Idel Words Exposing the Heart
Jesus Christ said, “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment” (Matt. 12:36). [1] I’m struck by the real weight the spoken word can have. Not that we speak things into existence, but what we do say tells a lot about who we are. This is evident given the Lord’s own explanation of what He just said: “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matt. 12:37).
It is the heart that drives what we profess and proclaim from our lips, and words spoken reveal the condition of our heart (Matt. 15:18, Luke 6:45). Vile and spiteful things are good indicators of sinful and broken heart.
Jesus’ point about the careless word is intricately woven together with what He taught on the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. In the context of Matthew 12, the Pharisees spoke evil of Christ. They said He performed His miracles by the power of Satan, which showed their existing disposition towards Him. What the Pharisees were—a brood of vipers and evil men according to Jesus (Matt. 12:34-35)—was mirrored in their commentary on the person of our Savior. Darrell Bock notes that “Jesus’ warning is that an expressed decision that Jesus casts out by Satan’s power is, no matter how carelessly expressed, a word of evil that will be judged.” [2]
Unregenerate hearts will even spew forth the vilest rhetoric against the goodness of God. Atheist Richard Dawkins without any hesitation declares outright, “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: Jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” [3] Of course, this slam is unwarranted in every respect, and the charge of moral deficiency on God’s part is really built on faulty fundamentalist proof texting and a failure of learning to read the Bible for what it’s worth. But, such can be expected from the world. Jesus said, “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you” (John 15:18-19). On the other hand, what if the soldiers from the kingdom of darkness defected to the enemy, and entered into the kingdom of light?
There is also good news on the flip side of the coin. Paul encouraged the Christians at Ephesus: “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” (Eph. 4:29). The reason the apostle could make such a demand is simple. God can save us by grace (Eph. 2:8-9), and He transfers us out of the darkness into the light (Eph. 5:6). Those who are in the light have the spiritual power to speak words of blessing instead of curses.
~ WGN
Notes
It is the heart that drives what we profess and proclaim from our lips, and words spoken reveal the condition of our heart (Matt. 15:18, Luke 6:45). Vile and spiteful things are good indicators of sinful and broken heart.
Jesus’ point about the careless word is intricately woven together with what He taught on the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. In the context of Matthew 12, the Pharisees spoke evil of Christ. They said He performed His miracles by the power of Satan, which showed their existing disposition towards Him. What the Pharisees were—a brood of vipers and evil men according to Jesus (Matt. 12:34-35)—was mirrored in their commentary on the person of our Savior. Darrell Bock notes that “Jesus’ warning is that an expressed decision that Jesus casts out by Satan’s power is, no matter how carelessly expressed, a word of evil that will be judged.” [2]
Unregenerate hearts will even spew forth the vilest rhetoric against the goodness of God. Atheist Richard Dawkins without any hesitation declares outright, “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: Jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” [3] Of course, this slam is unwarranted in every respect, and the charge of moral deficiency on God’s part is really built on faulty fundamentalist proof texting and a failure of learning to read the Bible for what it’s worth. But, such can be expected from the world. Jesus said, “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you” (John 15:18-19). On the other hand, what if the soldiers from the kingdom of darkness defected to the enemy, and entered into the kingdom of light?
There is also good news on the flip side of the coin. Paul encouraged the Christians at Ephesus: “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” (Eph. 4:29). The reason the apostle could make such a demand is simple. God can save us by grace (Eph. 2:8-9), and He transfers us out of the darkness into the light (Eph. 5:6). Those who are in the light have the spiritual power to speak words of blessing instead of curses.
~ WGN
Notes
- New American Standard Bible used throughout.
- Darrell L. Bock, Jesus According to Scripture: Restoring the Portrait from the Gospels (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 191.
Comments
Post a Comment