The fiery tongue

The images used by James in chapter 3 of his epistle to describe the tongue are striking: the horse and bit, ship and rudder. taming of wild animals. None is more striking, however, than the comparison of the tongue to a fire. While fire can be used for good, James doesn't have any of that in mind here. This fire is destructive, begun by a small spark but creating a wide swath of destruction.

I believe, despite not having any hard empirical data, that most church divisions and fights are caused by words. Most of these fights don't even involve fundamental theological or historical issues; they are caused when one person or group starts talking about another. Passions become inflamed, and things quickly spiral out of control, leaving behind the destruction of any kind of witness for Jesus and breaking apart ties of Christian family.

What we need to notice in James' use of this analogy is the source of the fire. He says in verse 6 that the tongue is "set on fire by hell." This certainly includes the work of Satan and the demons in tempting Christians to misuse their words, but I think it goes further. Hell, as the place of eternal judgment, is the place where each creature has itself as the object of care, concern, and worship. There is no need to bow to God or concede to His laws and commandments. That kind of hell, placing ourselves as the ultimate concern of ourselves, is reflected in destructive, selfish talk.

Reading James 3, you can sense the passion with which he might have preached this message. He urges his readers not to give in to self, not to allow their speech free reign, but to learn to control it. While the small tongue may change the entire course of our lives (as many translations render the unusual phrase in verse 6), it can be controlled by heavenly wisdom. That's the connection between the discussion of the tongue and the discussion of the two wisdoms later in the chapter.

How can we control what we say? We have to be changed from the inside out. We need the kind of wisdom described in verse 17, where is is called the "wisdom from above." This may be a reference to 1:17, where "every perfect gift" is said to come from "above." It is a wisdom that is heavenly, coming from a heavenly source. We cannot that is "first pure, the peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without favoritism and hypocrisy" unless we have the Holy Spirit filling us with His fruit. But when we yield to the Spirit, we can gain control of our lives and our tongues through the strength He gives us.

Will we be perfect? Not in this life. I wish I had better control of my words and my speech (and so do the people who have to listen to me ramble on!). As we grow more like Jesus, and as we allow the Spirit to do His work in our lives, we will get better at it. Maybe only a little here and little there at times, but we will see our speech start to look like Jesus' words. When we do, we will be able to prevent those "fires" that our tongues may cause.