The Verbal Law of Diminishing Returns Text: Proverbs 10:19
Introduction: The World as Word
The book of Proverbs is intensely practical. It is God's inspired wisdom for navigating the world He made, and it addresses every facet of our lives, from high finance to the government of the tongue. And we must begin by remembering that the world we are navigating is a world spoken into existence. God said, "Let there be," and there was. Reality is linguistic down to its bones. And because we are made in the image of this speaking God, our words are not neutral puffs of air. They are potent. They build up, and they tear down. They are instruments of life and instruments of death.
Our secular age has a peculiar relationship with words. On the one hand, it insists that words are just arbitrary sounds, that there is no ultimate meaning, no Logos behind the cosmos. On the other hand, it is an age of exquisite, even hysterical, sensitivity to words. We have speech codes, trigger warnings, and a whole lexicon of politically correct jargon designed to manage and control what people are allowed to say. This is because, despite their materialist denials, they know instinctively that words have power. They want to harness that power for their own revolutionary ends while denying the ultimate source of that power, which is God Himself.
Into this confusion, the book of Proverbs speaks with crisp, bracing clarity. It does not treat the tongue as a minor issue. James tells us that if a man can bridle his tongue, he is a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body. The tongue is the rudder of the ship. It is a small thing, but it directs the course of our entire lives. And in our text today, Solomon gives us a spiritual law of verbal economics, a law of diminishing returns when it comes to the sheer volume of our speech.
We live in an age of verbal incontinence. The internet, social media, and the 24-hour news cycle have created a perpetual Niagara of words. Everyone has a platform, and everyone feels compelled to use it constantly. The result is a deafening roar of opinion, outrage, slander, folly, and triviality. In such a world, the wisdom of Proverbs 10:19 is not merely quaint advice; it is a lifeline. It is a call to verbal sanity in an age of verbal madness.
The Text
"When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, But he who holds back his lips has insight." (Proverbs 10:19 LSB)
The Inevitability of Sinful Speech (v. 19a)
The first half of this proverb lays down a stark and unavoidable principle:
"When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable..." (Proverbs 10:19a)
This is a matter of spiritual mathematics. The more you talk, the more likely you are to sin. It is not that speech itself is sinful; God is a speaking God, and He has made us in His image. But we are fallen creatures, and our tongues are connected directly to our corrupt hearts. As Jesus said, "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34). And since our hearts are a jumble of pride, selfishness, envy, and foolishness, a constant outflow of words will inevitably dredge up some of that muck.
Think of it like driving a car. The more miles you drive, the higher the statistical probability that you will eventually be in an accident. It doesn't matter how good a driver you are. More time on the road means more exposure to risk. In the same way, a multitude of words creates a multitude of opportunities for sin. The man who is always talking is a man who is constantly rolling the dice with his own soul.
What kind of transgressions are we talking about? The Bible gives us a whole catalogue. There is lying, of course. But there is also exaggeration, which is lying in a Sunday dress. There is slander, which is trying to murder someone's reputation. There is gossip, which is the petty trafficking of information that is none of our business. There is boasting, which is the proud advertisement of self. There is foolish jesting, flattery, complaining, quarreling, and the simple sin of uttering idle words for which we will give an account on the day of judgment (Matthew 12:36).
The man who talks a great deal will find himself stumbling into these sins almost without noticing. He will speak before he thinks. He will offer opinions on matters he knows nothing about. He will repeat a juicy story without verifying if it is true. He will make a promise he cannot keep simply to smooth over a conversation. He will use sarcasm that cuts deeper than he intended. In the flood of words, discernment is drowned. The sheer volume of speech acts as a smokescreen, hiding the folly of individual statements. This is why committees and bureaucracies are so often fountains of foolishness; the multitude of words provides cover for everyone.
The Wisdom of Restraint (v. 19b)
The second half of the verse provides the godly contrast and the path of wisdom.
"But he who holds back his lips has insight." (Proverbs 10:19b LSB)
The wise man is not necessarily the silent man. There is a time to speak, and a time to keep silence. But the wise man has his lips under restraint. He has a governor on the engine of his mouth. The Hebrew for "holds back" or "restrains" gives the picture of reining in a horse. The tongue is a wild thing, a fire, as James says. It needs to be mastered. The man with insight, the prudent man, understands this and actively governs his speech.
Notice the connection between restraint and insight. The relationship is reciprocal. A man who has insight knows when to shut up. But it is also true that the practice of shutting up cultivates insight. When you are not busy formulating your next sentence, you are free to actually listen. When you are not dominating the conversation, you can observe. You can weigh the words of others. You can think before you speak. Silence and restraint create the necessary space for wisdom to grow.
The man who holds back his lips is not doing so out of fear or because he has nothing to say. He does it as a matter of principle and prudence. He understands the power of words and refuses to use them carelessly. His words, when they do come, have weight. They are like "apples of gold in settings of silver" (Proverbs 25:11). Because he speaks less, people listen more. His verbal currency has not been devalued by inflation.
This is a profoundly counter-cultural virtue. Our world tells us to "speak our truth," to "let it all out," to "be authentic" by verbalizing every thought and feeling that flits through our minds. But biblical wisdom says the opposite. It says to test your thoughts. Filter your feelings. Govern your speech. Your heart is not a pristine wellspring of truth; it is a deceitful thing that needs to be disciplined by the Word of God. The wise man knows this, and so he puts a watchman at the gate of his lips.
The Gospel for Big Mouths
Now, a proverb like this can be crushing if we read it as bare law. "When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable." Who among us has not been guilty of this? Who has not spoken foolishly, rashly, or sinfully? Who has not wished they could grab their words out of the air and stuff them back into their mouths? If we are honest, we are all guilty. Our mouths have gotten us into more trouble than we can count. We are all, by nature, verbal fools.
And this is precisely why we need the gospel. The law of Proverbs shows us our sin. It reveals our inability to tame our own tongues. It drives us to despair of our own righteousness. And in that despair, we are ready to look to another. We are ready to look to the one man who never sinned with His lips. Jesus Christ is the perfect man of James 3, the one who never spoke an idle word, never uttered a foolish jest, never slandered an enemy.
Think of it. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten. When He stood before His accusers, who were spewing a torrent of lies, He often answered them with a majestic and weighty silence. He was the perfect embodiment of the one who "holds back his lips." And when He did speak, His words were pure power. He spoke, and demons fled. He spoke, and storms were stilled. He spoke, and the dead were raised. He spoke, and the world was made.
And on the cross, He took upon Himself the guilt of all our sinful words. Every lie, every boast, every piece of gossip, every bitter curse, was laid upon Him. He paid the penalty for our verbal profligacy. He died because of our failure to control our tongues, and He was raised so that we might be given a new heart, from which new words might flow.
The Christian life, then, is not one of grim-faced, white-knuckled silence. It is one of joyful transformation. Because Christ has forgiven our sinful speech, we are now free to learn to speak in a new way. The Holy Spirit is given to us to produce the fruit of self-control, which must be applied first and foremost to the tongue. We are being remade into the image of the Logos, Jesus Christ Himself. Our goal is not just to talk less, but for our talk, whether it be much or little, to be seasoned with grace, to build others up, and to bring glory to God.
So, take this proverb to heart. Recognize the danger of an ungoverned tongue. Practice the discipline of restraint. Learn to be quick to hear and slow to speak. But do not do it in your own strength. Do it in the strength that comes from the gospel. Look to Christ, the perfect speaker. Confess your verbal sins to Him. And ask Him, by His Spirit, to set a guard over your mouth and to keep watch over the door of your lips, so that your speech might increasingly be a reflection of His perfect wisdom.