The power of the Human Tongue

The human tongue is a mysterious organ. A gentle tongue is a tree of life (Proverbs 15:4). Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits (Proverbs 18:21). The tongues of wise people give good expression to knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out a flood of stupidity (Proverbs 15:2).

What is the tongue?

The tongue is a muscular organ in the human mouth. The tongue functions as a digestive organ by facilitating the movement of food during mastication and assisting swallowing. Other important functions include taste, enables vocalization and speeches.

In recent years the world has been dominated by the power of social media, but the power of the tongue and the power of great speeches has never been underestimated.

There is a strict spiritual and physical connection between the power of the human tongue and the power of great speeches-the communication of words.

Jesus Christ once said “It is the Spirit who gives life: the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63).   In this statement Jesus would establish a strict spiritual connection between the power of the human tongue and spoken words-between spoken words and the spirit-between spiritual words and spiritual life. In this account, Our Lord Jesus would paint an artistic portrait of the human tongue as a mysterious organ.

The account of creation records the following:

God said “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us (Genesis 1:26a). So, God created human beings in His own image. In the image of God, He created them: male and female He created them (Genesis 1:27).

Therefore, in making human beings in His image and likeness, the Almighty God would design and carefully form (Genesis 2:7) the tongue as a mysterious muscular organ in the human mouth-with the maximum capacity to pour out great speeches or words that are spiritual and have spiritual life. 

When the Pharisees heard about the miracle, Jesus had performed, they said, “No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons.” Jesus knew their thoughts and replied, “You brood of vipers! How can you speak good when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:24; 34). In this text, Jesus Christ would reveal that-enormous feelings express themselves in human speeches.

Intrinsically, a good man or woman produces what is good, honorable, moral out of the good treasure in his or her heart. On the other hand, intrinsically an evil man or woman produces what is wicked, depraved out of the evil in his or her heart.  For his or her mouth speaks from the overflow of the human heart (Luke 6:45).  In the above passage, Jesus would make a spiritual connection between the human tongue-a mysterious muscular organ in the human mouth with the maximum capacity to pour out great speeches and the spirituality of the human heart.  

The Human Heart

The human heart would become a mysterious place where humanity surrenders to or resists the mystery of God, the mystery of ourselves, and the mystery of life.  The human heart is, therefore, a mysterious center-a symbol of the center of the human person.

The account of creation would record the following statements: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.  And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die” (Genesis 2:15-17).  In this Biblical text, the Almighty God would command Adam, the federal head of humanity and the whole human race to plow or cultivate the spiritual grounds of their hearts and to plant the good seeds of righteousness-that they might   harvest a crop of love. To seek the Lord their God with all their hearts-that He may come and shower righteousness upon them.

The account of the fall of humanity (Genesis 3), would reveal that the ancient serpent-Satan-would incite humanity to cultivate wickedness in the spiritual grounds of their hearts and they would harvest a thriving crop of sin.  The account of the fall of humanity would record the following: “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it” (Genesis 3:6). Satan would incite humanity to partake of the forbidden fruit. Humanity would eat the fruit of lies—the fruit of deception and corruption-and they would trust in their human capacity and wisdom-wisdom that is unspiritual and satanic.

The effects of sin will be catastrophic. The sins of humanity would cut them off from God-their Creator. Because of the sin of humanity, the Almighty God would turn away from them and will not listen to humanity anymore.   The hearts of humanity will be spiritually transformed into stony hearts, disobedient hearts, hearts that are insensitive to the Word of God, and rebellious hearts.  The hands of humanity would become hands of murderers, and the fingers of humanity would become filthy with sin. Human beings would no longer care to be fair and honest. The people’s lawsuits would be based on lies and deception. Humanity would conceive evil deeds and would give birth to sin. They would hatch deadly snakes and weave spiders’ webs. Whoever eats their eggs will die; whoever cracks them will hatch a viper. The lips and tongues of humanity would become corrupt and would be full of lies and deception. Their mouths would spew corruption.

In so doing, Satan succeeded in inciting humanity to cultivate a tongue that would pour out corrupt speeches, words of hatred, words of discord, jealousy, speeches of violence, words of selfish ambition, and division.

Controlling the human tongue will be crucial in human spirituality and in the preaching the Gospel of Good News to everyone-the casting out of demons in the name of Jesus Christ-the speaking in new languages-the speaking in tongues and the placing of hands on the sick for their healing (Mark 16:15-18).

All will be called, but few will be chosen to become teachers of the Gospel-teachers of the Word of God.  Why?

• “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Mathew 12:37).

Humanity will be justified by the words that comes out of their mouths and by their own words they will be condemned.  

• Dead and life are in the power of the human tongue and those who love it will eat its fruits (Proverbs 18:21).

The mystery of the power of the human tongue will be fully manifested physically, in the life and dead humanity shall speak on their situations and the situation of others.

Teachers of the gospel will be held to the highest standards of performance and accountability for the words they have spoken.

For this reason, the Almighty God carefully designed and built the human tongue to become a tree of life.  To build on this foundational framework, the apostle Paul would state the following about the Word of God:
“For the word of   God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12 NKJV).

In this Biblical verse, the Spirit of God would paint an artistic portrait of the Great Tongue of God pouring out the Word of God-Words that are living, energetic, powerful, and sharper than any two-edge sword. Spiritual words that are energetic, and powerful in nature with the capacity of piercing or penetrating the human flesh-the human body, the human soul, and the human spirit.

In the same manner, in the image and likeness of God, He would design and form human beings (Genesis 2:7) and the human tongue. In the account of creation, the Almighty God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (Genesis 1:26). In God’s design, human beings would have authority over nature, authority over deception, authority over demons, and authority over sickness etc. So, the Great Designer-the Great Architect, the Almighty God would create human beings in His own image: in the image of God, He would create them; male and female” (Genesis 1:27).  In the image of God, the Great Designer and Architect would design and create human beings with a great tongue to enable vocalization and to enable them makes great and influential speeches.

In His Great wisdom, the Almighty God knew that a corrupt human tongue might become an instrument of the following:

• Pervasiveness of violence
• Pervasiveness of sadness
• Pervasiveness of anger
• Cultural pervasiveness
• Pervasiveness amongst children and adults etc.

The pervasive nature of Satan would become a classic illustration of a pervasive tongue. Perverseness in its nature breaks the human spirit (proverbs 15:4). 

A tongue that gushes out corrupt talk- perverse talk is an instrument design to destroy, kill and steal the human joy.

On the other hand, a gentle tongue is a tree of life. This is because it is carefully designed to build the human spirit, edify the human soul, educate the human soul, instruct the human soul, coach the human soul, train humanity, guide humanity, inform humanity, enlighten humanity, and educated humanity to plow or cultivate the hard spiritual grounds of their hearts-the cultivation of righteousness. To plant the good seed of righteousness in the spiritual grounds of the human hearts-so as to harvest a crop of love.  Love is proof that we have be transformed from spiritual death to spiritual life. The person who hates and have no love is spiritually dead.  Humanity is therefore commanded to love one another for love comes God. God is the only source of the spirit of love. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God-who is called Love (1John 4:8).

For this reason, the teachers of the Book of the Law-the Gospel of Good News, will be judged more strictly (James 3:1). 

Therefore, humanity is strictly warned to control their tongues. In this way, humanity will be perfected and would exercise the highest degree of self-control.

Take for an example,we can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. In the same manner, a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. These examples would point to a small, muscular, and mysterious human tongue. In the human mind, these examples would draw an artistic portrait of the power of the human tongue.  

Though the tongue is a small part of the human body, it makes great boasts-makes great speeches-speeches that can spread wide like wildfire throughout an area or a group of people. If the human tongue-a tongue that makes these great boasts, or makes these great speeches is corrupt or perverse, it might become an instrument of the following: pervasiveness of violence, pervasiveness of sadness, pervasiveness of anger, cultural pervasiveness, pervasiveness amongst children and adults etc. I might become an instrument of evil, spreading messages of hatred, violence, war, and racism widely throughout the world or to a group of people.

On the other hand, a human tongue is originally designed to become an instrument of righteousness-when it makes great boasts about the works of God. When it makes great praises of its Creator-preaches the Gospel of peace throughout the world and makes great speeches of reconciliation. This is a classic illustration of a gentle tongue-a tongue that has become a tree of life. A gentle tongue that has become a bridge between people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds-people from various denominations, and people from various communities. A gentle tongue that has become an instrument of good-for the building up of communities, societies, families, and the world.

A tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. In the same way, a corrupt tongue-a tongue the makes great boasts and corrupt speeches can become an instrument of pervasiveness of violence that can set one’s whole life, communities, and the whole world on fire.

Spiritual Exercise

Take a minute and do a self-evaluation. In the process of your self-evaluation, do the following spiritual exercises:

• Close your eyes
• Take a deep breath in and out-inhale gradually, and exhale gradually

Ask yourself the following questions

• Have I been exercising self-control?
• Have I been controlling my tongue?
• Do I have a gentle tongue?
• Do I have a corrupt tongue?
• What degree of self-control have I been exercising on my tongue?  
• What types of thoughts have I been cultivating in the spiritual ground of my heart?
• Are they good thoughts?
• Are they bad thoughts?

Overwhelming feeling will express itself in your speech. For whatever is in your heart determines what you have to say. The human mouth speaks what he or she has cultivated in the heart.

The apostle James says: among all the parts of the human body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting the entire human body. It can set the whole human life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. (James 3:6).   Humanity has succeeded in taming all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the human tongue. The human tongue is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes the human tongue worships the Father in spirit and in truth and praises the heavenly Father. Sometimes the human tongue curses those who have been made in the image of God.  Sometimes the human tongue blesses and sometimes it gushes out curses.  Humanity must exercise some degree of self-control.

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other: or else. he will be devoted to one and despise the. other” (Matthew 6:24).

A spring of water cannot bubble out both bitter water and fresh water at the same time. A fig tree cannot produce olives, nor can a grapevine produce figs. No one can draw out fresh water from a salty spring. In the same manner, you cannot use your tongue to bless and to curse at the same time.

References

Callahan, A. (1990). Spiritualities of the Heart: Approaches to Personal Wholeness in Christian Tradition. Paulist Pr.