James 3:1-8

v1: This instruction does not forbid “doing what we can to direct and instruct others in their duty or to rebuke them in a Christian way for what is wrong.” Instead, it is a caution to those who are or who desire to be in a position of teaching others, about what we say, especially if we are “keen to look at others’ faults, and... are arrogant in censuring them,” because we “may expect God will be as harsh in recording what [we] say and so wrong.”

v2: “We are all guilty before God, and those who brag about how great they are compared with the frailties and infirmities of others give little attention to how many things they themselves stumble in.” This should encourage us “to be severe in judging ourselves but loving in judging others.”

v3-5: Our tongues, “although they are small parts of the body,” are “capable of doing a great deal of good or harm.” We need God’s help to exercise control over it and restrain it, “otherwise, just as an unruly and wild horse runs away with its rider, or throws them, so an uncontrolled tongue will treat those who have no command over it.”

v6: An uncontrollable tongue is to be dreaded because “the whole body is often drawn into sin and guilt” by it. “The traps into which people are sometimes led by the tongue are insufferable to them themselves and destructive to others.”

v7-8: If we are “to prevent the troublesome eruptions and effects of the tongue,” it will require of us, “great watchfulness, effort, and prayer.” Pray that your words might be those help and not harm.