James 4:11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
James continues to write about the issue of speech and what comes out of our mouths. The tongue can be used to build people up or tear them down. It only takes one statement to change a person’s life. Speaking evil against someone is basically saying something negative about them in a way that hurts the person in some way. It may destroy his or her reputation. It may be sarcasm misunderstood. It may be criticism or ridicule, scolding or verbal abuse. James illustrates the problem by looking at the law. By speaking evil (in whatever form this might take), we are assuming the position of a judge. We actually are creating our own law that determines what is good or bad. We become the one in charge. We make the assessment of the character or actions of the other person. We become a law unto ourselves and use our own judgment to speak about another person. This is basically what gossip is. James has keen insight (obviously with divine help) is the problem of gossip, back talk, rumors, and other types of negative speech. What is the answer to this type of situation? Again, it is the law of love. Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:15: “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.” Our speech should be characterized by love with the purpose of building others up. We must let God be the judge. That does not mean we cannot or should not be discerning. We must understand the context of James’ words here. He is trying to correct speech that is evil and puts others down, not speech that is truthful, which can also be painful, with the purpose of building others up.
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