5 Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. 6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. (NKJV)
We have been looking at these verses for serval weeks. In today’s study, we will take time to understand the depths of verse 6 more fully. Paul says, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.” I hope you have been seeing how wisdom towards the unbeliever or unsaved is Paul’s focus. Our speech is of significant meaning in any relationship. First in the “House of God,” but also with those “outside” of that house and faith.
Let your speech always be with grace. The word “Let” speaks to our part of speech. How you chose to talk is entirely in your control. All of life is filled with choices. Before Jesus came to give us a new nature, most of man’s options revolved around man’s power. The Holy Spirit had not yet come to transform man’s fallen condition. Although, in the Old Testament, we read that the Holy Spirit would manifest at times, giving men words to speak from God. God promised Moses, “I will be with your mouth” (Exodus 4:12). In Isaiah, the Lord tells Isaiah, “I place my words in your mouth, I cover with the palm of my hand” (Isaiah 51:16).
David chose to fill his mouth with the praise of the Lord. “My Mouth is filled with Your praise” (Psalm 71:8). God’s speeches to humanity are often recorded as being from the mouth of the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:16). The voice of the prophets, the Lord’s servants, are likewise God’s words. Indeed, many prophecies are cited as being God’s word. For example, “The splendor of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it at the same time. For the Lord (lit., the mouth of the Lord) has decreed it” (Isaiah 40:5; Isaiah 58:14). Because of this, the prophet’s words were authoritative, for they were nothing short of God’s own words. God’s words were accurate in foretelling the future events: “I announced events beforehand, I issued the decrees and made the predictions; suddenly I acted, and they came to pass” (Isaiah 48:3).
As believers, our speech is to always be with grace. Grace because that is the core of our salvation. “For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). God’s word, in Christ, to you, is a word of “grace.” God’s speech to His children are words of grace. Even in His disciplines, He speaks from His nature of grace. Not in a weak way. Not in a slopy or patronizing way. In strength and authority, He says to His children, His sons, and His daughters, “I love you, therefore be holy as I am Holy.” God is Love (1 John), so it is His children that must reveal His Love.
Listen to how John the Beloved instructs us: “Beloved, let us love one another, for Love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is Love. 9 In this the Love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 In this is Love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and his Love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:7-12).
The new nature that the Spirit of God has given to us is the nature of Love. It is at the heart of our new nature. God’s purpose for His nature in us is meant for it to be experienced by others. One of the most important ways it is shared is by our words of grace.
Are you known for your grace? Are people comforted and helped by your words of grace? Self-examination can be very helpful regarding our speech. What if your conversations throughout the day were to be recorded? How much grace would you hear in your words?
Paul speaks to not only grace in our words but our speech seasoned with “salt.” As you know, salt is a preservative. Another way to think of this is substituting the word “attractive.” Creating a flow of conversation that others desire. Do people want to hear you speak? Are they waiting to hear what you have to say?
In Ephesians 4:14-15, Paul contrasts deceitful plotting to the Christian value of speaking the truth in Love. Many use words to manipulate, control, and deceive. There never should be anything like that in the life of the believer. As a believer, our instructions are clear. Listen to Paul’s instructions to us, “I beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1-3). We all have a calling to represent Christ well. Our way of doing this is lowliness, gentleness, longsuffering, recognizing that in close relationships, offenses will happen. Not everyone, every time, will say or do the right thing. We must work together in order to keep unity and peace in the Spirit.
Later, in Ephesians 4:13, Paul reveals the goal, “until we all come to the unity of the faith.” We are to walk, talk, and act in the knowledge of the Son of God. In other words, Christ in us. God is looking for the perfect man. That man is Christ through His resurrection life being lived out through us. Paul calls this, “a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” We can attain this goal by obedience to the word of God and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide and direct, especially our conversation and manner of speech.
Paul is not the only one which addresses this. James in his scriptural admonitions also addresses our speech. “No man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it, we bless our God and Father, and with it, we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.” So James addresses a real problem that every human has, “the tongue,” which is untamable. Do you ever say things which you wished you had not said? Have you ever wished you could take back words and make them disappear? We all have!
The deeper problem behind the tongue is things like bitter envy, self-seeking in one’s heart, as well as, Unforgiveness, resentment, and offenses. Many harbor these in their heart and, in doing so, actually boast and lie against the truth. The truth is that I cannot control my tongue when evil and hurtful things are said about me. The natural thing is to react and counter through our own evil and hurtful words.
James calls us to the “wisdom that is from above.” That wisdom is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy” (James 3:17). James declares that the “fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” (Vs. 18). This is another way of saying, Christ’s life in us produces the fruit of righteousness. That righteousness is given to us who are sinful and evil at the base. We become righteousness in His righteousness, and that righteousness will cause us to sow peace because we are called to “make peace.”
The Father wants to cause us to know how to answer every person. Some need to hear Love. Some may need a word of correction, while others may need to listen to some encouragement. No one needs to listen to a bitter and evil tongue. None need to hear cursing, but all people need blessings and favor. In other words, our lesson from verse 6 today is that we are always to have a speech full of grace and always to have words seasoned with salt.
We just celebrated Christmas, remembering God the Father’s Great Gift of His Love. He gave to us His best in his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said to His disciples, “peace I give unto you, not as the world gives, give I to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You believe in God, also believe in me.” Beloved, let us also give as our Father gave. Give of the Lord Jesus who is in you. Give peace, give grace, give the fruit of the Holy Spirit, Love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance, faithfulness. Sow to others what you have received. Give it away, and it will be given back to you, press down, shaken together and running over will your heavenly Father bestow on you.