The Pulpit Commentary on James 3:2

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

γὰρ gives the reason for this κρίμα. We shall be judged because in many things we all stumble, and it is implied that teachers are in danger of greater condemnation, because it is almost impossible to govern the tongue completely. With the thought comp. Ecclesiastes 7:20, "There is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not." πολλά is adverbial, as in Matthew 9:14, and may be either

"No se ipsos quidem excipiunt apostoli" (Bengel). If any stumbleth not in word (R.V). "Control of speech is named, not as in itself constituting perfection, but as a crucial test indicating whether the man has or has not attained unto it" (Plumptre). τέλειος (see James 1:4). χαλιναγωγεῖν (cf. James 1:26). It is only found in these two passages; never in the LXX.

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