Corrupt Communication a Sign of Corrupt Hearts

Not long ago I saw on television news scenes from a political rally held on the steps of the nation’s capital in Washington D.C. Occupants of some of the highest offices in the land were speaking on contemporary issues. What struck me was not the compelling arguments that were being employed. Instead, it was vulgar language that was being used. Perhaps I am showing my age, but I remember when no elected official would publicly use obscenity or crude language. Party affiliation made no difference. Profanity was considered offensive, ignorant, and absolutely unacceptable for public communication.

Things have changed. Now, the basest four-letter words are routinely heard from people of influence in public situations. This is not a change for the better.

I vividly recall when I was a boy my mother punished me after she overheard me directing vulgar insults at a neighbor. Her method of discipline was quite fitting. She washed my mouth out with soap. She made me stick out my tongue while she put a tiny drop of dish soap on it. That was all. It tasted awful. I remember rinsing my mouth in the sink, and bubbles foaming out. No, this was not child abuse. I was never mistreated by my mother. My mother described what I said as “filthy” and “dirty.” So, she appropriately used soap to help me clean up my conversation. She was right.

There are things we can say that are filthy and dirty. The Bible says, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth.” (Eph. 4:29) Some translations have it, “unwholesome talk.” Others use the word, “foul.” The word translated “corrupt” is a very descriptive word. It means rotten, filthy, or putrid. It is used elsewhere in the New Testament to describe bad trees, rotten or dead fish, and rotten fruit. Some kinds of speech are indeed rotten.

Whether scatological locker room talk, or taking God’s name in vain, or gossip, or lies, or cruel insults, there are things we say that stink.

And these utterances reveal a corruption or rottenness that goes deeper than the lips, the tongue, or the mouth. Jesus observed, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.” (Mt. 12:34) Our words expose our inner attitudes and thoughts. We say what we say because we are what we are.

After a temperamental outburst of crude language, an embarrassed woman said to her friend sitting nearby, “I don’t know why I said that. It just isn’t in me.” Her friend wisely replied, “If it wasn’t in you, it wouldn’t have come out of you.”

Again, it was Jesus Christ who said, “Those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.” (Mt. 15:18)

Author Carl Trueman in his The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self wrote that using profanity “is now considered evidence of integrity, a performance of authenticity.” I think he is correct. Perhaps the contemporary embrace of profanity is evidence of an authentically irreverent, insulting, and crude society. It is a disclosure of diminished values and character.

The prophet Isaiah describes a revelation he had of God “high and lifted up” surrounded by angelic beings worshipping the Almighty. When He saw God in His holiness, Isaiah also saw himself in his sinfulness. He humbly confessed, “Woe is me! For I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” (Is. 6:5) The narrative goes on to tell us that in response to his penitential confession, God forgave Isaiah’s sin.

Yes, more dignified and restrained public communication is needed. But far more, we each need a reverence for God, a confession of our sin, divine forgiveness, and a change within. “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord.” (Ps. 19:14)

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David A. Oliver is the pastor of Ashley Baptist Church in Belding, MI.