James 3:11

Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? FOUNTAIN - the heart: as the aperture [so opees (G3692), 'place'] of the fountain represents the month. The image is appropriate to the scene of the letter, Palestine, wherein salt and bitter springs are found. Though "sweet" springs are sometimes found near, yet "sweet and bitter" (water) do not flow 'at the same aperture.' Grace can make the mouth that 'sent forth the bitter' once, send forth the sweet: as the wood (typical of Christ's cross) changed Marah's bitter water into sweet....

11_Doth a fountain_. He adduces these comparisons in order to shew that a cursing tongue is something monstrous, contrary to all nature, and subverts the order everywhere established by God. For God hath so arranged things which are contrary, that inanimate things ought to deter us from a chaotic mixture, sure as is found in a double tongue. (123)...

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, private or public, affords examples of this. Hell has more to do in promoting the fire of the tongue than men generally think; and whenever men's tongues are employed in sinful ways, they are set on fire of hell. No man can tame the tongue without Divine grace and assistance. The apostle does not represent it as impossible, but as extremely difficult. Other sins decay with age, this many times gets worse; we grow more froward and fretful, as natural strength decays, and the days come on in which we have no pleasure. When other sins are tamed and subdued by the infirmities of age, the spirit often grows more tart, nature being drawn down to the dregs, and the words used become more passiona...

Verse 11. _DOTH A FOUNTAIN SEND FORTH - SWEET_ WATER _AND BITTER?_] In many things _nature_ is a sure guide to man; but no such inconsistency is found in the natural world as this blessing and cursing in man. No fountain, at the same opening, sends forth sweet water and bitter; no fig tree can bear olive berries; no vine can bear figs; nor can the sea produce salt water and fresh from the same place. These are all contradictions, and indeed impossibilities, in nature. And it is depraved man alone that can act the monstrous part already referred to....

DOTH A FOUNTAIN SEND FORTH AT THE SAME PLACE - Margin, “hole.” The Greek word means “opening, fissure,” such as there is in the earth, or in rocks from which a fountain gushes. SWEET WATER AND BITTER - Fresh water and salt, James 3:12. Such things do not occur in the works of nature, and they should not be found in man....

EXPOSITION JAMES 3:1 WARNING AGAINST OVER-READINESS TO TEACH, LEADING TO A DISCOURSE ON THE IMPORTANCE OF GOVERNMENT OF THE TONGUE. JAMES 3:1 (1) _Warning_. BE NOT MANY TEACHERS. The warning is parallel to that of our Lord in Matthew 23:8, _seq._,_ _"Be not ye called Rabbi; for one is your Teacher [διδάσκαλος,_ _and not, a

DOTH A FOUNTAIN SEND FORTH AT THE SAME PLACE,.... "Or hole"; for at divers places, and at different times, as Pliny m observes, it may send forth SWEET [WATER] AND BITTER: and it is reported n, there is a lake with the Trogloditae, a people in Ethiopia, which becomes thrice a day bitter, and then as often sweet; but then it does not yield sweet water and bitter at the same time: this simile is used to show how unnatural it is that blessing and cursing should proceed out of the same mouth. m Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 103. n Isodor. Hispal. Originum, l. 13. c. 13. p. 115....

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 character of this Epistle is still more evidenced by the contents of this chapter. The tongue is the member of the human body which is made prominent. The human tongue is a great and wonderful gift of the Creator; with which no other earthly creature is endowed. It is written: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” It therefore reveals the real ‘condition of the heart and by what it is governed. The opening verse exhorts to caution as to teaching: “My brethren, be not many teachers, knowi

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 the discussion of the snare of speech, into which those who talk much are peculiarly liable to fall. The words rendered now if (James 3:3) should be taken as one word meaning see, and the conjunction for inserted. Now with horses, for example, it is in their mouths, look you, that we put the bit when we want them to obey us. In James 3:4 the word impulse may be the pressure of the steersman's hand on the tiller. To the small bridle and the small rudder the tongue is compared as an insignificant part of man's equipment, but one that can boast of great power. See what a spark it takes to kindle what a mass of wood! And the tongue is fire

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 the early church the teachers were of first rate importance Wherever they are mentioned, they are mentioned with honour. In the Church at Antioch they are ranked with the prophets who sent out Paul and Barnabas on the first missionary journey (Acts 13:1). In Paul's list of those who hold great gifts within the Church they come second only to the apostles and to the prophets (1 Corinthians 12:28; compare Ephesians 4:11)