Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of James 3:6

And the tongue [is] a fire, a world of iniquity; so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

6. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity ] The last words are in apposition with the subject, not the predicate, of the sentence. The tongue is described as emphatically that world we should perhaps say, that microcosm of unrighteousness. As uttering all evil thoughts and desires, no element of unrighteousness was absent from it, and that which includes all the elements of anything well deserves the name of being its Cosmos.

so is the tongue among our members ] The particle of comparison is not found in the best MSS., but is clearly implied, and is therefore legitimately inserted in the translation, as it is in some later MSS. The sentence strictly runs, The tongue is set in our members, referring of course not to a Divine appointment, but to its actual position. It is, as a fact, that which “defiles”, better perhaps spots or stains, the whole body. Every evil word is thought of as leaving its impress, it may be an indelible impress, as a blot upon the whole character.

and setteth on fire the course of nature ] The last words have no parallel in any Greek author, and are therefore naturally somewhat difficult. Literally, we might render, the wheel of nature or of birth, just as in ch. Jas 1:23 we found “the face of nature,” for the “natural face,” that with which we are born. The best interpretation seems to be that which sees in the phrase a figure for “the whole of life from birth;” the wheel which then begins to roll on its course, and continues rolling until death. The comparison of life to a race, or course of some kind, has been familiar to the poetry of all ages, and in a Latin poet, Silius Italicus (vi. 120), we have a phrase almost identical with St James’s,

“Talis lege Dem clivoso tramite vit

Per varios prceps casus rota volvitur vi.”

“So by the law of God, through chance and change,

The wheel of life rolls down the steep descent.”

What is meant, if we adopt this view, is that from the beginning of life to its close, the tongue is an ever-present inflammatory element of evil.

As an alternative explanation it is possible that there may be a reference to the potter’s wheel, as in Jer 18:3, and Sir 38:29 , in the latter of which the same word for “wheel” is used. On this view the tongue would be represented as the flame that by its untempered heat mars the vessel in the hands of the potter. The frequent parallelisms between St James and the Wisdom of the Son of Sirach, are, as far as they go, in favour of this view, but the former seems to me, on the whole, preferable. A third view, that the words have the same kind of meaning as orbis terrarum, and mean, as in the English Version, the whole order or course of nature, i.e. of human history in the world at large, has, it is believed, less to recommend it.

and it is set on fire of hell ] The Greek participle is in the present. The tongue that speaks evil is ever being set on fire of Gehenna. St James does not shrink from tracing sins of speech to their source. The fire of man’s wrath is kindled from beneath, as the fire that cleanses is kindled from above. Bearing in our minds the wonder of the day of Pentecost, it is hardly too bold to say that we have to choose whether our tongue shall be purified by the fire of the Holy Spirit or defiled by that of Gehenna. The latter word is that employed in the Gospels, as here, for “Hell”, wherever that word means, not simply the place of the dead, which is expressed in the Greek by Hades, the unseen world, but the place of torment. Primarily, the word is a Hebrew one, signifying the Valley of Hinnom. As that valley had been in the days of the idolatries of Judah the scene of the fires of Moloch worship (2Ki 23:10; Jer 7:31; Jer 19:5-6), and had in later times become the cloaca where the filth and offal of the city were consumed in fires kept continually burning (so it is commonly said, but the fact is not quite certain), it came to be among the later Rabbis what Tartarus was to the Greeks, the symbol of the dread penalties of evil. Comp. Mat 5:22, Mar 9:43.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

And the tongue is a fire – In this sense, that it produces a blaze, or a great conflagration. It produces a disturbance and an agitation that may be compared with the conflagration often produced by a spark.

A world of iniquity – A little world of evil in itself. This is a very expressive phrase, and is similar to one which we often employ, as when we speak of a town as being a world in miniature. We mean by it that it is an epitome of the world; that all that there is in the world is represented there on a small scale. So when the tongue is spoken of as being a world of iniquity, it is meant that all kinds of evil that are in the world are exhibited there in miniature; it seems to concentrate all sorts of iniquity that exist on the earth. And what evil is there which may not be originated or fomented by the tongue? What else is there that might, with so much propriety, be represented as a little world of iniquity? With all the good which it does, who can estimate the amount of evil which it causes? Who can measure the evils which arise from scandal, and slander, and profaneness, and perjury, and falsehood, and blasphemy, and obscenity, and the inculcation of error, by the tongue? Who can gauge the amount of broils, and contentions, and strifes, and wars, and suspicions, and enmities, and alienations among friends and neighbors, which it produces? Who can number the evils produced by the honeyed words of the seducer; or by the tongue of the eloquent in the maintenance of error, and the defense of wrong? If all men were dumb, what a portion of the crimes of the world would soon cease! If all men would speak only that which ought to be spoken, what a change would come over the face of human affairs!

So is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body – It stains or pollutes the whole body. It occupies a position and relation so important in respect to every part of our moral frame, that there is no portion which is not affected by it. Of the truth of this, no one can have any doubt. There is nothing else pertaining to us as moral and intellectual beings, which exerts such an influence over ourselves as the tongue. A man of pure conversation is understood and felt to be pure in every respect; but who has any confidence in the virtue of the blasphemer, or the man of obscene lips, or the calumniator and slanderer? We always regard such a man as corrupt to the core.

And setteth on fire the course of nature – The margin is the wheel of nature. The Greek word also ( trochos) means a wheel, or any thing made for revolving and running. Then it means the course run by a wheel; a circular course or circuit. The word rendered nature ( genesis), means procreation, birth, nativity; and therefore the phrase means, literally, the wheel of birth – that is, the wheel which is set in motion at birth, and which runs on through life. – Rob. Lex. sub voce geneseos. It may be a matter of doubt whether this refers to successive generations, or to the course of individual life. The more literal sense would be that which refers to an individual; but perhaps the apostle meant to speak in a popular sense, and thought of the affairs of the world as they roll on from age to age, as all enkindled by the tongue, keeping the world in a constant blaze of excitement. Whether applied to an individual life, or to the world at large, every one can see the justice of the comparison. One naturally thinks, when this expression is used, of a chariot driven on with so much speed that its wheels by their rapid motion become self-ignited, and the chariot moves on amidst flames.

And it is set on fire of hell – Hell, or Gehenna, is represented as a place where the fires continually burn. See the notes at Mat 5:22. The idea here is, that that which causes the tongue to do so much evil derives its origin from hell. Nothing could better characterize much of that which the tongues does, than to say that it has its origin in hell, and has the spirit which reigns there. The very spirit of that world of fire and wickedness – a spirit of falsehood, and slander, and blasphemy, and pollution – seems to inspire the tongue. The image which seems to have been before the mind of the apostle was that of a torch which enkindles and burns everything as it goes along – a torch itself lighted at the fires of hell. One of the most striking descriptions of the woes and curses which there may be in hell, would be to portray the sorrows caused on the earth by the tongue.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 6. The tongue is a fire] It is often the instrument of producing the most desperate contentions and insurrections.

A world of iniquity] This is an unusual form of speech, but the meaning is plain enough; WORLD signifies here a mass, a great collection, an abundance. We use the term in the same sense-a world of troubles, a world of toil, a world of anxiety; for great troubles, oppressive toil, most distressing anxiety. And one of our lexicographers calls his work a world of words; i.e. a vast collection of words: so we also say, a deluge of wickedness, a sea of troubles; and the Latins, oceanus malorum, an ocean of evils. I do not recollect an example of this use of the word among the Greek writers; but in this sense it appears to be used by the Septuagint, Pr 17:6: , , which may be translated, “The faithful has a world of riches, but the unfaithful not a penny.” This clause has nothing answering to it in the Hebrew text. Some think that the word is thus used, 2Pe 2:5: And brought the flood, , on the multitude of the ungodly. Mr. Wakefield translates the clause thus: The tongue is the varnisher of injustice. We have seen that signifies adorned, elegant, beautiful, c., but I can scarcely think that this is its sense in this place. The Syriac gives a curious turn to the expression: And the tongue is a fire and the world of iniquity is like a wood. Above, the same version has: A little fire burns great woods. So the world of iniquity is represented as inflamed by the wicked tongues of men; the world being fuel, and the tongue a fire.

So is the tongue among our members] I think St. James refers here to those well known speeches of the rabbins, Vayikra Rabba, sec. 16, fol. 159. “Rabbi Eleazar said, Man has one hundred and forty-eight members, some confined, others free. The tongue is placed between the jaws; and from under it proceeds a fountain of water, (the great sublingual salivary gland,) and it is folded with various foldings. Come and see what a flame the tongue kindles! Were it one of the unconfined members, what would it not do?” The same sentiment, with a little variation, may be found in Midrash, Yalcut Simeoni, par. 2, fol. 107; and in Erachin, fol. xv. 2, on Ps 120:3: What shall be given unto thee, or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue? “The holy blessed God said to the tongue: All the rest of the members of the body are erect, but thou liest down; all the rest are external, but thou art internal. Nor is this enough: I have built two walls about thee; the one bone, the other flesh: What shall be given unto thee, and what shall be done unto thee, O thou false tongue?”

Setteth on fire the course of nature] And setteth on fire the wheel of life. I question much whether this verse be in general well understood. There are three different interpretations of it:

1. St. James does not intend to express the whole circle of human affairs, so much affected by the tongue of man; but rather the penal wheel of the Greeks, and not unknown to the Jews, on which they were accustomed to extend criminals, to induce them to confess, or to punish them for crimes; under which wheels, fire was often placed to add to their torments. In the book, De Maccabaeis, attributed to Josephus, and found in Haverkamp’s edition, vol. ii., p. 497-520, where we have the account of the martyrdom of seven Hebrew brothers, in chap. ix, speaking of the death of the eldest, it is said: – “They cast him on the wheel, over which they extended him; they put coals under it, and strongly agitated the wheel.” And of the martyrdom of the sixth brother it is said, cap. 11: , ‘ , , , , They brought him to the wheel, on which, having distended his limbs, and broken his joints, they scorched him with the fire placed underneath; and with sharp spits heated in the fire, they pierced his sides, and burned his bowels.

The fire and the wheel are mentioned by Achilles Tatius, lib. 7, p. 449. “Having stripped me of my garments, I was carried aloft, , , some bringing scourges, others the fire and the wheel.” Now as often signifies life, then the wheel of life will signify the miseries and torments of life. To set on fire the wheel of life is to increase a man’s torments; and to be set on fire from hell implies having these miseries rendered more active by diabolic agency; or, in other words, bad men, instigated by the devil, through their lies and calumnies, make life burdensome to the objects of their malicious tongues. The wheel and the fire, so pointedly mentioned by St. James, make it probable that this sort of punishment might have suggested the idea to him. See more in Kypke.

2. But is it not possible that by the wheel of life St. James may have the circulation of the blood in view? Angry or irritating language has an astonishing influence on the circulation of the blood: the heart beats high and frequent; the blood is hurried through the arteries to the veins, through the veins to the heart, and through the heart to the arteries again, and so on; an extraordinary degree of heat is at the same time engendered; the eyes become more prominent in their sockets; the capillary vessels suffused with blood; the face flushed; and, in short, the whole wheel of nature is set on fire of hell. No description can be more natural than this: but it may be objected that this intimates that the circulation of the blood was known to St. James. Now supposing it does, is the thing impossible? It is allowed by some of the most judicious medical writers, that Solomon refers to this in his celebrated portraiture of old age, particularly in Ec 12:6: “Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.” Here is the very wheel of life from which St. James might have borrowed the idea; and the different times evidently refer to the circulation of the blood, which might be as well known to St. James as the doctrine of the parallax of the sun. See Clarke on Jas 1:17.

3. It is true, however, that the rabbins use the term gilgal toledoth, “the wheel of generations,” to mark the successive generations of men: and it is possible that St. James might refer to this; as if he had said: “The tongue has been the instrument of confusion and misery through all the ages of the world.” But the other interpretations are more likely.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

The application of the similitude in the foregoing words.

The tongue is a fire, i.e. hath the force of fire, and resembles it in the mischief it doth.

A world of iniquity; a heap or aggregation of evils, (as the natural world is an aggregation of many several beings), as we say, an ocean, or a world, of troubles, meaning, a great multitude of them. And the words may be understood, earlier with an ellipsis of the word matter, expressed just before, and supplied here; and the pointing a little altered, they may be thus read, And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity (or an unrighteous world, viz. which lies in wickedness, 1Jo 5:19) is the matter, namely, which it inflames. A wicked world is fit fuel for a wicked tongue, and soon catcheth the fire which it kindles. Or rather, as they stand plainly, without any such defect: The tongue is a world of iniquity, i.e. a heap or mass of various sorts of sins; though it be but a little piece of flesh, yet it contains a whole world of wickedness in it, or is as full of evils as the world is of bodies.

It defileth the whole body; infecteth the whole man with sin, Ecc 5:6, as being the cause of sin committed by all the members of the body; for though sin begin in the soul, yet it is executed by the body, which therefore seems here put {as Jam 3:2} for the man.

And setteth on fire the course of nature; or, setteth on fire the wheel of geniture, or nativity, (in allusion to a wheel set on fire by a violent, rapid motion), meaning the course of nativity, i.e. the natural course of life, as the face of nativity or geniture, Jam 1:23, for the natural face: the sense is, it inflames with various lusts, wrath, malice, wantonness, pride, &c., the whole course of mans life, so that there is no state nor age free from the evils of it. Whereas other vices either do not extend to the whole man, or are abated with age, or worn away with length of time; the vices of the tongue reach the whole man, and the whole time of his life.

And it is set on fire of hell; i.e. by the devil, the father of lies and slanders, and other tongue sins, Job 1:10; Joh 8:44; Rev 12:10; the tongue being the fire, the devil, by the bellows of temptations, inflames it yet more, and thereby kindles the fire of all mischiefs in the world.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

6. Translate, “The tongue,that world of iniquity, is a fire.” As man’s little world is animage of the greater world, the universe, so the tongue is an imageof the former [BENGEL].

soomitted in theoldest authorities.

isliterally, “isconstituted.” “The tongue is (constituted), among themembers, the one which defileth,” c. (namely, as fire defileswith its smoke).

course of nature“theorb (cycle) of creation.”

setteth on fire . . . is seton firehabitually and continually. While a man inflamesothers, he passes out of his own power, being consumed in the flamehimself.

of hellthat is, of thedevil. Greek, “Gehenna” found here only and in Mt5:22. James has much in common with the Sermon on the Mount (Pr16:27).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And the tongue is a fire,…. It is like to fire, very useful in its place, to warm and comfort; so is the tongue in Christian conversation, and in the ministry of the word; the hearts of God’s children burn within them, while they are talking together, and while the Scriptures of truth are opening to them; but as fire should be carefully watched, and kept, so should men take heed to their ways, that they sin not with their tongue, and keep their tongue from evil, and their lips from speaking guile; for as fire kindles and rises up into a flame, so unchaste, angry, and passionate words, stir up the flame of lust, anger, envy, and revenge; and as fire is of a spreading nature, so are lies, scandal, and evil reports vented by the tongue; and as fire devours all that comes in its way, such are the words of an evil tongue; and therefore are called devouring words, Ps 52:4 they devour the good names of men, and corrupt their good manners, and destroy those who make use of them; and what wood is to fire, and coals to burning coals, that are whisperers, tale bearers, backbiters, and contentious persons to strife, Pr 26:20

a world of iniquity; that is, as the world is full of things, and full of sin, for it lies in wickedness, so is the tongue full of iniquity; there is a world of it in it; it abounds with it; it cannot well be said how much sin is in it, and done, or occasioned by it; as blasphemy against God, Father, Son, and Spirit; cursing of men, imprecations on themselves, their souls, and bodies, and on others, with a multitude of profane and dreadful oaths; obscene, filthy, and unchaste words; angry, wrathful, and passionate ones; lies, flatteries, reproaches, backbitings, whisperings, tale bearings, c. And the Jews say, that he that uses an evil tongue multiplies transgression, and that it is equal to idolatry, adultery, and murder h, and the cause of all sin and which they express by way of fable, in this manner i:

“when Adam sinned, God laid hold on him, and slit his tongue into two parts, and said unto him, the wickedness which is, or shall be in the world, thou hast begun with an evil tongue; wherefore I will make all that come into the world know that thy tongue is the cause of all this.”

The Syriac version renders this clause thus, “and the world of iniquity is as wood”; or the branch of a tree; the tongue is fire, and a wicked world is fuel to it.

So is the tongue amongst our members, that it defileth the whole body: the body politic, a whole nation, filling it with contention, strife, division, and confusion; and the ecclesiastical body, the church, by sowing discord, fomenting animosities, making parties, and spreading errors and heresies, whereby the temple of God is defiled; and the natural body, and the several members of it, even the whole person of a man, soul and body, bringing upon him a blot of infamy and reproach never to be wiped off; as for instance, the vice of the tongue, lying, does; and oftentimes through the tongue, the actions done in the body, which seem good, are quite spoiled:

and setteth on fire the course of nature, or “wheel of nature”: the natural body, as before, in which there is a continual rotation or circulation of the blood, by which it is supported; this is the wheel broken at the cistern at death, in Ec 12:6 or the course of a man’s life and actions, yea, of all generations, and the vicissitudes and changes which have happened in them, on which the tongue has a great influence; and so the Syriac version renders it, “and sets on fire the series of our genealogies, or our generations, which run like wheels”: or it may intend the frame of nature, the whole fabric of the universe, and the general conflagration of it, which will be owing to the tongue; or because men’s tongues are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory, because of the hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Christ and his people, of which they will be convinced by flames of fire about them:

and it is set on fire of hell; that is, by the devil; for as heaven sometimes is put for God, who dwells in heaven, Mt 21:25 so hell is put for the devil, whose habitation it is; see Mt 16:18, and the sense is, that the tongue is influenced, instigated, and stirred up by Satan, to speak many evil things, and it will be hereafter set on fire in hell, as the tongue of the rich man in

Lu 16:24. To which purpose are those words of the Talmud k;

“whoever uses an evil tongue, the holy blessed God says to hell, I concerning him above, and thou concerning him below, will judge him, as it is said, Ps 120:3. “What shall be done to thee, thou false tongue? sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper”, there is no arrow but the tongue, according to Jer 9:8 and there is no mighty one but God, Isa 42:13 “coals of juniper”, , these are hell.”

h T. Bab. Erachin, fol. 15. 2. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 100. 1. i Otiot R. Aquiba in Ketoreth Hassammim in Gen. fol. 12. 4. k T. Bab. Erachin, fol. 15. 2. Yalkut, par. 2. fol. 127. 2.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The tongue is a fire ( ). So necessarily since there is no article with (apparently same word as German feuer, Latin purus, English pure, fire). This metaphor of fire is applied to the tongue in Prov 16:27; Prov 26:18-22; Sirach 28:22.

The world of iniquity ( ). A difficult phrase, impossible to understand according to Ropes as it stands. If the comma is put after instead of after , then the phrase may be the predicate with (present passive indicative of , “is constituted,” or the present middle “presents itself”). Even so, remains a difficulty, whether it means the “ornament” (1Pe 3:3) or “evil world” (Jas 1:27) or just “world” in the sense of widespread power for evil. The genitive is probably descriptive (or qualitative). Clearly James means to say that the tongue can play havoc in the members of the human body.

Which defileth the whole body ( ). Present active participle of late Koine, verb, to stain from (spot, also late word, in N.T. only in Eph 5:27; 2Pet 2:13), in N.T. only here and Jud 1:23. Cf. 1:27 (unspotted).

Setteth on fire (). Present active participle of , old verb, to set on fire, to ignite, from (flame), in N.T. only in this verse. See (verse 5).

The wheel of nature ( ). Old word for wheel (from , to run), only here in N.T. “One of the hardest passages in the Bible” (Hort). To what does refer? For see 1:23 apparently in the same sense. Vincent suggests “the wheel of birth” (cf. Matt 1:1; Matt 1:18). The ancient writers often use this same phrase (or , cycle, in place of ), but either in a physiological or a philosophical sense. James may have caught the metaphor from the current use, but certainly he has no such Orphic or Pythagorean doctrine of the transmigration of souls, “the unending round of death and rebirth” (Ropes). The wheel of life may be considered either in motion or standing still, though setting on fire implies motion. There is no reference to the zodiac.

And is set on fire by hell ( ). Present passive participle of , giving the continual source of the fire in the tongue. For the metaphor of fire with see Mt 5:22.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

World of iniquity [ ] . Kosmov, primarily, means order, and is applied to the world or universe as an orderly system. A world of iniquity is an organism containing within itself all evil essence, which from it permeates the entire man. World is used in the same sense as in the latter part of Pro 17:6 (Sept.), which is not given in the A. V. “The trusty hath the whole world of things, but the faithless not a groat.” Is the tongue [] . This differs a little from the simple is, though it is not easy to render it accurately. The verb means to appoint, establish, institute, and is used of the tongue as having an appointed and definite place in a system (among our members). It might be rendered hath its place.

Defileth [] . Lit., defiling. Only here and Jude 1:23. See on 2Pe 2:13.

Setteth on fire [] . Lit., setting on fire. Only in this verse in New Testament.

The course of nature [ ] . A very obscure passage. Trocov (only here in New Testament), from trecw, to run, applies generally to anything round or circular which runs or rolls, as a wheel or sphere. Hence, often a wheel. Used of the circuit of fortifications and of circles or zones of land or sea. From the radical sense, to run, comes the meaning course, as the course of the sun; and from this a place for running, a race – course. Genesewv rendered nature, means origin, beginning, birth, manner of birth, production, and is used by Plato for the creation, or the sum of created things. It also means a race, and a generation or age. In the New Testament it occurs but twice outside of this epistle, viz., at Mt 1:1, “the book of the generation of Jesus Christ,” where the meaning is origin or birth; the birth – book of Jesus Christ. The other passage is Mt 1:18, according to the best texts, also meaning birth. In Jas 1:23, as we have seen, proswpon thv genesewv is the face of his birth. We may then safely translate trocov by wheel; and as birth is the meaning of genesiv in every New Testament passage where it occurs, we may give it the preference here and render the wheel of birth – i e.., the wheel which is set in motion at birth and runs on to the close of life. It is thus a figurative description of human life. So Anacreon : “The chariot – wheel, like life, runs rolling round.”

Tertullian says : “The whole revolving wheel of existence bears witness to the resurrection of the dead.” The Rev., which gives nature, puts birth in margin. This revolving wheel is kindled by the tongue, and rolls on in destructive blaze. The image is justified by the fact. The tongue works the chief mischief, kindles the most baleful fires in the course of life.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) The tongue is, by nature, a fire of unrighteous iniquity of the world-order, when uncontrolled.

2) The tongue reflexively presents itself among the members of the body while it defiles, ignites, sets on fire the course of sinful nature. It is ignited by the infernal lower burning of gehenna, place of refuse. Thus James would have one guard it, control it, keep it under control, as if it were a small blaze near inflammable material, lest it should explode to the destruction of itself and all about it any moment.

THE CRIMES OF THE TONGUE

There are pillows wet by sobs; there are noble hearts broken in silence whence comes no cry to protest; there are gentle, sensitive natures seared and warped; there are old-time friends separated and walking their lonely way with hope dead and memory but a pang; there are cruel misunderstandings that make all life look dark – these are but few of the sorrows that come from the crimes of the tongue.

William George Jordan

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

He now explains the evils which proceed from the neglect of restraining the tongue, in order that we may know that the tongue may do much good or much evil, — that if it be modest and well regulated, it becomes a bridle to the whole life, but that if it be petulant and violent, like a fire it destroys all things.

He represents it as a small or little fire, to intimate that this smallness of the tongue will not be a hindrance that its power should not extend far and wide to do harm.

6. By adding that it is a world of iniquity, it is the same as though he had called it the sea or the abyss. And he suitably connects the smallness of the tongue with the vastness of the world; according to this meaning, A slender portion of flesh contains in it the whole world of iniquity.

So is the tongue. He explains what he meant by the term world, even because the contagion of the tongue spreads through every part of life; or rather he shews what he understood by the metaphor fire, even that the tongue pollutes the whole man. He however immediately returns to the fire, and says, that the whole course of nature is set on fire by the tongue. And he compares human life to a course or a wheel: and γένεσις, as before, he takes for nature, (Jas 1:23.)

The meaning is, that when other vices are corrected by age or by the succession of time, or when at least then do not possess the whole man, the vice of the tongue spreads and prevails over every part of life; except one prefers to take setting on fire as signifying a violent impulse, for we call that fervid which is accompanied with violence. And thus Horace speaks of wheels, for he calls chariots in battle fervid, on account of their rapidity. The meaning then would be, that the tongue is like untamed horses; for as these draw violently the chariots, so the tongue hurries a man headlong by its own wantonness. (121)

When he says that it is set on fire by hell, it is the same as though he had said, that the outrageousness of the tongue is the flame of the infernal fire. (122) For as heathen poets imagined that the wicked are tormented by the torches of the Furies; so it is true, that Satan by the fans of temptations kindles the fire of all evils in the world: but James means, that fire, sent by Satan, is most easily caught by the tongue, so that it immediately burns; in short, that it is a material fitted for receiving or fostering and increasing the fire of hell.

(121) “The course of nature,” or the compass of nature, that is, all that is included in nature, means evidently the same with “the whole body” in the preceding clause. There is no sense, compatible with the passage, in what some have suggested, “the whole course of life;” for what idea is conveyed, when we say that the tongue inflames or sets in a flame the whole course of life? But there is an intelligible meaning, when it is said, that the tongue sets in a flame the whole machinery of our nature, every faculty that belongs to man.

(122) “A bad tongue is the organ of the devil.” — Estius.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(6) And the tongue is a fire.Better thus, The tonguethat world of iniquityis a fire, to burn and destroy the fairest works of peace. The tongue is in our members that which defileth the whole body, and setteth the world aflame, and is set on fire itself of Gehenna. The course of Nature is literally the wheel, the orb of creation. The Jewish word for the place of torment, the accursed side of Hades, should be thus preserved: whence it was that the rich man of the parable prayed for water to cool his tongue (Luk. 16:24).

Speech is silver; silence, gold. But even the Christian world will not endure overmuch the godly discipline of silence. Three temptations to smite with the tongue are specially powerful of evil: viz., as a relief from passion, as a gratification of spite, as revenge for wrong. The first is experienced by hot tempered folk; the second yielded to by the malicious; the third welcomed by the otherwise weak and defenceless; and all of us at times are in each of these divisions. Then, again, there are the foolish talkings (Eph. 5:4), and worse, the jestings at holy things, and misquotations of Scripture: all to be avoided as not becoming saints. If then we would walk in love we must curb the tongue; but, better still, strive to cleanse the heart, and so be quite determined that nothing shall go forth but words of meekness and affection. Nay, if we be truly Christs, though reviled by the unruly tongues of others, we shall, like Him, revile not again (1Pe. 2:23). And as the whole body is the Lords to be sanctified to Him (1Co. 6:19 et seq.), so particularly must the tongue be kept from evil-speaking, lying, and slandering, and used rightly for the service of God. Thus may we truly offer the calves of our lips (Hos. 14:2), more acceptable than the blood of victims slain on a thousand altars, than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices (Mar. 12:23).

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

6. The apostle catches at the thought of a fire, and expands it. Doubtless, many a synagogue had been set into wild conflagration by this fire the tongue. Perhaps as fire here corresponds to setteth on fire, so world of iniquity may correspond to defileth the whole body. While world, then, is an image of filth and corruption, fire indicates inflammation and destruction. Is Rather, is constituted or placed among the members.

Course of nature Absurdly rendered by Alford “orb of creation!” with which the tongue has little to do. The words literally mean, the wheel of generation. But what does that mean? The expression is no way illustrated, as some commentators suppose, by the image of a wheel set on fire by its own rapidity, for here the setting on fire is done, not by the wheel itself, but by the tongue. Nor can there be any allusion to “the world in its various revolutions,” (as Wordsworth,) or to the cycle of animal creation, (as Alford,) for over neither of them has the human tongue any notable influence. The phrase is clearly a physiological one, suggested by the word body, referring to the evolutions that revolve within our bodily system.

The tongue defiles our body, and inflames all the natural functions evolved within it. The circulation of the blood was, indeed, unknown to our apostle, but that round of alimentary, sexual, and passional appetites and gratifications of which the blood-circle is the base, and through which our system whirls, is known to all philosophy. How the roll of this wheel, especially in its sexual department, may be affected by the tongue we all know. The phrase, of nature, is the same as is translated natural in Jas 1:23, where see note. The face there was the face derived from our generative origin; the wheel here is the internal system derived to us by generation, whose involution carries around the complex circle of our passional life. Our translators’ words, then, hit about the true idea. The tongue does set on fire the course of our inward passional nature, inflaming the whirl of sensuality, gluttony, drunkenness, rage, and fight. Huther’s and Alford’s objection, that the writer would not mention, literally, the whole body, and then “again express it in a figure,” is invalid. To mention first the whole external body literally, and then express in figure the interior blended functions, nervous and mental, is perfectly natural. The exterior body is named with literality because it is plainly visible; the interior functions, being conceptual, are best expressed in conceptual phrase. The mention of the body locates the described functions.

Set on fire of hell First, our inward nature is set on fire by the tongue as by a torch, and the torch is set on fire by gehenna. The tongue catches from hell the fire with which it inflames our blood, and circulates the burning sensation through our system.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity (or the article may suggest that we translates as ‘the world of the unrighteous’) among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the wheel of nature (or ‘the course of nature or existence, or of the genealogical sequence’), and is set on fire by hell.’

For following on from the picture of the brushwood and woodland fire lit by a spark, the tongue also is like a fire. It sets things aflame. “A worthless man plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire” (Pro 16:27). It is almost as though in that tongue lies hidden the sinful world outside the church (the world of iniquity, or of the unrighteous, is the world of greed and covetousness, of boasting and arrogance, of lust and dissension, of backbiting and gossip, and of envy and jealousy), only for it to be brought into the open when the tongue begins to speak, even within the assembly, through careless teachers. And by its words the tongue thus defiles the body of its owner by what it says, both because it reveals that it is sinful and because it arouses its owner to passion and lust and anger and folly as he exercises his tongue foolishly, and it defiles others by doing the same to them, (compare the phrase about the foul nature of malice in Jas 1:21), and it thus sets on fire the ‘wheel of nature’ which is within each one of us and among us all, setting it rolling on its uncontrolled way. And when it does so, let us be in no doubt as to its source. It is set on fire by that very place of destruction that awaits all sinners, and just longs to bring Christians down into it (Gehenna – the place of the lost). That place is, as it were, seeking to bring the lust of the flesh or the mind into the Christian assembly so as to drag it back into the world, and finally into its own clutches.

Or there may be the idea that through the ages the tongue has set on fire men from one generation to another, affecting ‘the continuing wheel of existence’ that continues on through history, and that it is still true of our own generation. And if we are not careful such a tongue can even today bring into the assembly by its words the foolish and sinful world outside, ‘the world of the unrighteous’, with all its sinful ways. For nothing demonstrates more that our bodies are still subject to that world than our tongues. By them we give ourselves away. (You only have to stop and listen to church members talking to know which world is most important to some of them). And by them we introduce that world to others, when their minds should rather be set on Christ, forcing their minds back to the desirable things of the pleasure ridden world, or offering them what is not good for their souls. It may even be that Christian ‘prophets’ were saying such foolish things, and stirring up the feelings and emotions of the whole congregation in the wrong way.

Alternatively what follows in the next verse might be seen as suggesting that the ‘the cycle of existence’ (or wheel of nature) refers to the world of nature red in tooth and claw which has to be tamed (as Gen 1:28 informs us), including all kinds of beasts and birds and creeping things and things in the sea which need to be subdued and dominated (see next verse), thus needing a tamer. But it is rather a world which has been stirred into being untamed by the activities of men within nature as a result of their unruly tongues. This might connect back with the great brushwood and woodland fires (Jas 3:5), seeing them as caused by advancing armies as so vividly described in the Old Testament (e.g. Isa 8:18-19), with their devastating effects on nature as animals driven wild by fear, and totally uncontrolled, make for any haven that they can find. Thus instead of taming them, man by use of his tongue (giving instructions and inciting others to violence), has driven them wild. In the same way men’s foolish words can set ablaze the church making them similarly untamed, following the behaviour of untamed and unruly beasts ( 1Co 11:17-22 ; 2Pe 2:1-3; 2Pe 2:12-22; Rev 2:20-22).

Or it may refer to the world of sinful man through the ages which alone out of all the round of nature has rebelled against its Creator, and indeed by use of its tongue has regularly set on fire that round of nature, sometimes literally by stirring up war which affects all living things (see Jas 4:1-2), and more often by stirring up trouble and local dissension. And it does this because it itself has been set on fire by Gehenna.

Or it may refer to ‘the world in its sin’ which, stirred up in its ‘round of existence’ by foolish tongues, persecutes and harasses the people of God, being drawn in to its harmful activities by foolish things said by the tongues of unwise Christians.

Or the idea may be of the wheel of nature from birth to death with the idea that the tongue affects men through the whole of their lives, introducing them if they are not careful into a world of iniquity and sin.

But whatever way it is the tongue is seen as violently destructive and as being a causer of great distress and harm.

‘The cycle of nature.’ This was a concept found in Greek philosophy, but it was the kind of phrase that could easily be taken up and reinterpreted. Christians did not think in terms of a cycle of nature in the sense intended by some Greek philosophers, they believed in time stretching from the beginning to the consummation, and then on for ever. And they would see such a ‘cycle’ or ‘wheel’ or ‘course’ as controlled by God. We can compare how Paul regularly takes up philosophical concepts and gives them a new meaning in the light of the Gospel.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jam 3:6. And the tongue, &c. St. James seems to have called the tongue of man a world of iniquity, in the same sense that we say “a world of riches,””a sea of trouble,””an ocean of delights.” So Milton, in his Paradise Lost, speaks of “an universe of death,” and “a world of woe.” The word rendered course is , and the passage should be rendered, and sets on fire the wheel or course of our life. The present life of man is here compared to a wheel, which is put in motion at our birth, and runs swiftly till death puts a stop to it. By the rapidity of its motion, the tongue sets this wheel in a flame, which sometimes destroys the whole machine. One of the ancient Heathen poets compares human life to a wheel;

For, like a chariot wheel, our life rolls on; thus beautifullypointing out the continual tendency of human life to its final period. The Syriac version has rendered the last clause, and it will itself be burned in the fire; intimating the punishment which men who have used their tongues wickedly, must undergo: but as the false wisdom, Jam 3:15 is called devilish, the common interpretation seems preferable.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Jas 3:6 . Application of the image: Also the tongue is a fire, the world of unrighteousness; the tongue sets itself among our members, as that which defileth the whole body and kindleth the wheel ( of life ) revolving from birth, and is kindled of hell. As a (little) fire setteth a forest in conflagration, so also the tongue kindleth the whole life of man. Such is the destructive power of the tongue, that whosoever knows how to bridle it may with truth be called a perfect man (Jas 3:2 ).

Several interpreters divide the first clause: , , into two corresponding parts, supplying the idea to ; thus Morus: igni respondet lingua, materiae seu silvae respondet mundus improbus. Manifestly wholly arbitrary; rather the words form an apposition to , by which the power of the tongue similar to destructive fire is explained. has here the same meaning as in LXX. Pro 17:6 : ; [172] thus the multitude comprehending the individual: consequently is the fulness of unrighteousness. The tongue is so called because, as the organ of , it includes a fulness (not exactly the sum-total) of unrighteousness which from it pervades the other members ( ). Calvin correctly, according to the sense: acsi vocaret mare vel abyssum (Luther inaccurately: “a world full of wickedness”). This is the explanation of most expositors. Bouman correctly explains the definite article: famosus iste mundus iniquitatis. The following are other explanations: (1) Oecumenius takes = ornament , and explains: ; similarly Wetstein, Semler, Elsner, Rosenmller, Storr, Lange [173] (Wahl is doubtful). But never signifies in an active sense that which puts an ornament on another, but always the ornament itself, that wherewith a person adorns himself (or another). (2) Bretschneider likewise takes the word as equivalent to ornament, but supplies , and explains: ut ornatus (mulierum) inhonestus sc. inquinat mentes, sic lingua deprehenditur inter corporis membra id quod totum corpus inquinat; yet evidently more arbitrarily than the foregoing explanation. (3) Theile retains the usual meaning of the word world , and explains: lingua (est ignis), mundus (vero est) improbitatis i.e. improbitate plenus, nimirum ob illam ipsam linguae vim; but apart from the inadmissible supplements rendered necessary, and the harshness contained in this combination of the genitive, this explanation is to be rejected, because by it the words would contain an assertion on the nature of the world, instead of on the nature of the tongue. (4) Estius, indeed, is right in his comprehension of the idea, but he arbitrarily understands it as causative: quia (lingua) peccata omnigena parit; so also Herder: “the mainspring and the cause of all unrighteousness.” Gebser introduces something foreign into the explanation, taking = the wicked world. Clericus, Hammond, Eichhorn, Kuinoel, and Hottinger, without any sufficient reason, think that the words are to be expunged from the text as spurious.

Whilst almost all expositors refer to what precedes (to which, according to the reading of the Rec. which has before the following , it necessarily belongs), Tischendorf has put a point after but not after ; [174] and Neander translates: “As a world full of unrighteousness, the tongue is among our members;” so also Lange construes it. But this construction is not only difficult, but isolates too much the first thought , which only has a correct meaning when it is closely connected with what follows.

The new clause accordingly begins with , and has its necessary supplement in what follows: . . .

] can neither here nor in chap. Jas 4:4 mean it stands: the perfect only has this meaning, but not the present; it means: it sets itself, it appears (Wiesinger). Also the explanations are false: “it is so placed” (Pott); collocata est (Beza, Piscator, Schneckenburger); “it becomes (such)” (de Wette, appealing to Rom 5:19 ), and “it rules” (Lange, appealing to Heb 8:3 ). Theile arbitrarily completes the idea: hand raro. The words which follow mention how the tongue appears among the members as that which defileth the whole body. The idea , to which certainly is not suited, is suggested by the apposition . Only with the following participle does James carry on the image of fire; it is artificial to assume in a reference to it. Bengel: maculans, ut ignis per fumum; comp. on this passage Ecc 5:5 . Neither the double (for how often the several succeed each other in a simple copulative sense!) nor the omission of the article before the two participles (comp. chap. Jas 4:11 ; Jas 4:14 ) proves that the participles which follow and are subordinated to (Wiesinger). This construction could only be considered as correct if the two participles analyzed the idea . . into its individual parts or confirmed it; but neither of these is the case here; they rather add to this idea two new points. The object , belonging to , has found very different explanations. The word , according to its etymology, denotes something running , and, although used of other rotatory orbs, as particularly of the potter’s wheel, it is especially used as a designation of a wheel , 1Ki 7:30 ff.; Eze 1:15 ; Eze 1:19-20 . The word can here be only in the same sense as in chap. Jas 1:23 ; the compound idea: the wheel of birth, i.e. “the wheel revolving from birth,” is a figurative designation of human life; comp. Anacreon, Od. iv. 7: . Thus Gebser in particular correctly explains it: “the wheel which is set in motion from our birth, i.e. a poetical description of life;” so also Brckner and Bouman. The explanations of Oecumenius ( ), Calvin, Laurentius, Hornejus, Pott, Neander, amount to the same thing. Also Estius, Grotius, Carpzov, Michaelis understand life, only deriving this idea in a different manner. They explain (for which Grotius would read ) = cursus, = natura, and cursus naturae = vita; by this explanation, however, the figurative nature of the expression suffers. Wiesinger (with whom Rauch agrees), deviating from this explanation, prefers to understand by it the whole body ( ), denoting either the wheel (by which, then, . . would be the revolving wheel of existence, of life, namely, of that to which the tongue belongs), or (which Wiesinger prefers) the circumference (thus . . . would be the circumference of being, i.e. the circumference belonging to the tongue from birth, native to it). But, on the one hand, it is not to be supposed that James, after using the ordinary expression , should express the same thing figuratively without the least indication of the identity of meaning; and, on the other hand, it is opposed to the first interpretation that the body is not to be represented as a wheel , and to the second that is taken in a sense which it never has, for it never means the circumference, but at the most the round border which incloses something. Other expositors go beyond the restriction of the expression to the life of the individual, which is evidently required by the foregoing , either, with Wolf, appealing to the Hebrew , explaining it: indesinens successio hominum aliorum post alios nascentium (thus Lambert, Bos, Alberti, Augusti, Studlin), [175] or taking = , = , and accordingly . . = “the circle of creation;” thus de Wette, and among the earlier interpreters Beza (in the edition of 1565), Crusius, Coccejus. All these ideas are foreign to the context. If the first explanation drags something “foreign” into it, the second bears besides “a monstrous character” (Wiesinger). Still less is the explanation of Lange to be justified: “the wheel of the development of life, primarily of the Jewish nation, and then further of all mankind,” since never denotes development of life.

[172] It is to be observed that the LXX. often translate the Hebrew by ; see Gen 2:1 ; Deu 4:19 ; Deu 17:3 ; Isa 24:21 ; Isa 40:26 .

[173] Lange, indeed, grants that is not an active idea, but he yet thinks that we must return to the original signification of the word, and he then explains it: “the tongue is the form of the world, worldliness, or worldly culture, because it is that which sophistically, etc., gives to unrighteousness its worldly and even splendid form.” But is not the idea so explained taken in an active sense?

[174] Lachmann and Buttmann have, by leaving out the punctuation, left the pointing to the expositor.

[175] Already the Syriac version translates: incendit proventus generationum nostrarum, quae currunt sicut rotae.

The following are other explanations which are refuted by their arbitrariness and rarity: (1) that of Semler, who explains it ordo generandi , according to the expression occurring in Plutarch: ; (2) that of Bengel rota sive sphaera superior est ipsa natura humana rationalis; gehenna vero est pars profundior cor; lingua in medio ex inferioribus inflammatur et superiora inflammat; (3) that of Meyer ( Observatt. ad ep. Jacobi ), who takes the expression = sanguinis orbis seu circulato; lastly, (4) that of Kype, who assumes the rota poenalis is figuratively meant cujus radiis illigabantur rei, and accordingly . . means: augere vitae hujus cruciatus.

The verb is in the N. T. . .; in the LXX. it is found in Exo 9:24 ; Num 21:14 ; Psa 97:3 , and other places. The figurative expression, which refers back to , indicates the fatal effect which the tongue, from which the pollution of the whole body proceeds, exercises on the life of man, whilst it pervades the same by its passionate heat. James so presents it, that being , and thus concentrating in itself (or in word) a fulness of unrighteousness, it forms, as it were, the axle round which the wheel of life moves, and by which it is set on fire. Morus incorrectly understands “de damnis, quae lingua dat;” but the discourse is not concerning the injury which man suffers, but concerning his moral conduct; still less corresponding is the explanation of Michaelis, according to which = to inflame, and that in the words of James the thought is contained: “lingua saepe alii excitantur, ut insano studio mala ingrediantur.” The representation that the tongue defiles the whole body and sets the life on fire is, as Wiesinger correctly remarks, not to be justified by the remark that all sins have their foundation in the sins of the tongue, but rests on the observation that , before it manifests itself in other ways, first and foremost appears in word, and thus the tongue is its most direct organ. [176] The second participial sentence states whence the tongue receives this destructive power ( ), by which also the idea that it is finds its justification. The participle is to be retained in the sense of the present; it has neither the meaning of the perfect , as if the tongue had been only once set on fire by , nor is it, with Grotius, Mill, Benson, Semler, Storr, Rosenmller, to be taken as future , and to be referred to future punishment. The expression , except in the Synoptics, is only found here; in Mat 5:22 ; Mat 18:9 , Mar 9:47 , it is used for a more exact description of the genitive . The thought that the tongue is set on fire of hell is not to be explained away either by ex inferno being paraphrased by Theile by igne diabolico, and this by igne foedissimo ac funestissimo; or by being explained with Morus: tantus est ille ignis, ut ex geennae igne videatur esse incensus. James means that as (or more precisely ), whose most direct organ is the tongue, has its origin from the devil, it is thus from hell (see Jas 3:15 ). Also in the O. T. the injurious effects of the tongue are described; see Psa 52:4 ; Psa 120:3-4 , Pro 26:27 , and other passages ( Sir 5:13 ff; Sir 28:11 ff.); yet in all these passages the discourse is only on the evil which is inflicted by it on others, or on the punishment which befalls the man who misuses it. This peculiar thought of James has its counterpart in no passage of the O. T.

[176] The view that James considered the tongue as the source of all sin is erroneous, since he, however prominently he brings forward the destructive power of the tongue, yet never asserts this. The restriction to is justified by the Epistle itself. See Jas 1:19-20 ; Jas 1:26 , Jas 2:9-10 ; Jas 2:13 (the opposite ); 14, etc. According to this, in this edition the text in some places has been rectified.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 2367
THE EVILS OF THE TONGUE

Jam 3:6. The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

AMONGST the most important of all subjects must be reckoned the government of the tongue. The consideration of it is well calculated to convince the profane, to pluck off the mask from hypocrites, to humble the sincere, and to edify every description of persons. St. James, who intended his epistle as a corrective to the abuses that prevailed in the Christian Church, insisted strongly upon this subject: and, in the words before us, has given us such a description of the tongue, as, if it had proceeded from any other than an inspired writer, would have been deemed a libel upon human nature. In order that the text may be fully understood, we shall shew,

I.

The true character of the human tongue

The Apostle tells us it is a fire
[Fire, in its original formation, was intended for the good of man; and, when subordinated to his wishes, is highly beneficial: but its tendency is to consume and to destroy. Thus the tongue was at first made for the Creators praise; but through the introduction of sin, that member, which was, and, if well used, yet is, the glory of man [Note: Psa 57:8.], is become an instrument of unrighteousness and all iniquity.

Fire also, even the smallest spark, is capable of producing incalculable mischief; such mischief as it may not be in the power of man to repair. Thus also will one single motion of the tongue [Note: ver. 3, 4.]. It may so irritate and inflame a man, as to change him instantly into a savage beast, or an incarnate devil: and, if the whole world should labour to remedy the evil, it would mock their endeavours.]

He further adds that it is a world of iniquity
[There is not any sin whatever, which does not stand in the nearest connexion with the tongue, and employ it in its service. Search the long catalogue of sins against God; then inspect those against our neighbour; and, lastly, those against ourselves; and there will not be found one, no, not one, that has not the tongue as its principal ally [Note: See Rom 3:13-14.] All iniquities whatsoever centre in it, and are fulfilled by it: so justly is it called, A world of iniquity.]

Its character will yet further appear by considering,

II.

Its effects

1.

These are defiling

[Sin, as soon as ever it is conceived in the heart, defiles the soul: but when it is uttered by the lips, it defileth the whole body. Utterance gives solidity and permanency to that which before existed in idea, and might have passed away: and, inasmuch as the tongue has every other member at its command to execute, according to their several powers, the things it has divulged, the whole man is become a partaker of its guilt and defilement [Note: Ecc 5:6. Mar 7:20-23.]. And, though all its communications are not equally polluting, yet is there a stain left by means of them, a stain which nothing but the Redeemers blood can ever wash away.]

2.

Destructive

[To such an astonishing degree has this fire gained the ascendant, that it has inflamed the whole course of nature. Look at individuals; what malignant passions has it kindled in them! Visit families; what animosities, and inextinguishable feuds has it produced! Survey churches; and you will find the unhallowed fire burning even in the sanctuary of God [Note: By means of heretics, cavillers, and proud disputers, and others who cause divisions and dissensions.]; and sometimes too, even in the very censers of his ministers [Note: Alluding to Lev 10:1.]. Cast your eyes round upon whole nations; and you will perceive that, times without number, it has kindled the flames of war, and spread desolation through the globe [Note: What has not been perpetrated during the French Revolution under the influence of those two words, liberty and equality!].]

To prove that this account is not exaggerated, we shall point out,

III.

The reason of its producing these effects

The tongue itself is set on fire of hell
[Satan is the source and author of all the evils that proceed from the tongue. Does it falsify? behold it does so at the instigation of that wicked fiend, the father of lies [Note: Act 5:3. Joh 8:44.]. Does it discourage men from the prosecution of their duty? It does so as the devils agent [Note: Mat 16:23.]. Does it accuse and scandalize the people of God? Who but Satan is the author of such calumnies [Note: Rev 12:10.]? Does it disseminate error? the propagator of that error is Satans minister, however he be transformed into an angel of light [Note: 2Co 11:3; 2Co 11:13-15.]. Does it encourage any bad design? It is the devil himself who speaks by it [Note: 1Ki 22:21-22.]. In every sin that it commits, it is actuated by the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in all the children of disobedience [Note: Eph 2:2.]. Its whole wisdom is earthly, sensual, devilish [Note: ver. 15.]. It comes from hell, and leads to hell: and, if God were to withdraw his restraints here, as he does in hell, it would speedily produce a very hell upon earth.]

This alone can account for the effects that proceed from it
[Doubtless the wickedness of the heart may account for much: but, if the flames were not fanned by satanic agency, we can scarcely conceive that they should rage with such an irresistible force, and to such a boundless extent.]

Infer
1.

How great must be the evil of the human heart!

[The heart is the fountain, in which the evil treasure is [Note: Mat 12:35.]; the tongue is only the channel in which it flows. If the channel then be so vile, what must the fountain be? Yet every one of us has this tongue in his mouth, and this heart in his bosom: and, if God should leave us without restraint, there is not one of us but would proclaim all the evil of his heart, as much as the most lothesome sensualist, or most daring blasphemer.]

2.

How much do we need the influences of the Holy Spirit!

[It is absolutely impossible for man to tame this unruly member [Note: ver. 7, 8.]. Yet restrained it must be, if ever we would be saved [Note: Jam 1:26.]. What then shall we do? Shall we sit down in despair? God forbid. The Holy Spirit will help our infirmities [Note: Rom 8:26.], and Christ will give us his Spirit if we call upon him. Let us then look to Christ; and we shall prove by sweet experience, that his grace is sufficient for us [Note: 2Co 12:9.], and that through him, strengthening us, we can do all things [Note: Php 4:13.].]

3.

How careful should we be of every word we utter!

[Immense injury may we do by one unguarded word. We may take away a character which we can never restore, or inflict a wound which we can never heal. On this account we should set a watch before the door of our lips [Note: Psa 141:3.]. Nor is this a matter of expediency merely, but of necessity; for God has warned us that we shall give account of every idle word, and that by our words we shall be justified, and by our words we shall be condemned [Note: Mat 12:36-37; Mat 5:22. last clause.]. Let us then be utterly purposed that our mouth shall not offend [Note: Psa 17:3.]. Let our tongue be as choice silver, or a tree of life, to enrich and comfort the Lords people [Note: Pro 10:20; Pro 15:4.]. Let our speech be always with grace seasoned with salt, for the honour of God, and the good of our fellow-creatures [Note: Col 4:6. Eph 4:29.].]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

Ver. 6. A world of iniquity ] A newly found world. Not a city or country only, but “a world of iniquity,” a sink, a sea of sin, wherein there is not only that Leviathan, but creeping things innumerable, Psa 104:26 .

So is the tongue among our members ] For better purpose it was there set, sc. in the midst between the brain and the heart, that it might take the advice of both; and that we might verba prius ad limam revocare, quam ad linguam.

That it defileth the whole body ] Leaving a stain upon the speaker, and setting a stain upon the hearer; even the guilt and filth of sin.

The course of nature ] Gr. The wheel of our nativity. Their breath, as fire, devoureth, Isa 33:10 ; “The poison of asps is under their lips,”Rom 3:13Rom 3:13 . The venomous heat of which deadly poison, like a fire in the flesh, killeth the wounded with torments, the likeliest hell of any other. In the holy tongue dabber signifieth a word, debher a pest; to show (saith one) that an evil tongue hath the pestilence in it.

And is set on fire of hell ] That is, of the devil (called elsewhere the gates of hell), as the Holy Ghost (on the other side) set on fire the apostles’ tongues with zeal, that flame of God, Son 8:6 ; Act 2:3 . Evil speech is the devil’s drivel; a slanderer carries the devil’s pack. He hath his name in Hebrew from footing it, trotting and tracing up and down to sow strife: Ragal, to defame or slander; regel, a foot. In Greek the same word signifieth a devil and a slanderer. The talebearer carrieth the devil in his tongue (saith one), the talehearer in his ear.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

6 .] Likewise the tongue is a fire, that world of iniquity (these latter words are still in apposition with (and belong appositionally to the subject , not to the predicate: as e. g. in sch. Choeph. 529 f., , , ); not, as many Commentators, an elliptical clause requiring to complete it “igni respondet lingua, materi seu silv respondet mundus improbus,” Morus, in Huther. But, when taken as a designation of , the interpretations are various. 1. c. mentions as an alternative the signification “adornment” for . After giving the ordinary interpretation, he says, , . . ., and before, . And so it is taken by Wetst., Elsner, Wahl, and others. But it is rightly objected by Huther, that never signifies that which (actively) adorns, but that wherewith a thing or person is adorned, as in 1Pe 3:3 ; so that it would be here that wherewith , not that whereby , iniquity is adorned. 2. Estius makes the words mean, a world of iniquity, “quia (lingua) peccata omnigena parit.” 3. Le Clerc, Hammond, Kuinoel, al. hold the words to be spurious, and a gloss: but most absurdly. We have the similar use of in ref. Prov., , : and the Latins often use ‘abyssus,’ ‘mare,’ ‘oceanus,’ in the same sense [a complete repertory of all wickedness, as the world is of all things]. The use of the art. in titular appositional clauses of this kind is natural as designating the thing pointed at ‘mundus ille iniquitatis’): the tongue (we must not, although we omit , follow Lachmann, and Tischdf. [edn. 7], in destroying the stop at and carrying the sense on to this clause: for thus we make a very lame sentence, with the subject, , twice repeated. The new sentence begins here) is (perhaps we cannot find in English a better word for , though it does not give the exact meaning, which is as in vulg., “ constituitur .” Any rendering of this in English would be too forcible; as if some divine arrangement were spoken of: “collocata est” (Beza, Piscator, Schneckenburger, al.) is not exact. See reff.) among our members that one which (De Wette compares for the construction, Phi 2:13 , ) defileth (ref.) the whole body (thus justifying the title given to it of ) and setteth on fire (the other clause, , is now taken up. By the construction, strictly considered, these two participles, and , are (as Wiesinger) subordinated to , there being no articles before them. But forasmuch as thus we should find a difficulty in the sense, in that the action indicated by the first of these participles can hardly take place within our members, it is better, with Huther, to regard the participles as new particulars, and the construction as not a strictly exact one. Something of the same inaccuracy is found in ch. Jas 4:11 , but not in Jas 4:14 , as Huther also alleges) the orb of the creation (in interpreting the difficult words , one thing must especially be borne in mind: that like , they designate some material thing which agreeably to the figure used may be set on fire. This would at once set aside all figurative explanations, such as “rotam originis nostr, qu, simul atque nati sumus, cursum suum auspicatur,” Gebser, al., , , , lsidor.-pelus., founded on the parallel in Anacreon (iv. 7), . So likewise c., , , illustrating it by the Psalmist speaking of : such again as that of Wolf, “indesinens successio hominum aliorum post alios nascentium,” after the Syr., “It turneth the course of our generations which run as a wheel,” In seeking then for some material interpretation, we come first to that of Wiesinger, the whole body the circumference of our corporeal being , the , as the in ch. Jas 1:23 ; the circumference (of the body) which is congenital with us . But, as Huther has observed, it would be in the highest degree unnatural, when the Writer has just expressed without a figure, that be should again express it in a figure , and that without the least indication of the identity of meaning. The same objection is fatal to Bengel’s view, who also understands it of the body, but gets this meaning by an allegorical method, “Rota sive sphra superior est ipsa nature humana rationalis: gehenna vero est pars profundior, cor: lingua in medio ex inferioribus inflammatur et superiora inflammat.” More ingenious is the idea of Beza (ed. 1598), “Jacobus mihi videtur alludere ad rapiditatem circumact rot, suo motu flammam concipientis:” and this is followed by Benson, who says, “The present life of man is here compared to a wheel, which is put in motion at our birth, and runs swiftly till death puts a stop to it. By the rapidity of its (?) motion the tongue sets this wheel in a flame, which sometimes destroys the whole machine.” Cf. Hor. Od. i. 1. 3, “metaque fervidis evitata rotis:” but it seems to lie too far from the words for us to suppose that the Apostle can have thus intended to express it. And besides, the propriety of the comparison is not satisfied: for in the case of a wheel, it is set on fire by its own rapid motion, not by any thing without it. It appears then to me that we are driven to the rendering given above, on which Beza says (ed. 1565), “Mihi videtur minus dura explicatio, si accipiamus , et pro , ut significetur linguam posse vel totum orbem conditum accendere.” In favour of this, we have, that is used for “orbis” in Aristoph. Thesmoph. 17: for circular enclosures, Plato, Critias, p. 113 ff.; Soph. frag. 222 d; Schol. on Plato, Legg. iii. p. 451: see also Odyss. . 173; . 178, 183: and that is used in the concrete sense of “creation” by Plato, Tim. p. 29 D, E ( ), and by other writers. And it is remarkable also (De W.), that just below, when St. James would speak of men as created after God’s image, he uses not but . Cf. also his use of , before cited, in ch. Jas 1:23 , “the face wherewith he was created.” This sense, the whole orb or cycle of creation , is not, as Wiesinger affirms, “at least not favoured” by Jas 3:7 , but on the contrary agrees exceedingly well with it. After the mention of the , it is natural that the Apostle should take up with the the details of creation, and assert that they might all be tamed by man, but that the tongue is untameable. Again, such sense is most agreeable to the similitude just used, of a small spark kindling a vast forest. This sense is found in Syr., th., Crusius, Cocceius, and De Wette [the expression in E.V., the course of nature , is sufficiently near the meaning, and expresses it in better English, perhaps, than any other]), and itself set on fire (notice the present , indicating that it is habitually, continually, so set on fire: see below) by hell (which is itself , ref. and al. These words are not to be explained away, as Theile, “igne fdissimo ac funestissimo:” such is not St. James’s teaching, cf. ch. Jas 4:7 , where the devil, as a tempter to evil, is personally contrasted with God: but are to be literally taken. It is the devil, for whom hell is prepared, that is the tempter and instigator of the habitual sins of the tongue. It is out of the question (see above) to regard as alluding to the original temptations of the fall: equally so, to suppose it to have a future reference, and to imply that the tongue shall be tormented in ( ?) hell: as some in c., , : so also Grot., Benson, Semler, Storr, Rosenmller. I need hardly add, that the foolish conjectural emendation , “ a ( ?) nativitate ,” insisted on with much confidence in a note to an anonymous version of St. James and St. Peter (Hatchard, 1842), is quite out of the realm of, as the construing proposed on its adoption is beneath, legitimate criticism [though it can claim the support of spec ‘ a genitura ’]. Wiesinger says, “This passage reminds us, in its general sense, of the O. T. sayings, Pro 16:27 ; Psa 120:2-4 ; Sir 28:11 ff.” The last clause, . . ., is strikingly paralleled by the Targum on Psa 120:2 , where the deceitful tongue is compared “cum carbonibus juniperi, qui incensi sunt in gehenna inferne.” But none of these passages treats of the destruction which the tongue brings on its own body (cf. Wiesinger’s interp. above)).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Jas 3:6 . See critical note above for suggested differences in punctuation. : this metaphor was familiar to Jews, see Pro 16:27 , And in his lips there is as a scorching fire ; the whole of the passage Sir 28:8-12 is very propos , especially Jas 3:11 , , . Knowling refers to Psalms of Sol. 12:2 4, where the same metaphor is graphically presented, but the reference is to slander, not to the fire engendered by public controversy; Jas 3:2 runs: “Very apt are the words of the tongue of a malicious man, like fire in a threshing-floor that burns up the straw” (the text in the second half of the verse is corrupt, but the general meaning is clear enough). , : Carr has a very helpful note on this difficult verse, he says: “a consideration of the structure of the sentence, the poetical form in which the thoughts are cast, also throws light on the meaning. From this it appears that the first thought is resumed and expounded in the last two lines, while the centre doublet contains a parallelism in itself. The effect is that of an underground flame concealed for a while, then breaking out afresh. Thus and refer to , and to , though grammatically these participles are in agreement with .” : This expression is an extremely difficult one, and a large variety of interpretations have been suggested; the real crux is, of course, the meaning of . In this Epistle is always used in a bad sense, Jas 1:27 , Jas 2:5 , Jas 4:4 . In the Septuagint is several times the rendering of the Hebrew , “host” (of heaven, i.e. , the stars, etc.), see Gen 2:1 ; Deu 4:19 ; Deu 17:3 ; there is no Hebrew word which corresponds to , properly speaking; and it would therefore be no matter of surprise if a Jew with a knowledge of Hebrew should use in a loose sense. In the N.T. is often used in the same sense as , e.g. , Mat 12:32 ; Mar 4:19 ; Eph 1:21 , of this world; here again it is mostly in an evil sense in which it is referred to, whether as or . It is, therefore, possible that might be used in the sense of , by a Jew, but as referring to a sphere not on this earth. Schegg (quoted by Mayor) interprets the phrase, “the sphere or domain of iniquity,” and though this is not the natural meaning of , this cannot be urged as an insuperable objection to his interpretation; we are dealing with the work of an Oriental, and a Jew, in an age long ago, and we must not therefore look for strict accuracy. If may be regarded as being used in the sense of , which is applicable to this world or to the world to come, then Schegg’s “domain of iniquity” might refer to a sphere in the next world. When it is further noticed that the tongue is called “fire,” and that this fire has been kindled by , the place of burning, it becomes possible to regard the words as a symbolic expression of Gehenna (see further below, under ). : “is set,” i.e. , “is constituted”. Mayor says: “It is opposed to , because it implies a sort of adaptation or development as contrasted with the natural or original state; to , because it implies something of fixity”. : means a “stain,” cf. Jud 1:23 . ; . . in N.T., cf. Wisd. 3:28. . “the wheel of nature,” i.e. , the whole circle of innate passions; the meaning is that this wrong use of the tongue engenders jealousy, and faction, and every vile deed, cf. Jas 3:16 . For the different interpretations of the phrase see Mayor. : In Jewish theology two ideas regarding the fate of the wicked hereafter existed, at one time, concurrently; according to the one, Hades ( Sheol ) was the place to which the spirits of all men, good as well as bad, went after death; at the resurrection, the good men arose and dwelt in glory, while the wicked remained in Sheol. According to a more developed belief, the place of the departed was not the same for the good and the bad; the former went to a place of rest, and awaited the final resurrection, while the latter went to a place of torment; after the resurrection the good enter into eternal bliss, the wicked into eternal woe, but whether these latter continue in the same place in which they had hitherto been, or whether it is a different peace of torment, is not clear. A realistic conception of the place of torment arose when the “Valley of Hinnom” ( = ), was pointed out as the place in which the spirits of the wicked suffered; but very soon this conception became spiritualised, and there arose the belief that the Valley of Hinnom was only the type of what actually existed in the next world. The fire which burned in the Valley of Hinnom was likewise transferred to the next worm; hence the phrases: , , etc. Cf. 4 Esdr. 7:36; Rev 9:1 , etc.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

a = the.

world. App-129. Used here in the sense of aggregate.

iniquity. App-128.

is = is constituted or takes its place. Greek. kathistemi, as in Jam 4:4.

among. App-104.

that it defileth = the one defiling. Greek. spiloo. Only here and Jud 1:23.

and setteth, &c. = setting on fire. Greek. phlogizo. Only in this verse. Compare 2Th 1:8.

course. Greek. troches. Only here.

nature. Greek. genesis. See Jam 1:23.

it is = being.

hell. App-131.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

6.] Likewise the tongue is a fire, that world of iniquity (these latter words are still in apposition with (and belong appositionally to the subject, not to the predicate: as e. g. in sch. Choeph. 529 f., , , ); not, as many Commentators, an elliptical clause requiring to complete it-igni respondet lingua, materi seu silv respondet mundus improbus, Morus, in Huther. But, when taken as a designation of , the interpretations are various. 1. c. mentions as an alternative the signification adornment for . After giving the ordinary interpretation, he says, , …, and before, . And so it is taken by Wetst., Elsner, Wahl, and others. But it is rightly objected by Huther, that never signifies that which (actively) adorns, but that wherewith a thing or person is adorned, as in 1Pe 3:3; so that it would be here that wherewith, not that whereby, iniquity is adorned. 2. Estius makes the words mean, a world of iniquity, quia (lingua) peccata omnigena parit. 3. Le Clerc, Hammond, Kuinoel, al. hold the words to be spurious, and a gloss: but most absurdly. We have the similar use of in ref. Prov., , : and the Latins often use abyssus, mare, oceanus, in the same sense [a complete repertory of all wickedness, as the world is of all things]. The use of the art. in titular appositional clauses of this kind is natural as designating the thing pointed at-mundus ille iniquitatis): the tongue (we must not, although we omit , follow Lachmann, and Tischdf. [edn. 7], in destroying the stop at and carrying the sense on to this clause: for thus we make a very lame sentence, with the subject, , twice repeated. The new sentence begins here) is (perhaps we cannot find in English a better word for , though it does not give the exact meaning, which is as in vulg., constituitur. Any rendering of this in English would be too forcible; as if some divine arrangement were spoken of: collocata est (Beza, Piscator, Schneckenburger, al.) is not exact. See reff.) among our members that one which (De Wette compares for the construction, Php 2:13, ) defileth (ref.) the whole body (thus justifying the title given to it of ) and setteth on fire (the other clause, , is now taken up. By the construction, strictly considered, these two participles, and , are (as Wiesinger) subordinated to , there being no articles before them. But forasmuch as thus we should find a difficulty in the sense, in that the action indicated by the first of these participles can hardly take place within our members, it is better, with Huther, to regard the participles as new particulars, and the construction as not a strictly exact one. Something of the same inaccuracy is found in ch. Jam 4:11, but not in Jam 4:14, as Huther also alleges) the orb of the creation (in interpreting the difficult words , one thing must especially be borne in mind: that like , they designate some material thing which agreeably to the figure used may be set on fire. This would at once set aside all figurative explanations, such as rotam originis nostr, qu, simul atque nati sumus, cursum suum auspicatur, Gebser, al.,- , , , lsidor.-pelus.,-founded on the parallel in Anacreon (iv. 7), . So likewise c., , , illustrating it by the Psalmist speaking of : such again as that of Wolf, indesinens successio hominum aliorum post alios nascentium, after the Syr., It turneth the course of our generations which run as a wheel, In seeking then for some material interpretation, we come first to that of Wiesinger,-the whole body-the circumference of our corporeal being, the , as the in ch. Jam 1:23; the circumference (of the body) which is congenital with us. But, as Huther has observed, it would be in the highest degree unnatural, when the Writer has just expressed without a figure, that be should again express it in a figure, and that without the least indication of the identity of meaning. The same objection is fatal to Bengels view, who also understands it of the body, but gets this meaning by an allegorical method, Rota sive sphra superior est ipsa nature humana rationalis: gehenna vero est pars profundior, cor: lingua in medio ex inferioribus inflammatur et superiora inflammat. More ingenious is the idea of Beza (ed. 1598), Jacobus mihi videtur alludere ad rapiditatem circumact rot, suo motu flammam concipientis: and this is followed by Benson, who says, The present life of man is here compared to a wheel, which is put in motion at our birth, and runs swiftly till death puts a stop to it. By the rapidity of its (?) motion the tongue sets this wheel in a flame, which sometimes destroys the whole machine. Cf. Hor. Od. i. 1. 3, metaque fervidis evitata rotis: but it seems to lie too far from the words for us to suppose that the Apostle can have thus intended to express it. And besides, the propriety of the comparison is not satisfied: for in the case of a wheel, it is set on fire by its own rapid motion, not by any thing without it. It appears then to me that we are driven to the rendering given above, on which Beza says (ed. 1565), Mihi videtur minus dura explicatio, si accipiamus , et pro , ut significetur linguam posse vel totum orbem conditum accendere. In favour of this, we have, that is used for orbis in Aristoph. Thesmoph. 17: for circular enclosures, Plato, Critias, p. 113 ff.; Soph. frag. 222 d; Schol. on Plato, Legg. iii. p. 451: see also Odyss. . 173; . 178, 183: and that is used in the concrete sense of creation by Plato, Tim. p. 29 D, E ( ), and by other writers. And it is remarkable also (De W.), that just below, when St. James would speak of men as created after Gods image, he uses not but . Cf. also his use of , before cited, in ch. Jam 1:23, the face wherewith he was created. This sense, the whole orb or cycle of creation, is not, as Wiesinger affirms, at least not favoured by Jam 3:7, but on the contrary agrees exceedingly well with it. After the mention of the , it is natural that the Apostle should take up with the the details of creation, and assert that they might all be tamed by man, but that the tongue is untameable. Again, such sense is most agreeable to the similitude just used, of a small spark kindling a vast forest. This sense is found in Syr., th., Crusius, Cocceius, and De Wette [the expression in E.V., the course of nature, is sufficiently near the meaning, and expresses it in better English, perhaps, than any other]), and itself set on fire (notice the present, indicating that it is habitually, continually, so set on fire: see below) by hell (which is itself , ref. and al. These words are not to be explained away, as Theile, igne fdissimo ac funestissimo: such is not St. Jamess teaching, cf. ch. Jam 4:7, where the devil, as a tempter to evil, is personally contrasted with God: but are to be literally taken. It is the devil, for whom hell is prepared, that is the tempter and instigator of the habitual sins of the tongue. It is out of the question (see above) to regard as alluding to the original temptations of the fall: equally so, to suppose it to have a future reference, and to imply that the tongue shall be tormented in (?) hell: as some in c., , : so also Grot., Benson, Semler, Storr, Rosenmller. I need hardly add, that the foolish conjectural emendation , a (?) nativitate, insisted on with much confidence in a note to an anonymous version of St. James and St. Peter (Hatchard, 1842), is quite out of the realm of, as the construing proposed on its adoption is beneath, legitimate criticism [though it can claim the support of spec a genitura]. Wiesinger says, This passage reminds us, in its general sense, of the O. T. sayings, Pro 16:27; Psa 120:2-4; Sir 28:11 ff. The last clause, . . ., is strikingly paralleled by the Targum on Psa 120:2, where the deceitful tongue is compared cum carbonibus juniperi, qui incensi sunt in gehenna inferne. But none of these passages treats of the destruction which the tongue brings on its own body (cf. Wiesingers interp. above)).

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Jam 3:6. , the world) This is part of the subject, with the addition of the article (as , which follows), showing why the tongue is called fire: namely, because it is a world (in the Vulgate universitas, a universe) of iniquity. The words, how great a matter, and the world, refer to each other. As the little world of man is an image of the universe,[35] so the tongue is an image of the little world of man, exciting it altogether. There is a frequent metaphor from the universe to the lesser world: Psa 139:15; Ecc 12:2; and not only to man: there is a reference to the whale, Jon 2:3; Jon 2:6-7. James employs this figure. The world has its higher and its lower parts: these are, in a better point of view, the heaven and the earth; in a worse, the earth and hell. And as in the world, heaven or hell is with reference to the earth; so in man, the heart, of which the tongue is the instrument, is with reference to the whole body or nature. For in the case of the good, heaven, and in the case of the wicked, hell, has its veins in the heart: from which source so many wonders are diffused to the course of nature (nativitatis). We may learn from Psa 77:18, what is meant by this course. , . The voice of Thy thunder teas in the heaven, Thy lightnings lightened the world: for as in that passage , , as opposed to , , denotes the celestial or aerial sphere, so in this place , the course of nature, as opposed to , hell, or the heart, denotes the higher parts of the earth, or the entire nature of man, which holds a middle place between heaven and hell; and thus it denotes the body with its entire temperament. Comp. Jam 3:15, from above, earthly, devilish.-, the natural constitution; Jam 1:23; and life; Jdt 12:18.- , all the days since I was born. The metaphor is taken from a round wheel, and is very appropriate: for as a wheel is turned about with great velocity; so it is with the sphere of heaven, and the nature of man; and this being set on fire while it revolves, soon breaks out into a blaze in every part, so that the fire seems not only to be borne in a circle, but also to be a circle. Respecting the flaming wheels of the Divine throne, see Dan 7:9.-, so) This word not read in the African copies, has been introduced into this place from the beginning of the fifth verse.[36] If the apostle had intended to use it a second time in this comparison, he would have used it at the beginning, and not in the middle of the Apodosis, . A few copies, but those of great authority, omit . Isidorus of Pelusinm in particular joining them. There are three comparisons beginning with , , (Jam 3:3-5). The third comparison has its Protasis in the middle of Jam 3:5 : the Apodosis begins at the beginning of Jam 3:6, and consists of two declarations, the former of which is as follows: , (supply ): the other is . In this second declaration , the tongue, is as it were the Subject, and is repeated a second time by way of Anaphora[37] and emphasis, as far as the particle the predicate is – , in this easy sense; the tongue is that which defiles the whole body. Between these two clauses seems to be out of place; so far is the sense from being impaired by the removal of . This is followed by the explanation, inasmuch as being that which both inflames and is itself inflamed, etc.; where, by a metaphor from the universe (the macrocosm) to man (the microcosm), the wheel, or higher sphere (comp. Psa 77:18), is mans rational nature itself; but hell is the lower part, the heart. The tongue, situated in the middle, is inflamed by the lower parts, and inflames the higher, being itself a world, or orb of iniquity. Thus I hope that those things which Wolf has remarked on this passage, will be explained; and I am quite willing that the things which I have said should be compared with the interpretation of Baumgarten.-) The same word occurs ch. Jam 4:4.-, defiling) as fire, by smoke.- ) inasmuch as being that which both inflames and is inflamed. The passive is put after the active form; for the man who sins with his tongue, departs more and more out of his own power.

[35] The term macrocosmus (macrocosm) is applied to the universe at large; and microcosmus (microcosm) to the little world of man. Thus Manilius:-

[36] ABC Vulg. both Syr. Versions, Memph. Theb. omit before . Rec. Text supports it without very old authority.-E.

[37] See Append. The frequent repetition of the same word in beginnings.

Quid mirum, noscere mundum

Si possunt homines, quibus est et mundus in ipsis

Exemplumque Dei quisque est in imagine parv?

And Shakespeare:-

Coriolanus.-If you see this in the map of my microcosm.-T.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

hell

(See Scofield “Mat 5:22”).

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

the tongue: Jdg 12:4-6, 2Sa 19:43, 2Sa 20:1, 2Ch 10:13-16, 2Ch 13:17, Psa 64:3, Psa 140:3, Pro 15:1, Pro 16:27, Pro 26:20, Pro 26:21, Isa 30:27

a world: Jam 2:7, Gen 3:4-6, Lev 24:11, Num 25:2, Num 31:16, Deu 13:6, Jdg 16:15-20, 1Sa 22:9-17, 2Sa 13:26-29, 2Sa 15:2-6, 2Sa 16:20-23, 2Sa 17:1, 2Sa 17:2, 1Ki 21:5-15, Pro 1:10-14, Pro 6:19, Pro 7:5, Pro 7:21-23, Jer 20:10, Jer 28:16, Mat 12:24, Mat 12:32-36, Mat 15:11-20, Mar 7:15, Mar 7:20-22, Mar 14:55-57, Act 6:13, Act 20:30, Rom 3:13, Rom 3:14, Rom 16:17, Rom 16:18, Eph 5:3, Eph 5:4, Col 3:8, Col 3:9, 2Th 2:10-12, Tit 1:11, 2Pe 2:1, 2Pe 2:2, 2Pe 3:3, 3Jo 1:10, Jud 1:8 -10, Jud 1:15 -18; Rev 2:14, Rev 2:15, Rev 13:1-5, Rev 13:14, Rev 18:23, Rev 19:20

it is: Luk 16:24, Act 5:3, 2Co 11:13-15, 2Th 2:9, Rev 12:9

Reciprocal: 1Sa 24:9 – General Job 19:2 – break me Job 31:30 – mouth Psa 10:7 – mischief Psa 12:4 – With Psa 31:20 – the strife Psa 52:4 – devouring Psa 57:4 – set Psa 73:9 – tongue Pro 6:12 – walketh Pro 11:11 – it Pro 12:18 – that Pro 14:3 – the mouth Pro 15:7 – the heart Pro 15:28 – the mouth Pro 17:20 – and he Pro 18:21 – Death Pro 25:18 – General Pro 29:8 – bring a city into a snare Ecc 10:11 – a babbler Isa 6:5 – I dwell Isa 32:6 – the vile Isa 59:13 – speaking Eze 11:5 – Thus have Mat 15:17 – that Mat 15:18 – General Act 2:3 – like Rom 6:13 – Neither Jam 3:2 – If Jam 3:8 – an unruly

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE EVIL TONGUE

The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity.

Jam 3:6

Solemn is the witness here borne. As every member of the body is abused by the ungodly man, so especially the tongue.

I. What it is:

(a) A fire (Jam 3:6).

(b) Poison (Rom 3:13).

(c) A sword (Psa 57:4; Psa 64:3).

(d) Untamable (Jam 3:7-8).

(e) A world of iniquity (Jam 3:6).

II. What it does:

(a) The idle tongue. Idle for good, though not idle for evil (1Ti 5:13).

(b) Lying lips. Speaking lies is one mark of the generation of the ungodly (Psa 58:3).

(c) The spiteful tongue. In contrast with the love that covers the multitude of sins, this layeth open to view even the infirmities, the faults of others.

(d) The blasphemes tongue, too, heaps up wrath. Because of swearing the land mourneth. The oaths of the ungodly are bringing down judgments from the Lord.

Such are the works of the ungodly tongue. Such are the doings of one of those members which God has given us wherewith to glorify His name.

III. What shall be done to it?The question is asked in the 120th Psalm. What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue? And the answer returned is, Sharp arrows of the mighty with coals of juniper. Yes, lying lips are but for a moment, the end cometh when men shall reap that which they have sown. What shall be done to it?

(a) It shall be exposed. Each word shall find its echo.

(b) It shall be silenced. The wicked shall be silent in darkness.

(c) It shall be condemned. Yes, by thy words shalt thou be justified, and by thy words shalt thou be condemned (St. Mat 12:37). Sinners will at length find that a fools mouth is his destruction, and his lips the snare of his soul (Pro 18:7).

IV. If conscience testifies that you are verily guilty in this matter, repent of this thy wickedness. Look up by faith to Him Who is exalted to give repentance and remission of sins. Pray that a live coal from the altar may touch thy lips, thine iniquity be taken away, thy sin purged, that henceforth thou mayst be clean through that blood of sprinkling that cleanseth from all sin. Let prayer and praise be the employment of thy lips here on earth, and the new song of eternal thanksgiving thy delight in heaven. It is well worth while to watch, and strive, and pray that holiness to the Lord may be written on heart and lips, body and soul, that we may be the Lords, and join at length that blessed company of whom it is written and they sung as it were a new song before the throne. Then shall that tongue, which now you curb lest it should offend, be loosed, Christ Himself say, Epphatha (be opened), and the praises of thy God be thine everlasting theme.

Rev. Francis Storr.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

Jas 3:6. James calls the tongue a fire because he had just used the illustration of “a little fire.” It is called a world of iniquity because the original word for world means mankind. The evil use of the tongue will affect mankind in general if it is not curbed. Defiles the whole body. Our organ of speech if allowed to work sinfully will result in evil conduct of the whole body. Course literally means “a wheel” according to Thayer, and nature means the procedure of human existence. The figure represents it as a wheel that is rolling onward. James means that the evil tongue sets this wheel on fire. It is set on fire of hell (GEHENNA); not literally, of course. But a torch has to be “lighted” from some source, and James regards a wicked tongue as so bad that he renre-sents its owner as having applied to hell to “get a light.”

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Jas 3:6. And the tongue is a firepossesses the destructive power of fire.a world of iniquity. These words have been differently translated. Some render them as follows: The tongue is a fire, the world of iniquity the forest; but this is an unwarrantable insertion of the words the forest. Others connect the words with what follows: The tongue is a fire. As a world of unrighteousness the tongue is among our members: but it is best to consider the world of iniquity in apposition with the tongue, as is done in our version. Hence the meaning is: the tongue is a combination of all that is evil. The expression is of similar import to that of St. Paul, when he calls the love of money the root of all evil (1Ti 6:10).

So is, or rather so makes itself, or so steps forward: so is constituted the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, is the cause of universal pollution, and setteth on fire, inflameth, the course of nature. This phrase has been very differently translated, and indeed is in our version hardly intelligible. The word rendered course denotes something that revolves, and is generally used of a wheel; and the words of nature are in the Greek of birth, or metaphorically of creation. Hence the literal translation is the wheel of life or of creation. Some accordingly understand it of the whole creationthe orb of creation;[1] the meaning being that the tongue sets the universe in flames; but it is extremely improbable that St. James would use such a strong hyperbole. Others consider it as a figurative expression for the body;[2] but such an explanation is forced, and it is improbable that St. James would express that figuratively which he had immediately before expressed in plain terms. Others suppose that by it the successive generations of men are meantthe circle of human existence:[3] the meaning being that, as the tongue set our forefathers on fire, so it has the same pernicious effect on us and on all succeeding generations; but this is a meaning which is too vague and indirect. It is best to understand by the phrase the circle of the individuals own life, and which commences its revolutions at his birth; hence it is to be translated the circle or wheel of life.[4] The present life of man, says Benson, is here compared to a wheel which is put in motion at our birth, and runs swiftly until death stops it. The tongue often sets this wheel on a flame, which sometimes sets on fire the whole machine.

[1] So Alford, Basset.

[2] Wiesinger.

[3] Staudlin.

[4] So Erdmann Brckner, Plumptre

And it is set on fire, inflamed or inspired, of, or by, hell: Gehenna, the place of future torment, different from Sheol or Hades the place of disembodied spirits. Except in the synoptical Gospels, the word Gehenna is only found here in the New Testament. It denotes the valley of Hinnom, and was used by the Jews to signify the place of future punishment, because it was in that valley that the rites of human sacrifice were practised, and a perpetual burning was kept up for its cleansing. The reference here is not to the future punishment of the tongue, but to the source from which it derived its destructive properties, namely, from hellthat is, from the devil. A bad tongue, as Estius says, is the organ of the devil. At Pentecost the outpouring of the Spirit was manifested by tongues of fire which lighted upon the disciples, and enabled them to speak with new tongues; the tongue was then set on fire of heaven; but that tongue which we have by nature, unpurified by grace, is often kindled from hell.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Jas 3:6. The tongue is a fire Which often produces a great conflagration; a world of iniquity This is a metaphor of the same kind with a sea of troubles, a deluge of wickedness. The meaning is, that a great collection of iniquity proceeds from the tongue. Indeed there is no iniquity which an unbridled tongue is not capable of producing; either by itself, when it curses, rails, teaches false doctrine, and speaks evil of God and man; or by means of others, whom it entices, commands, terrifies, and persuades, to commit murders, adulteries, and every evil work. So is the tongue Such is the rank and place it holds among our members, that it defileth the whole body The whole man, all our members, senses, and faculties. In this, and in what follows, the similitude of the fire and wood is carried on. For as the fire, put among the wood, first spotteth or blackeneth it with its smoke, and then setteth it on fire, so the tongue spotteth or blackeneth, and then setteth on fire the natural frame, termed here the course, , the wheel, of nature The wonderful mechanism of the human body, and its power of affecting and of being affected by the soul, is in this passage aptly represented by the wheels of a machine which act on each other. The pernicious influence of the tongue, in first spotting, and then destroying, both the bodies and the souls of men, arises from the language which it frames, whereby it inflames mens passions to such a degree, that, being no longer under the direction of their reason, those passions push them on to such actions as are destructive both of their bodies and souls. Some writers, by the natural wheel, or course of nature, understand the successive generations of men, one generation going, and another coming, without intermission; according to which interpretation the apostles meaning is, that the tongue hath set on fire our forefathers, it inflameth us, and will have the same influence on those who come after us. And it is set on fire of hell Put here for the devil; as, by a like metonymy, heaven is put for God. Satan influences the heart, and its wickedness overflows by the tongue, and tends, by its fatal consequences, to produce a very hell upon earth. The use we ought to make of the doctrine taught in this highly figurative passage is obvious. Being surrounded with such a mass of combustible matter, we should take great care not to send from our tongues the least spark by which it may be kindled, lest we ourselves, with those whom we set on fire, be consumed in the flames which we raise. Macknight.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Mr. D’s Notes on James

Jam 3:6-13

We have discussed the tongue and now we get some more on the same subject. James knows the tongue and knows that a lick and a promise won’t do, that we need to really deal with this little member.

Many a reputation has been ruined, many a person crushed, and many a church has split with only a small tongue out of control.

Just an example or two of a man with a sharp tongue. When registering for my senior classes, I wanted to take Chemistry. The principle told me, “Stan, you are too dumb to take chemistry, you wouldn’t make it.” The same man told a friend that the only way he would be worth anything is if he were to be sent to the state reform school.

Both of us were hurt to the quick. I signed up for Drivers Ed. and extra shop classes. Neither of us were star students, but his comments were off base.

It was of great interest late in life to talk with this friend and find out that both of us held Doctorate degrees, and in fact he had three and had published several books. The tongue can hurt, but not always overcome. However, just because good came from bad in these two cases, does not excuse the miserable use of the principal’s tongue.

And the tongue [is] a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

Wish James could make up his mind as to whether the tongue is good or bad – wow; could he not get a little more explicit? What a blast from the past we have been subjected too.

Some points about the tongue:

a. It “is a fire.” When I was a child, we often spent Sunday with my grandmother in a little town fourteen miles west of our hometown. One Sunday night we were traveling home on the old highway, a graveled road that in years past had been the main route between the towns, and not far out of my grandmothers town we noticed a bright glow in the sky. My folks were quite concerned about what it was. As we drove along the glow became larger and larger. As we neared town it looked as though they entire town was ablaze, when in reality only about a square block in the downtown section was on fire.

The fire was seen for miles around as the fire of the tongue can be known for miles and miles. Often gossip transcends miles and becomes universal knowledge. A school I was associated with had some problems and the day after I heard of the problems, I received a phone call from a publisher in the East, several states away asking what in the world was going on. News travels fast when it is bad.

b. It is a “world of iniquity” and if you don’t have personal knowledge of this you probably will before too long in your life. “Iniquity” relates to unrighteousness or injustice. The tongue can be both, quite easily. It is sin the way some use their tongues and often it leads to injustice.

The venom we see in the media these days is not only unjust but is also sinful. The media reports anything anyone wants to say without a word of opposition or hearing of the other side. There is no accountability and the politicians know that, so say what they will whether it has any basis in fact or not. They know there will be no reckoning, they know that no one really cares if they speak lies, and they have no reason not to make political gain at the expense of someone else.

It is among our members, is kind of like that phrase, “Who me?” “That sort of thing isn’t among my inventory of tools to relate to the outside world!” Oh, yes, it is, we all have one and James is not selective in how he speaks to its presence in our body for use by our mind.

That is the real key – the tongue can do nothing without the express permission of the mind. That sets the responsibility squarely upon the individual and how that person uses his/her tongue.

c. It can “defileth the body” and indeed it often does. Oh, the big mess that the tongue can get us into if we do not carefully use it. The term “defileth” means to “spot,” or, deminish the quality of, might be a good suggestion. The improper use of the tongue can spot the body; it can detract from the body.

I was sitting at a stop light recently and looked over at a realllllly neat red sports car convertible, and sitting in that car was a beautiful blonde — picking her nose and eating the result thereof. Now, that was a beautiful woman, a great looking finger, I would guess, and really, that finger ruined the entire image that was before me – and I am sure my wife was well pleased.

The tongue that swears detracts from the whole, in a massive way. The tongue that gossips ruins the demeanor of any man or woman. You might have the perfect look, the perfect intellect and the perfect moral character, but that tongue, when used improperly can ruin any image that anyone has of you.

d. It can set “on fire the course of nature.” The media can swing the attention of the public almost any way that it wishes, just by the content of their news. They can turn a word, a phrase, an action into something terrible with the spin of a newscast.

John Dean found this out the hard way. His outburst at a youth get together was inappropriate, in most peoples minds, but it was not set into its proper context for some time and the public saw him as a raving lunatic. I have no use for the man’s position or beliefs, but he was incinerated by that one little lack of context which didn’t show up in my news for a day or two. To this day I would guess that scene of him hollering and raving is the only thing that comes to mind when they hear his name. (Not that his actions since with his tongue haven’t shown him to be a poor choice for president of our nation. Democrats and Republicans alike have distanced themselves from his rhetoric at times.)

If you live anywhere near forests, you know that a spark can result in acres and acres of good forest land burning. If you have seen these fires, you know the terribleness of the fires and the way they consume everything in their path – man is hard pressed to control those big fires.

e. It “is set on fire of hell” gives us clear evidence of the true nature of the tongue if we haven’t understood this before.

“Fire” is the same word that Christ used for hell in the Gospels. It was the Jerusalem city dump where all the trash and dead animals were cast and burned. The fire is said to have burned twenty-four seven and depicted well to the Lord’s Jewish listeners, what he was talking about when He spoke of eternal torment.

This is the hell of the Devil, the eternal resting place of Satan and his co-workers. Rev 20:10 “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet [are], and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

This word is a word that is used exclusively in the synoptic gospels. This is the only occurrence of the word outside of Matthew, Mark and Luke. I personally see this as another indication of the early date of the book. James must have known the word with great clarity and wanted to bring to the readers mind that same image that the Lord often used to describe eternal punishment.

John makes it clear that the Devil is the source of the lie in chapter eight verse forty-four “Ye are of [your] father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

If you tell a lie, you know who is happy and who is not.

Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson

3:6 And the tongue [is] a fire, a {b} world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and {c} setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

(b) A heap of all mischiefs.

(c) It is able to set the whole world on fire.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Fire is a good illustration of the tongue’s effect. It is a "world of iniquity," perverse as well as powerful.

". . . all the evil characteristics of a fallen world, its covetousness, its idolatry, its blasphemy, its lust, its rapacious greed, find expression through the tongue." [Note: Tasker, p. 76.]

 

"From the context it seems best to accept that James thinks of the tongue as a vast system of iniquity." [Note: Hiebert, James, p. 195.]

 

The tongue is the gate through which the evil influences of hell can spread like fire to inflame all the areas of life that we touch. This is the only place in the New Testament where "hell" (Gr. geennes) occurs outside the Synoptic Gospels. Here the body (Gr. soma) represents the whole person. However it may also allude to the church as well. [Note: Martin, pp. 111, 112, and 123.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)