James 3:6

And the tongue is a fire: the world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the wheel of nature, and is set on fire by hell.

The world of iniquity ... As Roberts noted, the literal meaning of this is "a world of unrighteousness,"[18] as Ward indicated, being the same as the state of "the steward of unrighteousness" (Luke 16:8), and "the judge of unrighteousness" (Luke 18:6).[19] Here is the key to understanding what was said a little later. An uncontrolled tongue is closely allied with the inherent wickedness of unregenerated human carnality. Every conceivable form of lust, greed, deception, hatred, malignity and every evil, is aided, encouraged and propagated by means of the tongue.

Which defileth the whole body ... Jesus himself mentioned "railing," one of the sins of the tongue, as being among those things which proceed from within, and defile the man (Mark 7:23), and thus James is still inspired, as throughout the epistle, by the exact teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Significantly, the thought here is not that of the damage which the tongue does to the body of Christ, or to the whole world of the social order, but the staining and defiling effect upon the uncontrolled tongue's possessor. As Carson pointed out, "James emphasizes the effect of the tongue upon the person himself."[20] This indicates that the setting on fire of the "wheel of nature," mentioned in this connection, refers to the inflammation of the carnal passions within man himself.

And setteth on fire the wheel of nature ... This disputed text is made the basis for all kinds of wild claims. Barclay, for example, thought James was influenced by the ancient Orphic religion with its false notions of reincarnation, seeing a possible reference here to "the weary treadmill of constant reincarnation."[21] There is absolutely no justification for such an interpretation. The literal Greek in this passage means "the wheel of existence,"[22] or "the whole round of human life and activity,"[23] and has the obvious implication of being man's whole animalistic nature, which can be, and often is, inflamed and kindled into the most outrageous wickedness by the tongue. Bruce illustrated the meaning thus:

"The whole wheel of human nature" is a figure for the whole course of human life. Just as excessive friction in the axle of a wheel can make the axle red hot, so that the fire spreads outward along the spokes and sets the whole wheel afire; so the mischief engendered by an irresponsible tongue can inflame human relationships and cause irreparable destruction to the whole round of life.[24]

There is no need to seek the basis of James' quite original and unusual figure in some ancient religion, nor in some pagan author. As Lenski said, "James invented this figure, and there is nothing occult, Jewish or pagan about it."[25]

And is set on fire by hell ... The word used here is Gehenna, this being the only usage of it in the New Testament, aside from the use of it by Jesus himself in the gospels; thus, James continues to be strictly loyal to the teaching of the Master.

Gehenna ... is the Greek form of a Hebrew word meaning "the valley of Hinnom," where the worship of Molech was conducted. King Josiah defiled it, and it became a place of refuse and abomination. Due to the Hebrew detestation of the place, the name came to stand for the idea of eternal punishment for the wicked, as taught in Deuteronomy 32:22; Leviticus 10:2; Isaiah 30:27-33; 66:24; Daniel 7:10; Psalms 18:8, etc. For further comment on "hell," see in my Commentary on Matthew, pp. 411-413.

[18] J. W. Roberts, op. cit., p. 106.

[19] Ronald A. Ward, The New Bible Commentary, Revised (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970), p. 1230.

[20] T. Carson, A New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1969), p. 577.

[21] William Barclay, The Letters of James and Peter, Revised (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1969), p. 88.

[22] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 607.

[23] W. E. Vine, op. cit., p. 103.

[24] F. F. Bruce, Answers to Questions (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1972), p. 126.

[25] W. E. Vine, op. cit. (Vol. p. 109.