James 3:1

James 3:1-12. Sins of Speech, and their condemnation

1. be not many masters Better, "do not become, or do not get into the way of being many teachers." The English word "master," though perhaps conveying the idea of a "schoolmaster" in the sixteenth century, and therefore used in all the versions from Wycliffe and Tyndale onward, is now far too general in its meaning. What St James warns his "brethren" against is each man's setting himself up to be a teacher, and in this he echoes our Lord's command, (Matthew 23:8-10). In the Christian Church, as in the Jewish, there was the peril of a self-appointed Rabbi-ship. The sages of Israel had given the same caution, as in the maxim, Love the work, but strive not after the honour, of a Teacher, (Pirke Aboth, 1. 10).

knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation The change from the second person to the first is characteristic of the writer's profound humility. He will not give others a warning without at the same time applying it to himself. The Greek word for "condemnation", though literally meaning "judgment" only, is yet almost always used in the New Testament for an adverse judgment, (e. g. Matthew 23:14; Romans 2:2; Rom 13:2; 1 Corinthians 11:29; 1 Corinthians 11:34). The very form of St James's phrase is as an echo of our Lord's words in the first of the passages referred to.