There are several ways to dance with this passage of scripture. One is to deal with the absolutely true challenges of controlling the things we say. For such a small piece of our bodies, it can stir up a whole lot of stuff, not all of it good, sometimes not much of it good.
The other direction is to take a look at the responsibility of presuming to teach others. There is a stricter accounting for teachers than others and it is therefore discouraged as a direction for people to take. “Not many of you should become teachers…” is the line James takes contrary to all the recruitment posters for teachers these days.
So how do we take seriously the responsibilities these two tracks offer us? Careful what we say, careful what we teach… maybe just be careful could be the tagline of this passage?
