Anthony Pritchard
Member
The Violence of the Tongue
We speak often of the violence of this world. We condemn the sword of Islam. We condemn the bomb, the knife, and the gun when they are used for ungodly and unlawful violence, and the terror that destroys bodies. And we should condemn it. These things are evil. They shed blood that God has forbidden. They take life that God has given. They leave graves and widows and orphans.
But there is a violence that Christians seldom acknowledge, though Scripture speaks of it with greater severity. It is the violence of the tongue. It does not spill blood, but it spills souls. It does not break bones, but it breaks spirits. It does not leave bruises on the skin, but it leaves wounds in the heart that may never heal. It is a violence that hides behind piety, behind doctrine, behind zeal, behind the pretense of righteousness. It is the violence we excuse because it leaves no visible mark.
Scripture does not excuse it. Scripture exposes it.
Proverbs 12:18 says, “There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword.” James 3:8 says, “The tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” God calls the tongue an evil. God calls it poison. God calls it deadly. When the tongue is not under the rule of the Spirit of God, it becomes a weapon of hell. James 3:6 says, “The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity… and it is set on fire of hell.”
We condemn the violence of Islam because it destroys the body. But how many Christians destroy the soul with gossip, slander, accusation, harshness, cruelty, and spiritual pride. How many churches and Christians have driven people away not with doctrine, but with the way they speak. How many believers have been wounded so deeply by the words of other believers that they never return. A man may recover from a blow. He may never recover from a word spoken in malice.
Jesus said in Matthew 12:36, “Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” Idle words. Not violent words. Not hateful words. Idle words. If God judges idle words, what will He do with the words that cut, the words that wound, the words that destroy.
We look at the violence of Islam and say, “How terrible.” And it is terrible. But are the eternal results so different when Christians wound with their tongues. A Muslim may kill the body, and perhaps send a soul to hell. A Christian may kill the desire to ever hear the gospel again. One destroys life. The other destroys hope. One sends a man to the grave, and perhaps to hell as well. The other may drive him into unbelief. The wounds of the tongue can be eternal.
I do not write these things as a man who has mastered his tongue. I write them as a man who has failed in this very thing. I have spoken when I should have been silent. I have wounded when I should have healed. I have had to apologize to people and ask forgiveness from God. The tongue is an unruly evil when it is not under subjection to Him, and I know that by experience. I warn others because I must first warn myself.
James 3:10 says, “Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.” The world expects violence from the world. The world does not expect violence from the church. When Christians speak with cruelty, the damage is doubled. It wounds the hearer and it dishonors Christ.
The tongue is an unruly evil when it is not under subjection to God. No man can tame it. Only the Spirit of God can bridle it. Only a heart bowed before Christ can speak with grace. Only a life under the fear of God can refuse the violence of the tongue.
Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth.” Not some. Not most. None. The Christian has no right to speak in a way that wounds. The Christian has no right to speak in a way that destroys. The Christian has no right to use the tongue as a weapon.
The world is full of violence. Let it not be found in the mouths of God’s people. Let our words be true. Let our words be gentle. Let our words be seasoned with grace. Let our words reflect the One who said, “Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart.”
We condemn the sword of Islam. Let us also condemn the sword of the tongue. One kills the body. The other kills the soul. And the wounds of the soul are the wounds that last.
There is a saying in some of our Baptist circles that we shoot our wounded. It is a shameful saying because it is a true one. And brethren, this ought never to be. Hurt people hurt people. A wounded heart often speaks with a wounded tongue, and instead of binding up the broken, we sometimes break them further. But the churches of Jesus Christ are not called to finish off the fallen. They are called to restore them. Galatians 6:1 says, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness.” The tongue that wounds the wounded is not the tongue of Christ. The tongue that restores is. May God keep us from the cruelty that destroys and give us the grace that heals.
~Tony
© A.K. Pritchard 2026 -
Free to use with proper attribution.
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