2 Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.
3 We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. 4 And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. 5 In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches.
But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. 6 And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.[b]
James 3:2-6 (NLT) 中文
Power of the tongue
You’ve probably heard the phrase, “The pen is mightier than the sword”, coined by English novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839. The tongue is powered the same as the pen, but acts more quickly and usually with greater damage to the person. To be true, it causes great sin. James tells us what we do not want to hear: if we can control our tongue, we can have perfect self control. Who of us can honestly say we have control of our tongue?
Horses and Ships
James turns to the examples of horses and ships. With a bit in a horse’s mouth, connected to a bridle and reigns, we can control an animal that is more than 4x our weight and size! And a boat, being so huge, can be steered by such a (proportionately) small rudder. That helps us understand the power of the tongue. “Grand speeches” in NLT is “boasts of great things” in NASB. In the context, it seems that it is not the big speech but the impact it has compared to its size.
Spark of hell
His next example is a spark. How many forest fires are started by a small spark – like a carelessly disposed cigarette butt? Again, the point is clear – such a small thing can have such a big impact. But then he goes further. The tongue is not just an inanimate object like a bit, rudder or spark. James puts it very bluntly. It is living. And not just living, it is a source of all kinds of evil – evil sent from hell itself! We should give careful consideration to how we allow our tongues to be complicit in the devil’s work!
The real question
All this talk begs the real question. If we know the tongue has the power for such sin and evil, what do we do about it? “James points us towards having the Spirit of God, working through the new man, set directing hands on the reins and rudder that is our tongue.” (enduringword.com) Only as we diligently work to let the Spirit of God control us, we can have success. Paul tells us to walk by the Spirit and we will not gratify the works of the flesh. (Gal 4:6-8)
RЯeflection
- Now is a good time to assess our speech. Think of what we’ve said just in the last 6 hours. Go even deeper and consider our thoughts. Jesus tells us, “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45)
- Have you thought about the fact that the evil speech that comes out of our mouth has its source in hell? That can be a quite sobering thought!
