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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - James 3:7 - 3:7
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
7. γάρ introduces a further fact in illustration of the preceding thought—the indomitable character of the tongue. Jam 3:7 is subordinate to Jam 3:8, and might have been expressed by a concessive clause, ‘for though all creatures are subject to man, yet cannot he tame the tongue.’
ἑρπετῶν. Heb. רֶמֶשׂ Gen 1:24-25; Act 10:12; Rom 1:23.
δαμάζεται καὶ δεδάμασται. The act is characterised as not only present, but as past with abiding result.
τῇ φύσει τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ. The dative is here instrumental. Note how St James exalts the dignity of man’s nature. He recognises an original and inherent superiority in that nature over the lower animals.
Comp. Soph. Antig. 332 ff. πολλὰ τὰ δεινὰ κοὐδὲν ἀνθρώπου δεινότερον πέλει | … κουφονόων τε φῦλον ὀρνίθων ἀμφιβαλὼν ἄγει | καὶ θηρῶν ἀγρίων ἔθνη, πόντου τʼ εἰνλίαν φύσιν | σπείραισι δικτυοκλώστοις | περιφραδὴς ἀνήρ.