The Power of the Tongue

Introduction:

James warned against the proliferation of teachers because teachers will receive greater judgment.

Someone who does not err in speech, James describes as “this mature man.”

His point is to claim that such a person “is able to bridle the whole body also.”

He illustrates this through:

Animals

Boats

His point seems to be twofold:

Small to large i.e. a bridled horse. Control comes through controlling the tongue.

The imbalance between the level of destruction the tongue can cause compared to its size.

We will pick with the play off of “behold a small fire is consuming a whole forest.”

This appears to open the door to something small causing great destruction.

The Tongue and Human Nature

James refers to the tongue as a fire.

His point appears to be to draw the attention to the tongue and that this small body part shares the qualities or characteristics of fire.

He will now string together five claims about the tongue:

The world of unrighteousness: the level of destruction the tongue is able to cause demonstrates “the world of unrighteousness” causing such destruction exposes.

Here is the window into human nature.

That is the role it has in a normal, human life.

The one staining the whole body.

The one inflaming the wheel of the beginning:

In this instance, this may be an elaborate expression to refer to the “normal course” of events.

It is being set afire by hell (γεέννης).

The Tongue Contrasted to Animals

James chooses to highlight the difficulty of controlling the tongue by contrasting it with the taming of animals.

Human nature has subjected animals of different varieties to its own control.

Animals, of course, have been tamed.

The difficulty of the tongue is the rebellious evil it provokes.

The implication from James. 3:8 is that controlling the tongue must be enabled from without the person. It cannot come from within.

Proverbs and the Tongue

Proverbs 10:20 “The tongue of the righteous is choice silver; the heart of the wicked is of little worth.”

Proverbs 13:3 “Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.”

Proverbs 12:18 “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”

Proverbs 15:2 “The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly.”

Proverbs 15:4 “A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.”