Read the Other Articles in this Series
The Power of Our Words
The Gravity of Our Words
The Difficulty in Controlling Our Words
The Speech of a Christian
In this series of articles, we have been looking at James 3 to explore how a Christian should be speaking. As redeemed children of God, we should not be speaking unrighteous words. However, since we still have a remnant of our sin nature, we all struggle with sinning with our words.
In our article today, we’ll explore the illustrations that James uses to describe the destructive power of our tongues when we use our words sinfully.
James 3:3-8
If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 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. 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, full of deadly poison.
James is going to give multiple examples of small things that have a big impact.
Illustration #1: Horse Bits
If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well.
Have you ever ridden a horse? I have a few times when I was a kid at Summer Camp. I remember signing up for that during free time thinking that it would be like a movie. I thought I was going to be like Indiana Jones racing through the woods, dodging trees and jumping over fences. In reality, they sat you on an old horse and a counselor would walk the horse by a rope. You would slowly clop along a trail going one mile an hour. It was super boring.
For those who ride horses or for anyone who has ever seen a movie where someone is riding a horse, how do you control a horse? They have bits that go in their mouths attached to reins that the rider controls. Here’s how a bit works:
Bits work by exerting pressure inside the horse’s mouth. They are often assisted by bridle types that create additional pressure around the horse’s head—cheeks, chin or nose. The idea is that, by moving away from the discomfort of the pressing bit, the horse moves in the direction the rider wants to go. In a properly trained horse with the right tack and a knowledgeable rider, it all works together to create unity between the rider’s wishes and the horse’s performance. (Source.)
It’s kind of amazing to think that people were controlling horses the same way almost 2,000 years ago, but I guess that goes to show that it works.
James uses this analogy to show that a tiny thing can exert a great influence on something much larger. Similarly, our tongues, though small, have a great influence over our lives. Your tongue can literally ruin your life.
When I worked at Facebook, I knew people who were fired over things they said. Either things that violated HR rules or something that offended a leader. Celebrities have had their careers ended after they were cancelled for things that they said. Relationships can be ruined by speaking hurtful words.
Though tiny, our tongue can do a world of damage.
He gives another similar example next:
Illustration #2: Rudders
Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.
Ships, even though they are huge, have small rudders that control the direction of the ship.
Here’s how a rudder works:
“the rudder works by deflecting water flow: when the helmsman…turns the rudder, the water strikes it with increased force on one side, decreased force on the other. The rudder moves in the direction of lower pressure. As the rudder goes, so goes the stern, and the boat turns.” (source)
Also, amazingly, steering technology that was in use in James’ day is still being used today.
James is going to tie these things together in verse 5:
So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
Even though the tongue is small, it can boast mightily. It can create a world of sin. James is going to elaborate on the damaging power of our words when misused in the next example.
Illustration #3: Fire
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!
In California, we’re no strangers to the destructive power of fire. Over the past few years, we’ve seen multiple state emergencies when massive fires were burning out of control.
In 2018, what was known as the Camp Fire became what was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history. It destroyed the town of Paradise in Northern California, killed 85 people, displaced 50K people, and caused $16.5B in damage across Butte County. It all started when winds downed PG&E power lines.
Just last year there were the massive Palisades fires in Southern California. I personally know two people whose homes were destroyed. Those fires resulted in almost $25B in damage.
I live in Fremont and in 2020, my family was under evacuation warning for over a week because of the SCU Complex fire. Do you remember that fire? That was started by dry lightning strikes. We live very close to the hills and there were fires burning on the other side of the hills. Thankfully, we didn’t have to evacuate, but there were points when the air quality was so bad that we almost left. As we were tracking the air quality, it says that a reading over 150 is unhealthy. It got up to 425 at one point. Thankfully, that was very short lived, but it was still scary.
Fire consumes everything in its path and feeds on itself, yet it can be started by a tiny spark. Likewise, our tongues are tiny, yet can spark a destructive wave of sin. James goes on to say something shocking:
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 (James 3:6).
When speaking unrighteously, our tongues have that same destructive effect as wildfire. James says the devastation caused by unrighteous words are fueled by the fires of Hell. As believers with redeemed hearts, we should not be speaking the words of Satan.
Our tongues can be like fire and unleash a whole world of sin. He says that our tongues can stain our whole bodies – they can corrupt our lives.
James says that our tongues can stain our whole body. That word for “stain” can also mean “contaminated.” That reminds me of how something small can contaminate all of something.
If you know me, you likely know that I love coffee. I never used to drink coffee until I had kids. Once my first son was born, I started drinking one cup of coffee a day. After my second son was born, I bumped it up to two cups a day. After my daughter was born, you guessed it, I’m up to three cups a day. I told my wife that I don’t think we should have any more kids or I’m going to have a heart attack.
A number of years ago, I bought an espresso machine so I could make lattes at home instead of buying them from Starbucks. I used it all the time. You’re supposed to clean out the water tank every few months and replace the filter. So, I was doing that and found a dead spider floating in the water. For a long period of time, I was drinking spider coffee! I felt sick to my stomach. Even though it was a tiny thing, it had contaminated everything that I drank. And it didn’t even result in something cool like me getting powers like Spiderman. It was just gross.
Our tongue can corrupt our whole bodies or our whole lives.
James goes on to say that unrighteous tongues are set on fire by hell.
The word used for hell is “gehenna” and is used 12 times in the NT; 11 times by Jesus. Ghenna was a valley (known as the Valley of Hinnom) in Jerusalem where at one point child sacrifices were offered to Molech. Since then, the valley was considered desecrated and was used to burn garbage, the bodies of dead animals, and the bodies of executed criminals. It was constantly burning, filthy, and disgusting. Jesus used this as a graphic example of where the fire wasn’t quenched and the worms (or maggots) don’t cease to devour. James says that the natural state of our tongues is that they were set on fire by hell.
The Winter Olympics are starting in just a few weeks. One of the most iconic parts of the Olympic games is the lighting of the Olympic flame. This is supposed to symbolize the continuity between the ancient games and the modern games. Several months before the competition, the torch is lit in Olympia, Greece. It travels to the destination of the Olympics through a series of relays and handoffs. During the opening ceremony, the official Olympic cauldron is lit by the torch and it remains burning throughout the course of the games.
I think of this whenever I read this passage. Imagine a relay of someone lighting a torch in the flames of Hell and taking that all the way to your mouth to ignite your tongue.
James’ point is that our tongues have tremendous power, like that of a raging fire. When used sinfully, our tongues can inflict great damage—like the fires of Hell burning in destruction.
James continues:
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, full of deadly poison (James 3:7-8)
Even in James’ day, they were able to control many types of animals. Just think about everything that we can tame and train today:
If you’ve ever been to the circus, you know we can train elephants, lions, bears, etc.. If you’ve ever been to SeaWorld, you know that we can train dolphins and killer whales. We can tame many huge animals.
We can tame tiny creatures too. I saw a documentary on the making of the Indiana Jones movies and they had a bug wrangler talking about how they had trained tarantulas in the first movie. They also interviewed a rat trainer talking about how they trained thousands of rats in the Last Crusade.
So, we can train all of these wild animals, but James says that no human being can fully tame the tongue. It’s restless, evil, and full of deadly poison. We’re like deadly snakes with potent venom under our tongues.
As believers, we have the Holy Spirit and a new heart and should have a new tongue, so are we immune to this? Unfortunately not. In our next article, we’ll explore the hypocrisy of our words.
