Tongue-Taming

O Preacher I was 18 when Lois and I married—and immature. My tongue spewed it in arguments. Not curses. Insensitive, harsh, and callous words, impossible to take back. Heart surgery may be more urgent, but James claims tongue-taming may be more critical . . .

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. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check (James 3:1,2).

Hear ye, every prospective Bible college and seminary student, every Bible study leader and Sunday school teacher, every Christian parent! Caution! Tremble! Because “the tongue . . . is a restless evil, full of deadly poison” (3:8). Because “ . . . we who teach will be judged more strictly” (3:1). And because only a perfect person never sins with his words (3:2). If that person could, he’d be able to keep his whole body from sin. Such is the tongue’s deadly threat.

James issues this warning to Jewish Christians dispersed among the nations, probably trying to protect them from false teachings from without and unqualified teachers from within. They’re suffering trials (1:2) and mustn’t fall prey like dumb sheep to hungry wolves. Nor must they wound one another with their false or foolish words. Neither must we.

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 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 (James 3:3-6).

James sounds tongue-obsessed. Such a small organ! But think of the bridle’s bit. Not big. Put In a thousand-pound horse’s mouth, it “can turn the whole animal.” Only strong winds can drive a sailing ship through the sea. Yet it needs only “a very small rudder” to direct it. So our little tongue proudly wags sparking far-reaching devastation—for hearers and speaker alike. An evil word (from heresy to jealousy) “corrupts the whole person” and “sets the whole course of his life on fire”, because his words’ source lies in hell itself.

“Whoa, James. Little over the top, no?” Well, think of a politician suspected of sexual immorality. Guilty, but he defends himself with a lie. New questions arise; a second concocted. More suspicions arise. He lies a new one. No conclusive evidence, but after months of lies, his career is in the can. James might say, “That’s the power of the tiny tongue!” We Christians have even more at stake—the integrity of our Lord and his Gospel. And, we’ll have to give account for every word. “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken “(Matthew 12:36, Jesus).

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water (James 3:7-12).

No man can tame the tongue? Really? It can’t be subdued or domesticated like wild animals on the new earth (Isaiah 11:6,9)? Is is really “an unstable, uncontrollable evil full of death”?

At a particular elders meeting one elder voiced a decision that ticked me off. Angry words exploded from my mouth. Instead of calming the situation, I had inflamed it. Or, to continue James’ metaphor, instead of speaking healing life into a serious situation, I spoke poisonous death. Later, I had to humbly ask forgiveness. James’ tongue-description is sadly accurate.

The tongue I used that evening to angrily criticize my made-in-God’s-image brother in Christ was the same tongue I’d used a few days earlier to praise God in corporate worship. O Father! “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.” It’s not right! It mustn’t happen! It violates God’s creation (and new creation) order. The same spring can’t produce both fresh and salt water. A fig tree can’t bear olives. A grapevine can’t bear figs. It’s abnormal, deviant, perverse. Sometimes, according to James, I am.

*****

Because as pastor I taught God’s word for 44 years, I will be judged more strictly (James 3:1). So will you if you’ve preached or taught Bible studies, Sunday school, or your own children. It’s a terrifying thought, tempered only by the good news that God’s mercy will triumph over his judgment, if we have shown mercy to others (James 3:12,13).

The culprit in this scenario is our tongue. In 3:8 James warns that it’s “evil and uncontrollable, full of deadly poison”, unable to be tamed by us. Which is why, it appears, he leaves us in 3:1-12 with no hope of bridling it. Yet in 1:26, he suggest it is possible to control that wagging hunk of flesh: “If anyone does not control his tongue, his religion is worthless and he deceives himself.” Not tame the wild-tongue-horse, but bridle
it so you control the animal.

So it’s all on us, then? Thankfully, not at all. James offers divine help when he writes of “the wisdom from above” (3;17). Here, then, is what I infer we can do. Pray for wisdom from above concerning what we say with our tongue. God has promised to give it (James 1:5). This is God’s part in tongue-bridling.

Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry (James 1:19). This is our part. As Ben Franklin says in Poor Richard’s Almanac, “it is better to be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.”