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With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the image of God.
Verse Takeaways
1
The Tongue's Contradiction
Commentators unanimously highlight the profound contradiction James points out. The same tongue used for the highest purpose—praising God the Father—is also used to curse human beings. Scholars describe this as a "monstrous inconsistency" and an "unbearable hypocrisy," as it uses one instrument for two diametrically opposed actions.
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Book Overview
James
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7
18th Century
Presbyterian
Therewith bless we God. We humans do this; that is, all this is done by the tongue. The apostle does not mean that the same man d…
Therewith (εν αυτη). This instrumental use of εν is not merely Hebraistic, but appears in late Koine writers (Moulton, P…
19th Century
Anglican
With it we bless God, even the Father.—A strange reading of this verse in the more ancient manuscripts renders it as,
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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…
16th Century
Protestant
With it, or, by it, we bless God. It is a clear example of its deadly poison, that it can, in this way, through a monstrous incon…
17th Century
Reformed Baptist
Therewith bless we God, even, the Father Of Jesus Christ, and of spirits, and of mercies: this is the instrument tha…
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We are taught to dread an unruly tongue as one of the greatest evils. The affairs of humankind are thrown into confusion by the tongues of people. …
