James 1:26

‘If any man thinks himself to be religious, while he does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this man's religion is vain.'

It again becomes clear that there was much distress in the churches because of the way that people were speaking to each other or of each other (compare James 1:19) for James now declares that those who do not bridle their tongues (backbiters, boasters, slanderers, tale-tellers, liars, gossips) and all who misuse their tongues must recognise that it is an indication that their religious practise is not genuine (Leviticus 19:16; Psalms 15:3; Romans 1:30; Galatians 5:15; etc). He is saying that what we say demonstrates what we really are.

By ‘religious' James means practising their faith with its binding stipulations. But a man who does not bridle his tongue is not practising the Christian faith in any genuine way. Thus he is deceiving himself about his true spiritual position, and if he is not careful he will discover that his religion and his profession is vain. The seriousness of the problem in the churches is found in that he goes further into details on this in James 3:1. Note how here his whole emphasis is on the failure of the tongue, reminding us again of Jesus' similar words, ‘for every idle word that a man will speak he will give account of it in the Day of Judgment, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned' (Matthew 12:36). It was clearly a major problem in the churches known to James. Perhaps the initial differences between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians were partly responsible for it which would suggest a fairly early date for James' letter.