Taming the Tongue
1Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. 3If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life,1 and set on fire by hell.2 7For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers,3 these things ought not to be so. 11Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
The Wisdom from Heaven
James 3:13-18 Sermon • Includes Transcript • 42:43 • ID: 2584
The Power and Danger of the Tongue
James 3:3-12 Sermon • Includes Transcript • 35:56 • ID: 2582
A Warning to Would-Be Teachers
James 3:1-2 Sermon • Includes Transcript • 33:18 • ID: 2581
The Use and Abuse of Words
James 3:1-12 Sermon • Includes Transcript • 34:05 • ID: 2924
No Series were found this for passage.
11Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.4 The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
Footnotes
- 4 4:11 Or brothers and sisters
James: His Desire for the Churches
James 4:11-27, James 5:1-20 Sermon • 49:04 • ID: gs1345
A Study in James, Volume 3
Warnings against Worldliness James 4:1-5:6 Series • ID: 15903Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Text provided by the Crossway Bibles Web Service.
