Overcoming the Spiritual Pathology of the Tongue

"But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison therewith bless we God, even the Father and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God."  James 3:8-9


Over the years I have become more and more impressed with distinctive richness of Biblical Spirituality.  For instance, the verses above point out an undeniable reality.  The Bible has a great deal to say about the tongue and its ability to contort, distort, corrupt, and create worlds of militant denial where lies reign in destructive power.

'But the tongue can no man tame' is a remarkable spiritual revelation.  It removes from all of us, or so it should, the belief that we can do what the Bible explicitly states we cannot do.  Unequivocally, no person can restrain or curb the human tongue.  This is a powerful diagnosis of this particular aspect of the human condition.  Not only is the tongue unable to be restrained by us, but the writer superimposes upon the primary revelation two resultant realities of the tongue:

1. ...an unruly evil...that is, the tongue is incorrigible and unrestrained. It is therefore important for us to know the reality of the condition before one can prescribe a cure.  The writer does not disappoint he goes on to use the word 'evil' with regard to the tongue.  The Greek word for evil is 'kakos' and it means one that is evil and as such get others into trouble and the synonym is poneros which means willful harm to others.
2. ...full of deadly (fatal) poison (venom, as emitted by serpents).  This denotes the power of the tongue to destroy the lives of others and one's own life too.  The Bible warns that life and death are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat the fruit thereof.  Iesous also warns that that which comes out of a persons is the source of personal defilement (pollution).

The Bible is the Spiritual Center for Disease Control (SCDC) and explicitly teaches of the epidemiological nature of this disease of the spirit.  The Holy Spirit of God has the necessary power to control the tongue.  We surrender our spiritual well-being when we fail to let God lead us in this area.  Of course, one can have the veneer of religiosity or spirituality and be within the sphere of inner unrest because of enslavement to the contradiction of the tongue.

If you want to have optimum spiritual health surrender the tongue to the Lord and ask him to renew a right spirit within you.

For more information about Dr. Josiah Rich and his teaching ministry, please visit his website.