Matthew 12:37 New American Standard Bible For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Amplified Bible For by your words [reflecting your spiritual condition] you will be justified and acquitted of the guilt of sin; and by your words [rejecting Me] you will be condemned and sentenced.” Good and Bad Fruit …36But I tell you that men will give an account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” 38 ----- James 1: 26If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his heart and his religion is worthless. 27Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 3: Taming the Tongue (Psalm 64:1–10) 1Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to control his whole body. 3When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can guide the whole animal. 4Consider ships as well. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot is inclined. 5In the same way, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it boasts of great things. Consider how small a spark sets a great forest ablaze. 6The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body. It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.a 7All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, 8but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10Out of the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, this should not be! 11Can both fresh water and salt waterb flow from the same spring? 12My brothers, can a fig tree grow olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt springc produce fresh water. -------- Matthew 12:36 But I tell you that men will give an account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken Ellicot commentary on Matthew 12:37 How it is that men are said to be justified by faith (Romans 3:28 et al.), justified by works (James 2:24), justified—as here—by words. All three—faith, works, words—are alike elements of a man’s character, making or showing what he is. Faith, implying trust and therefore love, justifies as the root element of character; “words,” as its most spontaneous manifestation; works, as its more permanent results. Of the words and the works men can in some measure judge, and they are the tests by which a man should judge himself. The faith which lies deeper in the life is known only to God, and it is therefore by faith rather than by works that a man is justified before God, though the faith is no true faith unless it moulds the character and therefore enables the man to pass the other tests also. https://www.biblehub.com/commentaries/ellicott/matthew/12.htm ------------
sigh .... You need to have a Phd in Law to comprehend some parts of the Bible. No wonder Catholics are not allowed to own a bible.
The post is longer (than just the passage) as I thought that some readers would like the context. I bolded what I thought was the key phrases. I included the commentary (this is only part of it) to help bring in the connection, between the passage 12:37 -however perhaps this makes it seem more complex than it is. Sadly, the people who write the commentaries seem caught up in longer explanations. Certainly the commentaries can be skipped in all cases where the passage is clear.
Matthew 15: 10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.” 17 “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.” In Mark 7