James Chapter 3 — Commentary on Verse 1

    Notmanyofyoushouldpresumetobeteachers,mybrothers,becauseyouknowthatwewhoteach will be judged more strictly.

    Here the apostle diverts to another matter, reinforcing what he had said in the first chapter about the evil of the tongue. However, this discourse is joined on to the previous one with good reason. People who vainly boast of their own faith are the most apt to censure others; and those who claim to be Christians are likely to take the greatest liberty in rigid and bitter reflections on the errors of their brothers.

    Notmanyofyoushouldpresumetobeteachers. The word translated teachers has various meanings. Sometimes it means absolute authority in the church. In this sense Christ alone is a teacher (Matthew 23:10); his word is law. Sometimes the word means a subordinate teaching and explanation of God’s truth; and those who have this task are called “Israel’s teacher[s]” (see John 3:10). Sometimes the word has the worst sense, that of a censorious reprover, one who occupies a chair of arrogance, magisterially inveighing against other people’s practices; and this is what it means here. Why does the apostle choose this expression?

    (1)      It shows that he is not talking about authorized reproof. God has set some people in the church to be masters of manners—for example, the teacher and ecclesiastical magistrate. But because God has allowed a few, do not let everyone be a teacher or turn censurer: Notmanyof you. We are all inclined, but this itch must be killed.

    (2)      It shows that he is not forbidding private, brotherly admonitions, such as proceed from Christian care and love, but the censorious sort of reproving that was managed with as much sharpness as a man would use to his slave.

    Mybrothers. Though the term is familiar and usual with James, it has a special emphasis here.

    (1)      Good men are often surprised and are too free with the failings of others.

    (2)      He does not want to be too rigid himself, and therefore he tempers his reproof with sweetness.

    (3)      The word has the force of an argument: brothers should not affect mastery over each other.

    Becauseyouknowthatwewhoteachwillbejudgedmorestrictly. This is the first reason the apostle gives against the pride of criticizing, which is based on a consideration of the danger of sin or the severity of judgment following it, either from men—critics usually have their own measure used against them (see Matthew 7:1-2)—or from God. Who can expect pardon from someone who is severe to others? See Matthew 18:32-33. I understand this to mean chiefly judgment and condemnation from God, which is all the more severe to critics, for three reasons:

    (1)      The justice of retaliation. We condemn others, and God condemns us. We are severe on their failings; how can we expect God to be merciful to ours?

    (2)      Because God is the avenger of injuries (Romans 12:19), and among them the greatest is blasting the reputation of other people.

    (3)      A critic’s sins are more aggravated because of the garb of indignation that he seems to put on against others: see Romans 2:1. In censuring others we only pronounce our own judgment, which the Scripture plainly represents to us in the well-known instances of David (2 Samuel 12), Ahab (1 Kings 20:39-42), etc.

    Notes on Verse 1

    Note1. The best people need something to dissuade them from proud censuring. The apostle says, Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, and afterwards he includes himself in the number— we who teach. It is an attractive evil; it suits pride and self-love and feeds conceit. All these evils are in the best of God’s children. In 1 John 2:16 “boasting of what he has and does” is mentioned last because it is the last to be mortified; it grows with the decrease of other sins and thrives on their decay. So “bear with my word of exhortation” (Hebrews 13:22). We sin and are not aware of censuring; pride rages when it is crossed. Hear such matters patiently; James is speaking to brothers: Not many of you should presume to be teachers.

    Note2. To censure other people is to assume the role of teacher over them. All teaching, especially reproof, is an act of power; that is why the apostle forbids it to women (1 Corinthians 14:34), because they cannot have power over a man. So when you are about to censure someone, check it with this thought: “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls” (Romans 14:4). It wrongs God if I put myself in his place; it wrongs my neighbor to claim a power over him that God never gave me.

    Note3. Christians should not affect this mastership over their brothers. You may admonish, reprove, warn, but it should not be in a masterly way. How is that?

    (1)      When we do it out of pride and self-conceit, as if we thought ourselves more just, holy, wise, etc. The Pharisee speaks as if he were above common weakness. Rather, “restore him gently. But watch yourself” (Galatians 6:1). We are all involved in the same state of frailty.

    (2)      When we do it as vaunting over their infirmities and frailties, to shame them rather than restore them. Ham laughed at Noah’s drunkenness. This does not suggest a hatred of sin but envy or malice against the person. Paul’s attitude was truly Christian: “I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ” (Philippians 3:18).

    Censures are full of passion, but Christian reproofs are full of compassion. This is the difference between reproving out of pride and out of love and charity.

    (3)      When the censure is unmerciful, and we remit nothing of extreme severity—when, indeed, we leave out extenuating circumstances. The censure should be extended no further than the facts. Jealousy collects more than is offered, but “love does not delight in evil” (1 Corinthians 13:6). It is against all law to be judge and accuser too and to hunt out an offense and then censure it.

    (4)      When we infringe Christian liberty and condemn others for things that do not matter. This indeed is to lay snares on the conscience and is a wrong not so much to our brothers as to God’s own law, which we judge as if it were an imperfect rule (see 4:11). There is great latitude in habits and in food, and as long as rules of sobriety and modesty are not violated, we cannot censure but must leave the heart to God.

    (5)      When people do not consider what goes with charity as well as what will agree with truth. There may be censure where there is no slander. Many religious people think they are safe if they speak of others only what is true. But this is not all. Every evil must not be divulged; some must be covered with the cloak of love. There may be malice in reporting the truth. If there is no ill intention, such prattle will come under the heading of idle words, for which we are responsible.

    (6)      When we do it to get ourselves a better reputation by reporting their scandals. In the whole matter we are to be motivated by love and to aim at the Lord’s glory. So, be careful that your reproofs are not censures; they must not be offered censoriously or magisterially, coming from pride rather than love. Envy often goes under the guise of zeal; we need to be careful, especially in times of public disagreement.

    For remedies:

    (1)      Cherish a humble sense of your own frailty. Other people fall sadly and foully, but what are we? We were as bad (see Titus 3:2-3); we may even be worse (see 1 Corinthians 10:12). Bernard tells of a man who, hearing of a fallen brother, fell into a bitter weeping, crying out, “He is fallen today, and I may tomorrow.”

    (2)      Exchange a sin for a duty: “If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray” (1 John 5:16). This will be a holy way to spend your zeal with the most profit.

    Note4. Youknowthatwe. A remedy for vain censure is to consider ourselves (see Galatians 6:1). How is it with us? Gracious hearts inquire most into themselves and are most severe against their own corruptions.

    (1)      They are most inquisitive into their own sins. The fool is always looking elsewhere; his eyes are like the windows of the temple, broad on the outside, narrow on the inside. He is curious to sift other people’s lives but does not care to reform his own. But with good people it is different; they find enough deceit in their own hearts to use up all their care and thoughts.

    (2)      They are most severe against themselves. A good heart is ready to throw the first stone against itself (see John 8:4-5). Others can inveigh with much heat against other people’s sins and indulgently cherish their own.

    Note5. Rash and undue judging of others, when we are guilty ourselves, makes us liable to greater judgment. The apostle works on this assumption. Sharp critics need to be careful or they will draw a hard law on themselves and in judging others will pronounce their own doom. Their sins are done knowingly, and the more they know, the more they will be punished. Ignorant people have the advantage that they have a cooler hell. So, do not carry on prescribing burdens for other people; that is a cheap zeal. The phrase about being judgedmorestrictly is also applied to the Pharisees in Matthew 23:14, because of their hypocrisy. So those who criticize, whether because it is their job or out of love, need to look to themselves. Your first task should begin at your own hearts, and then you will carry on the duty more boldly and positively.