What Did You Say? - The Dangers of the Tongue James 3:1-2

What Did You Say? - The Dangers of the Tongue
James 3:1-2

“Not man of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers,  because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.  We all stumble in many ways.  If anyone is never at fault in what he says, his a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.”

Have you ever regretted something you said?  You are talking and all of a sudden something slips out, something you really didn’t want to say.  It is almost as though your tongue said the words before your brain had a chance to decide if it would be wise to say them in the first place.  You wish you could just take them back...but you can’t. 

 This next section in God’s Blueprint for Building Believers is one I think we all can admit needing some improvement.  God gave you a mouth, a tongue, to be used in praise, worship, prayer, and the encouragement of others.  He wants you to use your tongue to confront sin and help others, but it is not His design to use our tongue in harmful ways.  Therefore God will send trials (as is the theme of our book) to test your tongue.  He wants to see what comes out of your mouth when placed in specific circumstances.  Luke 6:45 tells us, “What you say flows from what is in your heart” (NLT).  And God wants your heart to be united with His.  So how is your mouth?  What words are flowing from your heart?  Let’s see what James can teach us on this subject.

I have stated several times throughout this commentary we must always keep in mind the context of the book in order to gain full understanding of the interpretation.  James is speaking to a church made up of Jewish Christians.  Jews who have been raised in the former teachings and traditions of Judaism and the Old Testament.  In the Jewish culture they had Rabbis as teachers, who were also referred to as “teachers of the Law” and “scribes” or even “Pharisees”.

 One such Rabbi found in the book of Acts, named Gamaliel (Acts 5:34), was considered the greatest teacher of his time.  He was also the Rabbi teacher of the Apostle Paul  (Acts 22:3) before his salvation experience on the road to Damascus (Acts 9).  These Rabbi teachers were revered by the Jewish people so much that it is easy to see how one would envy them and desire to be like them.  In the newly established Christian Church the people had learned they did not have to be a formally trained Rabbi to be a teacher.  None of the Apostles were Rabbis and neither was James.  So James begins this next test with a warning: “Not many of you should presume to be teachers…”

 To “presume” yourself to be a teacher meant you were taking the position for granted, assuming you were qualified without understanding the risks involved.  James makes it a point to begin this section on the tongue by reminding the people how teachers, people who use their mouth as their profession, will be judged more strictly for what they say.

 He follows up this statement with a profound message.  First he acknowledges we all make mistakes…”we all stumble in many ways” meaning we all sin, but “If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.”   Read that again because there is a lot of deep truths in James’ statement.

 Staying within the context of how trials brings maturity to the believer we see the goal: If you are never at fault in what you say, you are 1) a perfect person, and 2) you are able to keep your whole body in check.  Wow!  That is some statement!  You may be thinking “But no one can control their mouth that much and never at fault in what they say!” and “no one can be a perfect person either!”  As true as that may seem let me ask you an important question.  Should God lower His standards to make it easier for us to accomplish them?

 In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount he told the people to “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect”

(Matthew 5:48).  Can we be perfect just like God is perfect?  We seem to brush off the commands of Scripture, claiming the inability to rise up to such commands, yet most people strive for perfection in every day life situations.  Most students strive to get a perfect paper when taking a test.  A baseball player strives to get a hit, or even a home run, every time he comes to the plate.  Olympians strive to get the score of a perfect ten.  We strive for perfection and sometimes have to settle for a little less, yet we continue to strive. 

James begins this test by reminding us that “if” we can control our mouth we would be a “perfect” person.  Now before you accuse me of blasphemy for sayng you can be perfect remember the definition of the word perfect in this context means to be mature and  complete.  We learned this back in chapter one (James 1:4) when James explained how trials are sent by God to make us  “mature and complete" and the KJV and the ASV use the word “perfect” in their translations.

 The benefits to keeping control of your mouth are enormous.  James says the person who never is at fault in what he says will be “able to keep his whole body in check” meaning all the other areas of the person’s life will also become mature and complete.  He will explain this in more detail as the we continue to examine James’ teaching on the subject.

 Keeping your tongue under control is a theme throughout the book of James.  In chapter one he tells us to be “slow to speak” (James 1:19) and “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless” (James 1:26).  In chapter two we are warned to “speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom” (James 2:12) and as we just studied in our last test, “What good is it...if a man claims (says...speaks) he has faith but has no deeds.  Can such (verbal) faith save him?” (James 2:14).  So how is your tongue?  Have you considered what is coming out of your mouth?