Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
Ephesians 4:31 [ESV]
This chapter has taken me so much time…and I love it! I can’t get through more than one verse a day! So much here!
All of the exhortations about what to ‘put away from us’ are all the things that create factions, divisions, and dissention, which all eat away at our pursuit of unity in the church. There are 3 different words used for ‘anger’ between verse 26 and 31.
- orgizō ; to make angry
- parorgismos ; irritation or provocation of
- orgē ; impulse, wrath
It dawned on me that the bible as translated into English, needs to be studied. It took me doing the word study to see these different Greek words for ‘anger’ help me understand the difference in the ‘sometimes righteous’ anger, and anger that must be ‘put away’. Refer back to my post on that topic. The word for ‘anger’ in this verse (31) is orgē which means the impulsive outburst or uncontrolled anger. These distinctions are so important.
Malice refers to ‘all wickedness’. ‘Put away’ is a personal action that Paul is calling us to; a direct command to set these things in a permanent (other) place, not to return.
Application:
I think there is so much here that is tied to ‘speaking the gospel to myself’, ‘crucifying my sin’, and ‘walking in a manner…’ that we are called to daily. I must have an active putting away of all wickedness and be sure that my heart is full of the love of Christ so it is not prone to bitterness, wrath, anger, slander, and clamor. The Psalm for today below is supportive of the point of putting to death these wicked and ungodly things. Let them be no more.
Today’s Psalm:
I have seen a wicked, ruthless man,
Psalms 37:35-36
spreading himself like a green laurel tree.
But he passed away, and behold, he was no more;
though I sought him, he could not be found.