THE BOOK OF JAMES: THE TONGUE

James treats a number of different subjects in his letter, seemingly in random order. But actually the epistle is very organized.      

                                                           The Structure of James

    I. Reliance on God (1:2-18)

            II. The Tongue (1:19-3:12)

                        III. The Spiritual Life: Judging (3:13-5:6)

                        III'. The Spiritual Life: Judging (5:7-11)

            II'. The Tongue (5:12)

I'. Reliance on God (5:13-20)

If we look at a further breakdown of Section II, where today's passage (James 3:1-12) is locate, you can see that it actually contains four separate sections dealing with the same subject.

    A. The Tongue and Works (1:19-27)

        1. The Tongue (1:19-21)

            2. Doers/Hearers (1:22-25)

        1'. The Tongue (1:26-27)

                    B. No Partiality (2:1-13)

    A'. The Tongue and Works (2:14-3:12)

        1. The Tongue (2:14-17)

            2. Faith/Works (2:18-26)

        1'. The Tongue (3:1-12)

That is why James should really be studied thematically, not verse by verse in order of appearance the way most lesson plans are divided up.

James 3:1-2a So what is added in these verses to the previous sections that concern the use of the 

tongue? This time it is the subject of the tongue as it applies specifically to church teachers and 

preachers.

3:1. “Not many of you should become teachers”  A minority translation of this phrase is, “Do not teach 

at length.” So I will try to limit my lesson, especially since three times since I have been attending my 

present church, a regular Sunday school teacher has asked me to substitute when this was the particular 

passage to be discussed. What is it here that scares our teachers so much that they go to the trouble of 

leaving town to avoid teaching it themselves? I think it is this verse.

The Explore the Bible study guide points out that it was the ambition of Jewish parents to raise their 

sons to be rabbis–respect and prestige. This idea carried on into the early church where the gift of 

teaching was highly valued (see Paul’s writings). Unfortunately, this sometimes caused rivalries among 

would-be teachers. I saw a lot of this in a church I attended earlier where teachers would fight to claim 

the best rooms for their class, and some of the elders would even pull rank and kick a class out of their 

traditional spot in order to present a special subject they wanted to teach. And the fact is that some of 

those who were teaching were not really qualified. 

 

If any of you were asked to substitute teach, I imagine the most usual answer would be, “I’m not 

qualified, I don’t have enough knowledge.” The NT writers look at proper qualifications in a 

completely different way. By their standards, most of you are certainly more qualified than I am 

because, as my wife will attest, I am not that good in controlling my tongue. And that will be a major 

concern in these verses.

Now before proceeding further, we need to deal with an apparent contradiction within the Bible. James 

says that few of us should be teachers, and yet Hebrews 5:12 says, “Though by this time you all ought 

to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God.” How 

can we reconcile this? It was a Greek way of saying, “By now you should have a thorough enough 

grasp of the subject so that any of you could teach if necessary” -– not to be taken literally.

 

One commentator lists some of the temptations that teachers face: misleading people doctrinally, 

arrogance, domination over students, anger at contradictions or inattention, slander toward absent 

opponents, flattery of students, etc. Here is my own checklist of techniques to avoid as a teacher and 

for you to be aware of when you are listening to teachers:

Using Smoke Screens to avoid answering difficult questions

Relying more on current Signs of the Times than on the Bible itself

Arguing in Extremes and allowing no middle ground

The use of Condescending Sarcasm or labeling of opponents

Intimidating opposing points of view by pulling rank or quoting authorities outside the Bible

Dealing in Sensationalism

Claiming to have the Exclusive truth on a subject

Snowing people with technical details

(If you pay close attention to today's lesson, you may even detect me using some of these.)

Another way to identify false teachers is to look at their character. The NT writers give us a lot of help 

here by listing some of the typical characteristics of those who twist the truth, beginning with the 

general advice given by Jesus in Matthew 7:15 “You will know them by their fruits.”

People will speak well of them. Luke 6:26

They are conceited, understanding nothing. They have a morbid craving for controversy and disputes about words. They cause envy, dissension, slander, and base suspicions. I Timothy 6:3-5

They indulge in profane chatter and contradictions called “wisdom.” I Timothy 6:20

They are grumblers and malcontents who indulge in their own lusts. They are bombastic in speech, 

flattering people to their own advantage. Jude 16

The phrase “judged with greater strictness” may either mean that they will be judged by a stricter 

standard or that they will be punished more harshly for misbehavior. Some commentators take this 

warning with great seriousness. Regarding preachers and teachers: “far from their position guaranteeing 

their salvation, it puts them at greater jeopardy.” (Bo Reicke)

Jacques Ellul, The Humiliation of the Word, p. 109: “Preaching is the most frightful adventure. I have 

no right to make a mistake that makes God a liar. But who can guarantee that I won't make a mistake? I 

walk on the razor's edge... And what if I err, substituting my ideas and opinions for God's Revelation – 

if I proclaim my word as the Word of God, in order to give it weight and sparkle, in order to beguile my 

listeners? Then my word, unratified by God and disavowed by the Holy Spirit, becomes the cause for 

my condemnation.”

We can see this same serious warning in the NT:

Matthew 12:36-37 addressed to the Pharisees. “I tell you, on the day of judgment you will have to 

give an account for every careless word you utter; for by your words you will be justified, and by your 

words you will be condemned.”

I Corinthians 9:27 for Paul’s own opinion on the subject: “I punish my body and enslave it, so that 

after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.” We don't necessarily have to agree that 

a teacher's actual salvation is in jeopardy if he makes a mistake, but since teaching is one of the more 

visible positions within the church, I am always warned by Jesus' words regarding the Pharisees who 

were looked up to by the people: “They (already) have their reward.” I personally think the greater 

rewards in heaven will be reserved instead for those who work tirelessly behind the scenes to serve the 

congregation and others without very little public recognition.

Another aspect of James' teaching appears to be that teachers are called upon to make intellectual and 

moral judgments on a variety of subjects, but they will be judged on how they themselves live up to 

their teachings. (Which is why I try to refrain from preaching and stick to teaching instead. I have 

learned from experience what happens when I get up on my soapbox—God usually cuts me down to 

size.)

James 3:2a “For we all mistakes.” This seems to be a rather obvious statement, but in the context of 

teaching there is something not so obvious that needs to be taken into account. One commentator 

translates it this way, “We all give offense to others in our speech.” This puts the emphasis not only on 

whether we are communicating a true message to others, but also on the manner in which we do it. 

There was an elder at a previous church I attended who had quite definite ideas on how church should 

be run and was very blunt in pointing out others' errors to them in that regard. When I reminded him 

that we are told to always speak the truth in love, he literally could not comprehend what I was talking 

about.

Another thing that distinguishes this passage from the other places in James talking about the tongue is 

that now he bombards us with seven metaphors as verbal pictures to explain the importance of the 

tongue. And they even form a nice symmetrical set:

Illustrations 1 and 2: Importance

        Illustration 3: Danger

            Illustration 4: Control

        Illustration 5: Danger

Illustrations 6 and 7: Importance

James 3:2b-3 He begins by considering a horse: “Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is 

perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. If we put bits into the mouths of horses to 

make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies.”

“Perfect man” = perfect in the sense of mature. It does not mean that we should try to control our 

tongue in order to control our body, but that if we were able to control our tongue than it would be easy 

to control the rest of us. This is another way of stating the truth that all have sinned and fallen short of 

the glory of God. The verb “bridle” only appears one other time in the NT, James 1:26, which says 

basically the same thing as this verse.

There is another possible interpretation of these verses depending on the meaning of the word “body.” 

In a recent series of evening talks I pointed out several familiar scriptures in which “body” is popularly 

understood to refer to each of us personally. However, here it possibly refers to the church, the body of 

Christ in which the teacher serves, since the context of the previous verses concerns church teachers. 

This interpretation also fits the illustration better since the tongue does not at all control the human 

body, but a teacher or preacher can sway a congregation one way or another by his words.

James 3:4-5a Then James uses as a similar illustration the image of a rudder on a ship. Some 

commentators, by the way, comment on the physical similarity between a tongue and some rudders.

Notice that just as the rider controls the bit, the bit controls the horse. In this case, the helmsman 

controls the rudder and that is what controls the ship. So it all goes back to the one who is ultimately in 

control – is it us or is it God?

“Boasts of great things” This could mean either rightful boasting or unwarranted bragging depending 

on whether the Greek word is divided in two in original text. And here the manuscripts differ with one 

another. If this statement refers backwards to the previous examples, then the boasting is probably 

justified. Words can indeed accomplish great things. How about the fact that right now we are studying 

words probably first spoken and then written by one individual almost 2,000 years ago? But if it 

introduces the following examples, then the great things it accomplishes may be far reaching but not 

really that positive, which we can see as the passage continues.

James 3:5b-6a James turns next to the nature of the tongue as untamed and evil. Again he uses 

metaphors and analogies to explain. Comparing the damage that words can do with a fire is an idea that

goes back at least to the Book of Proverbs (26:20-21): “For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where 

there is no whisperer (i.e., gossip), quarreling ceases. As charcoal is to hot embers and wood to fire, so 

is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.”

James 3:6b. The rest of verse 6 is probably the hardest passage in James to understand so it needs to 

be taken a few words at a time. “The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity.”

KJV, NRSV: “world of iniquity”

NEB: “it represents the world with all its wickedness.”

NIV: “a world of evil”

Jerusalem Bible: “the whole wicked world in itself”

TEV: “a world of wrong”

NASB: “the very world of iniquity”

Living Bible: “full of wickedness”

J.B. Phillips: “with vast potentialities for evil”

This is a difficult phrase to translate exactly as you can see here. It probably means that all the evils in 

the world find expression through the tongue.

In James 1:27, we were warned to escape the pollutions of the world (kosmos), but now this same 

world of pollution is seen to also be in our own bodies. We had a very negative preacher in a previous 

church, whose sermons concentrated on all the horrible things going on in the world. In the first place, 

that gives the overall impression that God has lost control of events. But also, I think the time could 

have been more productively spent in trying to correct the world of pollution within us in the church 

rather than always pointing out the corruption in the world.

James 3:6c “The tongue stains or corrupts” Remember what Jesus said in Mark 7:20-23: It isn't what 

goes into your mouth that defiles you, but what comes out of it.

 

“Wheel of life” The word for wheel occurs only here in NT. It may be a picture of a wooden chariot 

wheel where friction from the axle can actually set the wheel on fire.

Look at alternative translations.

KJV: the course of nature

RSV: the cycle of nature, or the wheel of birth

J.B. Phillips: the whole of life

NEB: the wheel of our existence

Living Bible: our whole lives

NASB: the course of our lives

TEV: the entire course of our existence

Jerusalem Bible: the whole wheel (course) of creation (the world)

NIV: the whole course of one's life

“But the tongue is only a fuse; the source of the deadly fire is hell itself.”(Ronald Blue) There are two 

kinds of fire: the purifying fire of the Holy Spirit and fire from Satan. Hell = Gehenna in this case.

The bottom line is that words have a great capacity to spread evil, and that is whether they are spoken 

or written. It is only in recent years that we are truly seeing the similarity between the word and a 

forest fire in rapidly spreading evil. That capacity for spreading evil is much greater today than it has 

ever been before due to the presence of the internet and social media. Cyberbullying is so much easier 

than one-on-one bullying and has much wider consequences.And there are frightening recent statistics 

that show how widespread the practice is among young people.

 

And the problem isn't limited to teenagers and preteens. Online naming and shaming are employed by 

those on both extremes of the political spectrum as well as the related practice of doxxing (revealing 

personal information on those you disagree with). And this brings up the whole issue of the proper 

limits to free speech. This is one of the issues at stake in the lawsuits against Alex Jones who 

persistently stated that there was no shooting at Sandy Hook and that the parents who supposedly lost 

children there were just paid actors. However the legal decision of their civil suit happens to turn out, 

from a Christian point of view there is in my mind no excuse for this type of behavior.

James 3:7-8a “For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed...”

Is this statement literally true?

It is amazing how many animals have in fact been tamed, but Genesis 1:28 is probably being alluded to 

here. “Multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the 

birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” “Tamed”should be taken as its 

general meaning of subdue, not necessarily to domesticate. The first words out of Adam and Eve’s 

mouths after the Fall were excuses, blaming others. The first recorded words after expulsion from 

Garden were a lie (Cain). And at the end of the Book of Revelation it states that those who practice 

falsehood will not enter the heavenly Jerusalem. This is not an entirely pessimistic view since the 

tongue can be tamed with the help of God’s Spirit within us.

James 3:8b “It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison” For one reason, it’s always in motion. The 

adjective translated here as “restless” appears only one other place in the Bible–James 1:8, where it is 

translated as “unstable” and is associated with double-mindedness, one of the pet peeves of James. So 

the tongue is not only constantly moving, it often changes direction too.

“Poison” is actually the same Greek word, ios, translated as “rust” in James 5:3. It has the basic 

meaning of something that is active in a negative way. The allusion may be to Psalm 140:3 concerning 

evildoers: “They make their tongue sharp as a snake's, and under their lips is the venom of vipers.” 

Paul in Romans 3:13 applies this verse in Psalms to all of humanity.

James 3:11 I want to cite James' last two illustrations a little out of order here before going into their 

application. “Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water?” The 

implied answer is: No.

James 3:12 “Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt 

water yield fresh.” James concludes with this final illustration of fruit on a tree and then goes back to 

his example of a spring. See Matthew 7:15-17 for similar language and Luke 14:28-29 for another 

ABBA arrangement used by Jesus to couple two short sayings together. So in these two ways, James 

again demonstrates that he has the mind of Jesus perhaps better than any other NT writer. “Beware of 

false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know 

them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every 

good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.” (Matthew 7:15-17)

James 3:9-10 Here is James' interpretation of these two examples. The problem is that although the 

inconsistencies shown in his last two illustrations can't really exist in nature, they can exist in a human 

being although they shouldn't. James again associates himself with his readers by use of “we” in case 

his readers may have been thinking at this point: “This can’t apply to a Christian who uses his tongue 

to glorify God.” Blessing God doesn't excuse our other uses of the tongue; it only points out even more 

the inconsistency.

Matthew 12:34-35 addressed to Pharisees, “You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things, 

when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person brings 

good things out of a good treasure, and the evil person brings evil things out of an evil treasure.”

Just think of all the phrases we use for this behavior: speaking with a forked tongue, speaking out of 

both sides of your mouth, double dealing, two-faced, double-minded, using double talk, double 

tongued.

I think it is generally agreed that Christians are not called to go around criticizing others in the 

congregation for not doing enough. But James now turns to discussing an issue much more serious and 

one in which I think we are encouraged to counsel our fellow believers when they go astray or at least 

not condone their behavior. That is showing inconsistency in our speech by praising God but saying 

evil things about others at the same time.

Q – James seems to consider that a Christian who demonstrates two-sidedness in his speech can cause 

even more destructiveness than a person who is just plain evil? Why?

A recent survey indicates that the top three reasons people reject God are:

1. The problem of evil in the world

2. The presence of hypocrites in the church

3. Science has disproved much of the Bible

Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network who was associated with the PTL Club 

(Praise the Lord), publicly called for the assassination of the president of Venezuela because he 

disagreed with his left wing politics. He later apologized, but it gave rise to bumper stickers criticizing 

his speech and an editorial cartoon picturing Robertson asking, “What kind of gun would Jesus use?” 

Unfortunately, I have personally witnessed this same sort of thing twice in Christian congregations. 

There was a previous church I attended where a rather unassuming member of our small prayer group 

told me once that people badmouth Hitler, but at least he did one thing right. He killed all the homos. 

And at another home Bible study some time ago, a visitor to our group told us a “cute joke” the gist of 

which was that if enough Christians pray to God, maybe he will send someone to assassinate the 

current president just like He got rid of the Kennedy brothers and MLK, Jr. To the credit of our group, 

no one laughed.