James 3:1. James opens this section on the most deadly weapon in the human body with a warning for teachers. He uses the vocative of address, “my brothers,” as he begins a new section. Although he addresses those who want to become teachers in the church, his warning remains a poignant reminder to anyone who teaches today in the church. Teaching is one of the gifts of the Spirit (Ephesians 4:11). It is a much-needed and necessary part of the body of Christ.

When teachers teach, they must be careful in what they say. There is a danger in not teaching the Word of God properly. Teachers receive a stricter judgment because they influence everyone who hears their teaching. If it is not correct or biblically sound, they will lead many people astray and be responsible for how those people live the Christian life, or fail to live the Christian life.

Jesus taught a lot about teachers and what God expects from them (Matthew 5:19; 10:24-25; 15:14; 18:6; Mark 12:38-40; Luke 17:1-2; 20:45-47; John 3:10). He warned against leading children astray. He also issued a warning that it is better for them to have a millstone tied around his neck and be cast into the sea. This implies that God’s judgment of these teachers will be far more severe than being drowned in the sea.

Jesus also taught about the dangers of the tongue (Matthew 5:22, 37; 12:36-37; 15:11; Mark 7:15). He stressed that what we say has the power to affect our lives in negative ways. We must be careful about what we say. God will judge us for the words we speak. This is a grave responsibility for teachers and Christians. James is in lockstep with his brother Jesus.

James refers to a stricter judgment that will happen during the judgments of the end times. This may happen during the bema judgment of the saints (1 Corinthians 3:11-15; 4:5; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 Peter 1:17; Revelation 22:12). Our words matter to God. We must steward our tongues as well as we can.

James 3:2. James describes this malady of humans. It is an incurable disease some have called “foot in mouth disease.” The grace James gives in this verse is helpful to all of us. He includes himself in this problem of the tongue. Not just as a teacher, but as a human being. It is good to know that even James struggles, as we all do.

“Many ways” probably refers to the many ways we stumble in our speech. He is not referring to other ways to stumble. Picture stumbling as part of your walk with Jesus. As you walk with Him, stumbling is falling behind on the path He has laid out for you and me to walk with Him. If you stumble, you can resume walking. This is not the end of the road.

He reminds us of what he has already said about the perfect person when he lays out another conditional statement that if a person does not stumble in what he speaks, he is a perfect person. This kind of condition in the original language points to James not believing a perfect person exists (Greek second-class conditional) Remember that perfect refers to maturity and becoming the person Jesus is making you to be. It is not an impossibly high standard you, or someone, sets for you.

He further remarks that if this person can control the tongue, he can control the whole body. The word James uses for controlling the tongue is the word “bridle,” which refers to the bits people put in horses’ mouths. It is a word unique to James, although it is a common word in his time (James 1:26; 3:2, 3). He will use it in his first image of controlling the tongue.

We are all in process, on the journey, learning more and more about God, getting closer and closer to Him, and most of all, learning from our failures how to become more of a success than we already are in living out God’s righteousness and holiness.

James 3:3-5. James introduces three images to illustrate what he teaches about the tongue. Each image pushes the idea of a small thing controlling a larger thing. Two of them are images from nature, and the third is a nautical image. The first image is of putting a bit into a horse’s mouth. You can direct the horse’s whole body with that small bit. It makes the bit more powerful than the horse. My favorite part of verse 3 is that James uses the word for persuading or convincing to describe how the bit “controls” the horse.

I went one Christmas with my family on a horse-drawn carriage through a Christmas light exhibit. It was awesome! But one of the drivers told us that the horses they were using were like the Clydesdales, but a different horse. Then she hit us with a number that blew my mind. Those horses are 2,000 pounds each! 2,000 pounds! That’s a lot of horse! And a little tiny wooden or metal bit controlled that 2,000 pound horse.

James uses catchwords throughout his letter to move from one idea or teaching to the next. He ends verse 3 by saying that the bit directs the whole body of the horse. Next, James will use a nautical image to make the same point. In verse 4, he uses the same word for a pilot of a ship at sea. The small rudder directs the ship wherever the pilot desires to go. He contrasts the large ship with the small rudder. He calls you to observe this astounding fact with “behold, look.” The nautical image breaks up the two images from nature as he places it in the middle.

In verse 5, James connects the images to the tongue and the point he makes about a small thing controlling a whole body. Some commentators suggest James is talking about the body of Christ, but it is more natural to understand that he is talking about the human body. James says the tongue is a small part of the body, just like the bit and rudder. But it boasts of great things. Boasting is a way to get yourself into trouble. Once again, the tongue is small and the boast is large. This is the point James has been making with these examples.

Many Bible versions split into a new paragraph with “See, Look” and the third image. This is a stylistic decision. The original manuscripts would not have had paragraphs or even spaces between the words. It is a short sentence before verse 6 elaborates on the image. I have followed that convention in my translation. I think it is easier for the reader that way.

James’s third image of an enormous forest fire is the last image we have. A great forest is set on fire or kindled by the smallest of flames. For the last two images, James has used the word for “see, look, behold.” He uses three illustrations without boring us. He is a master at delivering the principle and its examples.

James 3:6. The third image is very short, but James has been making the same point for all three images, so it is easy for us to fill in any gaps. Some commentators have called these “stock images” because there is nothing special about them in James’s day. They are images that have been used before, sometimes together by other writers. Sometimes you do not have to try harder to make images work together. The point still lands.

James will now apply the third image of the forest fire to the tongue in a different way. So far, he has been pointing out how a small thing controls a larger thing. Now he will address the tongue in the most negative terms he has so far. He says the tongue is a fire. It is destructive, like a fire that burns a forest down. Every year out in California, they deal with raging forest fires that could destroy homes and even put people’s lives at risk. It does not take much to get wildfires going, but it is almost impossible to stop them.

The same is true of the tongue. Once it begins flapping, it is so hard to stop it. He says four things about the tongue that have to do with the destructive force of a fire. First, he defines the tongue as a world of unrighteousness. How often do our tongues get us into trouble because they say things that are not righteous or just? I know I spend more time trying to take back what my tongue blurts out. We all struggle with this.

Second, the tongue is part of the body’s members, but it defiles the body. This is “it Old Testament word” that talks about how the body has been made unclean by what the tongue says. It does this because it is a member of the body. Think of a body you are a member of, whether that be the business you work for, the church you belong to, your family, or any other type of body or organization. What you say can give them a bad name. The same is true of the tongue. James’s point is getting stronger with each description.

Third, James says that the tongue sets fire to the course of life. The original word is “wheel, circle.” But it stands for the way our lives go. The course of life can be decided by what you say. You may see something that gets you fired, keeps you from getting fired, destroys relationships, or pushes) close friends away. This is why would we say matters. We may not think about it before that tongue starts lashing, but it has great power and we misuse it more often than not.

The last description James gives is the strongest. He says it is “set on fire by hell.” “Hell” is the word we use. But the Greek word James uses is familiar to readers of the Gospels. It is the word Gehenna. This was a very specific place outside of Jerusalem where all the garbage was burned. James’s point is clear–that no good thing comes from the tongue.