Recently, in California, we had a crazy fire that burned for 52 days, across two counties, consuming over 250 square miles. It consumed 89 homes and took the lives of two fire fighters. For the first couple weeks, the fire containment was under ten percent. The wind, combined with the mountainous terrain and abundance of fuel made the battle difficult. What was amazing to watch was the way that the fire spread daily, seemingly exponentially, consuming more and more homes and wildlife.

And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.

For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race.

But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.

James 3:6-8 (New American Standard Bible)

In James, chapter three, we are told that our tongue is a fire. This means that our speech bears the same characteristics as fire. If our tongues are set on fire by hell—that is we allow ourselves to speak sinfully—then the sinfulness spreads like fire, defiling all the members of the body. This means that if we allow ourselves to speak sinfully, then we will act more and more sinfully in more and more ways as well.

Man was put on earth and commanded to ’subdue’ it (Genesis 1.28). Where man has been successful in subduing at least most of the earth, we have been unsuccessful in subduing the tongue. That is because the tongue is incapable of being tamed. It is one of the reasons men are naturally sinful; because we are unable to tame our tongues.

This leaves us with a dilemma. If we are called to righteousness, then how can we ever come near it without taming the tongue? Aren’t we in fact sanctified through Christ? James does not say that most people can’t tame the tongue. He doesn’t even say that no one can tame the tongue unless they have the strength of Christ. He says no one, meaning not anyone at all.

It is only Christ who can do this good work in us, and this work is done by heavenly wisdom, not worldly wisdom. James addresses this further in the chapter when he says, “the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown by those who make peace” (James 3.17,18). This is why no one can tame the tongue, because we cannot accomplish it with anything we know, only through heavenly wisdom.
Many times I have been asked, “What does this look like?” As Christians, we know we should have “no unwholesome talk” (Ephesians 4.29), but accomplishing that seems impractical. We must do it through heavenly wisdom. The practical is this: study the word of God, meditate on it, pray through it and you will receive the wisdom that comes from heaven and from Jesus Christ. Then and only then, will the tongue be tamed, not of our own strength, but by the strength of Christ alone.

Image Credits: nr49, sxc.hu

Taming the Fire of the Tongue–James 3.6-8