Unity in Community 1 (James 3:1-12)

Words Reflect the Heart (3:1-12) 

James shifts his focus into a new section of teaching at this point. He starts by addressing teachers—or people aspiring to be teachers—but we’ll come to that later. The focus of this next section is unity within the community of faith, or the danger of disunity. James highlights the function of words. 

Our words, the things we say, our tongue, is a dangerous thing. James has already alluded to this earlier in the letter. True religion is practiced by those who can “bridle” their tongue. James uses that and other imagery here to show the impact of such a small part of our bodies. But the truth is that our tongue is so dangerous because our words are a reflection of our minds. With what we say we reflect what is in our hearts. The reason we can’t be perfect in what we say is because we are not perfect. We are in a battle with our sinfulness. The picture of the impossible tree producing two different fruits or the spring bringing both sweet and salty water is a picture of us. We are justified by faith, but we are still growing in our relationship with god. 

Just as we need to cooperate with God’s grace in our lives by doing the works that faith produces in us, we need to work at bridling our tongue. We can go a long way towards becoming the people God wants us to be if we will just control the things we say. Just as the tongue reflects the state of our hearts, when we learn to control the words we say it begins to change the way we think.