v.1-5
1. 3 groups of words:
a. things in the mouth: teachers, what he says, bits into the mouth of horses
b. the serious consequences according to how we live: judged more strictly, stumble vs perfect (but we are all stumble), or set a forest ablaze.
c. Action that will lead to the consequences in b above: control, obey...guide their entire bodies, being steered...according to the pilot's inclination
2. The serious consequences was the result of a small part of our body. It was because the small tongues are able to boast. What did God care about with our teaching, about what we said was our boasting. Who is able to control our boasting can be perfect. That means there is an evil force inside of us that like to boast. It cannot be controlled. If anyone can make ourselves obey our Master (or the one who ride us as a horse or the pilot who steers us as a ship) is perfect. No one. the result is already told in v.2
For we all stumble [present indicative] in many ways
stumble=BDAG to lose one’s footing, stumble, trip...we commit many sins
Reflection: Do I like to teach because I like to boast? What sins are inside of me that make me like to boast? Why I want other to see me as what I boast about? What will help me to be contented with who I am in front of God?
Pray that I will obey the Holy Spirit guidance and be useful to my Master (the rider and the pilot). Otherwise the forest fire is my vivid image of my result.
v.6-12
1. Difficult verse
v.6b The tongue represents the world of wrongdoing among the parts of our bodies. It pollutes the entire body and sets fire
BECNT-Thus, James is saying that the wicked world establishes a presence in the body (either the individual or the church) by way of the tongue (speech), which not only can spoil one’s integrity (it “stains,” and remember that James indicated in 1:27 that true religion must keep itself “unstained”) but also keeps the spoiling active; it starts a process that generates evil over and over again
v.6c sets fire to the course of human existence
BECNT-Thus, the “wheel of γένεσις”[life, human experience] in James could simply be a reference to the entire compass of this place or period of human existence being inflamed by the tongue. Alternatively, James may be referring to the fact that the tongue’s fire tends to reproduce itself in this age, even from generation to generation, or over and over again (a view apparently taken by the Peshitta [Syriac translation] of James, which reads, “the successions of our generations, which run like wheels” [translation in Ropes 1916: 236]).
The most common approach, however, appears to be to take τροχός (or τρόχος) not as a wheel but in the sense of “course” (as a racecourse or track), and γένεσις as a way of speaking about existence or life, yielding “the whole course of life.”...The main meaning is not in doubt: the tongue’s potential for damage, like that of a wildfire, extends well beyond its point of origin, spreading outward in an ever-widening circle.
In that case, James’s point would be that undisciplined and forward tongues of would-be teachers can both despoil the whole church and further set fires that run amok and keep reigniting; no sooner is one put out than three more emerge from the ashes elsewhere
2. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. These things should not be so, my brothers and sisters.
BECNT-not that cursing and blessing coming from the same mouth is impossible, but that it is radically inconsistent. Using this rare expression (οὐ χρή, ou chrē), James does not claim that such inconsistent speech is impossible, but declares vigorously that it ought not to happen, it must not happen
Reflection: Do not forget that we live in a wicked world. The wicked world has a represent that lives in me, i.e. my tongue. It is part of my body. How dangerous I am! Again in v.8, James reminded me that "But no human being can subdue the tongue; it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison." It is not just bad in itself, but also active and powerful enough to kill other people. What a warning to the believers, especially teachers of the church 3:1!
Comments