The Power of Words – for Good or for Evil

Jas 3:8-10 But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. (9) With it we bless our Lord and Father; and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; (10) from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.

I have a friend who tells people about the power of words. She is often misunderstood. They think that she is talking about words having some magical power – some ability to make things happen. But I don’t think that is what she means. She simply means, rather, that our words do have a power to effect good or evil. Just like James says in the verses quoted above. Blessing or cursing.

Think about this. Blessing or cursing. Does a blessing spoken have power? If it does not, then it is worthless, is it not? When I say to someone, “May the Lord bless you today,” that statement in and of itself IS a blessing. And in addition it is a kind of prayer to the Lord that HE also bless this person. In the same way, sadly, if I were to say to someone, “Curse you!” or some form of that, those words have a kind of power in themselves. Not magical. Not in the sense of by saying those words I am going to put some type of magical hex on the person and effect some evil upon them. No. It is, once again, the same thing that James talked about. The tongue’s words can be full of deadly poison. The words! They have a power. They are not harmless.

Now, in regard to our infamous RASN that we talk about here (revilers, abusers, sociopaths, narcissists), what is a chief weapon they use to effect power and control and to inflict real injury? WORDS! A reviler is defined as such by his reviling WORDS. An abuser most often abuses by his WORDS. Do these words have an effect? Of course. These evil words cut us. They are like a sword, but not a friendly one. Psychological warfare, gaslighting, and most of the rest of the tactics used by the wicked consist primarily of WORDS.

So words do indeed have power. God’s Word has power – but of course, in a righteous and holy sense.

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Because God is holy and righteous and pure, the power of His Word is always used righteously. He does bless AND curse. But even when He curses someone, He does so righteously. Of course there is a difference between the power of God’s Word and the power of our words. In God’s case, His Word DOES have power to effect. He spoke, and the universe came into existence. He will speak “one little word” someday, and Satan will be cast into the Lake of Fire. He speaks and His creative Word causes the sinner to be born again, given a new heart, given a mind that sees and ears to hear, and legs to walk in the service of the King. Our words are not like that. Our words do not create.

But our words do have power – for good or for evil. Little wonder then that God’s Word has much to say to us about guarding our tongues and speaking words that are righteous and holy, consistent with God’s own Word which He has revealed to us.