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Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment (James 3:1, NASB1995).
For 53 years in ministry, the phrase “stricter judgment” has stuck in the back of my mind, a type of conscience in that, “I better watch out. I’m a leader; there’s stricter judgment for my teachings and actions.”
Today, after carrying this burden of “Watch yourself, Pastor Grant,” for the first time in decades, I took the time to consider what James really meant.
Note the following story, which infected my soul for decades:
Miss Bost was a fourth-grade teacher at Possum Elementary, and all third-grade students prayed the summer before fourth grade that she wouldn’t be their teacher. She was known for quick and terrible judgment on those who didn’t toe the line.
Unfortunately, I had her in the fourth grade and, despite her reputation, often found myself unable to toe or find this proverbial line, thus frequently experiencing her “stricter judgment.”
One day, during a group reading assignment (that meant the entire class read a boring book together), Miss Bost randomly called out the names of students to read the next page. If you didn’t pay attention, ready to read whenever asked, you’d face stricter judgment.
Often, I found myself judged, usually receiving a verbal reprimand, demerits, or not allowed to go out on the playground at the next recess. For me, trivial admonitions and a small price to pay were worth it to maintain my reputation as the class clown.
During reading time one day, right after lunch, I was staying awake by making faces at class members when Miss Bost wasn’t looking. Then she called my name, and not knowing the correct page, I responded by reading a random page that was in the previous chapter.
The class laughed. Uh, oh — too far.
Miss Bost broke that day, basically on me. She stood up, walked quickly around her teacher’s table, grabbed me from the chair at my desk, and literally dragged me to the front of the room. She pulled out a ping-pong paddle and commenced what was called, in that day, a “whupping.”
Afterwards, with a smile still on my face and the class also laughing, she furiously grabbed my arm and hurled me toward my desk. I flew forward, landed on my face, skidded a couple of yards, and crashed my head into the legs of my desk.
The class went silent. I got up from the floor and, holding back tears, sat back in my chair. Miss Bost won. Something changed within me; I became muted and didn’t regain my class clown status until the seventh grade, when I encountered a teacher who laughed at my antics.
But this image of being hurled in front of others for my misdeeds has been, for decades, my subliminal interpretation of the phrase “stricter judgment” from the Book of James.
Until today, when I decided to look up the words “stricter” and “judgment” in the Greek language.
And poof! Realizing the correct interpretation of these words, I’ve been delivered from the “Miss Bost connotation of wrath” for my deserved infractions. I no longer imagine a ministry where a misstep in exegesis, a not-humorous joke, or a slight error of doctrine in my preaching or teaching will unleash a God who throws me down the aisle of the church.
Amen for the grace of God!
“Stricter judgment” doesn’t imply immediate personal judgment with thrown lightning bolts from heaven, but the results of poor teaching and leadership among those whom God has entrusted to me.
It means higher accountability that comes with the responsibility of leading a flock.
The overall implication of James 3:1 is not perfection, for James 3:2 says, “We all stumble in many ways.” So, a correct interpretation of “stricter judgment” implies that I/we do make mistakes, but diving deeper into the context of the entire New Testament, I recognize that I don’t want my actions to mar the sheep.
I love them as Christ loves me.
My motive for pure teaching now becomes love and not fear. I want a stricter judgment motivating me towards righteous shepherding that humbly leads God’s people.
I can live or preach with that.
After all these years, rest in peace, my persona of Miss Bost.