Ephesians 4.29a-Prohibition Forbidding Harmful Speech
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday November 11, 2025
Ephesians Series: Ephesians 4:29a-Prohibition Forbidding Harmful Speech
Lesson # 295
Ephesians 4:29 Any harmful word must never at any time proceed from the mouth of any one of you. But rather, if and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that something is characterized as the production of divine good in quality and character for the building up of the one who does possess a need. And we agree that something is characterized as the production of divine good in quality and character for the building upon of the one who does possess a need. Then, the production of divine good in quality and character must at any time proceed from the mouth of each one of you in order that it would provide grace for the benefit of those who are hearing. (Lecturer’s translation)
Ephesians 4:29 is composed of the following:
(1) Solemn prohibition: pas logos sapros ek tou stomatos hymōn mē ekporeuesthō (πᾶς λόγος σαπρὸς ἐκ τοῦ στόματος ὑμῶν μὴ ἐκπορευέσθω), “Any harmful word must habitually not proceed from the mouth of any one of you.” (Lecturer’s translation)
(2) Elliptical protasis of a responsive first class conditional statement: ei tis agathos pros oikodomēn tēs chreias (εἴ τις ἀγαθὸς πρὸς οἰκοδομὴν τῆς χρείας), “if and let us assume that it is true for the sake of argument that something is characterized as the production of divine good in quality and character for the building up of the one who does possess a need. And we agree that something is characterized as the production of divine good in quality and character for the building upon of the one who does possess a need.” (Lecturer’s translation)
(3) Elliptical apodosis of a responsive first class conditional statement: “Then, the production of divine good in quality and character must regularly proceed from the mouth of each one of you. (Lecturer’s translation)
(4) Purpose clause: hina dō charin tois akouousin (ἵνα δῷ χάριν τοῖς ἀκούουσιν), “in order that it would provide grace for the benefit of those who are hearing.” (Lecturer’s translation)
Therefore, Ephesians 4:29 begins with a solemn prohibition, which required that the members of the Gentile Christian community in the Roman province of Asia, who were the recipients of this letter, must never at any time permit any harmful word to proceed from their mouths.
The elliptical protasis of a responsive first class conditional statement presents the assumption of truth for the sake of argument, which the recipients of this letter would affirm as true.
Thus, this elliptical protasis of a first class conditional statement affirms that there is a word characterized as the production of divine good in quality and character.
The purpose clause modifies the elliptical apodosis and asserts that the production of divine good provides grace for the benefit of those who are hearing.
This responsive first class conditional statement presents an emphatic contrast with the solemn prohibition, which preceded it.
Now, in the solemn prohibition, Paul employs the noun logos (λόγος), which refers to the content of the conversations that the members of the Gentile Christian community have with themselves and denotes the manner in which they speak to each other.
It is modified by the adjective pas (πᾶς), which pertains to any one of a totality or in other words, it not only denotes totality but is also used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.
It is in the first attributive position (adjective-noun), which indicates that this adjective is ascribing greater emphasis to the conversations which the members of the Gentile Christian community engage in with each other.
The noun stoma (στόμα), “mouth” pertains to the natural opening through which food passes into the body of a human being and which speech comes forth and is typically bound externally by the lips and internally by the pharynx and encloses the tongue, gums and teeth.
The articular construction of this word is employed with the genitive second person plural form of the personal pronoun su (σύ), which refers to the recipients of this epistle, who were Gentile Christians in the Roman province of Asia.
This is indicated by the contents of Ephesians 2:11 and by the fact that this is a circular letter written to the various Christian communities in the Roman province of Asia.
The word not only refers to them as a corporate unit but is also used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions and thus referring to them as individuals as well.
This noun is also the object of the preposition ek (ἐκ), which functions as a marker of source indicating these harmful words must not “originate from” the mouths of these Gentile Christians.
The verb ekporeuomai (ἐκπορεύομαι) pertains to something coming forth from something.
The referent of the third person singular form of this verb is any harmful word spoken by the members of the Gentile Christian community when engaging in conversations with each other.
The meaning of the verb ekporeuomai (ἐκπορεύομαι) is negated by the negative particle me (μή), which denies the idea of the meaning of this verb.
Together, they form a prohibition, which forbids the recipients of this epistle from letting any harmful words proceed from their mouths while engaging in conversations with each other.
Therefore, these two words pertain to any harmful word “not proceeding” out from the mouths of the members of the Gentile Christian community when speaking with each other.
The adjective sapros (σαπρός) pertains to that which is harmful in view of its being unwholesome and corrupting and asserts that any harmful word must never proceed from their mouths while they are engaging in conversations with each other.
Now, the present imperative conjugation of the verb ekporeuomai (ἐκπορεύομαι) is a customary present imperative, which has the force of a general precept and makes no comment about whether the action is going on or not.
However, Paul affirms in Ephesians 1:15 that the recipients of this epistle were practicing the love of God when interacting with each other as a result of obeying the Lord Jesus Christ’s Spirit inspired command in Ephesians 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another as He has loved the believer.
The present tense of this verb is a customary present tense, which is used to signal a regularly occurring action on the part of the subject of the verb.
Therefore, it expresses the idea of any harmful word “regularly” or “habitually” not proceed out of the mouths of the recipients of this epistle.
One of the manifestations a believer is providing for the spiritual needs of a fellow believer is by communicating to them the Word of God.
