Trailblazin Ministries

Chapter 3 Overview - James 3

Written by LaRosa Johnson
Monday, 21 January 2008

Just like we did with James 2, I want to begin our look at chapter 3 by first presenting a broad overview of what this chapter entails before we dive into the verse-by-verse study of the Scripture. By giving an overview, it allows us to keep things in perspective and get the bigger picture of what James is speaking about in the chapter without getting caught up in all of the smaller details, which we will tackle as we study each verse. On the one hand, this chapter is very heavy in the Scriptural truth that it contains, but it only deals with two subjects, much like in chapter 2.

For many, James 3 is a very familiar passage of Scripture, as it is the one that speaks of the tongue and how much trouble it gets us into. That is the first topic that is spoken of in this chapter and encompasses two-thirds of the eighteen total verses. From that alone, you can see that James has quite a few words to say about the tongue, and we can even tie this into what he had to say all the way back in James 1:26 where we are reminded that, "If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless." Remember that? Well, this passage directly correlates to the words spoken in that verse, but to a much greater degree. With this great description, James is able to illustrate rather clearly the perils of the tongue and just how revealing it is in regard to showing a person's true colors.

The final third of the chapter deals with the topic of heavenly wisdom versus a demonic wisdom. In many ways, this portion of Scripture right here brings in a lot of what was taught in chapters 1 and 2, where we see the issues of living out your faith and having a pure religion. Depending on which end of the scale you are on with those chapters, this passage is going to either hit you hard or bring confirmation to the life that you're living. Simply put, the world views its wisdom one way, but as believers we are to view wisdom in a completely different way, and this passage shows us the difference between having a wisdom that is of this world versus one that is from heaven above.

Now, as a concluding matter for our overview, I want to point out something that we need to keep in mind when studying this chapter. When we looked at chapters 1 and 2, it was pretty clear that James was speaking to a wide range of people, the Jews that were dispersed abroad. Well, this chapter can be seen in two different lights, when considering the first verse of chapter 3. Here, James opens the chapter by addressing those who desire to be teachers and giving them a word of caution, with the rest of his dialogue being a continuation towards those who wish to be teachers of the Word of God. If this is so, then he is giving a word of caution about their speech and their standard for wisdom. On the other hand though, James could still be very well speaking to the audience at large about this same subject matter, and only using verse 1 as a means of warning to those who had a desire to teach the Word. At best, I think it can be seen as James still speaking to the audience at large, but advising those who wish to become teachers to pay special attention to his words in this section.

I'll leave that with you to think about as we get ready to venture into this chapter and deal with a subject matter that is very dear to us all. Let us pray for wisdom in this area of study, just as we have with the previous portions, that we would be able to apply this to our lives and walk in the manner that the Spirit would have for us to walk in. So, spend some time reading this chapter and become familiar with it. When we come back again, we'll be starting with James 3:1 and digging deep into the Word.