James 3:1-12
James, the half-brother of Jesus, writes his letter to a group of Jewish Christians who are displaced from their homes. Them being in “the Dispersion” (1:1) has likely been caused by persecution of Christians. James’ intended goal for his original audience and us today can be summed up as follows: James calls for Christians enabled by the transforming grace of God to be spiritually whole people. He writes to call Christians to live as Christians in every facet of their lives. One area of the Christian life he returns to throughout the letter is how the Christian ought to speak.
Read James 3:1-12 and answer the following:
What words or phrases are repeated? Make note of them.
What do we learn about God?
What do we learn about fallen humanity?
What is James using these varied images to do?
In what ways does this passage call you to repent?
What grace-enabled changes need to be made in the way that you speak?
In what ways does this passage give us continued content for prayer?
We have no reason to be unnecessarily discouraged by these verses. If we’re honest, we can all recount times even this week that we have spoken against someone made in God’s image (3:9-10). We’re aware that often our patterns of speech are inconsistent with the Gospel message we proclaim, and the standard of living Christians are called to in the Bible. But here is the encouragement: James says “no human being can tame the tongue” (3:8) but we are not dependent on human power to live lives of godly speech. If we are in Christ, the Holy Spirit convicts, encourages, empowers, and transforms us into increasing likeness to Christ (Rom. 8:29-30).Although man cannot tame the tongue, God Himself is at work in us.
By Mac Matthews
MSU Cru Alumni, Hubbard Hall