Sinclair Ferguson, in The Power of Words and the Wonder of God, pp. 51-52:
James, however unbelieving he might have been during Jesus’ early ministry, has clearly absorbed his half brother’s teaching and has been led by it to the multitude of Old Testament word pictures about the power and destructive ability of the tongue. If the pen is mightier than the sword, it is equally true that we can kill a man as easily with the words we use as with a physical weapon (Matt. 5:21–22).
Of course, all this is naturally true of the unregenerate man. The tragedy is—and it is this tragedy that surely concerns James here—that the same destructive powers may be released within the believing community.
I sometimes wonder if this is a distinctively evangelical sin. Of course it is by no means exclusively so. But how commonplace it seems to be to hear a fellow Christian’s name mentioned in some context or other, and the first words of response demean his reputation, belittle him, and distance him from acceptance into the fellowship, although this is a brother for whom Christ died!
