Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 10

January 10;      James 3:2;       219/260(III);        ‘The Perfect Man’

James 3:2 For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.

There has only been one perfect Man and His name is Jesus.  The word ‘perfect’ in this verse refers to mature or complete.  The most difficult part of our body to control is our mouth and it takes a mature Christian to be vigilant to watch what they say.  The word ‘stumble’ used twice in this verse means to offend.  We offend others with our mouth more than with any other part of our body.  This verse teaches that if we can discipline our mouth in what we say, we are well able to discipline the rest of our body.  Verse 8 of this chapter tells us that no man can tame his tongue.  There seems to be a discrepancy here between verse 2 which says a mature Christian can discipline their mouth and verse 8 which says no man can tame the tongue.  This discrepancy is easily cleared up.  ‘Man’ in verse 8 speaks of a human being, a ‘generic’ man.  Verse 2 refers to a born again, Spirit filled Christian who, by the power of the Holy Spirit, has the ability to discipline what they say.  Romans 5:5 tells us that the Holy Spirit deposits the love of God into our spirit when we become born again.  By purposing in our heart to require our mouth to speak properly, it may take some time, but eventually we will be able to tame our tongue.  If the things of the Lord are important to you and if you understand that the words we speak reflect not only on us, but also on Jesus if the person we are speaking to knows we are a Christian. You can do this if you choose to.