02.03. Chapter 3 - Verse 02

James 3:2. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able to bridle the whole body.

He goeth on to dissuade from supercilious censures. In this verse he urgeth two arguments. The first is the common frailty incident to all men, which may be two ways urged:—(1.) Wilt thou condemn them for that from which no men be exempted? The excuse of weakness and failings is the unhappy privilege of all mortal men. Or (2.) Will you not show them that tenderness which you need yourselves? You may also fail; ‘we all of us offend in many things.’ The next argument, the difficulty of not sinning by the tongue; he that can do that, can do anything in Christianity. In many things we offend all.—He saith we, including himself, though an apostle of great holiness. Eusebius¹ saith, he was for his virtue surnamed The Just. And indeed none is exempted, not the blessed Virgin, who is taxed in scripture for some slips, Luke 2:49; John 2:3-4. For that question, whether God can, by the singular assistance of grace, keep any one in the animal and bodily life totally pure from sin, it is altogether curious, and of no use and profit; God’s pleasure being declared the other way. And to that other question, whether some very short or transient action of a renewed man, whether civil, moral, or natural, may not be without actual sin, I answer in these propositions:—(1.) That in our deliberate actions, especially those which are moral, there is some mixture of sin. In this sense you may take that, Ecclesiastes 7:20, ‘There is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not.’ You may understand, that sinneth not in doing good; for he doth not say simply, There is not a just man that sinneth not, but a just man that doeth good and, &c. And to this purpose is that saying of Luther, so much upbraided by the Papists,² that the best works of the regenerate are sins, if examined by God. And Gregory the Great³ hath a saying of the same sound and sense, that man’s merit is but sin, and his righteousness unrighteousness, if it should be called to a strict account. Yea, the prophet Isaiah before them both, that ‘all our righteousness is as filthy rags,’ Isaiah 64:6. No work of ours is so pure but there is some taint and filth of sin cleaving to it, which, without a mediator, in the rigour of the law would be damnable. So that though the essence of the work be good and holy, yet because of the fleshly adherences, it cannot any way undergo the strictness of divine judgment; man being in part holy, and in part carnal, the effect cannot exceed the force of the cause; and as there is a mixture in the faculties and principles of operation, so there will be in the actions themselves, especially in actions religious, corrupt nature returning and recoiling with the more force against resolutions of duty. (2.) There may be, I conceive, an action so short that there is no room or scope for corruption to put forth itself; as in a sudden holy glance or thought, we may conceive a motion or lust of the spirit, or renewed nature in itself, and as preceding a lust of the flesh, or the opposition of the old nature, which, though it be not perfectly, yet is purely, holy. Besides, in some actions the force and vigour of corrupt nature may be wholly suspended by the power of God; as it is in conversion, in which divines say we are wholly passive;⁴ and though God doth not take away the power of resisting, yet he bridleth it, and suspendeth it, that corruption cannot put forth itself, but lieth hid in its own root. Besides, in some actions, which are merely natural, as in walking a step or two, there is not the least provocation to draw forth sin; and therefore I cannot but justly condemn that unnecessary rigour in some, who say, that a renewed man in every action, whether moral, civil, or natural, be it but the walking of two or three steps, doth actually sin; a fond nicety, which, under the colour of a deeper humility, destroyeth true humiliation. We need not make man more guilty; it is enough to humble us that ‘in many things we offend all.’ But the devil loveth to cheat men of true humility by that which is affected and strained; and when fancy inventeth supposed crimes, conscience is the less troubled for those which are real; curiosity being a kind of excuse for due remorse. (3.) Those actions are not acceptable with God for their own sakes partly because though they are pure, or free from sin, yet they are not perfect; they might be more holy. And partly because they are done by a person that hath a corrupt nature, and is stained with the guilt of other actual sins, the least of which renders him obnoxious to the curse of the whole law, James 2:10. So that these actions also need a mediator; and, as the apostle saith, where we ‘know nothing by ourselves, we are not thereby justified,’ 1 Corinthians 4:4; or as it is, Job 9:3, ‘If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.’ For one such innocent action, there are a thousand stained and polluted. Another question may be, whether there be not some sins which in their own nature are so foul that a child of God cannot fall into them? I answer—(1.) There are some gross corruptions which are very contrary to grace, μιάσματα τοῦ κόσμου, ‘corruptions of the world,’ 2 Peter 2:20, sins that stink in the nostrils of nature; therefore the apostle saith, ‘The lusts of the flesh are manifest,’ Galatians 5:19, that is, to sense and reason; as adultery, drunkenness, &c., which nature hath branded with marks of shame and contempt; into these a child of God may fall, though rarely and very seldom. We have instances of Noah’s drunkenness, Lot’s incest, and David’s adultery; therefore may conclude, that the children of God do not only sin freely in thought, but sometimes foully in act; however, not usually, not but upon special temptation: they are not ad pocula faciles, given to women, or to wine. The usual practice is a note of God’s hatred: ‘A whore is a deep ditch, and he that is abhorred of the Lord shall fall therein,’ Proverbs 22:14. These sins, therefore, are not of usual incidence, as wrath, and worldliness, and pride are. (2.) There are other sins which are extremely contrary to nature itself, as Sodom’s bestiality, &c., into which a renewed man cannot fall; partly for the great dishonour such a fact would reflect upon religion; partly because it is a note of God’s tradition, or giving up a man or woman to sin, Romans 1:26-27. These things are so far from being practised by saints, that they are not to be named amongst them, Ephesians 5:3.

¹ Euseb. Eccl. Hist., lib. 2. cap. 1.

² ‘Opus bonum optime factum mortale peccatum est’; et paulo post, ‘Omne opus justi damnabile est, et mortale peccatum, si judicio Dei judicetur.’—Luther in Assert., arts. 31, 32, 35, 36.

³ ‘Ornne virtutis nostræ meritum est vitium, et omnis humana justitia injustitia est si stricte judicetur.’—Greg. Moral. 9, caps. 1, 14.

⁴ ‘Deus in ipso regenerationis opere adeo potenter in voluntatem agit, ut actualiter resistendi potentia proxima pro illo tempore suspendatur; emotam autem et in actu. primo positam resistendi potentiam non quidem funditus extirpat, sed in sua amara radice delitessere permittit.’—Theol. Britan. in Synod. Dord., Art. de Conversione.

If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man.—Here is the second argument; bridling the tongue is a note of some perfection and effectual progress in grace. ‘Offend not in word,’ that is, speaketh only a known truth, and that seasonably, charitably, without vanity, or folly, or obscenity, or rash oaths, as Gregory Nyssen⁵ fully expoundeth it. ‘Is a perfect man.’ You may take the words as a supposition. If any man avoid the evils of the tongue, I will make bold to call him a perfect man, such another as is not found among mortals. Thus we say often, when we propose an unlikely practice, He that could do this were a perfect man indeed. Or you may take it positively and assertively, and so it is another argument against supercilious censures. ‘If you offend not in word, you are perfect,’ that is, upright, sincere: those that are so, because they do not divide and baulk with God, are expressed by the term perfect. Or else perfect is put here for some ripeness and growth in Christianity. In the Jewish discipline there were two sorts of persons—ἀσκηταὶ, beginners, that did exercise themselves in virtuous actions and endeavours; then there were others, whom Philo calleth τελείους, perfect; they were those that had attained to somewhat, and made some progress in the matters learned. Thus perfect is taken, 1 Corinthians 2:6, ‘We speak wisdom among those that are perfect.’ However weaklings are taken with toys, yet grown, mortified Christians will discern wisdom and sublimity in the plain preaching of Christ crucified. And this sense may be accommodated to this place: He that bridleth his tongue is not ἀσκητὴς, a beginner or learner, one that trieth experiments in religion, but τελειος, a perfect man, one that hath made some towardly progress.

⁵ ‘Μὴ λαλεῖν τὰ μάταια, εἰδέναι καῖρον καῖ μέτα καῖ λόγον ἀναγκαῖον καῖ ἐπίκρισιν εὔστοχον, μὴ λαλεῖν ἀῤῥύθμως, μὴ χαλαζεῖν τοὐς ἐντυγχάνοντας τῇ σφοδρότητι.’ Nyssenus, περὶ εὐποιΐας. And able to bridle the whole body.—By body, Grotius understandeth the church, which is called ‘the body,’ 1 Corinthians 12:20, Ephesians 4:12; and he maketh the sense out thus: He that can bridle himself in disputation is able to govern the church; an exposition curious, but strange to this context. By bridling the body is meant, then, governing all his other actions, which are expressed here by the term body, because they are acted by the members of the body, eyes, hands, feet, &c. Why he pitcheth so much weight upon this matter of governing the tongue, I shall show you in the observations.

Obs. 1. None are absolutely freed and exempted from sinning: 1 John 1:8, ‘If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.’ The doctrine of the Catharists is a lying doctrine: Proverbs 20:9, ‘Who can say I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?’ Solomon maketh a challenge to all the world. Many may say so boldly, but who can say so truly? All of us offend in many things, and many of us in all things. There is in all a cursed root of bitterness,⁶ which God doth mortify, but not nullify; it is cast down, but not cast out. Like the wild fig tree, or ivy in the wall,⁷ cut off stump, body, bough, and branches, yet some strings or other will sprout out again, till the wall be plucked down: God will have it so, till we come to heaven. Well, then—(1.) Walk with more caution; you carry a sinning heart about you. As long as there is fuel for a temptation, we cannot be secure; he that hath gunpowder about him will be afraid of sparkles. (2.) Censure with the more tenderness; give every action the allowance of human frailty, Galatians 6:1. We all need forgiveness; without grace thou mightest fall into the same sins. (3.) Be the more earnest with God for grace; God will keep you still dependent, and beholden to his power: ‘Who shall deliver me?’ Romans 7:1-25. (4.) Magnify the love of God with the more praise. Paul groaneth under his corruptions, Romans 7:1-25, latter end; and then admireth the happiness of those that are in Christ, Romans 8:1, they have so many sins, and yet none are damnable.

⁶ ‘Habitat, sed non regnat; manet, sed non dominatur: evulsum quodammodo, nec tamen expulsum; dejectum, sed non prorsus ejectum tamen.’—Bern. in Psal. 90., serm. 10.

⁷ Similitude Procli apud Epiphan. Hærea 64.

Obs. 2. The sins of the best are many. The apostle saith, ‘We offend.’ God would not abolish and destroy all at once. There is a prayer against outward enemies, Psalms 59:11, ‘Slay them not, lest my people forget scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, God, our shield.’ He would not have them utterly destroyed, but some relics preserved as a memorial. So God dealeth in respect of sin; it is brought down, but not wholly slain; something is still left as a monument of the divine grace; as Peter of Alexandria, when he destroyed the rest of the idols, left one that was most monstrous and misshapen to put them in mind of their former idolatry. God will still honour free grace; the condition of his own people is mixed, light chequered with darkness; those that walk in the light may stumble. Oh! then—(1.) Be not altogether dismayed at the sight of failings. A godly person observed that Christians were usually to blame for three things: They seek for that in themselves which they can only find in Christ; for that in the law which shall only be had in the gospel; and that upon earth which shall only be enjoyed in heaven. We complain of sin; and when shall the earthly estate be free? You should not murmur, but run to your Advocate. You complain, and so do all that have the first-fruits of the Spirit: 1 Peter 5:9, ‘All these things are accomplished in your brethren that are in the flesh.’ They are all troubled with a busy devil, a corrupt heart, and a naughty world. (2.) However, bewail these failings, the evils that abound in your hearts, in your duties, that you cannot serve God as entirely as you served Satan; your evil works were merely evil, but your good are not purely good; there your heart was poured out, ἔξεχύθησαν, Jude 1:11, here it is restrained; there is filthiness in your righteousness, Isaiah 64:1-12.

Obs. 3. To be able to bridle the tongue is an argument of some growth and happy progress in grace. You shall see not only our apostle, but the scripture everywhere maketh it a matter of great weight and moment: Proverbs 18:21, ‘Death and life are in the power of the tongue.’ Upon the right or ill using of it a man’s safety doth depend. And lest you should think the scripture only intendeth temporal safety or ruin, see Matthew 12:37, ‘By thy words shalt thou be justified, and by thy words condemned.’ One of the prime things that shall be brought forth to judgment are your words. So Proverbs 13:3, ‘He that keepeth his mouth, keepeth his life; but he that openeth wide his lips, shall have destruction.’ He intimateth a similitude of a city besieged: to open the gates betrayeth the safety of it; all watch and ward is about the gate. So the tongue is the gate or door of the soul, by which it goeth out in converse and communication; to keep it open or loose-guarded letteth in an enemy, which proveth the death of the soul. So in other places it is made the great argument and sign of spiritual and holy prudence: Proverbs 10:19, ‘In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin; but he that refraineth his lips is wise.’ Empty vessels are full of sound; discreet silence, or a wise ordering of speech, is a token of grace. So Proverbs 17:27, ‘He that hath knowledge spareth his words; and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.’ In the original it is ‘of a cool spirit,’ not rash and hot, ready to pour out his soul in wrath. So David maketh it to be a great argument or sign of our interest in the promises: Psalms 34:12-13, ‘What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile:’ that is the first direction. So elsewhere he maketh it the character of a godly man, Psalms 15:3. I have heaped up these scriptures that the matter of keeping the tongue may not seem light and trivial. The Spirit of God, you see, giveth exhortation upon exhortation, and spendeth many scriptures upon this argument. There were also special reasons why our apostle should be so much in pressing it. (1.) Because this was the sin of that age, as appeareth by the frequent dissuasions from vain boasting of themselves, and detracting from others, in James 1:1-27 and James 2:1-26; and it is a high point of grace not to be snared with the evils of our own times. (2.) It is the best discovery of the heart; speech is the express image of it: Matthew 12:34, ‘Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.’ When the heart is full, it overfloweth in speech. The story of loquere ut videam is common: Speak that I may see thee; so Socrates to a fair boy. We know metals by their tinkling. Psalms 37:30, ‘The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh judgment, for the law of the Lord is in his heart.’ Good men will be always discovering themselves, and giving vent to the fulness of their hearts. (3.) It is the hypocrites’ sin; they abstain from grosser actions, but usually offend in their words, in boasting professions, and proud censures: see James 1:26. (4.) All of us are apt to offend with the tongue many ways; most of a man’s sins are in his words. One reckoneth up twenty-four several sins of the tongue, and yet the number may be increased—lying, railing, swearing, ribaldry, scoffing, quarrelling, deceiving, boasting, tattling, &c. At first, indeed, there as no other sin in society but lying, but now to how many evils doth this one member subscribe? It is observable, that when the apostle giveth us the anatomy of wickedness in all the members of the body, he stayeth longest on the organs of speech, and goeth over them all: Romans 3:13-15, ‘Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues have they used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness,’ &c. There is much need, you see, of reforming and polishing this member. So Proverbs 12:13, ‘The snare of the wicked is the transgression of his lips;’ that is, not only by which he taketh others, but by which he is taken himself, to his own ruin and destruction. (5.) It is a sin into which we usually and easily fall, partly by reason of that quick intercourse that is between the tongue and the heart we sin in an instant; and partly because speech is a human act which is performed without labour; and so we sin that way incogitantly, without noting or judging it: ‘Our tongues are our own,’ Psalms 12:4; such natural actions are performed without thinking of the weight and consequence of them; and partly because the evils of the tongue are very pleasing, marvellously compliant with nature.

Well, then, take care, not only of your actions, but your speeches: Psalms 39:1, ‘I said I would take heed to my ways, lest I offend with my tongue.’ He would take heed to the whole course of his life, but chiefly watch his tongue; iniquity and offence was likely to shoot forth soonest that way. Next to keeping our hearts, Solomon biddeth us to keep our tongues: Proverbs 4:23-24, ‘Keep thy heart with all diligence;’ then, ‘Put away a froward mouth and perverse lips.’ First the heart, then the tongue, then the foot, Proverbs 4:26. Consider—(1.) Your speeches are noted. Xenophon would have all speeches written, to make men more serious. They are recorded, James 2:12. Every idle word is brought into judgment, Matthew 12:36, light words weigh heavy in God’s balance. (2.) They are punished: Psalms 64:8, ‘Their own tongue shall fall upon them.’ Better a mountain should fall upon you than the weight of your own tongue. Origen observeth out of that expression which intimateth that the rich man desired a drop to cool his tongue, Luke 16:24, that his tongue was punished quia linguâ plus peccaverat, because he had sinned most with his tongue: but the expression there intendeth only ease and comfort. Other places are more clear: see Proverbs 14:3, ‘In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride, but the lips of the wise shall preserve them.’ We boast and insult; God will make it a rod to scourge us. It is not a sword, but a rod; because God will punish contempt with contempt, both in this life and that to come. (3.) Consider what a vile thing it is to abuse the tongue to strife, censure, or insultation. The tongue is called the glory of man in the Psalms: ‘Awake, my glory,’ Psalms 57:8. It should not accommodate such vile uses and purposes; we pervert it from its proper use. God made it to celebrate his own praise, to convey the holy conceptions of the soul to others. Man’s excellency should not be thus debased; better be dumb than of a wicked tongue. (4.) It is not of small regard that God in nature would show that he hath set bounds to the tongue: he hath hedged it in with a row of teeth.⁸ Other organs are double; we have two eyes, two ears, but one tongue. Children have not a use of their tongue naturally till they have a use of reason; certainly, therefore, it was never intended to serve passion and pride and every idle humour.

⁸ ‘Δεῖνον ἔπος φύγεν ἔρκος ὀδόντων.’— Homer. For apt remedies—(1.) Get a pure heart; there is the tongue’s treasury and storehouse. A good man is always ready to discourse, not forced by the company, but because the law of God is in his heart: Proverbs 15:7, ‘The lips of the wise disperse knowledge, but the heart of the foolish is not so.’ By virtue of the opposition it should be ‘the tongue of the foolish,’ but whatever is in the tongue cometh from the heart; his heart doth not⁹ incline his tongue.¹⁰ A stream riseth not above the fountain. Out of the heart come blasphemies and evil speakings, Matthew 15:19. (2.) Watch and guard speech: Psalms 39:1, ‘I said, I will take heed to my tongue;’ I said, that is, penitus decrevi, I took up such a resolution. Nay, he saith, he would ‘keep his mouth as with a bridle, especially when the wicked were before him.’ The tongue had need be restrained with force and watchfulness, for it is quick and ready to bring forth every wicked conception. You must not only watch over it, but bridle it; it is good to break the force of these constraints within us, and to suffocate and choke them in the first conception. David, though enraged, would keep in his spirit as with a bridle. Pambus in the Tripartite History was long in learning of this lesson. So, see Proverbs 30:32, ‘If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or hast thought evil, lay thy hand upon thy mouth;’ that is, to bridle and stifle those thoughts of anger, revenge, or any other ill design; do not deal too softly with unruly evils, but strongly resist and compress them. This rule should chiefly be observed in worship: Ecclesiastes 5:2, ‘Be not rash with thy mouth.’ Our words should be more advised; a hasty carelessness engageth to sin: ‘The preacher sought out words.’ Certainly in worship we should see our thoughts ere they escape from us. (3.) All our endeavours are nothing. Go to God: Psalms 141:3, ‘Set a watch, Lord, before my month; keep the door of my lips.’ He desireth God to keep him from speaking amiss when he was in deep afflictions. It is God alone that can tame the tongue; desire the custody of his spirit: Proverbs 16:1, ‘The answer of the tongue is from the Lord.’ When the heart is prepared the tongue may falter. In preaching and praying we are sometimes stopped in the midst of the work though the matter be meditated. The saints sometimes desire God to open their mouth, Ephesians 6:19; Psalms 50:15; sometimes to shut it; he doth all in this matter. (4.) That you may not offend in your words, let them be oftener employed about holy uses. It is not enough to abstain from evil-speaking: Ephesians 4:29, ‘Let no corrupt communication come out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying.’ So Ephesians 5:4, ‘Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, but rather giving of thanks,’ εὐχάριστια, that is, thankfully remembering your sweet experiences. You may have joy, if Christians, in other things; you may communicate to one another your experiences of God, and that is better mirth than foolish jesting. As we must then avoid the evil of the tongue, so we must commune one with another more fruitfully, quickening one another to a sweet apprehension of the benefits of God. The spouse’s lips ‘dropped honeycombs,’ Song of Solomon 4. Many possibly avoid conferences grossly evil; but how slow are we to good! Solomon, that describeth the sad effects of an evil tongue, doth also everywhere discover the fruits of a good tongue. For a taste take these places:—Proverbs 10:20, ‘The tongue of the just is as choice silver;’ not only as it is purged from the dross of vanity, and lies, and filthy speaking, but because of the worth and benefits of it. In another place he saith it is the ‘tree of life,’ Proverbs 11:30, whose leaves are medicinable. And Proverbs 12:18, ‘The tongue of the wise is health.’ All which should shame us, because we are so backward in holy discourse, to refresh and heal one another. And out of the whole we may learn that Christianity doth not take away the use of speech, but rule it; and doth not make us dumb in converse, but gracious.

⁹ Qu. ‘but’? ED.

¹⁰ ‘Qualia principia, talia principiata.’