What Does Ephesians 5:4 Mean?

(4) **Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting.**—The word “filthiness” (unlike the “filthy communication” of the parallel passage in Colossians 3:8) is in itself a general word. But the connection with the words following, and the distinction from those going before, appear to show that St. Paul here uses it for “filthy talking.” He is passing from impurity of the inward soul to impurity in outward expression. Of such foul speaking he appears to distinguish two forms. There is, first of all, “foolish talking,” or the talk of “the fool,” in the worst sense in which that word is used in Scripture (Matthew 5:22; Matthew 23:17), as implying something worse than mere emptiness or blindness—describing the condition of the soul which has “lost its savour” (Matthew 5:13), *i.e., *has ceased to distinguish what is right or wrong, wise or foolish, noble or base. There is then “jesting,” *i.e., *properly, the more polished “versatility,” which will find occasion for wit or levity in anything, however sacred, fearing nothing so much as to be dull, and mistaking all seriousness and reserve for dulness. It is notable that in classical Greek the word is sometimes used in a good sense, as a mean between “churlishness” and “obsequiousness,” but yet hovers on the border of that condemnation which Christian gravity here pronounces unhesitatingly. The former kind of foul talking is coarse and brutal; the latter refined and deadly. Of both kinds Greek and Roman literature furnish specimens only too many and too striking. **Which are not convenient.**—That is, “which are out of character” in a Christian—a milder repetition (perhaps suggested by the ambiguous meaning of “jesting” noted above) of the indignant declaration in Ephesians 5:3, that it “becomes not saints that these foul things should be even named among them.” They pollute the Christian mind and tongue even in condemning them. **But rather giving of** **thanks.**—The opposition is striking. “The foolish talking and jesting” aim at mirth and play of mind; St. Paul will not austerely condemn, such light-heartedness, but he finds a wholesome and spiritual vent for it in the habitual expression of thankfulness to God, which proceeds from a natural and childlike cheerfulness. Exactly in the same spirit below (Ephesians 5:18-20) he contrasts the excitement of drunkenness with the being “filled with the Spirit . . . giving thanks always for all things.”