Ephesians 5:1-14
Be ye therefore followers of
God, as dear children; 2 and walk in love, as Christ also hath
loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for
a sweet smelling savour. 3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it
not be once named among you, as becometh saints; 4 neither filthiness, nor
foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of
thanks. 5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person,
nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of
Christ and of God. 6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these
things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. 7 Be not ye therefore partakers with them. 8 For ye were sometimes
darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: 9 (for the fruit of the Spirit
is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) 10 proving what is acceptable
unto the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,
but rather reprove them. 12 For it is a shame even to speak of those
things which are done of them in secret. 13 But all things that are reproved are
made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. 14 Wherefore he saith, Awake
thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. (AKJV)
A little boy was caught swearing by his
teacher. "Jeffrey, you shouldn't use that kind of language,” she said.
“Where did you hear it?" "My daddy said it," he responded.
"Well," explained the teacher, "you don't even know what it
means." "I do, so!" Jeffrey said. "It means the car won't
start."
Ephesians 5 talks about life that is both in darkness (Ephesians
5:8) and in slumber
(Ephesians
5:14). Paul, in Ephesians 5:1-13 saw four groups of reasons to call the Ephesian
believers as deep sleeper and dead. One of these reason is the practice of profanity,
foolish talking, and jesting among Ephesian believers (Ephesians 5:4). The New
International Version of the Bible describes these practices as out of place.
Profanity
Let us
first look at the Biblical basis of profanity as referred here in Ephesians
5:4. In Romans 3:13-14, we read, “Their throat is an open sepulchre;
with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under
their lips: 14 whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:”
In this context, profanity refers to blasphemous or obscene language. This form
of blasphemous or obscene language can be classified as cursing, swearing, and
outburst of anger.
Cursing
is uttering an offensive word in annoyance or anger. In some cases, because of
heavy traffic congestion, a father was constantly cursing and sounding his car
horn throughout their trip to Florida in the presence of his family. An
employee is always cursed by her boss for being clumsy and careless. Cursing is
also invoking an affliction against another person. A family business may have
been cursed with a series of bankruptcies. A person may have been cursed so she
was afflicted with a dreaded disease.
The book
of James is teaching believers to be aware of one great spiritual
responsibility. James 3:9-10 says, "With the tongue we praise our Lord and
Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s
likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise
and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be".
This leads to an issue of cursing among believers? Should believers curse? Should believers sing
praises, sing praises to God, give testimonies, speak in tongues in church on
Sundays and curse from Monday to Saturday?
What
do other people hear from us when we are startled? When we bumped on something?
When we drop something?
Swearing
is making a promise or establishing an oath. In James 5:12, we read Above all, my brothers and sisters, do
not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is
a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.
People
swear on the Bible in court to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. Some of us are comfortable when we say, “I
swear to God, be there lightning or thunder!”
Swearing can also mean to use profane or
obscene language. It can mean the cussing, expletives, obscene or blasphemous
words. In the language of the children,
we say that is a “bad word”. That is why we do not swear in front of the children.
Facebook
conducted a survey on the top swear words on Facebook interactions. In the three-day
period surveyed, the four-letter word that start with “s” appeared in 10.5
million U.S. Facebook interactions; the four-letter that start with “f”
appeared in 9.5 million, the four-letter word that starts with “d” in 6.3
million, and the five-letter word that starts with a “b” in 4.5 million, and 2
million FB users have used the four-letter word that starts with “c”.
Swearing
also becomes blasphemy when using the name of God in vain and in invoking evil
to others. We heard one time or another somebody say, “I swear to God,
I'll kill him if he comes back”. Yet Scripture teaches us not to take the name
of the Lord our God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes
His name in vain (Exodus 20:7). Jeremiah described the land of Israel as
parched and its pastures in the wilderness are withered because it is cursed (Jeremiah
23:10)
What
comes out of our mouth when we accidentally hit our finger with a hammer? What
does our family hear from us whenever someone cuts us off in traffic? What do we
say to a person who tries to avoid us when it is time for that person to pay us
what he owed? Isn’t it easy for us to observe that in outbursts of anger,
profanity defines our lives? Do we allow
profanity to show what is in our hearts? Doesn’t our attitude toward profanity
make it sinful?
Paul
reminded the Colossian believers put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy,
filthy communication out of their mouth (Colossians 3:8), while James advised
every believer to be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath; for the
wrath of man works not the righteousness of God (James 1:19-20).
There
is a story of a believer who wanted to buy a parrot so he went to a pet shop to
ask for one. “Are you sure it doesn’t scream, yell, or swear?” asked the believer.
“Oh absolutely. It’s a religious parrot,” the storekeeper assures him. “Do you
see those strings on his legs? When you pull the right one, he recites the Lord’s
prayer, and when you pull on the left, he recites the 23rd Psalm.” “Wonderful!”
says the prospective buyer. “But what happens if you pull both strings?” The
parrot screeched, “Of course, I fall off my perch, you stupid fool!”.
It is
the words that come out of the believers’ mouth that define the contents of
their heart. It is not the things that go into their mouth that defile the
heart. It is the words that come out that defile the heart (Matthew 15:11).
Foolish talking
The
Greek word for foolish talking is morolgia,
which does not occur anywhere else in the Scripture. This means that kind of talk that is insipid, senseless, stupid, or
foolish. Because it is senseless talking, it
does not edify, it does not instruct, it does not build up, it does not profit,
it does not bring benefit. Foolish talking is literally “an easy turn of speech”,
as one turns every conversation into a joking comment on sexual matters,
usually with a double-entendre. It is a conversation with double meaning, usually and
always with sexual connotation. Foolish talk would be anything that might lead one in
a situation where one would be tempted to commit some kind of sexual sin.
Why did Paul bring this foolish
talking up? The Bible is clear about this: everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for
every empty word they have spoken (Matthew 12:36). As believers, it is our calling to live a righteous
life that is worthy of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. This does not only include worship and praises; it also
includes sensible, sincere, serious, accountable, and edifying conversation.
Foolish talking, or the talk of the
fool, is far worse than just empty, senseless talk. This foolish talking
describes the condition of one’s life that has lost its “saltiness” or “flavor”
(Matthew 5:13). This foolish talking results from the heart that has ceased to
distinguish what is right from what is wrong.
Jesting
Jesting is simply another form of
foolish talking. It is always a crude form of joking. It is a joke that intends
to mock or ridicule someone. It is
sometimes a joke with double entendre. Jesting may sound innocent but it has a
second meaning that is sexually implied.
Joking itself is not
sin. But joking can become sin as the
tongue that utters the joke has the power for death and life (Proverbs 18:21). Jokes can be clean and wholesome so they can make the
heart merry (Proverbs 17:22).
Paul is reminding us that our speech and
conversation be always wholesome and edifying others so believers should watch
out for jokes that demean or harm another person, especially when it comes to
the person’s religious beliefs (Ephesians 4:29).
As believers, our conversation should
always be acceptable to God and fellow men. Paul
is reminding us through his letter to the Ephesian believers that they suffer
from spiritual slumber because of profanity, foolish talk and jesting (Ephesians
5:4). Our word, conversation, and fellowship
should be one that honors God and values others. Our word, conversation, and fellowship should be one that gives thanks
to God constantly for the finished work of Jesus Christ in the cross.
How conscientious are we with our conversation? Or even
our comments? I have learned to be quiet sometimes, especially when it comes to
people’s mistake for it may come back to me. Take this simple illustration, for
example: A choir was practicing for a concert
and the director was quite dissatisfied with the singing, that he decided to
insult the choir for the members to be inspired and encouraged. The director
yelled, “Eight years ago I was directing another choir in this anthem, and they
made the same mistakes you’re making.” Immediately, a choir member called out,
“It is no wonder, it is the same choir director!”
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