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“Let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but if there is any good word for edification according to the need of the moment, say that, so that it will give grace to those who hear.”  Ephesians 4:29

If you’re looking for a particular book of the Bible to dive into this new year, I highly suggest Ephesians. You can literally spend months lingering over, meditating on, praying about, and—definitely applying—these amazing, inspiring, convicting words from the Apostle Paul. (I love this book so much—chapter 2:1-10 in particular—that its meaning is now illustrated in a large new tattoo on my right upper arm.)

For now, let’s talk about talk. Paul, among other writers of the New Testament, has a lot to say about the words that come out of our mouths as believers. At salvation (the moment at which we surrender to Jesus as our Lord and Savior), we are made new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). By God’s amazing grace, our old sinful nature is gone…but, we are still living in our old fleshy selves, in a fallen and broken world that is currently managed by our enemy, Satan. So, we spend our lives of grace growing in our likeness of Christ. We renew our minds (Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:23; Philippians 4:8), and we—through the power of the Holy Spirit living in us—lay aside/put away some things and put on other things.

This is where our words come into play. In verse 29 of Ephesians 4, Paul shoots straight: “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.” Let’s break this down.

When Paul uses “unwholesome word”, think rotten, spoiled food. (I know we’ve all experienced taking off the lid of some Tupperware stuck way in the back of the fridge and immediately being slapped in the face with a terrible stench of spoiled whatever-it-is-because-you-can’t-tell-anymore. Yup, it’s just like that.) When we talk to or about others in a way that is bitter, slandering, untrue, or unkind, it’s like speaking with a rotten stink. But Paul doesn’t leave us with what not to do.

We are to speak words that are good for edification. In other words, words that encourage, uplift, instruct…even when we are corrective, we’re to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). And our words are “according to the need of the moment”—fitting the occasion, as the ESV says. That means we have to think about where we are and who we’re with, being highly intentional before our thoughts reach our tongues. Plus, our talk is to extend grace to those listening to us. This is key. See, we’re saved by grace—a gift given freely, unable to be earned! And our lives are sustained by grace, moment by moment, as we are on our way Home. The grace given to us by the Lord must be our standard—the measuring stick by which we assess our words before they leave our mouths. When we speak, brothers and sisters, let’s speak grace.

[Paul goes on in chapter 4, verses 31 and 32 (and the next chapter, for that matter) to describe more ways we talk and walk out our faith, so go check it out for yourself!]

“Lord, as a new creation in Christ, may I, through the power of the Holy Spirit living in me, speak only life and truth and grace to others to reveal Your amazing grace to a dark world.

For His Glory

Julianne Winkler Smith (Encouraged by grace books)
TRBC Women’s Life