Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

and sin are mutually antagonistic, if not exclusive, because this thirst is a
thirst for God and holiness. Hence, the born-again man “cannot sin.” This is
to say, it goes against the grain of his new heart, his new nature. Furthermore,
he “does not sin.” This signifies that he does not intentionally practice it or
consciously plunge himself into it (See 1 John 3:9; 5:18).
Second, a man who abides in Christ brings forth fruit (John 15:5). That
is, to the extent that a man abides in Christ through the Word and prayer, he
does not produce sin, more sin, much sin, abiding sin (see also 1 John 3:6),
but fruit, more fruit, much fruit and abiding fruit (John 15:2, 5, 16). Mark
well, this does not imply that a man never commits an act of sin, never has a
sinful practice, or never has a sinful habit (1 John 1:8-10). However, when a
regenerate person commits sin, this sin as such is never a deliberate objective
to be reached at all costs, and therefore does not constitute a willful, intentional,
transgression (Heb. 10:26). Rather, sins of omission or commission
only materialize when the Christian’s guard is down in one way or another.
They may be a matter of stumbling during a time of spiritual negligence that
turns the believer into a “sleepy saint,” or a matter of succumbing to a sudden,
and possibly violent, temptation that hits the believer from the blind side,
whether he is conscious of it or not. Further, when a regenerate man has a sinful
practice or habit, he is either unaware, or only dimly aware of it, or lacks
insight in the nature of that practice or habit, possibly as a result of selfdeception.
Of course, since the Bible calls all this a matter of “faithlessness”
(2 Tim. 2:13), he is and remains fully responsible for it. At the same time,
when he becomes truly aware of it, or gains the necessary insight, he will
eventually, if not immediately, experience such wretchedness that it will result
in repentance!
Returning now to James’ further teaching on the tongue, in James 3:11-
12 he lays down the same truth that has been described as John’s first point.
According to Proverbs 18:21, there is both death and life in the tongue. We
now conclusively know that it is death by definition (Jam. 3:8), and life by
grace (John 15:5). For the tongue to be “life” it must meet three requirements.
The first requirement for a life-producing tongue is a regenerate heart,
since the mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart (Mt. 12:34). A
stream simply does not rise above its source (Manton, 280-281) When the
meditations of that heart are acceptable to God, and only than, is there a present
starting point for acceptable words spoken by the tongue (Ps. 19:14; Eph.
5:19).
The second requirement for a life-producing tongue is the total and radical
dependence upon the Triune God. This principle is further evaluated in
James 3:17-18. However, it is appropriate to mention here already the general
611