The Bible Edge
Everyone needs an Edge, Believers can have the Bible Edge
Ephesians 4:31
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
The number 5 in the Bible most often indicates God’s grace. In today’s verse God’s Word states that there are five things that His children should put away. Like you would put away a suitcase after using it for a vacation, or you would put away tools after working on a project, or put away your golf clubs after a round of golf. These things will be taken out from time to time to use again. But the things listed in today’s verse are things we should put away permanently. They are:
One: Bitterness. Let bitterness be put away. Through God’s grace bitterness can be put away! If it were not possible, His Word would not recommend that it be put away! Of bitterness Hebrews 12:15 tells us of the …root of bitterness springing up trouble you… Find the root and you can deal with the fruit.
Two: Wrath. Let wrath be put away. Certainly, to you it is not needful to expand on wrath: what it is, where it comes from, or the end it brings. Suffice it to say, through the grace of God that instead of wrath we can live in peace just as Philippians 4:7 states: And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Three: Anger. Let anger be put away. This does not mean that we should not get angry, for we will. But when we do it should be put away. It’s interesting that of the 229 times that the word anger is used in Scripture, only 5 are found in the New Testament. The very first usage of the word in the New Testament was concerning Jesus. He …looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts… (Mark 3:5) He may have looked on them with anger but said nothing in anger. Again we cannot help getting angry, but we can put it away from us.
Four: Clamour. Let clamour be put away. “Clamor” means: A great outcry; noise; exclamation; vociferation, made by a loud human voice continued or repeated… it often expresses complaint and urgent demand.” There is a lot of clamoring going on in the world today.
Five: Evil speaking. Let evil speaking be put away. A rule of thumb about evil speaking is: if you wouldn’t say it to their face in the audience of the Lord God, don’t say it.
The Bible gives us an edge, a Bible Edge by relaying that we can let these be put away. That is the grace of God at work!
William Howe, Ph.D.