The man who does control his tongue is able to bridle the whole body
also (cf. 1:26), for the body goes with the tongue. In fact, nothing is
commoner than for one to make a rash statement and then feel compelled
to stand by it for the sake of imaginary consistency. Hort keenly
observes that the force of “also” after “the whole body” is that a man
who can bridle his tongue can bridle his whole body. The tongue is a
real Bucephalus, and it takes an Alexander to master him. It is really
wonderful how a spirited, impetuous horse can be subdued by bit and
bridle. The spirit does not go out of the horse, but his restless energy
is under control and guidance.
James does not mean that a man should be dumb and lifeless, without
ambition and power, but simply that his tongue, like all the rest of the
body, should be kept in control. This figure of bridling the tongue, as
already noted (1:26), is one of the most vivid figures in all languages.
David said: “I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue:
I will keep my mouth with a bridle” (Psalm 39:1).
It is not merely that the tongue is so hard to put a bridle on but also
that the tongue has such an influence on the whole body, able thus to
lead the body by the bridle.[76] The horse has to follow his mouth, in
which the bridle is placed. The purpose of the bridle is that the horses
may obey us, and it is thoroughly successful, as a rule. “We turn about
their whole body also” along with the mouth. So we should place bridles
in our mouths for the deliberate purpose of controlling the tongue. It
will not happen by accident.
We are to repress the impulsive and petulant word. Thus we train our own
tongues and make it easier to subdue the other members of the body. One
member cannot be allowed to lead the whole body into sin. Pluck it out,
if it be the right eye or the right hand (Matt. 5:29). The members of
the body are all so related as to be affected by what the others
experience. “The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee” (1
Cor. 12:21). Without this bridle on the tongue there is no true
self-control. A tongue loose at both ends means a man whom everyone
shuns as a nuisance. If the bridle is good for the horse, it is far more
so for the man. The difference is that the man has to put the bridle
into his own mouth and in dual capacity as rider and horse master
himself, the most unmanageable of steeds.
A garrulous man is a bore at best, while a woman with a sharp tongue is
a terror to the community. Tell no secrets to a talkative man, and few
to anyone save your wife. A man who talks to hear himself talk will be
sure to tell what he ought not to say. The writer of Hebrews refuses to
go on with too many details about his heroes of faith, “for the time
will fail me if I tell” (Heb. 11:32), “time will leave me telling.” If
the audience held the bridle, the preacher might stop sooner. The
phonograph can be turned off at will, permitting only so much “canned”
talk at a time. And yet talk is one of the most delightful things in all
the world. But there can be too much of a good thing, if, forsooth, it
is good. There are few greater nuisances than the interrupter, who
breaks into a conversation with no regard for the courtesies of the
occasion. He is as bad as the man who monopolizes the conversation and
allows no one else to talk at all. He needs a stopper, not a bridle, in
his mouth.