Lesson 9 James 3:5-12

⁵ Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.

See how great a forest a little fire kindles! ⁶ And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. ⁷ For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. ⁸ But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹ With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. ¹¹ Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? ¹² Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.

 

First Impression?

            Makes me wonder if any old wives’ tale has any truth to it.

Why do our tongues boast?

            Pride. Our sin nature wants to build itself up and does so at any opportunity.

What causes a little fire to burn a whole forest?

Dry kindling. Everyone around us also had pride and is ripe to spread negativity as it builds them up over whoever is being maligned.

A world of iniquity. Why?

Maybe not a greatly phrased question, but the idea is that sin comes from the things we let our tongue say without controlling it. Our words either hurt others or lead to ourselves doing something negative.

Defiles the whole body. How?

Again, any sin is enough to earn the consequence of eternity in hell, so any sin committed by the tongue defiles us and the tongue is not punished separately.

Set on fire by hell. What?

My first response is no idea, that is why I asked. But now I almost want to say that the tongue will keep on keeping on because nothing impacts it until it is burning in hell. IT will not become righteous all on its own. You must control it or it will keep doing wrong.

The course of nature. When?

I’d question all these questions if I hadn’t written them. I would not have thought this phrases was about time. In all the negative future movies and such, it seems that the natural outcome of sin is a bunch of thoughtless idiots running around killing and destroying for fun. It seems the only barrier to this outcome of chaos is the purposeful actions of God-fearing people putting in efforts to protect others from the godless. If we allow our tongues free reign, then the outcome can only be godlessness.

Tame the tongue. Who?

We have to. Of course, only God has the power to do so. It is therefore up to us to follow Him and allow His strength to tame our tongue.

Bless and curse. When?

When we are talking and walking, but not walking the walk and talking the talk. Without God, we probably only bless others in the negative sense. This duplicity only happens when we have found God but are not yet following. 

Spring, Tree, Vine. What can we learn?

Much more than I have to date. I think the concept is that if we have allowed our nature to become one of following God rather than following our natural desires, our lives will look and feel like Christ rather than like a person trying to be good. If you have to try, maybe you have not repented. Those are the sins that are the hardest to overcome as we simply do not want to. God will give us the strength to get there, but if we do not even ask, how can we except the help we need.