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James 3
1Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment.
2For we all stumble in many things. Anyone who doesn’t stumble in word is a perfect person, able to bridle the whole body also.
3Indeed, we put bits into the horses’ mouths so that they may obey us, and we guide their whole body.
4Behold, the ships also, though they are so big and are driven by fierce winds, are yet guided by a very small rudder, wherever the pilot .
5So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest!
6And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna.
7For every kind of animal, bird, creeping thing, and sea creature is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind;
8but nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men who are made in the image of God.
10Out of the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.
11Does a spring send out from the same opening fresh and bitter water?
12Can a fig tree, my brothers, yield olives, or a figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh water.
13Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good conduct that his deeds are done in gentleness of wisdom.
14But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and don’t lie against the truth.
15This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonic.
16For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil deed.
17But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
18Now the fruit of is sown in peace by those who make peace.
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Questions this passage answers
What is sin?
Scripture defines sin as lawlessness, as falling short of God's glory, and as failing to do the good we know we should do. It is not only a list of bad actions but a condition of the heart that produces them, and it is first against God rather than only against people. Scripture also says all have sinned, that its wage is death, and that God is faithful to forgive those who confess.
How do I resist temptation?
Scripture says God always provides a way of escape, that temptation begins with desire inside us rather than with God, and that the ordinary means of resisting are watching, praying, walking by the Spirit, hiding God's word in the heart, and fleeing rather than negotiating. It does not promise that temptation stops, and it sends the tempted person to a High Priest who was tempted himself and can be approached for help.
How do I know God's will for my life?
Scripture speaks of God's will in two ways. His revealed will is what he has already told us plainly and is not in doubt: holiness, love, gratitude, obedience. His hidden will concerns the future and is not given to us in advance. The Bible directs almost all its attention to the first, and it teaches us to make wise decisions inside it rather than to decode secret guidance.
What is faith?
Faith is not a feeling of certainty or a leap taken without evidence. Hebrews 11:1 defines it as substance and evidence, real confidence in what God has said and promised, even before it is seen. Biblical faith always has an object, God and his word, and it is proven genuine by how it acts, as the long roll call of Hebrews 11 demonstrates.