James 3:1

Μὴ πολλοὶ διδάσκαλοι γίνεσθε : the Peshiṭtâ reads: “Let there not be many teachers among you”; both the Greek version, which implies that the “teachers” belonged to the congregation of the faithful, as well as the Syriac, which implies that “teachers” from outside were welcomed, cf. Pseud-Clem., De Virginitate, i. 11 … quod dicit Scriptura, “Ne multi inter vos sint doctores, fratres, neque omnes sitis prophetae …” (Resch., op. cit., p. 186), bear witness to what we know from other sources to have been the actual facts of the case. It is the greatest mistake to suppose that διδάσκαλοι here is equivalent to Rabbis in the technical sense. In the Jewish “Houses of Learning” (i.e., the Synagogues, for these were not exclusively places of worship) whether in Palestine or in the Dispersion (but more so in the latter), there was very little restriction in the matter of teachers; almost anyone would be listened to who desired to be heard. We have an example of this in the case of our Lord Himself, who found no difficulty in entering into Synagogues and teaching (Matthew 12:9 ff; Matthew 13:54; Mark 1:39; Luke 6:14 ff., etc., etc.), although His presence there must have been very distasteful to the Jewish authorities, and although on some occasions the ordinary hearers altogether dissented from what He taught (e.g., John 6:59-66); the same is true of St. Peter, St. John, and above all of St. Paul. In the case of St. Paul (or his disciples) we have an extremely interesting instance (preserved in the Babylonian Talmud, Meg., 26 a) of an attempt, a successful attempt, made on one occasion to stop his teaching; it is said that the Synagogue of the Alexandrians (mentioned in Acts 6:9), which was called “the Synagogue of those of Tarsus,” i.e., the followers of St. Paul, was bought up by a Tannaite (“teacher”) and used for private purposes (see Bergmann, Jüdische Apologetik im neutestamentl. Zeitalter, p. 9). Like the Athenians (Acts 17:21), many inquiring Jews were always ready to hear some new thing, and welcomed into their houses of learning teachers of all kinds (cf. Acts 15:24; 1 Timothy 1:6-7). The following would not have been said unless there had been great danger of Jews being influenced by the doctrines condemned: “All Israelites have their part in the world to come, … but the following (Israelites) have no part therein, he who denies that the Resurrection is a doctrine the foundation of which is in the Bible, he who denies the divine origin of the Torah, and (he who is) an Epicurean” (Sanh., xi. 1; quoted by Bergmann, op. cit., p. 9). The custom of Jews, and especially of Hellenistic Jews, of permitting teachers of various kinds to enter their Synagogues and expound their views, was not likely to have been abrogated when they became Christians, which was in itself a sign of greater liberal-mindedness. The διδάσκαλοι, therefore, in the verse before us, must, it is held, be interpreted in the sense of what has been said. The whole passage is exceedingly interesting as throwing detailed light upon the methods of controversy in these Diaspora Synagogues; feeling seems to have run high, as was natural, mutual abuse was evidently poured forth without stint, judging from the stern words of rebuke which the writer has to use (James 3:6). On the διδάσκαλοι in the early Church see Harnack, Expansion … i. pp. 416 461. εἰδότες ὅτι μεῖζον κρίμα λημψόμεθα : Cf. Pirqe Aboth, i. 18. “Whoso multiplies words occasions sin”; James 1:12. “Abtalion said, Ye wise, be guarded in your words; perchance ye may incur the debt of exile, and be exiled to the place of evil waters; and the disciples that come after you may drink and die, and the Name of Heaven be profaned”; Taylor comments thus on these words: “Scholars must take heed to their doctrine, lest they pass over into the realm of heresy, and inoculate their disciples with deadly error. The penalty of untruth is untruth, to imbibe which is death”. λημψόμεθα : the writer does not often associate himself with his hearers as he does here; the first person plural is only rarely found in the Epistle (cf. πταίομεν in the next verse).