turn – Ministry of Grace Church

My brothers, if anyone among you should stray from the truth, and someone should turn him back,

Truth to Learn

We need to lovingly reach out to those who have strayed from the truth.

Behind the Words

There are a couple of words we want to look at in this verse. The first is “stray.” Some translations have this as “err” or “wander.” The Greek word is planaō which means “to stray,” “to roam,” “to wander,” or “to be out of the way.” The implication is that this person knew the truth and has since changed direction and has wandered into something that is not the truth. This word is expressed in the subjunctive mood as part of a 3^rd class conditional clause, indicating that it is possible, but there is no assumption as to whether it is true or not.

The other word we want to look at is “turn” which comes from the Greek epistrephō, which is made up of epi, meaning “upon” or “over” and strephō, meaning to turn. Hence, epistrephō literally means “to turn upon” or “to turn toward.” Here it carries the meaning “to turn back around to the original way.” This again emphasizes the fact that the person was originally going the correct way, has since turned away, but has now turned back around to the truth.

Meaning Explained

This verse does not stand on its own, but needs the next verse to make complete sense. We as Christians need to be ever on the guard against seducing doctrines that draw us away from the truth. That’s why it is so important for us to be reading the Bible daily and listening to doctrinally sound preachers, always seeking confirmation from the Spirit of God and the Bible itself as to the things that are being taught. Look at what was said of the believers in Berea concerning the teaching of Paul and Silas. These believers went directly to the Word to verify what they were being taught.

And the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who having arrived went into the synagogue of the Jews. And these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so. (Acts 17:10,11)

Today’s verse is not talking about salvation, even though the word “convert” is used in some translations rather than “turn … back.” It is talking about a believer who has been led into false doctrine.

People who are trained to spot counterfeit money are not taught what all the various fakes look like, instead they are taught in excruciating detail what the real thing looks like. Likewise, we will be able to detect false doctrine only when we know without a doubt what true Biblical doctrine is. In the next verse we will see that James speaks very strongly about the effect of false doctrine.

Application

You obviously want to know the truth of God’s Word, otherwise you wouldn’t be going through these daily devotional verse studies. But it can’t stop here. You need to be reading your Bible daily and regularly hearing good sound preaching based on God’s Word and nothing else. Only by thoroughly knowing the true doctrines taught in the Bible will you be able to detect false doctrine.

In God's service, for His glory,

Indeed, we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body.

Truth to Learn

A small thing like a horse’s bridle wields great influence over the entire body of the horse. Likewise, our tongue, though small, has great power both for good and for evil.

Behind the Words

In the Greek text this sentence begins, “But if the horses…” By this construction, it puts “horses” in the emphatic position, not “bits.” James is using horses as an example of something large which is controlled by something small.

The word translated “bits” is chalinos, which we identified as part of a compound word in the previous verse. It refers to a bridle which is fastened around a horse’s head. This bridle contains a piece called a bit which goes into the horse’s mouth and it is this bit which exerts the persuasive force on the horse, causing it to turn or to stop.

Peithō is the Greek word translated “obey.” It literally means “to persuade” or “to convince.” In other words as it is used here it refers to firm persuasion rather than forced obedience. This is a subtle difference, but a significant one.

“Turn” is translated from metagō, which is made up of meta, meaning “a change in place or position” and agō, meaning “to lead.” So, it means “to lead to a different place or position.”

Meaning Explained

James, being the practical teacher that he is, gives us a real world example of what he is talking about. This is the first of two illustrations of how something large is easily controlled by something small. He shows us that we can control a horse, an animal much bigger that we are, simply by putting a bridle in its mouth. That little bridle is used to turn the entire body and to persuade the horse to go where we want it to.

In today’s modern, automobile oriented society we don’t have encounters with horses very often. I recall an experience several years back when we were in a field with a number of horses. The owners, who were with is, told us not to be concerned because the horses were very gentle. Unfortunately, the horses got spooked by our dog, turned away from us, and began kicking in our direction. All we could do was run. These animals were significantly larger and stronger than we were. They behaved very aggressively toward us and we had no control over them. And yet, when fitted with a bridle, these same large animals became gentle and easily controlled.

When it comes to the tongue, even King David recognized the necessity of a bridle (or muzzle):

I said, "I will guard my ways, Lest I sin with my tongue; I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle, While the wicked are before me." (Psalms 39:1)

In the previous verse James introduced the concept of being able to control our entire body if we can control our tongue. His point here is that controlling the entire body is easy if we control our tongue, just like controlling a large horse is easy if we have control of the bridle.

Application

We have all had times when we wished we could take back something that we said. Words are powerful and can be used for good or for evil. Let us all commit to putting more effort into bridling our tongue. Then, may the use of our tongues be for the glory of God!

In God's service, for His glory,

Ministry of Grace Church

Tag: turn

James 5:19 – Wandering from the Truth

James 3:3 – Bridling Power