Hey, Teach! Yeah, You! (Part Two)

Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.  We all stumble in many ways.  If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.     James 3:1,2



Just a quick, short blog today.

Before we get into the "why" and "what" of James 3:1-12, I've been asked to defend my supposition that these scriptures are directed toward spiritual teachers.  Fair enough request, for sure!  (Love it...it means someone ACTUALLY read the post.  Whoo-hoo.)

I do believe these scriptures are addressed to spiritual teachers.  There's nothing theologically deep for my reasoning; it's more practical than anything else.  Notice that the first two scriptures are addressed toward the teacher.  In verse one, James reminds his readers of the teacher's responsibility and accountability to God.  In verse two, James reminds teachers they, like everyone else, are fallible human beings.  They're not perfect and, in the flesh, can't control their whole body.  If they could control their whole body, then yeah, they'd be perfect.  He then goes on to write an exhortation on the one body part they aren't able to control - the tongue.

Let's be honest, without the inward work of the Holy Spirit, we all struggle in this area.  EVERYONE can apply the truths of these scriptures to their lives whether they're teachers or not (see "Hey, Teach!  Yeah, You! (Part One).  But again, based on the above reasoning, I'm going to address it from the spiritual teacher's perspective.