SPEAK NOT EVIL ONE OF ANOTHER

We have noted in earlier meditations that the tongue is a small member yet with potential to do great damage. Again, James appeals against harmful communication - speaking evil of one another. The meaning is ‘talking another down’, cf. Ps. 50. 20, and not infrequently it is done behind another’s back. Needless to say this should not happen among family members, least of all in the family of God; note the emphasis in James’ loving appeal - ‘brethren’ and ‘brother’.

In the context James has been diagnosing worldliness and its disruptive effects amongst Christians, when believers allow life’s pleasures to dominate and become idols. He has also identified the path to recovery in mourning, penitence and humility. How inappropriate therefore for saints to be judging and belittling one another - the very opposite of that godly sorrow and self-judgement which the God of recovery desires!

There is great danger in judging our brothers and sisters in matters of indifference, where no scriptural principle is at stake. How often harsh opinions are expressed in respect of dear fellow believers who speak or do differently from us when the only basis of the judgement is prejudice, personal preference, or tradition! Is it not a sad reflection of our fallen nature that it is much easier to find fault with others than to recognise and celebrate their virtues? Our Lord warns: ‘Judge not, that ye be not judged’, Matt. 7. 1. Similarly the Corinthians were to ‘judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts’, 1 Cor. 4. 5.

James makes it clear that the fault lies with the evil-speaker. He has usurped the Lord’s prerogative as the divinely appointed judge of His own. Moreover, in his judgmental spirit he has violated the Lord’s specific commandment that we should ‘love one another’, John 13. 34; Jas. 2. 8; 1 Pet. 4. 8. So James indignantly questions: ‘who are you that you judge your neighbour?’ v. 12 RSV. The term ‘neighbour’ suggests that he is to be the object of my pastoral care and ministry, not heartless exposure and defamation; cf. Luke 10. 30-37.