JAMES 3:5

In James chapter three we are being told about the tongue of man. In verses five and six is emphasized the power of the tongue to destroy. There are many things in the world that have power. Do not forget to list the tongue as one of the principle ones. The tongue has great power to create and to build up, and also to destroy. The words that you say are important, extremely important. The Bible says in James 3:5-6, “Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindles. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.” We use our tongue to help form the words that we say. From a physical standpoint the tongue is one of the smaller and less powerful of the members of our body. But the power of the tongue comes from the fact that it helps to form our words.

The tongue is compared to a fire because of how it can start with one small word of gossip or criticism that can turn into a raging fire. One match can result in a great fire that can destroy millions of acres of forest and many homes. One cruel word of gossip or criticism can destroy reputations and lives. The wrong word said at the wrong time can separate chief friends. The tongue can destroy someone else’s life, and it can destroy your own life. James 3:6 says, “It defiles the whole body.” Jesus said a very similar thing in Mark 7:15, “There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they which defile the man.”

In James chapter three we have been told very clearly about the power of the tongue to determine the direction of our lives and our very destinies, and to build up or destroy both others and ourselves. Knowing this great power that exists with this little member in our mouths that helps form our words, we are in a difficult circumstance and the difficulty is expressed by James in James 3:7-8. It says, “For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” The problem is that like many other things man just is not capable of controlling his own tongue. That is why so many things are said that should not be said. Sinners will sin. “The tongue can no man tame.”

The solution to the problem of man not being able to do the right thing will be addressed at the end of the chapter, and of course, the solution will be found in coming to the light that is in Jesus Christ and then walking in that Light. But before we talk about the root cause and the solution to the horrible words that we are prone to say, James is going to point out one more horrible thing concerning believers allowing the wrong words to come out of their mouths. James 3:9-12 says, “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.”

We should not bless God, and then turn right around and use the same mouth to curse man. That would be a great hypocrisy. To do so would go against nature itself. Almost everything in nature can teach some kind of a spiritual lesson. We can learn a lesson about our own speech and what it should always be like by understanding a fountain or a spring of water. A spring does not produce both sweet water and bitter, and a spring does not produce both fresh water and salt water. If we are going to say good things about God, then we should also say good things about man. Hypocrisy may not only exist in the things that you do, it just might also exist in the things that you say.

In James 3:13 the Bible says, “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.” The key to understanding this verse is to realize that the word that is translated “conversation” is the Greek word that means literally “manner of life” or “behavior.” In other words this verse is just one more time that James is saying that it is better to show what you have learned by what you do than by what you say. Do you have wisdom and do you have knowledge from the Lord? Then show it by what you do. Make that your goal, instead of showing all of your wisdom by what you say. Anytime that you show what you know, it should be with “meekness of wisdom.” Be careful. Knowledge puffeth up. If what you have learned has led you to be more proud instead of more meek and humble, then you learned the wrong things, and you do not know as much about the way life should be as you think you do. You have gone wrong somewhere or you would not be so proud. If you do know anything, you only know it because God has revealed it to you. So what do you have to be proud about, O vain man?

Now we are going to get at the root of all these problems, and especially the problem of the tongue. James 3:14 tells us why we often say things that we should not. It says, “But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.” The problem is the heart. “From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” People say bitter things when they have bitterness in their hearts. You will not be able to change the words that are said unless first of all you change the heart. “The heart of man is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. Who can know it?” In all of the world and with all of the behavior problems of mankind, it has to do with a heart problem. Murders, and envyings, and adulteries, and gossiping, and cursing all come from the heart of man. To solve these problems the heart must be changed. That is where the gospel comes in. Only conversion to Jesus Christ can change the heart. Human religion can change the outside of man by giving rules and regulations to follow. But the letter killeth. Only the Spirit can make alive through faith in Jesus.

In James 3:15-17 the Bible speaks about two different kinds of wisdom. It says, “This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. 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.” There are two kinds of wisdom. One kind of wisdom comes from above and one kind does not come from above. There is a kind of wisdom that comes from God and from God only, and there is another kind of wisdom that comes from the world. In these verses several things are said about each kind of wisdom.

Concerning the kind of wisdom that is from this earth we are told first that it is sensual. In other words it is based upon the human physical senses only. It is dead to God and contains no spiritual qualities. That is the beginning of its failure. Man has both body and soul, and whatever does not address both of them will fail utterly. The second problem with the wisdom that comes only from this earth is not only that it is sensual, but also that it is devilish. Any life that does have the Spirit of God within it and that does not have Christ within it is available for the demons to pursue and to influence and to inhabit. What we have is man only without God and without the Good Spirit, but with the evil spirits. The results are not surprising: envying and strife, confusion, and every evil work.

In contrast to the wisdom that is of the earth, there is a wisdom that comes from above. Notice the characteristics of the wisdom that comes from God. It is “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” It is not surprising that something that comes from God is described first of all as being pure. Everything that God does, plans, thinks about, or gives is pure because He is holy. God wants us to be holy. If we have wisdom from God, the decisions that we make will lead us to holiness. Instead of envy, strife, and confusion that come from the wisdom of this world, the wisdom that comes from God results in that which is “peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy.” A person who has the characteristics of being “gentle” and “easy to be intreated” is a person who is not self-willed or selfish, but is surrendered to the will of God. How does a person get this kind of wisdom? The same way that we get anything from God: by asking for it. Remember that James 1:5 said, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”

The last two things mentioned, partiality and hypocrisy, are two things that James had already spoken about. Now James is making it clear how it is possible for us to think and live “without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” We can do it if God gives us wisdom to do it. If we have the wisdom that comes from the earth, then there is no chance. People that are prejudiced for any reason do not have the wisdom that comes from above. Hypocrites do not have the wisdom that comes from above. If you have the wisdom that comes from above, you treat all people the same because all are sinners and because Jesus died for all. If you have the wisdom that comes from above, then you do not have just an external religion that results in hypocrisy: you have a relationship with God through Christ.

The Bible says in James 3:18, “And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.” Peace is mentioned twice in this verse probably for emphasis. We can tell if we are headed in the right way in our relationship with the Lord by the amount of peace that is in our lives, and by the amount of peace that results from the things we do and say. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Jesus said to His followers, “My peace I give unto you.” Jesus also said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” Paul said in Romans 5:1, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” These things and many other verses in the New Testament show clearly that peace is provided for and offered to the believers through Jesus.

James said. “The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.” You can tell if you are really involved in righteousness by the consequences of what you do and what you say and what you are involved with. Righteousness has to do with sowing and reaping. If you sow certain kinds of seeds in a certain way then you will make peace. The key here is to understand that the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace. First comes the sowing and then the fruit will grow from that. Notice carefully that it is not only what you sow, but also how and why you sow it. What you do and say must be sown in connection with peace. You must have good and kind and peaceful intentions towards those around you. Your intentions are not envy or strife or quarreling. If you are around the lost people of the world, then your motivation is peace because you hope to be a witness for their benefit that they also may be saved. If you are around other saved people, then your motivation is also peace because you are hoping to in some way be a good influence on them in their walk of faith and in their service to the Lord.

If peace can be and should be so much a part of our lives, then what is going on when we do not have peace with those around us? One of the biggest reasons that we are not at peace with those around us is found in James 4:1. It says, “From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?” If your relationship with those around you cannot be described as peaceful, then that means that what you really have is “wars and fightings.” What is the source of these wars and fightings? James said to the people to whom he was writing, “Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?” The word “lust” means “strong desire.” If we have strong selfish desires for anything, it will invariably lead to conflicts with those around us. We will want things so strongly that we will come up against others who do not want the same things that we want, or who we will view as obstacles to getting what we want. All of this is just one of the many bad consequences to wanting our own will instead of being surrendered to God’s will. Thank God that there is an answer to this problem. The answer is to ask the Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness, and to give our will and our desires to Him. Remember that Jesus told us to pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” And then when He prayed in the garden of Gethsemane He said, “Not my will, but thine be done.”

___________________________________________________