In chapter 1 James said that a person who “bridleth not his tongue” has a religion that is vain. In chapter 3 he explains why. The tongue is small, like a horse’s bit or a ship’s rudder, yet it steers the whole life. It is a spark that can set a forest ablaze. No human being can tame it. Then James turns to the source of our words and deeds, contrasting the “earthly, sensual, devilish” wisdom that breeds envy and strife with “the wisdom that is from above,” which is “first pure, then peaceable.”
A study in James 3 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 15 min read
Be Not Many Masters
“My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.”
James 3:1-2
“Masters” here means teachers. In the early church, and in the synagogue before it, being a teacher carried prestige, and many wanted the role. James urges caution. Teachers “shall receive the greater condemnation” — a stricter judgment — because their words shape other people’s faith. And a teacher’s main tool is the tongue.
“For in many things we offend all.” James includes himself. Everyone stumbles. But the hardest place not to stumble is in what we say. The person who never slips with his words “is a perfect man,” fully mature, because anyone who can control his tongue can control everything else.
“Make a covenant with God that you will guard well your words. ‘If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.’ James 3:2. Remember that a revengeful speech never makes one feel that he has gained a victory. Let Christ speak through you.”
Ellen G. White · Testimonies for the Church, vol. 7, p. 243
Bits And Rudders
“Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things.”
James 3:3-5
Two pictures of small things with great power. A horse weighs many times more than its rider, yet a small metal bit in its mouth turns the whole animal. A great ship, driven by fierce winds, is steered by “a very small helm,” a rudder, “whithersoever the governor listeth” — wherever the pilot chooses.
“Even so the tongue is a little member.” It is one of the smallest parts of the body, yet it steers the direction of a whole life. A promise, a lie, a word of encouragement, a cruel remark: each one can change the course of a life, or of many lives.
“The power of speech is a talent that should be diligently cultivated. Of all the gifts we have received from God, none is capable of being a greater blessing than this. With the voice we convince and persuade, with it we offer prayer and praise to God, and with it we tell others of the Redeemer’s love.”
Ellen G. White · Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 335
How Great A Matter A Little Fire Kindleth
“Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”
James 3:5-8
“Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!” The word “matter” means a forest or a mass of timber. A single spark can burn down a whole forest. The painting above shows a famous example. On 16 October 1834, workmen burning old wooden tally sticks in the furnaces beneath the House of Lords overheated the flues. By nightfall most of the ancient Palace of Westminster was in flames.
“And the tongue is a fire.” A careless word, a rumour, a piece of gossip, a sharp reply — and a family, a friendship or a church goes up in flames. The tongue “defileth the whole body” and “setteth on fire the course of nature,” the whole round of life. And its fire has a source: “it is set on fire of hell.” Satan is “the accuser of our brethren” (Revelation 12:10), and every slander echoes his voice.
Human beings have tamed lions, elephants, falcons and dolphins. “But the tongue can no man tame.” Notice the words “no man.” James does not say it cannot be tamed. He says no human being can do it alone. Only God can.
“Not one word is to be spoken unadvisedly. No evil speaking, no frivolous talk, no fretful repining or impure suggestion, will escape the lips of him who is following Christ.”
Ellen G. White · Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 337
Blessing And Cursing
“Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.”
James 3:9-12
Here is the tongue’s strangest inconsistency. On the Sabbath we sing God’s praises; on the way home we criticize the people around us. But those people “are made after the similitude of God.” To curse a person made in God’s image while blessing God is a contradiction. “These things ought not so to be.”
Nature knows better. A spring does not pour out fresh and salt water from the same opening. A fig tree does not grow olives. What comes out reveals what is inside. Jesus said the same: “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matthew 12:34). The cure for a bitter tongue is not merely better self-control, but a new heart.
The Wisdom That Is From Above
“Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.”
James 3:13-16
James returns to the would-be teachers of verse 1. Do you want to be thought wise? Then show it, not by talking, but by “a good conversation,” a good way of life, with “meekness of wisdom.” True wisdom is humble.
There is another kind of “wisdom.” It can be clever and persuasive, but its roots are “bitter envying and strife” — jealousy and selfish ambition. James calls it “earthly, sensual, devilish.” It thinks only of this world, it serves the natural appetites, and it comes from the devil himself.
“It was envy that first caused discord in heaven, and its indulgence has wrought untold evil among men. ‘Where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.’ James 3:16. It should not be regarded as a light thing to speak evil of others or to make ourselves judges of their motives or actions.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 385
“But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.”
James 3:17-18
Then James describes the wisdom God gives — the wisdom he told us to ask for in 1:5. It is “first pure”: holiness comes first, and peace is never bought at the price of truth. “Then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated” — willing to listen and to yield. “Full of mercy and good fruits.” Without favouritism (the sin of chapter 2), and without pretence. It is a portrait of Jesus Himself.
“The wayward heart may take exception to the message, and the servant of God may be misjudged and criticized. Let him then remember that ‘the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.’ James 3:17, 18.”
Ellen G. White · The Acts of the Apostles, p. 526
“The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.” Words are seeds. The peacemaker sows them in peace and reaps a harvest of righteousness. So the chapter that began with the tongue as a destroying fire ends with the tongue as a sower of peace. The same little member can do either. The difference is which wisdom rules the heart.
