James 3:4

4 So too with ships, great as they are, and often driven along by strong gales, yet they can be steered with a very small rudder in whichever direction the caprice of the man at the helm chooses.

James 3:4 Meaning and Commentary

James 3:4

Behold also the ships, which though they be so great
Of so large a bulk, of such a prodigious size, and are such unwieldy vessels:

and are driven of fierce winds;
with great vehemence, rapidity, and swiftness:

yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the
governor listeth;
the helm, or tiller of a ship, is a beam or piece of timber fastened into the rudder, and so coming forward into the steerage, where he that stands at helm steers the ship ^F5, who is here called the governor; or "he that directs", as the word may be rendered; that is, that steers; the word for "helm" is translated rudder in ( Acts 27:40 ) , and the helm or tiller is sometimes, though improperly, called the rudder itself ^F6; and this is very small, in comparison of the bulk of the ship that is guided by it ^F7. Aristotle calls it (phdalion mikron) , "a small helm", as the apostle here does, and accounts for it how large ships should be moved and steered by it. And so, though the tongue is to the rest of the body as a small helm to a large ship, yet, like that, it has great influence over the whole body, to check it when it is carrying away with the force of its appetites and passions; and so churches, societies, and bodies of Christians, which are large and numerous, and are like ships upon the ocean, tossed to and fro with tempests, driven by Satan's temptations and the world's persecution, and ready to be carried away with the wind of false doctrine, yet are influenced and directed aright by those that are at the helm, the faithful ministers of the word, who say to them, this is the way, walk in it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 Chambers's Cyclopedia, in the word "Helm".
F6 lb. in the word "Rudder".
F7 Quaest. Mechanic. c. 5.

James 3:4 In-Context

2 For we often stumble and fall, all of us. If there is any one who never stumbles in speech, that man has reached maturity of character and is able to curb his whole nature.

3 Remember that we put the horses' bit into their mouths to make them obey us, and so we turn their whole bodies round.

4 So too with ships, great as they are, and often driven along by strong gales, yet they can be steered with a very small rudder in whichever direction the caprice of the man at the helm chooses.

5 In the same way the tongue is an insignificant part of the body, but it is immensely boastful. Remember how a mere spark may set a vast forest in flames.

6 And the tongue is a fire. That world of iniquity, the tongue, is placed within us spotting and soiling our whole nature, and setting the whole round of our lives on fire, being itself set on fire by Gehenna.