From: James 3:1-10
Controlling One’s Tongue
[6] And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is an unrighteous world among our mem-
bers, staining the whole body, setting on fire the cycle of nature, and set on fire
by Hell. [7] For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be
tamed and has been tamed by humankind, [8] but no human being can tame the
tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. [9] With it we bless the Lord and Fa-
ther, and with it we curse men, who are made in the likeness of God. [10] From
the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be
so.
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Commentary:
1-18. There is now an apparently sudden change of subject; but in fact the
themes dealt with in the letter from this point onwards are practical applications
of the principle outlined in the second section (consistently between faith and
works). Firstly, it deals with control of the tongue, prudent speech; after warning
of occupational hazards of teachers (verses 1-2), it denounces the sins the
tongue can cause (verses 2-12), and goes on to describe the characteristics of
true and false wisdom.
1-2. St. James draws attention to the responsibility that goes with holding a po-
sition of authority: all those who are teachers, in addition to answering to God
for their own actions, are responsible to some degree for the actions of their di-
sciples. That is why the Church has always encouraged prayer for those whose
job it is to guide their brethren: “Nor should (lay people) fail to commend to God
in prayers those who have been placed over them, who indeed keep watch as
having to render an account for our souls, that they may do this with joy and not
with grief (cf. Hebrews 13:17)”) (Vatican II, “Lumen Gentium”, 37).
“We all make many mistakes”: Sacred Scripture repeatedly draws attention
to the sinful condition of man and the frequency with which he offends God (cf.,
e.g., Psalm 19:13; 51:3ff; Proverbs 20:9; 1 John 1:8). The Council of Trent re-
calls these words of St. James when it teaches that no one can go through life
without committing some venial sin, “except by a special privilege granted by
God, as the Church teaches happened in the case of the Blessed Virgin” (”De
Iustificatione”, Canon 23; Chapter 16).
The great Saints, from whom we can learn much, have attained holiness be-
cause they recognized that they were sinners. “I shall love you, Lord, and shall
give thanks to You and confess Your name,” St. Augustine exclaims, because
“You have forgiven me such great sins and evil deeds [...]: for what might I have
not done, seeing that I loved evil solely because it was evil? I confess that You
have forgiven all alike—the sins I committed on my own motion, the sins I would
have committed but for Your grace [...]. If any man has heard Your voice and fol-
lowed it and done none of the things he finds me here recording and confessing,
still he must not scorn me: for I am healed by the same Doctor who preserved
him from falling into sickness, or at least into such grievous sickness. But let
him love You even more — seeing me rescued out of such sickness of sin, and
himself saved from falling into such sickness of sin, by the one same Savior”
(”Confessions”, 2, 7).
2-12. The sacred writer focuses on sins of the tongue, possibly because of their
frequency. In the Wisdom books of the Old Testament these sins are referred
to particularly often (cf., e.g., Proverbs 10:11-21; Sirach 5:9-15; 28:13-26).
He basically makes three points—first, a positive point, by way of summing up
what follows: “If any one makes no mistakes in what he says he is a perfect
man” (verse 2). Then with three graphic comparisons (typical of this Letter) he
shows how difficult it is to control the tongue (verses 3-6), but controlled it must
be, otherwise great harm will be done (verses 7-12).
“A perfect man” (verse 2): this does not mean that he cannot commit other sins;
it implies that if one succeeds in restraining one’s tongue one has self-control,
which means that one is putting up good resistance to temptation.
3-6. Three simple, easy-to-understand examples (used also by other ancient wri-
ters in Greco-Latin and Jewish literature) show how something small — a horse’s
bit, a boat’s rudder, a small fire—can have very big effects; the tongue has a simi-
lar influence in social life.
The “St. Pius V Catechism”, recalling this teaching, says: “From these words we
learn two truths. The fact is that sins of the tongue are very prevalent [...]. The o-
ther truth is that the tongue is a source of innumerable evils. Through the fault of
the evil-speaker are often lost the property, the reputation, the life, and salvation
of the injured person, or of him who inflicts the injury. The injured person, unable
to bear patiently the contumely, avenges it without restraint. The offender, on the
other hand, deterred by a perverse shame and a false idea of what is called ho-
nor, cannot be induced to make reparation to him whom he has offended” (III, 9,
1). It should be remembered that if one unfairly damages another’s reputation
one has an obligation to make reparation by doing what one can to restore his
or her good name.
“Do you know what damage you may cause by throwing stones with your eyes
blindfolded? Neither do you know the harm you cause — and at times it is very
great — by letting drop uncharitable remarks that to you seem trifling, because
your eyes are blinded by thoughtlessness or passion” (St. J. Escriva, “The
Way”, 455).
6. St. James uses this graphic language to emphasize that if one does not con-
trol one’s tongue it can cause much evil, affecting one’s entire life. In itself very
useful, the tongue can wreak havoc, so it is not surprising that the enemies of
our sanctification seek to get control of it: “though their voices sound like
cracked bells, that have not been cast from good metal and have a very different
tone from the shepherd’s whistle call, they so distort speech, which is one of the
most precious talents ever bestowed on men by God, a most beautiful gift for the
expression of deep thoughts of love and friendship towards the Lord and His crea-
tures, that one comes to understand why St. James says that the tongue is `an
unrighteous world’ (James 3:6). So great is the harm it can do—lies, slander, dis-
honor, trickery, insults, tortuous insinuations” (St. J. Escriva, “Friends of God”,
298).
9-12. The sacred writer uses further examples, equally simple and familiar to his
readers, to stress the need for control of the tongue. Experience shows that it is
as easy to put it to a good purpose as to an evil one. Besides, misuse of the
tongue is a sign that one’s heart is not in the right place: as our Lord already
warned us, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew
12:34).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.