Download discussion questions: James 3:1-12
Two main observations came out in our discussion of this passage:
- Repeated statements about the tongue
- A variety of different images used
One of the first comments made in our discussion group suggested that James may have had so much to say about the tongue because he was aware of specific problems among the Christians he was writing to. Another person pointed out that James already mentioned discriminatory speech back in chapter two. The favoritism of rich over poor (verse 3) was expressed by speaking differently to each person. In this passage, James has much more to say about the tongue.
Teachers
If most of the section deals with the tongue, why would James begin with a warning to potential teachers: “Not many of you should become teachers…” And how is that warning and the further warnings about the tongue related to his preceding emphasis on works as evidence of faith (James 2:14-26)?
Perhaps when his audience saw the importance James placed on works, the idea of teaching would appeal to a number of his readers. Being a teacher in the church can provide respect for a person. Teaching puts one in a position of authority able to influence many others. But teaching also requires extensive use of the tongue. James wants all his readers, but especially those thinking of teaching, to be aware of the guaranteed pitfalls associated with the tongue.
He mentioned this concern for everyone early in his letter: “let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger” (James 1:19). Those considering a teaching ministry revived this concern for James. He made clear that his extended warning in this passage includes “every person” – himself (“we” twice in v. 9), as well as all his readers (“My brothers, these things ought not to be so” in v. 10).
Figurative Language
Our group pointed out a number of images that are used to describe the tongue:
- bridle (v. 2)
- bit in horse’s mouth (v. 3)
- ship (v. 4)
- forest (v. 5)
- stain (v. 6)
- setting on fire (v. 6)
- being set on fire by hell (v. 6)
- bird, beast, reptile, sea creature (v. 7)
- restless evil (v. 8)
- deadly poison (v. 8)
- blessing and cursing (v. 9, 10)
- spring water (v. 11)
- fig tree (v. 12)
- grapevine (v. 12)
- salt pond (v. 12)
Several questions came to mind:
- Why did he use figurative language?
- Why did he use so many different images?
- Why didn’t he simply say what he meant, such as in v. 8, that the tongue “is a restless evil, full of deadly poison”?
One person suggested that using the figurative language might have been a way of softening the strong rebuke. Describing ships and animals and trees and ponds might be easier for the audience to hear.
We also considered that the variety of images were intended to show different aspects of why the tongue could be such a problem. The group offered several different ways the images were used:
- Small size with big effects (bridles and bits and rudders)
- Control (bridles, horses, ships)
- Positive effects (ships, horses)
- Negative effects (forest fires, stains, hell)
- Uniquely uncontrollable (beasts, birds, reptiles, sea creatures)
- Erratic or Inconsistent (blessing and cursing, fresh and salt water).
In order to see the passage (and James’ thinking) as a whole, we attempted to diagram how the different images related to the aspects of the tongue:
It certainly appears that James does indeed have a recognizable flow of his thought carried along by those images. Small objects can have large effects, affecting or actually controlling much larger things either for good or for harm. His concluding images (vv. 11-12) seem to be his main point: the tongue displays an erratic inconsistency that is found nowhere else in nature. While fresh springs don’t produce salt water, the tongue has the unfortunate ability both to bless and to curse.
In verse 12, the very end of this passage, we noticed that James reverses the order from the inability of a positive source (a fresh-water spring) to produce a negative effect (salt water). But his final image expresses the impossibility of a negative source (a salt pond) to yield anything positive (fresh water). Perhaps his relatively gentle images mentioned above now turn more to the point. If our hearts are corrupt like salt ponds, we cannot produce healthy (“fresh water”) works, whether in teaching others or in any of our speech.
What about the heart?
Several people in our group pointed out the absence of any explicit mention of the heart in this passage. Was James only concerned about externals? Isn’t it possible for Pharisees and hypocrites to learn enough self-control simply to avoid speaking the harsh, or even vile, things that may be in their hearts or minds?
A number of comments pointed out even the immediate context of the passage shows that James was concerned with more than simply external self-discipline. He made it clear that control of the tongue (a small member of the body) is intended to affect everything else (verse 2, able to “bridle his whole body”).
Another person pointed out that the verses immediately after the end of this passage unmistakably displays James’ concern: “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth” (James 3:13-14, emphasis added). That comment from a member of our group was a good reminder of the importance of context. Often, as in this case, the immediate context of a passage will help answer questions.
James understood that all works of whatever kind are only of value as they provide outward expression of the inward reality of the heart. As his half-Brother said, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34), and “what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart” (Matthew 15:18).
Controlling the tongue may even have an effect on the heart. In Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer has a chapter entitled “Ministry.” In the first section in that chapter, ‘The Ministry of Holding One’s Tongue,’ he says:
Often we combat our evil thoughts most effectively if we absolutely refuse to allow them to be expressed in words. It is certain that the spirit of self-justification can be overcome only by the Spirit of grace; nevertheless, isolated thoughts of judgment can be curbed and smothered by never allowing them the right to be uttered, except as a confession of sin, which we shall discuss later. He who holds his tongue in check controls both mind and body (James 3.2ff.).[1]
[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, trans. John W. Doberstein (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1954), 91;
Kindle Edition Locations 1063-1067.