4:29
People tend to confuse "corrupt communication" with saying "negative" words. Something might seem to be negative on the surface but can actually be edifying and give grace.
I've experienced correction which did not feel good when I heard it. Sometimes an exhortation or correction may almost seem negative, but if we humble ourselves then it becomes grace to us. It builds us up in our faith.
I learned this as a young Christian listening to audio cassette tapes from Times Square Church. David Wilkerson could preach messages that seemed dark and negative, but I learned it was good for building up the church and ministering grace to those who listened.
Corrupt communication, therefore, is not just negative words. Today's church is confused about the concept of positive and negative words. The roots of this doctrine of “positive versus negative words” goes way back into pagan New Age thinking and philosophy which disguises itself with a Christian veneer. It made inroads through the Christian Science church over half a century ago and then made its ways through fringe charistmatic groups into mainstream Pentecostalism. I still remember back in the 1990s there were sound biblical Assembly of God pastors who warned about the inroads of what they called back then “charismania”. It was the spearpoint of the prosperity gospel, with the postive confession and possibility thinking movement.
Corrupt communication is more than cussing. When I was a young Christian and read this verse I would make goals to quit cussing. But corrupt communication is much more than just swearing.
Here are some more verses that touch on speech: Ephesians 5:3-4; Colossians 3:8; Colossians 4:6; James 3:5-6; Psalm 19:14.
4:30-32
Here are more things to put off and to put on. This is the pattern we see starting back in verses 22-24.
We need to put off the old man. We need to put on the new man. This is not possible without an attitude of humility and a willingness to change, to be corrected, and to be exposed by the light of God's truth.
If you are easily offended you won't be able to put on much of the new man. If you get your feelings hurt a lot then it will be more difficult to put off the old man and put on the new man.
This is not an easy process. Jesus never said it would be easy. Jesus compared this process to taking up a cross and denying yourself. He clearly showed us this is a journey of loss but what we gain is eternal. We are only losing what is temporary and transient but we are gaining what is eternal and permanent.
The Holy Spirit is God's seal on our lives. The seal points to a specific time in the future which Paul called "the day of redemption".
This is when the Lord Jesus returns. This is when we are raised up and receive eternal bodies. Read 1 Corinthians 15:51-53.
What do we need to put off? We need to put off bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, and malice.
Instead, we need to put on kindness, tenderness, and forgiveness.
If you are walking in bitterness then admit it, see it, repent of it, get rid of it. Replace bitterness with forgiveness. Do you have wrath and anger? Admit it.
Repent of it. Replace it with kindness and tenderness. This is work. This does not come natural. The work is to believe the gospel, trust in the Lord, humble yourself, confess to God where you fail and the Lord will help you.
He created this new man in us but we must agree with the work of the Holy Spirit. Our part is to agree with him, to confess, to humble ourselves. The Lord will do his work in us. He is changing us into the image of Jesus. (Romans 8:29).