What is coming out of your life? (Ephesians 4:29)

Every word we speak reveals what’s flowing from our hearts. In Ephesians 4:29, Paul exhorts believers to let no corrupt talk come out of their mouths, but only what builds up and gives grace to those who hear. Our speech is meant to reflect the transforming power of Jesus Christ—words that encourage, strengthen, and point others to Him.

In this study, Nathan Johnson unpacks the biblical call to use our tongues for edification, showing how Spirit-filled communication becomes a powerful testimony of God’s work within us.

https://youtu.be/lnjNImqbPhI

Listen to + Download the Audio Study

Key Passage: Ephesians 4:29

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for building up what is needed, so that it will give grace to those who hear.– Ephesians 4:29

Put Off / Put On (Review)

• 4:25 – Lying / Truth … for we are members of one another
• 4:26–27 – Anger motivated by self / Anger motivated by love … don’t give place to the devil
• 4:28 – Stealing / Work … that you might have something to give those in need
• 4:29 – Unwholesome language / Edification … may impart grace to the hearers
• In Ephesians 4:28 we are to good with our hands (work) … here Paul says we are to do good with our lips. We aren’t supposed to just “not lie” but to have our mouths full of grace, edifying those around us

Unwholesome Langauge

• Ephesians 4:29 – Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for building up what is needed, so that it will give grace to those who hear.
  • NKJV: Let no corrupt word …
  • ESV: Let no corrupting talk …
  • Lexham: No rotten word …
  • ISV: Let no filthy talk be heard …
  • CSB: No foul language …
  • AMP: Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk [ever] come out of your mouth …

Word Studies

• Word (logos) – word, communication … a communication that is most often spoken, but can come through other means
• Unwholesome (sapros) – rotten, bad, worthless, evil, unwholesome; of such poor quality it is of little or no value; bad or unwholesome to the extent of being harmful; putrid, rancid, rotten, or decaying.
  • Lynn H. Cohick – Elsewhere the term “unwholesome” is used of putrid or rotten fruit or fish (Matt 7:17–18; 12:33; 13:48).⁽¹⁾
  • Frank Thielman – Used literally, this term could refer to “rancid” fish, “rotten” wood, “withered” flowers, “diseased” lungs or the “putrid” smell that accompanied the hideous figure of personified Death.⁽²⁾
  • Darrell L. Bock – This is speech with a stench.⁽³⁾
• Proceed (ekporeuesthō) – go out, proceed
• – Sometimes used for something coming out of the mouth
• – Also used of someone coming out of a city

Only For Edification

• Ephesians 4:29 – Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for building up what is needed, so that it will give grace to those who hear.
• Edification (oikodomēn) – building, construction; edifice; the act of bringing something closer to fullness or completion (understood as if assisting in the construction of an incomplete building)
  • act of building, construction (root: building, house)
  • 12 of the 18 times this word is used in the NT it is focused on “edifying”
• Romans 14:19 – So then let us pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.
• 2 Corinthians 12:19 – We speak in Christ in the sight of God. And all these things, beloved, are for your building up.
  • This is the 3rd time in a short space that Paul has used “edify” in Eph4 (also in 2:21)
• Ephesians 2:19–22 – So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being joined together, is growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.
• Ephesians 4:11–13 – And He Himself gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ …
• Ephesians 4:15–16 – … but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is Christ, from whom the whole body, being joined and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the properly measured working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
• Frank Thielman – Paul exhorts his readers to engage in speech that is genuine, substantive, and actually accomplishes something of benefit to the Christian community.⁽⁴⁾
• Markus Barth – The “need” consists of a lack of upbuilding. Constructive work has to be done, and in all conversations the choice of language and subject matter has to be such that edification takes place. Obviously no room is left for empty chatter or for remarks that serve no other purpose than to detract from a person’s honor.⁽⁵⁾

The Importance of Your Tongue

• Ecclesiastes 10:12 – Words from the mouth of a wise man are gracious, but the lips of a fool swallow him up …
• Proverbs 10:11 – The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked covers up violence.
• Matthew 12:34, 36 – “For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. … But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.”
  • suggests intentionality and purpose in our speech
• Acts 2:4 – And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.
  • when the Holy Spirit filled the disciples, the first thing that happened is He grabbed their tongues
• Ephesians 5:4 – … nor filthiness and foolish talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.
• Colossians 3:8 – But now you also, lay them all aside: wrath, anger, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.
• James 1:26 – If anyone thinks himself to be religious while not bridling his tongue but deceiving his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless.
  • James 3:3 – a bit in a horses mouth
  • James 3:4 – rudder on a ship
• James 3:5–12 – So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. Behold how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire … For every kind of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a fountain pour forth from the same opening fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can saltwater produce fresh.
• Markus Barth – “…here the mouth is considered a spouting source. In biblical anthropology the mouth is representative of the whole body and reveals the whole man.”⁽⁶⁾
• Philippians 2:10–11 – … so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.
• 1 Peter 3:8–12 – Now to sum up, all of you be like-minded, sympathetic, brotherly, tender-hearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but giving a blessing instead, for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. For, “THE ONE WHO DESIRES LIFE, TO LOVE AND SEE GOOD DAYS, MUST KEEP HIS TONGUE FROM EVIL AND HIS LIPS FROM SPEAKING DECEIT. HE MUST TURN AWAY FROM EVIL AND DO GOOD; HE MUST SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT. FOR THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE TOWARD THE RIGHTEOUS, AND HIS EARS ATTEND TO THEIR PRAYER, BUT THE FACE OF THE LORD IS AGAINST THOSE WHO DO EVIL.”
  • quoting Psalm 34:12–16

For the Purpose of

• Ephesians 4:29 – … so that it will give [impart, produce] grace to those who hear.
  • Grace – not merely the hug of God but the enabling life and power of God
• In other words: We are to strengthen, encourage, and champion the work God is doing in one another. 
  • I am not to tear you down but build you up
  • I am to strengthen your faith

What Comes Out is a Result of What Is In

• Ephesians 4:29 – Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for building up what is needed, so that it will give grace to those who hear.
• What is inside us WILL come out
  • inevitably you can’t hide whats inside 
  • it will come out eventually in deeds/actions/thought/words
• Mark 7:20–23 – And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”
• Matthew 12:34 – “For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.”
  • So the only way no unwholesome or corrupt word will come out, is to not have it within at all
  • The only hope we have is to have Jesus sourcing/producing that in my life
• Colossians 4:6 – Let your words always be with grace, seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should answer each person.

FOOTNOTES

(1) Lynn H. Cohick, The Letter to the Ephesians, ed. Ned B. Stonehouse et al., New International Commentary on the Old and New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2020), 299.
(2) Frank Thielman, Ephesians, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010), 316.
(3) Darrell L. Bock, Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary, ed. Eckhard J. Schnabel, vol. 10, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 2019), 143.
(4) Frank Thielman, Ephesians, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010), 316.
(5) Markus Barth, Ephesians: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary on Chapters 4-6, vol. 34A, Anchor Yale Bible (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008), 519.
(6) Markus Barth, Ephesians: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary on Chapters 4-6, vol. 34A, Anchor Yale Bible (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008), 518. 

Photo Credit: Hayes Potter

---

Join the Conversation

Question: How is God working on your tongue and how you use langauge?

» Leave a response below the video on YouTube(click here) …

The difficulty with podcasts is that they are typically one-sided—so I encourage you to head over to the deeperChristian YouTube page and leave a comment on the video study to join in the conversation. And don’t forget to subscribe to the channel while you’re there!

---

In Our Next Study Together …

I invite you to join me on this journey from the book of Ephesians to discover God’s eternal purpose, His plan for your life, and learn how to practically live out an abundant and fruitful Christian life. 

• The focus of our next study: Ephesians 4:30
  • We are going to talk about Paul’s statement of what it means not to grieve the Holy Spirit.
  • I encourage you to read through Ephesians a couple of times this week and focus specifically on Ephesians 4.