Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

III. THE ATTAINMENT OF HOLINESS IN THE CHRISTIAN
EXPERIENCE (3:1-4:10)
Introduction
The passage that now follows is supposedly “one of the more obviously selfcontained
sections in the letter” (Johnson, 253), without any substantive connection
with the preceding (Grosheide, 1955, 383). At the same time, while it
does not appear to have any substantive connection either with what precedes
it, or with what follows it for that matter, it nevertheless is believed to form a
“single rhetorical unit,” and “stand as an intelligible discourse on its own,
“since it has the earmarks of a “careful composition,” and a sustained “argument”
(Johnson, 254; so also Brosend, 86), as it moves from critical, arrogant,
impure, and quarrelsome speech resulting in dissensions and disputes in
the community to the antidote of the fruitful wisdom from above through
radical repentance (Moo, 1985, 118).
The only connection with what precedes it is said to be formal in nature.
James continues to emphasize the need for being a doer of the Word, mentioned
in James 1:22. He possibly implies in general that “words are also
works” (Tasker, 72; Moo, 1985, 118), but specifically picks up the theme of
the tongue that already occupied him in James 1:19 and 1:26, and to a certain
extent also in James 2:3-6, 2:16, and 2:18 (Johnson, 254-255), even if the focus
upon the use and power of the tongue as exemplified in the role of the
teacher in the church is sufficiently novel that this section most likely constitutes
a new topic (Martin, 103). While all this is an improvement over the
view that the various elements of this passage are fully aphoristic (Dibelius,
181), it still fails to recognize this section as a vital component of the Epistle
that not only evidences its deep structure, but is also essential for its exquisite
tapestry.
At first glance the focus is, indeed, the tongue, first of all in conjunction
with “teachers” in the congregation (Jam. 3:1), but then also in conjunction
with the membership in general (Jam. 3:9-10). This is eloquently argued by
one commentator. In vivid terms he describes the tongue as “the organ of sociability”
with its edifying worship of God and its kind neighborly interaction.
Life would be utterly impoverished without it. It is entitled “to talk big”
and “to hold its head high” (Ps. 34:2; 44:8). On the other hand, it is also the
anti-social organ par excellence, with its blasphemies and cursings, its lies
and defamations. From that perspective it is poison, derives its content from
the pit of hell and can only pollute all of creation throughout its history from
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