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"The Tongue"

James 3.1-12

Good News Translation (GNT)

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  1  My friends, not many of you should become
   teachers. As you know, we teachers will be
   judged with greater strictness than others.
  2  All of us often make mistakes. But if a person
   never makes a mistake in what he says, he is
   perfect and is also able to control his whole
   being.
  3  We put a bit into the mouth of a horse to make
   it obey us, and we are able to make it go
   where we want.
  4  Or think of a ship: big as it is and driven by
   such strong winds, it can be steered by a very
   small rudder, and it goes wherever the pilot
   wants it to go.
  5  So it is with the tongue: small as it is, it can
   boast about great things.Just think how large
   a forest can be set on fire by a tiny flame!
  6  And the tongue is like a fire. It is a world of
   wrong, occupying its place in our bodies and
   spreading evil through our whole being. It sets
   on fire the entire course of our existence with
   the fire that comes to it from hell itself.
  7  We humans are able to tame and have tamed
   all other creatures - wild animals and birds,
   reptiles and fish.
  8  But no one has ever been able to tame the
   tongue. It is evil and uncontrollable, full of
   deadly poison.
  9  We use it to give thanks to our Lord and
   Father and also to curse other people, who
   are created in the likeness of God.
10  Words of thanksgiving and cursing pour out
   from the same mouth. My friends, this should
   not happen!
11  No spring of water pours out sweet water and
   bitter water from the same opening.
12  A fig tree, my friends, cannot bear olives; a
   grapevine cannot bear figs, nor can a salty
   spring produce sweet water.

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Taken from
'The Applied New Testament
Commentary' (Kingsway)

'Taming the Tongue'

   James 3:1-12

In James' time (and in our time too), many people were trying to be teachers and leaders.

They were seeking honour and high positions for themselves. James is saying here: "Don't seek to be a teacher in order to gain honour and position, or you may regret it." Since teachers and leaders are given greater knowledge and responsibility than others, they will be judged more strictly on the day of judgment.

The most common way we sin is in our speech. James says that if we could perfectly control what we say - we would be perfect people.
Among all the members of our body, the tongue is the most difficult to keep under control. The person who can control his tongue will certainly be able to control all the other evil desires of his body also.

A rudder is a very small thing attached to the back of a ship, by which the ship can be steered. In the same way, our tongue is a very small member of our body, but it has a big effect.

Our tongue is also like a match. From these three examples - the bit, the rudder, and the spark (match) - we can see that the tongue is a very important member of our body. One small word of slander can split a church and bring dishonour to its leaders.

Satan uses our tongue more than any other of our members. If we do not control our tongue, our tongue will corrupt our whole person and set the whole course of our life on fire.

A Christian may lead a very devout and godly life in all other ways, but if his tongue is evil, it will ruin his life.

Is there no help for us? Yes, God will help us "tame" our tongue. However, in this life we cannot expect to perfectly control our tongues all the time in every situation.

Many people (including Christians) praise God with sweet words. But then they go out later and speak evil of their brother. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. (In these verses, the word cursing and curse refer not only to cursing itself, but also to critical talk in general.)

Sweet sounding prayers are not really sweet at all. They are not sweet in God's ears; He will not listen to them (Psalm 66:18).

In nature, only one kind of water comes out of any one spring. Similarly, only one kind of fruit comes from any one tree. We can recognize the spring by its water and the tree by its fruit.

An evil person may fool us for a time by speaking sweet words, but we will not be fooled for long; soon the evil in his heart will be manifest by evil words.

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