Kretzmann's Popular Commentary
James 3:4
Behold also the ships, which, though they be so great and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.
Behold also the ships, which, though they be so great and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.
BEHOLD ALSO THE SHIPS - This illustration is equally striking and obvious. A ship is a large object. It seems to be unmanageable by its vastness, and it is also impelled by driving storms. Yet it is e...
III. THE EVILS OF THE TONGUE CORRECTED CHAPTER 3 _ 1. The tongue and its work (James 3:1)_ 2. The wisdom which is earthly and the wisdom that is from above (James 3:13) James 3:1 The practical cha...
Do not crowd into the ranks of the teachers, my brothers. You know that we teachers shall be judged more severely than other men; and there are many things in which all of us stumble. This leads to th...
THE TEACHER'S PERIL (James 3:1) _ 3:1 My brothers, it is a mistake for many of you to become teachers, for you must be well aware that those of us who teach will receive a greater condemnation._ In...
If we put bits into horses' mouths to make them obedient to us, we can control the direction of their whole body as well. Look at ships, too. See how large they are and how they are driven by rough wi...
BEHOLD. App-133. ALSO THE SHIPS. the ships also. OF. App-104. FIERCE. Greek. _skleros._ Elsewhere translated "hard". WITH. Same as "of". HELM. Greek. _pedalion._ Only here and Acts 27:40. THE GOV...
_Behold also the ships_ General as the thought is, we may perhaps connect it, as we have done ch. James 1:6, with personal recollections of storms on the Galilean lake. It will be seen that this also...
ἸΔΟΎ, in later Greek little more than a vivid particle of transition. ὙΠΌ, generally used of personal agency: ch. James 1:14 is hardly an exception to this. Comp. 1 Corinthians 6:12 ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἐγὼ ἐξουσ...
2–12. FROM THIS THOUGHT OF THE TEACHING OFFICE AND ITS RESPONSIBILITIES AND FAILURES THERE IS A NATURAL TRANSITION TO THE USE AND GOVERNMENT OF THE TONGUE. Yet so passionate and agitated is the rebuk...
_CAREFUL ABOUT CONTROL -- JAMES 3:2-6:_ The fact that all teachers are prone to speak error is one of the main reason why men were cautioned about seeking to be a teacher. Mistakes in teaching not onl...
ΙΔΟΎ _praes. imper. act. от_ ΌΡΆΩ (G3708) видеть. Привлекает внимание к последующему. ΠΛΟΪ́ΟΝ (G4143) корабль, ΤΗΛΙΚΑΎΤΑ _пот. pl. от_ ΤΗΛΙΚΟΫ́ΙΟΣ (G5082) такой большой. ΌΝΤΑ _praes. act. part. от...
WHITHERSOEVER THE GOVERNOR LISTETH— _Whithersoever the action of the pilot directs._ Heylin. _Whithersoever the steersman pleaseth._ Doddridge; who remarks, "I know not how to express in English the f...
A BIG THING IN A LITTLE PACKAGE _Text 3:3-5a_ James 3:3. Now if we put the horses bridles into their mouths that they may obey us, we turn about their whole body also. James 3:4. Behold, the ships...
CHAPTER VI _THE FOOLISH TEACHER_ James 3:1-12 _Introduction_ In James 1:16; James 1:26 James said Be swift to hear, slow to speak. In a sense, the balance of chapter one develops the thought of how...
_FOURTEEN THREE-PART SERMON STARTERS_ PROFESSIONAL WRECKERS James 3:1-5 1. Every man has a tendency to wreak havoc James 3:2. 2. A very small crow-bar can wreck a big house James 3:3-4. 3. The t...
Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Not only animals, but eve...
VERSE 4. BEHOLD ALSO THE SHIPS. The ship considered by itself is very great in many ways. It is great in bulk, great in contrivance, great in the things within it, and especially great in what may be...
20 The case of Abraham is most helpful in further defining the distinct viewpoints of Paul and James. The former refers us to the fifteenth chapter of Genesis, the latter to the twenty-second. In the...
THE CONTROL OF THE TONGUE 1, 2. Warning against undue eagerness to teach: cp. Matthew 12:37; Matthew 23:7; Romans 2:19; 1 Corinth
GOVERNOR] RV 'steersman.'...
WHAT *FAITH SHOULD DO JAMES _IAN MACKERVOY_ The word list at the end explains words with a *star by them. CHAPTER 3 RESPONSIBILITY OF THE TEACHER 3:1-5A V1 My Christian brothers and sisters,...
THE GOVERNOR — _i.e._, the “helmsman,” from the Latin _gubernator._ The Venerable Bede, our earliest English translator, refers the ships here to an image of ourselves, and the winds to the impulses o...
CHAPTER 14 HEAVY RESPONSIBILITIES OF TEACHERS-THE POWERS AND PROPENSITIES OF THE TONGUE-THE SELF-DEFILEMENT OF THE RECKLESS TALKER. James 3:1 FROM the "idle faith" St. James goes on to speak of the...
τηλικαῦτα : _Cf._ 2 Corinthians 1:10; Hebrews 2:3; Revelation 16:18, the only other N.T. passages in which the word occurs. πηδαλίου : only elsewhere in N.T. in...
James 3:1-18 form a self-contained section; the subject dealt with is the bridling of the tongue, see above James 1:19; James 1:26-27....
BRIDLE THE TONGUE James 3:1 It is much easier to teach people what they should be and do than to obey our own precepts. Even the best of us stumble in many respects; but our most frequent failures ar...
The writer now proceeded to show the effect of faith on speech. Beginning with the warning against every man setting up to teach, he proceeded to deal with the power of speech. He likened the tongue t...
LITTLE, BUT POWERFUL We all continually trip or slip into wrong actions. Thankfully, Christ's blood continually cleanses (1 John 1:7-9). The most common sins must be those of the tongue because James...
My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. (2) For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also...
To the reader who enters on the consideration of the epistle of James from the epistles of Paul, the change is great and sudden, and by no means least of all from the epistle to the Hebrews, which, in...
_CHRISTIAN ABILITY_ ‘Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small belm, whithersoever the governor listeth.’ Jame...
In Chapter 3 the apostle recurs to the tongue, the most ready index to the heart, the proof whether the new man is inaction, whether nature and self-will are under restraint. But there is hardly anyth...
BEHOLD ALSO THE SHIPS, WHICH THOUGH THEY BE SO GREAT,.... Of so large a bulk, of such a prodigious size, and are such unwieldy vessels: AND ARE DRIVEN OF FIERCE WINDS; with great vehemence, rapidity,...
Behold also the ships, which though _they be_ so great, and _are_ driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Ver. 4. _Whithersoever...
_Behold_, &c. As if the apostle had said, Think not the tongue a weak member because it is small; _we put bits in the horses' mouths that they may obey us_ May go as we direct them; _and_, strong, and...
LISTETH; chooseth....
Here we begin a fourth division of the book, which continues to the end of Ch.4; in which our walk is tested by the circumstances of the world. Certainly in the previous Chapter s there is emphasis al...
What does the rudder do on a large ship? What is the point of the bit and rudder examples?...
"Behold, the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by. very small rudder, wherever the inclination of the pilot desires."Behold" -There is valuable le...
1-12 We are taught to dread an unruly tongue, as one of the greatest evils. The affairs of mankind are thrown into confusion by the tongues of men. Every age of the world, and every condition of life...
The other similitude, in which a man is compared to a ship, the tongue to the rudder, the governing the whole body to the turning about the ship. As the rudder is but a small thing, in comparison of t...
James 3:4 Look G2400 (G5628) also G2532 ships G4143 are G5607 (G5752) large G5082 and G2532 driven...
‘Behold, the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by rough winds, are yet turned about by a very small rudder, wherever the will of the steersman directs.' The thought of ‘turning about...
James 3:4. BEHOLD ALSO THE SHIPS, WHICH, THOUGH THEY BE SO GREAT. The ships of the ancients were often very large, as may be seen in the case of the ship which conveyed Paul to Malta, which contained...
THE SHIPS ALSO (κα τα πλοια). Old word from πλεω, to sail (Matthew 4:21). Another metaphor like "horses" (ιππο). "There is more imagery drawn from mere natural phenomena in the one short Epistle of...
CONTENTS: Control of the tongue. CHARACTERS: God, James. CONCLUSION: The Christian who is not affected by the sins of the tongue but takes care to avoid them, has an undoubted sign of true grace. Th...
James 3:1. _Be not many masters:_ διδασκαλοι, teachers. In some assemblies they might all prophesy one by one, but no man should be too forward; he will never shine as a teacher, unless he _be_ a teac...
A VERY SMALL RUDDER. "A rudder is small compared to the ship, but it controls its direction....
JAMES—NOTE ON JAMES 3:3 BITS in a horse’s mouth and the SMALL RUDDER on a ship are examples of very small things that control large objects....
JAMES—NOTE ON JAMES 3:1 The Sin of Dissension in the Community. This section is the longest in the letter. It discusses the problems people cause with their speech (James 3:1;...
OUR SINS OF SPEECH _CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES_ James 3:1. MASTERS.—Teachers. In the sixteenth century “master” meant “schoolmaster.” Do not get into the way of being teachers. Do not set yourselv...
EXPOSITION JAMES 3:1 WARNING AGAINST OVER-READINESS TO TEACH, LEADING TO A DISCOURSE ON THE IMPORTANCE OF GOVERNMENT OF
Let's turn to James chapter three. James first of all warns against a desire to teach the Word of God that would stem or emanate just from your own desire to be in front of people or whatever. My bre...
Acts 27:14; Jonah 1:4; Matthew 8:24; Psalms 107:25...
The ships. See Introduction, on James' local allusions. Dean Howson observes that "there is more imagery drawn from mere natural phenomena in the one short epistle of James than in all St. Paul's epis...
The design of our apostle, by this and the former similitude, is to shew, that little things well governed can govern great bodies; as the rider by. small bit can govern the horse at pleasure, and the...