And Such Were Some Of You…Revilers

by Chris Simmons and Micky Galloway

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God” (I Corinthians 6:9-11).

What does it mean to be a “reviler”? It simply means to be verbally abusive. Perhaps the clearest and most graphic biblical example is when Jesus was crucified. Peter records in I Peter 2:23, “while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.” Peter notes for our example how the Son of God was verbally abused while being unjustly punished and yet He did not stoop to their level. The Gospels record the “abuse” that was “hurled” at Him (Matthew 27:39) and the sneering and the mocking that He endured (Luke 23:35-36). Such verbal abuse is never to be part of the life of the child of God, whether directed towards those of the world, our brethren in Christ or even those of our own family.

The sin of reviling is not just a sin because the wrong words slip out of our mouth. It’s also a sin because the sinful words reveal a sinful heart. In Matthew 15:18-20, Jesus said, “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man.” If we wish to avoid the sin of reviling, we have to first look to our hearts and minds and rid ourselves of the “evil thoughts” that are at the source.

Reviling is just one of the ways in which we can sin with our tongues and it will cost us our ability to “inherit the kingdom of God.” James talks about the great danger involved with the power of the spoken word in James 3:5-6, “So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. Behold, how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.” There are so many ways in which our tongue can cause irreparable damage and eternal condemnation that we need to be continually warned about.

When God reveals the “six things which the LORD hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him” in Proverbs 6:16-19, it’s interesting to note that three of the sins involve the use of the tongue including “…a lying tongue…a false witness who utters lies…and one who spreads strife among brothers.” God hates it when we don’t speak the truth and God hates it when we use our words to spread strife (discord, ASV & KJV) among brethren. The results of strife and discord are grave. Congregations of the Lord’s church can be torn apart and souls lost when pride and arrogance cause brethren to speak words which cause strife and discord.

There are many other sins of the tongue which can keep us out of heaven. They include:

Swearing. God warned the people of Israel, “Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain, for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain” (Exodus 20:7). “Bring forth him that cursed without the camp... and let all the congregation stone him” (Leviticus 24:14). The apostle Paul added, “Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for edifying as the need may be that it may give grace to them that hear” (Ephesians 4:29).

Gossiping and Talebearing. God's law stated, “Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people...” (Leviticus 19:16). Do not allow yourself to be someone's garbage receptacle. Refuse to listen to gossip!

Murmuring. “Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and perished by the destroyer” (I Corinthians 10:10). Consider the many thousands who died as a result of murmuring and complaining (cf Numbers 16 and Numbers 21).

Clamoring. Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:31-32, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.” Clamoring is simply loud, disorderly communication and is not how Christians are to communicate with one another.

Contentious words. Usually, we can avoid contention by properly controlling our tongues. “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but a grievous word stirreth up anger” (Proverbs 15:1). Remain calm when everyone else is mad. “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” (Proverbs 16:32). Soft words often stop arguments.

These are just some of the examples of the “deadly poison” that can result from the improper use of the tongue. There is certainly great power in the tongue to do good as well by providing words of healing, encouragement, joy and thanksgiving but it all begins in the heart. Our ability to enter the kingdom of heaven depends on how we choose to use our tongue. Matthew 12:37, “For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.”