Eating Your Words: A Short Bible Study on Christian Speech

Please read What Jesus Said Defiles Us as an introduction to this study. It explains that we're often more concerned with what goes into our mouths than what comes out (Matthew 15:10-11,18).

But Scripture emphasizes our speech:

Ephesians 4:29; 5:4: 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 ... Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 

🠅 I encourage you to read the 1-Minute Bible Love Note called "The F Word." It's based on this passage.

Colossians 4:6: Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. 

🠅 This verse encourages us to employ both grace and truth (i.e. "salt") in our conversations. Christians must avoid harshness and sarcasm, but we must not avoid sharing God's truth. This 1-Minute devotion shares some additional thoughts on this subject: 3 Times to Bite Your Lip. 

 

The salt of Christianity prevents the world from complete "spoilage." And part of being salt is sharing Christ in our conversations. See Sharing Christ without being weird.

Proverbs 15:1-2: A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. 2 The tongue of the wise adorns knowledge, but the mouth of the fool gushes folly. 

🠅 A gentle word or a harsh word can totally change the direction of a conversation.

Proverbs 16:24: Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

See the 1-Minute Bible Love Notes "Eat the Comb."

Proverbs 21:23: Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity. 

🠅 There are times I've wished I could take back something I've said. It's always wise to think before speaking, especially when discussing differences.

Perhaps the most powerful passage about our speech is the following one which confirms the fact that our words reflect our heart:

Matthew 12:35-37: A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36 But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” 

copyright 2014, Gail Burton Purath, BiteSizeBibleStudy.com, updated in 2022