Verse 8. But the tongue wan no man tame] No cunning, persuasion, or influence has ever been able to silence it. Nothing but the grace of God, excision, or death, can bring it under subjection.

It is an unruly evil] . An evil that cannot be restrained; it cannot be brought under any kind of government; it breaks all bounds.

Full of deadly poison.] He refers here to the tongues of serpents, supposed to be the means of conveying their poison into wounds made by their teeth. Throughout the whole of this poetic and highly declamatory description, St. James must have the tongue of the slanderer, calumniator, backbiter, whisperer, and tale-bearer, particularly in view. Vipers, basilisks; and rattlesnakes are not more dangerous to life, than these are to the peace and reputation of men.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

But the tongue; not only other mens tonges, but his own.

Can no man tame; no man of himself, and without the assistance of Divine grace, can bring his tongue into subjection, and keep it in order; nor can any man, by the assistance of any grace promised in this life, so keep it, as that it shall never at all offend.

It is an unruly evil; or, which cannot be restrained, and kept within bounds: wild beasts are kept in by grates and bars, but this by no restraint.

Full of dead poison; the wickedness of the tongue is compared to poison, in respect of the mischief it doth to others. It seems to allude to those kinds of serpents which have poison under their tongues, Psa 140:3, with which they kill those they bite. The poison of the tongue is no less deadly, it murders mens reputations by the slanders it utters, their souls by the lusts and passions it stirs up in them, and many times their bodies too by the contentions and quarrels it raiseth against men.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

8. no manliterally, “noone of men”: neither can a man control his neighbor’s, nor evenhis own tongue. Hence the truth of Jas3:2 appears.

unruly evilThe Greek,implies that it is at once restless and incapable ofrestraint. Nay, though nature has hedged it in with a doublebarrier of the lips and teeth, it bursts from its barriers to assailand ruin men [ESTIUS].

deadlyliterally,”death-bearing.”

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

But the tongue can no man tame,…. Either his own, or others; not his own, for the man that has the greatest guard upon himself, his words and actions; yet, what through pride or passion, or one lust or another in his heart, at one time or another, bolts out vain, idle, angry, and sinful words: and he that does not may be set down for a perfect man indeed: nor can he tame or restrain the tongues of others from detraction, calumnies, backbitings, and whisperings; who say, their lips are their own, and who is Lord over us? no man can, by his own power and strength, tame or subdue his tongue, or restrain it from evils it is habituated to, be it lying, cursing, swearing, or what else: God, by his Spirit, power, and grace, can, and often does, change the note of the curser, swearer, liar, and blasphemer; but no man can do this, though he can tame beasts, birds, serpents, and fishes; which shows the tongue to be worse than anything to be found in the whole compass of nature:

[it is an] unruly evil: an evil it is, for it is a world of iniquity; and an unruly one, being more so than the horse and mule, which are without understanding, who are kept in and governed, and turned any way by the bit and bridle: but though in nature the tongue is fenced by a double fence of the lips and teeth, this is not sufficient to restrain it; it breaks all bounds, and is not to be kept in by nature, art, or argument: nothing but the grace of God can in any measure govern it, or lay an embargo on it:

full of deadly poison, which, privately, secretly, and gradually, destroys the characters, credit, and reputation of men; and is of fatal consequence in families, neighbourhoods, churches, and states.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

No one (). Especially his own tongue and by himself, but one has the help of the Holy Spirit.

A restless evil ( ). Correct reading, not , for which see 1:8. The tongue is evil when set on fire by hell, not evil necessarily.

Full of deadly poison ( ). Feminine adjective agreeing with , not with (neuter). (poison here, as in Ro 3:13, but rust in 5:3, only N.T. examples), old word. Genitive case after (full of). , old compound adjective (from , death, , to bear or bring), death-bringing. Here only in N.T. Like the restless death-bringing tongue of the asp before it strikes.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

No man [ ] . A strong expression. Lit., no one of men.

Unruly [] . Lit., not to be held back. The proper reading, however, is ajkatastaton, unsettled. See on kaqistatai, hath its place, ver. 6. Rev., correctly, restless.

Deadly [] . Lit., death – bearing, or bringing. Only here in New Testament.

Poison [] . Rendered rust at ch. 5 3; and found only in these two passages and in Rom 3:13, in the citation of Psa 140:3.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

It is described as a restless, evil member, full of rust, corrosion, venom and deathly. The tongue is “death -bearing” in nature, gruesome as a screech owl, and an hyena, Job 5:21; Jer 18:18. Blessed is that home where the venom of hate, the scream of the screech-owl, and hyena are controlled, Psa 140:3; Rom 3:13.

THE BUILDER VERSUS THE WRECKER

I watched them tearing a building down -A gang of men in a busy town; With a “ho heave ho” and a lusty yell They swung a beam and the side wall fell; I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled? And the kind you would hire, if you were to build?” He laughed and said, “Why no indeed Just common laborers is alI I need; They can easily wreck in a day or two That which has taken builders years to do”. So I said to myself, as I went on my way, What part in the game of life do I play? Am I shaping me deeds in a well-made plan, Carefully measuring with a rule and square, Patiently doing the very best I can, Or am I a wrecker, who walks the town, Content with the labor of tearing down?

Selected

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

(8) But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly (or, restless) evil, full of deadly poison.Mortiferous, bringer of death, like a poisoned dart or arrow; and therefore most suggestive of envenomed flights at the fame of others. St. James does not mean that no one can tame his own tongue, for so he would hardly be responsible for its vagaries; and lower down it is written expressly, these things ought not so to be. The hopeless savagery of the tongue, excelling the fury of wild beasts, must be that of the liar, the traducer, and blasphemer. (Comp. Psalms 140)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

8. Tongue can no man tame Augustine says, that never, but by the grace of God, has any tongue been tamed. It may be replied that worldly self-interest often tames the tongue as effectually as divine wisdom. As to that, however, it may be asked, To what does worldly prudence tame the tongue? And it may be answered, It tames the tongue to a subdued but still wild and depraved state. Nothing but the grace of God tames the tongue to that docility to which our apostle alludes, submission to the divine law, and the hearty utterance of a holy confession.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘But the tongue can no man tame. It is a restless evil, it is full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God.’

For the one thing that is untameable is the tongue. It is a restless evil, ever at work doing harm and causing problems, and in the end making men spiritually ill and permeating their whole being with poison (compare Psa 140:3 – ‘they make their tongue sharp as a serpent’s and under their lips is the poison of vipers’. See also Rom 3:13, “With their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips”). It may sometimes appear to be tamed, but its wildness will soon manifest itself if it is taken off the bridle.

And how inconsistent the tongue is. At one time it blesses ‘the Lord and Father’, the Lord of creation (Mal 2:10; compare Mal 1:6; Isa 64:8), and then at another time, sometimes very soon afterwards, it curses the very lords of creation whom God has set in place, who have been made in the very likeness of the God they bless (Gen 1:27-28). They can even curse those who are the very representatives of God. James is using a powerful word in ‘curse’ but it covers anything which is said to the detriment of others, right up to the worst of all, the actual curse. Compare Joh 7:49. Here are doubleminded men indeed (see Jas 1:8).

This idea of ‘blessing’ was especially relevant to a Jew, and therefore to many Jewish Christians. Whenever the name of God was mentioned, a Jew had to respond: “Blessed be He!” Furthermore three times a day the devout Jew had to repeat the Shemoneh Esreh, the famous eighteen prayers called Eulogies, every one of which begins, “Blessed be You, O God.” God was indeed , The Blessed One, (‘eulogetos’), the One who was continually blessed. And yet the very mouths and tongues with which they frequently and piously blessed God, were the very same mouths and tongues with which they cursed their fellowmen. James found this quite unacceptable. He considered it as unnatural as for a spring to gush out both fresh and salt water or a tree to bear opposite kinds of fruit.

But note that it is man who is unable to tame the tongue (see also Jas 3:14-15). Once God steps into the equation things are very different (Jas 3:13; Jas 3:17-18). See also Eph 4:29-31, ‘let no evil communication come out of your mouths but only such as is good for edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those who hear — let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour and slander be put away from you, with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.’

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jas 3:8 . The chief thought is marked by , as a contrast to the foregoing. With is meant not the tongue of others (Estius, Grotius, Hornejus, Baumgarten), but one’s own tongue (according to Lange, both are indicated, the last primarily). The remark of Bengel is also unsuitable: nemo alius, vix ipse quisque. The words (or more correctly, after B C: , because the accent is on ) are to be understood in all their sharpness; the weakening completion of the Schol. in Matthaei: , is false. By this thought, what was said in Jas 3:2 now receives its full light. The moral earnestness of the author urges him at the close to the exclamation: . . .; hence the independent form of this addition (see Winer, p. 471 [E. T. 668]). By ( unsteady, restless , see chap. Jas 1:8 ) the unrest of the passions is indicated, not simply with reference to what follows, unsteadfastness (de Wette); comp. Hermas, Past. II. mand. 2 : , . This reading is to be preferred to that of the Rec. (not to be tamed), “because it adds a new idea after . .” (Wiesinger).

The image of the poisonous serpent lies at the foundation of the second exclamation: ; comp. Psa 140:4 .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

Ver. 8. But the tongue, &c. ] Where then are our justiciaries with their pretended perfection? David’s heart deceived him Psa 39:1 ; “I said, I will look to my ways, I will bridle my tongue.” But presently after, he shows how soon he brake his word. “My heart was hot,” &c., and “I spake with my tongue.” Pambus, in the ecclesiastical history, could never take out that one lesson read him out ofPsa 39:1Psa 39:1 . There is one Bennus celebrated in the same ecclesiastical history for this (but I can hardly believe it), that he was never seen of any man to be angry, never beard to swear, or lie, or utter a vain word. (Sozomen, vi. 28.)

An unruly evil ] There be but five virtues of the tongue reckoned by philosophers. But there are 24 different sins of the tongue, as Peraldus recounteth them. The Arabians have a proverb, Cave ne feriat lingua tua collum tuum; Take heed thy tongue cut not thy throat. An open mouth is often a purgatory to the master. See Trapp on “ Jam 3:6 “

Full of deadly poison ] Such as poisoneth itself, and poisoneth at a distance, which no other poison doth. Some poisons are not poisonous to some creatures; storks feed upon serpents, ducks upon toads, &c. But the tongue is a universal poison, &c.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

8 .] but (exception) the tongue no one of men can tame (the assertion is absolute, not to be weakened by . , as the Schol. in Matthi. And it is plain that to read it, as c., interrogatively ( , ;), is quite out of the question. Observe , aor., ‘even to tame once,’ not habitually, pres. Now we see fully the meaning of Jam 3:2 ): it is a restless mischief ( expresses both fickleness and restlessness, see above on ch. Jam 1:8 and Dio Chrys. there, who calls a democracy . The figure here seems to correspond nearly to what is related of Proteus, that he eluded the grasp of Menelaus under many various shapes. Cf. Hermas, Pastor ii. 2, p. 916, , ), ( it is ) (the supply of a copula is necessary on account of the change of gender, referring back again to . Or, the two clauses may be rendered without any copul, as quasi-exclamations) full of death-bringing poison (cf. ref. Ps., , ). I cannot forbear referring the reader to Erasmus’s very elegant paraphrase of these two verses, 7, 8; and thanking Wiesinger for directing attention to it.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

no man = no one (Greek. oudeis) of men (App-123.)

unruly. Greek. akataschetos. Only here, but the texts read akatastatos, unstable, restless, as in Jam 1:8.

evil. App-128.

deadly. Greek. thanatephoros. Only here.

poison. Greek. ios. See Rom 3:13.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

8.] but (exception) the tongue no one of men can tame (the assertion is absolute, not to be weakened by . , as the Schol. in Matthi. And it is plain that to read it, as c., interrogatively ( , ;), is quite out of the question. Observe , aor., even to tame once, not habitually, pres. Now we see fully the meaning of Jam 3:2): it is a restless mischief ( expresses both fickleness and restlessness, see above on ch. Jam 1:8 and Dio Chrys. there, who calls a democracy . The figure here seems to correspond nearly to what is related of Proteus, that he eluded the grasp of Menelaus under many various shapes. Cf. Hermas, Pastor ii. 2, p. 916, , ), (it is) (the supply of a copula is necessary on account of the change of gender, referring back again to . Or, the two clauses may be rendered without any copul, as quasi-exclamations) full of death-bringing poison (cf. ref. Ps., , ). I cannot forbear referring the reader to Erasmuss very elegant paraphrase of these two verses, 7, 8; and thanking Wiesinger for directing attention to it.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Jam 3:8. , , no one of men) The antithesis is, of man, Jam 3:7.-, no other; scarcely each individual himself.- ) an unruly evil. Phocylides, , . So , Jam 3:6.-, full) The nominative, after the parenthesis, compared with Jam 3:6. Then especially the evil is not to be restrained, when[38] it swells with deadly poison.

[38] So Beng. seems to take , when it is full, etc.-E.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

an unruly: Jam 3:6, Psa 55:21, Psa 57:4, Psa 59:7, Psa 64:3, Psa 64:4

full: Deu 32:33, Psa 58:4, Psa 140:3, Ecc 10:11, Rom 3:13, Rev 12:9

Reciprocal: Mar 5:4 – tame

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Jas 3:8. Such a feat cannot be accomplished upon the tongue because of its characteristic of poison which defies being subdued by another man than its owner. James does not say a man cannot subdue his own tongue; in truth he teaches that a man can and should bridle his own tongue (chapter 1:26).

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Jas 3:8. But, expressive of contrast, the tongue, generally consideredwhether our own tongue or the tongue of others

can no man tame or subdue. The tongue is more unconquerable than the wildest animal. No man can master his own tongue, or subdue that of the slanderer or the liar; we require the grace of God for this.

it is an unruly evilincapable of being curbed, full of disturbance. The best manuscripts read, it is a restless evilincapable of being quieted.

full of deadly poison: the reference being to the poison of serpents which was supposed to be connected with their tongues. Compare the words of the Psalmist, referred to by St. Paul (Rom 3:13): They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders poison is under their lips (Psa 140:3). Hence the importance and difficulty of the government of the tongue. We must pray for the grace of God to keep our mouths as with a bridle. We must steer this little helm aright, lest we should make shipwreck of our immortal hopes. We must be cautious of every little spark, lest the infernal flames should burst forth, and spread devastation over the whole circle of our lives.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

But the tongue can no man tame; [it is] an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

I would submit that this is speaking of lost man specifically and to saved man in his unspiritual state. We can control our tongues if we are controlled by the Spirit, but look out if we aren’t under the Spirits control.

Two points further about the tongue:

a. The tongue is “an unruly evil” thing. “Unruly” is a term that means “unruly” or something that cannot be restrained. It is an evil that is not restrained – unleashed evil might be the idea. When you fail to control your tongue, you unleash evil upon those around you.

Christian, is that the way you want to be known? Certainly, this is not the way God wants us to be known.

b. The tongue is “full of deadly poison” thus avoid the uncontrolled tongue. “Full” is the idea of a person’s mind that is full of emotion. If you have ever lost a loved one, the first hours are full of thought for the loss, and little else enters your mind. This is the idea of full. The tongue is consumed with this poison. “Poison” is a word that is used of the poison of snakes, or can be used of rust. Something that contaminates the whole thing.

Years ago we were given a Chevy II station wagon. It was a great little car and served us well however when we received it there were little dimples of rust around the headlights on the top of the fender. I took the sander out and went to work. It wasn’t long before I had a hole the size of a fist on both front fenders. I finished cleaning the rust away and filled in the holes with epoxy and painted it.

The idea of “rust” and “poison” was quite visible within a few months. There was a little line of rust around the epoxy and fresh paint of a few months earlier. Within weeks there were holes showing up and not long after the epoxy fell out. So some further grinding and cleaning and filling and painting, and I am sure that epoxy fell out not long after we traded the car for another.

Rust contaminates and continues to grow in its contamination. So the tongue rusts the body of Christ. It doesn’t take but a small poisoned area to ruin an entire assembly if the rust is not completely eliminated. Had I cut back an inch or two into good metal, I am sure the problem would not have kept recurring. So, in the church if you see rust you need to do some serious damage control as soon as possible.

Often I have seen pastors on inter-net forums ask for advice about how to control problem situations that are beginning to show their face. Most pastors that have experienced the rust of the tongue tell them to immediately act and stop the problem before it grows. Others suggest a wait and see attitude, and these are those that have not seen the poison of the tongue in action.

Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson

Apart from the Holy Spirit’s help no human being has ever been able to subdue his or her own tongue. It is much more dangerous than any deadly animal because it never rests, and it can destroy simply with words. Fire, animals, and the tongue all have power to destroy (cf. Jas 3:5).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)