Be not many teachers, my brethren, knowing that we shall receive greater judgment.
James 3 turns from faith proved by works to the tongue that talks about it. It opens with a warning to anyone eager to instruct others. Why is teaching a danger, and what is the "greater judgment" hanging over it?
Older translations read "be not many masters," which can suggest bossiness. The word is the ordinary one for a teacher — the same title given to the Lord Himself.
A caution is given in James 3:1, "Be not many teachers," for it involved greater responsibility. The same word (didaskalos) occurs in John 13:13, where the Lord acknowledged that He is the Teacher. He was addressed as 'Teacher' many times, though in nearly all cases the Authorised Version has 'Master.' He taught as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
The verse is not an attack on the gift of teaching. It aims at an appetite that gifted and ungifted alike can share.
The Apostle is not speaking of the right use of the gift of teaching (Romans 12:7). He is speaking of the tendency of the flesh to delight in teaching others, and its eagerness to take part in ministry. Even where the gift of teaching exists, the flesh, if allowed, can easily misuse the gift to feed its own vanity. Even without the gift, we are all in danger of teaching others what is right, while forgetting that we ourselves may fail in the very things we warn others about. One has said, "It is far easier to teach others than to govern ourselves", and again, "Humility in the heart makes a man slow to speak."
God does not apply one flat standard to everyone. Two things raise the bar: how much light you have, and the place you take.
In the light of these words, there are clearly differing degrees of severity in the Divine judgment. God will expect more from those who have more light and understanding, and will judge them by higher standards. It is also clear that He will judge us according to the place we take, whether He has called us into it or not. In the light of that let none of us rush into the position of being a master or teacher.
Speech is where a teacher is exposed. Words are what God keeps and calls to account.
Our Lord condemned every idle word and spoke of the account to be given for it in the day of judgment. He said, "By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." So His servant here reminds us that speaking in this way increases responsibility. God is not mocked and remembers words lightly said, which might be urged on others with little or no thought of our own need. "You then who teach others, do you not teach yourself?" Judgment becomes heavier in every way if teaching does not flow from love and in the fear of God.
The phrase "greater judgment" can sound like a threat to salvation itself. Gaebelein draws the line.
Even teaching given to the members of the body of Christ must be handled with care, for it carries great responsibility: one may preach to others and be himself disapproved (1 Corinthians 9:27). If someone is a teacher, he must also practise what he teaches. If he does not, he will receive a greater judgment — not about salvation, but about disapproval before the award seat of Christ.
A caution against too many teachers only makes sense where anyone might speak. The guard James supplies is not a rule shutting the door, but conscience.
This exhortation was suitable, wholesome and needed for those he addressed. It clearly implied that there was an open ministry, which the flesh might well abuse. Yet the Spirit did not close or restrict that ministry. He turned it to the good of their souls by pressing on them their direct responsibility to God. On the other hand, the entire family of God are told not to believe every spirit. They must test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world (1 John 4:1)... Responsibility is maintained on all sides: no one can escape it.
Some use this verse as an excuse to keep what they know to themselves. Commentators block that reading.
Nothing in Scripture is clearer than this: whatever truth a person receives from God, he is responsible to pass it on in whatever way lies open to him, for the help of others. To hold what is infinite riches to the soul is itself a responsibility to pass it on, and love recognises this at once. So, in one sense, all may be teachers — though not in the sense the apostle means here. There is the special gift of a teacher; and since it is special, it is not for everyone to assume that he has it.
Hole puts the other half of the same balance bluntly: if God has genuinely called a man to teach, "woe betide him if he shirks the responsibility and ties up his pound in a napkin."
- Position — "Masters" means teachers. God judges you by the place you take, whether He called you to it or not.
- Appetite — James targets not the gift but the flesh's pleasure in instructing others. Gifted and ungifted alike can catch it.
- Words — A teacher's tool is speech, and God remembers words lightly said. More light and a public voice raise the standard He measures you by.
- Verdict — The heavier judgment means disapproval before the award seat of Christ, not the loss of salvation.
- Liberty — The caution only makes sense where ministry is open. The cure is conscience, not a closed door. Silence is no safety: truth received is truth owed to others.
For we all often offend. If any one offend not in word, *he* [is] a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body too.
James has just warned against a rush to teach, and verse 2 gives his reason: we all stumble, most of all in what we say. Yet the same verse sets a standard high enough to describe a fully grown man.
The verb James uses is not a soft one. It starts with the picture of a foot catching on something, and carries it into the moral realm. Older translations render the word "offend"; the ESV has "stumble."
So the Spirit of God turns from the empty eagerness to teach in public to speech in general, which no one can hold down. "For in many things we all offend." The word translated "offend" moves from physical stumbling to moral failure, as in James 2:10. Romans 11:11 already marks that change.
Note the "we all." James puts himself inside it. It should change how we correct others:
So let us remember that in correcting others we may be offenders ourselves, for "we all often offend," even if at times we do so without knowing it. In no way is it so easy to offend as in words.
The verse can be misread in two opposite directions. One reading ends any claim to sinless perfection. The other turns the verse into an excuse.
No saint, no prophet, was flawless or incapable of error. "In many things we all stumble" — I do not say must, but do (James 3:2).
The distinction between do and must matters. Another writer warns against the opposite error:
Beware of the dreadful error of saying that the Christian must sin. God has made the fullest provision for him, so that he need not sin. When he does sin, it is because he chooses to sin, and not because he had to.
Verse 2 backs up the caution about teaching in verse 1. Speech shows what is inside a person, so the eager teacher stands in real danger.
James wants humility in speaking, and that we should not be many teachers. When we do not know ourselves, it is far easier to teach others than to govern ourselves. Now the tongue is the most direct index of what is in the heart. We all fail in many things, and if we take it on ourselves to teach others, our offenses are even more serious.
The word does not mean a man with no sin. It means one who has grown up, and that growth usually has a cost.
One who in this way does not offend is "perfect" in the sense of mature, and able to control his entire body. This ought to be true of a teacher, and indeed of every experienced believer. But usually it is not true without some painful experience.
The picture raises a question, and the answer sends us back to verse 1:
As we think about ourselves, or as we look at others, we may well ask: where is this perfect man who is in complete control? Where indeed? We do not know him. But it should teach us to be slow to take the place of a master. It is entirely right that the man who wants to be master of others should first be master of himself.
James chooses the word "bridle" with care. Holding something in check is not the same as taming it.
A believer, by the power of the Spirit of God, may "bridle" his tongue, that is, put it under restraint; and this is a serious responsibility. But let no one persuade himself that he has tamed his tongue. Anyone who does will almost certainly find out by experience that it is still "a restless evil, full of deadly poison." So it needs constant guarding and restraining.
So where does the restraint come from? Not from resolutions we make after the damage is done.
Who then can control the tongue? "No man" can do it, but Christ can. We have only to look to Him in simple faith… How often have we suffered from some blunder of the tongue and then resolved to control that unruly part of us better next time. But our resolution proved to be like the morning cloud that passes away… Why was this? Simply because we took the matter on in our own strength.
- Stumble — the word moves from a foot catching a stone to moral failure. James says "we all," and he includes himself. No one reads this verse from above others.
- Do, not must — the verse states a fact about every believer, not a necessity. The Christian who sins does so by choice.
- Speech first — the tongue shows most directly what is in the heart. Teaching others is easier than governing yourself.
- Perfect means grown — the man who does not offend in word is mature, not sinless. That maturity usually comes through painful experience.
- Bridle, don't boast — you can hold the tongue in check, but never tame it. No man controls it; Christ can. Resolutions made in our own strength fade like morning cloud.