Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

Mark well that this is not stated as a possible or an intermittent scenario.
It is stated as a present and constant reality. Too often the tongue is portrayed
as an instrument that has the fearful “capability” or “potentiality” of evil,
such as leading people astray when it resorts to false teaching, of destroying
much good when it is out of control, and of producing great harm when it is
unchecked, in short, of going about the work of hell when it is bent out of
shape (Nystrom, 175, 176, 179, 183; Cranfield, 344). However, this virtually
destroys the point that James is making. In James it is stated not merely as a
capability or potentiality, but as a frightful and frightening reality! Tongues,
my tongue, your tongue, all tongues, are always and by definition a hellish
destructive fire that does enormous, if not untold, damage. They touch everything,
set everything they touch on fire, and are themselves set on fire by
hell, whether this is recognized and acknowledged or not. God’s spiritual xray,
as found in Scripture, presents this diagnosis. The Spirit of God drives it
home (John 16:8). 285
In short, as has been observed already, in the tongue all human beings
possess a direct pipeline to hell, which is by definition destructive, unless it is
capped so that no spillover or leakage can occur (more about the latter below).
This is a grim reality indeed! As we already noticed, Paul ups the ante
and informs us in more conceptual fashion that “indwelling sin,” to be
equated with James’ poison, resides in all our “members” (Rom. 7:23). This
multiplies the pipelines to hell many times over, and turns James’ grim reality
into a nightmare, were it not for Jesus (Rom. 7:24) who through his Spirit
(Rom. 8:1-11) caps the pipelines. It is hard to miss the ever-widening circle
of depravity. It starts with a small member. It spreads to the whole body. It
covers all of reality, ultimately because it has its origination point in hell. In
the light of all this we can understand the observation offered by one com-
285 The fact that God’s common graces have a restraining, tempering as well as a benevolent,
cheering influence does not vitiate this diagnosis. Apart from the fact that these “graces” are
designed to lead to repentance (Rom. 2:4), it is not uncommon for a healthy blush on the
cheek to go hand in hand with tuberculosis, an active lifestyle with a threatening heart attack,
and a positive physical outlook with a hidden cancer! From this perspective common grace
can be a dangerous thing. It can pull the wool over the eyes of people, and seduce them to cry
“peace, peace,” when and where there is no peace. In short, it can lull them to sleep. In that
scenario common grace, however much it is and remains an utterly benevolent gift of God
turns at the same time into a tool of Satan. This is not simply the opinion of an alarmist commentator.
It is the teaching of Paul. Moralists, who pat themselves upon the back because of
their commendable lifestyle and the consequent prosperity they enjoy, simply cannot believe
that hell is waiting for them. “The goodness of God,” they protest, is so obvious in their life,
that hell would be an unthinkable anticlimax, both undeserving on their part and unworthy of
God. Paul makes short shrift of this self-destructive diagnosis. For one thing, common grace
in God’s dictionary spells “repentance.” And for another, due to their refusal to comply their
impenitent hearts are inevitable targets of God’s wrath (Rom. 2:1-5).
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