the Week of Proper 12 / Ordinary 17
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THE MESSAGE
James 3:1
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Not many should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we will receive a stricter judgment.
My brethren, bee not many masters, knowing that we shall receiue the greater condemnation.
My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.
Do not become teachers in large numbers, my brothers, since you know that we who are teachers will incur a stricter judgment.
My brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.
Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.
My friends, we should not all try to become teachers. In fact, teachers will be judged more strictly than others.
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, since you know that we will be judged more severely.
Be not many teachers, my brethren, knowing that we shall receive greater judgment.
My brothers and sisters, not many of you should be teachers. I say this because, as you know, we who teach will be judged more strictly than others.
My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receiue the greater condemnation.
MY brethren, do not allow doubtful teachers among you; but know, that we are under a great judgment.
My friends, not many of you should become teachers. As you know, we teachers will be judged with greater strictness than others.
Not many should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we will receive a greater judgment.
My brothers do not be many teachers, knowing that we will receive greater judgment.
Not many [of you] should become teachers [serving in an official teaching capacity], my brothers and sisters, for you know that we [who are teachers] will be judged by a higher standard [because we have assumed greater accountability and more condemnation if we teach incorrectly].
Be not many of you teachers, my brethren, knowing that we shall receive heavier judgment.
Do not all be teachers, my brothers, because we teachers will be judged more hardly than others.
Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment.
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teachwho teach">[fn] will be judged more severely.Matthew 23:8,14; Luke 6:37; Romans 2:20-21; 1 Peter 5:3;">[xr]
LET there not be many teachers among you, my brethren, but know that a greater condemnation we incur.
Let there not be many teachers among you, my brethren; but know ye, that we are obnoxious to, a severer judgment.
My brethren, be not manie maisters, knowyng howe that we shall receaue the greater damnation:
Be not many teachers, my brethren, knowing that we shall receive heavier judgment.
Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment.
My brethren, be not many teachers, knowing that we shall receive greater condemnation.
Do not be eager, my brethren, for many among you to become teachers; for you know that we teachers shall undergo severer judgement.
Mi britheren, nyle ye be maad many maistris, witynge that ye taken the more doom.
Don't many [of you] be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we shall receive heavier judgment.
My brethren, be not many teachers, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, because you know that we will be judged more strictly.
My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.
Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly.
My Christian brothers, not many of you should become teachers. If we do wrong, it will be held against us more than other people who are not teachers.
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.
Not, many teachers, become ye, my brethren, knowing that, a severer sentence, shall ye receive;
Be ye not many masters, my brethren, knowing that you receive the greater judgment.
Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, for you know that we who teach shall be judged with greater strictness.
My brethren be not every ma a master remembringe how that we shall receave the more damnacion:
Many teachers become not, my brethren, having known that greater judgment we shall receive,
My brethre, be not euery man a master, remebrynge how that we shall receaue the more damnacion:
My brethren, don't affect many of you to be doctors, considering, that those of us who are such, shall be tried with the greater severity.
Ain't many of you will be called to teach others how to ride for the Boss's outfit because you know these cowboys will be judged more strictly.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
be: Malachi 2:12, Matthew 9:11, Matthew 10:24, Matthew 23:8-10, Matthew 23:14, John 3:10, Acts 13:1, Romans 2:20, Romans 2:21, 1 Corinthians 12:28, Ephesians 4:11, 1 Timothy 2:7, 2 Timothy 1:11,*Gr: 1 Peter 5:3
knowing: Leviticus 10:3, Ezekiel 3:17, Ezekiel 3:18, Ezekiel 33:7-9, Luke 6:37, Luke 12:47, Luke 12:48, Luke 16:2, Acts 20:26, Acts 20:27, 1 Corinthians 4:2-5, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Hebrews 13:17
condemnation: or, judgment, Matthew 7:1, Matthew 7:2, Matthew 23:14, 1 Corinthians 11:29-32,*Gr.
Reciprocal: Isaiah 6:5 - a man Jeremiah 17:16 - I have Matthew 25:19 - reckoneth Luke 20:47 - the same Romans 13:2 - receive 1 Corinthians 3:10 - But let every 1 Timothy 5:12 - damnation James 1:19 - slow to speak James 3:13 - is a James 5:12 - lest 1 Peter 3:10 - refrain 1 Peter 4:11 - any
Cross-References
"The serpent seduced me," she said, "and I ate."
At that time God will unsheathe his sword, his merciless, massive, mighty sword. He'll punish the serpent Leviathan as it flees, the serpent Leviathan thrashing in flight. He'll kill that old dragon that lives in the sea.
"Stay alert. This is hazardous work I'm assigning you. You're going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don't call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove.
Pseudo-Servants of God Will you put up with a little foolish aside from me? Please, just for a moment. The thing that has me so upset is that I care about you so much—this is the passion of God burning inside me! I promised your hand in marriage to Christ, presented you as a pure virgin to her husband. And now I'm afraid that exactly as the Snake seduced Eve with his smooth patter, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ. It seems that if someone shows up preaching quite another Jesus than we preached—different spirit, different message—you put up with him quite nicely. But if you put up with these big-shot "apostles," why can't you put up with simple me? I'm as good as they are. It's true that I don't have their voice, haven't mastered that smooth eloquence that impresses you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least know what I'm talking about. We haven't kept anything back. We let you in on everything. I wonder, did I make a bad mistake in proclaiming God's Message to you without asking for something in return, serving you free of charge so that you wouldn't be inconvenienced by me? It turns out that the other churches paid my way so that you could have a free ride. Not once during the time I lived among you did anyone have to lift a finger to help me out. My needs were always supplied by the believers from Macedonia province. I was careful never to be a burden to you, and I never will be, you can count on it. With Christ as my witness, it's a point of honor with me, and I'm not going to keep it quiet just to protect you from what the neighbors will think. It's not that I don't love you; God knows I do. I'm just trying to keep things open and honest between us. And I'm not changing my position on this. I'd die before taking your money. I'm giving nobody grounds for lumping me in with those money-grubbing "preachers," vaunting themselves as something special. They're a sorry bunch—pseudo-apostles, lying preachers, crooked workers—posing as Christ's agents but sham to the core. And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn't surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God. But they're not getting by with anything. They'll pay for it in the end. Let me come back to where I started—and don't hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you'd rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little. I didn't learn this kind of talk from Christ. Oh, no, it's a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days. Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn't admit it to you, but our stomachs aren't strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff. Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I'm their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can't believe I'm saying these things. It's crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I'm going to finish.) I've worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death's door time after time. I've been flogged five times with the Jews' thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I've been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I've had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I've been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I've known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather. And that's not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut. If I have to "brag" about myself, I'll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows I'm not lying. Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretas posted guards at the city gates to arrest me? I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life.
The same goes for you husbands: Be good husbands to your wives. Honor them, delight in them. As women they lack some of your advantages. But in the new life of God's grace, you're equals. Treat your wives, then, as equals so your prayers don't run aground.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
My brethren, be not many masters,.... The apostle having dispatched the subject of faith and good works, which constitute the pure and undefiled religion mentioned in James 1:27 which gave rise to this discourse, he proceeds to consider the evidence of a religious man, suggested in James 1:26 who is one that bridles the tongue; and enters into an account of the use and abuse of the tongue: and which is introduced by this exhortation; and which seems to be opposed to an affectation among the Jews, to whom James writes, of being called "Rabbi, Rabbi", or "Mori, Mori", master, master, condemned by Christ, Matthew 23:8. The words may be rendered, "be not many teachers"; or be not fond, and forward, and ambitious of being preachers of the word, but rather choose to be hearers of it, agreeably to the advice in James 1:19, "be swift to hear, slow to speak"; not but that the office of a teacher is a good work, and a very desirable one; and spiritual gifts, qualifying for it, are to be coveted with a view to the glory of God, and the good of souls; and to have many teachers is a blessing to the churches of Christ and a large number of them is often not only proper, but absolutely necessary: but then this office should not be entered upon without suitable gifts, a divine mission, and a regular call by a church; and when entered into, should not be performed in a magisterial way, as lords over God's heritage, and as claiming a dominion over the faith of men, but as helpers of their joy, peace, and comfort; nor according to the commandments of men, but according to the oracles of God. Or it may be, this exhortation may have respect to censorious persons, rigid and severe reprovers of others, who take upon them, in a haughty manner, to charge and rebuke others for their faults; reproof for sin ought to be given; sin should not be suffered upon the brethren; to reprove is not blameworthy, but commendable, when it is done in a right manner, with a good spirit, and to a good end: in case of private offences, it should be privately given, and for public ones, men should be rebuked before all; but then this ought to be done in a gentle manner, and in a spirit of meekness; and when it is a clear case, and plain matter of fact, and which ought not to be exaggerated and aggravated; mole hills are not to be made mountains of, or a man be made an offender for a word, or a matter of human frailty; and reproof should be given by persons not guilty of the same, or worse crimes, themselves, and always with a good end; not to screen and cover their own vices, or to be thought more holy and religious than others, or to satisfy a revengeful spirit, but for the glory of God, and the restoring of the person that has sinned.
Knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation: should men enter into the office of teaching others without a call, or perform it negligently, or live not according to the doctrine they teach others, such would be judged out of their own mouths, and by their own words, and their condemnation would be aggravated; and should men judge rash judgment, they themselves will be judged at a higher tribunal; and should they be too censorious, and bear too hard on others, they will have judgment without mercy.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
My brethren, be not many masters - “Be not many of you teachers.” The evil referred to is that where many desired to be teachers, though but few could be qualified for the office, and though, in fact, comparatively few were required. A small number, well qualified, would better discharge the duties of the office, and do more good, than many would; and there would be great evil in having many crowding themselves unqualified into the office. The word here rendered “masters” (διδάσκαλοι didaskaloi) should have been rendered “teachers.” It is so rendered in John 3:2; Acts 13:1; Romans 2:20; 1 Corinthians 12:28-29; Ephesians 4:11; 1 Timothy 2:11; 1 Timothy 4:3; Hebrews 5:12; though it is elsewhere frequently rendered master. It has, however, in it primarily the notion of “teaching” (διδάσκω didaskō), even when rendered “master;” and the word “master” is often used in the New Testament, as it is with us, to denote an instructor - as the “school-master.”
Compare Matthew 10:24-25; Matthew 22:16; Mark 10:17; Mark 12:19, et al. The word is not properly used in the sense of master, as distinguished from a servant, but as distinguished from a disciple or learner. Such a position, indeed, implies authority, but it is authority based not on power, but on superior qualifications. The connection implies that the word is used in that sense in this place; and the evil reprehended is that of seeking the office of public instructor, especially the sacred office. It would seem that this was a prevailing fault among those to whom the apostle wrote. This desire was common among the Jewish people, who coveted the name and the office of “Rabbi,” equivalent to that here used, (compare Matthew 23:7), and who were ambitious to be doctors and teachers. See Romans 2:19; 1 Timothy 1:7. This fondness for the office of teachers they naturally carried with them into the Christian church when they were converted, and it is this which the apostle here rebukes. The same spirit the passage before us would rebuke now and for the same reasons; for although a man should be willing to become a public instructor in religion when called to it by the Spirit and Providence of God, and should esteem it a privilege when so called, yet there would be scarcely anything more injurious to the cause of true religion, or that would tend more to produce disorder and confusion, than a prevailing desire of the prominence and importance which a man has in virtue of being a public instructor. If there is anything which ought to be managed with extreme prudence and caution, it is that of introducing men into the Christian ministry. Compare 1 Timothy 5:22; Acts 1:15-26; Acts 13:2-3.
Knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation - (μεῖζον κρὶμα meizon krima. Or rather, “a severer judgment;” that is, we shall have a severer trial, and give a stricter account. The word here used does not necessarily mean “condemnation,” but “judgment, trial, account;” and the consideration which the apostle suggests is not that those who were public teacher would be condemned, but that there would be a much more solemn account to be rendered by them than by other men, and that they ought duly to reflect on this in seeking the office of the ministry. He would carry them in anticipation before the judgment-seat, and have them determine the question of entering the ministry there. No better “stand-point” can be taken in making up the mind in regard to this work; and if that had been the position assumed in order to estimate the work, and to make up the mind in regard to the choice of this profession, many a one who has sought the office would have been deterred from it; and it may be added, also, that many a pious and educated youth would have sought the office, who has devoted his life to other pursuits. A young man, when about to make choice of a calling in life, should place himself by anticipation at the judgment-bar of Christ, and ask himself how human pursuits and plans will appear there. If that were the point of view taken, how many would have been deterred from the ministry who have sought it with a view to honor or emolument! How many, too, who have devoted themselves to the profession of the law, to the army or navy, or to the pursuits of elegant literature, would have felt that it was their duty to serve God in the ministry of reconciliation? How many at the close of life, in the ministry and out of it, feel, when too late to make a change, that they have wholly mistaken the purpose for which they should have lived!
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER III.
They are exhorted not to be many masters, 1.
And to bridle the tongue, which is often an instrument of
much evil, 2-12.
The character and fruits of true and false wisdom, 13-18.
NOTES ON CHAP. III.
Verse James 3:1. Be not many masters — Do not affect the teacher's office, for many wish to be teachers who have more need to learn. There were many teachers or rabbins among the Jews, each affecting to have THE truth, and to draw disciples after him. We find a caution against such persons, and of the same nature with that of St. James, in Pirkey Aboth, c. i. 10: Love labour, and hate the rabbin's office.
This caution is still necessary; there are multitudes, whom God has never called, and never can call, because he has never qualified them for the work, who earnestly wish to get into the priest's office. And of this kind, in opposition to St. James, we have many masters-persons who undertake to show us the way of salvation, who know nothing of that ways and are unsaved themselves. These are found among all descriptions of Christians, and have been the means of bringing the ministerial office into contempt. Their case is awful; they shall receive greater condemnation than common sinners; they have not only sinned in thrusting themselves into that office to which God has never called them, but through their insufficiency the flocks over whom they have assumed the mastery perish for lack of knowledge, and their blood will God require at the watchman's hand. A man may have this mastery according to the law of the land, and yet not have it according to the Gospel; another may affect to have it according to the Gospel, because he dissents from the religion of the state, and not have it according to Christ. Blockheads are common, and knaves and hypocrites may be found everywhere.
