Union with Jesus – The Vine and the Branches
Union with Christ – The Vine and the Branches
MYSTERY: (Greek, Musterion); a sacred secret hidden in the heart of God until the appointed time of revelation; a truth that can only be known by divine disclosure; spiritual insights into God’s way of thinking and planning; hidden truths revealed by God that are beyond human intellect and reason; divine knowledge that can only be understood through the Holy Spirit; God’s thoughts and plans revealed to believers and hidden to doubters and unbelievers.
“No one has ever gazed upon the fullness of God’s splendor. But if we love one another, God remains united with us, and He makes His permanent home in us and we make our permanent home in Him. His love is then brought to its full expression in us. He has given us His Spirit within us so that we can have the assurance that we remain united with Him and He with us…. Those who confess and give thanks that Jesus is the Son of God remains in union with God, they live inside of God, and God lives inside of them. We have come into an intimate experience with God’s love, and we trust in the love He has for us. God is love; and those who remain in this love remain united with God, and God remains united with them.” (1 John 4:12-16, The Complete Jewish Bible and The Passion Translation).
Sacred Secrets. Jesus revealed many fascinating mysteries in His conversations with the Disciples, but maybe these declarations of His were more intriguing and inspiring than most… “When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am inside my Father, and you are inside me, and I am inside you.” (John 14:20); or this, “Remain inside of me, dwell in me, continue to draw your life from inside me, and I will remain inside of you.” (John 15:4-7); or even the more perplexing claim that, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives continually inside of me, and I live inside of him.” (John 6:56).
The Double Union. The idea that Jesus through His Holy Spirit is inside of me is pretty familiar. How many times did Paul say something along the lines of “Christ in me”? Actually, about 160 times. But to read that at the same time as Christ is in each of us, each believer is actually inside of Christ! Now, that is something fresh and I want to sink deep into that mystery. Christ in me, and me in Christ! Christ inside of you, and you inside of Christ! What a tremendous and wonderful mystery, a truth we accept by faith in the Christ who said it. There have been many descriptive titles given to this idea of union with Christ, of being within Christ, including: the Double Union; the Mutual Indwelling; the Mystical Union; The Double Mystery. And there have been some interesting ways to try to describe this two-way unity we enjoy with Christ: bonded in union within Christ; somehow inside of each other; a believer’s new spiritual location; participating in the interior life of Christ; intimately joined together with Christ; hidden with Christ inside of God; a Christian’s spiritual address; in a new sphere of spiritual existence; fellowship with God inside the Person of Christ; tightly wrapped around the Personhood of Jesus; regaining our original identity in Christ; being inside of Christ, we have shared in His death and resurrection, and we now we will go wherever He goes, including being seated in the heavenly realms.
St. Paul has confirmed our union within Christ many times, including: “Now you have been united with Christ Jesus and are inside of Him. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to Him through the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:13); “There is no condemnation to those who are inside of Christ Jesus, those who belong to Him and are joined in life-union with Him.” (Romans 8:1); “God made this sinless Man to be a sin offering on our behalf, so that in union with Him we might fully share in God’s righteousness.” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Paul has a very eye-opening passage in 1 Corinthians 6:17 in which he said, “Anyone united with the Lord becomes one spirit with Him.” The word Paul used here for “united” could just as well have been “joined to,” or “knit together,” and is the word used in the Greek OT for “cleave” in Genesis 2:24. Paul used a 2-becoming-1 word in the biblical tradition.
What has been helpful as we consider this mystery of the Mutual Indwelling is the many times Scripture includes an analogy about it, a metaphor that describes a physical union that points to a spiritual union. Looking at a double union in tangible reality will help us think more deeply about this rather intangible reality. There are physical signs in our earthly life that illustrate at least some of the meaning of our union with Christ. Uniting with Jesus as a branch grafted onto a vine is one way (John 15).
“I AM the True Vine, and my Father is the Gardener, the Farmer who takes care of the vineyard. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit is cut off and taken away by my Father; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes so that it may bear more fruit. You are already pruned because of the teachings I have spoken to you. Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remains united with Me, neither can you bear fruit unless you live inside of Me. I Am the Vine, and you are the branches. Whoever makes his home in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain joined with Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and the workers then gather them up off the ground and throw them into the fire. If you remain vitally united in Me, and My teachings take root in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and this is how you prove to be my disciples.” (John 15:1-8).
I AM. Once again, Jesus startles His listeners with His claim to be co-equal to the Great I AM, the sacred Name of Yahweh. Jesus here is staking His claim to divinity, to being a kin to God Himself, the Holy One. Yahweh was the personal Name of God spoken to Moses at the burning bush (Ex. 3:14), and is revered by all faithful Jews and supreme in importance to the Faith. For Jesus to refer to Himself with an abbreviated form of I AM WHAT I AM is nothing short of scandalous. By claiming Yahweh in the flesh, Jesus doesn’t leave many options… He isn’t merely a Bible scholar, a super prophet, a faith healer, an inspired teacher, an effective exorcist, a miracle worker. Jesus takes all those impressions of Him off the table. He is either a con man, or crazy, or filled with the devil, or in fact equal to Yahweh in the flesh. With every pronouncement of I AM, Jesus is claiming eternal kinship with God the Father. Jesus wasn’t shy about claiming the Name of Yahweh as His own. Jesus doesn’t shy away from scandal when it comes to claiming divinity. Listeners reacted in many different ways. They would walk away shaking their heads in disbelief; they would believe Him and take His word for it; they would ask for proof; they would exclaim that He was impudent, outrageous to the point of blasphemy.
Expanding Yahweh. When the LORD told Moses His Name of Yahweh, He left a lot to the imagination. I AM WHO I AM. I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE. I AM HE WHO EXISTS. Any person who is naturally curious would follow that up with… I AM, what, exactly? That’s quite a mysterious and elusive Name. And then Jesus comes along to help fill in some of the blanks by offering seven homespun metaphors in John. I AM the Bread of Life (6:35) who nourishes you with solid, spiritual food; I AM the Light of the World (8:12) who enables you to shine in purity, goodness and truth. I AM the Door (10:7) to the sheep pen who will welcome you to the flock of God; I AM the True Vine (15:1) who will provide what is needed to bear good fruit in your life; I AM the Resurrection and the Life (11:25) who will raise you from the dead into eternal life; I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life (14:6) who will guide you on the way to truth and abundant life. After these plain-spoken pictures that served as parables, people couldn’t complain about the lack of clarity about the Great I AM. Jesus helped to clarify a few things about the nature of the LORD. Jesus loves to claim kinship with Yahweh, I AM What I AM, I Will Be What I Will Be, at all kinds of moments… with the frightened disciples, and with the high priest; with a mob ready to arrest Him, and with a Samaritan woman at a well; when He is teaching a crowd, and when He is arguing with the Pharisees; before the Resurrection, and after the Resurrection. In fact, there are, in the gospel of John alone, 23 different times Jesus claimed to be I AM, assuming the personal name of God. I AM was an important part of His identity, and so it was a verbal name tag He liked to wear.
The True Vine. This time Jesus claims, “I AM the True Vine,” once again referring to Yahweh, professing a oneness with the Name of the Lord. Jesus quickly follows up this claim with something we knew already… “My Father is the Gardener.” The prophets have told us in Scripture about how the Father God had planted a vine that was once a “splendid vine” (Isaiah 27:2), a “noble vine” (Ezekiel 17:8), a “fruitful and leafy vine admired for her height and the number of her branches” (Ezekiel 19:10).
The teachers have been telling us for ages that the vine represents the nation of Israel, and that the Father planted it with great care and love. But then the prophets are clear about how this vine, once nurtured by the hand of God, was then rejected by the gardener God because of infidelity and idolatry (Isaiah 5:1). Hosea says it best: “Israel was a luxuriant vine, yielding plenty of fruit. But the more the fruit increased, the more altars he built. Theirs is a divided heart.” (Hosea 10:1-2).
Many Jews have asked, did Yahweh, who once was the Guardian of the vine (Isaiah 27:2), reject us forever, or are we still waiting for another vine from heaven? But here Jesus is saying that somehow he is the True Vine, the genuine vine! Is Jesus claiming to fulfill the prophetic words in Psalm 80: “Come back, we beg you, O God of Heaven’s Armies! Look down from heaven and see our plight. Take care of this grapevine that you yourself have planted, this son you have raised for yourself.” (Ps. 80:14-15).
Is Jesus saying that the Guardian of Israel has finally looked down and hand-planted a true Son of Israel, a True Vine that is a divine replacement for the ancient vine of Israel, to make her fruitful once again?
Surely Jesus knows his scripture, he must realize the extreme claim he is making. This is either a false claim and Jesus is a charlatan, or it’s true. Jesus seems to be saying that he came down from heaven to be the long-awaited authentic vine, to bring Israel back, so Israel can return to being a planting of the Lord. God once said that Israel became “a vine that is alien to me.” (Jeremiah 2:21), because “many shepherd have laid my vineyard waste.” (Jeremiah 12:10). By being the True Vine, Jesus is saying that he is here to restore a relationship with God, so that Israel is no longer alien to God, no longer estranged from the Lord.
So, according to Jesus, the Father is the gardener, and the Son is the divine representative of Israel planted by the Father, through whom Israel will flourish once again. Is this the time when the words of the Psalm are fulfilled, when the Lord indeed looked down from heaven and came back to us as the psalmist cried? This does seem to make sense since it appears the Father has been preparing the ground for a long time, plowing it through the years with His faithful prophets.
And then when the ground was fully plowed and prepared, He dropped the heavenly vine seed into the earth. Then our gardener continued nurturing this little seed till it grew roots and broke ground. God has been protecting and tending this seedling with water and sun and tender care until now. And soon enough, the young vine Jesus has grown into a mature planting of the Lord, a strong vine, the true spokesman for Israel, ready to grow branches and bear fruit. The question was asked, is this Vine preparing to circle the earth, or just Israel? Perhaps the children of Abraham are going to be blessed with fruitfulness from the True Vine in order to bless the nations.
And now, is it time once again to be blessed and “admired for the number of her branches” (Ezekiel 19)? Jesus is saying that any who follow him are his branches, intimately joined to him and living in him, receiving the life needed to grow and bear fruit. And now the gardener’s work is not done. He is pruning these branches, cutting off the unproductive ones, and cutting back the productive branches so they can bear even more fruit. The True Vine depends on the Father to continue His care of the Lord’s vineyard.
What kind of fruit does the Vine want to produce? What does the fruit of the Vine look like? It looks like love. Jesus is saying that the fruit of love is what brings life and health and vitality. Love is the only fruit that will last and not rot on the vine. Jesus is stating the obvious… the branches cannot bear this eternal fruit unless they are joined to the Vine. The branches and the Vine are vitally united. Jesus at first called them servants, then he called them friends. Soon he will call them family. You can’t get a more intimate union than that.
Jesus wants to flourish, to add branches to the Vine until the Vine spreads everywhere, a prolific vine that grows around the world. All these branches are related because they are all joined to the same Vine, they grow from the same source. The fruit of love does not grow on those branches that live with the other branches as if they are not related at the core. Some branches are unproductive, and they will perish. Other branches are productive, and they will flourish. Productivity will depend on bearing the fruit of love, which is the heart, the life juice, of the Vine. Love is the vital fruit of the Holy Spirit.
By claiming to be the True Vine, Jesus is stating that it is he for whom we have been waiting, the messiah, the only authentic vine of Israel, as promised so long ago. Jesus is claiming to be the one and only genuine Vine of God, the true Son of Jacob, bringing all of us back into the vineyard of the Lord, destined to encircle the world. Let us shout the wonderful words of Isaiah 12:6: “Cry aloud, O inhabitants of Zion! Ring out your joy! For the great one in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel!
Definition of Abide in Me. (Greek, meinate); to dwell in Me; to remain united within Me; to continue being joined in Me; to be in a living union with Me; to make your home in Me; to live inside Me; to stay vitally united to Me.
The Process of Grafting onto the Vine. In order to succeed in creating what gardeners call “the graft union, the “mother vine” receives an incision, a cut in the vine which will be able to receive the engrafted branch. The branch is cut in a way that will allow it to fit inside the cut vine when inserted into the vine. As the grafted union takes hold, the sap will circulate throughout the vine into the branch, and they will essentially become one plant. After being “cut” on the Cross, His blood has allowed us the opportunity of being grafted onto Him. The life-giving sap of the Holy Spirit will be the source of whatever spiritual nutrients are needed for us to be fruit-bearing branches on the Vine of Jesus.
RHEMA: … The Greek term John used for “word” in verse 7 was “rhema,” and we need to take a close look at this word in order to understand what Jesus is trying to say. Rhema literally means “a word uttered by a living voice, a thing spoken that has a definite meaning,” and is used seventy times in the New Testament. The rhema word is different than logos, and in fact is based on logos. Rhema is the word that is spoken by Jesus and inspired by the Holy Spirit to speak to a specific situation. Rhema is a written or spoken word from Jesus that speaks to a particular time. Rhema is a teaching from the Word that speaks truth, that needs to be said at that time. Rhema is an inspired word from the Holy Spirit that is intended to be directly applied to a situation or a person. The rhema word is a wise and timely passage from Christ that has special relevance at that moment. By using this particular word, Jesus is instructing us to be so familiar with Scripture and His teachings that the Spirit can inspire us at any opportune time to apply a passage at just the right moment. If we don’t have the Word “dwelling richly” in us, then we won’t have the raw material that the Spirit can use for a rhema word. God equips us, as we ask Him, to wield the fruitful rhema word from the Hebrew Bible, from the gospels and epistles, which itself is based on the inspired logos Word. Paul tells us in Romans 10:17 that “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the rhema word of God.” General biblical knowledge, Logos, is foundational, but the rhema words are vital, because it is what God is telling us personally from Scripture. Jesus wants His rhema words to the disciples to be received into their lives as they remain in union with Him.
Summing Up Fruitfulness. “The fruit of the Spirit is LOVE, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (Gal. 5:22-23). As we remain vitally united in Christ as healthy branches joined to the Vine, the sap of the Holy Spirit will circulate thorough each of us and produce the Fruit of the Spirit, fruitfulness at its best.
The Fruit is Love. In Paul’s phrase “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5, the word for fruit is singular. The passage does not say “fruits.” One fruit, one product, one result of the Holy Spirit’s effect on our life. It’s as if there is one cluster of grapes, the cluster of love, the first fruit on the list. And every delicious grape in that cluster points to aspects of that love. Another way of thinking of it is that Love is indeed the one, singular, unifying fruit of the Spirit, and the list of virtues following are all aspects of Love. Just like aspects of a fruit might be aroma, taste, color, shape, size, texture, nutrition, ripeness. Just as those are qualities of a fruit, the list of virtues are qualities of Love. The fruit is love, and the elements of love are mentioned in that passage: loving–joy, loving-peace, loving-patience, loving-kindness, loving-goodness, loving-faithfulness, loving-gentleness and loving self-control. Those are the products of the Spirit’s work in the garden of our heart. Those qualities are what love looks like, the outworking of love. Love is this cluster of virtues produced by the Holy Spirit in believers as they abide on the nourishing vine of Jesus. That is the only way to stay fruitful in the Christian life, the only way to grow in the fruit of the Spirit. Paul says much the same thing in Colossians 3:12-14, when, after listing much the same in terms of character qualities, he says, “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” (NIV).
Agape Love. The particular kind of love in Galatians 5:22 is agape love. It is the same love that the Father and the Son share. It is the highest form of love, and can only come from above, from God Himself. Agape love is the ultimate expression of God’s nature, the essence of His character (refer to Exodus 34). The most virtuous person on the planet cannot manufacture agape love as if it’s merely a highly esteemed trait. We don’t have it in us. We aren’t born with the ability to show agape love. It is impossible for us to demonstrate agape love on our own, because it can only derive from God, and not from human nature. Agape love is the supreme fruit of the Spirit, and can only be produced in us through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. “For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with love; God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us; We can now experience the endless love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us!” (Romans 5:5, various versions). This divine love being poured into our hearts is meant to be demonstrated to others through acts of kindness and compassion. This love, this affectionate regard of others, is deliberate and intentional. Agape love spills over from our hearts only after being poured into our hearts. Through the Holy Spirit, agape love can realistically become second nature to us and in us, by displacing the old loves in a Christian’s life, the love of money and things, of pleasure and self, of power and attention. In some beautifully mysterious way, the loyal, unconditional love from above in us is somehow completed when Christians love others. Agape love is the means by which God’s love may reach the world. Agape love is an eternal virtue, and it lasts forever (1 Cor. 13:8). Agape love is the primary fruit of the Spirit, the divine love offered to us to spread God’s love to others. Love poured into us, love splashed out to others.
The Fruit of Joy. Jesus had an underground spring of joy, and the sources of that joy at least included His communion with His Father, with creation, and with His ministry. But what is joy, exactly? Let’s describe it to better understand it, even though we’ll never get to the bottom of it. Joy is a settled assurance of God’s love and lordship. Joy is a deep-seated delight, a confident pleasure of the soul. Joy is an encouraged understanding of God’s presence and character. Joy is an inner gladness based on spiritual realities, that “we live in a gloomy town but a merry universe.” (Chesterton). Joy is a quality of holy optimism that affects the whole personality. Joy is a foundational light-heartedness that overflows into one’s spirit. Joy is an abiding satisfaction that all is well with God. Joy is a hopeful sense of well-being that rejoices in gratitude. Joy is a gladsome result of faith, a by-product of love, a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Joy is our most dependable and accurate foretaste of heaven.
The Fruit of Peace. If the peace of God is beyond human understanding (Phil. 4:7), how do we define it? We can start by referring to the Old Testament Hebrew word shalom, and the New Testament Greek word eirene, which both mean pretty much the same thing. When we study those biblical terms, it’s clear that peace is not merely a negative, and is so much more than a fragile truce, an absence of conflict, or the removal of strife. Peace is instead a dynamic positive rather than a passive negative. Peace is much closer to the idea of flourishing, of abundant well-being. If peace were a diamond, here are some of its facets: completeness; wholeness; fulfillment; tranquility; harmony; health; reconciliation; soundness; resolution of conflict; healing of division; freedom from disquiet and disorder. Peace seems to be one of those ultimate qualities that turns out to be our heart’s deepest desire.
The Fruit of Patience. “a long holding out in one’s mind before it gives room to passion” (Bible Dictionary); gracious restraint; the power to endure without complaint something difficult, disagreeable or uncomfortable; waiting through discomfort with peace; to stick with things without quitting. There is no one specific word for patience in the Hebrew Bible. In Psalm 37:7 and 40:1 the word for “wait with expectation” was translated patience. To “bear long” was also translated patience. In the New Testament, two Greek words for patience: hupomons: means “remaining under,” as in bearing up under a burden or difficult circumstances; and makrothumis: means “long tempered,” the opposite of short tempered. Patience is indeed a virtue, but it is not a stand-alone quality of character. It is a combination of many virtues, including graciousness, generosity, self-control, humility, hope, trust, faith, peacefulness.
The Fruit of Kindness. Generous and considerate actions for the welfare and happiness of others in need; simple acts of compassion to bless others; practical helpfulness that meets a need; the love that manifests itself through acts of service and good deeds; unselfish acts of benevolence; tender-hearted concern for another. The Aramaic version of Galatians 5 has the word “sweetness” in the place of “kindness.” Perhaps kindness is love’s sweet flavor, compassion’s sweet aroma, and mercy when it is ripe for the taking. Because kindness is sweet-natured, it tends to be unassuming. Kindness is not flashy, doesn’t attract attention, doesn’t put someone’s name in lights. Kindness leans toward simple and basic service, and so is often overlooked by others looking on. In reality, kindness makes the world go ’round, even though it so often goes under the radar. Kindness tends to be unspectacular and underrated in society, and the kind person is fine with that. Sweet kindness is its own reward. Kindness is the practical, useful aspect of Love. Love can be abstract, but it comes down to earth through acts of kindness. Love motivates the heart to feel compassion, and it moves the will to do kindness. All these aspects of Love overlap and it is somewhat difficult to distinguish between love, mercy, compassion, and kindness. One could say generally that compassion feels for the suffering of another, and is in solidarity with that sufferer. And kindness is not focused so much on the feeling aspect as with the doing. Kindness aims to meet a need in a practical, meaningful, and personal way. Kindness seeks to actively flesh out love in order to contribute to the happiness of another.
The Fruit of Goodness. moral excellence; virtue; integrity; mature in conscience; benevolence; righteous character; right living; Christian energy; the vigor and courage behind attaining moral valor; the middle quality of the Three Transcendents… Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. The Source of Goodness: The definitive self-revelation of God’s character in the Hebrew Bible is when the Lord and Moses were on the top of Mt. Sinai, and Moses said, “‘Oh, let me behold your Presence!’ And the Lord answered, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim before you the Name Lord, and the grace that I grant and the compassion that I show… The Lord came down in a cloud; He stood with Moses there and proclaimed the Name Lord. The Lord passed before Moses and proclaimed: The Lord! The Lord! a God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness, extending kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin.” (Exodus 33:18-19, 34:5-7, Tanakh, JPS). In other words, the goodness of God is His love, grace, mercy, compassion and kindness. The Lord is filled with goodness, and it looks like Love. And the fruit of the Spirit is that very image of God being renewed and restored in the life of a believer.
The Fruit of Faithfulness: true to commitments; steadfast loyalty; consistent fidelity to truth; trustworthy; keeps promises; living in good faith; sustaining one’s belief; reliability; allegiance; staying true to one’s word. O Come All Ye Faithful. God Himself is the source of our faithfulness. The Holy Spirit renews the image of God in us as He works in our spirit, and one primary quality of God is His faithfulness. We are unable to produce steadfast loyalty on our own. We don’t have the power or ability to do that. Tapping into the vine of Jesus will result in an on-going flow of God’s qualities into us, transforming us into renewed creatures. Faithfulness will become second nature as we live into God’s nature and produce the fruit of the Spirit.
The Fruit of Gentleness: kind and humble disposition; calm and even-tempered; not needing to force one’s way; peaceable; considerate; reasonable; tender. God’s gentleness is the origin of any gentleness coming from us. We can’t manufacture gentleness like this without a divine source. The fruit of the Spirit implies that unless we tap into the vine of Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit’s life in us, there is no hope for producing anything of the sort. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and the Son, will surely displace our harsh and forceful ways with that of divine gentleness. Gentleness seems impossible, and not even preferable. Our own human nature makes it very difficult to be gentle in any consistent way. In our weak moments, most of us are not exactly gentle. And gentleness surely runs counter to how things are done in our society. One doesn’t run a business by being gentle. Politicians don’t win an office by being gentle. Competitors don’t realize victory by being gentle. One doesn’t confront an injustice by being gentle. One usually doesn’t win an argument by being gentle. It seems that if one wanted to be successful or any type of cultural influence, a person would need to be the opposite of gentle. But when you study scripture with gentleness in mind, it appears that society has it all wrong. Do you want to be a success in God’s eyes? Be gentle. Do you want to influence people in a positive way? Be gentle. Do you want to reflect God’s character during a conversation? Be gentle.
The Fruit of Self-Control: Temperance; discreet sensibility; restraint over one’s impulses, emotions and desires (NLT); holding appetites and passions in check; directing one’s energies wisely (Peterson); the inner strength of self-discipline. If you want to start working on your self-control, begin with your words, whether verbally or through social media. Self-control can often be judged by the ability to hold one’s tongue in check. “If any one does not offend in speech, who never says the wrong things, he is a fully developed character, able to control his whole body and to curb his entire nature.” (James 3:2, AMP). If there was one major and practical topic that Solomon loved to write about in his book Proverbs, it was the tongue: the importance of wise speech, the effects of foolish speech, the need for self-control in one’s words. “An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him. He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his great foolishness.” (Proverbs 5:22-23, NLT). “Better to be patient than powerful; better to have self-control than to conquer a city.” (Proverbs 16:32, NLT). “A person without self-control is like a house with its doors and windows knocked out.” (Proverbs 25:28, MSG).