And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is placed among our members, which defileth the whole body and inflameth the wheel of our nativity, being set on fire by hell.
και η γλωσσα πυρ ο κοσμος της αδικιας ουτως η γλωσσα καθισταται εν τοις μελεσιν ημων η σπιλουσα ολον το σωμα και φλογιζουσα τον τροχον της γενεσεως και φλογιζομενη υπο της γεεννης
11 Church Fathers comment on this verse
So also the tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is fire. As fire destroys everything, so does the tongue. Some understand world here, kosmos, as a multitude, as in the words, “The world did not know Him” (Jn 1:10). The tongue is a world, that is, a heap of unrighteousness.
"He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me" (Jn 14:21). The first commandment is: "Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit" (Ps 33:14).
For the sin committed by the tongue is in practice very easy and manifold. Were you angry? The tongue runs ahead. Has desire mastered you?
The tongue first serves you as an interpreter and bearer, helping in sin and leading neighbors into temptation. The tongue is also a weapon of unrighteousness for you, if it speaks not from the heart, but to deceive others.
But why enumerate in words all the sins committed by the tongue? Our life is filled with falls of the tongue: shameful speech, jesting, foolish and indecent talk, gossip.
Idle words, false oaths, and false testimonies are all works of the tongue, together with a far greater number of evils.
Unrighteousness stains, as a beam is scorched by fire. Gehenna burns like fire.
Divine Scripture, most excellent men, not only does not agree with the notions you have accepted, but greatly contradicts them. You said that the tongue is moved and thrown into confusion by fate.
But the sacred Word says that the course of our life is thrown into confusion by the tongue, because time, like a wheel, returns upon itself. It is best, however, to hear Scripture itself.
What, then, does it say? "The tongue is set among our members, setting the whole body on fire and defiling the course of our life" (Jas 3:6). It does not say that the course defiles the tongue, but that the course is defiled by the tongue.
By "course" it means mutable time. Scripture accuses free choice and restrains rashness, through which our life becomes bitter and is subjected to countless disorders.
Therefore Scripture also added, "being set on fire by Gehenna." It would not have added this if the tongue were moved involuntarily.
That time is called a wheel because of its circular motion, since it returns upon itself, is guaranteed by the Psalmist. He called time a crown and said to God, "You bless the crown of the year with Your goodness" (Ps 64:12).
Here time is rightly called a crown because of its circular motion. Therefore, if you do not wish to expose yourselves to ridicule, do not present a saying opposed to your own aims as though it agreed with them. Rather, bind the tongue with a thousand bridles.
What you are inquiring about, in my opinion, has a twofold interpretation. One is more lenient, and the other more strict. The tongue is "a fire, a world of unrighteousness," above all because it is easily moved.
It very readily says many evil things, accuses, reviles, swears falsely, lies, and bears false witness. It unjustly casts many into fire, drives them beneath the sword, and sends them into the sea.
Scripture commonly calls a multitude a world. It is said, "The world," that is, the multitude, "did not know Him" (Jn 1:10).
Therefore the Apostle says that the tongue is either a fire which unjustly burns a multitude, or the receptacle of a multitude of unrighteous fire.
Many cooperate with vice and adorn unrighteousness. With great ability they speak eloquently about wicked and lawless deeds, and they lack no necessary words.
Without knowing it, they pronounce judgment against themselves. In these very words they offer proof of their free choice, which inclines toward evil.
Perhaps exposing such men, the Apostle said, "The tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness." By this he meant that eloquence is more fiery when it adorns those who have fallen greatly, and seems to be an ornament of truth.
Therefore the gift of speech must be used not to adorn vice, but to magnify virtue, which even without words is more radiant than all things.
On the expressions "the crown of the year" (Ps 64:12), "the wheel of birth" (Jas 3:6), and on the creation of the universe.
Time is something circular. The day, having turned seven times, becomes a week. Weeks make a month, and months make a year. Time again returns to the same signs.
For this very reason Scripture in one place called it "the crown of the year," and in another "the wheel of birth." A circle, a crown, and a wheel have one and the same form.
The four seasons of the year, I mean spring, summer, autumn, and winter, in a certain manner join hands and circle the year, leading a beautiful dance.
They have been created so wisely and harmoniously by God, the best Craftsman, that the end of each season gradually joins the beginning of the next. The transition passes unnoticed, imperceptibly, and without harm to bodies.
That what has been said may become clearer, let our word follow the thing described. The most extreme summer heat does not suddenly give way to the extreme cold of winter.
That would harm bodies, seeds, and plants, which cannot endure the onset of a sudden change. Instead, summer ends by yielding place to autumn.
Autumn, gradually and little by little, resembles summer at its beginning and winter at its end. Thus it changes into winter without harm.
Then winter also ends by yielding place to spring. Spring, little by little and imperceptibly joining itself to summer, hands over its rights to summer.
The tongue is a fire, devouring with its evil words a whole forest of virtues. The fire of destruction is opposed to the fire of salvation. By consuming the logs, brushwood, and hay of sin, it reveals the mysteries of the heart. This fire kindled the hearts of the holy teachers. They themselves burned with love and set others aflame with the fiery tongue of preaching.
"And the tongue is a fire, the adornment of unrighteousness." Theophylact and Oecumenius say that the tongue is a burning fire. What kind of evil does it assist? Listen.
The word κόσμος, beauty or adornment, is also found in Genesis: "And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their adornment" (Gen 2:1).
Therefore the tongue is the adornment of man, because it is the instrument of prophetic speech. By it we, as rational people, are distinguished from irrational animals and show one another the thoughts we have in our heart.
Thus the tongue is the natural adornment of human nature. But when it moves contrary to nature and is not guided by right words, it becomes the beauty and adornment of unrighteousness.
That is, it adorns obvious unrighteousness with the beautiful and skillful words of orators, so as to show that it is truth. It turns falsehood into truth.
It defiles the whole body with passionate words, being drawn by fornication. It inflames desire with satanic songs. It does the work of murder by deceptive counsels.
It steals and appropriates what belongs to another by false oaths. The word κόσμος also means world or multitude, as it is said: "and the world," that is, the multitude of people, "did not know Him" (Jn 1:10).
Therefore the tongue here is also called a world, or multitude, of unrighteousness. Saint Mitrophan understands "world" as a dwelling or habitation of people.
The tongue, he says, is a kind of dwelling of unrighteousness or sin. It enters into sin as into some vast world, settles there, rejoices, and delights in slanders and soul-destroying conversations.
"So the tongue is set among our members, defiling the whole body, and setting on fire the wheel of our birth, while itself being set on fire by Gehenna."
The tongue defiles the whole body with indecent and foolish words. It also burns the whole course of our existence, that is, the condition of man's life from its beginning to its end.
According to Theophylact, man's life is called a circle because the sun, moving in heaven in the form of a circle or wheel, completes the year.
David calls this the crown, that is, the circle of the year, saying: "Thou shalt bless the crown of the year" (Ps 64:12). The life of men runs according to this circle of the year.
Life is called the circle of birth because, immediately from the beginning of birth, it runs like a constantly moving wheel and never stops until it reaches its end, that is, death.
This same tongue will be subjected to the fire of Gehenna together with the whole body. This is evident from the example of the rich man.
When his tongue was being roasted, he begged that it might be cooled, crying out to Abraham: "Send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame" (Lk 16:24).
It is also evident from the words the righteous Judge will say on that day to every man who did not govern his tongue as he ought, but let it speak what was improper.
"By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned" (Mt 12:37). Why?
Because, He says, I told you beforehand with all clarity: "For every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment" (Mt 12:36).
But you despised My commandment and spoke not only idle words, but harmful and soul-corrupting words.
According to Theophylact and Oecumenius, in some copies it reads "Gehenna." It is interpreted this way: the tongue sets on fire the circle of Gehenna, that is, it kindles and moves fiery Gehenna against us.
What a man infected with plague is, such is the slanderer. A man infected with plague harms the one who associates with him and acts incautiously. The slanderer harms the one who listens to his slander.
From an infected man the contagious disease passes to another, from the other to a third, from the third to a fourth, and so to all men, if they do not beware. Thus it happens that many thousands are infected and perish from one infected man.
So also with the slanderer. One man hears slander from him and tells another, the other tells a third, the third a fourth, and so all hear and are harmed by slander. It happens that a whole country and an entire kingdom hear and are harmed.
Some, when they hear, condemn the one about whom the slander is spread. They say, "He has done evil," or, "He is doing evil." Thus they sin gravely, seizing for themselves what belongs to Christ alone, the righteous Judge. He alone is the Judge of all.
Others are incited to the same lawless deed. What they hear, they also do. In all this destructive evil the slanderer is guilty, the sower of evil.
So you see, Christian, what a destructive evil slander is. Yet today’s Christians take comfort and delight in nothing so much as slander.
What is now on the lips of people gathered together? Now one name is carried about, now another. What do they speak of most? Now of one poor sinner, now of another.
One speaks about one person, another about another, a third about a third. Thus there are as many sins and iniquities in the gathering as there are words. The cause of all this evil is the slanderer, from whom the slander began.
The slanderer harms the one whom he slanders, for with his tongue he wounds him as with a sword. He tears his reputation as a dog tears clothing with its teeth, saying, "He does this and that."
He also harms himself, for he sins gravely. He harms those who hear his slander, for he gives them occasion for slander and condemnation. Thus he brings them into the same lawless deed in which he himself stands.
As from one infected man many people are infected in body and perish, so from one slanderer, the originator of slander, many Christian souls are infected and perish.
O unbridled tongue! How much evil you do to the world! As the wind spreads a fire through a whole city or village, so the unbridled tongue carries every evil through the whole kingdom and the whole world.
One slanderer has learned it, and all already know. One has said it, and all are speaking. Truly, it is better to fall a hundred times with the feet than with the tongue.
"The tongue is a little member, but it does much evil" (Jas 3:5-6). It is enclosed by a double fence, that is, by the teeth and the lips. Yet it breaks out and leaps forth very easily.
Christian, beware of the slanderer, as you fear a man infected with plague, lest you be infected by him and perish yourself.
Slanderers usually investigate the affairs of men, saying, "What is this one doing, and what is that one doing?" Having investigated, they spread slander. They know one another and come together, asking each other now about this person, now about that.
Then, having learned, they scatter slander. Beware of such people as of lepers. Beware also of investigating the sins of others, lest you judge and slander your neighbor.
The investigation and knowledge of another’s sins is the beginning of condemnation and slander. Turn your eyes away from your neighbor and turn them upon yourself.
Examine and know your own sins, and cleanse them by true repentance and faith. This is the Christian work to which you have been called by Christ. Strive by every means to guard your tongue, and you will avoid many sins.
"The tongue is a fire, an adornment of unrighteousness." These words are understood and translated in different ways: the tongue is an adornment of unrighteousness, or the tongue is a world, a gathering, of unrighteousness. Κόσμος can mean adornment or world.
Both translations give the same general thought. According to the first, the tongue, which adorns or covers unrighteousness with falsehood, is a fire.
According to the other, the tongue, full of unrighteousness and containing all that is evil and unrighteous in man, is a fire.
"Setting on fire the wheel of our birth," that is, the wheel of life. Life is often compared with a wheel, or rather with the movement of a wheel (Eccl 12:6).
The Apostle uses this comparison to explain the relation of the tongue to our life.
As a swiftly moving wheel can ignite from friction and burn everything in contact with it, so it is with the tongue.
Thus, according to the Apostle's train of thought and the comparisons he uses, the whole passage under examination may be paraphrased as follows.
The tongue is fire. Being set on fire by Gehenna and becoming the adornment, or world, of unrighteousness, it defiles the whole body despite its relative smallness among the other members.
It burns the whole wheel of life, that is, casts it into fiery Gehenna. So the Savior also said: "Whoever says to his brother, Fool, shall be liable to the Gehenna of fire" (Mt 5:22).
The concluding words of the verse, "and being set on fire by Gehenna," point to the original and constant source of all unrighteousness and falsehood: Gehenna, the devil.
So the Savior also says of him: "He is a liar and the father of lies" (Jn 8:44).
The further depiction of the significance of the tongue, or word, the covering of thought, continues with this saying: see how much matter a little fire kindles. The image is taken from a great fire that begins from a small flame.
The application of this image is: "and the tongue is a fire," that is, it burns very much and destroys very much in the moral life of man.
The writer expresses this last thought in an original and powerful way. To indicate why the tongue has so much destructive, or generally evil, power, the Apostle briefly says that in it there is a whole world of unrighteousness, κόσμος τῆς ἀδικίας.
It is not an adornment of unrighteousness, but a world of unrighteousness. This is a popular hyperbolic expression, like "ocean" or "abyss," used to signify the immeasurable or simply the greatness of something.
That the tongue is a world of unrighteousness means this: there is so much unrighteousness in it that it is difficult even to define or imagine.
It is called this insofar as, through it, unrighteousness, that is, untruth and falsehood, seems to penetrate all the members of the body.
The tongue has such a position among the members, more precisely, such a significance among the members, that it defiles the whole body.
This is precisely because in it there is a whole world of unrighteousness, which morally defiles the whole body. "Body" is used in the same sense as in verse 2.
It defiles all movements of man's whole spiritual and bodily organism, all his strivings and actions.
It "sets on fire the course of life," corresponding to its name as fire. "Defiles" corresponds to its being called a world of unrighteousness, and "sets on fire" to fire kindling matter.
"The course of life" is a poetic designation for the whole life of man. From his very birth it turns unceasingly, like a wheel, until death stops the turning of this wheel.
To set on fire the course of life means to kindle, or burn up, the whole life of man.
All this figurative expression, taken from the action of fire, signifies the destructive effect the tongue has on a man's whole life when it defiles the whole man with unrighteousness.
It is as though the tongue burns his life with the fire of passions. All unrighteousness is concentrated, as it were, in the tongue, that is, in the word.
It is like the axle around which the wheel of life moves. From this axle the wheel is ignited and continually burns as in fire, until the wheel's motion ceases.
The idea that the tongue defiles the whole body and sets life on fire, and therefore is the proper seat of sin, does not rest on the claim that every sin is based on the sin of the tongue or word.
Rather, it is justified by the observation that the tongue is the nearest organ of the action or expression of every sin.
That it is not the cause or foundation is expressed by the Apostle in the following saying: "being itself set on fire by Gehenna," by Gehenna's fire, the devil's fire, or, what is the same, by the devil.
For desire (Jas 1:14-15), from which all sins come and for which the tongue serves as the nearest organ, has its origin from the devil, and therefore from Gehenna.
Here the significance of the tongue is indicated by comparing it with a ship's rudder and with a small fire that burns much.
These comparisons define the significance of the tongue with the greatest accuracy. It is truly small, like a ship's rudder, yet it governs much.
Like fire, it often stirs and inflames both the speaker himself, with hot and inflammatory speeches, and others as well.
This fire is often so destructive and evil that it ruins the whole fortress of our body. It disturbs the peace, calm, and purity of spirit of many people.
The ruling and free position of the tongue in our organism, and the influence of evil power upon it, make it a very fearful source of evil (cf. Jas 3:6; Mt 15:11, 18).
This is all the more so because it can adorn evil, appearing as flattery and that captivating eloquence which distinguishes uncalled teachers and all kinds of deceivers (cf. Ps 140:4).
Yes, an evil tongue is our enemy. It can serve sin in every respect.
As terrible disasters can occur when an axle in a wheel catches fire, so through the evil speech of our tongue dreadful calamities can occur throughout the whole course of our life.
One of our interpreters sees in the words "adornment of unrighteousness" an indication of a whole world, an immeasurable abyss of unrighteousness, to which a lying and flattering tongue leads.
Empty piety, which goes no farther than words, often shows itself in a desire to teach others how to live.
Exposing this passion for teaching, the Apostle explains in chapter 3 of the Epistle the immense significance of speech in life. He also explains the great moral responsibility that rests upon the teacher.
Therefore one must undertake the ministry of a teacher of life with caution. "My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive greater condemnation. For we all stumble in many things.
If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body" (vv. 1-2).
The Apostle James explains the significance of the tongue, as the organ of speech, in human life by comparing it with bits, a rudder, and fire.
In a man's hands, small bits make a strong and spirited horse obey. A small rudder gives direction to a huge ship, despite the opposition of strong winds.
So too the tongue is a small member, yet it does much. "See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, an adornment of unrighteousness. It defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of life" (vv. 5-6).
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 31 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS