Words Words Words

“Do words mean something daddy?” one little boy asked. His dad responded and said, “no son, they mean everything.” Solomon wrote, “The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook” (Proverbs 18:4).  

Words are like paint on a canvas. One’s speech is often a vivid portrayal of who a person is. The way, style, and choice of words can display a person’s inner self in just a matter of minutes (Matthew 26:73). Words are important. Jesus said that every idle word will be held against a man at judgement (Matthew 12:36-37). Words are different. The Bible speaks of good and comfortable words (Zechariah 1:13), gracious words (Colossians 4:6), and true words (Revelation 21:5). The Bible also speaks of evil words.

The average person speaks about 16,000 words per day. Unfortunately, for the average American, 80-90 of these words are curse words. Current culture sees nothing wrong with cursing. One five-minute song includes 295 curse words (a curse word almost every second). The Wolf of Wall Street movie has 715 cuss words, which is on average, four cuss words a minute. To the world, cursing is never a second thought and in one Time Magazine, Stacey Colino wrote: “Research has found that using profanity can have beneficial effects on people’s stress, anxiety, and depression. In fact, there are numerous potential physical, psychological, and social perks”[1] to which she relates to a specific four letter word. The world may advocate that obscene language is healthy, but if one wants to truly live a good life he will “refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile” (1 Peter 3:10).   

Obscene language is language that is immoral and unclean. The Bible uses “obscene” (Colossians 3:8, ESV) or “filthy communication” (KJV). The word means “Lewd, indecent, and immodest discourse”[2] or “foul-mouthed abuse.”[3] Other words associated are “filthiness,” “foolish talking, or “jesting” (Ephesians 5:4). Today we call them bad words, cuss words, four letter words, choice words, and namely profanity.[4] There are different ways in which our mouths may be used for evil:

• Taking the Lord’s name in vain (Exodus 20:7).  

• Filthy or corrupt communication (Colossians 3:8). These would include words that we call “choice” or cuss words.  

• Cursing (Romans 3:14; 12:14; James 3:10). This usually involves “hell.” These words offer judgement upon another, to devote someone to destruction.[5]  

• Inappropriate jokes (Ephesians 5:3-4). These words or phrases can involve sexual topics, but they are not limited to such.

Obscene talk is of the devil—no Christian should engage in this sin. While the construction of the individual words is not inherently sinful (they are just letters stringed together), it are the definitions and the intent behind them that are. B.W. Johnson said, “A bad tongue is the organ of the devil.”   

God does not place all words on an equal plane. He has everything we say on file (Psalm 139:4). We would do well to watch what we say and the type of words we select. The tongue is a sword (Psalm 57:4; 64:3; Proverbs 12:18), a fire (James 3:6), and poison (James 3:8). Death and life reside in it (Proverbs 18:21). We want our words to be acceptable to God (Psalm 19:14).

Endnotes

[1]time.com/7272667/swearing-curse-words-health-benefits/

[2]Albert Barnes.

[3]Vincent Word Studies.

[4] Eric Owens lesson at PTP

[5]Albert Barnes.