Ephesians 4:31 Meaning and Explanation
“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:”
King James Version (KJV)
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Read Full Chapter →Lists in Scripture reward slow reading. Here Paul traces the life cycle of resentment, moving from something settled in the heart to raised voices and damaging speech, then names the root beneath all of it. Anyone who has watched a friendship or a congregation come apart will recognize the sequence, which is why the verse repays attention.
Paul names five related habits of hostility and asks that the whole cluster be carried out of the community, with the underlying ill will removed along with them.
The Context of Ephesians 4:31
Verse thirty-one belongs to the closing run of instructions in chapter four, which began at verse twenty-five with the principle that we are members one of another. Verse twenty-six had allowed anger with a deadline attached; verse thirty-one addresses what anger becomes when the deadline passes. Verse thirty warns against grieving the holy Spirit of God, and this list follows immediately, which links these behaviors to that grief. Verse thirty-two supplies the replacement in kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness. Chapter five then opens with the call to be followers of God as dear children.
What Does Ephesians 4:31 Mean?
The five terms move outward from the inside. Bitterness names a sourness that settles in and colors everything. Wrath suggests a boiling over, the sudden heat of temper. Anger points to the more settled state underneath it. Clamour is noise, the shouting and uproar of a quarrel that others can hear. Evil speaking is the word behind blasphemy, used here of speech that tears down a person's name. Paul then adds with all malice, the deliberate wish for harm that supplies energy to the rest. The verb, be put away from you, pictures removal, carrying something out and setting it down elsewhere.
Placing this list right after the warning about grieving the Spirit is deliberate. Chapter four has argued from verse three onward that oneness is the Spirit's work, held in the bond of peace. Every item on this list attacks that bond. Scripture treats such attitudes as community poison. The letter to the Hebrews warns of a root of bitterness springing up and defiling many, borrowing an image from Deuteronomy. Paul's remedy operates at the level of a shared life. He addresses a congregation together, which means the removal he asks for happens in how people speak to each other week by week.
Verse thirty-two supplies what makes verse thirty-one workable, and it ends at the cross. We forgive one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us. The order matters. Mercy received becomes mercy extended, and a person who has been carried can carry someone else. Peter records that Jesus, when reviled, returned no reviling, which is the living picture of clamour and evil speaking laid down. Paul had already described in chapter two how Christ made peace between groups that had every reason to hate. The list here asks a congregation to live inside that peace.
Ephesians 4:31 in the Original Language
pikria (πικρία), 'bitterness' -- a noun from a word for a sharp or bitter taste, used of poison and of undrinkable water. Applied to a person, it names a resentment that has soured over time and now flavors every judgment. Its placement first in the list suggests it feeds what follows.
Bible Verses Related to Ephesians 4:31
“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
- Ephesians 4:32
“But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.”
- Colossians 3:8
“Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;”
- Hebrews 12:15
“And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”
- Ephesians 4:30
Where Ephesians 4:31 Echoes in Scripture
Colossians 3:8 carries a nearly matching list, naming anger, wrath, malice, and abusive speech together with a call to put them off. The shared vocabulary across two letters suggests Paul had a settled way of describing the wreckage that hostility leaves. Colossians uses clothing language for the removal, while Ephesians uses the image of carrying something out. Both aim at the same result, a community where the raw material of feuding has been taken off the premises.
How to Apply Ephesians 4:31 Today
Removal is an action with a location. We can ask which name on our list still produces a tightening in the chest, then trace what we do with that feeling. It often shows up as a tone in a message, a story retold with a certain emphasis, or a joke at someone's expense. Naming one of those and stopping it this week is real obedience. Where the grievance is legitimate, we can bring the actual complaint to the person or to God, since a wrong addressed loses much of its power to sour. Verse thirty-two gives the replacement to practice in its place.
Reflection & Prayer
If bitterness feeds the rest of the list, where did ours first take root, and has it ever been spoken aloud to anyone? Consider telling God the whole story tonight. Lord, I have carried some of this for a long time and it has changed how I see people. Take it from me. Make me kind where I have grown hard. Amen.