James, Jesus’ half-brother, apparently became a Christ-follower when Jesus appeared to him after the resurrection (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:7). He became an influential leader in the early church. In this short letter, he linked hasty, angry speech with “moral filth.” To James, a cutting outburst was no small matter, but something hurtful and wrong.

• Early Christians faced social exclusion and legal persecution. (The historian Josephus said James himself was stoned to death in Jerusalem about 62 A.D.) It must have been tempting and easy for Christians in those conditions to rage against people who treated them so unjustly. How does James 1:19-20 speak to us, who face much milder tests of our faith and temper, when we find ourselves becoming angry and eager to denounce some person or organization?
• Scholar David Allan Hubbard wrote, “Harsh, vindictive speech—even though apparently based on God’s Word—is not the way to accomplish God’s justice.” Through the centuries, issues like circumcision, slavery, the role of women in ministry, and (today) homosexuality have triggered such speech from Christians against other Christians. How can the “humility” of which James wrote move us away from destructive speech and toward living into what James called “the word planted deep inside you”?