Critical vs Pure Speech

James 4: 11 - 12

The sermon title today is critical vs pure speech. This might reflect the problem in the community that James ministers there. It is a very realistic depiction of the problem in the congregation. We read in verse 11 that there is apparently a problem of speaking evil against one another, otherwise James would not have given the rebuke. It is a continuation from the previous passage. Verse 8 speaks about not being double-minded, and verse 9 says to mourn and to weep rather than to laugh. Not to be superficial or even artificial, but to weep, to repent, to be sad over our sins.

Verse 11 then says ‘do not speak evil against one another’. Speaking evil is actually a manifestation of the sin of pride. Usually when we speak evil against another, it is not that we really want to destroy their reputation. Rather, we just want to boast ourselves as a better person and think ‘I am more qualified than those against whom I am speaking evil.’ The root of speaking evil against others is your and my pride as well as self-righteousness. You want to be considered holier, more loving, more caring, etc, and then because of this sin of pride, you speak evil against other people. It can also be linked with envy or jealousy (in the negative sense of the word). Because you are envious or jealous, you speak evil against other people. You don’t have wide-heartedness but are insecure, try to compete against other people, and then speak evil against them. It can also be linked to selfishness. When you quarrel, you speak against the person with whom you quarrel. Thus, from the christian perspective it is important not only to observe the phenomenon, but also to detect the root of the problem, which can be the sin of pride, jealousy, narrow-heartedness, being quarrelsome, etc.

Verse 11 afterwards says ‘the one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law.’. What is the connection between speaking evil against another and being a judge? We already mentioned the sin of pride: you consider yourselves to be more qualified, you judge other people and give a score. James suggests that our criticism or speaking evil against our brothers, fellow believers in this context, can involve standing and pronouncing judgment over them. Of course it is not wrong in itself to have an evaluation. We can evaluate everything, including fellow believers, because we are human beings created as axiological beings. We have the ability to evaluate. However, judging is something different from evaluating. Judging involves jumping into a conclusion. You do not really know the condition, but you position yourself as someone who knows very well. Not only that, but also more seriously, you stand in the place of God by pronouncing judgement and making a final verdict for that person. This is of course not the place for a human being, but the place of God Himself. There is another Bible verse, ‘do not judge too early.’. Sometimes we can judge too early because we are impatient in waiting to know the person completely or deeper. We just pronounce judgment first and then after we know the person deeper, only we realize it was a wrong evaluation, which is more towards judgment.

The problem is that this attitude of criticism and judging fellow believers contradicts the command to love our neighbours. Why do we like to judge and speak evil against our brothers and sisters? Because we don’t love enough. You cannot underestimate the importance nor overemphasize the virtue of love in christian spirituality. Even one of God’s most important attributes is love. God is love. When we grow in the grace of Christ, we will love God and our neighbour deeper. And the sign of loving our neighbour deeper is that we can cover their mistakes, shortcomings and weaknesses. It is not that we become blind to their weakness, but we are not interested in pronouncing or talking about the weakness of others. You and I are not free from the sin of pride. Sometimes we want to boast about ourselves, perhaps unconsciously. You want to present yourself as a better christian by speaking evil against other people. You want to boast of yourself as a better or more qualified friend, but you speak evil against your brother or sister. This is the lack of love towards neighbours. The more we love our neighbour, the more we can talk about the good reputation of another fellow believer.

This is actually in parallel with our praise to God. The more we believe in God, the more we grow in Christ, the more we worship God, the more we are interested in witnessing God’s honorable reputation. You don’t speak evil against God because you like to praise Him. Of course we do not praise other fellow believers in the sense that we worship them, but it’s the same attitude. You like to praise the goodness of other people instead of speaking evil against one another.

Now it is interesting here that James did not specify in speaking evil against a brother or a sister, whether the thing spoken about is a true or false statement, or whether it is a slander or not. Slander is always wrong, but even if it is not a slander, will speaking evil against a brother or a sister do any good? Will it help the community to grow? What is the benefit of speaking evil against another brother or sister? I do not want you to be unrealistic. In Asian culture we sometimes talk about this toxic positivity, meaning we just deny the reality or do not want to acknowledge that we are in a fallen reality, so we always present everything as good i.e. our community is very healthy, we are a God-fearing, very loving, merciful and helpful community, where perhaps it is not the case. I do not want you to deceive yourself by presenting this kind of toxic positivity. That is not the point. You know the weakness of the church. You know the weakness of your brother and sister, but you are more interested in speaking about the good reputation instead of the bad or evil reputation of them. This is christian growth.

As the reading continues, it becomes even more serious. Not only is there the lack of love towards our neighbours and the temptation to judge other fellow believers, but also you can fall into being a judge of the law itself. It is not only speaking evil against one another, but also speaking evil against the law. You speak evil against the law and judge the law. It is very serious here. How can we speak evil against the law of God? How can we judge the law? The explanation is quite simple. When we are indifferent towards the commandment of love i.e to love God and our neighbours, we deny the authority of God’s law. You take it lightly. You don’t take it seriously. You don’t want to submit to the authority of the law. Basically you disdain the law, and in this sense, you can be considered someone who speaks evil against the law. It is as if you say that the law must be incorrect. When you hear ‘love your neighbour as yourself’, you ask ‘why should I?’ or ‘why is it important to me?’. You don’t submit yourself under the authority of the law. Rather, you challenge the law and thus speak evil against the law. You don’t admire, you don’t honor the law of God, but you become a judge over the law.

James then continues, ‘if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.’. James reminds us that our position is to submit to the law, that we should be a doer of the law instead of being a judge of the law. You see here the relation between speaking evil against other fellow believers or other human beings, judging others and judging the law of God. Maybe we have never thought about this: judging another person is judging the law of God. There is an inseparable connection, at least according to James. If we respect the love commandment, we are not easily judgmental against another person. We do not judge other people because we do not want to judge the law. When we become a judge over other people, then most likely, as described here, we also become a judge over the law of God. And of course this is a very serious sin. You and I are in the position of judging the law of God. So if we can say Amen, and acknowledge this is a very serious sin, you and I are also not in the position of judging other people. For James, judging other people and judging the law are one package. ‘The one who speaks against a brother, or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law.’. You see here the parallel between speaking evil against, judging others, and speaking evil against, judging the law. ‘But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.’. Again, this is not the position of human beings, let alone sinful, fallen human beings.

That is why James reminds us in verse 12, ‘There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbour?’ to beware ourselves of this temptation of putting ourselves in the place of God. I quote from a commentary here, in relation to verse 12, ‘but there is another reason why slandering another person is so wrong. It also involves an infringement on the unique right of God Himself. There is only one lawgiver and judge: the one who is able to save and to destroy.’. So this is the exclusive right or position of God Himself. This is not your or my position. Sometimes because of our pride, self-righteousness, insecurity, we want to compete morally, spiritually and so on, we position ourselves as a judge where actually it should be the position of God and not ours. That is why the ultimate fate of a human being should be judged by God and not by you or I who position ourselves as a judge. Especially when the person is still alive - how can we pronounce an ultimate judgment against a person who is still in the process of sanctification? This is not only totally unfair, but also it is a fully distorted self-knowledge because we are not in the position of giving this ultimate judgment. To determine the ultimate spiritual destiny, end or fate of any individual is exclusively God’s right. This is neither your nor my right.

What is our responsibility or our part then? It is to love our neighbours, and not to pass judgment. Here again is a challenge to the true christian religion: how do we know we grow in the grace of Christ? If we become less and less judgmental. We become more and more loving. Again, this is not toxic positivity. This is not a life totally blind to other people’s weaknesses. That is not the point. Rather, we try to surrender the weakness of other people to God and do not pronounce the ultimate judgment over other people’s faith, let alone the ultimate destiny. It is according to God’s plan, time and wisdom. If we grow in this direction, we can say we indeed are growing in the grace of Christ.

In another biblical verse, the apostle of Paul also reminds us not to be judgmental against other fellow believers. We think he or she will certainly fall, but then Paul gave a strong warning that he will not fall; he or she will stand because God is faithful and able to protect and keep him or her standing. This is a strong warning for us not to become too self confident about the faith or the spiritual level of other believers. Again, our responsibility, our calling, is to be a blessing. Of course we can also remind, encourage, and to a certain extent, rebuke. However, rebuke, reprimand, etc is not the same as judging, which is when you place yourself in the position of God. About the sin of being judgmental, you can also dig deeper from other perspectives in New Testament books. For instance, in the Gospels, you can read what being judgmental is. You see the weakness of others but you are not aware of your own weakness. This is not the problem of evaluating other people. You evaluate other people but you don’t evaluate yourself. You position yourself as a judge who gives a score to other people but you yourself are not aware that you are also given a score especially by God Himself. I use the same term ‘score’ here. You like to give a score, evaluate other people, but you yourself are not aware that you are evaluated by God. This ignorance that your life is also being evaluated - this is the sin of being judgmental. You know the very little mistakes of others but you are not aware of the log in your eyes. You want to correct very small things in others’ eyes. You want to improve others but not yourself. This is a problem of the lack of self-reflection. Of course it is not totally wrong that we evaluate other people but do not forget to evaluate yourself. This is the description of the sin of being judgmental in the Gospels.

We now summarize our meditation. There were apparently disputes, quarrels among believers in the community that James ministers. Referring to chapter 3 verse 1 onwards, the absence of restraint of our tongues, that is, we don’t control our tongues, is the problem. It can include cursing, and then we read here in chapter 4 verse 11 and 12, denunciation, meaning you want to discredit other people and make yourself look better than others. Slander is definitely wrong, but this can be more subtle than slander. You discredit other people so as to present yourself as a better candidate for a friend, or as a more pious person, etc. This is the focus of verse 11 and 12. This kind of behaviour is none other than a manifestation of the worldly spirit, the worldly spirit, wisdom from below. Wisdom from above comes with meekness, reasonableness, openness to reason. You are easily persuaded and peaceful. This is the contrast. We end the meditation on these two verses here and continue with a related but different topic from verse 13 onwards next week.