Study
5 From the Book of James is: James 3
In
this chapter James returns to two subjects which he has already mentioned: the
tongue (cf 1:19, 26 and wisdom (cf.1:5)
1. Verses 1-2.
Why does James discourage undue eagerness to take up teaching? Ponder his vivid
illustrations of the power, for good or evil, of the tongue. How is the
malignity of the tongue most clearly shown, and why is it so serious? How does
James also show that the tongue’s inconsistency is monstrously unnatural?
2. Verses
13-18. What are the marks and results of the two kinds of wisdom described in
these verses? Consider how the qualities of heavenly wisdom, described in
verses, 17, 18, were seen in the Lord Jesus. Are they evident in my life?
Notes
1. Verse 6. NEB
Translates: ‘And the tongue is in effect a fire. It represents among our
members the world with all its wickedness; it pollutes our whole being; it
keeps the wheel of our existence red-hot, and its flames are fed by hell’.
2. Verse 13.
‘Meekness’: a word which today has lost much of its original nobility. For the
Greeks, it denoted a strong man’s self-discipline and a wise man’s humility.
Cf. 1:21.
3. Verse 14.
‘Do not boast and be false to the truth’: to boast of wisdom when the heart is
full of envy and selfish ambition is mere sham. Cf. 1:26.
4. Verse 18 is
to be contrasted with verse 16. Disorder and vileness accompany envy and
rivalry; but righteousness (or justice) is the seed and crop of the
peacemakers.
