Commonly Tolerated Sins: Crude Joking

By Benjamin Shaw

Reprinted From the May 2023 Issue of  Tabletalk Magazine Published By Ligonier Ministries

The book of Proverbs and the epistle of James have much to say about the use of the tongue. James 3:10–11 says: “From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water?” Paul speaks in a similar vein: “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths” and “Let there be no . . . foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place” (Eph. 4:29; 5:4).

Yet we live in a day when public discourse has become more and more coarse. Public figures commonly use words that simply were not uttered in polite company a generation ago. Even worse, some who claim to be ministers of the gospel use crude jokes and coarse language in sermons, claiming that they are only being authentic. Such practices only debase the users and encourage debased language in those who hear them.

The fact that both Paul and James thought it necessary to speak firmly to the issue indicates that it is not a problem limited to our own day but was common enough in the first century that new Christians needed to be warned about how they spoke. We often speak carelessly, and the coarse language of the streets can readily spill out from our lips. It behooves us as Christians not to speak thoughtlessly but thoughtfully. As Paul says regarding speech, in the same context noted above, we should speak “only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” In addition, he says, “let there be thanksgiving” (Eph. 4:29; 5:4).