Gun Problem, we don't have a gun problem...True...James Chapter 3

What did James know that will help us?

If you doubt Christianity as the wave of the future- you haven't seen the future as it may well end up being.  Here's a fact, juvenile crime is on the increase across the board in both rural and metropolitan areas.  Stop momentarily and consider what that fact might mean?  We used to cynically refer to prisons as the "School for the education of higher criminal activities." And we used to say that a rookie could go into that prison, and unfortunately come out knowing how not to get caught.  At least that's what they believed.  Now put those two facts together, that we have a failing system when it comes to crime isn't the fault of those charged to attempt to enforce the law, they share in the failure, as do the parents of young people who end up in crime, as do the communities which know of the crime and do nothing, each has a share in the failure.  The bench, the judge, the incarceration the enormous cost, they all share in the failure. How can such a situation be turned around?  It can be, and we're going to begin our deeper study of James with chapter 3 verse 1 wherein we're going to see this brilliant author reach across the ages, into your soul.

Think with me for a few moments, let's spend those moments in prayer, getting into what this ancient purveyor of wisdom had to say.  I love and use the Bible hub site- it is so worth it, it is online and please consider supporting it with a donation...and, uh, while we're on the subject...if you'd like to donate my PayPal is a not for profit...and you will receive from them a donation form for income tax purposes in the U.S., not sure what they do about the Euro?

Expositor's Greek Testament James 3:1 My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. Jam 3:1-18 form a self-contained section; the subject dealt with is the bridling of the tongue, see above Jam 1:19; Jam 1:26-27. Jam 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., 26a) 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 (Jam 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”; Jam 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). OK that was, as they say, long and complex, to some extent, but if you dig into it, some insights begin to jump out at you.  James - Jesus's brother- he was very much from the Orthodox side of the house, wasn't he?  ("Well gosh Dana I don't know..."  Well gosh reader...there's yet something else to discover!) Synagogue wisdom, arguing with the elders about how it was that God would do what God would do- think he might've done that?  Think in that conversation he might have heard some things that cued him into the suspicious outlook they had toward his fellow believers who were being murdered by Rome?  So that the very literal translation would probably read "masters," but our interpretive would say "teachers."  My my, isn't that the point?  Don't you want the highest quality of education for your student- your relatives, almost all the time- when it comes to any subject- much less the subject of how to make sure your soul is good with God?