ACC ~ James 3 v6

SINS OF THE TONGUE ARE MANY. BASIL THE GREAT: If you love life, fulfill the commandment of life. “The one who loves me,” said Jesus, “keeps my commandments,” and the first commandment is this: “Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking guile.”For the sin which is caused by the tongue is very active and many-sided, being active in wrath, lust, hypocrisy, judgment and deception. Do we need to recall the many names which are given to sins of the tongue? For from it come slanders, coarse jokes, idiocies, irrelevant accusations, bitterness, swearing, false witness—the tongue is the creator of all these evil things and more. CATENA.

GUARDING THE TONGUE. CHRYSOSTOM: Therefore, guard the tip of the tongue, for it is like a majestic stallion. For if you put a bit in its mouth and teach it to walk in order, it adapts to this and is satisfied. But if you let it run wild, it becomes the vehicle of the devil and his angels. CATENA.

THE TONGUE ABLAZE. BEDE: The tongue is a fire which can destroy a whole forest of good works just by saying things which are evil. This fire is the exact opposite of that saving fire which is also like a tongue and which consumes all the dross and chaff of our vices, revealing the secrets of the heart. The saints are inflamed by it, they burn with love because of it, and by their preaching they set others ablaze like tongues of fire. CONCERNING THE EPISTLE OF ST. JAMES.

LEADING INTO RASHNESS. ANDREAS: James did not say that the course of our life ignites the tongue but that the tongue ignites the course of our life. For it causes us to make wrong decisions and leads us into rashness. By it, our life is thrown off course and subjected to many kinds of wickedness. CATENA.

GANGRENE TO THE SOUL. PACHOMIUS: The bragging tongue fouls the whole body and is gangrene to the soul. COMMUNION 3.38.

INIQUITY BURNS. HILARY OF ARLES: Iniquity stains us in the same way as wood is scorched by fire, and hell burns as if it were a fire. INTRODUCTORY TRACTATE ON THE LETTER OF JAMES.

A WORLD OF EVIL. OECUMENIUS: The tongue is described as a “world” of evil, because the word world implies a large quantity. The phrase should thus be interpreted as “a great evil.” COMMENTARY ON JAMES.

Jas