Taming the Tongue: Part 6 - James 3:9-12

Taming the Tongue: Part 6 - James 3:9-12
Written by LaRosa Johnson
Tuesday, 04 March 2008

As we have spent the last five lessons looking at attempting to tame the tongue, we have seen just how dangerous our speech can be if left unchecked. In our verses today, James is ready to conclude the matter of taming the tongue before moving into other issues; in doing so, he uses some very strong and direct language to drive home his point about the importance of watching our speech as believers in Christ Jesus. With that in mind, let us close our study on taming the tongue by examining our final passage, James 3:9-12.

Quote :

James 3:9-12 (NASB) - 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; 10 from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. 11 Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh.

As we prepare to unpack the truths of this passage, there are a few things that we can immediately see: 1) the tongue can be used for good or bad, 2) a rebuke for using the tongue negatively, and 3) three examples to further drive home the point. In our study of the text, we will want to take a look at these points individually so that we can appreciate the context as a whole.

In verse 9, we see that with the tongue, we bless our Lord and Father, which is God and Jesus Christ. This is an interesting thing to note because, again, we remember that James is writing to Jews, and it was very common for Jews to say something to the extent of "blessed be he" after every mentioning of God's name; it was also fairly common to do something similar when ending their daily times of prayer (3x a day) or during worship by something something to the extent of "blessed be the Lord" or something closely resembling that. The point of doing this was to honor and reverence the name of God and to bring glory to His name whenever it was spoken, since is is Lord and Creator of all. Being His chosen people, Jews were keenly aware of this, and, therefore, made the extra effort to give His name its due honor when spoken. As believers today, we should have a similar attitude and respect for the name of the Lord; we should not be using His name casually, but blessing it with every opportunity that we have. It is only appropriate for us to do so.

In sharp contrast to blessing the name of the Lord, James then goes on to state that we also use our tongue to curse men. If we read this text with some passion, we could very easily assume that James was appalled at such a thought, that these believers would be using their tongues to bless God and then turn around and curse men. He really serves to drive the point home with the end of verse 9 when he adds that these are men (as all humans are) who have been made in the likeness of God (Genesis 1:26). Continuing on with verse 10, "from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing." How awful is that?! To state it very plainly, what James is saying is this: how can you, on the one hand, bless God with your tongue, and then turn around and use that same tongue to bless God's creation and likeness? It really seems pointless to bless God and then curse the very thing that is made in the very likeness of God, does it not? This is likely the line of thought that James had when writing those words. John even spoke on something similar in 1 John 4:20-21 when he said:

Quote :

1 John 4:20-21 (NASB) - 20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

In other words, to paraphrase John and James, how can you hate your brother and then say you love God? It's impossible! You cannot love God, whom you have never seen, and then hate your brother (the creation of God), whom you can see. This goes back to James 2:14-26 and the whole issue of faith versus works; how can you say you have faith in God and not have the working of love as visible proof of that faith? One of the fruits of the Spirit is love; so if you have the Spirit, then you should have love for your fellow man.

James then goes on to use some very strong language in the second half of verse 10 when he states, "my brethren, these things ought not to be this way." Now, I had mentioned previously about James' use of brethren, used fifteen (15) times in the entire letter; in each instance, he is using it to do two things: 1) to have them pay special attention to what is being said, and 2) to let them know that he loves them and that they are dear to his heart, hence why he is even taking the time to write such a bold letter. In this particular instance, James is bringing their attention to the most important statement in this entire section, "these things ought not to be this way." We should not be two-faced with our speech, and James is using a very strong negative in the use of "ought not" (only used here in the New Testament), which suggests that this kind of behavior has absolutely no place in the life of a Christian. As we've already stated, a believer cannot say that he loves God (with his heart or tongue) and then turn around and hate his brother; if you love God, then you love your brother, it's that simple. So, if there is nothing else to be had from this entire passage, the point that one should walk away with is that a Christian should never be found guilty of blessing and cursing with their speech; we are to love God and love His creation, our brother.

The conclusion of this passage merely provides some visual follow-up to further drive home the point that had just been made. Verses 11 and 12 contain three examples that just about any person could relate to, whether in the time of this letter or in our present day & age. The first example that we are given is that of a fountain producing both fresh and bitter water. It's impossible; you can only have one or the other, preferably the fresh water. The second example is that a fig tree cannot produce olives, nor can a vine produce figs. Again, another impossibility, as a tree can only produce after its own kind. Thirdly and finally, you cannot get fresh water from salt water. You cannot take a glass of salt water from the sea, put it in a lake and have it all of a sudden become fresh water, yet another impossibility. Each of these examples are unnatural, just as unnatural as what was spoken above about a believer who blesses & curses with his tongue. The one that stands out the most is the fig tree & olive branch, as we know that a tree or vine can only produce after its own kind. In the realm of Christianity, we often have to perform a fruit inspection to see if one is of the faith or not; we find in John 13:35 that people will know we are Christ's disciples by the love that we have for one another. That is to say, if you say you're an olive branch (a Christian) but are producing figs (let's just call it hate in this instance), then we cannot call you an olive branch, but instead a fig tree, because an olive branch only produces olives (love).

If we have love for one another, one of the places where it will show itself is in our speech. As we have seen, the tongue is very difficult to tame and it bears witness to what is inside our heart. It is our responsibility to tame our tongue and to guard our speech. Let us remember the words of Paul in Philippians 4:8 and the Psalmist in Psalm 119:11 so that we can have safeguards built up to keep the tongue caged and subject to the Holy Spirit working within us. It is nothing that we can do on our own, but only through the power of the Spirit in us. Until next time, stay in your word, remain in prayer, and keep your armor on. God bless!

devotion courtesy of Trailblazin Ministries
http://www.trailblazinministries.com/daily-devotions/03-04-2008.php