James: Teachers and Tongues (Part 4)

The Most Important Book We Forgot

May 17, 2015
By John Partridge

Scripture: James 3:1 - 4:12

In the year 1615, Galileo Galilei was tried by the Roman Inquisition on charges that he was advocating and
teaching Heliocentrism, the idea that the Earth revolved around the Sun. This idea was not new. It had
been vigorously discussed by the scientific community as well as the church for more than two centuries
and in fact, Nicolaus Copernicus had published a full mathematical discussion of such a system in 1543.
But despite the growing evidence that the Earth revolved around the Sun instead of the Sun, moon and
starts revolving around the Earth, and despite the observations that Galileo had made with his telescopes
that confirmed Copernicus mathematics, and despite the fact that the Pope himself had seen much of
Copernicuss work and approved of it eighty years earlier, the judges of the Inquisition insisted that the
Bible required that the Earth be the center of the universe and therefore the teachings of Copernicus and
Galileo were contrary to the teachings of scripture.
Although history would prove Galileo right and the judges of the Inquisition wrong, the church knew that
wrong teaching was a dangerous thing. Over the centuries, the church had fought many battles with false
teaching that had brought great harm, and so, despite becoming a colossal abuse of power, it was initially
intended to prevent such damage from happening again. Today, our scientists and politicians argue whether
or not human beings are the primary cause of global warming with those on each side insisting that those
on the other side are causing great harm to humanity. Regardless of which side you are on, we can all
agree that teaching is a powerful force and has the potential to change lives as well as the course of history.
James knew this fifteen hundred years earlier, and in this letter, he too was confronting those who were
teaching in ways that he knew would divide the church and do great damage to the cause of Jesus Christ.
3:1

Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will
be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is
perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.
3

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take
ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very
small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes
great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world
of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of ones life on fire,
and is itself set on fire by hell.
7
8

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind,
but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made
in Gods likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should
not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a
fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
1

As some of the churches under James supervision were having problems that grew out of poor or even
false teaching, James writes that not everyone has the gifts or the tools to be a good teacher. More than
that, he stresses that teaching is so important to the kingdom of God that those in positions of authority,
such as teachers, will be judged by how well they have done their jobs. Although all of us stumble from
time to time, and although all of us say things that we should not, we have an obligation to teach what is
right. In some churches, there were teachers who were being drawn into teaching for the wrong reasons:
power, prestige, and status, instead of giftedness and the call of God. Because teaching is such a powerful
in influential position, James stresses that the responsibility of teaching is also great and those of us who do
so will be examined more closely than others and our failure to do our best, and to do so faithfully, will be
punished. This echoes the words of Jesus in Mark 12:40 when he said that the scribes would be punished
most severely because what they were teaching the people was wrong.
Most of us have noticed that teachers talk a lot and it is for that reason that we must be careful because our
tongues can do much good or do great harm. But that is a good warning for all of us whether or not we
teach.
James reminds us of small things that steer or control large things. A bit helps us to steer a horse and a
rudder steers a ship and although we cannot use our tongues to steer our bodies, how we use them can
determine the direction or destiny of our lives. In addition, how the teachers in the church choose to use
their tongues can steer the direction of the entire church body. James also reminds us that small things, like
a spark, can start something bigger, such as a forest fire that can do great damage before it stops. Although
the Inquisition went wild itself, those responsible understood that ideas, like fire, can easily get out of
control.
While humanity has learned to tame wild animals, even after thousands of years of modern history, we still
struggle to tame the human tongue. It is here that James returns to the idea of double mindedness and the
distinction between faith and action. When we praise God on Sunday but curse on Monday, our doublemindedness is revealed by our actions. In the Army we would occasionally stop our friends after a long
string of swearing by asking them, Do you kiss your momma with that mouth? This is the same sort of
question that James is asking when he says, Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same
spring? Just as fresh water doesnt come out of a salty spring, what come out of our mouths reveals what
sort of things are going on in our hearts.
James continues with that same idea by saying
13

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the
humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do
not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such wisdom does not come down from heaven but is earthly,
unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every
evil practice.
If we are wise, if we are understanding, then, like our faith, wisdom and understanding will be revealed by
our actions. Envy, bitterness, and selfish ambition are unspiritual vices and reveal the evil within us but
the things of God reveal virtue by bringing peace to our lives and to the lives of those around us. It might
also be interesting to note that the word that James uses for selfish ambition is found in only one other
place prior ancient literature from that time period. Aristotle used it to refer to the partisan ambition of
selfish, greedy, politicians. And so, James is warning us to be very careful that our passion is directed so

that we seek to do what is best for the church and for the kingdom of God and not for our own selfish
benefit.
17

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive,
full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of
righteousness.
4:1

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Dont they come from your desires that battle within you?
You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and
fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask
with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
2

We can suspect that the quarrels and fights among the people in James church might easily have been
caused by the curses and harsh words that he mentioned earlier. But instead of fighting with one another to
get the things that we want, James encourages us to ask God instead. But in doing so, we must be careful
to pray with the right motives. James understands that many of us pray for the things that we want instead
of the things that God wants and James knows that God will not answer those prayers. Jesus wants us to
ask for things which are focused on Gods kingdom and on accomplishing the will of God, and not for
things that give us pleasure or are intended to accomplish our will.
4

You adulterous people, dont you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God?
Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think
Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us]? 6 But he
gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.
7

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he
will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve,
mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the
Lord, and he will lift you up.
11

Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges
them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in
judgment on it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you
who are you to judge your neighbor?
God opposes the proud because the proud will believe that their accomplishments are a result of their
effort. God favors the humble because the humble know that their accomplishments are the result of Gods
effort.
When we recognize that God is everything and put God first, then he gives us not only the things that
accomplish his will and his purpose, but also things that bring us pleasure.
As we use our tongues, we must learn to control them and to use them wisely. God is our judge and James
reminds us not to judge one another because in doing so we not only fail to love our neighbor, but we take

Gods place as the lawgiver and judge who alone has the right to determine the eternal fate of his
creatures.1 When we judge one another we stand in judgement of Gods law.
Although they abused their power and did great harm to the church and to the cause of Jesus Christ, the
judges of the Inquisition knew that words and ideas were powerful. Wrong teaching or even poor and
unfaithful teaching can do great damage. James understood that fifteen centuries earlier and he used his
words to remind us how important it is to control our teaching and our tongues.
Our words must be consistent.
What we say on Sunday has to line up with what we say from Monday through Saturday. What we teach
must align itself with what scripture teaches.
We cannot be double-minded. Our words and our actions reveal our hearts and our faith and so our words
and our actions must be consistent.
What we say must be consistent with what we do.
And at the end of the day, that is still the key to the message of James.
We cannot just talk the talk.
We have to walk the walk.
We cant just say that we are Christians. We need to act like Christians.
And for James, a big part of that lies in controlling our tongues especially those of us who teach.

1 Douglass Moo, p. 193, James, Tyndale New Testament Commentary, InterVarsity Press, 2015.
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