Charles Ellicott Commentary James 3

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 (Matthew 15:14). No one had a right to exercise the sacred functions of the appointed masters in Israel (see Note on John 3:10), and no one could take the honor of the priesthood to himself, but he that was called of God, as was Aaron (Hebrews 5:4).

Indeed, 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’ (Matthew 23:1–12). Nevertheless, His disciples were not to be acknowledged in this way, 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 its later branches (1 Corinthians 1:12; 1 Corinthians 14:26; Galatians 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 (Romans 14:7), and, if this is true of common Christian life, how deep is the responsibility incurred in the attempt to teach others! Indeed—who is sufficient for these things? (2 Corinthians 2:6).

The test of all ministry must ultimately come in the day of trial and fiery inquisition of God; this, and not the world’s opinion, will be the real approval (1 Corinthians 3:11–15). If the work of any teacher abides, his reward will be exceedingly great; if it be burned, woe to him! He himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire, scathed by what will consume the rubbish he has raked together. The faith that prompted such a man will save him, but no reward can follow useless teaching, nor can there be escape for his own soul, unless he worked honestly.

For in many things we offend all.—A better rendering is: For in many things we all offend. This is not, as might be inferred, “we are an offense to all,” as in Matthew 24:9; 1 Corinthians 4:13, and elsewhere. Indeed, James's holy mind was humble, but this confession of error elevates him in genuine appreciation and in no way diminishes him. The very human weakness of Peter, Paul, and James endears them to us, for in this way we know for certain that they were men of like passions with ourselves (Acts 14:15), and where they succeeded, we, by the same grace of God, may also win the crown.

If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man.—If this applies to any man, how much more to one who desires to teach others. To “offend” means to stumble over something and fall; in this sense, we understand the exact meaning of “offending” as making an unguarded allusion to a subject painful to another person. “A constant governance of our speech, according to duty and reason, is a prime example and strong proof of thoroughly sincere and solid goodness,” says Isaac Barrow; but the meekest of men once failed, and blessed indeed is he who takes heed to his ways that he sins not with his tongue (Psalms 39:1).

Able also to bridle the whole body.—This does not mean that if the tongue is controlled, all the members of the body are consequently at peace; but because the work of ruling the one rebel is so great that a much smaller corresponding effort will keep the other members in subjection.

Behold.—A more clumsy reading is insisted upon here: but if, instead of “behold.” The supporters of such curious corrections argue that the least likely reading is considered the most probable; and thus, every slip of a copyist, either in grammar or spelling, becomes more sacred in their eyes than the Received text is to believers in verbal inspiration.

Three comparisons of the tongue are now introduced; the bit (James 3:3), the rudder (James 3:4), and a fire (James 3:6): the two former to show what mastery may be gained by self-discipline, the latter to warn us of a danger which may quickly spread beyond our power to quell.

The governor—that is, 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 here and there.

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 seen broad rivers and streams in which went galley with oars and gallant ship (Isaiah 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.”

Even so . . .—Thus, like the tiny rudder of the mighty ship, upon which its course most critically depends—the tongue is a little member; for it “vaunts great words which bring about great acts of mischief.” The verb translated boasts is peculiar to this place, but occurs so often in the works of Philo that we may be almost certain Saint James had read them. And many other verses of our Epistle suggest his knowledge of this famous Alexandrian Jew.

Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!—It would be more in the spirit and temper of this imaginative passage to render it, “Behold, how great a forest a little spark kindleth!” Thus it is expressed in the Latin Vulgate; and note our own margin, “wood.” The image constantly recurs in poetry, ancient and modern; and in the writer’s mind there seems to have been the picture “of the wrapping of some vast forest in a flame, by the falling of a single spark,” and this in illustration of the far-reaching mischief resulting from a single cause. .