11 Reasons Christians Should Not Use Curse Words

Yesterday while making a purchase, I was the only person in an office with several employees. Speaking to the man helping me, a woman inserted an English curse word into her Afrikaans comments. Since they were friendly, I asked the man helping me if he could think of anyone who did not curse. Another man came from the back to join this conversation, and the three of them could only think of one name, an old woman who did not curse.

Even senators and representatives use crude words while debating bills or appointees in the US Congress. A Christian news source recently lost my business because they continued to speak shamefully. Though I have found some of Jordan Peterson’s observations insightful and Dennis Prager’s videos inspiring, they both argued that inserting the divine name as an expletive is not wrong.

But cursing is a sin. How do we know?

The laws of Christ with words

1. Christians cultivate a pure heart, but curse words are not pure. Matt. 5:8
2. Christians are the salt of the earth, the light of the world, and a city known for good works, but curse words are worldly words. Matt. 5:13-16
3. Christians watch every word from their mouths because they will be judged by their words, but curse words come out without careful screening. Matt. 12:36-37
4. Christians strive to be perfect like their heavenly Father, but curse words are far from perfect. Matt. 5:48
5. Christians bear good fruit, but curse words are not good fruit. Matt. 7:17-19
6. Christians put away all bitterness, wrath, clamor, anger, slander, filthiness, foolish talk, and crude joking, but curse words fit into several of those categories. Eph. 4:31-5:3
7. Christians refrain even from speaking about the sins of sinners, but curse words often name these evil actions with a mixture of mockery and anger. Eph. 5:12
8. Christians speak words that bring their thoughts to true, honest, just, pure, lovely, virtuous things, but curse words are none of those things. Phil. 4:8
9. Christians put on a spirit of holiness, mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, longsuffering, and love, but curse words contradict all those graces. Col. 3:12-14
10. Christians follow the patterns of the most godly Christians, but godly Christians do not use curse words. Heb. 13:17
11. Christians labor for the reward Christ is bringing for faithful service, but curse words will never produce a reward. Rev. 22:12

Kinds of curse words

1. Crude words

These refer to body parts and functions, but without the privacy, dignity, delicacy, or shame that those things deserve. God made Adam and Eve put on clothes because certain parts should not be displayed to eyes or to our ears. Solomon’s Song teaches us how to speak about the pleasure of marriage—discreetly, with veiled terms, preserving mystery. If there is a necessity to communicate about such matters, then judgment should control to whom we speak so that the required dignity or shame still comes across in our communication.

2. Sacrilegious words

These refer to the divine name or holy matters used in a light, flippant way. To speak of such a Person or such high realities lightly is, of course, breaking the third commandment even if there are other ways to break the third command as well.

3. Euphemisms

These replace a sacrilegious or a crude word with another term that people have become accustomed to using. Though the connotation has been softened, the message is, “I want to say a harsh word, but I will soften it a little while still keeping a part of the offense.”

Connotations

1. Denotations

Words have a dictionary definition such as “wench” for a female servant, or “religion” as a system for relating to God, or “bribe” for paying someone to overlook your crime. These are the denotations.

2. Connotations

But each of these terms has connotations only recorded in the culture. A wench brings to mind a dishonorable girl. When a man says he has a relationship with Jesus Christ, not a religion, he is meaning something like “legalism”—“I am not overwhelmed with law, but with the person of Christ.” All that in the connotation of religion. A mother might say she is bribing her son to finish his chores when she actually is trying to say something about motivating with grace and joy.

Good judgment

Sinners have found profane words to use for many good things. A godly husband will not use the same words flirtatiously with his wife that a fool would use with a prostitute. A father may have righteous anger with his son, but he must not use the same words as an angry fool.

If we have grown up with English as a first language, we all understand using words according to the accepted meaning now current in society even if it has not reached the dictionary yet. We used email, text, and now gaslight before they reached the dictionary.

Using words is an act of judgment. If we have bad judgment, we may be sinning without even realizing it. If a man were not taught in the Scriptures, he might say salvation is by the waters of baptism. At best those words are a bad judgment which are untrue. At worst, his bad judgment is a terrible sin. A man who apologizes to his wife for “his abomination” when he arrived 8 minutes late has made a bad judgment with that word.

When bad judgment leads to sin, then it is itself sin. Did we not have a duty to obtain better judgment before now? Judgment is a crucial part of the Christian life in which we must grow (Heb. 5:14).