Evil Speaking — A Dangerous Virus

Anonymous

‘Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings’ (1 Pet. 2:1–3). 

Evil speaking flows from evil thinking in our hearts. The Lord Jesus said, ‘the things which go forth out of the mouth come out of the heart, and those defile man. For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts … false witnessings, blasphemies’ (Matt. 15:18–19). Scripture uses the same Greek word for ‘blasphemies’ against God as for ‘evil speaking’ about our brethren. Why? Because they are ‘the apple of his eye’ (Deut. 32:9–10). Of course, He knows what we are thinking: ‘Jehovah, thou hast searched me, and known me … thou understandest my thought afar off … for there is not yet a word on my tongue, but lo, O Jehovah, thou knowest it altogether’ (Ps. 139:1–4). If He does not take delight in evil thoughts, we should judge them before they reach our lips.

Fellowship is a practical matter. It means getting to know one another, and the more we do this the more we become aware of our faults as well as our graces. If we are not watchful, this can lead us to criticise and condemn one another, which leads in turn to embittered spirits, enmity and division (see Gal. 5:15). We need to ‘Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines’ (Songs. 2:15) and chase them out of the vineyards, while bringing the positive effect of God’s grace in our hearts into bloom. Paul enjoins us: ‘Let all bitterness, and heat of passion, and wrath, and clamour, and injurious language, be removed from you, with all malice; and be to one another kind, compassionate, forgiving one another, so as God also in Christ has forgiven you’ (Eph. 4:31–32; see also Matt. 18:21–35). As we look for Christ in one another and take pleasure in that, we will not be occupied with the less attractive things. And praying for one another is the best antidote for saying bad things about one another. 

If we cannot get evil thinking out of our minds, we need to get on our knees and make it an earnest matter of prayer: ‘Lord Jesus, please take these bad thoughts about my brother or sister away from me.’ After writing to the Philippians, ‘fulfil my joy, that ye may think the same thing, having the same love, joined in soul, thinking one thing’, Paul adds, ‘it is God who works in you both the willing and the working according to his good pleasure’ (Phil. 2:2–5; 13).  Yes, God will help us to think rightly of our brethren. After all, He said of Himself to His earthly people despite their many provocations, ‘I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith Jehovah, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you in your latter end a hope’ (Jer. 29:11). 

If we still have problems dealing with our thoughts, we need to keep praying, but include this: ‘Set a watch, O [Lord], before my mouth; keep the door of my lips’ (Ps. 141:3) — we could add today: ‘keep my finger off the ‘send’ button’. James warns us: ‘the tongue is fire, the world of unrighteousness; the tongue is set in our members, the defiler of the whole body, and which sets fire to the course of nature, and is set on fire of hell’ (3:6). No wonder he adds, ‘Speak not against one another, brethren’ (4:11). We should bear in mind that if we share evil thoughts with our brethren, we defile them.

But what if another believer comes to us with an evil report about a brother or sister? Ask that person to stop speaking this way. How much evil speaking would die in its tracks if we did this. Of course, the person may want to unburden him or herself but we should only allow this if we are truly ready and willing to help them resolve the difficulty they have with the brother or sister in question. We should remember that even in cases where sins have been committed there is no blessing in sharing the details unnecessarily with others. The circle of information should be kept as small as possible — to those who can deal with it righteously. Our Lord’s instructions in Matthew 18:15–17 make this very clear. Peter writes, ‘before all things having fervent love among yourselves, because love covers a multitude of sins’ (1 Pet. 4:8; see also Proverbs 11:13 and 20:19). 

If we do listen (hopefully because we do want to help) we should not repeat it to a third party, even if we suspect it may be true. Nicodemus said to his fellow council members when they were saying bad things about the Lord Jesus: ‘Does our law judge a man before it have first heard from himself, and know what he does?’ (John 7:51). Sad to say, in this day of grace we often deny fellow believers the protection the law gave people in Israel, but who of us has not done this? Do we stop to think that we may even be sharing matters that have already been resolved in the presence of God? 

What should we do then if we hear of evil speaking about us? Defend ourselves? No, this only risks us saying evil things in return. Rather, we should commit it to the Lord: ‘Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good’ (Rom. 12:21). ‘Finally, be all of one mind, sympathising, full of brotherly love, tender hearted, humble minded; not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing; but on the contrary, blessing others, because ye have been called to this, that ye should inherit blessing. For he that will love life and see good days, let him cause his tongue to cease from evil and his lips that they speak no guile’ (1 Pet 3:8–10).

Lastly, when it dawns on us that we have been taking this wrong course ourselves, what we should do? ‘Confess therefore your offences to one another, and pray for one another’ (Jas. 5:16). John writes: ‘If we confess our sins, [the Father] is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1:9). How many times we have found God true to that promise, but if it is right to keep short accounts with Him we should also do it with one another.

Sad to say, it sometimes seems as if ‘sorry’ and ‘I forgive you’ are the hardest words — even for us whose lives as Christians began with ‘repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ’, in whom ‘we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Acts 20:21; Col. 1:14). Paul writes: ‘forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any should have a complaint against any; even as the Christ has forgiven you, so also do ye’ (Col. 3:13). 

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From: Truth and Testimony, 2020