Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | James 3:1 Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | James 3:1 Not many [of you] should become teachers [serving in an official teaching capacity], my brothers and sisters, for you know that we [who are teachers] will be judged by a higher standard [because we have assumed greater accountability and more condemnation if we teach incorrectly]. |
Bible Question:
On James 3 William Barclay says ... "It was true that a Rabbi was not allowed to take money for teaching and that he was supposed to support his bodily needs by working at a trade;" Does any historian know about this? Is it factual? |
Bible Answer: Dear Thomas, I have been taught that it is factual, but I don't know which books to point you to to prove that. Apparently Rabbis as a matter of course did not take any pay for being Rabbis, it was seen as being dishonorable to do so, one was working for God not for pay. According to what I have been taught, which is by a pastor whose profession is as an historian, all Rabbis had a trade on the side that they learned from their fathers. In fact all men learned the trade of their fathers anyhow. Paul was studying under Gamiliel in order to enter the Rabbinical in the sect of the Pharisees. Paul was a tent maker by trade a leather worker, which we know from Acts 18, and we know that for the entire time Paul was in ministry he worked for a living, unlike the other apostles; see I Corinthians 9. At that time in history a philosopher would be supported by a trade or a patron, or begging or by charging a fee for services, which Sophists did, but this was considered offensive for a philosopher or a teacher of religion to charge a fee. This was true of Greek culture and Jewish culture and of Roman culture. Paul supported himself always in all places regardless of donations by tent making, a carry over from his Rabbinic training days. See I Thessalonians where Paul sets the tone about how he views doing the work of God. See I Corinthians 11:7-12 for Paul's refusal to take money for his services for Christ. Paul is the only apostle who worked for a living and he was the only apostle who had been a former Rabbi too, where before he did not take any pay because he loved God and would not bring dishonor to His name, how much more now was he determined not to be a philosopher or teacher of Christ for pay in order to bring glory to God and not besmirch the name of Christ. God's Day To You, Tamara |