James 3:4

Jas 3:4. Καὶ) even. Not only animals, but even ships.—σκληρῶν) σκληρὸς, vehement. There is a twofold impulse (momentum): the bulk of the ships, and the force of the winds.—πηδαλίου, with a helm) An elegant simile, as applied to the tongue. The phrases, very small, and a small member, answer to each other. The same may be applied to the pen, which is the substitute for the tongue amongst the absent.—ἡ ὁρμὴ, the impetus) The force moving, and turning, and directing to its place. The feeling which moves the tongue corresponds with this.—βούληται, listeth) An instance of Hypallage:[33] equivalent to, wherever he wishes, who has the command; for the moving force is under his control.

[33] See Append. of Techn. Terms.

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

Jam_3:4. The second comparison is emphatically indicated by ἰδού. καί is either also or even so. Wiesinger prefers the second meaning, which certainly gives to the thought a peculiar emphasis. The participles ὄντα … ἐλαυνόμενα are to be resolved by although. Both participial sentences bring forward the difficulty of guiding the ship, in order to cause the power of the small helm to be recognised. It is possible that in the second clause: καὶ … ἐλαυνόμενα, there is an allusion to the lusts moving man (Bede: venti validi … ipsi appetitus sunt mentium), or to the temptations (πειρασμοί) of the world, coming from without (Lange).

σκληρός] is also used of the wind in Pro_27:16 (so also Aelian, de animal, v. 13, ix. 14; Dio Chrysostom, iii. p. 44 C).

The verb μετάγεται united with τὰ πλοῖα is the same as in Jam_3:3. The words ὑπὸ ἐλαχίστου πηδαλίου] mention by what this guidance takes place. On ὑπό, see chap. Jam_1:14. By the addition of ἐλαχίστου a new point is introduced which is retained in what follows. The superlative is for the purpose of bringing more strongly forward the smallness of the πηδάλιον in contrast to the great ship (τηλικαῦτα ὄντα). The counterpart is the little tongue (Jam_3:5).

The addition: whithersoever the desire of the steersman willeth, is not superfluous; it expressesin opposition to ὑπὸ ἀνέμων ἐλαυνόμεναthe free mastery of him who steers the ship, which he exercises over it by means of the helm, and corresponds to εἰς τὸ πείθεσθαι κ.τ.λ., Jam_3:3.

ὅπου] (instead of ὅποι, which does not occur in the N. T.) is found also in the classics united with verbs of motion, particularly with τιθέναι, but also with βαίνειν; Sophocles, Trach. 40: κεῖνος ὅπου βέβηκεν. By ὁρμή is not to be understood the external impulse, or the pressure which the steersman exercises (Erasmus, Semler, Augusti, Stolz, Pott, Theile, Wiesinger), also not the course of the navigator kept in action by the helm (Lange); by both of these interpretations a meaning is imposed upon the word foreign to it. It rather indicates, as in Act_14:5 (see Meier in loco), the eager will, the desire of something (in Plato, Phil. p. 35 D, it is used as synonymous with ἐπιθυμία); thus Bede, Calvin, Grotius, Baumgarten, Gebser, de Wette, and others.

The participle ὁ εὐθύνων indicates him who sits at the helm and directs the ship; it is thus not = ὁ εὐθυντήρ (Grotius, Pott, Schneckenburger). Luther correctly translates it according to its meaning: whether he wills who governs it.

For corresponding passages from the classics, see in Wetstein, Gebser, Theile; particularly Aristotle, Quaest. mechan. ii. 5.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jas 3:4 . τηλικαῦτα : Cf. 2Co 1:10 ; Heb 2:3 ; Rev 16:18 , the only other N.T. passages in which the word occurs. πηδαλίου : only elsewhere in N.T. in Act 27:40 . ὁρμή : only elsewhere in the N.T. in Act 14:5 , used there, however, in the sense of a rush of people. The graphic picture in this verse gives the impression that the writer gives the result of personal observation.

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

Not only animals, but even ships.

the governor listeth--literally, "the impulse of the steersman pleaseth." The feeling which moves the tongue corresponds with this.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(4) The governor—i.e., the “helmsman,” from the Latin gubernator. The Venerable Bede, our earliest English translator, refers the ships here to an image of ourselves, and the winds to the impulses of our own minds, by which we are driven hither and thither.

St. James, remembering the storms of the Galilean lake, could well rejoice in a simile like this, although he himself may only have known the craft of an inland sea, and never have beheld “broad rivers and streams” wherein went “galley with oars and gallant ship” (Isa_33:21). And none knew better than the brother of the Lord who was the true

“Helm of the ships that keep

Pathway along the deep.”

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

4. Behold also the ships …] General as the thought is, we may perhaps connect it, as we have done ch. Jas_1:6, with personal recollections of storms on the Galilean lake. It will be seen that this also has its counterpart in Sophocles. The two images are brought together by a writer more within St James’s reach than the Greek tragedian. With Philo, Reason in man, the Divine Word in Creation, are compared both with the charioteer and the pilot. (De Conf. ling. p. 336. De Abr. p. 360). In the latter the very word which St James uses for “governor” is employed also by Philo. The same thoughts appear in the beautiful hymn of Clement of Alexandria as describing the work of Christ as the true Teacher. (Paedag. ad fin.):

“Curb for the stubborn steed

Making its will give heed.

Helm of the ships that keep

Their pathway o’er the deep.

whithersoever the governor listeth] Better, the pilot or steersman. This, which, the reader will hardly need to be reminded, is the primary meaning of “governor”, has, in the modern use of the word, all but dropped out of sight. Literally the sentence runs, whithersoever the impulse of the steersman may wish.

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.

Behold also the ships, which though they be so great,.... Of so large a bulk, of such a prodigious size, and are such unwieldy vessels:

and are driven of fierce winds; with great vehemence, rapidity, and swiftness:

yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth; the helm, or tiller of a ship, is a beam or piece of timber fastened into the rudder, and so coming forward into the steerage, where he that stands at helm steers the ship (e), who is here called the governor; or "he that directs", as the word may be rendered; that is, that steers; the word for "helm" is translated rudder in Act 27:40, and the helm or tiller is sometimes, though improperly, called the rudder itself (f); and this is very small, in comparison of the bulk of the ship that is guided by it (g). Aristotle calls it , "a small helm", as the apostle here does, and accounts for it how large ships should be moved and steered by it. And so, though the tongue is to the rest of the body as a small helm to a large ship, yet, like that, it has great influence over the whole body, to check it when it is carrying away with the force of its appetites and passions; and so churches, societies, and bodies of Christians, which are large and numerous, and are like ships upon the ocean, tossed to and fro with tempests, driven by Satan's temptations and the world's persecution, and ready to be carried away with the wind of false doctrine, yet are influenced and directed aright by those that are at the helm, the faithful ministers of the word, who say to them, this is the way, walk in it.

(e) Chambers's Cyclopedia, in the word "Helm". (f) lb. in the word "Rudder". (g) Quaest. Mechanic. c. 5.

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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.

Ver. 4. Whithersoever the governor] Peterent caelum Belgae si navibus peti posset, Ley them ask for the skys of Belge if it would be possible to reach them by ship, saith one (Johnston, de Nat. Constant.)

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.

Behold also the ships - This illustration is equally striking and obvious. A ship is a large object. It seems to be unmanageable by its vastness, and it is also impelled by driving storms. Yet it is easily managed by a small rudder; and he that has control of that, has control of the ship itself. So with the tongue. It is a small member as compared with the body; in its size not unlike the rudder as compared with the ship. Yet the proper control of the tongue in respect to its influence on the whole man, is not unlike the control of the rudder in its power over the ship.

Which though they be so great - So great in themselves, and in comparison with the rudder. Even such bulky and unwieldy objects are controlled by a very small thing.

And are driven of fierce winds - By winds that would seem to leave the ship beyond control. It is probable that by the “fierce winds” here as impelling the ship, the apostle meant to illustrate the power of the passions in impelling man. Even a man under impetuous passion would be restrained, if the tongue is properly controlled, as the ship driven by the winds is by the helm.

Yet are they turned about with a very small helm - The ancient rudder or helm was made in the shape of an oar. This was very small when compared with the size of the vessel - about as small as the tongue is as compared with the body.

Whithersoever the governor listeth - As the helmsman pleases. It is entirely under his control.

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

The other similitude, in which a man is compared to a ship, the tongue to the rudder, the governing the whole body to the turning about the ship. As the rudder is but a small thing, in comparison of the much greater bulk of a ship, and yet, being itself turned, turns the whole ship (though so great, and driven of so fierce winds) which way soever the steersman pleaseth: so likewise the tongue, though little to the whole man, (which may withal be driven, and acted by storms of furious passions), yet if it be itself under government, the rest of the man will be so too.

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

4. Helm—Rudder. The ships are a larger image of the same truth, and, taking in their size and the force of winds, form a fine illustration.

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

Second illustration, showing the importance of the tongue and its government. The rudder is a very small thing, but it enables the steersman to guide the ship wherever he will, in spite of the storm. Whithersoever the governor listeth (opou hJ ojrmhletai, a, B); whither the impulse of the steersman willeth (R.V); Vulgate, impetus dirigentis.

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

The design of our apostle, by this and the former similitude, is to shew, that little things well governed can govern great bodies; as the rider by a small bit can govern the horse at pleasure, and the pilot, by a small rudder, can manage the ship with ease; so the government of that little member the tongue, is a special mean for governing the whole man.

Next he compares the tongue to fire, in regard to the danger that attends it: Will a spark of fire set a house, a town, a city in a flame, and lay it in ashes? In like manner will a fiery tongue inflame a family, a society, a church, a kingdom: Yea, the whole world, by strife and contention, putting all into combustion; such a tongue being set on work by the devil, and kindled by that fire which came from hell; but verily, a tongue set on fire from hell, shall, without repentance, be set on fire in hell.

Learn hence, that a wicked tongue is of a hellish original, the fire of such a tongue is blown up by the breath of hell; let us abhor contentions, revilings, and reproaches, as we would hell itself.

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

4. Behold also the ships. These are controlled by so small a thing as the helm. Governor. Helmsman. James abounds in the sea figures. See 1:6.

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.

4. ἰδού, in later Greek little more than a vivid particle of transition.

ὑπό, generally used of personal agency: ch. Jas 1:14 is hardly an exception to this. Comp. 1Co 6:12 ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἐγὼ ἐξουσιασθήσομαι ὑπότινος. Col 2:18 εἰκῇ φυσιούμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ νοὸς τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ.

μετάγεται. Singular according to the rule where the subject is regarded as a class: contrast with this ch. Jas 2:19 τὰ δαιμόνια πιστεύουσιν καὶ φρίσσουσιν, where τὰ δαιμόνια are regarded as separate personal agencies.

ὁρμή, voluntas O.L., impetus dirigentis V., impulse, will, desire of the steersman. In N.T. only here and Act 14:5, where it probably bears the same meaning: see Page on that passage.

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.

4.] The second comparison takes up, not the protasis with its εἰ δέ, but only the apodosis foregoing. Behold, even (or also) the ships, though so great (the participle carries a slightly ratiocinative force, illative or exceptive according to the circumstances), and driven by fierce (see reff.: and cf. Ælian de Animal, v. 13, σκληρὸν πνεῦμα: and Hist. Var. ix. 14, ἵνα μὴ ἀνατρέπηται ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνέμων, εἴποτε σκληροὶ κατέπνεον. See other citations in Wetst.) winds ( interprets this as having a meaning respecting ourselves: “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 aliquld agere” &c. But it is not likely that the Apostle had any such meaning), are turned about by a very small rudder, whither-soever (οπου for ὅποι, which is not used in N. T. So also in the classics: e. g. Soph. Trach. 40, κεῖνος ὅπου βέβηκεν) the desire (not, as many Commentators, the external impulse given by the hand. Cf. Plato, Phileb. p. 35 d, ξύμπασαν τήν τε ὁρμὴν καὶ ἐπιθυμίαν καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ ζώου παντός) of the steersman (him who actually handles the tiller) may wish. The same thought occurs in Aristot. Quæst Mechan. 5, τὸ πηδάλιον, μικρὸν ὄν, καὶ ἐπʼ ἐσχάτῳ τῷ πλοίῳ, τοσαύτην δύναμιν ἔχει, ὥστε ὑπὸ μικροῦ οἴακος, καὶ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου δυνάμεως, καὶ ταύτης ἠρεμαίας, μεγάλα κινεῖσθαι μεγέθη πλοίων. Philo, In Flacc. 5, vol. ii. p. 521, joins the two ideas together, ἐμπειροτάτους κυβερνήτας, οἳ καθάπερ ἀθλητὰς ἵππους ἡνιοχοῦσιν, ἀπλανῆ παρέχοντας τὸν ἐπʼ εὐθείας δρόμον. Cf. also Lucret. iv. 899, and other examples in Wetst.

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

4-12. The dangers of the tongue

4-6. The tongue, though small, is as powerful as a little rudder on a great ship, and as dangerous as a little fire in a great forest.

4. καὶ τὰ πλοῖα, “ships also,” like horses. The article is generic. The parallel of ship and horse is emphasised by the repetition of μετάγειν, a repetition characteristic of Jas 1:13 f. 2:14, 16, 2:21, 25.

σκληρῶν, “harsh,” “stiff”; hence here of winds, “strong”; the adjective heightens the contrast with the little rudder.

For the phrase, cf. Dio. Chrys. De regno. iii, p. 44 κλύδωνος ἀγρίου καὶ χαλεποῦ ὑπὸ ἀνέμων σκληρῶν μεταβαλλομένου, Pro 27:16 σκληρὸς ἄνεμος (where the difference from the Hebrew is instructive), and other references in Wetstein, Mayor, and Schneckenburger.

ὁρμή, “impulse,” “desire.” Used in N. T. only here and Act 14:5, and not in this sense in O. T., but common in classical Greek writers. See Trench, § lxxxvii, and see L. and S. for full references, e. g. Xen. Anab. iii, 2:9 μιᾷ ὁρμῇ; Plato, Phil. 35 D, where ὁρμή is parallel to ἐπιθυμία..

Others take this of the pressure of the steersman on the helm, but without any sufficient reason.

τοῦ εὐθύνοντος, “the one who directs it.” Cf. Philo, De conf. ling. 23 φιλεῖ γὰρ ἔστιν ὅτε χωρὶς ἡνιόχων τε καὶ κυβερνητῶν βερντῶν ὅ τε πλοῦς καὶ ὁ δρόμος εὐθύνεσθαι; also Pro 20:24, Ecclus. 37:15.

The twin figures of the control of horse and of ship are frequently found together in later Greek writers, as the following passages show. In some of the instances the point of the comparison is the smallness of the instrument which controls so great a body. James is evidently acquainted with the forms of current Greek popular thought.

In the following the figures of ship and horse are characteristically combined:

Plutarch, De aud. poetis, 12, p. 33 F “Τρόπος ἐσθʼ ὁ πείθων τοῦ λέγοντος, οὐ λόγος·” καὶ τρόπος μὲν οὖν καὶ λόγος· ἢ τρόπος διὰ λόγου, καθάπερ ἱππεὺς διὰ καλινοῦ καὶ διὰ πηδαλίου κυβερνήτης.

Plutarch, De genio Socratis, 20, p. 588 E.

Aristippus, in Stobæus, Anthol. iii (ed. Hense), 17, 17 (quoted supra).

Philo, De opificio mundi, 29 μάρτυρες δʼἡνίοχοι καὶ κυβερνῆται· οἱ μὲν γὰρ ὑστερίζοντες τῶν ὑποζυγίων καὶ κατόπιν αὐτῶν ἐξεταζόμενοι ᾗ ἂν ἐθέλωσιν αὐτὰ ἄγουσι τῶν ἡνιῶν ἐνειλημμένοι καὶ τότε μὲν ἐφιέντες πρὸς ὀξὺν δρόμον τότε δʼ ἀναχαιτίζοντες, εἰ φορᾷ τοῦ δέοντος πλείονι θέοι· οἱ δʼ αὖ κυβερνῆται πρὸς τὸ τῆς νεὼς ἔσχατον χωρίον πρύμναν παρελθόντες πάντων ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν εἰσιν ἄριστοι τῶν ἐμπλεόντων, ἅτε τῆς νεὼς καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ τὴν σωτηρίαν ἐν χερσὶ ταῖς αὑτῶν ἔχοντες.

Philo, Leg. alleg. iii, 79; De agricult. 15; De confus. ling. 23; In Flacc. 5.

For the figure of the ship’s rudder, cf. Lucretius, De rer. nat. iv, 863-868

quippe etenim ventus subtili corpore tenuis

trudit agens magnam magno molimine navem,

et manus una regit quanto vis impete euntem

atque gubernaclum contorquet quolibet unum,

multaque, per trocleas et tympana, pondere magno

commovet atque levi sustollit machina nisu.

The often-quoted passage from Ps.-Aristotle, Mechanica, 5, is not apt. since there the rudder is mentioned not as a literary figure, but as one example of the principle of the lever.

For the figure of the horse, cf. Sophocles, Antig. 477 f.

σμικρῷ χαλινῷ δʼ οἶδα τοὺς θυμουμένους

ἵππους καταρτυθέντας.

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

The ships. See Introduction, on James' local allusions. Dean Howson observes that "there is more imagery drawn from mere natural phenomena in the one short epistle of James than in all St. Paul 's epistles put together."

So great. As the ship which conveyed Paul to Malta, which contained two hundred and seventy - six persons (Act 27:37).

Fierce [σκληρων] . More literally, and better, as Rev., rough. The word primarily means hard, harsh.

Helm [πηδαλιου] . Better, rudder, as Rev. The rudder was an oar worked by a handle. Helm and rudder were thus one. The word occurs only here and Act 27:40.

The governor listeth [η ορμη του ευθυνοντος βουλεται] . Lit., the impulse or desire of the steersman wisheth. 'Ormh, impulse, only here and Act 14:5, of an assault, onset.

The governor [του ευθυνοντος] . Rev., steersman. Lit., of him who is guiding. Only here and Joh 1:23. From 'Ormh, straight.

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