GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
2 PETER 2:10b-11
10b Daring and arrogant, they don’t even tremble when they blaspheme the glorious ones, 11 while angels, who are greater in might and power, never bring a slanderous judgment against them before the Lord.
Peter is still talking about the unrighteous, those who are reserved for judgment on the Last Day because of their unbelief (for only unbelief damns, Mark 16:16). The unrighteous don’t hesitate to spew out all manner of foul language to pepper their speech and to seem more intimidating. They do this because they learned, without understanding why, that some people are easily silenced by a man who vomits out profanity. The truth is that milder folks are shocked and repulsed by such language, but they are not impressed. But because a “hell” or a “damn” or words that are seemingly worse can end an argument (without winning it), they think that this is good form, and they don’t know when to stop. We have a sad example in our recent government, where, during the January 6th Bi-Partisan Committee Hearings, it was pointed out more than once that the closer people worked with the former President, the fouler the language got, so that even in a formal Congressional hearing, the worst obscenities became part of legal testimony.
This is the place to condemn the use of the so-called F-word. This curse was only rarely used before the First World War, although there are hints that it was used by the more vulgar voices in the nobility as far back as the fifteenth century. As a part of speech, it can only be taken as a wish that the recipient be raped in the most violent manner. When I hear it used, I can’t help but understand that it means, “I hope you get sexually attacked and that you will be left bloodied, bruised, and near death.” It can only be a curse delivered by someone who cares nothing at all for God, for his creation, for his design for marriage, and his commandments about our use of language and truth.
Any curse at all should be made with only the greatest fear and trembling, and only with the most serious theological point to be made. Curses in the Bible are made when someone has forsaken God altogether, and such curses (like the ones shouted from Mount Ebal, Deuteronomy 11:29) are always meant to be the sternest proclamation of the law, stopping a sinner from his sin, so that the gospel can be added to call them back to faith. Curses spoken today are never followed by gospel promises. In fact, in the places and in the company where curses are spat today, it is the gospel that would be considered out-of-place, unwanted, questionable, and even threatening, language. It would be so ridiculed that the gospel itself would be considered bad language and a threat. This is the world in which we live; the world where the devil touches every part of speech with slime. Christians don’t need to be a part of this, even though we live in it. When we (seemingly) go out of our way never to use profanity, people will notice. Our language will carry more weight.
To make his point, Peter turns once again to the angels. Angels never use profanity, and angels do not even use exaggeration or slander when they speak. The Greek text of these verses presents the words “blaspheme” (βλασϕημοῦντες) and “blasphemous” (βλάσϕημον), but we usually only say “blaspheme” when something is spoken against God or God’s Word, whereas a “blasphemy” against a mere human is simply “slander” as in Titus 3:2. If the angels, who do not sin and do not add or subtract anything from the Word of God (Deuteronomy 4:2) see that God’s will is that we avoid such language, we do well to follow their example in this.
We should really ask ourselves: Will God be pleased with the way I am about to speak this sentence? Do I set myself up as a true example of sanctified Christian living with the way that I speak? Do I understand that the way I speak reflects the way I think, and that the way I think reflects what is genuinely in my heart?
Many years ago, when my wife was in labor with our first child, there were other women giving birth in the same ward. Their profanity-thick shouts were in all of our ears, even those women whose whole labor lasted only an hour or two. My wife was in labor for many, many hours and in terrible pain, but when she let out a little burp, her honest apology to the doctor (“Excuse me, I’m so sorry!”) broke through the tension of the ward and got all of the nurses laughing; they praised her later for her composure and her grace. People notice when we apply the Second Commandment to our ordinary speech. “How high thy glory towers!”
Speech is a gift God has given to man which even the apes cannot truly ape apart from much coaching and only the selfish results one would expect in an animal. Only in the crown of God’s creation can speech itself make profound changes in hearts and in the world. God would have us use the gift of language to further the proclamation of his glory and praise, to share his gospel with the world, and to love one another as God loves us. We must strive to use all of our gifts, especially speech and thought itself, to display God’s blessings and to invite– never to bully– lost souls to seek eternal life. How shall I use God’s gift of speech today?
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 2 Peter 2:10b-11 The F-word and other language