The testing of our faith in how we speak as we live out our faith in obedience to God.

Read verses 1-18.

[See previous post for study on verse 1]

Look at the first part of verse 2.

For we all stumble in many ways.

What is meant by stumble?  Sin. 

We are reminded here that teachers and learners alike must acknowledge that we all sin in many ways.  It is not long before this is immediately evident as we read the scriptures (Genesis 3).  And we know that those who have true faith have the word of God and acknowledge their sin. (James 1:21; 1 John 1:8-10).

What are the implications of this reminder when it comes to becoming a teacher of God’s word?  Perhaps it can act both to humble and to encourage.

Not only do we sin before we are saved (Romans 3:23), but we continue to sin after we are saved.  We are not to consider ourselves as slaves to sin and just give in to it (Romans 6:12-14), but we struggle with sin as part of our sanctification (Romans 7:15-25).  The struggle we have as believers will result by God’s grace through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit in our final deliverance when we are glorified (Romans 8:26-30).

Knowing that we will sin when we speak can humble us causing us to take care and not to think we are better than others and to seek the Lord for his wisdom and strength.  A good attitude to have before God and man when we teach.  But we can be encouraged, too, as we work out our salvation in fear and trembling, knowing that we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works that he has planned for us.

Verse 2 continued.

And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.

What is the general principle here?

If a person can control his tongue in such a way as to not sin in what he says, then this is a sign of perfection and he must be able to keep all himself in check: thoughts, words, and actions.

Perhaps we know someone like this?  Or we may think of Job?  Though scripture says that he did sin with his lips.

Even if we do come across a person who seems perfect, he is not.  This principle indicates to us how hard it is for anyone to control his tongue, so even if someone can control his tongue and keep his whole body in check at times, we know that he cannot do it all the time.  

We must look further.  Considering this principle then in the light of all scripture leads us to the only perfect man, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. 

As the author and perfecter of our faith, he is the only one who has lived a life of perfect obedience (2 Corinthians 5:21).  Not only has he lived a sinless life for us, but the life we now live by faith is lived by Christ in us (Galatians 2:20). 

Is this principle of the perfect man teaching that we must achieve perfection or that we even can?  No, but we know that we are to strive to live godly lives in Christ Jesus.  God alone is holy and as he calls believers to live lives of holiness. We are called to do this in the wisdom of God (James 3:13-18).  We do not stand on what we have achieved in the flesh but press on in obedience looking to that final day when we will be like Jesus (Philippians 3:7-21). Jesus commands this of believers in his sermon in Matthew 5:48: You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.  The outcome of the testing of our faith is that we be made perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:4). Until then it is God who works in us and provides for us according to the perfection of Christ until he returns on the final day and we are glorified. (Ephesians 2:10; Philippians 1: 6; 2:12-13; 1 Peter 1:15, 16; 2 Peter 1:3-11). 

Consider the illustrations in verses 3 and 4.

• A bit that is put into the mouth of a horse to direct it.
• A very small rudder used to make a large ship go where the pilot wants it to go.

What do these teach?  See next verse.

Look at the first part of verse 5.

So the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.

What does this mean?

Like a bit or a rudder when it is used it can have a great impact.  It is small compared to the whole body, but it can display great things, things that are good and things that are harmful.

The Lord, through James, teaches and warns us of the great harm.  In the second part of verse 5, he has us consider its devastating power with another illustration:

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!

We can all imagine or perhaps have seen in films or in person what can happen to a forest that has been ravaged by a fire that had started out small, as maybe a spark from a match or a campfire. In this, he Lord, through James, teaches and warns us of the great harm we can do when we speak.

He goes on in verse 6:

And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness.  The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.

Consider each description and the implications:

a world of unrighteousness

our tongue is always capable of sin especially the more we speak: Proverbs 10:19 – When words are many transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent. 

set among our members

God has clearly created us with a tongue that we may use it; however, the sin we commit with our tongues harms our whole body:

• staining the whole body – when we sin with our lips, our whole body is considered sinful which puts us in a terrible position of total humiliation before the Lord who is holy (Isaiah 6:5 – 7)
• setting on fire the entire course of life and – the words we speak have consequences, changing the whole direction of our life (Proverbs 13:3)
• set on fire by hell – This reminds us of the one the sons of disobedience follow and who seeks to destroy (Ephesians 2:1-3; 1 Peter 5:8).  For examples of a life set on fire by hell, see Proverbs 26:18-28.

Verses 7 and 8

For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue.  It is a restless evil and, full of deadly poison.

We can have dominion over every kind of animal but not over our tongue. It is an evil which does not stop and is deadly.  Our inability to control our tongue is a serious condition.  If we have any thought remaining that we can be good on our own, it is clearly dispelled here.  This comes under the truth that Jesus spoke when he said in John 15:5, for apart from me you can do nothing. This teaching is applied in chapter 1, verse 21, when we are told how to receive God’s word which is able to save our souls.  Since we cannot get rid of the impurity and wild evil of our tongue, this impacts how we receive God’s word and consequently our salvation.  Knowledge of this inability leads us to see our need for Christ.

Verses 9 – 12 

With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.  From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.  My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

Why is it that this should not be?

Again, James draws from what we all can know from God’s creation to illustrate.  He uses several examples emphasizing the urgency and importance of understanding and believing why this is wrong. 

Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?  Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs?  Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

A spring is known for having only fresh water coming from it, not salt water and fresh at the same time.  A fig tree cannot produce olives and figs do not grow on a grapevine.   If you go to a salt pond, it cannot give you fresh water.

So how do we understand what is being said here?

James speaks of our Lord and Father and again, uses my brothers to speak compellingly to believers to remember that we are living out our faith before God who is both our Lord and Father in Christ.  Just like all these which cannot act out of character so to speak.  Just as they do what they do in accordance with their identity so are we to do in accordance with our identity.  The identity we now have in Christ as God’s workmanship, and as imitators of God as dearly loved children (Ephesians 2:10; 5:1, 2) and as we are taught and commanded by Jesus in Matthew 5:48: You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Why should this not be? 

• This grieves God, the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30, 31)
• This is not in keeping with who we are in Christ and how he is living in us by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:17-24; Galatians 5:16-26)
• This is not loving God and obeying him by loving others (1 John 4:7-21; see vv. 7-8, 11,12,19-21)
• We are called to perfection in living out our faith in Christ (Matthew 5:48; James 1:4)

To understand how to apply this, it may be helpful to consider what we are doing when we bless our Lord and Father and curse those who have been made in his image.

We are hating those he has created, judging and condemning them (Matthew 5:21, 22; James 4:11, 12).  And this may also mean that we are blaming God for the evil that we are responsible for in our own hearts (James 1:13-15).

Since the scripture says: and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.

Then how we speak about others is not limited to fellow believers, but also is how we should speak of those outside the faith.  Particularly those who persecute us.  This is the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 5:

You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.”  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.  For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?  You there must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

And Paul, by the Holy Spirit, reminds us of this teaching in a list of what is seen in the life of a true Christian:

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.  Romans 12:14

As children of God who is good even to those who hate him, it is not merely enough that we do not curse them, but we are to go even further and take the action of loving them by blessing them.

Read again verses 13-18. 

We can look to these next verses in James for more light in which to understand how we are to live in obedience to this command from the Lord as we are taught about the next test of our faith: the test of whether we are the “wise and understanding” who live out their faith in the meekness of wisdom, the wisdom from above which we have in Christ, through the Holy Spirit, who is the wisdom of God.

More on this, Lord willing, in the next study.