Sour Speech
Placement Within Instructions
James now returns to the sins of the tongue, applying this material to the problems that are in danger of destroying the community. He once more addresses them as “brothers and sisters” to show he regards them as family members under God (in contrast to 4:4, 8).
Command to Stop Sour Speech
Judging, on the one hand, involves looking down on people and enjoying telling them their faults. There is an absence of love or compassion. Admonishing, on the other hand, involves standing alongside others in love and trying to restore them to the Lord
Reason to Avoid Sour Speech
When we speak badly of other believers, James tells us that we are actually doing far more: We are maligning God’s law and the giver of that law too! Speaking to others in this way is equivalent to judging them, and judgment is reserved for God alone
Reality of Using Sour Speech
When they slander each other, they are not just sinning against one another but against God and his law. They are setting themselves in God’s place as Judge and replacing him as the “judge” of the law. Only he can be the true Judge of the law, and he is the Judge of us as well. So when they turn against God’s demands by sitting in judgment of each other, they are bringing the true Judge down on their heads in judgment against them.