But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. (Colossians 3:8)

Sins Of The Tongue

Some parts of scripture are difficult to digest and hard to understand. These studies require more diligence to glean the Holy Spirit’s meaning and purpose for the text. Many passages are crystal clear in their meanings. It does not require a Greek scholar to erudite a meaning or pontificate a principle. When the Holy Spirit tells the Christian to put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, and filthy language, the meaning is as clear as the divine mandate demands. Trying to excuse the text only means the unwilling heart refuses to accept the teaching of the Lord and remove sin from the heart.

Anger is one letter short of danger because it always comes with its own set of problems. Words spoken in anger do not encourage, exhort, or enlist feelings of fondness. Anger allowed to boil becomes sin. Paul reminded the Ephesian church not to let the sun go down on their anger. There is a boiling point at which righteous indignation becomes sinful anger. The emotion of anger has destroyed relationships, marriages, and friendships and has brought irreparable harm to others. Uncontrolled anger is a sin. There is no excuse. It cannot be assumed that God approves of anger as a means of communication. Jesus became angry, but His anger was directed toward righteous indignation over sinful behavior. He never allowed anger to become sin. The Christian is not to be known as a person of anger. Getting angry at another motorist does not fit the mold of a child of the Holy God. Anger leading to shouting and screaming is not a holy relationship. The Holy Spirit demanded that anger be removed from the life of the Christian.

Wrath is similar to anger but more intense. It becomes a passionate spirit of fierce anger and indignation. When a person goes into a rage, they become filled with wrath. Jesus got angry, but He never experienced wrath. What value is there when a child of God exhibits wrath? Where is the glory of God when the emotions boil over into words of wrath and exhibitions of violent behavior? This has no place in the life of the Christian. The Holy Spirit condemns the wrathful spirit and labels it a sin.

Malice is an outgrowth of anger and wrath. It becomes an extension of uncontrolled anger leading to wrath. The behavior of the malicious heart is one filled with the desire to brood over slights and find ways to bring revenge on another. It is an insidious way to hurt others. The poison of a malicious heart gossips to destroy, maligns to discredit, and hopes for evil to come upon another. Blasphemy is when an evil heart reviles and speaks evil of others to destroy them. There is the obvious use of blasphemy against God, but in this text, Paul means how the hearts of men spew out poisonous lies about others. It is sinful to speak evil of dignitaries and those in positions of authority. God does not accept the heart that is filled with blasphemy, whether against Him or those He created.

The final admonition from Paul speaks generally of anything untoward in the language of the Christian. Filthy language or a foul mouth is not part of the Christian character. Cussing is unacceptable. Using crude language is sinful. Lewd jokes, indecent stories, and unseasoned speech meant to incite passions are sinful. The world must see and hear the voice of the Christian as one whose speech is seasoned with the salt of God’s grace. To speak otherwise is not just unwise but unholy. The admonition of the Holy Spirit is to warn against those things that will jeopardize the soul’s salvation. Warnings against idle speech are given to mold the character of the Christian to be an example of holiness in a world filled with perverse language. The filthy rags of unkept speech should not be part of the clothing of holiness worn by the child of God.