Ephesians 5:4
Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor
jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.
Added to fornication, uncleanness, and covetousness (which
should never be named among us), are:
Filthiness - NT:151 (ahee-skhrot'-ace); from NT:150;
shamefulness, i.e. obscenity:
Foolish talking - NT:3473 morologia (mo-rol-og-ee'-ah);
from a compound of NT:3474 and NT:3004; silly talk, i.e. buffoonery:
Jesting
- NT:2160 eutrapelia
(yoo-trap-el-ee'-ah); from a compound of NT:2095 and a derivative of the base
of NT:5157 (meaning well-turned, i.e. ready at repartee, jocose); witticism,
i.e. (in a vulgar sense) ribaldry:
These
are all individual words, the Greek words not used again the New Testament.
They all give the idea of what comes out of the mouth. Looking these words up
in the Webster's 1828 dictionary, we find,
Filthiness - 1.
The state of being filthy. 2. Foulness; dirtiness; filth; nastiness. 3.
Corruption; pollution; defilement by sin; impurity.
Foolish - 1.
Void of understanding or sound judgment; weak in intellect; applied to general
character. 2. Unwise; imprudent; acting without judgment or discretion in particular
things.3. Proceeding from folly, or marked with folly; silly; vain; trifling.
4. Ridiculous; despicable. 5. In scripture, wicked; sinful; acting without
regard to the divine law and glory, or to one's own eternal happiness. 6.
Proceeding from depravity; sinful; as foolish lusts. 1 Tim 6.
Jesting -
ppr. Joking; talking
for diversion or merriment.
n. A joking; concise wit; wit that consists in a
trope or verbal figure, in a metaphorical sense of words, or in a double sense
of the same word, or in similitude of sound in different words.
Honestly,
this is one verse I wrestle with - because I like to jest, tease, and be silly.
Taken at face-value, it means that any conversation coming out of my mouth
should not be filthy (that which is not pure), foolish (empty, silly), or in
jest (which gives the sense of negative wit, dirty wit); the definitions given
these words, however, make me wonder: does this mean all witticism? or just the witticism that degrades others and is
dirty?
Some
verses linked to this thought are:
"But foolish and
unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes." (2 Timothy 2:23)
"But avoid foolish
questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for
they are unprofitable and vain." (Titus 3:9)
"Let your speech be alway
with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every
man."
(Colossians 4:6)
{if
our speech is "alway with grace" then it should ever be something
that is not "grace"}
I
would do well if I evaluated my speech with questions based on these passages:
~Are
my words pure in God's eyes?
~Are
they silly, frivolous, and empty? or do they minister grace to the hearers?
~Are
they funny . . . but not quite acceptable?
~Do
they degrade someone else - even if it is "in sport"?
If
so, I should probably cleanse my mouth from them.
"But I say unto you, That
every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the
day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words
thou shalt be condemned." (Matthew 12:36-37)
