God has made Himself abundantly clear regarding His desire that Christians stand always ready to oppose falsehood and defend truth. We are to “expose” the works of darkness (Eph. 5:11, NKJV). We are to mark those who cause division in the body of Christ (Rom. 16:17). We are to “contend earnestly for the faith” (Jude 3). No doubt the church in many locations suffers at the hands of those who long ago decided that such admonitions were no longer welcome in their pulpits.

Yet God has been no less lucid in expressing His desire that Christians who contend for the faith not be quarrelsome and belligerent in the process. In recent years a problem has arisen within the church in which some, in their zeal to do battle against error of every kind (in itself, a noble pursuit), seem to have severed their affiliation with a number of Bible passages that call for gentleness in our communication with others – even those that we are obligated to oppose.

Colossians 4:6 states, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.” Let us consider the following...

The context of this section of Scripture finds Paul instructing Christians about their conduct in the presence of “outsiders,” that is, those who are outside the body of Christ (v. 5). Paul requests that his brethren pray that God would open to him doors of opportunity and that he would proclaim the gospel to the outsiders the way it ought to be proclaimed (vv. 3-4). From that prayer request comes an admonition for the Colossian Christians to make sure that they conduct themselves wisely in their relationships with those that they would try to reach with the gospel.

Part of that proper conduct included the proper use of their speech. Their words were to be “always with grace, seasoned with salt” (v. 6). According to a number of sources, the idea in this terminology is that we should so construct our speech as to make it palatable to the hearer (for example, see Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament, Vol. 3, pp. 510-511). G.G. Findlay describes this type of speech as “the kindly, winning pleasantness which makes the talk of a good and thoughtful man attractive” (Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 20, p. 210).

In short, Paul encourages all Christians, as we interact with people and encounter their opposition to Bible teaching, to make sure that we speak graciously, kindly and pleasantly. In this way, if they reject the truth we can be assured that they did not reject it because of our sour, argumentative and quarrelsome disposition. As Adam Clarke so ably put it, “A harsh method of proposing or defending the doctrines of Christianity only serves to repel men from those doctrines, and from the way of salvation” (Clarke’s Commentary, Vol. 6, p. 532).

Let us, therefore, never compromise the truth for anything or anyone. But let us never, by our surliness, be guilty of turning the sweet gospel into something sour (2 Tim. 2:24-26). If we do, we might cause the hearer to turn away from God wincing instead of turning to Him rejoicing.

Eddie Parrish