Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary James 3:9

"Therewith bless we the Lord and Father; and therewith curse we men, who are made after the likeness of God:" — James 3:9 (ASV)

Here James speaks of inconsistency as an aspect of the tongue’s perversity (vv.9–12). We can use the same instrument to “praise our Lord and Father” and to “curse men.” But praising God and cursing people is tantamount to praising and cursing the same person, for in v.9 James describes a human being as “made in God’s likeness” (cf. Genesis 1:26–27). Although marred by sin, that image is still very much a reality; and human intellect, emotion, and will show that people still bear God’s likeness. Obviously, James is not referring to such curses as those that Paul invoked on anyone who perverts the Gospel (Galatians 1:6–9). Instead, it is the cursing that grows out of bitterness and hatred that he speaks of.