james-3:2-12

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - James 3:2

For in many things we all stumble. If any stumbleth not in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also.In many things we all stumble ... We cannot agree with Lenski who labeled this "James' great confession of sin."[5] The "we" in this place is accommodative, through considerations of tact, and is used in exactly the same manner as Paul's frequent use of it in such passages as Hebrews 2:3; 6:3, etc. (where it is likewise misunderstood by many). James was not here making... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - James 3:3

Now if we put the horses' bridles into their mouths that they may obey us, we turn about their whole body also.Now if ... Punchard criticized this rendition of this introductory remark thus:This is a more clumsy reading than "Behold." The supporters of such curious corrections (?) argue that the least likely is the most so; and thus every slip of a copyist, either in grammar or spelling, becomes more sacred in their eyes than the Received Text in believers of verbal inspiration.[11] It is high... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - James 3:4

Behold, the ships also, though they are so great and driven by rough winds, are yet turned about by a very small rudder, whither the impulse of the steersman willeth.Just as the tongue is a very small member, the rudder of a great ship is likewise a very small instrument in comparison with the whole ship; but the guidance of the entire vessel is accomplished by means of that tiny rudder. The Venerable Bede, the earliest of English translators, "understood the ships here as an image of... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - James 3:5

So the tongue also is a little member and boasteth great things. Behold, how much wood is kindled by how small a fire!The first sentence in this verse is the application of the two illustrations of the bit and the rudder, its power being out of all proportion to its size. "The magic of words has played an incalculable part in the long story of human endeavor and human suffering." [16] It is evident, then, that James here referred to the nearly incredible power of human speech to move men to... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - James 3:6

And 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 wheel of nature, and is set on fire by hell.The world of iniquity ... As Roberts noted, the literal meaning of this is "a world of unrighteousness,"[18] as Ward indicated, being the same as the state of "the steward of unrighteousness" (Luke 16:8), and "the judge of unrighteousness" (Luke 18:6).[19] Here is the key to understanding what was said a little later.... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - James 3:7

For every kind of beasts and birds, of creeping things, and things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed by mankind:Tamed ... Vine gives "subdued" as the first meaning of this word, and it would be better understood thus in this place, making it unnecessary to see the passage as hyperbolic. It is a literal fact that mankind, in response to the original directive of the Creator for man "to subdue" the earth and the sea and everything in them (Genesis 1:28), has indeed done that very thing.... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - James 3:8

but the tongue can no man tame; it is a restless evil, it is full of deadly poison.Carson's observation that "Fortunately James did not say that God cannot control the tongue (or tame it),"[26] while true enough, fails to touch the problem, namely, that the tongue is indeed out of control because of man's failure to exercise the dominion over it that God commanded. It was true in James' day, as it is in this, that:It is a restless evil ... It is like a caged beast, even under the best of... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - James 3:9

Therewith bless we the Lord and Father; and therewith curse we men, who are made after the likeness of God:Bless we ... curse we ... Note the use of "we" as in James 3:2; here again the use of it does not indicate any guilt on the part of James in this particular. As Ward said, "The we of pastoral tact shows how far James could go in his desire to win rather than repel."[28]Bless we the Lord ... "The Jewish custom, whenever they named God, of adding, `Blessed be he,'"[29] very likely lies... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - James 3:10

out of the same mouth cometh forth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.In the admonition here and in the preceding verse (James 3:9) Macknight thought that James might have had reference to a widespread custom of early Christian times, in which Christians were "cursed bitterly in Jewish synagogues."[31] It would appear, however, that it is not particularly the sins of Jews in cursing Christians that James dealt with, but the habit of some "brethren" engaged in the... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - James 3:11

Doth the fountain send forth from the same opening sweet water and bitter?The use of the interrogative here is from a Hebrew idiom which carries the meaning of "you do not suppose, do you, that the same fountain, etc." It was used to convey a very strong negative. It is said that along the Dead Sea there were both salt-water and fresh-water fountains; so James made his meaning clear by adding "from the same opening." The illustration shows that man's behavior in blessing God and cursing men... read more

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - James 3:2

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - James 3:3

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - James 3:4

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - James 3:5

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - James 3:6

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - James 3:7

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - James 3:8

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - James 3:9

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - James 3:10

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - James 3:11

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