Ephesians 4:31

“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and railing, be put away from you, with all malice”.

“All”: God has zero tolerance for these qualities. “All manner of, harshness in all its forms whether in speech or in feeling” (Gr. Ex. N.T. p. 348). “The sins enumerated in this verse often find expression in our speech” (Caldwell pp. 222-223). “Bitterness”: “Bitter frame of mind” (Vincent p. 397). “Long-standing resentment, as the spirit which refuses to be reconciled. So many of us have. way of nursing our wrath to keep it warm, of brooding over the insults and the injuries” (Barclay p. 159). “This is. sour spirit and sour speech” (Stott p. 190). '

“The temper which cherishes resentful feelings” (Boles p. 293). “Wrath”: “The Greeks defined thumos as the kind of anger which is like the flame which comes from straw; it quickly blazes up and just as quickly subsides. To the Christian the burst of temper and the long-lived anger are both alike forbidden” (Barclay p. 159). “Anger”: Anger which stems from selfish motives, such as hurt feelings, embarrassment, hurt pride, and frustration. “Clamor”: “Describes people who get excited, raise their voices in. quarrel, and start shouting, even screaming, at each other” (Stott p. 190). “It is the characteristic of. mob or assembly that covers up lack of sober arguments with its loudness (Luke 23:23; Acts 19:28; Acts 23:19)” (Boles p. 293). Such still happens today. Every once in. while you see on the news someone who is trying to simply speak and various individuals in the crowd attempt to disrupt the speech with shouting, slogans, and noise. Boles is right, all groups that attempt such tactics are admitting that their arguments are very weak.

“Railing”: “In reference to God it is ‘blasphemy'; in reference to man it is reviling and cursing” (Boles p. 293). “Is speaking evil of others, especially behind their backs, and so defaming and even destroying their reputation” (Stott p. 190). Even Christians need to be reminded that the "sin" of blasphemy still exists. Some professed Christians seem to feel that they can criticize God, His will, His letting certain things happen in the world, all they want. Insinuating that God is unfair, or that God did something wrong, is blasphemy. If we are forbidden to bring. false accusation against another Christian (1 Timothy 5:19), then certainly we are in the wrong for bringing any criticism against God. “Be put away from you”: “To pick up and carry away, to make. clean sweep” (Robertson p. 541). See 1 Peter 2:1; James 1:20). “With all malice”: “Ill will, wishing and probably plotting evil against people. There is no place for any of these horrid things in the Christian community; they have to be totally rejected” (Stott p. 190). Desiring to see other Christians fail is "malice". When hard feelings or bitterness have moved one to the point that they actually secretly desire to see harm come to another Christian, then we know that such. person is far away from God.