There are three special characteristics of the tongue as “an instrument of unrighteousness unto sin.”
First, it is the great instrument of deceit and flattery. Only of Christ can it be said, “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth” (1 Peter 2:22). But in reference to others, this is the solemn verdict: “There is no faithfulness in their mouth, their inward part is very wickedness, their throat is an open sepulcher, they flatter with their tongue” (Psa. 5:9). Such flattery and deceit has been one mark of false prophets and false teachers. Those prophets prophesied “lies,” “deceits,” “smooth things” and the people loved to have it so.
Flattery
Men may flatter God, even as Israel of old. “When He slew them, then they sought Him, and they returned and enquired early after God. ... Nevertheless, they did flatter Him with their mouth ... for their heart was not right with Him” (Psa. 78:34,36-37). Man may flatter his fellow man, but the wisdom of God gives a solemn warning: “Meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips” (Prov. 20:19).
Hatred
Second, the tongue is that instrument by which the hatred of the heart towards God—and the heart’s defiance of God—is frequently manifested. It is indeed “a little member,” but it is “a world of iniquity”; “it setteth on fire the whole course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell” (James 3:5-6). The thought of the natural man is: “With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?” (Psa. 12:4). So it says of the Beast in the book of Revelation: “There was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies ... and he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven” (Rev. 13:5-6).
The tongue, through education, may be used to conceal the thoughts of the heart, but often, in an offhand expression, it is an index of what is passing in the heart. It is surely true that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Matt. 12:34). Though conventional decency may restrain man in the presence of his fellow, yet when godliness elicits ridicule or provokes the contemptuous expression, these idle words are a true index of the real state of the heart before God.
Boastful Arrogance
Third, the tongue is the chief instrument whereby men express the proud thoughts of their heart, however impotent they may be to carry them into effect. “The tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things” (James 5:5). It is the characteristic result of false teaching brought into the church (2 Peter 2:18) that men would “speak great swelling words of vanity.” So again, when “the grace of God” is turned into the license of human will, “they speak evil of dignities” and “speak evil of those things they know not” (Jude 8,10). We could multiply examples of how man asserts, at every step, his independence of God, till at last he openly defies God and the Lamb. Man may do great things, but God’s Word says, “Fear not. ... The Lord will do great things” (Joel 2:21). God joins issue with man in terrible judgment upon the ground of the boastful arrogance of his tongue, as well as the daring willfulness of his deeds.
Swift to Hear, Slow to Speak
It is not the “tongue to speak” that men need, but the “ear to hear,” and never will the tongue be used aright for the glory of God until there be the ear to hear. “Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak” (James 1:19). Men have inverted the divine order and coveted readiness of speech, although the ear be deaf to hear. All would be talkers; few have patience to hear. The sorest judicial act ever inflicted by God on Israel was leaving them with “ears dull of hearing.” It alarmed the Apostle as to the Hebrew converts, lest there should be a turning back unto perdition, because they were “dull of hearing.” The eye might be blinded, the ear deafened, and the heart made fat, but the mouth was left untouched to tell out their real condition. And when it pleased God to open the eyes of one to see His glory, the confession was, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips” (Isa. 6:5).
If the tongue is to be retrieved to the glory of God, we must begin with the ear. This is the divine order. Jesus Himself thus speaks: “The Lord God hath given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth Mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God hath opened Mine ear and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back” (Isa. 50:4-5). Men still desire the tongue of the learned; they confess that they have inability to express themselves and wish they could speak as others of Christ and His salvation, but they are ignorant that the thing lacking is the obedient ear.
The Ear to Hear
When Moses received commission from the Lord to deliver Israel out of Egypt, he saw all the difficulties in the way of the people receiving him and of Pharaoh listening to him. Among other difficulties, he pleads, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue” (Ex. 4:10). Moses was ignorant that the thing needed was the ready ear. And the Lord said unto him, “Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say” (Ex. 4:11-12). If Moses had the tongue of the learned, it must be by having his ear wakened to hear as the learned, else the doctrine is the doctrine of Moses, and not the doctrine of God.
But the divine order is seen most clearly in the Perfect One Himself. “As I hear I judge, and My judgment is just, because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me” (John 5:30). Again, when the Jews marveled, saying, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? Jesus answered them, My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me.” And then He adds that true learning and ability to speak it can only be acquired in the same school. “If any man will do His will [has the ready ear] he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself” (John 7:15-17). The opened ear is the way to the tongue of the learned.
H. H. Snell (adapted)