James 3:2

we offend all The word is the same as that in ch. James 2:10. See note there.

a perfect man … One who has attained the fulness of moral growth, as in 1 Corinthians 14:20; Hebrews 5:14, the same word denotes that of physical growth. Control of speech is named, not as in itself constituting perfection, but as a crucial test indicating whether the man has or has not attained unto it.

able also to bridle the whole body St James returns to the besetting sin of those to whom he writes, uses the same phrase as in ch. James 1:26, and then proceeds to develope the metaphor which it suggests. The "whole body" is used to sum up the aggregate of all the temptations which come to us through the avenues of sense.