FILTHINESS, FOOLISH TALKING, JESTING
Tuesday – February 7, 2017
Grace and peace be multiplied unto each one as we grow in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus. Greeting from Eastern Gate Ministries International and The Three Minute Word publication. Please continue to pray for our nation. God is so good brother and sister. If you are not a brother or sister in Christ now is the time to make things right with Him. Just say like Saul did on that road to Damascus:
Acts 9:6 (KJV)
6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. (Bold added by Dr. Wood)
Now that that is straightened out let’s move right into our Bible Study from the book of Ephesians.
Ephesians 5:1-5 (KJV)
1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.
5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Lest we forget, let me remind us all that the Apostle Paul is talking to Church folk here, in fact, his writings are almost always to Church folk.
Ephesians 1:1 (KJV)
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: (Bold and underline added)
Those of us in the Church, tend to think on a natural level first and not the spiritual if we have not trained ourselves on purpose. God forgive us. Last week I ended with a discussion of fornication, uncleanness, and covetousness and we saw how these thing have a natural component but they start as a thought which is spiritual. Our thoughts fall into two major categories, holy and unholy. It is our job in consultation (prayer) with God and diligent study of the Word of God to discern between the two and discard the unholy. Let’s reexamine Ephesians 5:3 in a different translation of the Scripture.
Ephesians 5:3 (HCSB)
3 But sexual immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be heard of among you, as is proper for saints.
The King James says to not let these things be named even once. How much teaching (preaching) have you heard on this lately? The Holman Christian Standard Bible puts it a little different saying this should never be a part of conversation because it should be absent in the Church and not because the leadership has an ostrich mentality. Okay what about verse four in the KJV and AMP?
Ephesians 5:4 (KJV)
4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.
Ephesians 5:4 (AMP)
4 Let there be no filthiness (obscenity, indecency) nor foolish and sinful (silly and corrupt) talk, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting or becoming; but instead voice your thankfulness [to God].
We might immediately think, well I don’t tell dirty jokes and no one at Church has told me one either. I want you to notice that Paul has linked this kind of talk with the giving of thanks. What is the connection here? It would imply that filthiness, foolish talking, and jesting are related to or are outright unthankfulness. When our mind (thoughts of the heart) and mouth agree our thankfulness especially when the answer is not visible in the physical realm is a reflection of faith. So then, filthiness, foolish talking, and jesting are directly related to unbelief or doubt, in any case a sin and an affront to God. It seems to me in listening to the conversations of Christians that ‘foolish talk’ is probably the more common of these sins and the foolish talk sentence generally ends with hahaha. For example perhaps there is a conversation about money and one bursts out with; “Oh, I’ll never be rich, ha ha ah.” Perhaps there is a discussion about family history and one says: “Oh, everyone in our family dies of cancer so I guess that is how I will die ha ha ha.” This is foolish talk of unbelief and an abomination in the ears of God and reflects a very corrupt mind on the part of the speaker.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
