Taming the tongue of the teacher
When you go to the doctor, one of the first things he asks you is to stick out your tongue and say, “ah.”
I’m not a medical doctor, but my understanding is that they are looking both at the tongue as well as the
back of the throat. The appearance of the tongue can apparently indicate a lot about our physical
condition. Certainly the tongue, or how it is used, can also indicate a lot about our spiritual condition,
for as Jesus himself said, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:34). No one
should understand this better than the doctor of the church, the teaching elder and ruling elders. It is
with their example in mind that James writes very forcefully in our text today on why the teachers and
all Christians should be careful with how they use their tongues.
He begins with a warning which has always gripped me. “Not many of you should become teachers, my
brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” Those who
serve in leadership in the church should only enter that role with a sense of being called by God,
because those in that role also carry a greater responsibility. They are responsible not only for their own
lives, but also for those under their care. They are overseers, shepherds of the church of Jesus Christ.
They are to care for that which belongs to another, to the Lord Jesus. It is his church, for he is the one
who laid down his life for his church and purchased our redemption with his own blood. Thus Paul says
to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, “Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy
Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his
own Son.” Paul urges the elders to keep watch over themselves, over their walk with God. Surely for
each of us Bible study and prayer should be a fundamental part of each day. For many Presbyterians,
including elders, it is not. According to a Presbyterian Panel survey done in 2008 by the PCUSA, the
frequency of daily or almost daily personal Bible reading among members was 14%. Among elders it is
little better, 17%. Indeed, only 52% of pastors in the survey read the Bible daily or almost daily. How
can elders be faithful to their vows to be led by the Scriptures and confessions as they lead the people of
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God if they are not themselves committed to the study of the Word of God? How can elders “discern
and measure [a congregation’s] fidelity to the Word of God and strengthen and nurture its faith and life”
(G-2.0301) if they are not regularly in the Word and walking in the Holy Spirit? The same survey showed
59% of members and 67% of elders engaged in personal daily or almost daily prayer; here again there is
little difference in the ruling elders and the church as a whole. The survey showed 82% of pastors
engaging in daily or almost daily personal prayer, which sounds high, but should be much higher. Why is
all of this so important? Because, as Heb. 13:17 says, “leaders are keeping watch over your souls and
will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with sighing—for that would be harmful to you.”
All Christians will in the last day be judged for how they’ve lived their lives, but those who have
exercised leadership will be called to account also for how they’ve led others. They will be “judged with
greater strictness.” It is for that reason that casuistry and cavalierness with the Word of God, ignoring it
or diminishing its significance, is particularly unbecoming a leader in the church. Elders are to be apt to
teach and we do so by what we say and what we do. What is our fidelity to God’s Word in what we say
and do? How does that affect others?
James says we all make mistakes, and so we do. A mistake is not necessarily a sin. If a student makes a
mistake on a test, he loses points, but not with God. He just didn’t know that answer, despite how hard
he hopefully studied. But one who makes a mistake in teaching what is contrary to Scripture does sin in
failing to correctly handle the Word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15), perhaps even contouring it to suit his own
ends, which is in fact the very essence of the original sin. We are to take every thought captive to make
it obedient to Christ (2 Cor. 10:5), both for our relationship with God, and for the sake of the church and
those who watch from outside it. We are called to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
That is the first of the great commands. “Heart, soul, mind, and strength,” however, are all rather
spiritual and thus unseen concepts. How do we demonstrate our love for God in a tangible way, but by
means of our mouth. Our very salvation is said to involve our mouths: “if you confess with your lips
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that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For
one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved” (Rom.
10:9-10). We are to use our mouths to praise and worship God, to tell him we love him and to offer to
others his love in Jesus’ name, “as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves,
singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts” (Eph. 5:19). This is a consequence of being filled
with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). Are you filled with the Spirit, as you are commanded to be? Does the use of
our tongues validate that?
James seems concerned that his readers are not allowing the Spirit to bridle their tongues, for he
proceeds to launch into quite a diatribe on the ways in which the little member of the tongue can affect
us and others. It’s just a little part of the body, largely unnoticed, but can affect things in monumental
ways, just like the horse’s bridle or the ship’s rudder. The parts of the body we often do not typically
see much of can have a great impact in steering us. The same holds true of some in the church body.
Great ruin has come to many in the church through the use of the tongue, whether it is through the
promotion of false doctrine, whether “they forbid people to marry” or “order them to abstain from
certain foods” (1 Tim. 4:3) or something else contrary to the plain teaching of Scripture. There is in the
Reformed tradition that called the perspicuity of Scripture, namely that the essential teachings of the
faith are clear to anyone. Yes, there can be differences of interpretation by good people on certain
things, but the essentials should be clear to all, both in what we are to believe and how we are to live.
False doctrine is certainly a key concern here of James, but probably he is also thinking of another use of
the tongue that most everyone is familiar with, gossip. Church gossip has probably destroyed as many
or more souls as false doctrine itself. It is the deadly poison of the tongue put on the dart of words
shared with a compatriot. People usually only gossip amongst those who are willing, indeed eager, to
listen. But from that they grow a wider following, so that a fire has been set, jeopardizing someone’s
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character or even someone’s life. In an article entitled “Are There Gossips Among Us?,” Dr. Peter
Masters of London’s Metropolitan Tabernacle says, “Gossip has been defined as idle talk or compulsive
chattering and news-mongering, including the spreading of groundless rumour. It is not always hostile or
malevolent. But,” he goes on to say, “the kind of gossip that complains about others behind their back,
exposing their faults (or supposed faults) and pulling them down in the estimation of all who will listen”
are the ‘backbitings and whisperings’ mentioned in 2 Corinthians 12.20.” He goes on to address factors
contributing to this “very sad and sick state of mind, because spiritual interests and harmful gossip are
mutually exclusive.” Gossip is inspired by the devil, motivated by envy, jealousy and pride, perhaps
personal failure or a feeling of being threatened, a need for attention, as well as self-righteousness and
other ingredients. Dr. Masters goes on to speak of it as against the Holy Spirit, against God’s standards
for speech, against the whole church (and not just the person who is attacked by the backbiter) and
against the gospel itself. How should we respond? He says Charles Spurgeon, the renowned prince of
preachers who once filled that church with thousands in the 1800s, said, “When someone comes to you
with a string of complaints about another, he advises that we ask that person to put it all in writing. The
perpetrator of gossip will not usually do this because it signals openness and truthfulness.” Tell the
church leadership about it, as well, so it can deal with it.
James says with the tongue “we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in
the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this
ought not to be so.” Let us use our tongues for good, to the praise of God and the building up of others.
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