Bible Commentaries
James 3

Verses 1-99

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. Hebrews 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. Matthew 6:7).

διδάσκαλος means rabbi (cf. Matthew 23:8, Luke 2:46, John 1:38, John 1:20:16, John 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 (Acts 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 (Acts 13:1, 1 Corinthians 12:28, Ephesians 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. Mark 12:40 (Luke 20:47) οὗτοι λήμψονται περισσότερον κρίμα, Romans 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. Luke 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.

2-12. The Hellenistic associations of the following passage, vv. 2-12, are shown in the references in the notes. The more striking parallels have been effectively put together by J. Geffcken, Kynika und Verwandtes, 1909, pp. 45-53. Geffcken thinks that James here betrays dependence on a written tract on calumny, or some such subject, which he has adapted and expanded. This is not impossible, but the infelicities in the sequence of James’s thought in the passage, on which Geffcken’s theory rests, are not quite sufficient to prove anything more than dependence on ideas which had been worked out for a different purpose by others, and were familiar commonplaces of popular moral preaching.

2. πολλὰ γὰρ πταίομεν ἅπαντες. This gives the reason (γάρ) for the warning of v. 1. All men stumble, and of all faults those of the tongue are the hardest to avoid. Hence the profession of teacher is the most difficult mode of life conceivable.

On the universality of sin, cf. Romans 3:9-18, 1 John 1:8, Ecclesiastes 7:20, Ecclus. 19:16, 2 Ezra 8:35, and the similar observations of Greek and Latin writers collected by Wetstein, Schneckenburger, and Mayor, e. g. Seneca, De clem. i, 6 peccavimus omnes, alii graviora alii leviora.

The besetting danger of sins of speech and of the misuse of the tongue was clearly seen and often mentioned by ancient moralists. Noteworthy O. T. passages (among many others) are Proverbs 15:1-4, Proverbs 15:7, Proverbs 15:23, Proverbs 15:26, Proverbs 15:28, Ecclus. 5:11-6:1, 22:27, 28:13-26.

εἰ οὐ, see note on 2:11.

οὗτος, cf. 1:23.

τέλειος�Matthew 5:48, Matthew 19:21, Colossians 1:28, Colossians 4:12, Wisd. 9:6, Genesis 6:9, Ecclus. 44:17. The same Hebrew word תָּמִים, used in the same sense, is translated in Genesis 6:9 by τέλειος, in Genesis 17:1 by ἄμεμπτος.

δυνατός κτλ. Expands the idea of τέλειος.

χαλιναγωγῆσαι, “hold in check,” cf. 1:26 and note.

ὅλον τὸ σῶμα, i. e. the whole man. The contrast of the tongue and the body, as of a part and the whole, has led here to a mode of expression which seems to imply that sin does not exist apart from the body. But the writer shows himself to be fully aware that sin resides in the inner man, although on the whole its more conspicuous manifestations are prominently connected with the body. The body is thought of as providing the man with his organs of expression and action. It is a natural and popular, not a philosophical or theological, mode of expression. Cf. v. 6 ἐν τοῖς μέλεσιν, 4:1, Romans 8:13.

3. It is with men as with horses: control their mouth and you are master of all their action.

ἰδέ, “behold,” introduces an illustration, cf. ἰδού vv. 4, 5, 5:4, 7.

On ἰδέ, ἰδού, see Moulton’s Winer, pp. 318 f. note 5; J. H. Moulton, Prolegomena, p. 11, note.

ἰδέ] CR minnplus 40 sah syrhcl arm.

ἰδού] minnut vid pauo.

εἰδὲ γάρ] א* syrpesh.

εἰ δέ] BAKL minn25 ff vg boh (if).

Of these readings ἰδού (cf. 3:4, 5, 5:4, 7) and the addition of γάρ may be at once rejected as emendations; the latter, however, is significant because it implies that εἰδέ was understood as equivalent to ἰδέ. As between ἰδέ and εἰ δέ, the external evidence is strong for the latter, although P when it departs from KL is an excellent witness. But in this instance the variant reading is likely to be due to a misspelling and not to deliberate emendation, whereas the excellence of B’s text depends solely on its freedom from emendation, not in any accuracy of spelling. In such a case “intrinsic evidence” from the sense is the only guide; and this speaks strongly for ἰδέ, which is therefore to be accepted.

τῶν ἵππων. Depends on τοὺς χαλινούς, but is put first because it contains the new and emphatic idea.

χαλινός is used of the “bridle” proper (or “reins”), of the “bit,” and, as perhaps here, of the whole bridle, including both. The figurative use of “bridle” in English does not extend in the same degree to “bit,” and hence “bridle” (A.V., R.V.) is preferable as the English translation here.

βάλλομεν, “put,” cf. Philo, De agric. 21 χαλινὸν ἐμβαλόντες; Xen. De re equestr. vi, 7; ix, 9; Ael. V. h. ix, 16 ἵππῳ ἐμβάλλειν χαλινόν.

If εἰ δέ is read (with WH.), καὶ has to be taken as introducing the apodosis, as often in Hebrew.

μετάγομεν, “guide,” “direct” (E.V. “turn about”).

Cf. Philo, De opif. mundi, (29) 88 (the charioteers) ᾗ ἂν ἐθέλωσιν αὐτὰ ἄγουσι τῶν ἡνιῶν ἐνειλημμένοι; Aristippus in Stobæus, Anthol. (ed. Hense), iii, ch. 17, 17 κρατεῖ ἡδονῆς οὐχ ὁ�

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 James 1:13 f. James 1:2:14, James 1:16, James 1:2:21, James 1:25.

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�Proverbs 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 Acts 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 Proverbs 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�

The usual associations, however, of μεγαλαυχεῖν are bad, as here. A boasting compatible with proper humility would probably be expressed by καυχᾶσθαι. Cf. Zephaniah 3:11, Ezekiel 16:50, Eccles. 48:18, 2 Macc. 15:32, 4 Macc. 2:15.

Perhaps the alliteration μικρόν, μέλος, μεγάλα is intentional, cf. v. 7.

μεγάλα αὐχεῖ] BAC*P ff vg boh.

μεγαλαυχεῖ] אC2KL minn. This seems to be emendation to a more familiar word.

5b-6. The tongue is as dangerous as a fire. Cf. Ecclus. 28:12, 22.

ἡλίκον, “how small.”

ἡλίκον] BאA2CP vg.

ὀλίγον] A*C2KL minnomn vid ff m syrutr boh sah. Emendation.

ἡλίκην, “how much.” For the double question, cf. Mark 15:24, Luke 19:15, and see Winer, § 66. 5. 3.

ὕλην. The abundant references in ancient literature to forest fires, sometimes with direct reference to the smallness of the spark which leads to vast destruction, and the repeated use of this comparison in ethical discussions make it likely that ὕλην here means “forest” rather than “fuel.”

In Homer, Il. ii, 455

ἠὒτε πῦρ�

Among Hebrew writers, Isaiah 9:18, Isaiah 10:18, Psalms 83:14 use the figure of a forest fire; and Ecclus. 11:32 uses the figure of the small spark which kindles “a heap of many coals.” The tongue is compared with a fire in Psalms 120:3 f., and in Midrash, Leviticus rabba, 16: R. Eleasar in the name of R. Jose b. Zimra: “What fires it [the tongue] kindles!” (see Schöttgen, Horae hebraicae, pp. 1021 f.). But the specific parallels make it seem plain that this comparison is drawn from a standing simile of current Greek popular philosophy.

6. καὶ ἡ γλῶσσα πῦρ sc. ἐστιν. This applies the comparison made in the preceding sentence.

ἡ γλῶσσα 2o] P minnpler syrhcl c. * prefix οὕτως καί; L min prefix οὕτως. Conformation to v. 5.

ὁ κόσμος τῆς�

For the expression taken by itself “the iniquitous world” is the most probable sense.�Luke 16:8, Luke 16:9, Luke 16:18:6, Enoch 48:7, “this world of iniquity.”

On κόσμος, cf. James 1:27, James 2:5, James 4:4, and see note on 1:27.

Other meanings have been suggested; on the history of the exegesis, see Huther’s and Mayor’s notes. Thus Vg translates “the whole of evil,” universitas iniquitatis. But the sense “the whole” for ὁ κόσμος is attested only Proverbs 17:6 ὅλος ὁ κόσμος τῶν χρημάτων; and, moreover, the meaning does not suit our passage well.

Another interpretation is “the ornament of iniquity.” This is capable in itself of an intelligible sense, as referring to the use of rhetorical arts by designing speakers (Wetstein: malas actiones et suadet et excusat), but that seems foreign to the circle of thought in which the writer is here moving. This sense was, however, a favourite one with Greek interpreters. From Isidore of Pelusium, Epist. iv, 10, who gives it as one possible meaning, it is taken into Cramer’s Catena, p. 21, and it is also found in “Œcumenius,” on vv. 2-4, and in Matthäi’s scholia (ἐπικοσμεῖ γὰρ ῤήμασιν ἐσθʼ ὅτε�

For full accounts of the various commentators’ guesses at the exact meaning, see Heisen, Novae hypotheses, pp. 819-880 (with great collections of illustrative material, mostly not apt); D. J. Pott, Novum Test. grœce, editio Koppiana, Göttingen, 1810, vol. ix, pp. 317-329; Huther, ad loc. Much material is given in Mayor3, ad loc. pp. 114-116; Windisch, ad loc.; and Hort, St. James, pp. 72-74, 106 f. The only critical discussion of the evidence is that of Hort, whose own interpretation, however, is impossible to accept, being based on Ezekiel 1:15-21.

The translations are as follows:

syr the successions of our generations, which run like wheels.

boh the wheel of the birth.

ff rotam nativitatis.

vg rotam nativitatis nostrae.

m rotam geniturae.





Cf. Priscillian, ed. Schepss, p. 26 (deus) sciens demutationem firmamenti et distruens rotam geniturae reparatione baptismatis diem nostrae nativitatis evicit. The phrase rota geniturae is here used in the sense of astrological fatalism, and is equivalent to ὁ τροχὸς τῆς�

This Orphic round of birth, death, reincarnation, over and over again repeated, is described as “the wheel of fate and birth” (ὁ τῆς εἱμαρμένης τε καὶ γενέσεως τροχός)† and “the circle of birth” (ὁ κύκλος τῆς γενέσεως).‡ The phrase “compulsory circle” (κύκλος�James 3:6, do not throw any light upon it. To think of the tongue as enflaming the “wheel” of metempsychosis is nonsense; and, on the other side, nothing could be more opposed to James’s robust doctrine of moral responsibility than the idea of a fatalistic circle.

It is therefore impossible to draw the inference that the author of the epistle had direct contact with Orphic mysteries and ideas. The resemblance of language may well be a mere accident, and even if we suppose that he had picked up and misused a chance phrase, that would be fully accounted for by acquaintance with Cynic popular preachers, or Stoic-cynic writers of diatribes, who must have given currency to such catch-words incidentally to their satirical attacks on the ideas which the phrases conveyed.||

(c) Similar expressions are used of fatalistic necessity. So Philo, De somn. ii, 6, p. 664, κύκλον καὶ τροχὸν�

ὑπὸ τῆς γεέννης. Gehenna, a term elsewhere used in the N. T. only in the Synoptic Gospels, here means the place of punishment of the wicked. It was naturally associated with fire, cf. Matthew 5:22, Matthew 18:9, Mark 9:45, and see HDB, “Gehenna.” Observe the sudden intrusion of a purely Jewish idea into a notably Greek context.

7-12. The tongue is untamable; its use in blessing God gives no security against its abuse later for cursing men; this is wrong and contrary to nature.

7. γάρ, explains how the extreme statement of v. 6 is justified. The dreadful character of the tongue comes from its untamableness.

θηρίων τε καὶ πετεινῶν ἑρπετῶν τε καὶ ἐναλίων, “beasts and birds, reptiles and fishes.” Cf. Deuteronomy 4:17, Deuteronomy 4:18, 1 Kings 4:33, Acts 10:12, Acts 11:6, which all, like the present passage, have more or less direct reference to Genesis 1:20, Genesis 1:24, Genesis 1:26.

ἐναλίων, i. e. fishes. This word is not found elsewhere in the Bible, but is common in secular Greek, both poetry and late prose.

δαμάζεται καὶ δεδάμασται, “is from time to time, and has actually been, tamed.” Cf. Schmid, Atticismus, ii, p. 276.

τῇ φύσει τῇ�

The control of animals by man was a familiar Hebrew observation, cf. Genesis 1:28, Genesis 9:2, Psalms 8:6-8, Ecclus. 17:4; it was also a common subject of Greek and Roman comment and moralising, see references in Mayor.

8. οὐδεὶς δαμάσαι δύναται. Notice the alliteration with δ, cf. v. 5, and 4 Macc. 15:31, where κ is repeated six times.

ἀνθρώπων. Belongs with οὐδείς; alludes to�

ἀκατάστατον κακόν, “a restless, forthputting, evil”; best taken (because of μεστή) as nominative absolute; cf. Mark 12:38.�

ἀκατάστατον] CKL minnpler m syrutr Cyr read�

ἰοῦ θανατηφόρου, “deadly poison,” probably with allusion to the poison of the serpent’s tongue. Cf. Psalms 140:3, quoted in Romans 3:13. Cf. Lucian, Fugit. 19 ἰοῦ μεστὸν αὐτοῖς τὸ στόμα. The figure of poison was a common one among the Greeks, used for various hateful things (references in Mayor).

9. Continues thought of v. 8. Even good use of the tongue now gives no security against misuse later.

ἐν αὐτῇ, “by it,” cf. Romans 15:6. This might be the Hebraistic instrumental ἐν (see Blass, § 41. 1, J. H. Moulton, Prolegomena, pp. 11 f., 61 f., 104), but is more probably an extension of Hellenistic usage for which good parallels are found only in very late, Byzantine, writers (see Stephanus, Thesaurus, ed. Hase and Dindorf, s. v., coll. 963 f.).

This twofold use of the tongue is frequently mentioned. Philo, De decal. xix, p. 196 οὐ γὰρ ὅσιον, διʼ οὗ στόματος τὸ ἱερώτατον ὄνομα προφέρεταί τις, διὰ τούτου φθέγγεσθαί τι τῶν αἰσχρῶν.

Plutarch, De garrulitate, 8, p. 506 C ὅθεν ὁ Πιττακὸς οὐ κακῶς, τοῦ Αἰγυπτίων βασιλέως πέμψαντος ἱερεῖον αὐτῷ, καὶ κελεύσαντος τὸ κάλλιστον καὶ τὸ χείριστον ἐξελεῖν κρέας, ἔπεμψεν ἐξελὼν τὴν γλῶτταν, ὡς ὄργανον μὲν�Proverbs 18:21 (Schöttgen, Horae heb. i, p. 1024) of R. Simeon b. Gamaliel, who sent his servant to market to buy first good and then bad food, and found himself both times supplied with tongues. See other references in Mayor and Windisch, and cf. the passages in which δίγλωσσος occurs, Proverbs 11:13, Ecclus. 5:9, 14, 6:1, 28:13, Orac. Sib. iii, 37.

εὐλογοῦμεν. Doubtless with reference both to the Jewish custom of adding “Blessed be He,” whenever the name of God was mentioned (cf. Romans 1:25, Romans 1:9:5, 2 Corinthians 11:31), and to other liturgical ascriptions of praise. For the latter, cf. 2 Corinthians 1:3, Ephesians 1:3, 1 Peter 1:3, Psalms 145:21, and the Shemone Esre (Schürer, GJV, § 27, Anhang).

τὸν κύριον καὶ πατέρα. Both words refer to God. See on 2:1; cf. 1:27. The expression has no complete parallel; cf. 1 Chronicles 29:10, Isaiah 63:16, Matthew 11:25, Ecclus. 23:1, 4.

καταρώμεθα, cf. Job 31:30, Psalms 10:7, Psalms 62:4, Psalms 109:28, Luke 6:28, Romans 12:14.

Test. XII Patr. Benj. 6 ἡ�

τοὺς καθʼ ὁμοίωσιν θεοῦ γεγονότας. Cf. Genesis 1:26, Genesis 9:6, Ecclus. 17:3, Wisd. 2:23. Cf. Bereshith r. 24 (Wetstein), quoted by Hort.

10. οὐ χρή. Used only here in N. T.

11-12. The contrary example of springs and trees. What takes place with the tongue would be impossible in nature. For the same thought, cf. Enoch 2-5:4.

11. ἡ πηγή. πηγή has the article as the representative of its class; see Winer, § 18. 1.

βρύει, “gush.” “Send forth” (E.V.) is an exact, but prosaic, rendering of this mainly poetical word, which is not used elsewhere in O. T. or N. T. It means “teem,” “be full to bursting,” and is ordinarily used intransitively, with dative or genitive, of the swelling buds of plants and so, figuratively, of various kinds of fulness. Here the context shows that the thought is of the gushing forth of the water.

τὸ γλυκὺ καὶ τὸ πικρόν.

Cognate accusatives, as in Justin Martyr, Dial. 114 πέτρας … ζῶν ὕδωρ βρυούσης. Mayor gives many other references, in some of which, as here, the cognate accusative occurs. γλυκύ means “fresh,” πικρόν (cf. v. 12 ἁλυκόν), “brackish.” Cf. Exodus 15:23-25 (πικρόν, ἐγλυκάνθη), Jeremiah 23:15.

This occurrence is prophesied as a portent in 4 Ezra 5:9 in dulcibus aquis salsae invenientur. “Only in the times of the End, in the days of the sinners, when all nature reverses its order and shows itself ripe for destruction, does such a phenomenon appear” (Spitta, p. 104).

12.�Song of Solomon 1:16; Song of Solomon 2:5Song of Solomon 2:5.

συκῆ, ἐλαίας, ἄμπελος.

The fig, the olive, and the vine are the three characteristic natural products of warm countries about the Mediterranean. For the figure, cf. Matthew 7:16, Matthew 7:12:33; Plutarch, De tranquill. anim. p. 472 F τὴν ἄμπελον σῦκα φέρειν οὐκ�

οὔτε seems to be an error for οὐδέ, but the constant interchange of these words in the Mss. by textual corruption makes it hard to be sure that good ancient writing did not exercise more freedom in the use of them than the grammarians would sanction; see Radermacher, Neutestamentliche Grammatik, p. 172.

ἁλυκόν, sc. ὕδωρ, “salt water”; i. e. a salt spring. There were salt springs or brine-pits on the shore of the Dead Sea, and the hot springs of Tiberias are described as bitter and salt; see Robinson, Biblical Researches in Palestine, 1856, ii, p. 384.

γλυκὺ ποιῆσαι ὕδωρ, sc. δύναται (as is shown by the parallel first half of the verse).

No application of these illustrations is made, and James turns abruptly to another aspect of the matter. The passage well illustrates his vividness and fertility of illustration, as well as his method of popular suggestiveness, rather than systematic development of the thought.

οὔτε ἁλυχὸν γλυχύ] BAC minn.

οὕτως οὔτε [οὐδὲ א minn] ἁλυκὸν γλυκύ] אC2 minn ff vg syrpesh boh Cyr.

οὕτως οὐδεμία πηγὴ ἁλυκὸν καὶ γλυκύ] KLP (οὔτε) minnpler syrhcl c.* (syrhel txt ομ οὕτως).

13-18. The true Wise Man’s wisdom must be meek and peaceable; such wisdom alone comes from above, and only peaceable righteousness receives the divine reward.

13. The Wise Man must by a good life illustrate the meekness which belongs to true wisdom.

τίς. For similar rhetorical questions, see Psalms 33:12, Psalms 107:43, Isaiah 50:10, Ecclus. 6:34, etc. These short interrogative sentences (frequent in Paul) are characteristic of the diatribe; Bultmann, pp. 14 ff.

It is not necessary here, although it would be possible, to take τίς in the sense of ὅστις. See Buttmann, § 139 (Thayer’s translation, p. 252); Blass, § 50. 5; J. H. Moulton, Prolegomena, p. 93; Winer, § 25. 1.

σοφός. The technical term for the Teacher (cf. v. 1); in Jewish usage one who has a knowledge of practical moral wisdom, resting on a knowledge of God. The words of James relate to the ideal to be maintained by a professional Wise Man and Teacher, not merely to the private wisdom of the layman.

ἐπιστήμων, “understanding,” with a certain tone of superiority, like our “expert.” Cf. Ecclus. prol., Daniel 1:4 νεανίσκους … ἐπιστήμονας ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ.

σοφός and ἐπιστήμων are used as synonyms in Deuteronomy 1:13, Deuteronomy 1:15, Deuteronomy 1:4:6, Dan 5:12, cf. Philo, De prœm. et pœnis, 14 σοφὸν ἄρα γένος καὶ ἐπιστημονικώτατον.

δειξάτω ἐκ τῆς καλῆς�

It is the virtue of the religious “zealot,” cf. 1 Kings 19:10, 1 Kings 19:14, Ecclus. 48:2 (Elijah), 1 Macc. 2:54, 58, 4 Macc. 18:12 (Phinehas), Philippians 3:6 (Paul), Galatians 1:14, Acts 21:20. But it also becomes the vice of the fanatic; and hence its special danger for the religious teacher.

In secular use ζῆλος generally means “heat,” as expressed in “emulation,” “rivalry”—whether good or bad; see below, note on 4:2. The Biblical sense brings it near to the Hellenic σπουδή, which, starting from another side (“haste,” “exertion”), acquired a wide range of meanings including “zeal” and “rivalry.”

See Trench, Synonyms, § xxvi, Lightfoot on Clem. Rom_3. Note the connection of ζῆλος and�Romans 3:2.

ἐριθίαν, “selfish ambition.” The word denotes the inclination to use unworthy and divisive means for promoting one’s own views or interests, cf. Romans 2:8, 2 Corinthians 12:20, Galatians 5:20 (and Lightfoot’s note), and references in Mayor, together with Hort’s valuable note, ad loc. pp. 81-83; “ἐριθία really means the vice of a leader of a party created for his own pride: it is partly ambition, partly rivalry” (Hort).

ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ ὑμῶν has a certain emphasis, in contrast with κατακαυχᾶσθε. The meaning is: “If you have these qualities in your heart, do not let them come to expression.”

μὴ κατακαυχᾶσθε (sc. τῶν ἄλλων) καὶ ψεύδεσθε κατὰ τῆς�

For the divine origin of true wisdom, cf. e.g. Proverbs 2:6, Proverbs 8:22-31, Wisd. 7:25, 9:4, 9 f., Ecclus. 1:1-4, 24:3ff., Enoch 42, Philo, as above, 1 Corinthians 1:19.

ἐπίγειος, “earthly,” cf. Philippians 3:19, Colossians 3:2, 1 Corinthians 15:47, John 3:31, John 8:23.

ἐπίγειος seems to mean here “derived from the frail and finite world of human life and affairs.” Cf. Philo’s contrast of οὐράνιος and γήϊνος, Leg. all. i, 12, and the far-reaching dualism on which it rests.

ψυχική, “natural” (Latin animalis, E.V. “sensual”), i. e. pertaining to the natural life (ψυχή) which men and animals alike have; 1 Corinthians 2:14, 1 Corinthians 15:44-46, Jude 1:19.

Cf. Revelation 8:9 (ψυχή of animals). See Philo, Leg. all. ii, 7 and 13, Quis rer. div. her. 11, and E. Hatch, Essays, p. 124, cf. pp. 115-120.

The word was intelligible and familiar in this sense to Paul’s readers, and does not imply later gnostic usage; see J. Weiss, Der erste Korintherbrief, 1910, pp. 69 f., 371-373; R. Reitzenstein, Die hellenistischen Mysterienreligionen, 1910, pp. 42-47, 109, 112, 151 f.

The curious resemblance to the gnostic designation of the two lower grades of men as χοϊκοί and ψυχικοί is probably not significant. Yet see Pfleiderer, Urchristentum2, ii, p. 546. Useful references will be found in Mayor.

δαιμονιώδης, “resembling,” or “pertaining to” (“proceeding from”), an evil spirit, cf. 2:19, 1 Timothy 4:1. This word has been pointed out elsewhere only Sym., Psalms 91:6, and Schol. on Aristophanes, Ran. 293, φάντασμα δαιμονιῶδες ὑπὸ Ἑκάτης ἐπιπεμπόμενον.

These three words, “earthly, sensual, devilish,” describe the so-called wisdom, which is not of divine origin, in an advancing series—as pertaining to the earth, not to the world above; to mere nature, not to the Spirit; and to the hostile spirits of evil, instead of to God. Hermas, Mand. ix, 2, xi, 8, show a variety of resemblances to this passage of James, but there is no evidence of literary dependence.

The church speedily and permanently used this conception of Satanic origin to account for the gnostic “wisdom”; cf. e. g. Justin, Apol. i, 58. In James, however, it is not the substance, but the temper, of the “wisdom” that makes it false. James is not attacking systems of false teaching. See Weinel, Wirkungen des Geistes und der Geiste, pp. 13 f., 16-18, 20 ff.

16. γάρ. Introduces proof that v. 15 is true. “For such a temper, even on the part of one who claims to be a Wise Man, leads to every evil.”

ὅπου … ἐκεῖ. For this rhetorical turn, cf. 1 Corinthians 3:3 and Epict. Diss. iii, 22:61 (Mayor).

ἀκαταστασία, “disorder,” “disturbance,” “trouble.” Cf. 1:8, 3:8�

The word seems to have something of the bad associations of our word “anarchy,” and has to bear much weight in this sentence. Cf. Proverbs 26:28, 1 Corinthians 14:33, 2 Corinthians 12:20 ζῆλος, ἐριθίαι, καταστασίαι; and the similar list of evils, Galatians 5:20, which has ζῆλος, ἐριθίαι, διχοστασίαι; Luke 21:9, Clem. Romans 1:3. See Hatch, Essays, p. 4: “The political circumstances of Greece and the East after the death of Alexander had developed the idea of political instability, and with it the word�

φαῦλον, “vile,” see Trench, Synonyms, § lxxxiv. φαῦλος is found only ten times in the LXX, five instances being in Proverbs, the others in Job, Ecclesiasticus, and 4 Maccabees.

17. Cf. Wisd. 7:22-25.

πρῶτον μὲν ἁγνή, “first pure,” i. e. “undefiled,” free from any faults such as the ζῆλος and ἐριθία above mentioned. Nothing which shows itself as half-good, half-bad, can be accounted wisdom, Wisd. 7:25.

See Trench, § lxxxviii and references in Lex.. s. v. ἅγιος. Cf. Philippians 4:8, 1 Peter 3:2. In the LXX ἁγνός is found eleven times, of which four instances are in Proverbs and four in 4 Maccabees. See Moulton and Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, p. 5.

ἔπειτα introduces the following adjectives, which, thus grouped, stand over against ἁγνή, the quality from which they all proceed.

εἰρηνική, “peaceable,” cf. Matthew 5:9.

ἐπιεικής, “reasonable,” “considerate,” “moderate,” “gentle” (E.V.). See Trench, Synonyms, § xliii: “We have no words in English which are full equivalents of the Greek.” See Light-foot on Philippians 4:5, and Mayor’s note, p. 131.

This is a distinctively Greek virtue; the word ἐπιεικής and its derivatives are found but a few times in LXX, e. g. Psalms 86:5, Psalms 86:2 Macc. 9:27. In the N. T. 2 Corinthians 10:1, Philippians 4:5, 1 Timothy 3:3, Titus 3:2, 1 Peter 2:18, Acts 24:4.

εὐπειθής, “obedient,” “ready to obey”; here perhaps “willing to yield,” the opposite of “obstinate” (Philo, De fortitud. 3).

Only here in the N. T. In O. T. only 4 Maccabees, and in strict sense of “obedient.”

μεστή, cf. Romans 1:29, Romans 1:15:14, 2 Peter 2:14. The word is not common in LXX.

ἐλέους, “mercy,” a compassion which leads to practical help, not the mere emotion of pity, cf. 2:13. See Trench, Synonyms, § xlvii; and Lex.. s. v. ἐλεεῖν.

καρπῶν�Matthew 21:43, Galatians 5:22, Ephesians 5:9, Philippians 1:11.

ἀδιάκριτος, “undivided,” i. e. unwavering, whole-hearted, with reference to the evil situation described in vv. 9-10.

Cf. 1:6 ὁ διακρινόμενος, 2:4 διεκρίθητε. Only here in N. T.; in O. T. cf. Proverbs 25:1 �

The Latin translations (Vg. non judicans; Cod. Corb. sine dijudicatione) seem to have missed the meaning of this word, as have many interpreters. Thus Luther translates “unparteiisch”; so A.V., R.V. mg. “without partiality.”

ἀνυπόκριτος, “without hypocrisy.”

In O. T. only Wisd. 5:18, 18:16; in N. T. Romans 12:9, 2 Corinthians 6:6, 1 Timothy 1:5, 2 Timothy 1:5, 1 Peter 1:22, in sense of “sincere.” Elsewhere only as adverb �Romans 12:3.

These characteristics of true wisdom are selected in pointed opposition to the self-assertive, quarrelsome spirit characteristic of the other sort. Apart from the fundamental ἁγνή they fall into three groups:

εἰρηνική, ἐπιεικής, εὐπειθής·

μεστὴ ἐλέους καὶ καρπῶν�

18. καρπὸς δικαιοσύνης, “the fruit of righteousness,” i. e. the reward which righteous conduct brings, cf. Hebrews 12:11 καρπὸν εἰρηνικὸν δικαιοσύνης, Philippians 1:11 πεπληρωμένοι καρπὸν δικαιοσύνης.

That the expression “fruit of righteousness” has the sense “product of righteousness” is shown by those O. T. passages which seem to have given it its currency, and in which it is used with a variety of applications. Cf. Proverbs 3:9(LXX), 11:30 ἐκ καρποῦ δικαιοσύνης φύσεται δένδρον ζωῆς, i. e. “righteousness brings long life,” 13:2 (LXX), Amos 6:12. In all these cases δικαιοσύνης indicates the source of the “fruit.” Similarly Isaiah 32:17: “And the work of righteousness (τὰ ἔργα τῆς δικαιοσύνης) shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and confidence forever.” For the figure of sowing, cf. Proverbs 11:21 (LXX), ὁ δὲ σπείρων δικαιοσύνην λήμψεται μισθόν, Hosea 10:12, Job 4:8, Test. XII Patr. Levi, 13:6, etc.

ἐν εἰρήνῃ σπείρεται, “sown in peace,” and in peace only; i. e. a righteousness capable of gaining its due reward must be peaceable; cf. 1:20. The sower is, of course, the righteous man.

For the slightly inaccurate expression “sow the fruit, or crop” (instead of the seed), cf. Apoc. Bar. 32:1, “Sow the fruits of the law,” Plutarch, De vitando œre alieno, 4 σπείροντες οὐχ ἥμερον καρπόν, Antiphanes, Fab. inc. iv, 4 σπείρειν καρπὸν χάριτος.

τοῖς ποιοῦσιν εἰρήνην.

To “do peace” (cf. Ephesians 2:15, Colossians 1:20 εἰρηνοποιέω; Matthew 5:9 εἰρηνοποιός) means not merely to conciliate opponents, but to act peaceably. It is the complete opposite of ζῆλος and ἐριθία.

The interpretation of v. 18 here given may be paraphrased, with a change of figure, thus: “The foundation which righteousness lays for eternal life can be laid only in peace and by those who practise peace.” This is equivalent to saying that righteousness includes peaceableness.

Another common interpretation takes καρπὸς δικαιοσύνης as meaning “the fruit which consists in righteousness.” The source will then be the true wisdom, of which righteousness is the product. The evidence for this would be Hebrews 12:11, where righteousness seems to be itself the fruit, and the parallelism of James 3:16, where the product of ζῆλος and ἐριθία is said to be�Philippians 1:11, to which appeal is often made, is ambiguous, and cannot be taken as meaning that righteousness is the fruit except by giving to δικαιοσύνη its peculiar Pauline sense.

But the O. T. passages referred to above create a strong presumption against this interpretation; the simple meaning of the phrase speaks against it; and, further, righteousness is more naturally thought of (apart from Pauline theology) as the condition of receiving divine reward, not as the reward itself. The general drift of the verse would be the same under either interpretation.









Lex. J. H. Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 1886.

Mayor J. B. Mayor, The Epistle of St. James, 1892, 21897, 31910.

Winer G. B. Winer, A Grammar of the Idiom of the New Testament, Thayer’s translation, 21873.

J. H. Moulton, A Grammar of New Testament Greek. Vol I. Prolegomena, 1906, 31908.

L. and S. H. G. Liddell and R. Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, 71883.

Vg Vulgate.

Heisen H. Heisen, Novae hypotheses interpretandae epistolae Jacobi, Bremen, 1739.

Pott D. J. Pott, in Novum Testamentum Grœce, editio Koppiana, Göttingen, 31816.

* See Stephanus, Thesaurus, or Liddell and Scott, s. v. κύκλος.

† Of a different order is the mechanical conception of the revolving universe, used with great ingenuity by Plato, e. g. Polit. 12-14, pp. 269-271; Leg. 10, 8, p. 898.

* See also, for similar phrases, the index to Proclus Diadochus, In Platonis Timœum comm. ed. Diehl, 1906, s. v. κύκλος.

† This has gone into Cramer’s Catena, pp. 20 f.

‡ See E. Rohde, Psyche3, 1903, ii, pp. 121-131, 133-136, 165, note 2, 217-219 f.; Jane E. Harrison, Prolegomena (as cited below); Lobeck, Aglaophamus, 1829, ii, pp. 795-806.

* The verse is from the Compagno tablet, Kaibel, Inscr. Ital. et Sicil. 641, p. 158. See Jane E. Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, Cambridge, 1903, pp. 586, 589-594, 668-671; and note the similar use of στέφανος in other verses of the same inscription.

† Simplicius, In Arist. de cœlo comm. ii, p. 168 b (ed. Heiberg, p. 377).

‡ Proclus, In Plat. Tim. comm. v, p. 330 A; cf. also Orphica, fragmm. 222, 223, 225, ed. Abel, 1885, pp. 244-246.

§ Diogenes Laert. viii, 14, Vita Pythag. πρῶτόν φασι τοῦτον [Pythagoras]�