OceanSide church of Christ
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JAMES 3:6
Victor M. Eskew
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
1. Tongue
A. Strong (1100): the tongue
B. Thayer: the tongue, an organ of the body, an organ of speech
C. Vine: the tongue, as an organ of speech
2. Fire
A. Strong (4442): fire
B. Thayer: fire
C. Vine: fire
3. World
A. Strong (2889): orderly arrangement…by implication the world
B. Thayer: an apt or harmonious arrangement or constitution, order, government
C. Vine: order, arrangement…of the tongue…expression of magnitude and variety
4. Iniquity
A. Strong (93): injustice…moral wrongfulness
B. Thayer: injustice, unrighteousness of heart and life, a deed violating law and justice, act of unrighteousness
C. Vine: denotes unrighteousness, lit. “unrightness,” a condition of not being right, whether with God, according to the standard of His holiness and rightness
5. Members
A. Strong (3196): a limb or part of the body
B. Thayer: a member, limb: a member of the body
C. Vine: a limb of the body
6. Defileth
A. Strong (4695): to stain or soil
B. Thayer: to defile, spot
C. Vine: to make a stain or spot, and so to defile
7. Whole
A. Strong (3650): whole, all complete :- all, altogether, every whit, + throughout, whole
B. Thayer: all, whole, completely
C. Vine: the whole
8. Body
A. Strong (4983): the body
B. Thayer: the body of man
C. Vine: the body as a whole, instrument of life
9. Setteth on fire
A. Strong (5394): to cause to blaze, that is, ignite
B. Thayer: to ignite, set on fire…fig. to operate destructively, have a pernicious power
C. Vine: to set on fire, burn up…of the tongue, of its disastrous effects upon the whole round of the circumstances of life
10. Course
A. Strong (5164): a wheel…a circuit of physical effects
B. Thayer: a wheel
C. Vine: a wheel…with metaphorical reference to the round of human activity…as a glowing axle would set on fire the whole wooden wheel
11. Nature
A. Strong (1078): nature
B. Thayer: the wheel of life…the wheel of human origin which as soon as men are born begins to run, i.e. its course of life
C. Vine: …the course of birth or creation, or the course of man’s nature according to its Divine purpose…the whole round of human life and activity
12. Hell
A. Strong (1067): Valley of Hinnom, gehenna…the place (or state) of everlasting punishment
B. Thayer: the place of future punishment…the place for the wicked’s future destruction
C. Vine: hell is described as the source of the evil done by the misuse of the tongue, whose characteristics and destiny are those of hell