternal life, de Wette), and then becomes the lot of the children of peace as the harvest of peace and the kingdom of peace. But Wiesinger rightly calls attention to Jam_1:20. “For the wrath of man worketh not, accomplishes not the righteousness of God,” and adds “that which the readers pretend to realize by their contentious wisdom, can only prosper under the quickening influence of peace.” The righteousness of God in its full manifestation in the world, for which Christians are yearning and for which at that time the Jews in particular were yearning also, is a harvest-fruit which has to be sown by the peaceful demeanour of the peacemakers (τσῖς ποιοῦσιν εἰρήνην Dat. actionis. Huther). The term καρπός, etc., would be therefore “a pregnant expression for: the seed, which yields the fruit of righteousness, is sown.” (Huther). This construction is also favoured by the remark of Huther, made elsewhere, that James is fond of beginning his speech with the teleological leading idea. Huther rightly observes that the sowing is not only teaching proper (Schneckenburger), still it remains a fundamental form of evangelical peace-making. The dat. comm. in τοῖς ποιοῦσιυ “for the children of peace,” is reluctantly given up and Wiesinger would like to connect this meaning with the Dat. actionis. It must be observed, however, that the world-historical harvest of righteousness will affect all men, although it will be a kingdom of peace only to the children of peace. The words of the Apostle therefore were primarily an exhortation addressed to his readers, i.e., to the twelve tribes to this effect: if you really seek the righteousness of God, then prepare the future harvest of righteousness in such wise that as children of peace you scatter the seed by a peaceful behaviour (which includes, to be sure, the peace of the Christian righteousness of faith). Sow peace and you will reap rightousness to your joy. But the idea must be so construed that the Apostle is made at the same time to lay stress on the fact that the harvest of righteousness is prepared under all circumstances. Whether you join in or not: that righteousness, for which you suppose to contend in zealotical party-strife, is now sown with the patience of the sower (see Jam_5:7) by the peacemakers who are really in the world, by Christians in their exhibitions of peaceful demeanour (ἐν εἰρήνῃ hardly denotes mere mode, but rather the form of the seed, evangelical peace), and at the time of harvest it will appear in its full maturity.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The fault which James reproves in the greater part of this chapter, is nothing but a natural manifestation of the egotism of sinful human nature, a fault which, although suppressed, is by no means fully overcome even in Christians. It would seem that, as elsewhere, there were many among the first readers of this Epistle in particular, of whom the author knew or at least was afraid that they were more fond of speaking than of hearing, more fond of teaching others than of receiving instruction themselves. He therefore seizes the fault, described in Jam_1:19; Jam_1:26 by the root, at the same time pointing out, that those who set themselves up as teachers, are in the greatest danger of bringing on themselves greater condemnation than their hearers. His doctrine in this respect is in perfect agreement with that of our Lord, Mat_12:36-37.

2. There are not a few in our day who set up as teachers and leaders of the congregation without being sufficiently prepared for this important and difficult work, who thus render more difficult the work of the duly appointed servants of the Gospel and scatter the flock without cause; and there are others who suffer themselves to be duly led and to be prepared for the holy ministry, but whose desire to enter the ministry springs from very impure motives. How desirable that both would seriously lay to heart the teaching of James on this subject! [Ministerial preparation is not sufficiently appreciated by the uneducated portions of the laity and not unfrequently made light of by the ecclesiastical authorities. In a new country, like America, the supply of ministers is not equal to the demand and owing to this circumstance men morally and spiritually fitted but intellectually and educationally unfitted, are frequently put in charge of churches, whose best interests are apt to be grievously affected in such incompetent hands. The moral and spiritual qualifications of candidates for the holy ministry is a conditio sine qua non, but their possession cannot cover or supply intellectual and educational deficiency. How can a man preach the Gospel intelligently and beneficially, if he is ignorant of the first principles of correct interpretation, completely at sea in scientific theology and void of all knowledge of Church History and other cognate branches of a theological education? If these lines are read by any minister, who is conscious of his intellectual deficiency, the writer would affectionately entreat him to remember that he ought to be thoroughly equipped for the study of God’s Holy Word and that he cannot teach his people aright, if he does not understand aright. The cacoethes docendi is a great evil in our days and has ruined many a man, who had he only been content to sit awhile on the students’ bench might have been eminently successful in the ministry.—M.]. It is of course self-evident that the Apostle’s warning is not directed against a great number of teachers as such, which on the contrary is in many respects useful and desirable (cf. Eph_4:11), but rather against an eager pressing into the Ministry of the Word, when men touch the Holy illotis manibus. The language of Homer: “οὐκ αγαθὴ ἡ πολυκοιρανίη, εἶς κοίρανος ἔστω.” [“The rule of many is not good, let there be one ruler”—M.], applies also to Church government.

3. The familiar saying of James “manifoldly we offend all” is frequently but erroneously taken and used as a dictum probans of the doctrine of the universal sinfulness of human nature. The author speaks not of men in general, but of Christians in particular. He considers not so much gross transgression as sins of infirmity and haste; and particularly the danger to which the hearer is less exposed than the teacher, namely the danger of offending in word. The preacher of the Gospel may very easily offend in word, on the one hand by setting forth his own perverse notions instead of the objectively given truth of salvation, or on the other by onesided preaching or by want of clearness and simplicity. Thus he may even, involuntarily give offence and estrange his hearers, or on the other hand, he may lull them into a false sleep of peace and thus do infinitely more harm than good with his preaching. How urgently ought he therefore to press the exhortation that men should not prematurely set themselves up as teachers, since probably they would do much better to continue disciples a little longer! Cf. Heb_5:12. But this warning ought not to deter any one who sincerely desires to serve God in the ministry of the Word and truly loves the Lord and His Church. By watchfulness and prayer the servant of the Gospel may preserve himself from many sins of the tongue. The best corrective, in this respect, is doubtless the petition Ps. 19:15; 141:3.

4. In order to form a correct estimate of the magnitude of the sins which Christians also commit with the tongue, first of all it must not be forgotten that the faculty of speech is originally a Divine gift bestowed on man. Compare Herder’s Origin of Language (1770), a work which is still very valuable. This idea was not unfamiliar even to the pagans. Cf. Hesiod: ἔργα καὶ ἡμ., 5:79; Horat. Od. 1, 10, Jam_3:2-3; Ovid, Fastor., 5:667. See also Dr. J. C. Amman’s Dissertat. de loquela, Amsterd. 1700, and especially Schubert, History of the Soul, 3d ed. 1839, p. 153–163. “The word uttered is only the outward sound of the begetting inward language of ideas through the corporeal medium.” Ennemoser.

5. No Christian moralist may omit to bestow the greatest possible attention on the doctrine of James concerning the sins of the tongue. For speaking is also a doing and a doing of such daily and manifold occurrence, that its good and its evil consequences are all but incalculable. Compare the familiar French proverb: “le style c’est I’homme,” and the motto of the well-known diplomatist Talleyrand “le langage est donné pour cacher ses pensées.” No wonder that the Old Testament abounds in warnings against the perverse use of the tongue; see e.g. Ps. 15:24, 34, and other passages.

6. In saying that “if any man offend not in word, he is a perfect man,” James of course takes for granted, that such a mastery of the tongue is not solely the fruit of a politic wisdom, but rather the fruit of Christian self-control as the product of faith and love. He who has learned from this principle to set a watch before his lips, may with certainty be supposed to have attained so high a degree of discretion and life-wisdom, that to him the performance of any other duty cannot be particularly difficult, still less impossible. Cf. Pro_10:19; Pro_13:3; Pro_17:27. But in order to obtain and to preserve the mastery of one’s tongue, one must before have become master of one’s most violent emotions and remain collected in one’s intercourse with friends and enemies. Ps. 16:32. Cf. the language of Plutarch on this head: “de capienda ex hostibus utilitate,” opp. ed. Reiskii, Tom. 6, p. 355 sq; also “de garrulitate,” Tom. 8, p. 13 sqq.

7. “Plutarch (de Auditione, p. 137, and in conviv. Sept. p. 556, vol. 6, ed. Reiskii) relates that Amasis, King of Egypt sent a sacrifice to Bias and requested him to send back the best and the worst part thereof: Bias sent back the tongue.” Heubner.

8. James who wrote his Epistle as a warning to believers, from the nature of the case could only advert to the harm caused by the abuse of the tongue, not (or only slightly) to the profit that might accrue to the cause of the Lord by the well-ordered use of the power of speech. To realize this light-side of the matter ought to be the daily effort of every Christian, but more particularly that of the Christian teacher.

9. The words of James (Jam_3:9) would be unmeaning, if he meant that only the first man bore the likeness of God, which by the fall was wholly and eternally lost to his descendants. The ravaging power of sin is manifested not in the potentiality but in the actuality of man’s likeness to God, and the Conf. Belg. art. 14, is therefore right in speaking of small remnants (scintillulæ) of the Divine image in fallen man, which are perfectly sufficient to take away all his excuses. [Art. IX. of the Articles of Religion in the Church of England and the Prot. Ep. Church in the U. S. says: “man is very far gone from original righteousness.”—M.]. Lange (Positive Dogmatik, p. 299) is perfectly right in saying that “man is the image of God, i.e. the visible form of the Infinite in the totality of his being. The Being of God consists in His eternally embracing Himself perfectly in the clearness and liberty of His Being, in that He is the Absolute Spirit. And in like manner the being of the image of God consists in man’s living in himself as a spirit, in his continually taking back the whole manifoldness of his existence into the unity of his consciousness and out of it re-forming it anew.”

10. The doctrine of James (Jam_3:11-12) exhibits a remarkable agreement with the sayings of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount (Mat_7:16-19; Luk_6:43-45); a new proof that the publication of the fundamental law of the kingdom of heaven could not be forgotten by this servant of the Lord.

11. The bearing of James concerning the wisdom, which is from above (Jam_3:13 etc.) is remarkable for its recalling not only many of the proverbs of Solomon but also many cognate ideas in Jesus Sirach and the Book of Wisdom. James, although occupying a purely evangelical standpoint, is nevertheless full of the ethical portion of the Old Testament, and in part even of the deutero-canonical writings. However it is impossible to examine the doctrine of this entire chapter more closely without discovering that the author himself has and exemplifies that heavenly wisdom, which in Jam_3:16-17 he has so admirably and beautifully delineated as contrasted with earthly wisdom.

12. Very important is the connection of knowledge and life, on which James here insists. He who does not prove his wisdom by works, which have the seal of a meek disposition, contradicts himself and gives the lie to his confession of the Lord, which he is constantly making. He may boast in the possession of the truth but he is an opponent of the truth, if he does not receive it as the principle of his life; cf. 1Jn_4:20-21. His wisdom, as contrasted with that from above, is purely earthly, as contrasted with that of the pneumatical man purely psychical, as contrasted with that of good angels (cf. 1Pe_1:12), even devilish.

13. “The peaceable scatter in peace the seed of genuine Christian wisdom, which grows into the harvest of righteousness. This applies not only to teachers but to every one who has received from God wisdom and the gift to influence others.” Von Gerlach.

14. The seven qualities which James attributes to the wisdom from above (Jam_3:17) are nothing but the seven colours of the one ray of light of heavenly truth, which has been revealed and has appeared in Christ Himself. He is therefore supremely entitled to the name “the Wisdom of God” (Luk_11:49).

15. Even the closing sentences of this instruction reëcho notes from the Sermon on the Mount, Mat_5:8-9.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

A. Jam_3:1-12

The lust of rule one of the most ancient diseases in the Church of Christ.—Even the manifold warnings of Christ (Mat_18:1; Joh_13:12-17 and other passages) have been insufficient hitherto to prevent disputes about precedency among those who confess Him.—The higher the position we hold before others, the greater will be our responsibility.—“Manifoldly we offend all.” The remaining infirmity of the elect.—The truth, solemnity and comfort of this saying.—The use and abuse which may be and at different times have been made of this saying.—How the knowledge of our own, manifold infirmities ought to make us judge others leniently.—No matter how much the Christian may offend, he ought nevertheless to advance.—Christian self-control—Man, lord of the animal creation but not lord of himself.—Even the bravest sailor suffers each time ship-wreck on the rocks of the tongue.—The power of the tongue evident 1, from the harm it can do, 2, from the utter impossibility of wholly subduing it.—The faculty of speech which makes man superior to the beasts is not seldom the means of making him inferior to them—The sad part acted by the evil tongue in every century of the history of the Christian Church.—The sinful tongue is the sinful man. Sinful man is able to raise himself above every other irrational creature but he is unable to raise himself above his own nature.—That which is impossible with men, is possible with God.—The sad want of many men’s conformity to their proper being.—How extremes meet also in the use of the tongue.—That which is never seen united in nature, is often simultaneously found present in men.—Man at once a lord and a slave (Jam_3:5. “Behold how small a fire kindleth how great a forest.”) Suitable text for a Reformation-sermon. [That is a sermon preached on the festival of the Reformation, which in Germany is kept October 31, the anniversary of Luther’s fastening the 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church of Wittenberg A. D. 1517—M.].—There is not a thumb’s breadth between our strong side and our weak side.—The melancholy inconsistency and the still sadder consistency of the abuse of the tongue.

Starke:—He who wants to teach others in spiritual things, ought to be first well established himself. A man must be a pure and obedient sheep of Christ before he can become a shepherd. Hos_4:6.—Many, although they have not Divine wisdom and experience but possess only a literal knowledge, acquired not in the school of the Holy Ghost, but from the books and writings of men, straightway presume to be guides of the blind etc. Rom_2:18.

Quesnel:—If all men have to observe caution in speech, how much more those, whose office requires them frequently and religiously to discourse of holy things? Rom_15:18.—Men must fairly strive to attain evangelical perfection, especially if they seek to be employed in the Ministry, 2Ti_3:17.—

Osiander:—If a man is able to govern his tongue so effectually as not to utter any thing censurable, he is doubtless equally able so to govern and guide his body as not to indulge in any vice, Job_27:4-5.—Many men are more unruly than a horse—men whom God by the infliction of severe punishment has to make somewhat orderly. David cautions us against this disposition Psa_32:9.—If irrational creatures suffer themselves to be guided and ruled, how much rather ought rational creatures suffer it likewise? Isa_1:3.

Luther:—The tongue guides men either to virtue or to vice, 1Co_15:33.—The tongue of a Christian is ruled only with the bridle of faith and love, Psa_116:10.

Quesnel:—Who knows not how to govern his tongue, is like a passenger on a ship without rudder in the open sea exposed to the fury of the storm.—If the rudder of our body is controlled by the Spirit of God, we sail in safety on the sea of the world, Rom_8:14.

Cramer:—Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but infinitely more by evil tongues, Sir_28:21.

Langii op:—How easily may an uncircumcised and untamed tongue cause discord in a whole family, so that the best of friends fall out with one another! Sir_28:15-16.—God has distinguished us from the brutes by the use of the tongue, and we are distinguished from one another by the good or evil use we make of it, Psa_119:23.

Hedinger:—Evil tongues and bad lungs have caused the death of many. The former spiritually and mostly. How much murder is committed with the tongue? how forward and swift is this poor member to wound the conscience? Whoso is wise puts a lock to his lips. Sir. 22:33—O God, create us a new tongue, that we may praise Thee! Pro_18:21.—

Quesnel:—There is no sin, of which the tongue may not be the cause and instrument, and which as a poisoned seed it may not contain, Mat_15:18.—Think, O ye liars and slanderers, how shameful and hurtful a member ye carry in your mouth! Psa_57:5.—Whoso desires to be delivered from the sins of the tongue must particularly apply himself to work in faith at the bottom of his heart by repentance and renovation, Mat_12:33.—As the Holy Spirit did set on fire the tongues of the Apostles with godly zeal, so contrariwise the spirit of hell sets on fire the tongues of the ungodly with venom and great malice to crush the good name and reputation of their neighbour, Act_2:3-4; Act_2:11.—The diligence of men is able to change the wildest natures of beasts! but none is able to change the sinful nature of men, save the Wisdom and Omnipotence of God, Eze_36:26.—God must needs take a coal from His altar and touch our tongue or it cannot be tamed. We stammer by nature like Moses, until God makes us eloquent, Isa_6:5.—The tongue of the hellish serpent has thrown us into the greatest confusion, but the tongues of the Holy Ghost show us again the way to eternal peace, Act_2:4; Act_2:38.—We shun serpents, yet consort with people that carry poison in their mouths, Psa_44:4; Psa_55:22.—How ill-suited it is that those should engage in the praises of God, the whole of whose lives dishonours God! A golden collar cannot be so ill-becoming to a sow covered with filth and dirt as the praise of God to a filthy sinner, Amo_5:23.—

Langii op.:—The nobility of human nature is very exalted and no man may offend it in word or deed without sinning against God, Gen_9:6.—We ought to honour the image of God in every man be he never so bad, 1Jn_4:12.

Starke:—Man is so perverse, that there is nothing left in the world which is like him. He wants to render impossibilities possible, to do good and evil at the same time, which is contrary to the whole order of nature, Ecc_1:15; Psa_58:4.—If we want to show others their follies and sins, we must not do it in boisterous scolding, but in compassionating brotherly love, 2Ti_2:24-25.—Words are fruits enabling us to form an estimate of the heart, i.e. the tree which bears them; if this is pure, the others are not bad, Mat_12:23.

Stier:—Future accountability is solemn and difficult even in the case of our own soul. Who would lightly undertake to be accountable for the souls of others? Indeed is it not written, “Many are called but few chosen”—who will call himself in order to fall with so much more surety into condemnation? Many did it then, and alas! many do it now. “But howsoever, let me, I pray thee, also run after Cushi,” said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok, and would not be dissuaded when he was told “thou hast no good tidings ready.” He stuck to his “let me run.” (2Sa_18:19-23). There are many such teachers and runners, who are not sent. They surely are not the true teachers and masters that shall shine as the brightness of the firmament.(Dan_12:3),—but they will stand illy.—“Manifoldly we offend all”—James includes himself in this confession in order to put to shame the proud brethren. Not indeed that he intended to expose the supposed errors of his Divinely-inspired Epistle to their criticism or now to ours, but he rather meant solemnly to assert respecting life in general apart from the sacred office, that the perfect man who does not even trip in a word, cannot be found anywhere. Even the Apostles were assuredly not sinless, holy and infallible in their daily and hourly private life; the promise of the Holy Ghost to guard them from all error related only to their sacred office, just as it was with reference to their office and the principal and fundamental truths of their message that the seventy as well as the twelve were told “He that heareth you, heareth me.”—Although the proud tongue may boast, I can be silent, or I can thoroughly dissemble myself—it is a thing beyond its control, there it is brought to shame. The most expert hypocrite can never reach such a point of dissembling as to prevent its failing him even in a word; the heart runs over, the hell within bursts out on the tongue. Our speech is and remains the nearest, surest and most irresistible effluence of the heart. What follows lastly from James’s sermon against the sins of the tongue? Whither they lead—to the world full of unrighteousness, whence they come—from the inward abyss of corruption—he has shown; it is not difficult to apply here the only remedy.

Heubner:—We are more on our guard with respect to sins in deed than with respect to sins in word.—Whoso fails to govern his tongue is like a rider on an unruly horse, or like a sailor in a ship without a rudder.—The tongue is a channel which transmits the evil of hell.—An unconditional impossibility to tame the tongue does not exist. If thy tongue is cursing, it is unfitted for praise.

Viedebandt:—The rule of the tongue is more important than the rule of the world.—What an evil full of deadly poison is many a newspaper tongue!—If Satan has your heart, he also rules your tongue. The tongue and the heart are only a span apart.

Neander:—James attacks the being of mock piety at all points. Such is that pious cant which while it utters the praises of God in words, hatefully censures and condemns men, in whom the image of God ought to be honoured, aside.—Thus James points out the fundamental idea of this whole Epistle, that everything depends on that disposition which gives direction to a man’s whole life, the recognition of which truth was as remote as possible from that tendency, attacked by him at all points, which only considers the outward, single acts, and the appearance of things.

Jakobi:—The Apostle shows from the harmony, visible in universal creation, that it is unnatural and therefore ungodly and therefore displeasing to God if the same tongue is used in the service of heaven and hell, and if praises and curses proceed out of the same mouth God, says another Apostle, is a God of order. Because the fig-tree, the olive tree and the vine bear fruit each according to its kind, figs, olives and grapes, and because sweet fountains and salt fountains always send forth the same kind of water and because of this order in nature, God rejoices in all his works (Psa_104:31), and looking down from heaven upon the earth, behold, all things are very good. Therefore it cannot be good and well-pleasing to God, if contrary to the Divinely appointed order the gifts and faculties intrusted to man are employed in opposite uses, if the same tongue which has just stammered the praise of God, utters shameful words, folly and unseemly jests. Therefore as long as this continues to be done among Christians, so long as we who have just had on our tongue the sweet word of God, indulge in bitter revilings of those who share with us the greatest of all blessings, as long as out of the same opening of the mouth there flow such sweet and such bitter streams, so long the sad dissension of sin continues in us and we do not yet stand in the unity and truth of the Divine life.

Lisco:—The sins of the tongue: 1. They are of all sins the most corrupt; 2, They are of all sins, the most difficult to be avoided.—He who governs himself solves the problem of the Christian life.—The tongue 1, is the communicator of our thoughts and 2, ought to be solely the mediator of good.

Porubszky: (Jam_3:1-2):—Religious conversation in social life.—(Jam_3:3-12). The tongue of scandal.

Beck:—Three golden rules for a Christian’s life: 1, have humility in your heart (Jam_3:1-2), 2, have truth in your mouth (Jam_3:3-9), 3, practise faithfulness in your life (Jam_3:10-12).

W. Hofacker (Sermons p. 635):—Our speaking tongue one of the greatest gifts of God’s grace.

Jam_3:1-10. Epistle for the 16th Sunday after Trinity in the Grand Duchy of Hesse and elsewhere.

Gerok:—Watch thy tongue: 1, It looks so little and so small 2, Yet worketh such great things for all; 3, Kindles many a fire of hell, 4, Yet heaven has ordered it so well [German: 1, Sie ist nur klein und scheint gering 2, und richtet an so grosse Ding; 3, sie hat maneh Höllenfeuer entflammt 4, und führt doch ein so himmlish Amt.—M.].

Ruperti:—Several oft-forgotten duties to be practised by the Christian in order that he may become master of his tongue in his intercourse with others.

Alt:—The evil word towards one’s neighbour.

B. Jam_3:13-18

VJames Jam_3:13-18. Epistle for Quinquagesima Sunday in the Grand Duchy of Hesse and elsewhere.

The difference between abstract knowledge of Christian truth and true life-wisdom.—The tree is known by its fruit.—Meek wisdom the crown of Christian virtue.—The intimate union of truth and love on Christian ground. The wisdom which is from above, and the wisdom which is from beneath; the sevenfold more exalted character of the former and the threefold baseness of the latter.—The wisdom from above: 1, how it is evidenced, 2, how it is rewarded, 3, how it is learned.—The harvest feast of the peaceable: 1, the seed, 2, the fruit, 3, the harvest-joy; here in its beginning, hereafter in its perfection,—James himself is in his Epistle a continuing proof of the truth of what he says, Jam_3:13-18.

Starke:—The possession of a natural, wise, prudent understanding is a great gift of God, but to be truly enlightened with the light of truth is invaluable, Pro_3:13; 2Co_4:6.

Cramer:—Our Christianity is then inseparable, for a good understanding have all they that do His commandments, Psa_111:10.—Many men’s meekness is a worm-eaten fruit of nature. They are rather tamed lions than meek sheep of Christ, Mat_11:29.—

Nova Bibl. Tüb.:—Wisdom and meekness are noble virtues which ought to regulate the whole of our conversation; they are the springs of all other virtues, Pro_19:2.—Those who are ready to dispute and quarrel and are ever at odds with their neighbour, exhibit an infallible token that they are still lacking true wisdom, Pro_18:6; Pro_20:3.—

Quesnel:—A teacher above all things should be an enemy of all disputing and contention, 2Ti_2:24.

Cramer:—Cunning is not wisdom. Hence little wisdom in the fear of God is better than much wisdom allied to contempt of God, Sir_19:21—

Quesnel:—The wisdom of the world is very different from the wisdom of the Gospel. It is only cunning wisdom whose end is to rule on earth, but which is ruled itself by nothing but brutal lusts, 1Co_1:21; 1Co_2:7-8.—Sin punishes itself even in this world, because man in the service of it does not enjoy his life on account of the great trouble and annoyance to which sin puts him, Psa_32:10.—

Cramer:—As smoke causes pain to the eyes and prevents their seeing distinctly, so it happens to reason and wisdom, for if it is disturbed by the passions, it cannot see any thing and decide what is white or black, right or wrong.—The most simple Christian who practises these seven qualities of virtue will be wiser than the seven sages of Greece. Remember only one for each day of the week.—Those who scatter the poison of their evil heart in anger, contention and brawling, will reap from it the unhappy fruit of eternal trouble, tribulation and anguish, Rom_2:8-9.—Be content, ye peacemakers, if your souls are afraid to dwell with those that hate peace, (Psa_120:6), remember that ye shall hereafter dwell forever in a peaceable habitation, Isa_32:18—

Stier:—To be only prudent and understanding does not amount to much and is a very doubtful and suspicious thing, but to be wise and prudent, that is the right thing.—Every good gift as well as true wisdom is from above, but that which is passed oft for it with lying against the truth, all false wisdom is not from heaven, but earthly; not from the Spirit of God but human, from man’s soul, flesh and blood; not from Christ the King of the kingdom of God, the destroyer of the works of the devil, but rather devilish still, from the influence and seduction of evil spirits. Indeed on this profound saying of James might be written a history of all knowledge falsely so called, of all so-called philosophy or even theology.—All the trouble and confusion in the Church, all the disorder and unruliness or rebellion of self-will opposing the Spirit of God originates in the brawling of carnality; hence schism, factions, sects, hence other evils and particularly also evil hypocrisy under coërced unity. Even in the world and in things earthly a family and many a city give unceasing testimony that good cannot mature under the influence of envy and contention, but that these conduce to nothing but evil. Still more lamentable and ravaging are the contentions concerning God’s Word in the house and city of God, the carnal wrangling of brethren and members in Christ.—Many are officiously engaged in imparting to others opinions, which are their truths and in disputing away errors—but where is the good fruit of all these efforts ? whom have they improved thereby, converted and won for the kingdom of heaven? On the other hand look at many quiet people in the land: they make no noise, they do not deal in great things, they walk everywhere in meekness and gentleness—but wherever they go they carry something along with them, which passes from them like a breath of life;—the words which they utter at the right time, are seeds—all their walk and work burst into fruitfulness around them with a silent, deep power, and many things are recorded on high as the fruit of their righteousness, whereof men know and suspect nothing. Grace works by them, they live in love and this is their deep power.—“Fruits, gentlemen, fruits that shall make men whole.” It was this which the king of Prussia demanded of the University of Königsberg, and truly it was a great royal word, a Solomonic word, in its time. Wholesome, healthy fruits will grow where healthy seed has been sown, but the seed itself had before grown as the produce of ripe fruit; thus righteousness is sown and transmitted from one to another.

Heubner: (Jam_3:15).—This is a description truly applicable to those who by their writings,—either immoral, provoking vice, or irreligious, undermining the faith of Christians—especially if they exhibit skill and genius, have exerted the influence of devils upon the world. The subtle and disguised ones are the worst; subtle poison insinuates itself most thoroughly.—Earthly wisdom effects nothing good for eternity.—

Neander.:—Holy Scripture often designates, by the name of the flesh, all evil, whatever is opposed to the Spirit of God, to the Divine life. If the word is used in this general sense, it includes also man’s spiritual nature, reason and the soul, as far as it has not been made subject to the Divine Spirit, but persists in its selfish being, pretends to be something by itself, independent of God, without (extra) God and hence opposed to Him. The term flesh in this biblical sense includes all these ideas. Its meaning is by no means restricted to what we call flesh, sensuality in the narrower sense of the word. Now if we take flesh in this more general sense, biblical usage distinguishes it from that which in the narrower sense is designated as psychical, i.e., the spiritual [part of man], as far as it is made not to conform to God, but to conform to the world [German: “In sofern es nicht vergöttlicht ist, sondern verweltlicht.”]. Reason however cultivated remains still within the sphere of the psychical [i.e. the rational soul not only not influenced by the Divine Spirit but rather influenced by the physical and the cosmical. The German for psychical is seelisch, as stated before.—M.]. The seed of whatever is truly good in action, proceeding from righteousness, can only prosper where peace reigns and with those, the end and aim of whose actions is peace. Where all is strife, nothing truly Christian can prosper.

Jakobi (on the feast of the ingathering of the harvest):—What a description of wisdom! Truly such wisdom cometh from above, from the Father of Light with whom every thing is light, and pure and holy; thence it cometh as the best and most perfect light, communicated by Him, in whom is treasured up the fulness of all good, communicated by the Son of Eternal Wisdom and Love to all those, who renouncing earthly, human and devilish wisdom, and looking to Him alone in simplicity of faith, suffer Him to create in them a pure heart and receive a new sure spirit, the spirit of truth, which is also for this very reason the spirit of true wisdom.

Porubszky:—Wisdom in action.—Envy sets us at variance 1, with God, 2, with man, 3, with ourselves.—

Beck:—Heavenly wisdom the fountain of earthly peace.

Schmaltz: The fire of discord.

Köstlin:—Of true, Christian wisdom as contrasted with false, earthly wisdom.

Alt:—With the wisdom of Christians we will overcome the evil of time.

[Jam_3:2. Barrow:—To offend originally signifies to impinge (infringe), to stumble upon somewhat lying across our way, so as thereby to be cast down, or at least to be disordered in our posture, and stopped in our progress: whence it is well transferred to our being through any incident temptation brought into sin, whereby a man is thrown down, or bowed from his upright state and interrupted from prosecuting a steady course of piety and virtue. By an opposite manner of speaking (Psa_37:23-24) our tenor of life is called a way, our conversation walking, our actions steps, our observing good laws uprightness, our transgression of them tripping, faltering, falling. By not offending in word, we may then conceive to be understood such a constant restraint and such a careful guidance of our tongue, that it doth not transgress the rules prescribed by the Divine law, or by good reason; that it thwarteth not the natural ends and proper uses for which it was framed, to which it is fitted; such as chiefly are promoting God’s glory, our neighbour’s benefit, and our own true welfare.—

—A constant governance of our speech according to duty and reason is a high instance and a special argument of a thoroughly sincere and solid goodness.—

—The offences of speech are various. 1. Some of them are committed against God, and confront piety; 2. others against our neighbour, and violate justice, charity, or peace; 3. others against ourselves, infringing sobriety, discretion, or modesty; 4. some are of a more general and abstracted nature, rambling through all matters, and crossing all the heads of duty.—

Cf. on this subject Dr. Barrow’s sermon on this text; Bp. Butler on the Government of the Tongue, an abstract of which is here given; Bp. Taylor’s Sermons on the Good and Evil Tongue; On Slander and Flattery; On the Duties of the Tongue.

Abstract of Butler’s Sermon on the Government of the Tongue. (Bohn’s edition.)

“One of the most material restraints under which virtue places us in the obligation of ‘bridling the tongue.’ ” Let us then ask

1. What vice is opposed to this precept? and

2. When can a man be fairly said to act up to it?

1. The vice alluded to is not evil-speaking from malice, nor from selfish design. It is talkativeness or a disposition to talk at random without thought of doing either good or harm. Now talkative persons, when other subjects fail them, will indulge in scandal or divulge secrets; or, further, they will go on to invent matter, and all in order to engage attention; and if a quarrel ensue, they will defame and revile their enemy, but without malice.

As all our faculties may be made instruments of evil, so also the tongue. Deliberate and wilful falsehood, indulged in from malice or revenge, does not arise from having no government of the tongue. But there is a vicious habit, without malice, which arises from a desire to arrest attention; and in these people the very least thing excites the tongue, and so gives birth to innumerable evils, especially to strife. Its effects are often as bad as those of malice or envy; it wrongly distributes praise and blame, and, being used at random, always does harm.

2. In what does the government of the tongue consist? We are to measure our faculties by the end for which they have been given to us. The end of speech clearly is to communicate our thoughts to each other, either for real business or for enjoyment. In this secondary use, it contributes to promote friendship, and so is serviceable to virtue and its tendency is to general good.

Corresponding to these two uses is the abuse of speech. As to its primary end, deceit in business does not come within our scope. It is in its secondary sense that it becomes the object of our inquiry, for the government of the tongue relates chiefly to what we call Conversation. Certain cautions are to be observed in governing the tongue. First, that there is a fit time to speak and a time to keep silence. This rule is too often forgotten; and they who forget it, too often, if they amuse at all, amuse at their own expense. The times for silence are when they are in company of their superiors, or when the discourse is of subjects above themselves; and these obvious rules are generally passed over by those who in their talkative mood forget that the very essence of conversation is that it should be mutual, and talkative persons are generally disregarded. Men, then, should be silent, both when they have nothing to say, or nothing but what were better left unsaid.—

In talking on indifferent subjects, the first rule is not to spend too much time on them; the second, to be quite sure, that they are indifferent. Conversation about other people and their matters is often very dangerous; as in such cases we cannot always be indifferent and neutral, or escape being drawn into rivalry. But as we cannot entirely avoid speaking of others, we should take care that what we say, be true. It is important to know the characters of the bad as well as the good, and abuse will scarcely follow, if these two rules be observed: 1st, That to speak evil of a man undeservedly is worse than to speak good of him undeservedly, for the former is a direct injury to the person as well as to society. 2nd, That a good man will always speak all the good which he can of his fellows, and never any harm unless he has some positive reason for so doing; for example, just indignation against villany, or to prevent the innocent from being deceived. For we must always study justice: and we do justice to society at large by exposing bad characters.

Those who observe the above cautions and precepts have due government over their tongues.—M.].

[Jam_3:3. Wordsworth:—St. James follows up the metaphor of the preceding verse with an argument a fortiori. We can rule irrational animals with a bit; how much more ought we to be able to govern ourselves! And if we rule our tongues, we do in fact govern the whole man; for the tongue is to man what a bit is to horses, and a rudder is to ships; it rules the whole; let it therefore be governed aright.—M.].

[Jam_3:5. Virgil, Georgic 2, 303.

“Nam sæpe incautis pastoribus excidit ignis,

Qui furtim pingui primùm sub cortice tectus

Robora comprendit, frondesque elapsus in altas

Ingentem cœlo sonitum dedit; inde secutns

Per ramos victor, perque alta cacumina regnat

Et totum involvit flammis nemus; et ruit atram

Ad coelum piceâ crassus fuligine nubem;

Præsertim si tempestas à vertice sylvis

Incubuit, glomeratque ferens incendia ventus;”

For the benefit of those not familiar with Latin, I subjoin Davidson’s translation. The quotation itself mutatis mutandis forcibly illustrates the incendiary ravages of the tongue.

“For fire is often let fall from the unwary shepherds

Which at first secretly lurking under the unctuous bark,

Catches the solid wood, and shooting up into the topmost leaves,

Raises a loud crackling to heaven: thence pursuing its way,

Reigns victorious among the branches and the lofty tops,

Involves the whole grove in flames, and darts the black

Cloud to heaven, condensed in pitchy vapor;

Chiefly if a storm overhead rests its fury on the woods,

And the driving wind whirls the flames aloft.”—M.].

[Jam_3:6. Wordsworth:—That world of iniquity, that universe of mischief, as containing within it the elements of all mischief; as the world contains within itself mineral combustibles and volcanic fires, and electric fluid, which may blaze forth into a conflagration.

—By the faculty of speech man is distinguished from the rest of creation: by it his thoughts are borne, as upon eagles wings, to the remotest shores, and are carried to distant ages; by it they are endued with the attributes of omnipresence and immortality; by it men are reclaimed from savage ignorance; by it cities are built and are peopled, laws promulgated, alliances formed, leagues made; by it men are excited to deeds of heroic valor, and to prefer eternity to time, and the good of their country to their own; through it the affairs of the world are transacted; it negotiates the traffic of commerce, and exchanges the produce of our soil and climate for that of another; it pleads the cause of the innocent, and checks the course of the oppressor; it gives vent to the tenderest emotions; it cheers the dreariness of life. By it virtuous deeds of men are proclaimed to the world with a trumpet’s voice; by it the memory of the dead is kept alive in families. It is the teacher of arts and sciences, the interpreter of poetic visions, and of subtle theories of philosophy; it is the rudder and helm by which the state of the world is steered; it is the instrument by which the Gospel of Christ is preached to all nations, and the Scriptures sound in the ears of the Church, and the world unites in prayer and praise to the Giver of all good, and the chorus of Saints and Angels pours forth hallelujahs before His throne.

Such being the prerogatives of speech, it is a heinous sin to pervert the heavenly faculty, to insult the Name of the Giver Himself, or to injure man, made in the image of God. All true Christians will put away profane and impure language, calumny and slander, injurious to God’s honour, the welfare of society, and their own eternal salvation. They will abhor it worse than pestilence, and they will pray to Him from whom are the preparations of the heart, and who maketh the dumb and the deaf, the seeing and the blind, who quickened the slow speech of His servant Moses, and put words of fire into his mouth, and whose Spirit on the Day of Pentecost descended in tongues of fire on the Apostles, and filled them with holy eloquence, so to direct their thoughts and words, that both now and hereafter they may ever sing His praise.—M.].

[Jam_3:10. Vayikra Rabba: § James 33:—“Rabbi Simeon, the son of Gamaliel, said to his servant Tobias, Go and bring me some good food from the market: the servant went and brought tongues. At another time, he said to the same servant, Go and buy me some bad food: the servant went and bought tongues. The master said, What is the reason that when I ordered thee to buy me good and bad food, thou didst bring tongues? The servant answered, From the tongue both good and evil come to man:, if it be good, there is nothing better; if bad, there is nothing worse.”—M.].

[Jam_3:13. Pyle:—Whatever Christian convert or Jewish zealot, therefore, would be indeed a master of religious wisdom, let him show his wisdom first in the suppression of this wretched habit, and in reducing himself to a meek and charitable disposition towards his brethren.—M.].

[Jam_3:14. Bp. Hall:—Never brag vainly that ye are Christians: and do not shame and contradict that truth which ye profess, by a real denial of the profession thereof.—M.].

[Jam_3:16. Wordsworth:—Strife and party-spirit would destroy Sion, and can build up nothing but Babel. Cf. Bp. Sanderson I. pp. 214, 350; and see Clemens Rom. I. capp. 3–9.—M.].

[Herbert:—

Be calm in arguing, for fierceness makes

Error a fault and truth discourtesy:

Why should I feel another man’s mistakes

More than his sickness or his poverty?

In love I should: but anger is not love;

Nor wisdom neither; therefore gently move.

—M.].

[—Fortiter in re, leniter in modo.—M.]

[On the meaning and use of the term “wisdom from above” see Schoettgen; illustrations:

1. Sohar, Yalcut Rubeni f. James 19: “The wisdom from above was in Adam more than in the supreme angels: and he knew all things.”

2. Sohar Chadath, f. James 35: “The angels were sent from above and taught him (Enoch) the wisdom that is from above.”—Ibid. f. 42, 4. “Solomon came, and he was perfect in all things, and strongly set forth the praises of the wisdom that is from above.”

For particular texts consult the following, besides the above:

Jam_3:1. Bp. Bull: The priest’s office difficult and dangerous. Visitation Sermon. Works 1, 137.

Jam_3:2. Barrow: Not to offend in word, an evidence of a high pitch of virtue. Works 1.

Jam_3:14-17. Abp.Whately: Party-spirit. Bampton Lecture 33.

Jam_3:16. South: The nature, causes and consequences, of envy. Sermons, 5, 389.

Jam_3:17. Leighton: The nature and properties of heavenly wisdom. Works, 3, 86.—M.].

Footnotes:

[1] Jam_3:1. Lange: Become not many teachers, my brethren, since ye know, that we shall [as such] receive a greater [a more severe] condemnation [judicial sentence.]

[… knowing that we shall receive greater condemnation.—M.]

Jam_3:2. [Cod. Sin. has δυνάμενος for δυνατός.—M]

Lange: For manifoldly we offend all; if a man offendeth not in word he is a perfect man, able even to bridle the whole body.

[For oftentimes we all offend … word, this man is a perfect man, able to bridle also the whole body.—M.]

[2]Jam_3:3. [Rec. reads ἰδού against the most authentic codd. C. and Griesbach read ἴδε. A. B. G. Sin. and al. Lachmann and Tisch. have εἰ δέ. [So Alford, Wordsw. Ecce enim, Syr. Si autem, Vulg.—M.]

[3] Jam_3:3. [B. C. εἰς τό. [So Cod. Sin. Alf. Rec. πρὸς with A. K. L. (?)—M.]

Lange: But if we put bits into the horses’ mouths, in order that they may obey us, we guide also their whole body.

[… the bits into the mouths of horses in order to their obeying us, we also turn about their whole body.—M.]

[4]Jam_3:4. [ἀνέμων σκληρῶν. B. C. K. Cod. Sin. σκληρ. ἀνέμ. Rec. A. L.—M.]

[5]Jam_3:4. [ὅπου ἄν Rec.—ὅπου Sin. B.—M.]

[6] Jam_3:4. Cod. Sin. B read βούλεται for βούληται.—M.]

Lange: Behold even the ships, although they are so great and are [moreover] tossed about by fierce winds, even they are guided with a very small rudder, whithersoever the direction [course] of the steersman [guide] may wish.

[.. though so great and driven by … are turned about by a very small rudder, whithersoever the will of the steersman may wish.—M.]

[7]Jam_3:5. The reading μεγάλα αὐχεῖ A. C.* recommended by Tischend, is preferable to μεγαλαυχεί.

[8] Jam_3:5. The difference between ἡλίκον and ὀλίγον keeps balancing between the authorities and the critics. In point of sense both amount to the same thing with the exception that ἡλίκον, the more difficult reading, gives also the stronger expression: what a fire, i. e. what a little fire. [ἡλίκον is decidedly the more authentic reading. It is in A.** B. C.* Cod. Sin. Vulg. received by Lachmann, Tisch., Alford, Wordsw., de Wette, Huther and others. Alford maintains that ἡλίκος is “quantulus” as well as “quantus” and cites Lucian, Hermot. 5.—M.]

Lange: Thus also the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things.—Behold what a little fire—what a forest it doth kindle [Jerusalem on fire.]

[… Behold how small a fire kindleth how great a forest.—M]

[9]Jam_3:6. [Cod. Sin. omits καὶ before γλῶσσα.—M.]

[10]Jam_3:6. οὕτως before the second ἡ γλῶσσα is wanting in [A. B. C. K. Cod. Sin.—M.]

[11]Jam_3:6. [Cod. Sin. reads καὶ σπιλοῦσα for ἡ σπιλοῦσα Rec. and many others.—M.]

[12] Jam_3:6. [Cod. Sin. reads ἡμῶν after γενἐσεως—M.]

Lange: The tongue also is a fire; it, the world [the adornment of the world, worldliness [Germ.: “Weltformigkeit”] of unrighteousness. The tongue steppeth forth [rules] among our members, it, which defileth the whole body and inflameth the [revolving] wheel of the development of life, and itself is inflamed by hell.

[And the tongue is a fire, that world of iniquity. The tongue makes itself in our members the polluter of the whole body [Wordsworth], and setteth on fire the wheel of nature, and itself is set on fire by hell.—M.]

Jam_3:7. Lange: For every nature of the wild beasts and of the birds of the creeping creatures and of sea-creatures is tamed and hath been tamed by human nature.

[… of beasts and birds [lit. winged things], of creeping things and things in the sea …—M.]

[13]Jam_3:8. [δύναται δαμάσαι ἀνθρώπων. Cod. Sin. A. K.—M.]

[14] Jam_3:8. ἀκατάστατον is on good grounds preferred by Lachm. Tisch. according to A. B. Vulg. and Cod. Sin. to ἀκατάσχετον, Rec. C. G. K.

Lange: But the tongue no one of men is able to tame, the [causing restlessness and disquiet; Germ: “unruhstiftend”—] evil full of death-bringing poison.

[… it is a restless evil, full of death-bringing poison.—M.]

[15] Jam_3:9. A. B. G. Tisch. Lachm. [and Cod. Sin] read τὸν κύριον.

Lange: With it praise [bless] we the Lord and Father [also as Father] and with the same curse we men, who after the image [similitude] of God are created [have become, destined to become His children.]

[Therewith bless we the Lord and Father, and therewith … have been created after the likeness of God.—M.]

Jam_3:10. Lange: … praising and cursing.

[… goeth forth [Stier, de Wette, Allioli and al.]—M.]

Lange: It shall not be thus, my brethren, that these things come thus to pass.

[16]Jam_3:12. οὕτως is opposed by the most important witnesses. The immediate sequel in Text. Rec. becomes modified into οὔτε ἁλυκὸν γλυκὺ ποιῆσαι ὕδωρ. Cod. Sin. favours οὕτως etc. [Syr. “ita etiam aqua salsa non fieri potest dulcis.”—M.]

[17] Jam_3:12. [Cod. Sin. omits καὶ before γλυκὺ.—M.]

Lange: Doth the fountain, perchance, bubble out of the same opening sweet and bitter [water]? A fig-tree, my brethren, surely cannot produce olives, or the vine figs? [Thus] nor can [any fountain] salt [water] give sweet water.

[Doth a fountain, perchance, out of the same chink [Alford] send forth the sweet and the bitter? Can a fig-tree, my brethren, yield olives … nor can salt [water] yield sweet water.—M.]

Jam_3:13. Lange: Who is wise and intelligent among you? Let him show through good conduct his works [that is] in gentleness of wisdom.

[… intelligent among you [Bengel, Stier, de Wette, al] … out of a good conversation his works in meekness of wisdom.—M.]

[18] Jam_3:14. [Cod. Sin. ταῖς καρδ.—M.]

Lange: But if ye harbor bitter zeal and quarrelsomeness in your hearts, boast not yourselves …

[But if ye harbor bitter emulation and party-strife … boast not.—M.]

[19] Jam_3:14. [Cod. Sin. κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ ψεύδεσθε.—M.]

Jam_3:15. Lange: For this wisdom is not that which cometh down from above, but an earthly, sensuous [soulish (Germ. seelisch, almost impossible to render in English without a circumlocution), passionate], devilish one.

[This wisdom is not that which is coming from above, but earthly, sensuous, devilish.—M.]

[20] Jam_3:16. [Cod. Sin. has καὶ after ἐκεῖ; so A.—M.]

Lange: For where is emulation and quarrelsomeness, there is seditious work and all manner of ovil doing.

[… emulation and party-strife, there is perturbation and every evil deed.—M.]

[21]Jam_3:17. A. B. C. Sin. and al. omit καὶ after ἀδιάκριτος.

[22] Jam_3:17. τῆς before δικαιοσύνης is omitted in A. B. C. L. [and Cod Sin.—M.]

Lange: But the wisdom from above is first of all consecrated [theocratically pure or chaste, free from apostasy], then peaceable, equitably disposed [philanthropical, humane], gladly yielding, full of compassion and good fruits, without separatism, without hypocrisy.

[… first pure, then peaceable, equitable, compliant, … undistinguishing, without hypocrisy.—M.]

Jam_3:18. Lange: But the [future] fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by them.…

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

James

A WATCH ON THE DOOR OF THE LIPS

Jas 3:1-15

‘THERE is a recurrence to earlier teaching in Jas 1:19; Jas 1:26, which latter verse suggests the figure of the bridle. James has drunk deep into Old Testament teaching as to the solemn worth of speech, and into Christ’s declaration that by their words men will be justified or condemned.

No doubt, Eastern peoples are looser tongued than we Westerns are; but modern life, with its great development of cities and its swarm of newspapers and the like, has heightened the power of spoken and printed words, and made James’s exhortations even more necessary. His teaching here gathers round several images- the bridle, the fire, the untamed creature, the double fountain. We deal with these in order.

I. No doubt, in the infant Church, with its flexible organisation, there were often scenes very strange to our eyes, such as Paul hints at in 1Co 14:26-33, where many voices of would-be teachers contended for a hearing.

James would check that unwholesome eagerness by the thought that teachers who do not practice what they preach will receive a heavier judgment than those who did not set up to be instructors. He humbly classes himself with the teachers. The ‘for’ of verse 2 introduces a reason for the advice in verse 1 - since it is hard to avoid falls, and harder in respect to speech than action, it is a dangerous ambition to be a teacher.

That thought leads on to the series of considerations as to the government of the tongue. He who can completely keep it under command is a ‘perfect’ man, because the difficulty of doing so is so great that the attainment of it is a test of perfection. James is like the Hebrew prophets, in that he does not so much argue as illustrate. His natural speech is imagery, and here he pours out a stream of it. The horse’s bridle and the ship’s rudder may be taken together as both illustrating the two points that the tongue guides the body, and that it is intended that the man should guide the tongue. These two ideas are fused together here. The bridle is put into the mouth, and what acts on the mouth influences the direction of the horse’s course. The rudder is but a little bit of wood, hut its motion turns the great ship, even when driven by wild winds. ‘So the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things,’ which boasting is not false, for the whole point of the passage is that that little member has large power.

Is it true, as James says, that it governs our actions as the bridle does the horse, Or the rudder the ship? No doubt, many sins go straight from the inner chambers of the heart’s desires out into the world of action without.going round by the way of speech; but still, if we think of the immense power of our own words and of others in setting our activities in motion, of the dreadful harvest of sin which has of ten sprung from one tempting word, of the ineffaceable traces of pollution which some vile book leaves in memory and heart, of the good and evil which have been wrought by spoken or printed words, and that never more truly than to-day, when a flood of talk all but drowns the world, we shall not think James exaggerating in the awful weight he gives to speech as the mother of action.

His other point is that this guiding power needs guidance. A firm yet gentle hand touches the rein, and the sensitive mouth yields to the light pressure. The steerman’s hand pushes or draws the tiller an inch from or towards him, and the huge vessel yaws accordingly. Speech is often loose. Most men set less careful watch on the door of their lips than of their actions; but it would be wiser to watch the inner gate, which leads from thought to speech, than the outer one, which leads from speech to act. Idle words, rash words, unconsidered words, free-flowing words, make up much of our conversation. ‘His tongue ran away with him’ is too often true. It is hard but possible, and it is needful, to guide the helm, to keep a tight hand on the reins.

II. The next figure is that of the fire, suggested by the illustration of the small spark which sets a great forest ablaze.

Drop a match or a spark from a locomotive or a pipe in the prairie grass, and we know what comes. The illustration was begun to carry on the contrast between the small member and its great results; but James catches fire, and goes off after the new suggestion, ‘The tongue is a fire.’

Our space forbids discussing the interpretation of the difficult verse 6, but the general bearing of it is clean It reiterates under a fresh figure the thought of the preceding verses as to the power of the tongue to set the whole body in motion. Only the imagery is more lurid, and suggests more fatal issues from an unhallowed tongue’s influence. It ‘defileth the whole body.’ Foul speech, heard in schools or places of business, read in filthy books, heard in theatres, has polluted many a young life, and kindled fires which have destroyed a man, body and soul. Speech is like the axle which, when it gets heated, sets the wheel on fire. And what comes of the train then? And what set the axle ablaze? The sulphurous flames from the pit of Gehenna. No man who knows life, especially among young boys and young men, will think that James has lost the government of his tongue in speaking thus.

III. Next comes the figure of the untamable wild beast.

e need not pin James down to literal accuracy any more than to scientific classification in his zoology. His general statement is true enough for his purpose, for man has long ago tamed, and still continues to use as tamed, a crowd of animals of most diverse sorts, fierce and meek, noxious and harmless.

But, says James, in apparent contradiction to himself, there is one creature that resists all such efforts. Then what .is the sense of your solemn exhortations, James, if ‘the tongue can no man tame’? In that case he who is able to bridle it must be more than a perfect man. Yes, James believed that, though he says little about it. He would have us put emphasis on ‘no man.’ Man’s impossibilities are Christ’s actualities. So we have here to fall back on James’s earlier word, If any of you lack,... let him ask of God,... and it shall be given him.’ The position of ‘man’ in the Greek is emphatic, and suggests that the thought of divine help is present to the Apostle.

He adds a characterisation of the tongue, which fits in with his image of an untamable brute: ‘It is a restless evil,’ like some caged but unsubdued wild animal, ever pacing uneasily up and down its den; ‘full of deadly poison,’ like some captured rattlesnake. The venom spurted out by a calumnious tongue is more deadly than any snake poison. Blasphemous words, or obscene words, shot into the blood by one swift dart of the fangs, may corrupt its whole current, and there is no Pasteur to expel the virus.

IV. The last image, that of the fountain, is adduced to illustrate the strange inconsistencies of men, as manifested in their speech.

Words of prayer and words of cursing come from the same lips. No doubt these hot tempered, and sometimes ferociously religious, Jewish Christians, to whom James speaks, had some among them whose portraits James is drawing here. ‘Away with such a fellow from the earth!’ is a strange sequel to ‘Blessed be he, the God of our fathers.’ But the combination has often been heard since. To Deums and anathemas have succeeded one another m strange union, and religious controversy has not always been conducted with perfect regard to James’s precepts.

Of course when the Apostle gibbets the grotesque inconsistency of such a union, he is not to be taken as allowing cursing, if it only keeps clear of ‘blessing God.’ Since the latter is the primary duty of all, and the highest exercise of the great gift of speech, anything inconsistent with it is absolutely forbidden, and to show the inconsistency is to condemn the act.

Further, the assertion that ‘salt water cannot yield sweet’ implies that the ‘cursing’ destroys the reality of the verbal ‘blessing God.’ If a man says both, the imprecation is his genuine voice, and the other is mere wind.

The fountain is deeper than the tongue. From the heart are the issues of life. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, and clear, pure waters will not well out thence unless the heart has been cleansed by Christ entering into it. Only when that tree of life is cast into the waters are they made sweet. When Christ governs us, we can govern our hearts and our lips, and through these our whole bodies and all their activities.

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

III. THE EVILS OF THE TONGUE CORRECTED

CHAPTER 3

1. The tongue and its work (Jas 3:1-12)

2. The wisdom which is earthly and the wisdom that is from above (Jas 3:13-18)

Jas 3:1-12

The practical character of this Epistle is still more evidenced by the contents of this chapter. The tongue is the member of the human body which is made prominent. The human tongue is a great and wonderful gift of the Creator; with which no other earthly creature is endowed. It is written: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” It therefore reveals the real ‘condition of the heart and by what it is governed.

The opening verse exhorts to caution as to teaching: “My brethren, be not many teachers, knowing that we shall receive a greater judgment.” Here another Jewish characteristic is mentioned. They are naturally forward and love to be heard, taking leadership. It seems as if many wanted to be teachers and exercise public ministry. Perhaps this may refer to the “speaking in tongues” also, and the abuse of it as mentioned in 1Co 14:20-33. In the first chapter the exhortation was given “slow to speak”; here it is applied to teaching. The exhortation is interesting in its bearing. First, is the warning not to assume leadership in teaching for self-display; even teaching as given to the members of the body of Christ must be carefully exercised, for it carries with it great responsibility, for one may preach to others and be himself disapproved (1Co 9:27). If one is a teacher he must also practice what he teaches, otherwise he shall receive a greater judgment, not as to salvation, but as to disapproval before the award seat of Christ.

in the second place, the exhortation shows that ministry among these Jewish Christians was in perfect liberty; they did not possess among themselves a special class in whom public teaching was vested. The next verse broadens and refers to speaking in general. The perfect man is he who does not offend in a word and therefore is able to govern the whole body. This introduces the tongue and its twofold possibility. “Behold we put bits in the horses mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity; so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature when it is set on fire by Gehenna.” Horses, with their powerful bodies, are governed, led about and directed by the bit in their mouths; great ships which are driven about by gales and hurricanes, are steered by a small rudder, and so the human tongue is a little member which controls the whole man. It is like a tiny spark, yet that spark can set everything on fire and produce a disastrous conflagration. “Behold how much wood is kindled by how small a fire”--this is the correct rendering of the text. The tongue of the natural man, unrestrained by anything, is a fire. It defiles the whole body. Our Lord speaks of this. “That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness; all these evil things come from within, and defile the man” (Mar 7:20-23).

The tongue is the medium to reveal all these evils of the heart, and by its use for evil becomes the seducer of others. It can set everything on fire, if it is set on fire by Gehenna, (translated, hell); when it is under the control of the author of sin.

“For every kind of beasts and birds, of creeping things and things in the sea, is tamed and hath been tamed of mankind; but the tongue can no man tame; it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we the Lord and Father, and therewith curse we men, made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth cometh forth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth the fountain send forth out of the same opening sweet and bitter? Can a fig-tree, my brethren, yield olives, or a vine figs? Neither can salt water yield sweet.”

James vehemently attacks this evil, yet in the spirit of love, as seen by the repeated address, “My brethren.” Sins of the tongue are especially prominent among Jews; evil speaking, backbiting and lying, so frequently mentioned in their own Scriptures. He speaks of the power man has to tame every kind of beasts and birds, even the creeping things, as serpents and things in the sea; but man, the conqueror of the brute creation, is helpless when it comes to the taming of the tongue; the tongue can no man tame. David knew of this, for he wrote: “I said, I will take heed of my ways, that I sin not with my tongue; I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me” (Psa 39:1). All resolutions man makes to keep his tongue in subjection are unsuccessful. But if man has a new nature with the Holy Spirit dwelling there, the tongue can be governed and its evils overcome. Yet what sin is more frequently found among God’s people than the sins of the tongue? It needs a constant watching and words must be weighed. Idle words, words which are not according to truth, or which reflect upon the character of another child of God, insinuating evil, magnifying faults, or words which belittle, words of envy and strife are the sins of the tongue prevalent among God’s people. How well then to consider constantly the exhortation of the first chapter of this Epistle: “Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath” (Jas 1:19). The tongue is a restless evil; it is unceasingly at it and carries in its sinful use deadly poison.

Blessing and curse may be expressed by the tongue. While on the one hand, the tongue is an instrument of evil and for evil, the tongue of the believer, on the other hand, should be an instrument of righteousness and for the glory of God. What greater occupation on earth is possible than true worship in Spirit and truth! Through the tongue we can praise and exalt the Lord, bear testimony to that worthy Name, tell others of Him and become channels for eternal blessing. But how quickly, if uncontrolled, it may be used in the service of sin. Peter uttered with his tongue his great, God-given confession, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” But a short time after, that same tongue became the mouthpiece of Satan, when he rebuked the Lord for saying that He would go to Jerusalem to suffer and to die. What an inconsistency the tongue of man reveals! No such thing is found in nature anywhere. A tree does not produce two kinds of fruit; a fig tree bears no Olives; a vine does not produce figs; nor does the same fountain gush forth salt water and sweet water.

Jas 3:13-18

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him shew out of a good behavior his works in meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your heart, boast not and lie not against the truth. This is not the wisdom which cometh down from above, but it is earthly, sensual, demoniacal. For where envying and strife is, there is disorder and every evil thing.” This exhortation, also, is suited to the Jewish believers to whom it was originally addressed. They are noted still for their jealousies, their strife and self-exaltation, these fruits of the fallen nature of man, the works of the flesh; they are, of course, also found among Gentile believers. Envyings, the sectarian spirit, the party spirit, producing bitterness and contentions, these things are not the manifestations of the wisdom which is from above, the fruit of the new nature and of the Spirit, but it is the earthly wisdom, springing from the natural man, behind which stands the author of sin.

“But the wisdom which is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without contention, without hypocrisy; and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.” This is the other side, the manifestation of the wisdom from above, the true fruits of the new nature and of the Spirit of God. It is first pure and then peaceable. It is pure, because it comes from God and leads to God. That which is from God cannot tolerate evil; it repudiates it. It aims at the glory of God and maintains His holy character. As a result it is peaceable, it seeks the fruits of peace among men, through the exercise of that love which the Holy Spirit describes in 1Co 13:1-13. It is gentle: “Let your gentleness be known to all men” (Php 4:5); it is easy to be entreated, ready to yield. It knows nothing of stubbornness, prejudice and opinionativeness, the sources of so much strife and contention among believers. When a man is conscious that his wisdom is of a superior kind, one can understand his unwillingness to have his mind or will disputed; but the truth is, that there is nothing which so marks the superiority of grace and truth and wisdom, that God gives, as patience, and the absence of anxiety to push what one knows is right and true. It is an inherent and sure sign of weakness somewhere, when a man is ever urgent in pressing the value of his own words and opinions, or caviling habitually at others. The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace, and produces peace.

Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Division 4. (Jas 3:1-18; Jas 4:1-17.)

The walk through the world.

The whole epistle of James, as we have seen, is of that character which we call "practical." We may expect, however, that in a fourth division practice will come in some special way before us. We have it, therefore, in what follows now. He has just shown us that faith is the first necessity for it, and that it is from faith that everything that is right in this way springs. Now he comes simply to look at the practice in itself, the walk through the world, the world having that character which we know so well, and which is God’s ordained testing for the Christian. This is the good of it, the testing by it; and the apostle brings before us, in the first place, that which, where it is found in full reality, shows indeed the perfect man.

1. But notice, then, that this perfect man is manifested as such by being able to govern himself, and that he is recognized as having in him that which in itself is perfectly untamable by any power merely of man. It is remarkably and beautifully brought out by the prophet Isaiah, as to the perfect Servant of whom he speaks in his fifty-third chapter, that under the greatest stress of trial that could possibly be conceived, a trial which went on to the awful death which the Lord suffered, "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth" -He was perfect master of Himself under all circumstances. And again, as the prophet bears witness, while on the one hand "He had done no violence," on the other "neither was there any deceit in His mouth." Violence comes from the abuse of power; deceit is the resource of weakness. In the Lord there could be neither. The perfect trial was but perfect manifestation of supreme excellence. His was unique obedience to the will of God, while accompanied at the same time with perfection of another kind, which made Him able to realize all the weakness of which He was the subject, He to whom sin was suffering only, and the sorest possible suffering, even to the bearing of its heavy burden upon the tree.

The apostle is speaking, then, of the government of the tongue; and he begins with that in which the line has carefully to be drawn between good and evil. "My brethren," he says, "be not many teachers, knowing that we shall receive the greater judgment; for in many things we all offend." Yet there is nothing clearer in Scripture than that, whatever one receives in the way of truth from God, he is responsible to minister it in whatever way lies open to him, for the help of others. The mere fact of the possession of that which is infinite riches to the soul that possesses it makes it a responsibility, which love at once must recognize, to minister it to others. Thus, in a sense, all may be teachers, while, of course, not in the sense in which the apostle is speaking here. There is the special gift of a teacher; and, inasmuch as it is special, it is not for every one to assume that he has it. It is the assumption of such a place as this, of which the apostle is speaking. As already said, there is need of careful discrimination, and that we should not turn his words into discouragement with regard to that in which our responsibility is so strongly emphasized. Priscilla was a woman; and, says the apostle, "I suffer not a woman to teach;" yet Priscilla and Aquila take Apollos and instruct him in the word of God more perfectly. Was she right? It is surely very clear that she was, and that Paul always recognizes her in an unmistakable way as eminent among women. Let us understand clearly that that which love moves us to, it gives at the same time authority for doing. It needs no authority but that which lies in its own compelling power. Love is the humblest thing that can be. It seeketh not its own; its delight is to pour itself out, to abnegate itself; and therefore, of necessity, it would at once guard one from any self-assumption. We may any of us teach that which we know, without the least pretension to be, as it were, by profession teachers; just as we may and must evangelize, -that is, carry the gospel to those who have it not, -without in the least assuming by this to be, in the proper sense, evangelists. Here love will be found that which gives wisdom for every condition. True love is not blind and foolish, but deep-sighted. Love guides and governs in all that it incites us to. If we assume the responsibility of the teacher’s place, then, as the apostle says here, we shall receive a "greater judgment;" and who can question it? A greater responsibility means a greater judgment; that is to say, God will require from us in proportion to the place we have. Is He not right? and can we expect anything else? And this is a warning, therefore, as to assumption. It is not meant, in the least, to be a hindrance to anything that love may impel to. But indeed, as the apostle says, "in many things we all offend,"* and in word how easy it is to offend! In this case, if it be a questionof putting forth that which purports to be interpretation or application of the word of God, how necessary to realize the responsibility in handling that which, as the word of God, comes authoritatively to the souls of men! Here too, if we did not know God’s grace, with the greatest gift we should be tongue-tied. It was he that did not trust this grace in his master who went and hid his lord’s money -was unable, therefore, to use it for the very purpose for which it was entrusted to him. We are as responsible to use as we are responsible not to abuse. We cannot escape from responsibility on either hand. How blessed to know, in the consciousness that still "in many things we all offend," a grace upon which we can cast ourselves and go forward, if only there be with us the governing sense of whom we serve, and the serious desire to serve Him in it!

{*"In many things we all offend" is hardly to be taken as a statement of the actual life of the believer. On the contrary, the apostle in this very connection is warning against yielding to this tendency. It would seem to be a general statement of the proneness of all to offend, just as the tongue is prone to be unruly. But grace enables us to live without offence not in the way of sinless perfection in ourselves, but rather as glorifying God’s power to keep down the innate tendencies of the flesh. -S.R.}

But the apostle goes on more fully into this question of the tongue. "If any offend not in word, he is a perfect man, able to bridle also the whole body." And yet how easily we let our tongues run on! In fact, the place that the apostle gives the tongue is that which governs the whole body. The bit in the horse’s mouth is a small thing in itself, and yet the whole body is turned by it. The ships, in the midst of violent winds that act upon them, yet are turned about by a very small rudder, according to the direction that the helmsman gives. So, we may think little of the tongue, although it is the very thing by which we boast so much, but, verily, "How much wood can be kindled by how small a fire!" And here he breaks out into a description of it which is startling in its vehemence. "The tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire of hell." Of course, he is speaking of it as unrestrained by the fear of God, or unguided by the power of the Spirit. How much might we speak of the wonderful power of the tongue on the other side! What a ministry of comfort and blessing is in it! But the best gifts are in their perversion just as fruitful for evil as they are good when used aright. The sweetest ties, the most precious relationships that God has instituted amongst men, are just in the same proportion fruitful for evil in their perversion. Nevertheless there is, no doubt, a special need for such a warning as this with regard to the tongue. How apt we are to be careless about it! How apt we are to release it somewhat from the control that we ought to exercise over it! How soon, if it escapes from such control, it does the damage which we know a little fire may! How much further evil may a little evil in it -mere unguarded words, as we say -excite in others! It is an untamable evil, says the apostle; that is, of course, naturally. We have always to govern it, saints as we may be. The liberty which is truly ours does not extend, as we know, to a liberty with regard to that body which is still unredeemed, which is dead because of sin; and among Christians, where is there, in fact, any source of evil, and so readily allowed to manifest itself, as the tongue? "It is a restless evil," says the apostle, always seeking expression, yet "full of death-bringing poison." "We bless the Lord on the one hand, and curse men on the other; men whom God has made in His own likeness. Blessing and cursing come out of the same mouth. How thorough an inconsistency, as the apostle urges! In nature you do not find such things. The fountain does not send forth sweet and bitter water out of the same opening; nor a fig tree yield olives; nor a vine, figs; nor can that which is salt produce sweet water. Nature itself in this way rebukes one who was meant to be the lord of nature, as the image of Him who is the Governor over all. He has, alas, yielded himself to the government of another, and thus he has lost the power of government, largely, over nature, but above all over himself. The child of God away from God displays in full reality the power of the fall, and, as the apostle urges here, the tongue is an eminent example of this.

2. Out of the heart the mouth speaketh. We have begun with the utterance of the mouth. Now we go on to that which is more in the heart itself. "Whoso is wise and intelligent among you, let him show out of good behavior his works in meekness of wisdom; but if ye have bitter emulation and strife in your hearts, boast not, and lie not against the truth."* This is the spirit of the world, and the corruption that is in the world is through lust. It is the fruit of a heart unsatisfied with God, with that which alone can satisfy, and as a consequence there is of necessity a restless seeking of what will do this. The world cannot furnish it, and hence it goes on, only with more and more urgency and bitterness all the time. This is not a wisdom which cometh down from above. It is "earthly, sensual, demoniacal." It is first "earthly." It brings in no motive that is not of earth. The word for "sensual" is one that we have had before as "natural." It is "psychic," soul-led; "sensual" is probably here the best translation we can give to it. The soul is that which, as we have seen, divorced from the spirit, is only bestial. In it are found the instincts and appetites that have to do with the maintenance of life, and nothing more. With the presence of the spirit man has that which penetrates this soul-life, and makes it capable of higher things; but there is nothing of that here. The spirit has not its supreme place, the man is soul-led, soul-governed. This is the kind of wisdom here, which, however, has another and deeper significance still. It is not only "earthly, sensual," but "demoniacal;" Satan being the prince of the world, a more disastrous influence is over man than could be found even in his mere fallen nature. There is a "spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience," the communication of a wisdom in some sense higher than their own, but at the same time only more evil. This, then, alas, is the spirit of the world. Man is not his own master, even while he vainly talks of liberty and means most earnestly to do his own will and nothing else. But these wills among men are various, and in strife with one another. Thus emulation and strife are the necessary accompaniments of all wisdom which comes not from above. There is disorder and every evil thing.

{*We seem to have here the two kinds of outflow from the heart, like the two kinds of fruit from the same tree -a thing impossible in nature, but too frequently found in man. There is either the good works of meekness and wisdom, or the envy and strife which boast, but really give the lie to God’s truth. This seems to be the force of this last clause: strife and envy lead to boasting and a denial of the truth. Hence the believer is warned. -S.R.

On the other hand, the wisdom that is from above is first pure. There is in it singleness and simplicity of heart. There is no double-mindedness or duplicity. It is without mixture, refusing the alliance with evil. The apostle emphasizes that this wisdom is, first of all, pure. It is from Him who is light, in whose presence everything is seen for what it is, and evil has necessarily its rightfully abhorrent aspect. Thus the wisdom from above is "first pure, then peaceable." There is no lukewarmness, no indifference to evil: there is no peace that can be made with it; but where purity is maintained, its natural character can show itself even towards the failing and the froward. It is "gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without contention," (where there is not truth and right to contend for there is no spirit of it,) "without hypocrisy;" and the fruit of righteousness is found in the peace which is thus maintained: "The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace." Thus it springs from righteousness and returns to righteousness again. "The effect of righteousness is peace," but the effect of such peace is again righteousness.

The apostle pursues the earthly wisdom of which he has been speaking to its results. "Whence come wars and whence come fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your pleasures" (the gratification of your lusts), "which war in your members? Ye lust, and have not." There is, in fact, no power that can satisfy this. It is condemned, by its very nature, to dissatisfaction. "Ye kill, and are envious, and cannot obtain." We see that we are being shown the natural tendencies of things as they work out in the world around. James is speaking, as one may say, in the synagogue, in a mixed congregation, in which more than the saints are before him. Ye fight and war. Ye have not, because ye ask not." It is indeed impossible for prayer to live in such an atmosphere, as we see at once; and yet even here the subtlety of the human heart can come in, as it has devised among the heathen false gods who are but the images of lust themselves, and who can therefore be appealed to in behalf of these. Alas, Christians ’too may ask and receive not, because they ask amiss, to consume it in their pleasures. We know perfectly well, alas, that self-indulgence can be found in those who are Christians also, and we may seek even from God Himself that which, after all, as He sees it, is merely something that may minister to this spirit.

The apostle flames out here as contemplating, evidently, those who are pledged to God, but who are not abiding in the satisfaction yielded by that which is their own. "Adulteresses: know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?" He is contemplating those espoused to Christ, and yet giving themselves to another; and, alas, how easy it is to forget that the friendship of the world is enmity with God. Does not that seem often a little strong, perhaps? There it must remain as the immutable Word of inspiration, and let us face it fully. The world and God are on opposite sides, and can never be brought together. We may choose with which we will be; with both we cannot really be. "Whosoever, therefore, is minded to be a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of God." How well would it be if we let such strong yet wholesome admonition search us to the very bottom! How well the question comes just here, "Think ye that the Scripture speaketh in vain?" How often it seems in vain even for the children of God themselves! But "the Spirit, then, who has taken His abode in us, does He desire enviously?" This certainly seems to be the force of what is here, and it must therefore be a question, not an affirmation, as the common version makes it. "The Spirit who hath taken His abode in us" cannot mean the mere human spirit, and therefore envious desire can only be intended to be put in contrast with that which is His mind, a contradiction to Himself, which is emphasized by giving it the form of a question, as we must. We know, surely, that the Spirit of God that dwelleth in us can have nothing to do with the envious desires of the heart which go out after the world for satisfaction. Nay, "He giveth more grace." What do we need, but to realize what this grace of God is, and what it has made our own, to have every unsatisfied lust stilled; and instead of grasping for ourselves, we acquire the lowliness that waits upon God, and to which He can minister. "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble."

3. He leads us now more into the sanctuary, to estimate things in the presence of God. Where God is, He must rule; and if we will be the arbiters of our own portion, we must, of necessity, be away from God. "Be subject, therefore, to God; resist the devil," -for he is always near if God be far away, -"and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you." A place before Him, even a place in Christ, is one thing; the desire for what that place implies is another. Thus, it can be said to those who in one sense are nigh, "Draw nigh to God;" and there is still this condition to be fulfilled in order that He may draw nigh to us. We are "no more strangers and foreigners." He expects from us the affections of children, of those that desire intimacy; but this can only be ours in a way conformable to His own nature. Thus, the word follows, "Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded." The pleasures that men seek away from God need to be turned -as they will surely yet turn -into affliction for them. Let the soul anticipate this, and instead of rejoicing in such a condition, "be afflicted, and mourn, and weep; let the laughter be turned to mourning, and the joy to heaviness." No way for us but to anticipate the judgment of Him who judges not harshly, but according to truth. Let us humble, in His presence, the pride of heart which would dictate to Him, and account our own wills better than His will for us. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He shall exalt you. If we exalt ourselves, He will surely abase us. He that humbleth himself shall as surely find exaltation, but it will be in His own manner.

But if we speak of judgment, and rightly exercise it with regard to ourselves, we have to remember here also that it is not for us to judge our brother. To judge evil is right, of course, and necessary; to judge of that which we have to do is our responsibility always, and therefore of all with which we associate ourselves; but, after all, there must always be with this the reserve, as to those whose ways may be involved in this, that there is One alone who knows the heart, and can give perfect judgment. We are to beware therefore of taking the place of the judge instead of that of obedience simply, which is our own. To act as in the judgment-seat is really, says the apostle, to judge the very law itself; it is to take it away from Him to whom only the law gives it. One only is the Lawgiver and Judge, who can carry out every decision, "who is able to save and to destroy." What right have we to anticipate His judgment?*

{*This seems to be the meaning of this somewhat obscure passage. The Lawgiver is the only judge. To anticipate His judgment is really to sit in judgment upon the law for not having provided for immediate penalty. For me to judge before the time is to condemn the law as being dilatory. -S.R.}

There is another form of this forgetfulness of God to which the apostle turns -a very common one. "Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and spend a year there, and trade, and get gain; ye who know not what will be on the morrow." It is not, as we see directly, that he means to forbid all exercise of thought as to the morrow, but only the spirit of those who plan without God, who forget the uncertainty of everything here: "For what is your life? it is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." It is the spirit of self-confidence he is condemning, which boasts of what it can do without God: "For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, and we shall live, we will also do this or that; but now ye glory in your vauntings. All such glorying is evil."

He adds a word now which should forever settle the question of sinless perfection for a Christian: "To him who knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."* This is much more, of course, than the prohibition of positive evil. There is a negative evil which we have carefully to keep before us. The responsibility of knowing what it is good to do is one that, while we may in a general way allow it, yet deserves far deeper consideration than we often would even desire to give it. How solemn it is to think of all the good that we might do, and yet have not done! How slow we are to recognize that this, too, is sin! We are so apt to claim for ourselves a kind of freedom here which is not Scriptural freedom; and there is no doubt, also, that we may abuse a text like this to legality, if there be legality in our hearts. We are to be drawn, not driven. Yet the neglect of that which is in our hand to do, -which we, perhaps, do not realize our capacity for, and that only through a spirit of self-indulgence or a timidity which is not far removed from this, -such neglect, how hard it is to free ourselves of it, and how much do we miss in this way of that which would be fruitful in blessing for ourselves as well as for others! for, indeed, we can never sow fruit of this kind without reaping what we have sown; and the good that we can do to others, even if it requires the most thorough self-sacrifice, yet will be found in the end to have yielded more than it cost, and to have wrought in the interests of him who has not considered even or sought this.

{*This clause is introduced by "therefore," which connects it with what has preceded. Just the force of this connection is not at once seen. Some have connected it with what immediately precedes -the shortness of life. In view of that, neglect is a sin. Others, probably, are nearer the truth who regard it as a summing up in view of the principles which have been dwelt upon. The apostle has shown the right and wrong manner of life. If there is a disregard of his word, for those who now know how to do good, it is sin. -S.R.}

F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Chapter 14

HEAVY RESPONSIBILITIES OF TEACHERS-THE POWERS AND PROPENSITIES OF THE TONGUE-THE SELF-DEFILEMENT OF THE RECKLESS TALKER.

Jam_3:1-8

FROM the "idle faith" St. James goes on to speak of the "idle word." The change from the subject of faith and works to that of the temptations and sins of speech is not so abrupt and arbitrary as at first sight appears. The need of warning his readers against sins of the tongue has been in his mind from the first. Twice in the first chapter it comes to the surface. "Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath" (Jam_1:19), as if being slow to hear and swift to speak were much the same as being swift to wrath. And again, "If any man thinketh himself to be religious, while he bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his heart, this mans religion is vain" (Jam_1:26). And now the subject of barren faith causes him to return to the warning once more. For it is precisely those who neglect good works that are given to talk much about the excellence of their faith, and are always ready to instruct and lecture others. That controversies about faith and works suggested to him this section about offences of the tongue, is a gratuitous hypothesis. St. James shows no knowledge of any such controversies. As already pointed out, the purpose of the preceding section {Jam_2:14-26} is not controversial or doctrinal, but purely practical, like the rest of the Epistle. The paragraph before us is of the same character; it is against those who substitute words for works.

St. James is entirely of Carlyles opinion that in the majority of cases, if "speech is silvern, silence is golden"; but be does not write twenty volumes to prove the truth of this doctrine. "In noble uprightness, he values only the strict practice of concrete duties, and hates talk" (Reuss); and while quite admitting that teachers are necessary, and that some are called to undertake this office, he tells all those who desire to undertake it that what they have to bear in mind is its perils and responsibilities. And it is obvious that true teachers must always be a minority. There is something seriously wrong when the majority in the community, or even a large number, are pressing forward to teach the rest.

"Be not many teachers, my brethren"; or, if we are to do full justice to the compact fullness of the original, "Do not many of you become teachers." St. James is not protesting against a usurpation of the ministerial office; to suppose this is to give far too specific a meaning to his simple language. The context points to no such sin as that of Korah and his company, but simply to the folly of incurring needless danger and temptation. In the Jewish synagogues any one who was disposed to do so might come forward to teach, and St. James writes at a time when the same freedom prevailed in the Christian congregations. "Each had a psalm, had a teaching, had a revelation, had a tongue, had an interpretation All could prophesy one by one, that all might learn and all be comforted". {1Co_14:26; 1Co_14:31} But in both cases the freedom led to serious disorders. The desire to be called of men "Rabbi, Rabbi," told among Jews and Christians alike, and many were eager to expound who had still the very elements of true religion to learn. It is against this general desire to be prominent as instructors both in private and in public that St. James is here warning his readers. The Christian Church already has its ministers distinct from the laity, to whom the laity are to apply for spiritual help; {Jam_5:14} but it is not an invasion of their office by the laity to which St. James refers, when he says, "Do not many of you become teachers." These Jewish Christians of the Dispersion are like those at Rome to whom St. Paul writes; each of them was confident that his knowledge of God and the Law made him competent to become "a guide of the blind, a light of them that are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having in the Law the form of knowledge and of the truth". {Rom_2:17 ff.} But in teaching others they forgot to teach themselves; they failed to see that to preach the law without being a doer of the law was to cause Gods name to be blasphemed among the Gentiles; and that to possess faith and do nothing but talk was but to increase their own condemnation; for it was to place themselves among those who are condemned by Christ because "they say and do not". {Mat_23:3} The phrase "to receive judgment" (κριμα λαμβανειν) is in form a neutral one: the judgment may conceivably be a favorable one, but in usage it implies that the judgment is adverse. {Mar_12:40; Luk_20:47; Rom_13:2} Even without the verb "receive" this word "judgment" in the New Testament generally has the meaning of a condemnatory sentence. {Rom_2:2-3; Rom_3:8; Rom_5:16; 1Co_11:29; Gal_5:10; 1Ti_3:6; 1Ti_5:12; 1Pe_4:17; 2Pe_2:3; Jud_1:4; Rev_17:1; Rev_18:20} And there is no reason to doubt that such is the meaning here; the context requires it. The fact that St. James with affectionate humility and persuasiveness includes himself in the judgment-"we shall receive"-by no means proves that the word is here used in a neutral sense. In this he is like St. John, who breaks the logical flow of a sentence in a similar manner, rather than seem not to include himself: "If any man sin, we have an Advocate"; {1Jn_2:1} he is as much in need of the Advocate as others. So also here, St. James, as being a teacher, shares in the heavier condemnation of teachers. It was the conviction that the word is not neutral, but condemnatory, which produced the rendering in the Vulgate, "knowing that ye receive greater condemnation" (scientes quoniam maius judicium sumitis), it being thought that St. James ought not to be included in such a judgment.

But this is to miss the point of the passage. St. James says that "in many things we stumble-every one of us." He uses the strong form of the adjective (απαντες for παντες), and places it last with great emphasis. Every one of us sins, and therefore there is condemnation in store for every one of us. But those of us who are teachers will receive a heavier sentence than those of us who are not such; for our obligations to live up to the law which we know, and profess, and urge upon others, are far greater. Heaviest of all will be the condemnation of those who, without being called or qualified, through fanaticism, or an itch for notoriety, or a craze for controversy, or a love of fault-finding, push themselves forward to dispense instruction and censure. They are among the fools who "rush in where angels fear to tread," and thereby incur responsibilities which they need not, and ought not, to have incurred, because they do not possess the qualifications for meeting them and discharging them. The argument is simple and plain: "Some of us must teach. All of us frequently fall. Teachers who fall are more severely judged than others. Therefore do not many of you become teachers."

In what sphere is it that we most frequently fall? Precisely in that sphere in which the activity of teachers specially lies-in speech. "If any stumbleth not in word, the same is a perfect man." St. James is not thinking merely of the teacher who never makes a mistake, but of the man who never sins with the tongue. There is an obvious, but by no means exclusive, reference to teachers, and that is all. To every one of us, whatever our sphere in life, the saying comes home that one who offends not in word is in deed a perfect man. By "perfect" (τελειος) he means one who has attained full spiritual and moral development, who is "perfect and entire, lacking in nothing". {Jam_1:4} He is no longer a babe, but an adult; no longer a learner, but an adept. He is a full and complete man, with perfect command of all the faculties of soul and body. He has the full use of them, and complete control over them. The man who can bridle the most rebellious part of his nature, and keep it in faultless subjection, can bridle also the whole. This use of "perfect," as opposed to what is immature and incomplete, is the commonest use of the word in the New Testament. But sometimes it is a religious or philosophical term, borrowed from heathen mysteries or heathen philosophy. In such cases it signifies the initiated, as distinct from novices. Such a metaphor was very applicable to the Gospel, and St. Paul sometimes employs it; {1Co_2:6; Col_1:28} but it may be doubted whether any such thought is in St. Jamess mind here, although such a metaphor would have suited the subject. He who never stumbles in word can be no novice, but must be fully initiated in Christian discipline. But the simpler interpretation is better. He who can school the tongue can school the hands and the feet, the heart and the brain, in fact, "the whole body," the whole of his nature, and is therefore a perfect man.

In his characteristic manner, St. James turns to natural objects for illustrations to enforce his point. "Now if we put the horses bridles into their mouths, that they may obey us, we turn about their whole body." The changes made here by the Revisers are changes caused by a very necessary correction of the Greek text (ει δε) instead of Me, which St. James nowhere else uses, or ιδου, which here has very little evidence in its favor; for the text has been corrupted in order to simplify a rather difficult and doubtful construction. The uncorrupted text may be taken in two ways. Either, "But if we put the horses bridles into their mouths, that they may obey us, and so turn about their whole body" (much more ought we to do so to ourselves); this obvious conclusion being not stated, but left for us to supply at the end of an unfinished sentence. Or, as the Revisers take it, which is simpler, and leaves nothing to be understood. A man who can govern his tongue can govern his whole nature, just as a bridle controls, not merely the horses mouth, but the whole animal. This first metaphor is suggested by the writers own language. He has just spoken of the perfect man bridling his whole body, as before he spoke of the impossibility of true religion in one who does not bridle his tongue; {Jam_1:26} and this naturally suggests the illustration of the horses.

The argument is a fortiori from the horse to the man, and still more from the ship to the man, so that the whole forms a climax, the point throughout being the same, viz., the smallness of the part to be controlled in order to have control over the whole. And in order to bring out the fact that the ships are a stronger illustration than the horses, we should translate, "Behold, even the ships, though they are so great," etc., rather than "Behold, the ships also, though they are so great." First the statement of the case (Jam_3:2), then the illustration from the horses (Jam_3:3), then "even the ships" (Jam_3:4), and finally the application, "so the tongue also" (Jam_3:5). Thus all runs smoothly. If, as is certainly the case, we are able to govern irrational creatures with a small bit, how much more ourselves through the tongue; for just as he who has lost his hold of the reins has lost control over the horse, so he who has lost his hold on his tongue has lost control over himself. The case of the ship is still stronger. It is not only devoid of reason, but devoid of life. It cannot be taught obedience. It offers a dead resistance, which is all the greater because of its much greater size, and because it is driven by rough winds, yet its whole mass can be turned about by whoever has control of the little rudder, to lose command of which is to lose command of all. How much more, therefore, may we keep command over ourselves by having command over our tongues! There is nothing more in the metaphor than this. We may, if we please, go on with Bede, and turn the whole into a parable, and make the sea mean human life, and the winds mean temptations, and so on; but we must beware of supposing that anything of that kind was in the mind of St. James, or belongs to the explanation of the passage. Such symbolism is read into the text, not extracted from it. It is legitimate as a means of edifying, but it is not interpretation.

The expression "rough winds" (σκληρων ανεμων) is peculiar, "rough" meaning hard or harsh, especially to the touch, and hence of what is intractable or disagreeable in other ways. {1Sa_25:3; Joh_6:60; Act_26:14; Jud_1:15} Perhaps in only one other passage in Greek literature, previous to this Epistle, is it used as an epithet of wind, viz., in Pro_27:16, a passage in which the Septuagint differs widely from the Hebrew and from our versions. St. James, who seems to have been specially fond of the sapiential books of Scripture, may have derived this expression from the Proverbs.

"So the tongue also is a little member, and boasteth great things." The tongue, like the bit, and the rudder, is only a very small part of the whole, and yet, like them, it can do great things. St. James says, "boasteth great things," rather than "doeth great things," not in order to insinuate that the tongue boasts of what it cannot or does not do, which would spoil the argument, but in order to prepare the way for the change in the point of the argument. Hitherto the point has been the immense influence which the small organ of speech has over our whole being, and the consequent need of controlling it when we want to control ourselves. We must take care to begin the control in the right place. This point being established, the argument takes a somewhat different turn, and the necessity of curbing the tongue is shown, not-from its great power, but from its inherent malignity. It can be made to discharge good offices, but its natural bent is towards evil. If left unchecked, it is certain to do incalculable mischief. The expression "boasteth great things" marks the transition from the one point to the other, and in a measure combines them both. There are great things done; that shows the tongues power. And it boasts about them; that shows its bad character.

This second point, like the first, is enforced by two illustrations taken from the world of nature. The first was illustrated by the power of bits and rudders; the second is illustrated by the capacity for mischief in fire and in venomous beasts. "Behold, what a fire kindles what a wood!" is the literal rendering of the Greek, where "what a fire" evidently means "how small a fire," while "what a wood" means "how large a wood." The travelers camp-fire is enough to set a whole forest in flames, and the camp-fire was kindled by a few sparks. "Fire," it is sometimes truly said, "it is a good servant, but a bad master," and precisely the same may with equal truth be said of the tongue. So long as it is kept under control it does excellent service; but directly it can run on unchecked, and lead instead of obeying, it begins to do untold mischief. We sometimes speak of men whose "pens run away with them"; but a far commoner case is that of persons whose tongues run away with them, whose untamed and unbridled tongues say things which are neither seriously thought nor (even at the moment) seriously meant. The habit of saying "great things" and using strong language is a condition of constant peril, which will inevitably lead the speaker into evil. It is a reckless handling of highly dangerous material. It is playing with fire.

Yes, "the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defileth the whole body." The right punctuation of this sentence cannot be determined with certainty, and other possible arrangements will be found in the margin of the Revised Version; but on the whole this seems to be the best. The one thing that is certain is that the "so" of the Authorized version-"so is the tongue among our members" - is not genuine; if it were, it would settle the construction and the punctuation in favor of what is at least the second-best arrangement: "The tongue is a fire, that world of iniquity: the tongue is among our members that which defileth the whole body." The meaning of "the world of iniquity" has been a good deal discussed, but is not really doubtful. The ordinary colloquial signification is the right one. The tongue is a boundless store of mischief, an inexhaustible source of evil, a universe of iniquity; universitas iniquitatis, as the Vulgate renders it. It contains within itself the elements of all unrighteousness; it is charged with endless possibilities of sin. This use of "world" (κοσμος) seems not to occur in classical Greek; but it is found in the Septuagint of the Proverbs, and again in a passage where the Greek differs widely from the Hebrew (see above). What is still more remarkable, it occurs immediately after the mention of sins of speech: "An evil man listeneth to the tongue of the wicked; but a righteous man giveth no heed to false lips. The faithful man has the whole world of wealth; but the faithless not even a penny". {Pro_17:4}

"Is the tongue." The word for "is" must be observed (not εστι, nor υπαρχει, but καθιστατι). Its literal meaning is "constitutes itself," and it occurs again in Jam_4:4, where the Revisers rightly translate it "maketh himself:…Whosoever would be a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of God." The tongue was not created by God to be a permanent source of all kinds of evil; like the rest of creation, it was made "very good," "the best member that we have." It is by its own undisciplined and lawless career that it makes itself "the world of iniquity," that it constitutes itself among our members as "that which defileth our whole body." This helps to explain what St. James means by "unspotted" (ασπιλον) or "undefiled". {Jam_1:27} He who does not bridle his tongue is not really religious. Pure religion consists in keeping in check that "which defileth (ηη σπιλουσα) our whole body." And the tongue defiles us in three ways; -by suggesting sin to ourselves and others; by committing sin, as in all cases of lying and blasphemy; and by excusing or defending sin. It is a palmary instance of the principle that the best when perverted becomes the worst-corruptio optimi tit pessima.

It "setteth on fire the wheel of nature, and is set on fire by hell." We must be content to leave the precise meaning of the words rendered "the wheel of nature" (τον τροχοσεως) undetermined. The general meaning is evident enough, but we cannot be sure what image St. James had in his mind when he wrote the words. The one substantive is obviously a metaphor, and the other is vague in meaning (as the latter occurs Jam_1:23, the two passages should be compared in expounding); but what the exact idea to be conveyed by the combination is, remains a matter for conjecture. And the conjectures are numerous, of which one must suffice. The tongue is a center from which mischief radiates; that is the main thought. A wheel that has caught fire at the axle is at last wholly consumed, as the fire spreads through the spokes to the circumference. So also in society. Passions kindled by unscrupulous language spread through various channels and classes, till the whole cycle of human life is in flames. Reckless language first of all "defiles the whole" nature of the man who employs it, and then works destruction far and wide through the vast machinery of society. And to this there are no limits; so long as there is material, the fire will continue to burn.

How did the fire begin? How does the tongue, which was created for far other purposes, acquire this deadly propensity? St. James leaves us in no doubt upon that point. It is an inspiration of the evil one. The enemy, who steals away the good seed, and sows weeds among the wheat, turns the immense powers of the tongue to destruction. The old serpent imbues it with his own poison. He imparts to it his own diabolical agency. He is perpetually setting it on fire (present participle) from hell.

The second metaphor by which the malignant propensity of the tongue is illustrated is plain enough. It is an untamable, venomous beast. It combines the ferocity of the tiger and the mockery of the ape with the subtlety and venom of the serpent. It can be checked, can be disciplined, can be taught to do good and useful things; but it can never be tamed, and must never be trusted. If care and watchfulness are laid aside, its evil nature will burst out again, and the results will be calamitous.

There are many other passages in Scripture which contain warnings about sins of the tongue: see especially Pro_16:27-28; Ecc_5:13-14, and Ecc_28:9-23, from which St. James may have drawn some of his thoughts. But what is peculiar to his statement of the matter is this, that the reckless tongue defiles the whole nature of the man who owns it. Other writers tell us of the mischief which the foul-mouthed man does to others, and of the punishment which will one day fall upon himself. St. James does not lose sight of that side of the matter, but the special point of his stern warning is the insisting upon the fact that unbridled speech is a pollution to the man that employs it. Every faculty of mind or body with which he has been endowed is contaminated by the subtle poison which is allowed to proceed from his lips. It is a special application of the principle laid down by Christ, which was at first a perplexity even to the Twelve, "The things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man". {Mar_7:15; Mar_7:20; Mar_7:23} The emphasis with which Christ taught this ought to be noticed. On purpose to insist upon it, "He called to Him the multitude again, and said unto them, Hear ye all of you, and understand: there is nothing from without the man, that going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man." And He repeats this principle a second and a third time to His disciples privately. Are ye so without understanding also?

"That which proceedeth out of the man, that defileth the man…All these things proceed from within, and defile the man." If even an unspoken thought can defile, when it has not yet proceeded farther than the heart, much greater will be the pollution if the evil thing is allowed to come to the birth by passing the barrier of the lips. This flow of evil from us means nothing less than this, that we have made ourselves a channel through which infernal agencies pass into the world. Is it possible for such a channel to escape defilement?

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

3:1 Becoming teachers was one way to improve social status in the early church (1 Cor 12:28; Eph 4:11; 1 Tim 5:17; cp. Acts 5:34). Such honor would compensate for the shame imposed upon Christians as social outsiders (Jas 2:6-7). But the conspicuous role of teachers symbolizes the power of human speech to benefit or harm the church.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Jas 3:1. Μὴ πολλοὶ, not many) A rightly governed tongue is rarely found. Jas 3:2, all. There ought therefore to be few teachers. Comp. Rom 15:18. In accordance with this principle also, he who acts as teacher ought not to be too much given to speaking.—γίνεσθε, be) of your own accord.—μεῖζον κρίμα, greater condemnation) on account of more numerous offences. Comp. Wis 6:5. [For we shall have to render an account of all our words.—V. g.]

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jas 3:1-18 form a self-contained section; the subject dealt with is the bridling of the tongue, see above Jas 1:19 ; Jas 1:26-27 .

Jas 3:1 . Μὴ πολλοὶ διδάσκαλοι γίνεσθε : the Peshiṭtâ reads: “Let there not be many teachers among you”; both the Greek version, which implies that the “teachers” belonged to the congregation of the faithful, as well as the Syriac, which implies that “teachers” from outside were welcomed, cf. Pseud-Clem., De Virginitate , i. 11 … quod dicit Scriptura, “Ne multi inter vos sint doctores, fratres, neque omnes sitis prophetae …” (Resch., op. cit. , p. 186), bear witness to what we know from other sources to have been the actual facts of the case. It is the greatest mistake to suppose that διδάσκαλοι here is equivalent to Rabbis in the technical sense. In the Jewish “Houses of Learning” ( i.e. , the Synagogues, for these were not exclusively places of worship) whether in Palestine or in the Dispersion (but more so in the latter), there was very little restriction in the matter of teachers; almost anyone would be listened to who desired to be heard. We have an example of this in the case of our Lord Himself, who found no difficulty in entering into Synagogues and teaching (Mat 12:9 ff; Mat 13:54 ; Mar 1:39 ; Luk 6:14 ff., etc., etc.), although His presence there must have been very distasteful to the Jewish authorities, and although on some occasions the ordinary hearers altogether dissented from what He taught ( e.g. , Joh 6:59-66 ); the same is true of St. Peter, St. John, and above all of St. Paul. In the case of St. Paul (or his disciples) we have an extremely interesting instance (preserved in the Babylonian Talmud, Meg. , 26 a ) of an attempt, a successful attempt, made on one occasion to stop his teaching; it is said that the Synagogue of the Alexandrians (mentioned in Act 6:9 ), which was called “the Synagogue of those of Tarsus,” i.e. , the followers of St. Paul, was bought up by a Tannaite (“teacher”) and used for private purposes (see Bergmann, Jüdische Apologetik im neutestamentl. Zeitalter , p. 9). Like the Athenians (Act 17:21 ), many inquiring Jews were always ready to hear some new thing, and welcomed into their houses of learning teachers of all kinds ( cf. Act 15:24 ; 1Ti 1:6-7 ). The following would not have been said unless there had been great danger of Jews being influenced by the doctrines condemned: “All Israelites have their part in the world to come, … but the following (Israelites) have no part therein, he who denies that the Resurrection is a doctrine the foundation of which is in the Bible, he who denies the divine origin of the Torah , and (he who is) an Epicurean” ( Sanh. , xi. 1; quoted by Bergmann, op. cit. , p. 9). The custom of Jews, and especially of Hellenistic Jews, of permitting teachers of various kinds to enter their Synagogues and expound their views, was not likely to have been abrogated when they became Christians, which was in itself a sign of greater liberal-mindedness. The διδάσκαλοι , therefore, in the verse before us, must, it is held, be interpreted in the sense of what has been said. The whole passage is exceedingly interesting as throwing detailed light upon the methods of controversy in these Diaspora Synagogues; feeling seems to have run high, as was natural, mutual abuse was evidently poured forth without stint, judging from the stern words of rebuke which the writer has to use (Jas 3:6 ). On the διδάσκαλοι in the early Church see Harnack, Expansion … i. pp. 416 461. εἰδότες ὅτι μεῖζον κρίμα λημψόμεθα : Cf. Pirqe Aboth , i. 18. “Whoso multiplies words occasions sin”; Jas 1:12 . “Abtalion said, Ye wise, be guarded in your words; perchance ye may incur the debt of exile, and be exiled to the place of evil waters; and the disciples that come after you may drink and die, and the Name of Heaven be profaned”; Taylor comments thus on these words: “Scholars must take heed to their doctrine, lest they pass over into the realm of heresy, and inoculate their disciples with deadly error. The penalty of untruth is untruth, to imbibe which is death”. λημψόμεθα : the writer does not often associate himself with his hearers as he does here; the first person plural is only rarely found in the Epistle ( cf. πταίομεν in the next verse).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

II. ON THE TEACHER’S CALLING (3:1-18)

CHAPTER 3

Ch. 3 relates to the Teacher and Wise Man. That the two are treated as substantially identical is significant. It is interesting to compare the directions for leaders of the Christian community given in the Pastoral Epistles or in the Didache.

The main thought in vv. 1-12 is the greater responsibility of teachers and the extremely dangerous character of the instrument which they have to use. In vv. 9-12 the noble possibilities of the tongue are presented as a motive for checking its lower propensities. This passage naturally connects itself with 1:19 f. 26, 2:12.

In vv. 13-18 the discussion springs from the same abhorrence of sham which gives rise to so much of ch. 1 (vv. 6-8, 22-27), and controls the thought throughout ch. 2.

1-3. Against overeagerness to be teachers; in view of the great responsibility involved, and of the difficulty of controlling the tongue.

1. μὴ πολλοὶ διδάσκαλοι γίνεσθε, “Do not many of you become teachers.” πολλοί is to be regarded either as subject or as in apposition with the proper subject (in that case ὑμεῖς); διδάσκαλοι is predicate; cf. Heb 7:23.

πολλοί] L by a not unusual corruption reads πολλύ. This does not point to a reading πολύ, and has no relation to the mistranslation of m nolite multiloqui esse (cf. Mat 6:7).

διδάσκαλος means rabbi (cf. Mat 23:8, Luk 2:46, Joh 1:38, Joh 1:20:16, Joh 1:3:10; see references in Lex.. s. vv. διδάσκαλος and ῥαββί), and the teachers here referred to, if in Jewish Christian churches, would naturally have occupied a place not unlike that of rabbis in the synagogues. This would apply both to the dignity of the position and to a part of the duties of the rabbis. Among Christians the term was used both for a teacher resident in a church (Act 13:1, Antioch) and for a travelling missionary (Didache 11:1 f. 13:2, 15:2). Nothing in the text indicates whether James’s reference was limited to one or the other of these classes. The position of teacher was the function of a specially gifted person, not a standing office, and it was plainly possible for a man who believed himself competent for the work to put himself forward and take up the activities of a teacher. James is himself a teacher (λημψόμεθα, v. 1), and points out the moral dangers of the teacher’s life, with special insistence on the liability to opinionated disputatiousness (vv. 13-18). A good concrete impression of the nature of the meetings at which they spoke may be gathered from 1Co_14. The Epistle of James itself will give an idea of one of the types of early Christian “teaching.” Teachers were important from the earliest times (Act 13:1, 1Co 12:28, Eph 4:11) and were found in the Christian churches of many lands. The references of this epistle would seem applicable in any part of the world and during any part of the period which is open for the date of the epistle.

An interesting expansion of this exhortation of James found in the first pseudo-clementine Epistle to Virgins, i, 11, is probably from Palestine or Syria in the third century, and vividly illustrates the same situation even at that late time (text in Funk, Patres apostolici, vol. ii; Eng. transl. in Ante-Nicene Fathers, Buffalo, 1886, vol. viii).

On teachers in the early church, see articles in DD.BB., and especially Harnack, Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums, 21906, pp. 279-308; Eng. transl. 21908, i, pp. 333-366, where a great amount of interesting material is collected and discussed.

ἀδελφοί μου, introducing a new section, cf. 1:2, 19, 2:1, 14, 5:7, 12.

εἰδότες, “for you know,” presenting a motive.

μεῖζον κρίμα, “greater condemnation”; cf. Mar 12:40 (Luk 20:47) οὗτοι λήμψονται περισσότερον κρίμα, Rom 13:2. The teacher’s condemnation (or, as we should say, his responsibility) is greater than that of others because having, or professing to have, clear and full knowledge of duty, he is the more bound to obey it, cf. Luk 12:47 f.

λημψόμεθα, i. e. at the last day. Notice that James includes himself as a διδάσκαλος.

The Vulgate (sumitis) and the Bohairic version have altered this to the second person.

To this warning no good earlier or Jewish parallel has been produced. The sayings about the dangers of speech apply, indeed, to the teacher, but they are in most cases of an entirely general cast.

1. That any revolving motion is full of change caused the wheel to be a symbol of the changeableness of human fortune, now up, now down. Thus τροχὸς τὰ ἀνθρώπινα· ἤτοι εὐμετάβολα was a proverb (Leutsch and Schneidewin, Corpus parœmiographorum, ii, Göttingen, 1851, p. 87, with many references, cf. also ii, p. 223 (Macarius Chrysoc. cent. viii, 58); and from Cicero’s time the wheel became a regular attribute of Fortune.

So Anacreon, iv, 7 τροχὸς ἄρματος γὰρ οἷα βίοτος τρέχει κυλισθείς.

Orac. sibyll. ii, 87 (Ps.-Phocyl. 27) κοινὰ πάθη πάντων · βίοτος τροχός· ἄστατος ὄλβος.

Herodotus, i, 207 ὡς κύκλος τῶν ἀνθρωπήιων ἐστὶ πρηγμάτων περιφερόμενος δὲ οὐκ ἐᾷ αἰεὶ τοὺς αὐτοὺς εὐτυχέειν.

For other illustrations, see Gataker’s notes on Marcus Aurelius, ix, 28; Mayor3, pp. 116-118; Hort, St. James, p. 107. But nothing in James (not even 1:10, 4:14) indicates that the writer had in mind here this aspect of the “wheel of nature.”

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Unless we surcease from this masterlike and proud finding fault with others.

The sixth part or place: Let no man usurp (as most men ambitiously do) authority to judge and censure others righteously.

A reason: Because they provoke God’s severity against themselves, which do so curiously and rigorously condemn others, being themselves guilty and faulty.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

CHAPTER III.

They are exhorted not to be many masters, 1.

And to bridle the tongue, which is often an instrument of

much evil, 2-12.

The character and fruits of true and false wisdom, 13-18.

NOTES ON CHAP. III.

Verse 1. Be not many masters] Do not affect the teacher's office, for many wish to be teachers who have more need to learn. There were many teachers or rabbins among the Jews, each affecting to have THE truth, and to draw disciples after him. We find a caution against such persons, and of the same nature with that of St. James, in Pirkey Aboth, c. i. 10: Love labour, and hate the rabbin's office.

This caution is still necessary; there are multitudes, whom God has never called, and never can call, because he has never qualified them for the work, who earnestly wish to get into the priest's office. And of this kind, in opposition to St. James, we have many masters-persons who undertake to show us the way of salvation, who know nothing of that ways and are unsaved themselves. These are found among all descriptions of Christians, and have been the means of bringing the ministerial office into contempt. Their case is awful; they shall receive greater condemnation than common sinners; they have not only sinned in thrusting themselves into that office to which God has never called them, but through their insufficiency the flocks over whom they have assumed the mastery perish for lack of knowledge, and their blood will God require at the watchman's hand. A man may have this mastery according to the law of the land, and yet not have it according to the Gospel; another may affect to have it according to the Gospel, because he dissents from the religion of the state, and not have it according to Christ. Blockheads are common, and knaves and hypocrites may be found everywhere.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

1 Be not many masters. The common and almost universal interpretation of this passage is, that the Apostle discourages the desire for the office of teaching, and for this reason, because it is dangerous, and exposes one to a heavier judgment, in case he transgresses: and they think that he said, Be not many masters, because there ought to have been some. But I take masters not to be those who performed a public duty in the Church, but such as took upon them the right of passing judgment upon others: for such reprovers sought to be accounted as masters of morals. And it has a mode of speaking usual among the Greeks as well as Latins, that they were called masters who superciliously animadverted on others.

And that he forbade them to be many, it was done for this reason, because many everywhere did thrust in themselves; for it is, as it were, an innate disease in mankind to seek reputation by blaming others. And, in this respect, a twofold vice prevails — though few excel in wisdom, yet all intrude indiscriminately into the office of masters; and then few are influenced by a right feeling, for hypocrisy and ambition stimulate them, and not a care for the salvation of their brethren. For it is to be observed, that James does not discourage those brotherly admonitions, which the Spirit so often and so much recommends to us, but that immoderate desire to condemn, which proceeds from ambition and pride, when any one exalts himself against his neighbor, slanders, carps, bites, and malignantly seeks for what he may turn to a sinister purpose: for this is usually done when impertinent censors of this kind insolently boast themselves in the work of exposing the vices of others.

From this outrage and annoyance James recalls us; and he adds a reason, because they who are thus severe towards others shall undergo a heavier judgment: for he imposes a hard law on himself, who tries the words and deeds of others according to the rule of extreme rigor; nor does he deserve pardon, who will pardon none. This truth ought to be carefully observed, that they who are too rigid towards their brethren, provoke against themselves the severity of God.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(1) Be not many masters.—Better, teachers, which meaning was conveyed by “masters” when the English Bible was first published. The condemnation is of those who appoint themselves, and are as “blind leaders of the blind” (Mat_15:14). No man had a right to exercise the sacred functions of the appointed masters in Israel (see Note on Joh_3:10), and none might take the honour of the priesthood unto himself, “but he that was called of God, as was Aaron” (Heb_5:4). Whereas we know from our Lord’s own words that the Scribes and Pharisees loved respectful “greetings in the markets, and to be called of men ‘Rabbi, Rabbi’” (Mat_23:1-12). Nevertheless His disciples were not to be acknowledged thus: for “one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.” The neglect of this wholesome caution perplexed the early Church, as much as the later branches thereof. (Comp. Act_15:24; 1Co_1:12; 1Co_14:26; Gal_2:12.)

The greater condemnation.—Rather, the greater judgment—more strictly searching and severe. “None of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself” (Rom_14:7), and, if this be true of common Christian life, how deep is the responsibility incurred in the attempt to teach others! Nay—“who is sufficient for these things?” (2Co_2:6.) The test of all ministry must come at last in the day of trial and fiery inquisition of God; this and not the world’s opinion will be the real approval (1Co_3:11-15). If the work of any teacher abide. his reward will be exceeding great; if it “be burned,” woe to him! “He himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire,” scathed by that which shall consume the rubbish he has raked together; the faith which prompted such a man shall save him, but no reward can follow useless teaching; nor can there be escape for his own soul, except he wrought honestly.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

My brethren, be not many masters,.... The apostle having dispatched the subject of faith and good works, which constitute the pure and undefiled religion mentioned in Jam 1:27 which gave rise to this discourse, he proceeds to consider the evidence of a religious man, suggested in Jam 1:26 who is one that bridles the tongue; and enters into an account of the use and abuse of the tongue: and which is introduced by this exhortation; and which seems to be opposed to an affectation among the Jews, to whom James writes, of being called "Rabbi, Rabbi", or "Mori, Mori", master, master, condemned by Christ, Mat 23:8. The words may be rendered, "be not many teachers"; or be not fond, and forward, and ambitious of being preachers of the word, but rather choose to be hearers of it, agreeably to the advice in Jam 1:19, "be swift to hear, slow to speak"; not but that the office of a teacher is a good work, and a very desirable one; and spiritual gifts, qualifying for it, are to be coveted with a view to the glory of God, and the good of souls; and to have many teachers is a blessing to the churches of Christ and a large number of them is often not only proper, but absolutely necessary: but then this office should not be entered upon without suitable gifts, a divine mission, and a regular call by a church; and when entered into, should not be performed in a magisterial way, as lords over God's heritage, and as claiming a dominion over the faith of men, but as helpers of their joy, peace, and comfort; nor according to the commandments of men, but according to the oracles of God. Or it may be, this exhortation may have respect to censorious persons, rigid and severe reprovers of others, who take upon them, in a haughty manner, to charge and rebuke others for their faults; reproof for sin ought to be given; sin should not be suffered upon the brethren; to reprove is not blameworthy, but commendable, when it is done in a right manner, with a good spirit, and to a good end: in case of private offences, it should be privately given, and for public ones, men should be rebuked before all; but then this ought to be done in a gentle manner, and in a spirit of meekness; and when it is a clear case, and plain matter of fact, and which ought not to be exaggerated and aggravated; mole hills are not to be made mountains of, or a man be made an offender for a word, or a matter of human frailty; and reproof should be given by persons not guilty of the same, or worse crimes, themselves, and always with a good end; not to screen and cover their own vices, or to be thought more holy and religious than others, or to satisfy a revengeful spirit, but for the glory of God, and the restoring of the person that has sinned.

Knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation: should men enter into the office of teaching others without a call, or perform it negligently, or live not according to the doctrine they teach others, such would be judged out of their own mouths, and by their own words, and their condemnation would be aggravated; and should men judge rash judgment, they themselves will be judged at a higher tribunal; and should they be too censorious, and bear too hard on others, they will have judgment without mercy.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

1 My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.

Ver. 1. Be not many masters] Masters of opinions, that boldly obtrude upon others their own placits, and will not have them disputed or debated. Such are the Sorbonists, who rejoice to be called Magistri nostri Parisienses, our Masters of Paris. Bacon, the Carmelite, was called Doctor resolutissimus, because he would endure no guessing or maybes. (Praefat. in 1 Sent.) The pope’s parasites persuade the people, that what interpretation soever he gives of Scripture, be it right or wrong, it is without further trial to be received as the very word of God. Est ipsissimum Dei verbum. (Hosius.)

Knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation] sc. If either we become heresiarchs and sect masters, Rev 19:20, or supercilious censurers of others, Mat 7:1; Rom 2:1.

{a} A leader or founder of a heresy. ŒD

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

My brethren, be not many masters - “Be not many of you teachers.” The evil referred to is that where many desired to be teachers, though but few could be qualified for the office, and though, in fact, comparatively few were required. A small number, well qualified, would better discharge the duties of the office, and do more good, than many would; and there would be great evil in having many crowding themselves unqualified into the office. The word here rendered “masters” (διδάσκαλοι didaskaloi) should have been rendered “teachers.” It is so rendered in Joh 3:2; Act 13:1; Rom 2:20; 1Co 12:28-29; Eph 4:11; 1Ti 2:11; 1Ti 4:3; Heb 5:12; though it is elsewhere frequently rendered master. It has, however, in it primarily the notion of “teaching” (διδάσκω didaskō), even when rendered “master;” and the word “master” is often used in the New Testament, as it is with us, to denote an instructor - as the “school-master.”

Compare Mat 10:24-25; Mat 22:16; Mar 10:17; Mar 12:19, et al. The word is not properly used in the sense of master, as distinguished from a servant, but as distinguished from a disciple or learner. Such a position, indeed, implies authority, but it is authority based not on power, but on superior qualifications. The connection implies that the word is used in that sense in this place; and the evil reprehended is that of seeking the office of public instructor, especially the sacred office. It would seem that this was a prevailing fault among those to whom the apostle wrote. This desire was common among the Jewish people, who coveted the name and the office of “Rabbi,” equivalent to that here used, (compare Mat 23:7), and who were ambitious to be doctors and teachers. See Rom 2:19; 1Ti 1:7. This fondness for the office of teachers they naturally carried with them into the Christian church when they were converted, and it is this which the apostle here rebukes. The same spirit the passage before us would rebuke now and for the same reasons; for although a man should be willing to become a public instructor in religion when called to it by the Spirit and Providence of God, and should esteem it a privilege when so called, yet there would be scarcely anything more injurious to the cause of true religion, or that would tend more to produce disorder and confusion, than a prevailing desire of the prominence and importance which a man has in virtue of being a public instructor. If there is anything which ought to be managed with extreme prudence and caution, it is that of introducing men into the Christian ministry. Compare 1Ti 5:22; Act 1:15-26; Act 13:2-3.

Knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation - (μεῖζον κρὶμα meizon krima. Or rather, “a severer judgment;” that is, we shall have a severer trial, and give a stricter account. The word here used does not necessarily mean “condemnation,” but “judgment, trial, account;” and the consideration which the apostle suggests is not that those who were public teacher would be condemned, but that there would be a much more solemn account to be rendered by them than by other men, and that they ought duly to reflect on this in seeking the office of the ministry. He would carry them in anticipation before the judgment-seat, and have them determine the question of entering the ministry there. No better “stand-point” can be taken in making up the mind in regard to this work; and if that had been the position assumed in order to estimate the work, and to make up the mind in regard to the choice of this profession, many a one who has sought the office would have been deterred from it; and it may be added, also, that many a pious and educated youth would have sought the office, who has devoted his life to other pursuits. A young man, when about to make choice of a calling in life, should place himself by anticipation at the judgment-bar of Christ, and ask himself how human pursuits and plans will appear there. If that were the point of view taken, how many would have been deterred from the ministry who have sought it with a view to honor or emolument! How many, too, who have devoted themselves to the profession of the law, to the army or navy, or to the pursuits of elegant literature, would have felt that it was their duty to serve God in the ministry of reconciliation? How many at the close of life, in the ministry and out of it, feel, when too late to make a change, that they have wholly mistaken the purpose for which they should have lived!

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

But not many masters, teachers, and preachers. An admonition to al those who are not called, or not qualified to undertake this high ministry, let they incur a greater condemnation. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Be not many masters; let not every man make himself a master of other men’s faith and manners, a censor, or supercilious reprover of their failings and infirmities, Mat 7:1. All reproof is not here forbidden, neither authoritative by church officers, nor charitative by private brethren; but that which is irregular, either in the ground of it, when that is false; or the manner of it, when it is masterly and imperious, or preposterous, as when we reprehend others and are no less reprehensible ourselves, Rom 2:21; or in the end of it, when we seek to advance our own reputation by observing or aggravating others’ faults, &c.

Knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation; by how much the more severe and rigid we are in judging others, the greater will be our judgment, not only from men, who will be apt to retaliate, but from God himself, Mat 7:1-3; Luk 6:38; Rev 2:2,3. See the like expression, Mat 23:8,14.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 1-12. WARNING AGAINST OVER-READINESS TO TEACH, LEADING TO A DISCOURSE ON THE IMPORTANCE OF GOVERNMENT OF THE TONGUE.

(1) Warning. Be not many teachers. The warning is parallel to that of our Lord in Mat_23:8, seq. , "Be not ye called Rabbi; for one is your Teacher didaskalov, and not, as Textus Receptus, kaqhghthv, and all ye are brethren." Comp. also "Pirqe Aboth," 1:11, "Shemaiah said, Love work and hate lordship (twnbrh)." The readiness of the Jews to take upon them the office of teachers and to set up as "guides of the blind, teachers of babes," etc., is alluded to by St. Paul in Rom_2:17, seq. , and such a passage as 1Co_14:26, seq. , denotes not merely the presence of a similar tendency among Christians, but also the opportunity given for its exercise in the Church.

(2) Reason for the warning. Knowing that we shall receive heavier judgment (lhyomeqa). By the use of the first person, St. James includes himself, thus giving a remarkable proof of humility. (The Vulgate, missing this, has wrongly sumitis. ) Comp. vers. 2, 9, where also he uses the first person, with great delicacy of feeling not separating himself from those whose conduct he denounces. Meizon krima. The form of expression recalls our Lord"s saying of the Pharisees, "These shall receive greater condemnation (perissoteron krima) (Mar_12:40; Luk_20:47)

Vers. 1-12.

Speech

I THE GREAT RESPONSIBILITY OF TEACHERS. This is forcibly shown by St. Paul in 1Co_3:15, etc. Even of those who have built upon the right foundation the work is to be tested by fire, and "if any man"s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire." What, then, must be the "greater condemnation "in store for others whose very foundation was faulty? In a commentary especially designed for teachers of others, a strong recommendation may be permitted of Bishop Bull"s noble sermon on the text, "Be not many masters:" "Concerning the Great Difficulty and Danger of the Priestly Office" (Bull"s "Works," vol. 1. sermon 6.).

II IMPORTANCE OF MASTERY OF THE TONGUE. Without a bit in the horse"s mouth it is impossible for the rider to have command over his steed. So, without a bridle on the tongue, no man can govern himself aright. David felt this, and said, "I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me". (Psa_39:1) Even Moses, the meekest of men, was shut out of the land of promise because he "spake unadvisedly with his lips." And with regard to the one sin, of which we read that it "hath never forgiveness, neither in this world nor in the world to come," it is clear that it is a sin of the tongue, for it is always spoken of as blasphemy," and never in general terms as" sin against the Holy Ghost." "We rule irrational animals with a bit; how much more ought we to be able to govern ourselves!" (Wordsworth).

III THE VARIED CHARACTER OF SINS OF SPEECH.

1. Sins directly against God; e.g. blasphemy, the mockery of holy things, swearing.

2. Sins against our neighbor; e.g. evil-speaking, lying, and slandering.

3. Sins against ourselves, infringing sobriety, discretion, or modesty. (See Barrow"s" Sermons," vol. 1. sermon 13.)

IV IMPORTANCE OF LITTLE THINGS. The bridle is a very little thing, but the rider cannot do without it. The rudder is very small, but it enables the steersman to guide a very large vessel. A tiny spark may set on fire a huge forest. So the size of a battle-field is quite disproportionate to the extent of country won and lost upon it. The tongue is a very little member, but a victory over it will save the whole man; on the contrary, a failure to rule the tongue involves far more than the sin of the moment; for, small as it is, the tongue "boasts great things, and defiles the whole body," and so leads to the ruin of the whole man.

V THE TONGUE IS A FINE. The apostle is speaking of the tongue as an instrument of ruin, destruction, and devastation. As such it is kindled from beneath on fire of hell" (ver. 6). But there is another sense in which the tongue is a fire, kindled from above, cheering and warming and gladdening men"s hearts, and if its power for evil is great, so also is its power for good. "The fire of man"s wrath is kindled from beneath, as the fire that cleanses is kindled from above. Bearing in our minds the wonder of the day of Pentecost, it is hardly too bold to say that we have to choose whether our tongue shall be purified by the fire of the Holy Spirit or defiled by that of Gehenna" (Plumptre).

VI THE GUILT OF SLANDER.

1. The slanderer injures himself. "The tongue... defiles the whole body.

2. Slander is uncontrollable. "The tongue can no man tame." It "sets on fire the wheel of birth;" that wheel "which catches fire as it goes, and burns with a fiercer conflagration as its own speed increases .... You may tame the wild beast; the conflagration of the American forest will cease when all the timber and the dry under-wood is consumed; but you cannot arrest the progress of that cruel word which you uttered carelessly; that will go on slaying, poisoning, burning, beyond your own control, now and forever.

3. Slander is unnatural. "These things ought not so to be." It is a contradiction to nature, as much as for a fig tree to bear olives, or for a fountain to produce both fresh and salt water.

4. Slander is diabolical in character. "The tongue is set on fire of hell." The very name of Satan is "the slanderer." (See Robertson"s "Sermons," vol. 3. sermon 1.)

HOMILIES BY C. JERDAN. Vers. 1, 2.

A dissuasive from ambition to teach.

Throughout this chapter the apostle sounds a loud note of warning against sins of the tongue. The opening exhortation directs our thoughts to the responsibilities and dangers of the religious teacher. No one is under more constant temptation to sin with his lips; for it is the daily work of his life to speak regarding the most solemn themes.

I THE CAUTION. Be not many teachers, my brethren" (ver. 1). It would appear that the Pharisaic Jews of the time of the apostles vied with one another for distinction as teachers. At Church meetings it often happened that the time for free conference was consumed by those who had least to say which was likely to be profitable. So James counsels the members of the Church to be swift to hear" and slow to speak" in the religious assembly. While the office of the spiritual teacher is highly honorable, it is difficult to sustain it with honor. To do so demands superior intellectual power, keen spiritual insight, intimate acquaintance with Scripture, accurate knowledge of human nature, and a variety of other aptitudes which few possess. This dissuasive is needed by the modern Church little less than by the congregations of the Dispersion." Our young men who aspire to the pulpit should consider well whether they have received a heavenly call thither. They should ponder the wise advice of an experienced pastor to a young student: Do not enter the ministry if you can help it;" i.e. unless you have a burning desire to serve the Lord Jesus Christ as a preacher. This dissuasive reminds us also of Paul"s rule: "Not a novice". (1Ti_3:6) How often is the young convert, especially in times of feverish revivalism, encouraged to narrate his experience," and to address large religious meetings, greatly to his own spiritual detriment, and to the damage of the cause of Christ! James"s counsel has a relation also to the pew. In its spirit it enjoins those who hear the Word" to cultivate a docile and teachable frame of mind. Nothing hinders edification more than habits of pert and paltry criticism of the accidents of preaching.

II ITS GROUND. (Vers. 1, 2.) How weighty is the responsibility of the religious teacher! He undertakes to perform the most important of all kinds of work, and by the use of means which involve the most difficult of all attainments, even to a godly man. The minister of the gospel is especially tried as regards the government of the tongue; and, alas! the most experienced pastors, even James and his fellow-apostles, often "stumble in word." Teachers who are habitually unfaithful are guilty of peculiarly heinous sin; they shall be indicted at the bar of God for blood-guiltiness. Since the pastor is like a city set on a hill, his errors work more mischief in society than those of an ordinary member of the Church. The lowest deep of perdition shall be occupied by unconverted preachers of the gospel.

LESSONS.

1. To Christian teachers. Let us labor and pray, with heart and mind, and with books and pen, so that our pulpit utterances shall not be hasty or unguarded, and that we may be "pure from the blood of all men.

2. To the members of the Church. Give your minister your loving sympathy, and do not continually advertise and bewail his infirmities. Seeing that his work is so arduous, maintain the habit of constantly helping" him with your prayers. C.J.

HOMILIES BY T.F. LOCKYER Vers. 1-12.

The ethics of speech.

In these verses is dealt a rebuke against the craving for authority, which, as he reminds them, involves "heavier judgment." How? Partly as coming under judgment itself; (see Mat_23:8-10) partly as involving increased responsibility. And responsibility and judgment are very near akin. More especially, in these words of warning, he has in view that confused assembly of theirs, in which all vied together in attempts to speak. How great the danger of "stumbling" in such speech! A stirring up of impatience, rancor, strife. This leads to thoughts on the power of the tongue, for good and for harm; with practical conclusions as to the inconsistency of unbridled speech.

I THE POWER OF THE TONGUE.

1. For good. (Vers. 2-5.) Speech? It is the quick, instinctive, volatile expression of the man. A subtle effluence, showing the inner life. And as the inner life is agitated and stirred, tossing first this way, then that, how readily may the words also be committed to the impulses of the heart! And as those impulses may so easily be, for the moment, wrong impulses, how easily may wrong words be spoken! And so the transient feeling has fixed itself in a word that bites, and is not forgotten. And the feeling itself is fixed by the word that has uttered it; the man is committed to what otherwise he might have been glad to forget. James"s first meaning, then, in

2. the statement that the man who stumbles not in words is "a perfect man," is perhaps this: that one who has attained to mastery over so subtle and delicate an activity of the nature as speech, is perforce a man who has mastered all the more tangible and more controllable activities. The "whole body," all conduct, is brought into subjection, if this element of life is rightly swayed. Is it not so? Your experience will tell you that this is the last, the most intractable of the activities which you are called on to subdue. But there is another meaning in the words than this. The man who schools himself to such restraint as absolute mastery over speech implies, has not merely learned perfection of self-control in the matter of other and more tangible activities, but is learning a better perfection than that even the self-restraint of his whole interior nature. To restrain conduct is much; but to restrain thought, purpose, passion! to lay a firm, a mastering control on all the complex desires and impulses of our nature! Oh, surely that is a perfection of self-restraint indeed! And the bridling of the tongue means thus the bridling of the unruly passions of the heart. The restraint of expression is the restraint of the impulse that seeks to express itself (see for converse of this law the former exposition, where we have noticed how the exercise of a faculty perfects the faculty that is exercised:. (Jam_2:22) Do you not know this also from your experience? Let loose the word, and you have let loose the feeling; conquer the word, and you have conquered the feeling. So, then, the illustrations: the bridle, the helm. And the tongue, a little member, boasteth great things.

3. For harm. (Vers. 5-8.) The remarks under this head have been partly anticipated above. Let loose the word, and you have let loose the passions. An unbridled tongue is an unbridled nature. Unchecked speech is unchecked wickedness. Yes; the activities of the man and the interior impulses are alike let loose for harm if the tongue be uncontrolled. Illustrations: fire among wood. So the "world of iniquity," defiling the body, setting on fire the wheel of nature, and itself set on fire of hell! And then? Tame the tongue, and tame the nature, who may! Even ravenous and noxious creatures are not untamable as that is; a restless evil; full of deadly poison. So the psalmist (140:3). And your experience? A subtle, insinuating poison, which works its way into your whole nature, and infects all social joy.

II THE INCONSISTENCY OF UNBRIDLED SPEECH. Picture their quarrelsome assemblies again: their invectives against one another, their common virulence towards the Gentile Christian Churches. And withal hymns to God! That is, hate and love in the same heart together, and all essentially towards God himself (ver. 9)! The inconsistency (ver. 10). So illustrations: fountain, tree (vers. 11, 12). These contrarieties, impossible in nature, can exist in us! And yet in truth they cannot. For ours is one nature. Can salt water yield fresh (ver. 12)? Neither can a cursing nature bless, or a hating nature love. And so our very praise is vitiated, and our worship becomes blasphemy. Oh, what are our dangers daily in this matter of speech! And perhaps, to shun them, we say we will hold our peace, even from good. (Ps 39) Nay, but we must rather learn of him who was meek and lowly in heart. And so our speech shall be pure as his was, and our turbulent nature shall find rest. T.F.L.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Be not many teachers - Let no more of you take this upon you than God thrusts out; seeing it is so hard not to offend in speaking much. Knowing that we - That all who thrust themselves into the office. Shall receive greater condemnation - For more offenses. St. James here, as in several of the following verses, by a common figure of speech, includes himself: we shall receive, - we offend, - we put bits, - we curse - None of which, as common sense shows, are to be interpreted either of him or of the other apostles.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

masters

teachers, knowing that we shall have the more severe judgment. Cf. Mar 12:40.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Caution against False Activity in Teaching and the Use of the Tongue.

The danger of teaching and much speaking:

v. 1. My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.

v. 2. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

v. 3. Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body.

v. 4. Behold also the ships, which, though they be so great and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.

v. 5. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!

v. 6. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

It seems that in many of the congregations, which were composed largely of Jewish Christians, the custom of permitting almost any man to speak that so desired had been taken over. This was a dangerous practice in more than one respect, and therefore the apostle writes: Become not many teachers, my brethren, knowing that we (as such) shall receive the more severe condemnation. In the Jewish synagogues, especially in the Dispersion, in the cities outside of Palestine, there was little restriction in the matter of teachers; almost anyone would be listened to that desired to be heard. But whereas all believers are kings and priests before God and the Lord Jesus, they are not all teachers of the congregation, they may not all arrogate to themselves the office of preacher. But there was not only danger under such circumstances that the Gospel-message would not receive its proper attention, but the speakers were also inclined to let personal matters sway them, the result being that the discourses in the common assemblies were anything but edifying at times. It was necessary, therefore, to remind the unauthorized teachers of the fact that the responsibility resting upon the office and the account which the teachers must give on the last day, Heb 13:17, would make the sentence passed upon them all the more severe.

The apostle now gives reasons for the sternness of his rebuke: For manifoldly we offend, all of us. If a man does not offend in word, that man is a perfect man, able to keep under the restraint of the bridle also the whole body. The general course of life may well be called a way and each individual action a step; therefore any offense or lapse or transgression may well be termed a stumble. All men without exception become guilty of such stumbling, even the best of Christians are subject to sins of weakness. And now James, in applying this general truth to the case in hand, states that a man who can control his speech at all times, never offending by so much as a single word, may well be considered a perfect man, since the ability to control the tongue argues at least for the probability of controlling the entire body and keeping all the members from sinning. If a man is able to perform the more difficult task, he will have little trouble with that which is comparatively easy.

But the difficulty of controlling the tongue is now shown by two examples. The apostle writes, in the first place: But if we put bits into the mouths of the horses to make them obey us, and we direct their entire bodies. This was an example with which his readers were familiar, which they understood. Horses are driven and kept in control by means of the bits placed into their mouths, the driver merely pulling the reins in order to have the horses’ head in any direction that he chooses. In another case the ease of control is still more apparent and also wonderful: Behold also the ships, although they are so great and, moreover, tossed about with fierce winds, yet are guided with a very small rudder, whithersoever the mind of the steersman wills. This fact is apparent in our days even more than in the times of small vessels. Ships of many thousands of tons displacement obey the slightest pressure of the helmsman, or slight turn of the wheel on the bridge. Even when the sea is agitated, the pilot or officer has little trouble in directing the course of the vessel as he chooses, as he thinks best, so long as the steering apparatus is in order and the rudder does not break. It is a marvel of human ingenuity to be able to keep a large vessel in control with such tiny devices as compared with its great size.

The apostle now makes the application: So also the tongue is a small member, and yet boasts of great exploits. The writer speaks of the tongue as though it had a personality of its own and made use of its power by deliberate action. As small as it is among the members of the body, yet it can boast of performing great deeds. By way of comparison the apostle again calls out: Behold how small a fire, what a forest it does kindle! or: What an immense fire, what an immense forest the tongue does kindle! It takes only a small fire, a burning match carelessly thrown aside, to start a fire which may consume many square miles of forest. And such is also the destructive power of the tongue: The tongue also is a fire, a world of unrighteousness; the tongue steps forth among our members, and it stains the entire body and inflames the wheel of nature, and itself is inflamed by hell. Like the small firebrand that causes the devastating forest fire, so also is the tongue in its unbridled state. It is a world of unrighteousness, it works a world of mischief, its entire sphere becomes that of iniquity when it begins its transgressions. The tongue steps forth among the members, it assumes the leadership, among them, it rules them, it makes them do its bidding. Thus it happens that it succeeds in staining the whole body, in polluting all the members; it sets in motion and inflames the wheel of nature, the whole circle of innate passions, jealousy, backbiting, slander, blasphemy, and every vile deed. Truly the tongue, if permitted to pursue its course unhindered, is inflamed of hell, is in the control of Satan himself.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jas 3:17

I. Revealed truth—the wisdom that is from above—is "first pure, then peaceable." These two constitute a pair; they are connected by a link of peculiar significance and power. God preserves His own purity, and yet lifts the lost into His bosom; the guilty get a tree pardon, and yet the motives which bind them to obedience, instead of being relaxed, are indefinitely strengthened. Revelation is first pure and then peaceable; the Revealer is a just God and Saviour.

II. Revealed truth is gentle and easy to be entreated. This is not the view which springs in nature and prevails in the world. The wisdom that bids an anxious inquirer turn from the Son of God, our Saviour, and pour his confession into a more tender heart, is earthly, sensual, devilish.

III. Revealed truth is full of mercy and good fruits. So far from being in all cases united, these two, in their full dimensions, meet only in the Gospel.

IV. Revealed truth is without partiality and without hypocrisy. It is (1) offered alike to all, and (2) truly offered to each.

W. Arnot, Roots and Fruits, p. 141.

Consider the "wisdom that is from above" in its secondary and subjective aspect, as a lesson printed on the life of believing men by the type of revealed truth, as the image left on human hearts by the seal which came from heaven and pressed them.

I. The new creature, the work of the Spirit in believers, is first pure, then peaceable—(1) in relation to God; (2) in relation to ourselves; (3) in relation to the world around.

II. The new creature is gentle and easy to be entreated. Receiving out of His fulness grace for grace, Christians obtain, among other things, some of the gentleness of Christ. Those who possess any of it long for more. They speak of virtue being its own reward, and this is eminently true of gentleness.

III. The new creature is full of mercy and good fruits. It is a principle of the Gospel that he who gets mercy shows mercy. When a man is full of mercy in this sinning, suffering world, a stream of benevolence will be found flowing in his track all through the wilderness. If the reservoir within his heart be kept constantly charged by union with the upper spring, there need be neither ebbing nor intermission of the current all his days, for opening opportunities everywhere abound.

IV. The new creature is "without partiality and without hypocrisy." (1) Without partiality. It is not the impartiality of indifference, but the impartiality of love. Some people practically discover that to be impartial is an easy attainment. They contrive to care equally for all by caring nothing for any. This is the equality of the grave. Our text describes the impartiality, not of withholding, but of giving. No partiality for persons, peoples, sins. (2) Without hypocrisy. (a) In our intercourse with God; (b) in our intercourse with men. In Christians a likeness to Christ’s sincerity has been begun; it is their business to hold fast and press on; it is His prerogative to make the likeness perfect in His own time and by His own power.

W. Arnot, Roots and Fruits, p. 155.

References: Jas 3:17.—Bishop Boyd-Carpenter, Church of England Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 35. Jas 4:1-3.—Homilist, 4th series, vol. i., p. 86. Jas 4:1-14.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 340. Jas 4:2, Jas 4:3.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxviii., No. 1682. Jas 4:4-12.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 451. Jas 4:5.—Ibid., vol. iv., p. 332. Jas 4:7.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxii., No. 1276. Jas 4:7-10.—Ibid., vol. xxiv., No. 1408; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. x., p. 82.

The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For the clearer understanding of these words, let us consider, 1. What the apostle does not forbid, namely, private and brotherly admonition, which proceeds from Christian love one towards another, much less does he condemn public and authorized reproof: God has made it the duty of all to admonish and reprove each other charitably; he has made it the duty of others to admonish and censure evil-doers, authoritatively; this, therefore, is not forbidden.

Observe, 2. What it is that is here forbidden, namely, such a reproving of others as is supercilious and masterly, managed with sharpness and severity, rashly and rigidly. As if the apostle had said, "Be not magisterial and censorious towards your brethren, as if every one of you had many masters in them." Censuring of others is an arrogation of mastership over others, and the assuming of a power over them which God never gave us, it is a bold usurpation of God’s authority; we may admonish, reprove, and warn; but it must not be in a lordly manner, in a masterly way, which is reviling rather than reproving; we must be covered with a cloak of love, there may be, and oft-times is, a great deal of malice in reporting truth.

Observe next, the remedy prescribed against censuring others, namely, the considering ourselves that we shall thereby receive the greater damnation; sharp reprovers in judging others, pronounce a doom upon themselves; such as reprove either out of office, or out of charity, ought to look to themselves, lest in reproving others they condemn themselves.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ARGUMENT 8

TEACHERS AND PREACHERS

1. “Be not many teachers, my brethren, knowing that we shall receive the greater responsibility.” The Bible contemplates many preachers, but few teachers. In the apostolic age all the disciples preached the Word. Act 8:4. When our Savior wanted preachers He called ‘unlearned and ignorant men.” When He wanted a teacher, He called Saul of Tarsus, a double graduate, having graduated in the Greek schools of Tarsus and the Hebrew colleges at Jerusalem, thus standing at the top of the world’s learning.

Jesus needed such men to expound the Scriptures. The holiness movement has suffered immensely from incompetent teachers. To preach simply means to proclaim the Word, corroborated by our experience. While a collegiate education is in no way essential to the preaching of the Gospel, if not baptized by the Holy Ghost and fire, it will be a serious temptation, very liable to side-track you as it has millions, and get you into preaching that which is not gospel, and destitute of saving power. The trend of the churches to leave the Bible and run into human learning, is the mammoth heresy of the modern pulpit, fast secularizing and infidelizing their congregations. God wants to give all of His people full salvation, and the spirit of prophecy (Rev 19:10), sending them forth as in the Apostolic age, “preaching the Word.” He is now raising up a grand army of lay men and women, baptizing them with fire, and sending them to the ends of the earth,

“to preach the gospel to every creature before the great and dreadful day of the Lord cometh.” Act 2:20.

This is a very signal mercy, in view of that human learning which is fast crowding the Gospel out of the popular pulpits, and thus turning the people over to the world and Satan. Let this grand army of the blood- washed and fire-baptized laity content themselves simply to proclaim the Word of the Lord and tell their experiences and never attempt to explore the profoundities of exegesis, lest they propagate all sorts of error, as has been done much to the detriment of the cause. God needs a few well educated, fire-baptized and Spirit-illuminated teachers to expound the Scriptures. He will raise them up and send them forth.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

James Chapter 3

In chapter 3 the apostle recurs to the tongue, the most ready index to the heart, the proof whether the new man is inaction, whether nature and self-will are under restraint. But there is hardly anything here which needs remark, although much that demands the hearing ear. Where there is the divine life, knowledge does not display itself in mere words, but in the walk and by works in which the meekness of true wisdom will be seen. Bitterness and contention are not the fruits of a wisdom that comes from above, but are earthly, of the nature of a man, and of the enemy.

The wisdom that comes from above, having its place in the life, in the heart, has three characteristics. First of all, the character of purity, for the heart is in communion with God-has intercourse with Him (therefore there must needs be this purity). Next, it is peaceable, gentle, ready to yield to the will of another. Then, full of good works, acting by a principle which, as its origin and motives are from above, does good without partiality; that is to say, its action is not guided by the circumstances which influence the flesh and the passions of men. For the same reason it is sincere and unfeigned. Purity, absence of will and self, activity in good, such are the characteristics of heavenly wisdom.

These directions to bridle the tongue, as the first movement and expression of the will of the natural man, extend to believers. There are not to be )as to the inward disposition of the man) many teachers. We all fail; and to teach others and fail ourselves only increases our condemnation. For vanity can easily be fed in teaching others; and that is a very different thing from having the life quickened by the power of truth. The Holy Ghost bestows His gifts as He pleases. The apostle speaks here of the propensity in any one to teach, not of the gift he may have received for teaching.

John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1, 2. Be not many masters. Do not many of you seek to be teachers. The office of public teaching in the church is meant. Shall receive the greater condemnation. Those who profess to teach others will be judged more strictly than those of humbler professions. Of those who have much, much is required. See Matt. 7:1. A lesson is to be given on the tongue. He who teaches will be held strictly to account for the manner in which he uses it.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Not many of you

James is making a generalized statement. (See: Generic Noun Phrases)

my brothers

"my fellow believers"

we who teach will be judged more strictly

This passage speaks of stricter judgment that will come from God on those who teach others about him. AT: "God will judge us who teach more severely because we know his word better than some people whom we have taught" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

we who teach

James includes himself and other teachers, but not the readers, so the word "we" is exclusive. (See: Exclusive and Inclusive "We")

we all stumble

James speaks of himself, other teachers, and the readers, so the word "we" is inclusive. (See: Inclusive "We")

stumble

Sinning is spoken of as if it were stumbling while walking. AT: "fail" or "sin" (See: Metaphor)

does not stumble in words

"does not sin by saying wrong things"

he is a perfect man

"he is spiritually mature"

control even his whole body

James is referring to one's heart, emotions, and actions. AT: "control his behavior" or "control his actions" (See: Synecdoche)

translationWords

teacher

brother

judge

stumble

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

1. A FURTHER TEMPTATION OR SPIRITUAL DANGER CONNECTED WITH THE SYNAGOGUE IS AMBITION FOR THE OFFICE OF TEACHER OR RABBI

1. Two results are noted from the intemperate or unconsidered use of language: (1) The swiftness with which the evil spreads from an insignificant beginning. (2) The vast influence of words, which have large issues. A chance word which gives pain or which stimulates may influence a life. The thought of the irretrievable character of the word once spoken comes out in the Homeric phrase ποῖόν σε ἔπος φύγεν ἕρκος ὀδόντων Il. IV. 350 and frequently. Comp. Virgil’s account of fama—a thing spoken.

μὴ πολλοὶ διδάσκαλοι γίνεσθε, do not become many (of you), do not put yourselves under instruction with the view of being, teachers or Rabbis. The temptation to become a διδάσκαλος was great; for to no other class of the community were higher honours paid. “To speak with the teacher, to invite him to be the guest, to marry his daughter, Israel was taught to consider the highest honour. The young men were expected to count it their glory to carry the Rabbi’s burdens, to bring his water, to load his ass.” Hausrath, N. T. Times I. 105, Eng. Trans. Rabbi ben Joezer said: “Let thine house be a meeting-house for the wise; and powder thyself in the dust of their feet, and drink their words with thirstiness.” Pirke Aboth, I. 4, quoted by Hausrath.

In these circumstances to become a Rabbi was the ambition of every Israelite of leisure and ability. Even married men and those advanced in life became disciples in the synagogue schools, in order to obtain this dignity. Our Lord foresaw this danger for the Christian Church which St James denounces, Mat 23:5-8. Note especially Jas 3:8 εἶς γάρ ἐστιν ὑμῶν ὁ διδάσκαλος, πάντες δὲ ὑμεῖς ἀδελφοί ἐστε, a word which St James seems to recall here by the introduction of ἀδελφοί μου.

We learn from Act 13:1, 1Co 12:28 and Eph 4:11 that the office of διδάσκαλος was recognised in the Christian Church or synagogue.

μεῖζον κρίμα, a severer judgment, a keener censure, than those who are not teachers. See Mar 12:40 and Luk 20:47, οὗτοι λήμψονται περισσότερον κρίμα the context of which brings it into close connexion with this passage.

κρίμα is in itself a neutral word—a judgment or decision which may be either of acquittal or condemnation, ὧν τὸ κρίμα ἒνδικόν ἐστιν, Rom 3:8, whose judgment or verdict, here of condemnation, is just, οἱ δὲ ἀνθεστηκότες ἑαυτοῖς κρίμα λήμψονται, Rom 13:2, sentence of condemnation human and divine. ὁ γὰρ ἐσθίων καὶ πίνων κρίμα ἑαυτῷ ἐσθίει καὶ πίνει μὴ διακρίνων τὸ σῶμα, 1Co 11:29, where the context, especially 1Co 11:32, shews that ‘damnation’ or even ‘condemnation’ is too strong a word. κρίμα is here a divine judgment that disciplines and corrects in this world.

As regards the accent the only authority for κρῖμα is the length of the first syllable in a single passage, Aesch. Supp. 397. κρίμα is rightly preferred. See Dr Vaughan on Rom 2:2 and Dr Moulton’s note, Winer p. 57 (II. vi. 2).

λημψόμεθα, the use of the 1st person plural implies the authority of St James as himself a διδάσκαλος.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Chap. 3 a.

1-12.] The danger, as connected with the upholding of faith without works, of eagerness to teach: and, by occasion, the manifold and irrepressible sins of the tongue. Then follows, b.

1.] The more the idea prevailed, that faith, without corresponding obedience, was all that is needful, the more men would eagerly press forward to teach: as indeed the Church has found in all ages when such an opinion has become prevalent: for then teachers and preachers of their own appointing have rapidly multiplied. Be not (‘become not:’ let not that state of things prevail among you in which you become) many teachers (πολλοί belongs not to the predicate, as Schueckenb. al., so that πολλοὶ γίνεσθαι should = multiplicari: nor does it mean “nimii in docendo,” as Baumgarten: nor = πάντες, as Grotius: but is to be taken with διδάσκαλοι, and in its proper meaning. And διδάσκαλοι is not, as E.V., “masters,” which conveys a wrong idea: but teachers, persons imparting knowledge in the congregation. This in the primitive times might be done by all in turn, as we know from 1Co 14:26-33: and St. James exhorts against the too eager and too general assumption of this privilege), my brethren, knowing (as ye do: or, as ye ought to do: it is a good remark of Huther’s, that εἰδότες, being closely joined to the imperative, is itself hortatory: ‘knowing, as ye might know’) that we (i. e. as many of us as are teachers) shall receive greater condemnation (than others who are not teachers: κρῖμα, in the phrase κρῖμα λαμβάνειν, according to N. T. usage, is not a ‘vox media,’ but signifies condemnation only: see besides reff. 1Ti 5:12. This being so, it has surprised some Commentators, that the Apostle includes himself with those whom he is dissuading: and Grot., al. would understand κρῖμα as meaning “responsibility:” but the solution is easy,—viz. that he includes himself out of humility, and obviously on the assumption that the office of teacher is not faithfully performed. The sense might be thus filled up, as, indeed, it is virtually filled up in ver. 2: ‘be not many teachers, for in such office there is great danger of failing, and if we teachers fail, our condemnation will be greater’).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Masters [διδασκαλοι] . Literally, and better, teachers, with a reference to the exhortation to be slow to speak (ch. 1 19). Compare 1Co 14:26 - 34. Jas. is warning against the too eager and general assumption of the privilege of teaching, which was not restricted to a particular class, but was exercised by believers generally.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.