It seems that the early Christian community was less structured than the Church is today. Many folks had the opportunity to teach in the first century AD than people have today. Nevertheless, even today believers have been led astray by placing too much confidence in religious friends and teachers they discovered via modern media. During the first century AD, however, the worship service seems to have been much more dynamic than what we know today. It seems that almost anyone was able to be heard in the ancient worship service (cp. 1Corinthians 14:29-31). Although such a thing was to be orderly (cp. 1Corinthians 14:32), it wasn’t always so (1Corinthians 14:26-28). It was to this sort of thing that James spoke, for even those Jews who weren’t believers in Christ often felt they had the right to speak in support of the Mosaic Law, and because the Old Covenant text was God-breathed (2Timothy 3:16), they were able to use it in a manner that led some disciples of Christ astray (cp. 1Timothy 1:7).
James told his readers that it wasn’t fitting for many of them to act as teachers, because, for one thing, teachers would bear a greater judgment, and the “we” that James used in James 3:1 shows that he included himself in such judgment. Moses taught Israel the word of God, by which every man should live (cp. Deuteronomy 8:3), but when Moses spoke rashly in the name of God (Psalm 106:32-33), the Lord disciplined him in that he was not permitted to lead his people into the Promised Land (Numbers 20:10-12). So, if such a man as Moses, the meekest man on earth (Numbers 12:3), had difficulty controlling his tongue, how much more would it behoove the believer, who had not been endowed by God with such great authority, to control his own tongue, and how much more difficult would such a thing be, if that one were a teacher of the word of God? Hence, James’ advise: “Don’t many of you become teachers!”
James used the Greek word: didaskalos (G1320) in James 3:1. It is the normal word used of Christ to say he was an official or recognized teacher (Matthew 8:19; 9:11 etc.), and it is the word used by Paul to describe one of the gifts the Lord had given to the Church (1Corinthians 12:28-29; Ephesians 4:11). However, Jesus told his disciples not to seek to be called Rabbi, which was an official title of a teacher (G1320), because Christ has that role (Matthew 23:8).[1] Nevertheless, the Lord has called some to serve him in that capacity, as is understood in the gifts he has given to the Church, which are the men and women having the authority to teach (see 1Corinthians 12:28, 29; Ephesians 4:11).
James wasn’t addressing a unique problem that simply occurred about the time of his letter. Paul also had to address the problem of many believers who thought they should be able to teach their brethren. Since they knew that God established his covenant with them alone, many Jews believed they should be able to teach those who had no knowledge of the truth, the foolish who thought they knew how to use the truth, and babes who were eager to learn the truth (Romans 2:17-20). Yet, many of them were eager to teach, but not so eager with the application to their own lives (Romans 2:21-23). Likewise, when they became believers in Christ, many of them thought they should continue in their foolish behavior by teaching new gentile believers about God and what he desires of them (1Corinthians 14:26). While there is nothing wrong with such a desire (1Timothy 3:1-2), all are not called to do so and don’t have that authority (cp. 1Corinthians 12:29).
Teachers were well respected in the nascent Church (Ephesians 4:11; Acts 13:1), but, too often folks simply desired the respect teachers often received (Matthew 23:7). Therefore, James explained that a teacher needed to guard his tongue (James 1:19-27), because teaching the truth was a grave responsibility (cp. 1Timothy 1:7; Leviticus 10:1-3).
James wasn’t trying to keep believers in line through threats of judgment, but rather, he was reminding them of what the Lord had said about the Pharisees and scribes who led the people away from the truth (Mark 12:40; Luke 20:47).[2]
The God-appointed teacher must permit his listener the freedom to act upon what he has heard and not try to control the end result. A teacher has the grave responsibility of speaking the truth, and only the truth as the Lord’s representative. However, the disciple has an equally grave responsibility to take what he has heard and build his life upon the foundation of Christ, and his labor will be judged through the trial of God. What remains will be his reward (1Corinthians 3:10-15). While it is not for the believer to assume the office of teacher at will, neither is it the responsibility of the teacher to be the lord over the believer’s life (cp. 1Peter 3:1-3).
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[1] The KJV has kathegetes (G2519) for “Master” in Matthew 23:8, but the word should be didaskalos (G1320), and it is so in many of the manuscripts. Kathegetes is found only in Matthew 23:10, and Jesus also says his disciple shouldn’t call themselves “teacher.”
[2] See my earlier study in the Gospel of Luke: Beware of the Scribes
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