EPHESIANS 4:29

The Bible says in Ephesians 4:29 “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” The first part of this verse could be translated, “Let no rotten words go out of your mouth...” For every Christian that will be one of the great challenges of life. Your tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity, if it goes unchecked. Jesus always said what He should have said and it was said of Him, “No man ever spake as this man.” If you say the things that you ought to say, then you will become a person that people will want to hear. If you can control your tongue, you can control anything. If you cannot control your tongue, you will cause great harm to those around you.

The vast majority of times the word that is translated “use” in this verse is actually translated “need.” For example, the same word is found in Matthew 3:14 where the Bible says, “But John forbad him saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?” If it was translated that way here, it would say, “to the need of edifying.” There is a great need that edification take place. People need to be built up and not torn down. Your words have a powerful effect on whoever hears them. Your words can tear down, if they are the wrong words; or your words can build hope and faith in the lives of those who hear your words. You will either speak rotten words, or you will speak words that edify and build up.

This verse is a command. “let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth…” If you say any words that are considered corrupt communication, then it is your fault. It is no one else’s fault. You are responsible, and according to Jesus you will be held responsible one day for every word that you have said. Evidently Jesus understands the power of words to destroy or to build up, and so He is going to hold you responsible for the words that come out of your mouth. By the way, what are the words of “corrupt communication?” How do you identify corrupt communication? Maybe the best way is to look at what the rest of this verse says should come out of your mouth. Maybe that means that if these other things do not come out of your mouth, then by default corrupt communication is what will come out. Instead of corrupt communication, instead of rotten words, verse 29 says, “but that which is good to the use of edifying.”

Notice also that verse 29 says that these good words “will minister grace unto the hearers.” This verse could be translated a little more literally as “will give grace unto the hearers.” Grace is always given. It is never earned or merited in any way. You cannot pray enough and you cannot do enough to earn grace. Grace always refers to a free gift. Salvation and forgiveness of sins is by grace through Christ. We can only be forgiven because of the sacrificial death of Christ in our place. Actually all grace from God is based upon what Christ did for us and never upon what we have done for ourselves. Everyone needs grace. An interesting point about this verse is that it states that grace will come to people from the hearing of good words. Saying the right words about God and Christ and truth is what delivers grace to people. Those who hear the right words will have more grace than those who do not. Those who speak the right words will be doing God’s work of administering the grace of Christ in this world.

Ephesians 4:30 gives another command to those who would put off the old man and put on the new man “which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” God says to us in Ephesians 4:30, “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” The word that is translated “grieve” is often translated “to be sorrowful” or “to make sorry.” For example, the same word is used in Matthew 26:37-38 where the Bible says about Jesus, “And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then said he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death…” Jesus became sorrowful at the sin that He would take upon Himself. The commandment of Ephesians 4:30 is, “Do not cause sorrow to the Holy Spirit by sin or any other thing that you might do or think.” In the name “Holy Spirit” the emphasis is on the word “holy.” He is the Holy Spirit. His work is done and His power is shown, not where there is sin taking place, but where there is holiness. Why was the Holy Spirit given without measure to Christ when He walked as a man upon the earth? Jesus had such power of the Spirit, because Jesus did not grieve the Spirit in any way. You do not want to grieve the Holy Spirit because you are completely dependent upon Him. If you do not manifest the fruits of the Spirit, then you will produce the deeds of the flesh. In order for the new man that was created in Christ Jesus to control your life, you must be led by the Spirit, controlled by the Spirit, and empowered by the Spirit. It is not you: it is the Spirit of God within you. But it will not happen if you grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

This verse, Ephesians 4:30, has a warning in a sense; but it also has a promise. It says concerning the Holy Spirit: “whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption.” The word “redemption” here is a word that means deliverance, a deliverance that comes because someone paid a dept or a ransom that purchased the deliverance. Jesus purchased our deliverance with His blood on the cross of Calvary. For those who are still alive, that redemption in part is still future. You may be one of the redeemed because of your faith in Christ, but there are still other things from which you will yet be redeemed by Him. You have not experienced all of the things that your great salvation in Christ gives you. For example, right now you have the challenge of living with both the old man and the new man drawing you to their own particular life-styles. It can be a terrible battle, with sometimes depressing results. “You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” If you are a true believer in Jesus, one of the things that the Holy Spirit has done for you is that He has “sealed” you until the day of redemption. That is an expression of wonderful eternal security. You may be a weak or carnal Christian who has failed easily and often at the commandments given to you in this passage, but you are still sealed. You are still the recipient of great and precious promises that are given to every one of God’s children. God loves us through Christ. If you know Jesus, you will be going to heaven, because you are sealed by the Spirit until the day of redemption.

The next command that is given to those who are saved and who would like to live the life-style of the new man instead of the old man is found in Ephesians 4:31 that says, “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.” What is interesting about this particular verse is that there is one command, but six different things embodied in this one command. The command is “put away from you.” The verb here presents a very similar idea to that which was expressed both in verse 22 and verse 25, which said to “put off” and to “put away.” Ephesians 4:31 makes it clear that you have the power to choose to get rid of all of the negative human emotions and reactions to life that are listed in this verse. The Bible sets a very high standard and allows for no compromise. It says “all” bitterness, etc. The way that this verse is written means that all bitterness, all wrath, all anger, all clamour, all evil speaking, and all malice you should put away. There should be a separation from you, your life, and these things. The believer in Jesus Christ should not allow any of these things in any situation to be a part of his or her life. By the way, this verse is another indication that you are never justified to be angry. This verse tells you, if you are going to walk according to the new man, to put away “all” anger from you.

Each one of the words in Ephesians 4:31 are important to understand in order to make sure that we have put them away from us. These things listed in Ephesians 4:31 are a part of the people of the world who do not know Christ as Savior. They are also a part of the people of God who walk according to the old man instead of according to the new man. One thing to notice about each of these six things is that they refer to your reaction to people around you who have done you wrong. The first thing mentioned is bitterness. A definition for “bitter” from the American Heritage Dictionary is: “Marked by anguished resentfulness or rancor.” Someone becomes bitter when something happens that they consider to be absolutely terrible, and it eats away at them and they cannot get over it. Sometimes bitterness is associated with older people because the older that you are the more likely that some horrible thing has happened to you; and one way that people react to horrible things is to become bitter about them. Young people can become bitter also. One of the problems with bitterness is that it will lead you to do other things that you should not do. It does not stop with itself. It reaches out to cause harm. Hebrews 12:15 says, “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.”

Two other things that Christians should put away from them are wrath and anger. The word that is translated wrath refers to the strong negative human emotion that boils up from within a person when they are upset. The word that is translated “anger” in this passage refers to the actions that a person takes who is motivated by that wrath. Sometimes the word that is translated “anger” is used in a just sense such as when a judge hands out his punishments or even when God who is the ultimate judge punishes those who deserve it. The problem is that you are not the judge, and when you are handing out punishments because of your personal anger, you are doing that which evil human nature does. Put this away from you, if you are going to walk according to the new man that was created in Christ Jesus.

Make sure that you also put “clamour” away from you. The word clamour means crying out, screaming, and yelling. A Christian should never be involved in such emotional displays. The only crying out that you should do is crying out to God. Put away clamour from you and also put away “evil speaking” from you. The word that is translated “evil speaking” is the word that is often translated “blasphemy.” As a matter of fact this word is translated “blasphemy” sixteen times in the New Testament, but is only translated “evil speaking” this one time in Ephesians 4:31. All of this anger and wrath that humans are capable of can eventually become anger against God. All of the things that you are angry about, you just might blame against God. That is what the devil hopes that you do: curse God and die. Do not blaspheme God, and do not blaspheme man who was created in the image of God.

The last of the things that are listed for Christians to put away from them in Ephesians 4:31 is “malice.” Malice is a word that refers to having ill-will for someone. You are not just angry with someone, but your purpose becomes to do what you can to see that bad things happen to them. That is a horrible way to be compared to what God and Christ are like. God and Christ want good things to happen to every member of the human race.

If we should not have malice to other human beings, even to those who do us wrong, then what should we have towards them? Ephesians 4:32 gives the answer to that. It says, “And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” The word that is translated “tender-hearted” is a word that emphasizes that good thoughts come from your innermost being in regards to all other people, even those who have done you wrong. Instead of being a person of malice and ill-will, you are a person of benevolence and goodness and kindness towards all other people and what you think about them and what you hope happens to them. You hope that good things happen to others, even to those who have done you wrong.

The word that is translated “forgiven” is not the word that is usually translated forgiven in the Bible. The word that is translated here means “to give graciously.” It comes from the same word as the word “grace.” When you give graciously, it means that you give freely. You give to the benefit of another even though they do not deserve it. That is how God gave to each of us salvation through Christ. Jesus died for our sins. We did not deserve it. We deserve to be punished for our sins, but it is not going to happen if you are in Christ. Instead of getting what you deserve, you are going to receive from God what you do not deserve: forgiveness, pardon, and eternal life. God gave to you graciously and kindly. God and Christ give graciously and kindly to sinners: make sure that you do the same.

That brings up a very important question. Have you received the grace of God through Christ in regards to the salvation of your soul? Christ offers you His forgiveness, but you do not experience it until you bow before Him in repentance of your sins. If you have never repented of your sins and turned to Christ, make sure that you do that today.

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