Church Bulletin
Whatever criticisms may be levelled at the Bible it can never be called dull and colourless. Sometimes it even shocks particularly with the biting responses of God’s servants when dealing with rebellion.
Consider Elijah confronting the prophets of Baal: 1 Kings 18:27, “And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.” The translation “or he is busy”, can be understood to mean “relieving himself on the toilet”.
Consider Jesus confronting the Pharisees: Matt 23:27-28, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
King Eglon and his death in Judges 3 is a satire designed to ridicule. The apostle Paul essentially calls the Galatians stupid idiots in chapter 3 and in chapter 5 he makes the point that if circumcision makes one holy then the Judaizers should cut the whole thing off. There are many other examples in scripture of biting language. It raises a couple of questions.
When is biting language acceptable? We always need to be careful with our speech. Col 4:6, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.” Nevertheless, punchy and pointed language (seasoned with salt) can be used in order to draw attention to the seriousness of sin and the futility of rejecting God. Most often this is appropriate when speaking with people we know. We have a rapport with them and they know our heart. Even then however, care and wisdom are needed. It can be a very damaging thing to open one’s mouth in haste.
When is biting language unacceptable? When the aim is to simply insult; when it is vindictive and used to hurt. Prov 12:18, “There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise promotes health.” Motivation is the key and the manner of speech important. Words seasoned with must also be delivered with grace. The purpose is to arrest the attention and provoke the person to consider their ways, not provoke them with unnecessary name calling or belittling.
Words are powerful and used by God to save and instruct. They don’t always have to be nice but neither should they be malicious. We need wisdom to know how to speak and what to say appropriate to each situation.