Hold Your Fire
James 3:5-12
Dread a loose tongue as you would the plague
Audio from the author
#tongue
Published May 7th, 2016
Main point summary
Hold Your Fire
Text block heading
Text block heading
notes
Main point summary
Those who profess Christ should learn to hold our fire (the tongue is a fire).
Hold Your Fire
NT
James 3:5-12
esv
mine
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!
Small means can achieve great results,
And i the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness.
for the tongue, being small, can be the source of great evil.
ground
The tongue is set among our members,
Our own tongue
j staining the whole body,
and the evil speech it produces,
setting on fire the entire course of life, 1
can spoil, stain and corrupt our entire moral character.
and set on fire by hell. 2
series
ideaexplanation
For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind,
We can tame all kinds of creatures,
but no human being can tame the tongue.
but we can`t tame our own tongues.
negativepositive
It is a restless evil,
k full of deadly poison.
With it we bless our Lord and Father,
The same mouth can use the tongue for contradictory purpose.
and with it we curse people l who are made in the likeness of God.
We can bless God and curse people who bear the image of God.
From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.
inference
My brothers, 1 these things ought not to be so.
What a shameful contradiction.
factinterpretation
Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?
For a spring brings forth only one type of water,
Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs?
a tree bears only one type of fruit,
Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.
and a salt pond produces only salt water.
situationresponse
Jesus uses similar metaphors in Mt 7:16.
Dread the loose tongue as one of the greatest evils.
How absurd that those who use their mouth for praising and thanking God use that same mouth for cursing and slandering others.
Inconsistency in speech reflects faults in our Christian profession, contradiction found in how we speak both worldly and spiritual words from the same mouth reflect faults in our profession.
discourse
Text block heading
[ Text block content ]
Text block heading
[ Text block content ]
Comments
Disclaimer: The opinions and conclusions expressed on this page are those of the author and may or may not accord with the positions of Biblearc or Bethlehem College & Seminary.