James 3:8Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

“No man among men can tame it” should not be read affirmatively, but interrogatively. It should be read thus: if a man tames untamable beasts and makes them gentle, will he not tame his own tongue? This is how it must be read. For if it is read affirmatively, then the following instruction would be unjust: “My brethren, these things ought not to be so” (Jas 3:10). If it is impossible to tame the tongue, the Apostle vainly urges us to do the impossible. The phrase “for it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison” should be understood as an explanation.

I do not think this passage has that meaning. For if he had wanted us to think this way about the ability to tame the tongue, a comparison with animals would have followed.

But now the words follow: "an unrestrainable evil, full of deadly poison." This poison is certainly more harmful than the poison of beasts and even serpents. Their poison kills the flesh, but this poison kills the soul.

For "the mouth that lies kills the soul." Therefore Saint James did not place, or wish to place, this meaning in the words, as though taming the tongue were easier than taming beasts.

Rather, he showed how great an evil the tongue is in man. No man can tame it, though even beasts are subdued by men.

He said this not so that we would endure the dominion of this evil within ourselves by neglecting it. He said it so that we would ask for divine grace to help in taming the tongue.

As a sword sharpened on a whetstone becomes keener and more fit for destruction, so the tongue, which finds it hard to remain still and restrain itself, becomes still more cruel whenever it is trained by wicked men to slander, revile, and dishonor others.

Silence is the beginning of the soul’s purification, and without labor it teaches the willing person all the commandments. The Apostle James says, “The tongue is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless God and the Father, and with it we curse men.” And again, “If anyone does not sin in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body” (Jas 3:9, 2). Conversations require great salvation: in what spirit and direction one must speak, at what time, what exactly to say, and for what purpose. The lover of speech must remember all this, but the silent man has already accomplished and fulfilled it.

Since the divine James said above that the tongue will receive no small punishment, he now shows this more fully, lest these words appear vain and unfounded.

He says that man was appointed by God as ruler and master over all sensible creation. Therefore all animals, those of earth, air, and sea, small and great, strong and swift, are subject to him.

Some serve him, like peaceful cattle. Others, when skillfully caught, are tamed like wild beasts. Others fear him, hide, and flee as soon as they see him. By their fear and flight they show that they are subject to man.

Yet the tongue, which is so small a member, and not a member of some other animal but of man himself, is not subject to man. No man can conquer it, for it is an uncontrollable and unbridled evil, full of deadly poison.

See verse 7. "But no man can tame the tongue," that is, not another's tongue, but his own. Or, perhaps more precisely, no other person, nor the man himself, can tame his own tongue.

The tongue is presented as a wild, untamable beast, with which no one can cope. This truth is taken from constant observation and experience.

It is self-evident that, when the apostle speaks so absolutely about the unbridled tongue, he is speaking of the natural, imperfect man. In the perfect man (Jas 3:2), the tongue can be bridled and must be bridled (Jas 3:10). This is the whole subject of the apostle's discourse.

In verse 3 the apostle spoke of how spirited horses are tamed by the action of bits upon the tongue. Now he shows that everything on earth is subject to man, yet no one can tame our tongue.

For this reason, when it becomes evil, it is mortally dangerous. The Psalmist had already seen serpents' stings and the poison of asps in the mouths of his ungodly and evil enemies (see Ps 139:4).

The tongue of the evil is a sharpened razor and a keen knife. Therefore one must restrain them in every way from using this evil instrument, and not provoke them by one's own evil speech.

"Our lips are our own; who is lord over us?" said the ungodly of old. Even now many trust in the eloquence of their lips. Yet how often is it useful and saving?

Who loves life and desires to see good days? "Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit," said the Psalmist (Ps 33:13-14).

The tongue, itself inflamed by Gehenna, that is, by the devil, the father of every lie and unrighteousness, cannot be bridled by man's own efforts.

Only with the help of divine grace can a man tame his tongue. Calling Christians to this, the apostle points to the extreme unnaturalness of what is observed among men.

With one and the same tongue we bless God and the Father, and with it we curse men made according to the likeness of God. "Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so" (vv. 9-10).

In nature, a fig tree does not bear olives, nor a vine figs. Nor does salt water and sweet flow from one spring.