"But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words, thou shalt be condemned."
Matthew 12:36-37
Part 2
Yesterday:
“But I say unto you.”
When Jesus speaks, He changes the mistaken ideas that we have. We need to listen to Him in His Word daily.
Today:
Every single one of our words matters!
“But I say unto you,”
“That every idle word that men shall speak.”
We do not usually think of “words” as being “idle.” Here is what the phrase “idle words” means in the Bible.
“Every idle word -…, a word that does nothing, that neither ministers grace nor instruction to them who hear it”[1] (Clarke).
“An idle word is a non-working word, an inoperative word. It has no legitimate work, no office, no business, but is morally useless and unprofitable”[2] (Vincent).
“This literally means a vain, thoughtless, useless word; a word that accomplishes no good. Here it means, evidently, ‘wicked, injurious, false, malicious, for such’ were the words which they [the Pharisees] had spoken”[3] (Barnes).
In other words, these are the words we think and say when we don’t think anyone is listening. Sometimes these words can be what we say behind our hand to our friend – no one else can hear, so we believe they don’t matter. These words can be the words we think and/or speak when the boss gives us a hard time, or after that fender-bender. Or these are the words we say during our relaxed, idle times when we kick back and are taking it easy. Indeed, these simple, lazy words are not a big deal, or so we think. We say, “I didn’t mean anything by that, you had to be there to hear my words in context, so it really doesn’t matter what I said.” Jesus disagrees, “but I say unto you every idle word….” We may forget what we said, Jesus will not!
“If ‘the idle word’ must be accounted for, much more the wicked ones spoken on this occasion” [4] (PNT).
All our words matter!
What’s the big deal? Why should I be concerned with my words? Tomorrow we will see that the Judgment Seat of Christ is coming for believers. We need to be ready.
Quote: “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him” (Colossians 3:17).
[1] Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible, the electronic version in eSword.
[2] M.R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, the electronic version in eSword. Vincent begins his definition by showing the derivation of “idle.” “The word is compounded of ‘a,’ not, and ‘ergon,’ work.”
[3] Albert Barnes, Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible, the electronic version in eSword.
[4] Popular New Testament, A Popular Commentary on the New Testament, the electronic version in eSword.