James 3–4

The Tongue

3My brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers. As you know, we teachers will be judged with greater strictness than others. ²All of us often make mistakes. But if a person never makes a mistake in what he says, he is perfect and is also able to control his whole being. ³We put a bit into the mouth of a horse to make it obey us, and we are able to make it go where we want. ⁴Or think of a ship: big as it is and driven by such strong winds, it can be steered by a very small rudder, and it goes wherever the pilot wants it to go. ⁵So it is with the tongue: small as it is, it can boast about great things.

Just think how large a forest can be set on fire by a tiny flame! ⁶And the tongue is like a fire. It is a world of wrong, occupying its place in our bodies and spreading evil through our whole being. It sets on fire the entire course of our existence with the fire that comes to it from hell itself. ⁷Human beings can tame and have tamed all other creatures—wild animals and birds, reptiles and fish. ⁸But no one has ever been able to tame the tongue. It is evil and uncontrollable, full of deadly poison. ^9*We use it to give thanks to our Lord and Father and also to curse other people, who are created in the likeness of God. ¹⁰Words of thanksgiving and cursing pour out from the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, this should not happen! ¹¹No spring of water pours out sweet water and bitter water from the same opening. ¹²A fig tree, my brothers and sisters, cannot bear olives; a grapevine cannot bear figs, nor can a salty spring produce sweet water.

The Wisdom from Above

¹³Are there people among you who are wise and understanding? They are to prove it by their good lives, by their good deeds performed with humility and wisdom. ¹⁴But if in your heart you are jealous, bitter, and selfish, don’t sin against the truth by boasting of your wisdom. ¹⁵Such wisdom does not come down from heaven; it belongs to the world, it is unspiritual and demonic. ¹⁶Where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is also disorder and every kind of evil. ¹⁷But the wisdom from above is pure first of all; it is also peaceful, gentle, and friendly; it is full of compassion and produces a harvest of good deeds; it is free from prejudice and hypocrisy. ¹⁸And goodness is the harvest that is produced from the seeds the peacemakers plant in peace.

Friendship with the World

4Where do all the fights and quarrels among you come from? They come from your desires for pleasure, which are constantly fighting within you. ²You want things, but you cannot have them, so you are ready to kill; you strongly desire things, but you cannot get them, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have what you want because you do not ask God for it. ³And when you ask, you do not receive it, because your motives are bad; you ask for things to use for your own pleasures. ⁴Unfaithful people! Don’t you know that to be the world’s friend means to be God’s enemy? People who want to be the world’s friends make themselves God’s enemies. ⁵Don’t think that there is no truth in the scripture that says, “The spirit that God placed in us is filled with fierce desires.”^{b 6*}But the grace that God gives is even stronger. As the scripture says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

⁷So then, submit to God. Resist the Devil, and he will run away from you. ⁸Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners! Purify your hearts, you hypocrites! ⁹Be sorrowful, cry, and weep; change your laughter into crying, your joy into gloom! ¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Warning against Judging a Christian Brother

¹¹Do not criticize one another, my brothers and sisters. If you criticize fellow-Christians or judge them, you criticize the Law and judge it. If you judge the Law, then you are no longer one who obeys the Law, but one who judges it. ¹²God is the only lawgiver and judge. He alone can save and destroy. Who do you think you are, to judge someone else?

Warning against Boasting

^13*Now listen to me, you that say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to a certain city, where we will stay a year and go into business and make a lot of money.” ^14*You don’t even know what your life tomorrow will be! You are like a puff of smoke, which appears for a moment and then disappears. ¹⁵What you should say is this: “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.” ¹⁶But now you are proud, and you boast; all such boasting is wrong.

¹⁷So then, those who do not do the good they know they should do are guilty of sin.