1. Masters (6uddcxanor). Literally, and better, teachers, with a reference to the exhortation to be slow to speak (ch. i. 19). Compare 1 Cor. xiv. 26-34. James is warning against the too eager and general assumption of the privilege of teaching, which was not restricted to a particular class, but was exercised by believers generally.
2. Offend (mralouev). Lit., stumble, as Rev. Compare ch. 1, 0: To bridle. See on ch. i. 26.
3. Behold. Following the old reading, ie. All the best texts read e¢ dé, now 7f. So Rey.
Bits (yadwods). Only here and Apoe. xiv. 20. It may be rendered either dct, as A. V., or bridle, as Rev., but bridle is preferable because it corresponds with the verb to bridle (ver. 2) which is compounded with this noun.
Cu. IIL] THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. 747 Horses. The position in the sentence is emphatic. We turn about (wetayouev). Used by James only.
4, The ships. See Introduction, on James’ local allusions. Dean Howson observes that “there is more imagery drawn from mere natural phenomena in the one short epistle of James than in all St. Paul’s epistles put together.”
So great. As the ship which conveyed Paul to Malta, which contained two hundred and seventy-six persons (Acts Xxvil. 37).
Fierce (cxAnpav). More literally, and better, as Rev., rough. The word primarily means hard, harsh.
Helm (ndaréov). Better, rudder, as Rev. The rudder was an oar worked by a handle. Helm and rudder were thus one. The word occurs only here and Acts xvii. 40.
The governor listeth (1) opux tod evdvvovtos Bovrerau). Lit., the impulse or desire of the steersman wisheth. ‘Oppn, impulse, only here and Acts xiv. 5, of an assault, onset.
The governor (rod edIvvovtos). Rev., steersman. Lit., of him who is guiding. Only here and John i. 28. From etJvs, straight.
5. Boasteth great things (ueyadavyet). The best texts separate the compound, and read peydda adyxei, of course with the same meaning. Avdyet, boasteth, only here in New Tes- tament.
How great a matter a little fire kindleth (7A/cov wip HrLenv OrAnv avarrer). The word bry (only here in New Tes- tament) means wood or a forest, and hence the matier or raw material of which a thing is made. Later, it is used in the philosophical sense of matter—“ the foundation of the mani- fold”—opposed to the intelligent or formative principle vods,
748 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. (Cu. IIT.
mind. The authorized version has taken the word in one of its secondary senses, hardly the philosophical sense it would seem ; but any departure from the earlier sense was not only needless, but impaired the vividness of the figure, the familiar and nat- ural image of a forest on fire. So Homer:
‘* As when a fire Seizes a thick-grown forest, and the wind Drives it along in eddies, while the trunks Fall with the boughs amid devouring flames.” Itiad, xi., 155.
Hence, Rev., rightly, “ Behold how much wood or how great a Sorest is kindled by how small a fire.
This, too, is the rendering of the Vulgate: guam magnam silva.
6. World of iniquity («édcpos THs adtxias). Kocpos, prima- rily, means order, and is applied to the world or universe as an orderly system. A world of iniquity is an organism con- taining within itself all evil essence, which from it permeates the entire man. World is used in the same sense as in the lat- ter part. of Prov. xvii. 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 (cka9icratar). This differs a little from the simple zs, 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.