@Jas 3:1-18. DANGER OF EAGERNESS TO TEACH, AND OF AN UNBRIDLED TONGUE: TRUE WISDOM SHOWN BY UNCONTENTIOUS MEEKNESS.
1. be not--literally, "become not": taking the office too hastily,
and of your own accord.
many--The office is a noble one; but few are fit for it. Few govern
the tongue well (@Jas 3:2), and only such as can govern it are fit
for the office; therefore, "teachers" ought not to be many.
masters--rather, "teachers." The Jews were especially prone to this
presumption. The idea that faith (so called) without works
(@Jas 2:14-26) was all that is required, prompted "many" to set up
as "teachers," as has been the case in all ages of the Church. At first
all were allowed to teach in turns. Even their inspired gifts did not
prevent liability to abuse, as James here implies: much more is this so
when self-constituted teachers have no such miraculous gifts.
knowing--as all might know.
we . . . greater condemnation--James in a humble,
conciliatory spirit, includes himself: if we teachers abuse the
office, we shall receive greater condemnation than those who are mere
hearers (compare @Lu 12:42-46). CALVIN, like
English Version, translates, "masters" that is, self-constituted
censors and reprovers of others @Jas 4:12 accords
with this view.
2. all--The Greek implies "all without exception": even the
apostles.
offend not--literally "stumbleth not": is void of offence or "slip"
in word: in which respect one is especially tried who sets up to be a
"teacher."
3. Behold--The best authorities read, "but if," that is, Now whensoever (in the case) of horses (such is the emphatic position of "horses" in the Greek) we put the bits (so literally, "the customary bits") into their mouths that they may obey us, we turn about also their whole body. This is to illustrate how man turns about his whole body with the little tongue. "The same applies to the pen, which is the substitute for the tongue among the absent" [BENGEL].
4. 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.
5. boasteth great things--There is great moment in what the
careless think "little" things
[BENGEL]. Compare "a world," "the course
of nature," "hell," @Jas 3:6, which illustrate how the little
tongue's great words produce great mischief.
how great a matter a little fire kindleth--The best manuscripts
read, "how little a fire kindleth how great a," &c.
ALFORD, for
"matter," translates, "forest." But GROTIUS translates as
English Version, "material for burning": a pile of fuel.
6. Translate, "The tongue, that world of iniquity, is a fire." As
man's little world is an image of the greater world, the universe, so
the tongue is an image of the former [BENGEL].
so--omitted in the oldest authorities.
is--literally, "is constituted." "The tongue is (constituted), among
the members, the one which defileth," &c. (namely, as fire defiles with
its smoke).
course of nature--"the orb (cycle) of creation."
setteth on fire . . . is set on fire--habitually and continually.
While a man inflames others, he passes out of his own power, being
consumed in the flame himself.
of hell--that is, of the devil. Greek, "Gehenna"; found here
only and in @Mt 5:22. James has much in common with the Sermon on
the Mount (@Pr 16:27).
7. every kind--rather, "every nature" (that is, natural disposition
and characteristic power).
of beasts--that is, quadrupeds of every disposition; as distinguished
from the three other classes of creation, "birds, creeping things (the
Greek includes not merely 'serpents,' as English Version), and
things in the sea."
is tamed, and hath been--is continually being tamed, and hath been
so long ago.
of mankind--rather, "by the nature of man": man's characteristic
power taming that of the inferior animals. The dative in the
Greek may imply, "Hath suffered itself to be brought into tame
subjection TO the nature of men." So it shall be in the millennial
world; even now man, by gentle firmness, may tame the inferior animal,
and even elevate its nature.
8. no man--literally, "no one of men": neither can a man control his
neighbor's, nor even his own tongue. Hence the truth of @Jas 3:2
appears.
unruly evil--The Greek, implies that it is at once restless and incapable of restraint. Nay, though nature has hedged it in with
a double barrier of the lips and teeth, it bursts from its barriers to
assail and ruin men [ESTIUS].
deadly--literally, "death-bearing."
9. God--The oldest authorities read, "Lord." "Him who is Lord and
Father." The uncommonness of the application of "Lord" to the Father,
doubtless caused the change in modern texts to "God" (@Jas 1:27).
But as Messiah is called "Father," @Isa 9:6, so God the Father is
called by the Son's title, "Lord": showing the unity of the Godhead.
"Father" implies His paternal love; "Lord," His dominion.
men, which--not "men who"; for what is meant is not particular
men, but men genetically [ALFORD].
are made after . . . similitude of God--Though in a great measure
man has lost the likeness of God in which he was originally made,
yet enough of it still remains to show what once it was, and what in
regenerated and restored man it shall be. We ought to reverence this
remnant and earnest of what man shall be in ourselves and in others.
"Absalom has fallen from his father's favor, but the people still
recognize him to be the king's son" [BENGEL]. Man resembles in
humanity the Son of man, "the express image of His person" (@Heb 1:3),
compare @Ge 1:26 1Jo 4:20. In the passage, @Ge 1:26, "image"
and "likeness" are distinct: "image," according to the Alexandrians, was
something in which men were created, being common to all, and
continuing to man after the fall, while the "likeness" was something
toward which man was created, to strive after and attain it: the
former marks man's physical and intellectual, the latter his moral
pre-eminence.
10. The tongue, says ÆSOP, is at once the best and the worst of
things. So in a fable, a man with the same breath blows hot and cold.
"Life and death are in the power of the tongue" (compare @Ps 62:4).
brethren--an appeal to their consciences by their brotherhood in
Christ.
ought not so to be--a mild appeal, leaving it to themselves to
understand that such conduct deserves the most severe reprobation.
11. fountain--an image of the heart: as the aperture (so the Greek for "place" is literally) of the fountain is an image of man's mouth. The image here is appropriate to the scene of the Epistle, Palestine, wherein salt and bitter springs are found. Though "sweet" springs are sometimes found near, yet "sweet and bitter" (water) do not flow "at the same place" (aperture). Grace can make the same mouth that "sent forth the bitter" once, send forth the sweet for the time to come: as the wood (typical of Christ's cross) changed Marah's bitter water into sweet.
12. Transition from the mouth to the heart.
Can the fig tree, &c.--implying that it is an impossibility: as
before in @Jas 3:10 he had said it "ought not so to be." James
does not, as Matthew (@Mt 7:16,17), make the question, "Do men
gather figs of thistles?" His argument is, No tree "can" bring forth
fruit inconsistent with its nature, as for example, the fig tree,
olive berries: so if a man speaks bitterly, and afterwards speaks good
words, the latter must be so only seemingly, and in hypocrisy, they
cannot be real.
so can no fountain . . . salt . . . and fresh--The oldest authorities
read, "Neither can a salt (water spring) yield fresh." So the mouth that
emits cursing, cannot really emit also blessing.
13. Who--(Compare @Ps 34:12,13). All wish to appear "wise": few
are so.
show--"by works," and not merely by profession, referring to
@Jas 2:18.
out of a good conversation his works--by general "good conduct"
manifested in particular "works." "Wisdom" and "knowledge," without
these being "shown," are as dead as faith would be without works
[ALFORD].
with meekness of wisdom--with the meekness inseparable from true
"wisdom."
14. if ye have--as is the case (this is implied in the Greek indicative).
bitter--@Eph 4:31, "bitterness."
envying--rather, "emulation," or literally, "zeal": kindly, generous
emulation, or zeal, is not condemned, but that which is "bitter"
[BENGEL].
strife--rather, "rivalry."
in your hearts--from which flow your words and deeds, as from a
fountain.
glory not, and lie not against the truth--To boast of your wisdom is virtually a lying against the truth (the gospel), while your lives
belie your glorying. @Jas 3:15 Jas 1:18, "The word of truth."
@Ro 2:17,23, speaks similarly of the same contentious Jewish
Christians.
15. This wisdom--in which ye "glory," as if ye were "wise"
(@Jas 3:13,14).
descendeth not from above--literally, "is not one descending," &c.:
"from the Father of lights" (true illumination and wisdom), @Jas 1:17;
through "the Spirit of truth," @Joh 15:26.
earthly--opposed to heavenly. Distinct from "earthy,"
@1Co 15:47. Earthly is what is IN
the earth; earthy, what is of the earth.
sensual--literally, "animal-like": the wisdom of the "natural" (the
same Greek) man, not born again of God; "not having the Spirit"
(@Jude 1:19).
devilish--in its origin (from "hell," @Jas 3:6; not from God,
the Giver of true wisdom, @Jas 1:5), and also in its character,
which accords with its origin. Earthly, sensual, and devilish, answer to
the three spiritual foes of man, the world, the flesh, and the devil.
16. envying--So English Version translates the Greek, which
usually means "zeal"; "emulation," in @Ro 13:13. "The envious
man stands in his own light. He thinks his candle cannot shine in the
presence of another's sun. He aims directly at men, obliquely at God,
who makes men to differ."
strife--rivalry [ALFORD].
confusion--literally, "tumultuous anarchy": both in society (translated
"commotions," @Lu 21:9; "tumults," @2Co 6:5), and in the individual
mind; in contrast to the "peaceable" composure of true "wisdom,"
@Jas 3:17. James does not honor such effects of this earthly wisdom
with the name "fruit," as he does in the case of the wisdom from above.
@Jas 3:18; compare @Ga 5:19-22, "works of the flesh . . .
fruit of the Spirit."
17. first pure--literally, "chaste," "sanctified": pure from all
that is "earthly, sensual (animal), devilish" (@Jas 3:15). This is
put, "first of all," before "peaceable" because there is an unholy
peace with the world which makes no distinction between clean and
unclean. Compare "undefiled" and "unspotted from the world,"
@Jas 1:27 4:4,8, "purify . . . hearts"; @1Pe 1:22,
"purified . . . souls" (the same Greek). Ministers must not
preach before a purifying change of heart, "Peace," where there is no
peace. Seven (the perfect number) characteristic peculiarities of true
wisdom are enumerated. Purity or sanctity is put first because
it has respect both to God and to ourselves; the six that follow regard
our fellow men. Our first concern is to have in ourselves sanctity; our
second, to be at peace with men.
gentle--"forbearing"; making allowances for others; lenient towards
neighbors, as to the DUTIES they owe us.
easy to be entreated--literally, "easily persuaded," tractable; not
harsh as to a neighbor's FAULTS.
full of mercy--as to a neighbor's MISERIES.
good fruits--contrasted with "every evil work," @Jas 3:16.
without partiality--recurring to the warning against partial "respect
to persons," @Jas 2:1,4,9.
ALFORD translates as the Greek is
translated, @Jas 1:6, "wavering," "without doubting." But thus
there would be an epithet referring to one's self inserted amidst
those referring to one's conduct towards others. English Version is
therefore better.
without hypocrisy--Not as ALFORD
explains from @Jas 1:22,26,
"Without deceiving yourselves" with the name without the reality of
religion. For it must refer, like the rest of the six epithets, to our
relations to others; our peaceableness and mercy towards others must be
"without dissimulation."
18. "The peaceable fruit of righteousness." He says "righteousness";
because it is itself the true wisdom. As in the case of the earthly
wisdom, after the characteristic description came its results; so in
this verse, in the case of the heavenly wisdom. There the results were
present; here, future.
fruit . . . sown--Compare @Ps 97:11 Isa 61:3, "trees of
righteousness." Anticipatory, that is, the seed whose "fruit," namely,
"righteousness," shall be ultimately reaped, is now "sown in peace."
"Righteousness," now in germ, when fully developed as "fruit" shall be
itself the everlasting reward of the righteous. As "sowing in peace"
(compare "sown in dishonor," @1Co 15:43) produces the "fruit of
righteousness," so conversely "the work" and "effect of righteousness"
is "peace."
of them that make peace--"by (implying also that it is for them,
and to their good) them that work peace." They, and they alone, are
"blessed." "Peacemakers," not merely they who reconcile others, but who
work peace. "Cultivate peace"
[ESTIUS]. Those truly wise towards
God, while peaceable and tolerant towards their neighbors, yet make it
their chief concern to sow righteousness, not cloaking men's sins, but
reproving them with such peaceable moderation as to be the physicians,
rather than the executioners, of sinners [CALVIN].