Ephesians 4:31 31Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and shouting and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
Paul next gives a vice and virtue list of behaviors that either hinder or help with unity within the church. Relationships must be nurtured and developed for the Body of Christ to be whole and healthy. When there is a pain or injury within the Body of Christ, this must be healed. How we respond or react to others or the situations in which we find ourselves will determine to a great extent the unity of the church. Each individual can be either a help to the mission of making disciples or be a problem and even a poison that sickens the church and causes it to fall short of God’s purposes for it. Paul lists six negative and three positive behaviors.
Bitterness (pikria) is the bad taste from food that most people avoid. Bitterness is relationships is a form of unresolved anger that leads to animosity and feelings of estrangement. It is like a small seed when planted but grows until it can consume a person’s affections. If left for too long, it can be hard to pull up because the roots have worked their way down into a person’s personality and disposition.
Wrath (thymos) can simply be interpreted as a passion. When wedded to other feelings, such as anger, this passion can become detrimental, explosive, and hurtful. Wrath is anger that has been allowed to grow unchecked until it lashes out at people with a passionate fury. This type of response almost always leaves people hurt, both emotionally and even physically.
Anger (orgē) is the issue about which Paul wrote in verse 26. Anger is a strong displease in a person or situation, which often is experienced or interpreted as a threat. Anger often leads to calculation for revenge. To resolve our anger, we lash out at people, even if they were not the cause of the anger. Anger that goes beyond six seconds is usually driven by selfish motives and must seek God’s forgiveness.
Shouting (kraugē) is a loud cry. An older English word is “clamor.” This is speech that is not controlled and can lead discomfort from other people. No one likes to be around a loud mouth, especially someone who carries on with shouting. This would be different shouting than at a ball game where players are cheered on. This is the kind of shouting that can belittle people and express some of the other vices in this list like anger or slander.
Slander (blasphēmia) as the Greek word for “blasphemy.” This type of speech is disrespectful and ridicules a person’s character. It makes fun of who a person is. It is attributing to a person things that are untrue to that person’s character. It only takes a word or two to destroy a person’s reputation. Even if some of what we think about another is true, in Christian love, we must remain quiet. A person’s true character will come out over time, and we do not need to help this revelation.
Malice (kakia) is just plain “evil.” It is thinking bad of a person. The bad thoughts can even lead to speaking bad words about a person. Paul is writing here about both attitudes within and the actions that come out. The bad thoughts a person has will eventually come out with a slip of the tongue. A person cannot hide evil thinking forever. Even a person’s face can tell on a person’s heart.
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