Your Speech Really Speaks

Take note of Eph 4:29 when Paul says, Ephesians 4:29 "29 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, that it may give grace to those who hear." Notice the context in which Paul wrote it as well "30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you" (Eph 4:30-32).

It is so important for us to take verse 29 to heart. Paul says (literally) every word that is sapros out of our mouth - Let it never come out!. The main verb of the clause is last clearly for emphasis. In other words, Paul is saying that every word that is sapros must never come out of our mouths as believers.

So what does sapros mean? Sapros was a word used in Ancient Secular and Hellenistic Greek meaning "something that is rotten," or "something that is putrid."

In the Biblical times, the authors of Scripture took this agricultural word and used it referring to the speech of individuals. Paul says that our speech must never be rotten. In this context of Eph 4:29, it has the idea of "rotten," or "harmful," or "unfit for proper use," or "worthless." In other words, your words really do speak. And most of the time, you may not even know how you may have hurt someone else with your words. It is so imperative for us to take these verses to heart. May we be those who recognize that our "speech really does speak" to individuals. Whether we intend a certain meaning to get across, it does. May the Lord help us and give us strength as we seek to encourage and edify one another in and through the way we speak with others.