3:3 It is the same with horses as it is with humans. If we can control the tongue, we can bring the whole animal under control.
3:4 This second illustration adds another element. The controlled tongue can overcome great obstacles. James had observed many ships on the Sea of Galilee and probably on the Mediterranean driven by strong winds.
3:5 The two previous illustrations share a characteristic that James pointed out next. Though small and comparatively insignificant, the tongue can affect great change out of all proportion to its size. The bit, the rudder, and the tongue, even though they are small, all have power to direct. This interpretation seems preferable to the one that takes verse 5a as a statement that the tongue can make pretentious claims. James did not state that idea previously, but this sentence claims a connection with what precedes.
The tongue has as much destructive power as a spark in a forest.
3:6 Fire is a good illustration of the tongue's effect. It is a "world of iniquity."
". . . all the evil characteristics of a fallen world, its covetousness, its idolatry, its blasphemy, its lust, its rapacious greed, find expression through the tongue."134
"From the context it seems best to accept that James thinks of the tongue as a vast system of iniquity."135
The tongue is the gate through which the evil influences of hell can spread like fire to inflame all the areas of life that we touch.136Here the body (Gr. soma) represents the whole person. However it may also allude to the church as well.137
