Ministry of Grace Church

Out of the same mouth comes forth blessing and cursing. My brothers, it is not fitting for these things to be so.

Truth to Learn

It is not right that the same mouth should be used for both the noble act of praising and the vile act of cursing.

Behind the Words

The word translated “comes forth” is exerchomai, which is made up of ek, meaning “out” or “out of” and erchomai, which means “to come” or “to go.” Again, this verb is in the present tense, active voice, and indicative mood, indicating current continuous action. In other words, both blessing and cursing are now continually coming out of our mouths.

“Not fitting” is the translation of the Greek words ou chrē. We have seen before that ou is a negative particle which expresses absolute negation. The word chrē is a form of chraō, having a meaning somewhere between “appropriate” and “necessary.” This word is not used anywhere else in the New Testament. Together these two words basically mean “should definitely not …”

The expression “these things to be so” is translated from the two Greek words houtōs ginesthai. The word houtōs means “in this manner, in this way, or like this.” This word ginesthai is an infinitive of ginomai, meaning “to come into being” or “to cause something to begin.” Hence, the ending of this verse could be paraphrased as: “Things like this should definitely not be happening!”

Meaning Explained

James now reiterates what he said in verse nine and proclaims the tragedy of it. It does not make sense that the same mouth should be the source of both blessing and cursing. It is incongruous that the tongue should be used for both a noble deed like praising and for a vile deed like cursing.

James may have recalled the story taught by Jewish Rabbis of his day: Rabbi Simeon, the son of Gamaliel, said to his servant Tobias, “Go and bring me some good food from the market.” The servant went, and bought him tongues. At another time he said to the same servant, ”Go and buy me some bad food.” The servant went and again bought tongues. Simeon said, “What is the reason for this? When I told you to buy me good and bad food, you brought tongues both times?” The servant answered, “From the tongue both good and evil come to man: if it be good, there is nothing better; if bad, there is nothing worse.”

Application

How well do you control your own tongue? Are you able to hold back when the urge strikes to lash out at someone, to speak disparagingly of someone else, or worse yet, use the Lord’s name in vain? If so, great! Keep it up! If not, don’t despair. Instead, do as we are told in 1 John 1:9:

If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 And, may we all pray as David did:

Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips. (Psalms 141:3)

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer. (Psalms 19:14)