“And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.”
The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil. Among the parts of the body, the tongue holds its place as a world of unrighteousness, corrupting the whole person, setting the whole course of one's life on fire, and itself set on fire by hell — the tongue is not merely compared to fire but identified as one ('is a fire'). It constitutes 'a world of unrighteousness' (kosmos tēs adikias), suggesting the tongue contains within itself the entire universe of sin and wickedness. The causative chain extends: the tongue's corruption spreads throughout the person, affects the 'course of life' (trochus tēs geneseōs, literally the 'wheel of existence'), and is itself ignited by gehenna (hell). The pathological power radiates in all directions.
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