Transcription
You're driving home. Long day, tired bones, heavier heart. Someone cuts you off in traffic. The brakes slam. The coffee spills. And before your mind can catch up, that word slips out. You freeze. Then it comes. That familiar wave of guilt. I'm a Christian. I just cursed. Did I just grieve God?
If you've ever felt that, if you've ever lived under that quiet shame, I need you to hear me right now. Because what I'm about to show you from scripture is going to set something free in you that's been chained for years. You've been told your whole life that Christians don't curse, don't swear, watch your mouth. That's sinful. That's worldly. But have you ever stopped to ask where exactly does the Bible say that? Not what your grandmother said. Not what Sunday school said, not even what your pastor said. Where does the word of God himself draw the line?
Because here's what I discovered when I finally went looking for the answer. And what I want to show you tonight is that the Bible's real teaching on cursing is not what most American churches have taught for the last hundred years. It's deeper. It's more honest. And believer, it's far more freeing than the version of the gospel you've been carrying.
So tonight, I'm going to walk you through seven signs from scripture that reveal what the Bible actually calls cursing, and most of them have nothing to do with the words you think. Sign number three will challenge how you talk to the people you love. Sign number five, that's the one almost every Christian misses, and I believe it's the one breaking more Christian homes than any four-letter word ever could. And sign number seven, that one will change the way you read the words of Jesus himself.
But before we get there, I want you to know something. There's a word, a single word in your New Testament, written by the Apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that scholars say carried a shock so strong first century believers would have stopped in their tracks when they heard it. That word is sitting in your Bible right now. And by the end of this video, I'm going to show you exactly where it is and what it really means. But I'm not telling you yet. Stay with me.
Father, before we open your word, strip away tradition, strip away fear, and show us what you really meant in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's begin.
Sign number one, the Bible never gave us a list of forbidden words. Here's the first thing you have to understand. The Bible was written across three continents in three languages over 1,500 years. Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek. And in none of those languages will you find a list of naughty words that God hands down from heaven and says, "Thou shalt not say these specific syllables." That list does not exist. The English words you and I were raised to fear, most of them weren't even invented when the Bible was written. They came from old Anglo-Saxon dialects, medieval English, the Victorian era. They are cultural words, not biblical words.
Now, hear me carefully because this is where so many believers stumble. I am not saying language doesn't matter. I am saying the Bible is far more concerned with what's behind the word than the word itself. And until you understand that, you will spend your whole Christian life policing your vocabulary while ignoring the deeper sin God is actually trying to heal. So if cursing isn't about a list of words, what is it about? That's where this gets serious.
Sign number two, real biblical cursing is when you devalue someone made in the image of God. Open your Bible to Ephesians 4:29. Paul writes this, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs." Now, most preachers stop right there and say, "See, don't say bad words." But that is not what Paul is saying. The Greek word translated unwholesome is *sapros*. And *sapros* doesn't mean strong. It means rotten. It means spoiled. It means fruit that's gone bad and now poisons whoever eats it. So Paul isn't talking about your vocabulary. He's talking about what your words are doing to the soul of another human being.
Listen, you can use perfectly clean church-approved language and still be cursing in the eyes of God. The cold shoulder, the whispered gossip after service, the sarcastic "bless your heart" with venom underneath it. The husband who never raises his voice but never speaks life either. The mother who tears down her child with a smile. That, beloved, is biblical cursing because every human being you spoke to today was made in the image of Almighty God. And when your words devalue them, when your tone reduces them, when your sarcasm dismisses them, you are not just being unkind. You are dishonoring the one whose image they carry.
Stop me if this is hitting home because if it is, you're not alone and you're not condemned. You're being invited into something better. And listen, if this video is already shaking something loose in you, do me one favor right now before we go on. Hit that subscribe button because what we do on this channel is exactly this. We go past tradition and into truth every single week. And I want you with us. Subscribe and let's keep walking.
Sign number three, the way you speak to the people closest to you reveals the real condition of your heart. Jesus said something in Matthew 12 that should stop every one of us in our tracks. He said, "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." Did you catch that? Abundance. Whatever is overflowing inside you, that is what's coming out of your mouth. Your words are not the problem. Your words are the evidence. And nowhere is that more exposed than in how you speak to the people who live in your house.
Think about it. The stranger at the grocery store gets your patience. The cashier gets your smile. The person at church gets your "Praise the Lord." But your spouse, your children, your aging mother on the phone, they get the version of you that's tired, annoyed, short, cutting. And we tell ourselves, "Well, they know I love them." But scripture doesn't grade on that curve. The Bible says, "The tongue has the power of life and death." Proverbs 18:21. Every time you open your mouth in your home, you are speaking either life or death over the people God entrusted to you. A Christian who speaks tenderly to strangers and harshly to family is not walking in holiness. They are walking in performance. And God sees the difference.
This one hurts. I know it hurts me, too. But conviction is the kindness of God because he doesn't reveal it to shame you. He reveals it to free you.
Sign number four. Cursing is when your words tear down instead of build up, even when every word is technically true. Here is something that took me years to understand. You can speak nothing but facts and still be cursing. You can correct your child and be right and still wound them. You can confront your spouse and be right and still crush them. You can post a Bible verse online and be right and still drive someone further from Jesus. Truth without love is not righteousness. Paul calls it a clanging cymbal. 1 Corinthians 13. Just noise. Just bronze hitting bronze. No glory in it. No God in it.
The world has plenty of people speaking truth without love. The church does not need to be one more voice in that noise. We are called to something higher. We are called to speak truth. Yes, but truth carried on the wings of love, gentleness, patience, and grace. Ask yourself tonight, when I correct, do I build? When I disagree, do I bless? When I'm right, do I make the other person feel seen or destroyed? Because being right is not the goal of the Christian life, reflecting Jesus's.
Sign number five. This is the one almost every Christian misses, and it's quietly destroying homes across America. Here it is. Cursing is what you say about someone when they're not in the room. The Bible has a word for it, slander. And God hates it. In Romans chapter 1, when Paul lists the sins of a culture under God's wrath, he doesn't just list murder and idolatry. He lists gossips and slanderers in the very same sentence. Same list, same weight, same wrath.
Let me say it plain. The Christian woman who never says a curse word but spends an hour on the phone tearing down her sister-in-law, that is biblical cursing. The Christian man who would never use profanity but cuts down his pastor at the dinner table in front of his children, that is biblical cursing. The prayer request that's really just gossip dressed in spiritual clothes, that is biblical cursing. And here's what makes this so dangerous. It doesn't feel like sin. It feels like venting. It feels like processing. It feels like just being honest. But scripture is clear. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. And what you say about people in private is shaping the spiritual atmosphere of your home.
If you want to know why some Christian families feel heavy, why there's tension no one can name, why the children are anxious and the marriage is dry, start there. Start with the words spoken when no one was watching because God was watching and God was listening.
Pause this video right now if you need to. Repent if you need to because freedom on the other side of this is real and it's waiting for you.
Before we go to sign number six, I want to ask you something honestly. If even one of these signs has shown you something tonight, would you stop and tell me in the comments? Just type the number, #signone, #signtwo, whichever one God used to speak to you because I read every comment on this channel. And more than that, when believers share what God is doing, it strengthens the faith of every person who reads it. Your one comment could be the very thing that breaks chains for someone scrolling past tonight. Now, let's keep going because what I'm about to show you next is where this whole teaching turns.
Sign number six. Cursing is using your words to wound instead of to heal. And Jesus called it the spiritual equivalent of murder. In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus said this. "Whoever says to his brother, 'You fool,' shall be in danger of the fire of hell." Now read that again because Jesus is not talking about a slip of the tongue. He is talking about the moment your words leave your mouth with one purpose: to destroy another human being's worth. The Greek word he used is *raca*. It meant empty, worthless, trash. And Jesus said, "When you speak that way to someone made in the image of God, something terrible has happened in your heart."
Have you done that? Have I done that? Yes, of course we have. The flesh in us has done it more times than we can count. But here is the gospel. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9. You don't have to live one more day under the weight of the words you've spoken. The blood of Jesus is enough. It has always been enough. It will always be enough. And tonight, right now, you can lay it down.
Sign number seven, and this is the one that changes how you read Jesus himself. Jesus used strong language. Jesus called Herod "that fox." Jesus called the Pharisees "whitewashed tombs" and "a brood of vipers." Jesus told religious leaders their father was the devil. Was Jesus sinning? Of course not. Jesus was sinless. So how do we make sense of this? Here is the answer. The issue was never the strength of the language. The issue was always the purpose of the language. Jesus used sharp words to protect the vulnerable and to expose hypocrisy. He never used words to wound the broken. He never crushed the weak. He never humiliated the seeking. He used hard words on hard hearts and gentle words on bruised reeds. And that, friend, is the standard scripture sets for you and me. Not a list of forbidden vocabulary, but a heart so surrendered to the Spirit of God that even our hardest words come from love.
Now, about that word I promised you at the beginning, the one Paul wrote in Philippians chapter 3. It's the Greek word *skubalon*. And many scholars believe it carried a deliberate shock in its original setting. Paul used it to say everything he once counted as religious gain. Every credential, every ritual, every accomplishment was *skubalon* compared to knowing Christ. I don't share that to give anyone a license. I share it to show you this. Scripture is not afraid of strong language. Scripture is afraid of empty language. Scripture is afraid of deceitful language. Scripture is afraid of destroying language.
So God is not standing over you with a scoreboard counting four-letter words. He is searching the heart behind the words. He is asking, "Child, what is overflowing in you? Is it bitterness? Is it fear? Is it pride? Is it pain you've never given me?" Because that, that is what he came to heal.
So here's the question I want you to carry into the rest of your week. Not what words am I using, but who am I becoming when I speak? Because every word you speak is shaping something in you. Every sentence is steering your soul. And the people who live in your house, who sit beside you at church, who answer your phone calls, they are being formed too by the words coming out of your mouth.
You don't have to live afraid of cursing anymore. You don't have to panic when a word slips. You don't have to perform a perfectly clean Christian accent to be loved by your Father. He sees you. He knows your frame. He remembers that you are dust. And his mercy is new every morning. But you do get to grow. You get to surrender the gossip, the sarcasm, the cutting tone with your spouse, the harsh words with your kids, the slander you've called "just being honest." You get to lay it down and pick up something better. The tongue of the wise, the Bible says, brings healing. That is the life God is calling you into.
So, let's pray together. Father, thank you. Thank you that you don't keep score of our every word. Thank you that the blood of Jesus covers every careless thing we have ever spoken. Lord, search our hearts tonight. Reveal anything rotten, anything tearing down, anything dishonoring the people you love. And Holy Spirit, fill our mouths with words that build, words that bless, words that heal. Make us sound like Jesus. In his mighty name we pray. Amen.
If this video reached something deep in you tonight, hit that like button. It helps this message find another believer who needs it. And if you haven't subscribed yet, this is your invitation. We meet here every week to walk through scripture honestly, plainly, and without fear. And before you click away, I have one more video coming this week that I believe God prepared specifically for the season you are walking through right now. It's about the one prayer most Christians forget to pray and the answer Jesus already gave us in his own words. You don't want to miss it. Until then, speak life, speak truth, and walk in the freedom Christ purchased for you. I'll see you in the next.