🛡️WEB · Ephesians 4:31
What does Ephesians 4:31 mean?
"Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander, be put away from you, with all malice."
— Ephesians 4:31 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, producing with his hands something that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need.
Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for building others up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander, be put away from you, with all malice.
And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.
Explanation
Ephesians 4:31 is part of a list of vices that Paul instructs believers to remove entirely from their lives. In plain language, the verse calls Christians to get rid of bitterness (a lingering resentment that festers over time), wrath (intense, often explosive anger), anger (a more general hostility or ill temper), outcry (loud, angry shouting or quarreling), slander (speech that maligns or defames others), and malice (an underlying desire to see harm come to someone). Paul isn't asking believers to suppress these feelings quietly while still harboring them internally—he uses the image of putting something away, like taking off a dirty garment and discarding it completely.
The context is Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus, written while he was imprisoned, likely in Rome, to a congregation he had helped establish during his missionary journeys. Ephesians 4 marks a shift in the letter from doctrine (chapters 1-3, which explain what God has done in Christ) to practical exhortation (chapters 4-6, which explain how believers should then live). Just before this verse, Paul has been urging the Ephesians to "put off" their old self, characterized by corrupt living, and "put on" the new self, created in the likeness of God in righteousness and holiness. Verse 31 falls within a section addressing how believers relate to one another within the community, emphasizing honest speech, controlled anger, and generosity in place of theft.
Theologically, this verse reflects the conviction that a changed relationship with God should produce a changed way of relating to others. Bitterness
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