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. [James 3:7-8 NIV]
No human being can tame the tongue. Away back in the first book in the Bible we read that God gave mankind 'dominion' or rule over the animal kingdom.
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” [Genesis 1:26 NIV]
This idea of a special creation and mankind being created in God's image goes against the worldly wisdom that we are descended from the animals. However, that is not the main theme of today's blog. James is continuing to warn about the dangers of the tongue by which he means our unwholesome talk. He sets mankind's ability to tame a wide variety of animals, birds reptiles and sea creatures in dramatic contrast to our inability to control this small member of the human body.
There is no doubt that humans have turned wild animals into domesticated pets. As I am compiling this blog, my wife and I are sharing a room with a pet dog which is very much part of the family. The dog and other pets have been trained to modify their instincts to blend with human existence. There are many examples of how humans have trained animals to as means of transport - elephants transporting people and logs (not usually at the same time), camels, horses, husky dogs etc. Animal trainers have demonstrated their skills in entertaining the public at circus performances etc. Ferocious wild animal have been controlled by humans - even deadly snakes and predators such as lions and tigers have been dominated by humans. Of course, there are limits to this and it is easy to criticise James's argument by giving examples of animals which have never been tamed or controlled in any way. Crocodiles and alligators, for example, remain as deadly threats to human safety.
But James is not giving a lesson in biology or anthropology. He is making a spiritual point: the destructive impact of human speech and our inability to control our tongues. This is not to say that we should make no effort to watch our speech. The point is that we should take this warning very seriously about the deadly effects of unguarded talk. Also, there is a message contained here in the statement that 'no human being can tame the tongue.' By implication, this means that controlling our speech requires divine intervention. With God nothing is impossible so he can do the impossible in our lives if we submit completely to His sovereign will. In previous studies in Day Share, we looked at the fruit of the Spirit as outlined in Paul's letter to the Galatians.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. [Galatians 5:22-23 NIV]
If we allowed the Holy Spirt to control our lives, He would produce in our lives qualities which combatted this sinful tendency to use our speech in a harmful destructive fashion. Notice the last two features listed - gentleness and self-control. The word self-control is often translated as temperance but this might tempt us to restrict the application to preventing us from abusing alcohol - 'the demon drink.' But this self-control, also includes our talk whether in public or private. The word gentleness is a beautiful word and this quality should govern our relations with each other.
This is the 8th of the 9 fruits of the Spirit. It is the transaction of the Greek word praotes and can be translated as meekness, mildness or gentleness. The word is only used 9 times in the whole of the New Testament.
This starts with our attitude towards God. A Christian who demonstrates this fruit has recognised that God is all powerful and has accepted that Jesus is Lord of his or her life. We accept God's will for us without protest or complaint. This inner meekness has a massive impact on how we treat other people. We do not think we are better than our neighbours.
It is very closely linked with humility. The two words often go together.
Can I refer you to these previous Day Shares listed here.
What about the deadly poison? James tells us that the tongue is 'a restless evil, full of deadly poison.' Again, I am going to unpack this by looking at Paul's letter to the Galatians but focusing now on the exact opposite of the fruits of the Spirit. Paul refers to the deeds of the flesh (the sinful nature) which we still have in our hearts. Here is Paul's list of sins:
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. [Galatians 5:19-21 NLT]
This verse provides a reminder that although we are born again by the Holy Spirit, we still have the old sinful nature within us. There is constant conflict going on in the Christian. S/he has a desire to live a life that is pleasing to God but the sinful nature is raging within the Christian with strong desire to do what is wrong. I have highlighted those which relate to abuse of the 'tongue' and this illustrates the truth that the tongue is full of deadly poison.
But we do not need to live a life of failure - we have an inner strength and power to live a godly life - if we let the Holy Spirit control us. If we walk in the Spirit, instead of constantly following the desires of our old sinful nature, we can live a successful Christian life and the Holy Spirit will produce fruit in our lives.
Photo by Kartik Iyer on Unsplash
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