13th September 2024
The taming of the tongue
…no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
James 3:8 (ESV)
Like so many parts of our bodies, our tongue is fearfully and wonderfully made and plays an essential part in such important functions as tasting, digesting, breathing, swallowing and speaking. The tongue enables us to distinguish between 5 different taste types: salty, sour, bitter, sweet and savoury. It is made up of 8 different types of muscle in order to help us tackle those tricky tongue twisters. And thanks to your tongue, you can say over 90 words in a single minute.
While it is possible to live without your tongue, it would certainly make life difficult. Yet here in chapter 3 of his epistle to the early church, James paints a picture of the tongue in the most unflattering terms, describing it as ‘a fire’, ‘a world of unrighteousness’, ‘a restless evil’ and ‘full of deadly poison’. All of which seems a little harsh until we understand that James here is personifying the tongue as representative of our wicked inner being. It is similar to how Jesus describes the relationship between our heart and our mouth: “…How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12:34 NKJV). Our tongues, like our mouths, can only speak what they are told to by the heart: the heart being biblical language for our inner being. And that is why, returning to our header scripture in James 3 (ESV), with the same tongue, ‘…we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.’ (v.9). The wickedness of our hearts, the corruption of our inner being renders our tongues untameable (v.8).
How, then, can the tongue be tamed? Left to ourselves, we could never tame the tongue because of its restless nature and deadly poison (v.8). Thankfully, the Father has not left us, who are in Christ, to our own devices. He has given us the Holy Spirit who enables us to control our tongues as we submit to him. As Galatians 5:16 puts it, ‘…walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.’
No human being can tame the tongue. No human being but one – Jesus Christ the God-man who came to earth to live human life perfectly: ‘He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin…’ (Heb. 4:15 MSG).
With our weak, human, but Spirit-enabled tongues, let us rejoice and praise his holy name!
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you that in Christ, we are a new creation. The old person is buried, the new one is risen. Let us praise you, and thank you, through the Spirit. In Jesus Christ’s name, Amen.
Study by Peter Mill
About the writer:Peter Mill is a minister in Grace Communion International and Co-Regional Pastor for Scotland, Ireland, and Northern England.
Local congregation:
Grace Communion International Central Glasgow
Garnethill Room
Conference Suite
St Andrews West
260 Bath Street
Glasgow
G2 4JP
Meeting time:
Sunday 11:15 am
Local congregational contact:
Peter Mill
Email: edinburgh@gracecom.church
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church