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But no man can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil full of deadly poison. (James 3:8)

But no man can tame the tongue. James is not trying to say that it is impossible to get the tongue under control. It is simply difficult in the extreme to have a measure of success in controlling it effectively and certainly. It is easier to train any wild animal than to get the tongue effectively under control. However, once one has a good amount of Bible knowledge, the new person put on the mind of Christ, that is, being biblically minded, they will find it becoming easier to control what they say.

It is a restless evil. If we look at the evil words dispensed on social media today by hundreds of millions of people, no one can have any doubt about what James is saying. Getting mastery over this restless evil, the tongue is again most difficult outside of being guided by the Holy Spirit by way of God’s Spirit-inspired Word.

Full of deadly poison. The hurtful, harmful, evil words by these hundreds of millions on social media today are a microcosm of fallen men. As we have said and will likely say again, we are mentally bent toward evil (Gen. 6:5; 8:21), with a treacherous heart that we cannot know (Jer. 17:9), having the natural desire to say and do evil things. (Rom. 7) The tongue is like the bite of a poisonous snake. David wrote this of his enemies, “They sharpen their tongues like a serpent, and under their lips is the venom of asps.” (Psa. 140:3) “Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues, they keep deceiving.” (Rom. 3:13) This fits the tongue perfectly because the tongue, the bite of a poisonous snake, can cause mild harm in one instance and be lethal in others. Think of the slander on the news media and social media today. Think of the cancel culture. These people’s edgy words are sharper than any two-edged sword. Think of the person falsely labeled a racist to cancel that person to ruin his good name, business, or employment.

Although man can tame all kinds of wild beasts that are fearful and dangerous, no man can tame the tongue. James describes the danger of the tongue in two distinct ways. James says that the tongue is a restless evil. Restless means that the evil that the tongue can bring out is an always-present continuing problem that must be kept in check, with us knowing that it is always poised to strike. Restlessness implies that something cannot remain still but must always be doing something. This is what the uncontrolled tongue does: it is always restless, wanting to spread another lie, gossip, or slander. The tongue often seems never to have its fill of gossip, slander, malice, lies, and accusations. It is a restless force that one must exert self-control over the body that nobody else can bring under control apart from the individual himself. James also describes the tongue as being full of deadly poison. Poison is meant to kill and cause harm to its victim. The tongue is full of poison because so often, it is used to destroy one’s character, ego, hopes, and self-esteem.