Bede

In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? Lest they excuse themselves as unable to imitate the works of so great a father Abraham, especially since no one now compels them to offer their sons to God to be killed, but rather God Himself forbids this to be done through the Scriptures, he adds also of a sinful woman, a foreign woman, who nevertheless by acts of mercy, by the duty of hospitality, even at the risk of her life, received the servants of God and was deemed worthy to be justified from sins, to be numbered among the citizens of the people of Israel, to be counted in the catalog of their royal lineage, to be inserted in the genealogies of our Lord and Saviour descending from the fountain of the patriarchs, to be rescued from the destruction of her perishing country, whose treachery she abandoned. By the examples of this woman turned to better things, he therefore advises his listeners to avoid entering the perishing homeland, and to remember to separate themselves by fruitful works from the sins they had left by believing, so that they may be united with the assemblies of the saints and may deserve to reach the fellowship of their Redeemer. And so he exhorts them to receive the messengers of Jesus, that is, to gladly hear the preachers of the word of the Gospel. And when they know that these have been rejected by their kinsmen or even sought after to death, as the Acts often show to have happened, they themselves, taking from them counsel for their salvation, should send them back to the Lord Jesus in peace. So the Book of Acts of the Apostles indicates that Gamaliel, the master of the blessed apostle Paul, by the revelation of the relics of the proto-martyr Stephen, effected something once honorable to all the people of the Jews and now more honorable to the whole Church of Christ, when the Jewish council, planning to slay the apostles, himself with wiser counsel thwarted their machinations and sent the apostles, rescued from their snares, back unharmed to evangelize Jesus.

For in many things we all offend. He did not say "you offend," when he reproved those whom he saw as less perfect in both knowledge and action, and would remove such from the chair of teaching, fearing lest they might harm the little ones by preaching erroneously, and turn their ears away from the hearing of teachers by forestalling them; or certainly might defile what they rightly preached with the filth of incorrect action, and thus obscure the path of evangelical perfection with sinister opinion; but he said, "we offend," when we are of Christ; thus speaks the Apostle. And he prefaced it with "in many things," he added "all," so that the imperfect might consider themselves all the more cautiously in acting or speaking, as they would know more certainly that not even the perfectly good, who walk under the guidance of the grace of the Holy Spirit, can by any means pass through the path of this life without offending by some sin, according to what is written elsewhere: "The heavens are not clean in His sight" (Job XV). And as Solomon says: "There is no just man upon earth, that does good, and sins not" (Eccl. VII).

If anyone does not offend in word, this one is a perfect man. How can he say that the man who does not offend in word is perfect, when he has previously stated: Because in many things we all offend? Is it because the elect can offend in many things, and yet remain perfect? Indeed, it is to be understood in this way. For there are different kinds of offenses. The elect offend in one way, the reprobate in another, as Solomon testifies, who says: For the just man falls seven times, and rises again; but the wicked stumble into evil. And if the just man indeed offends through the frailty of the flesh or through ignorance, he nonetheless does not cease to be just. Because just as such daily and unavoidable offenses occur, so too is there a daily remedy of prayers and good works, which quickly raises the offending just man, so that he does not fall to the ground, and stain the wedding garment of charity and faith with the dust of vices. Therefore, if anyone does not offend in word, this one is a perfect man, that is, in that word whose offense human frailty can avoid, such as the word of deceit, of detraction, of cursing, of pride, of boasting, of excusing sins, of envy, of dissension, of heresy, of lying, of perjury, and also of idle and unnecessary and even superfluous speech in those things which seem necessary. In whatever word anyone keeps himself without offense, this one is a perfect man. For he who keeps his mouth and his tongue, keeps his soul from troubles (Prov. XXI).

Thus also the tongue is indeed a small member, and it exalts great things. Certainly, it exalts great rewards if the force of the guiding mind rightly governs it. According to that of Solomon: He who understands possesses the steerage. But if it governs badly, it exalts great evils of destruction both for itself and its people. Wherefore Solomon says: Death and life are in the power of the tongue (Prov. XVIII). Therefore it exalts life if it teaches the Church well. Against this, it exalts death if it acts gravely. For this is said against those who, lacking both life and knowledge, presumed to teach and, therefore, harmed the Church even more; but if it is read as in some manuscripts: It also rejoices greatly, that exultation must indeed here be understood, of which it is said in the following, when he enumerated through many vices of the tongue, he added: But now you exult in your arrogances. All such exultation is evil. From which also the mother of blessed Samuel restrains us with devout exhortation, saying: Do not multiply speaking proudly (I Kings II). Therefore, the tongue exalts greatly, which, despising the senses and words of others, boasts singularly of being wise and eloquent itself.

And it sets on fire the wheel of our birth, being set on fire by hell. By hell, it means by the devil and his angels, for whom hell was made, and who, whether they fly in the air, wander on earth or under the earth, or are detained, always bring with them the torments of flames, like a feverish person who, even if placed on ivory beds or in sunny places, cannot avoid the heat or cold of his inherent disease. Thus, demons, even if they are worshipped in golden temples or roam through the air, always burn with the hellish fire, and, reminded by their own punishment, suggest to deceived men the fuel of vices that cause their downfall. In contrast, the holy city of God, the new Jerusalem, is said to descend from heaven by God, because clearly, whatever heavenly things we do on earth, we have certainly received the celestial gift to do so. Moreover, the wheel of our birth refers to the continuous course of temporal life, in which from the day of birth until death we are driven like a constantly running wheel. Hence, Solomon rightly said: “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of affliction come” (Ecclesiastes XII), and shortly after added: “And the wheel is broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth from which it came.” Therefore, the tongue sets on fire the wheel of our birth, contaminating our entire state of being with corrupt speech. Again, he calls it the wheel of our birth, because due to the merit of the first transgression, having been cast from inner stability, we are carried hither and thither with a wandering mind, and in all our uncertain paths, we know not where danger or safety lies. This wheel of our birth is set on fire by the corrupting fire of the tongue when the vice of our inherent disturbance is further compounded by foolish and harmful words.

Blessing and cursing proceed from the same mouth. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth sweet and bitter water from the same opening? Just as sweet and bitter water cannot simultaneously bubble up from a single vein of the fountain, but if they are mixed in a vessel or a cistern, the sweet water immediately becomes bitter from the bitter water, but the bitter water cannot be changed into sweetness by the mixture of sweet water, so blessing and cursing cannot be in any way combined in one mouth; but whoever is accustomed to bless God by praying or preaching His word, but still does not cease to curse men, it is evident that the sweetness of his blessing is consumed by the bitterness of the cursing. For a little leaven corrupts the whole mass (I Cor. V). And there is no fair praise in the mouth of a sinner (Eccli. XV). Finally, if you make a pipe with double openings for the water to enter, and a single one for it to exit, and you pour bitter water in one side and sweet water in the other side, without any doubt where there is one exit opening, they will be mixed, and the water will appear bitter. For it is certainly much easier for sweet to turn into bitter when they are mixed together, than for bitter to turn into sweet. From this example, it is gathered that bad conversations, as testified by the Apostle, corrupt good morals as well as good speech.

Can a fig tree, my brothers, produce olives, or a vine figs? etc. It is clear, because just as a tree cannot, having lost its natural fruit, produce the fruit of another tree from itself, so a slanderer, even if he seems to speak some good temporarily, is in no way able to have the fruit of blessing. But if someone wishes to discuss this more deeply, in the fig tree whose leaves our first parents, after the recognition of their transgression, used to cover their nakedness, can be understood the veil of excuse, by which they then tried to repel the reproach of the Creator and to cast it back on the Creator Himself, and now many of the foolish turn their hearts to an evil word, to excuse excuses in sins (Psalm 140). In olives can be taken the fruit of mercy, in the vine the fervor of love. But I, he says, like a fruitful olive tree in the house of the Lord, have hoped in the mercy of my God (Psalm 51), that is, just as one who produces the fruit of mercy, I have hoped for mercy myself from the Lord. Likewise: And your cup inebriates me, how excellent it is (Psalm 23)! Which is understood to speak of the love of God, which is poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Romans 5). Therefore, a fig tree cannot produce olives, because whoever tries to excuse himself for sins rather than accuse himself, in no way performs works of piety for sins perfectly towards others, but gives more with a proud heart. Nor can a vine produce figs, because he who is perfectly inebriated with divine love, accuses none of his errors, except himself.

Who among you is wise and disciplined, let him show by good conduct his works in the humility of wisdom. Because he had imposed silence on wicked teachers and had forbidden them to hold the rank of teacher, since he saw that they had neither the perfection of life nor the restraint of the tongue, he consequently admonishes that if anyone among them is wise and disciplined, or appears to be so to himself, let him show his wisdom and discipline more by living wisely and disciplined than by teaching others. For he who with meek heart and calm speech does the good which he can, surely gives evident proof of a wise man. For the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Psalm 110). But he who is more inclined to preach the word than to act often incurs the guilt of foolishness through the love of boasting, through the zeal of contention, through the facility of eloquence, through the envy of other teachers, through ignorance of the catholic truth. Well does that saying of Solomon apply to him: For in the multitude of words there wanteth not sin (Proverbs 14). Hence it is rightly added here: