Chapter 3
The Power of the Tongue
1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, knowing that we who teach will receive a stricter judgment.
2 For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.
3 Now if we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they will obey us, we guide their whole body.
4 Look also at ships: though they are so great and are driven by fierce winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot directs.
5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!
6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of life, and is itself set on fire by Gehenna.
7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race.
8 But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who have been made in the likeness of God.
10 Out of the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, these things ought not to be so.
11 Does a spring pour out from the same opening both fresh water and bitter?
12 Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt spring yield fresh water.
Translator’s Notes — vv. 1–2:
διδάσκαλοι (didaskaloi) — v.1: “Teachers” — the διδάσκαλος (didaskalos, “teacher”) held a position of significant authority in the early church. Paul lists teachers as a distinct calling alongside apostles and prophets (1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11). In Jewish culture, the teacher (rabbi) bore enormous responsibility, as his words shaped how people understood God’s will. James’s warning is striking because he includes himself: “we who teach” — acknowledging that he is subject to the same stricter standard. The word κρίμα (krima, “judgment”) here does not mean condemnation but heightened accountability. Compare Jesus’s words in Luke 12:48: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required.”
τέλειος ἀνήρ (teleios anēr) — v.2: “A perfect man” — the word τέλειος (teleios) returns from 1:4 and 1:25, carrying the same sense of maturity and completeness. James’s logic is: if someone can control his tongue — the most unruly member of the body — he can control everything else. The verb χαλιναγωγῆσαι (“to bridle”) picks up from 1:26, where James spoke of bridling the tongue. Now the image expands: the one who masters the tongue has bridled the whole body. This sets up the three analogies that follow.
Translator’s Notes — vv. 3–6:
χαλινούς ... πηδάλιον ... πῦρ (chalinous ... pēdalion ... pyr) — vv.3–5: Three analogies of disproportionate power — James builds a sequence of images in ascending intensity. The bit (χαλινός, chalinos) is a small piece of metal that controls a powerful horse. The rudder (πηδάλιον, pēdalion) is a tiny blade that steers a massive ship against fierce winds. The spark (πῦρ, pyr) is a tiny flame that ignites an entire forest. Each image escalates: the bit guides, the rudder steers, but the fire destroys. The tongue can do all three. The bit and rudder images were common in Greek moral philosophy — Plutarch and Philo both use them — but James’s escalation to fire is distinctly biblical. The destructive fire of the tongue echoes Proverbs 16:27 (“a scoundrel’s speech is like a scorching fire”), Proverbs 26:20–21 (“Without wood a fire goes out; without a gossip a quarrel dies down”), and Psalm 120:2–4 (deceitful tongues likened to burning coals).
κόσμος τῆς ἀδικίας (kosmos tēs adikias) — v.6: “A world of unrighteousness” — this is one of the most densely packed phrases in James. The tongue is called a κόσμος (kosmos, “world, system, order”) of unrighteousness — not merely a member that sometimes sins, but an entire realm of evil contained in a single organ. The word κόσμος here carries the same negative sense as in 1:27 and 4:4: the organized system of values opposed to God.
τὸν τροχὸν τῆς γενέσεως (ton trochon tēs geneseōs) — v.6: “The course of life” — literally “the wheel of birth” or “the cycle of existence.” This unusual phrase (τροχὸς τῆς γενέσεως) was used in Orphic and Pythagorean philosophy to describe the cycle of human life or the wheel of fate. James borrows the expression but strips it of its pagan metaphysical content and uses it practically: the tongue sets fire to the entire course of a person’s life, from birth to death. It poisons relationships, destroys reputations, and corrupts communities across a lifetime.
γεέννης (geennēs) — v.6: “Gehenna” — the word γέεννα (geenna) derives from the Hebrew גיא הנם (Ge Hinnom, “Valley of Hinnom”), a ravine south of Jerusalem associated with child sacrifice to Molech (2 Kings 23:10; Jeremiah 7:31–32; 32:35) and later used as a symbol of divine judgment and the fire of destruction. Jesus used “Gehenna” repeatedly as an image of ultimate judgment (Matthew 5:22, 29–30; 10:28; Mark 9:43–48). James’s claim is startling: the destructive power of the tongue does not merely come from human weakness — its fire originates in hell itself. This is the only use of “Gehenna” in the New Testament outside the Gospels, and it is one more indication of how deeply Jesus’s teaching shaped James’s thinking.
Translator’s Notes — vv. 7–12:
δαμάζεται καὶ δεδάμασται (damazetai kai dedamastai) — v.7: “Is tamed and has been tamed” — the two tenses (present and perfect) emphasize both ongoing and accomplished subjugation. James lists four categories of creatures — beasts, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures — echoing the four categories of Genesis 1:26, where humanity is given dominion over “the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the livestock, and every creeping thing.” James’s point is bitterly ironic: humanity has fulfilled the creation mandate to subdue every kind of animal, but cannot subdue this one small member of its own body. The one creature humanity cannot master is itself.
ἀκατάστατον κακόν, μεστὴ ἰοῦ θανατηφόρου (akatastaton kakon, mestē iou thanatēphorou) — v.8: “A restless evil, full of deadly poison” — the word ἀκατάστατον (akatastaton, “restless, unstable”) appeared in 1:8 to describe the double-minded man, and the related noun ἀκαταστασία (akatastasia, “disorder”) will appear in 3:16 to describe the chaos produced by false wisdom. The three occurrences trace a progression from the individual to the body to the community: the double-minded person (1:8) has a restless tongue (3:8) that produces disorder in the community (3:16). The tongue shares the character of instability — it cannot be pinned down, cannot be relied upon. The image of deadly poison (ἰὸς θανατηφόρος, ios thanatēphoros, “death-bearing venom”) echoes Psalm 140:3: “They sharpen their tongues like a serpent; the poison of vipers is on their lips.” Paul quotes this psalm in Romans 3:13. The tongue is portrayed as a venomous snake — small, quick, and lethal.
καθ’ ὁμοίωσιν θεοῦ (kath’ homoiōsin theou) — v.9: “In the likeness of God” — James grounds his argument in Genesis 1:26–27: humanity is made in God’s image and likeness. To curse a person made in God’s image is, in effect, to curse God’s own handiwork. This theological principle appears in Genesis 9:6 (the basis for the prohibition of murder: “for God made man in his own image”) and is developed in rabbinic tradition. Rabbi Akiva taught: “Beloved is man, for he was created in the image of God” (Pirke Avot 3:14). The contradiction James exposes — blessing God and cursing God’s image-bearers with the same mouth — is not merely hypocrisy; it is theological incoherence.
vv.9–10: The juxtaposition of blessing and cursing from the same mouth is a theme deeply rooted in the Old Testament wisdom tradition. Psalm 62:4: “With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse.” Sirach 28:12: “If you blow on a spark, it will glow; if you spit on it, it will be put out; and both come from your mouth.” Jesus taught the same principle in Matthew 12:34–37: “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks ... by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
vv.11–12: James closes with three images drawn from nature — the spring, the fig tree, and the salt spring — to argue that the tongue’s inconsistency is unnatural. A spring does not produce both fresh and bitter water from the same opening. A fig tree does not produce olives. A grapevine does not yield figs. These are violations of created order. Jesus used similar botanical imagery in Matthew 7:16–20: “Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Every good tree bears good fruit.” James’s argument is that the divided tongue reveals a divided heart — and a divided heart is precisely the δίψυχος (dipsychos, “double-minded”) condition he warned against in 1:8. The tongue is a diagnostic: what comes out of the mouth reveals what is in the soul.
Two Kinds of Wisdom
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good conduct that his works are done in the gentleness of wisdom.
14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.
15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
16 For where there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and every evil practice.
17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
Translator’s Notes — vv. 13–18:
σοφὸς καὶ ἐπιστήμων (sophos kai epistēmōn) — v.13: “Wise and understanding” — these two words together echo Deuteronomy 1:13, 15 and 4:6, where Moses speaks of the qualities required of Israel’s leaders. The word ἐπιστήμων (epistēmōn, “knowledgeable, understanding”) appears only here in the New Testament. James immediately redefines wisdom in practical terms: it is shown “by good conduct” (ἐκ τῆς καλῆς ἀναστροφῆς), not by eloquence or theological sophistication. This is consistent with the thesis of the entire letter: truth is demonstrated by how you live, not merely by what you say.
ἐν πραὐτητι σοφίας (en prautēti sophias) — v.13: “The gentleness of wisdom” — the word πραὐτης (prautēs, “gentleness, meekness”) describes strength under control, not weakness. It is the same word used of Moses (Numbers 12:3 LXX: “Moses was very meek, more than all people on the face of the earth”) and of Jesus (Matthew 11:29: “I am gentle and humble in heart”; Matthew 21:5: “Your king comes to you, gentle”). Paul lists it as a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:23). James ties it to wisdom: the truly wise person is not aggressive or self-promoting but gentle. This directly sets up the contrast with the false wisdom of vv.14–16.
ζῆλον πικρὸν καὶ ἐριθείαν (zēlon pikron kai eritheian) — vv.14–16: “Bitter jealousy and selfish ambition” — the word ζῆλος (zēlos) can mean positive zeal or negative jealousy; the modifier πικρός (pikros, “bitter”) makes the meaning clear. The word ἐριθεία (eritheia) originally meant “wage-working” or “hire-seeking” and came to mean self-seeking, factional ambition — the pursuit of personal advancement at the expense of community. Paul uses the same word in Philippians 1:17 and 2:3 for the kind of partisan spirit that tears communities apart. James applies three devastating adjectives to this false wisdom: ἐπίγειος (epigeios, “earthly” — bound to this world), ψυχική (psychikē, “unspiritual, merely natural” — operating on the level of the unredeemed human soul; compare 1 Corinthians 2:14 and Jude 19), and δαιμονιώδης (daimoniōdēs, “demonic”). The progression is a descent: from earth, to the merely human, to the diabolical.
v.16: “Where there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and every evil practice” — the word ἀκαταστασία (akatastasia, “disorder, instability, chaos”) shares the same root as ἀκατάστατος (akatastatos), used in 1:8 for the double-minded man and in 3:8 for the restless tongue. James weaves a web of linguistic connections: double-mindedness, the untamed tongue, and false wisdom all share the quality of instability. They are symptoms of the same disease — a soul not yet unified under the lordship of God. Compare Paul’s use of the same word in 1 Corinthians 14:33: “God is not a God of disorder but of peace.”
ἄνωθεν ... σοφία (anōthen ... sophia) — v.17: “The wisdom from above” — this returns to the theme introduced in 1:5 and 1:17: God gives wisdom generously, and every good gift comes “from above.” James now provides a full portrait of this heavenly wisdom in a list of seven qualities (after “pure” as the foundation), echoing the Old Testament wisdom tradition where wisdom is described in similarly rich terms (Proverbs 8:12–21; Wisdom of Solomon 7:22–30, where wisdom is given over twenty attributes). The sevenfold list may be deliberately structured, as seven is the number of completeness in Jewish thought.
v.17: The seven qualities of heavenly wisdom: (1) αγνή (hagnē, “pure”) — morally clean, without mixed motives; this comes first as the foundation. (2) εἰρηνική (eirēnikē, “peaceable”) — promoting shalom. (3) ἐπιεικής (epieikēs, “gentle, yielding, reasonable”) — willing to yield rather than insisting on rights; Aristotle defined this quality as going beyond the letter of the law to its spirit. (4) εὐπειθής (eupeithēs, “open to reason, willing to be persuaded”) — found only here in the New Testament; the wise person is teachable. (5) μεστὴ ἐλέους (“full of mercy”) — connecting to 2:13, where mercy triumphs over judgment. (6) ἀδιάκριτος (adiakritos, “impartial, without discrimination”) — linking back to the sin of favoritism in 2:1–13. (7) ἀνυπόκριτος (anypokritos, “sincere, without hypocrisy”) — literally “without a mask,” using the language of the Greek theater where actors wore masks (ὑποκριτής, hypokritēs, the source of our word “hypocrite”). Paul uses the same word for genuine love in Romans 12:9 and 2 Corinthians 6:6. This list is the inverse image of the false wisdom in vv.14–16: where that wisdom produces jealousy, ambition, and chaos, heavenly wisdom produces purity, peace, and sincerity.
καρπὸς δὲ δικαιοσύνης ἐν εἰρήνῃ σπείρεται (karpos de dikaiosynēs en eirēnē speiretai) — v.18: “The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” — this closing sentence is dense and beautiful. The agricultural metaphor (fruit, sowing) echoes the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1–23). The image is layered: peace is both the soil and the method — righteousness grows where peace is cultivated, and it is the peacemakers who do the sowing. This directly echoes the Beatitude: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). Compare also Isaiah 32:17: “The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.” Hebrews 12:11 uses nearly identical language: “the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” James’s point is that the conditions in which righteousness flourishes are the opposite of the jealousy and selfish ambition he has just described. Righteousness cannot grow in a battlefield; it grows in the garden of peace.
General Notes on the Chapter
James 3 divides into two closely related sections: the power of the tongue (vv.1–12) and the two kinds of wisdom (vv.13–18). The connection between them is speech. The tongue section asks: what damage can speech do? The wisdom section asks: what kind of character produces good speech? The tongue is the symptom; wisdom is the cure. A person filled with heavenly wisdom — pure, peaceable, gentle — will naturally produce speech that blesses rather than curses. A person driven by earthly wisdom — jealous, ambitious, factional — will inevitably produce speech that destroys.
James’s treatment of the tongue in vv.1–12 is the most sustained meditation on the power of speech in the New Testament, but it draws on a vast tradition. The Old Testament wisdom literature is saturated with warnings about the tongue: Proverbs alone contains over a hundred references to speech, words, lips, and the tongue. Proverbs 18:21 summarizes the tradition: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” The Psalms frequently describe the tongue as a weapon (Psalm 52:2–4; 57:4; 64:3). Sirach devotes an entire section to the dangers of speech (Sirach 28:13–26). Jesus himself taught extensively about the relationship between the heart and the mouth (Matthew 12:34–37; 15:11, 18–20; Luke 6:45). James stands in this tradition and intensifies it: the tongue is not merely dangerous; it is set on fire by Gehenna itself.
The contrast between the two wisdoms in vv.13–18 has a distinctly Jewish shape. The Jewish wisdom tradition regularly distinguished between true and false wisdom — the wisdom of God and the wisdom of the world. Proverbs 1–9 personifies Wisdom and Folly as two women calling from the rooftops, offering competing paths. Sirach 1:1 declares: “All wisdom comes from the Lord and remains with him forever.” The Wisdom of Solomon 7:25–26 describes wisdom as “a breath of the power of God” and “a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty.” Paul makes a similar distinction in 1 Corinthians 1:18–2:16 between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of the world. James’s contribution is to make the distinction entirely practical: you can tell which wisdom a person has by its fruit. Heavenly wisdom produces peace; earthly wisdom produces chaos. The test is not what you know but how you live.
The word ἀκατάστατος/ἀκαταστασία (“restless/disorder”) serves as one of James’s key linking words, stitching the letter together. It first appeared in 1:8 describing the double-minded man, returned in 3:8 describing the tongue, and appears again in 3:16 describing the fruit of false wisdom. For James, these are not separate problems but manifestations of a single condition: a soul that has not been unified by the wisdom from above. The double-minded person, the uncontrolled tongue, and the community torn by selfish ambition are all symptoms of the same divided heart. The cure, previewed in 1:5 and described fully in 3:17–18, is the wisdom that comes down from God — a wisdom whose first quality is purity and whose final fruit is peace.