James 3:5

Verse 5. Even so the tongue is a little member.

Now the apostle begins his application of the thoughts advanced in his comparisons of the bit in the horse's mouth and the ship controlled by the helm. The tongue belonging to the human body is, as compared with the other members thereof, a little member, and yet it "boasteth great things"; that is, it exalts itself, or, as Macknight has it: "Yet it worketh mightily." The plain meaning is, although the tongue is a small member of the body, it exerts great power in governing the whole body, so far as its affections and actions are concerned.

Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth.

Loath to drop the power and force of comparison, James presents this additional thought. He says, in substance, that a whole forest may be consumed from a small spark as the source of such a destruction. So he argues a whole community may be aroused and wonderfully agitated by a few words from the tongue of slander.