The Soul's Gatekeeper Text: Proverbs 21:23
Introduction: The Untamable Tamed
The book of James tells us that the tongue is an untamable evil, a restless fire, full of deadly poison. He says that we can tame every kind of beast, bird, reptile, and sea creature, but no human being can tame the tongue. This is a flat declaration of our radical inability. We can put a bit in a horse's mouth and steer its entire massive body, we can guide great ships with a small rudder, but we cannot govern this three-inch member in our mouths. And if James is right, and he is, then what are we to make of this proverb from Solomon? Is the Word of God contradicting itself? Is Solomon giving us a bootstrap command that James tells us is impossible to obey?
Not at all. The key is found in the phrase "no human being can tame the tongue." You cannot tame it. I cannot tame it. But this does not mean it cannot be tamed. It means that the taming must come from outside of us. The grace of God in Jesus Christ is in the business of doing the impossible. The gospel is not about giving good advice to fallen men on how they might improve themselves. It is about the resurrection of the dead. It is about God speaking light into the darkness and life into the void. And it is about God setting a guard over the mouth of the man He has redeemed.
Proverbs is intensely practical, and this verse is a piece of profound, earthy wisdom. It is a promise attached to a duty. But we must understand that the duty is one that can only be carried out in the strength that God supplies. This proverb is not a call to stoic self-discipline in our own power, but rather a call to Spirit-empowered wisdom. It describes what a life lived in submission to God looks like. It is a description of a healthy, functioning Christian. And the health of a man's soul can be measured, quite accurately, by the state of his tongue.
The Text
He who keeps his mouth and his tongue,
Keeps his soul from troubles.
(Proverbs 21:23 LSB)
The Double Lock (v. 23a)
The first clause gives us the condition, the duty, the wise action to be taken.
"He who keeps his mouth and his tongue..." (Proverbs 21:23a)
Notice the repetition here. It is a classic feature of Hebrew poetry, but it is also emphatic. "Mouth" and "tongue." You might think one would be sufficient. But the wisdom of God is highlighting the thoroughness required. To "keep" them means to guard them, to watch over them, to set a sentry at the gate. The mouth is the gate itself, the opening. The tongue is the unruly beast that lives just inside the gate, always wanting to bolt out into the open pasture of conversation.
You have to guard both. You must keep the gate of your mouth shut when wisdom dictates silence. And when you must open the gate, you must make sure the tongue is on a leash. Many a man has succeeded in keeping his mouth shut only to fail spectacularly the moment he opens it. And many others let the gate swing open on any and every occasion, letting the tongue run wild, trampling everything in its path. The wise man guards both the timing of his speech and the content of it.
This is not a call to become a silent monk. The Bible has a great deal to say about the righteous use of the tongue. "The tongue of the righteous is choice silver" (Proverbs 10:20). "A gentle answer turns away wrath" (Proverbs 15:1). Our mouths are to be fountains of life, instruments of praise, and tools for building others up. But the overwhelming emphasis in Proverbs is on restraint. "When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, But he who restrains his lips is wise" (Proverbs 10:19). Why? Because our hearts are desperately wicked, and the tongue is the heart's messenger boy. Jesus said, "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34). What is in the well will come up in the bucket. Therefore, guarding the tongue is really a function of guarding the heart.
This "keeping" is an active, constant vigilance. It is not a one-time decision. It is the daily, hourly work of asking: Is this true? Is this helpful? Is this necessary? Is this kind? It is the work of praying with the Psalmist, "Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips" (Psalm 141:3). This is a prayer God is delighted to answer, because it is a prayer for sanctification.
The Soul's Peace (v. 23b)
The second clause gives us the result, the blessing, the promised outcome of this Spirit-enabled vigilance.
"Keeps his soul from troubles." (Proverbs 21:23b)
The word for "soul" here is nephesh. It means the whole person, the seat of your life, your appetites, your emotions, your very being. The word for "troubles" means distress, anguish, tight spots, calamities. The proverb is giving us a simple equation: a guarded mouth equals a peaceful life. An unguarded mouth equals a life full of grief.
Think of the myriad troubles that come from an unbridled tongue. There are relational troubles: friendships destroyed by gossip, marriages poisoned by harsh words, churches split by slander. There are legal troubles: men sued for libel, trapped by their own recorded words, incriminated by foolish boasts. There are financial troubles: jobs lost over an angry outburst, business deals ruined by a breach of confidence. There are emotional troubles: the constant anxiety of having to clean up your own verbal messes, the shame of having spoken foolishly, the turmoil of endless arguments.
The man who runs his mouth is constantly running into trouble. His words are snares for his own feet. "An evil man is ensnared by the transgression of his lips" (Proverbs 12:13). He is like a city without walls, vulnerable to every passing attack, because he creates his own enemies. He picks fights he doesn't need to fight and creates wounds that fester for years.
But the man who guards his mouth and tongue keeps his whole life, his soul, from these self-inflicted wounds. He has peace. He is trusted by others. His conscience is clear. He avoids the foolish entanglements that distract and destroy the babbler. This is not the peace of cowardice, of never speaking a hard truth. The righteous man knows when to speak, and his words are like apples of gold in settings of silver. But he does not speak from folly, from pride, or from a desire to hear his own voice. He speaks with the wisdom that is from above, which is "first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits" (James 3:17).
The Gospel for the Tongue
This proverb is a wonderful piece of practical wisdom, but if we leave it there, it becomes crushing law. Who here has perfectly kept his mouth and his tongue? Who has not spoken foolishly, angrily, deceitfully, or vainly? As James says, "we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man" (James 3:2). There is only one perfect man, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only one who never stumbled in word. No idle word ever passed His lips. No deceit was found in His mouth. His words were always perfectly true, perfectly timed, and perfectly gracious, even when they were hard.
And this is our great hope. For all our sinful words, for every bit of gossip, slander, and foolishness, Christ's perfect record of speech is credited to us by faith. And for His silence before His accusers, when He was "like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent," He bore the punishment for our every sinful utterance. He took the trouble our tongues deserved so that our souls could be kept for eternity.
Therefore, our motivation for guarding our tongues is not a frantic effort to earn God's favor or to keep ourselves out of trouble in our own strength. Our motivation is gratitude. Because our souls have been kept from the ultimate trouble, from the wrath of God, we now joyfully seek to bring this unruly member, the tongue, into submission to our King. We do this not by white-knuckled will power, but by the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. He is the one who tames the untamable. He is the one who sets the guard. And as He does His work in us, we experience the practical, wonderful, soul-preserving peace that this proverb promises.