Bible Study Library

Dear Disciples:

The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell….no man can tame the tongue. (James 3:6,8)

Wow, James. Say what you really think!

Can James be any clearer than that? In fact, our current text requires far less dissecting, less in-depth study than others. Yet, its message is penetrating to all of us. No one who reads this lesson (including the one writing it) is exempt. We all fail at controlling our tongues, and we all need to admit that to God and ourselves. I pray that at the end of this you will have a new resolve to let God show your where your tongue causes you to sin and ask Him to help you overcome that sin.

Context
Let’s remember the context of this section. James has just spent a good bit of time setting some Christians straight. These believers had a serious disconnect between their faith and their action. They were discriminating against poor people and showing favoritism toward rich people. James said that instead they ought to be loving the poor the way they love themselves – by feeding them as they feed themselves, clothing them as they clothe themselves, etc. That is the royal law by which God will judge and justify us.

In the latter half of chapter 2, James went head-to-head with critics who believed their faith was enough to justify them. James said plainly that it is useless to have faith unless it is applied to action. Faith without action puts you in the same category as the demons. We are saved by grace through faith, but we are judged and justified by what we do.

» 3:1-2 «
These verse probably belong to the last section. Some critics were teaching falsely about faith and action, minimizing the justification we receive from our deeds. James here tells them “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways.”

Teachers have double responsibility to transform our faith to action. Teachers should be the first ones out there caring for the needy.

Because teaching is often an act of the tongue, these words transition us well into the next section.

» 3:2-6 «
If you could control your tongue, you would be able to control your whole body. The tongue is the horses bit, the ship’s rudder – the part of the body that controls what the rest of the body does.

It may be small (like the bit or the rudder), but as a small spark can set a forest on fire, so the tongue can condemn the rest of a man to the fire of Hell. The sins of the tongue do not just affect the tongue, the “corrupt the whole person” and “set the whole course of his life on fire” (v. 6).

» 3:7-12 «
James then drives home the core of the issue. Imagine that your child draws you a picture and brings it to you. You smile and tell your child how much you love her and what a good artist she is. Then you rip up the picture and throw it away right in front of her. Is it fair to call that “sick and twisted?”

Well, that’s what you do when you praise God with your tongue and then with the same tongue curse a person He created.

James makes it a little more vivid by showing that a stream cannot produce both fresh water and salt water, a fig tree cannot produce olives, and an olive tree cannot produce figs. Yet that is what happens when praise and curing come from the same mouth. One of those, he implies, is not really who your are.

Challenge
So, what are the sins of the tongue? In class, we identified some of them. Which of these do you struggle with?

• False Teaching
• Boasting/Bragging
• Angry Words
• Gossip
• Slander
• Lies
• Self-centered/prideful words
• Using God’s name in vain
• Cursing
• Silence when you should be speaking up

Ask God to reveal these to you, to convict your in your heart about your failings in these areas. Then grow more like Christ as you learn to use your tongue only to further God’s will in this world.