Ephesians

Unwholesome Talk

There is an old joke about a witness in a court trial. As the trial begins, he is called to the witness stand to be sworn in. “Put your hand on the Bible and raise your right hand,” says the bailiff. “Do you swear—”

“No,” the witness interjects, “but I know all the words!”

In this corrupt and evil age, we have to acknowledge that we, like that witness, know all the words—evil words, profane words, obscene words, rude and objectionable words, insulting words, hurtful words, careless words, unwholesome words. But those words should never come out of the mouth of a Christian who has put off the old self and has put on Christ. So the issue Paul now brings before us is the issue of unwholesome talk. In Ephesians 4:29, Paul writes, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

In the original Greek, Paul literally says, “Let no rotten words come out of your mouths.” That covers the whole range of evil speech, from vile obscenities to idle rumors and careless gossip. Rotten words are words that are corrupt, and that spread corruption.

Our society is drenched with pornography, filth, and lewd speech. It assaults us in print, on our TV screens, and on our computer screens, via the internet. The tendency of the world today is to throw off all restrictions, all boundaries of decency, as if notions of modesty are a form of slavery. In reality, corrupt and evil speech are manifestations of a much more profound and horrible slavery—the slavery of being bound by sin, egocentrism, and the old unredeemed self.

So Christians are to shun all forms of unwholesome talk, which arise from the old life. You cannot put on Christ while at the same time indulging in loose talk and corrupt conversation. Paul will return to this subject later in this letter: “Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God” (Ephesians 5:4-5). There is no room in the Christian life for evil speech. It is a part of the old self. It must be put off in order for the life of Christ to be put on.

A friend of mine, the owner of a print shop, was once at the counter when a customer came in to have some cards printed up. My friend saw that the content of the card was obscene. “I don’t print this kind of thing,” said my friend.

“Oh, come on!” the would-be customer cajoled. “Don’t be like that! Everybody likes this stuff—It’s just that some people are embarrassed to admit it! Come on—deep down, you know you like to look at stuff like this!”

“Sure, I admit it,” said my friend. “In my old self, my sinful nature, I’m tempted by things like this. But when I committed my life to Jesus Christ, I made a decision to put all of these kinds of things out of my life. I’m human like everyone else, and there’s a part of me that can easily lust for this kind of thing—but I don’t intend to feed it.”

My friend understood what it means to put off the old and put on the new. He would not let any unwholesome communication come out of his mouth—or out of his printing press.

Here again we see that it’s not enough to avoid evil speech. That is merely putting off the old. We must take a positive step. We must put on the new. We must give ourselves to good speech, positive speech, constructive speech. As Paul says in Ephesians 4:29, we must actively, aggressively, volitionally commit ourselves to speech that “is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

It is not enough to put off evil. We go a step further and put on the good. It is not enough to put away falsehood. We must aggressively speak the truth. It is not enough to simply avoid sinful anger. We must use righteous anger to motivate us to seek justice. It is not enough to simply stop stealing. We must live productive lives and give generously out of our productivity to improve the lives of others. It is not enough to simply stop “cussing” or spreading vile rumors. We have to use our power of speech to build others up and benefit those around us.