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James 3:5-6
Last Sunday we considered the awesome power of words.
Your tongue has power to advance great edification or great destruction.
In James chapter three, the author narrows his scope to the latter… what happens when the words of our mouth produce great destruction?
Even the famed orator Seneca once lamented: “When I think over some of the things I’ve said, I envy those who can’t speak.”
There are times when emotions get the best of us and our mouth can be the first to show it.
It seems the more we give in to the temptation to vent our anger through harsh language or corrupt speech, the worse it gets.
Washington Irving said: “A sharp tongue is the only edged tool that gets sharper with constant use.”
While others may lie wounded and bleeding from words you have spoken, you have undoubtedly injured yourself most of all.
After all, having a sharp tongue can cut your own throat!
It can set your own house, or church, or marriage on fire.
Let’s consider James 3, beginning with the second half of verse 5.
This is all about the fire in your mouth.
In honor of God and His Word, let’s stand for the reading of these verses.
See how great a forest a little fire kindles!
6 And the tongue /is/ a fire, a world of iniquity.
The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.
[NKJV]
[Prayer] Words that destroy have swift feet.
Like juicy rumors, they take on a life of their own.
These fiery words, though very small, can destroy a whole community or the reputation of an innocent victim.
The image James employs to make his point is violent and expansive…
*I.
Corrupt speech spreads through a community like fire through a great forest* (5b-6a).
Look at the second part of verse 5 and the first part of verse six: “See how great a forest a little fire kindles!
6 And the tongue /is/ a fire, a world of iniquity.”
The first word of the sentence in the middle of verse 5 in my NKJV is “see”; it almost has the same force as a command imperative.
(The verb is in the imperative mood, and in the middle voice.)
The NASB is also correct to render this word “behold”.
It means “listen carefully” or “pay close attention to this image”.
The context here is negative.
James is referring here to /corrupt/ speech and not to speech in general.
The forest fire is a negative illustration.
It connotes destruction.
The phrase “a world of iniquity” is obviously negative.
“Defiles the whole body” is also negative; and the fact that it’s “set on fire by hell” is all very negative.
So James is here talking about /corrupt/ speech and its repercussions.
Fire is the third example of the power of speech in James 3. T.C. Baird said, “The tongue is the hinge on which everything in the personality turns.”
Just as tiny bits turn big horses, small rudders turn large ships, and a small spark engulfs a great forest, so the tongue is small but very powerful.
The tongue is also perverse if it isn’t controlled.
Our words can start fires.
Proverbs 26:20–21 “Where there is no wood, the fire goes out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceases.
As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife.”
The mouth that starts fires destroys lives.
Someone researched the power of corrupt words and discovered that for every word in Hitler’s book, /Mein Kampf, /125 lives were lost in World War II.
The world can never forget the destruction that fire created!
James is warning Christians to pay close attention to this subject.
Little words can do great damage.
That’s why James juxtaposes the “great forest” over against “a little fire” that does all the damage.
The only way to stop this kind of destruction is before it happens.
Once the fire has ravaged the landscape, saying “I’m sorry…” doesn’t undo the damage.
But expressing sorrow as the beginning of repentance is a good thing nonetheless.
True sorrow and real repentance in this matter would mean changing the way you use words.
Some poet put this good counsel to verse:
If your lips would keep from slips,
Five things observe with care:
Of whom you speak, to whom you speak,
And how and when and where.
That’s good preventive counsel.
This is like your dad reminding you to wash the lighter fluid or gasoline off of your hands /before/ you strike a match.
Fire is good and useful when it’s controlled and contained.
But it can destroy property and lives, like corrupt words can destroy reputations, and churches, and marriages when used carelessly.
“See how great a forest a little fire kindles!”
Then James explicitly closes the gap to complete his analogy in verse 6: “And the tongue /is/ a fire, a world of iniquity.”
If the tongue is the fire in this analogy, then our words are the flames that have such potential to damage lives.
The unrestrained tongue has virtually unlimited power to sin and wound and kill.
He calls it, “a world of iniquity…” There are too many dangers to innumerate.
I can remember several years ago, a friend in ministry shared some confidential information with me about some plans he was making that would affect his church in a major way.
It causes me embarrassment even now as I recall the details of that story.
But I shared his news with one other person.
I framed my comments with, what I thought was great discretion.
I said things like: “Now this is for your ears only.
This can go no further.
But let me tell you what’s going on…” Well it /did/ go further.
The next person who heard the news shared it with less discretion and the others who heard it with even less discretion and more distortion until it finally came back to the person who originally shared it with me.
I can still remember the shame of being rebuked by my friend, there was nothing I could say to undo it but, “I’m so sorry about this.
Please forgive me.”
“See how great a forest a little fire kindles!
Corrupt speech spreads through a community like fire through a great forest.
Second…
*II.
Corrupt speech reveals a corrupt heart which defiles the whole person* (6b).
Now look at the rest of verse six: “The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.”
James says: “The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body…” What does that mean?
When James says ‘the tongue is so set among our members…’ he seems to be emphasizing the importance of the tongue in the way it represents us.
It is set among our members in the sense of prominence.
People judge us by the words we use and by the way we speak.
Often, we can tell something about a person’s origin just by listening to their accent, even before we have an in-depth conversation with them.
We also make judgments about a person’s choice of words when they’re angry.
Do they use profanity?
Do they resort to exaggeration: “You /always/ say that…” or “You /never/ offer to go…”?
The tongue is given the role of ambassador for your whole body.
So when your tongue sins or offends others, it defiles the whole body.
The assumption is: corrupt speech — corrupt person.
Just by our corrupt speech, people may assume we’re corrupt all the time… and in other ways they can’t see.
This is another reason that the tongue is so powerful.
When a hypocrite aims to deceive, they usually don’t go to the effort of deceiving with their habitual routines.
That takes too much work!
Instead, of changing their life, they usually altar their words to make people think something is true about them when it’s really false, or vice-versa.
Someone has said: “Hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue.”
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