Thursday, December 26, 2013

The Difference Between a Redeemed and Unredeemed Tongue

In his commentary on Colossians, John MacArthur offers a helpful summary of what the Bible has to say about the tongue of the redeemed and unredeemed. His basic point is simple: you ought to be able to tell the nature of one's heart by their mouth. He writes:
When our Lord told the Pharisees that ‘the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart’ (Matt. 12:34), He gave an important spiritual principle: Speech will reflect the kind of person one is. Because the tongue can speak so easily and is difficult to control, a person’s speech becomes the truest indicator of his spiritual state (cf. Matt. 12:37).
He then goes on to highlight the characteristics of an unredeemed tongue which is prone to:
  • evil (Prov. 15:28)
  • sexual immorality (Prov. 5:3)
  • deceit (Jer. 9:8)
  • curses (Ps. 10:7)
  • oppression (Ps. 10:7)
  • lies (Prov. 12:22)
  • destruction (Prov. 11:11)
  • vanity (2 Pet. 2:18)
  • flattery (Prov. 26:28)
  • foolishness (Prov. 15:2)
  • madness (Eccles. 10:12-13)
  • carelessness (Matt. 12:36)
  • boasting (Ro. 1:30)
  • false doctrine (Titus 1:11)
  • evil plots (Ps. 37:12)
  • hatred (Ps. 109:3)
  • too many words (Eccles. 10:14)
  • gossip (Prov. 26:22)
He then does the same for the redeemed tongue which is characterized by
  •  confession of sin (1 John 1:9)
  • confession of Christ (Rom. 10:9-10)
  • edifying speech (Eph. 4:29
  • talk of God’s law (Ex. 13:9)
  • praise to God (Heb. 13:15)
  • blessing of enemies (1 Pet. 3:9)
  • talk about God (Ps. 66:16)
  • wisdom and kindness (Prov. 31:26)
  • gentleness (prov. 15:1).
He then concludes: It takes as its model the Lord Jesus, who spoke instructively (Matt. 5:2), graciously (Luke 4:22), blamelessly (Luke 11:54), and without deceit (1 Pet. 2:22). (177-178)

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