λόγος campos the apostle includes, as appears from Col. 3, 8, all irreligious, malicious and impure language, which not only injures others, but grieves the Holy Spirit. As a temple is sacred, and every thing that pro- fanes it is an offence to God, so the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the people of God is made the reason why we should treat them with reverence, as this apostle teaches when he says, ‘“ Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him will God destroy ; for thé temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” 1 Cor. 8, 16. 171. To pollute, therefore, the souls of believers by suggesting irreli- gious or impure thoughts to them, is a profanation of the temple of God and an offence to the Holy Ghost. This is one phase of the truth here presented. An- other, and the one more immediately intended in this clause is, that the blessed Spirit who condescends to dwell in our own hearts is grieved and offended whenever we thus sin. Thus in 1 Cor. 6, 19, Paul says, “ What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” Reverence, therefore, for the Holy Spirit who dwells in others, and for that same Spirit as dwelling in ourselves, should prevent our ever giving utterance to a corrupting thought. The Spirit, says the apostle, zs grieved. Not only is his holiness offended, but his love is wounded. If any thing can add to the guilt of such conduct, it is its ingratitude, for it is by him, as the apostle adds, We are sealed unto the day of
CHAP. Iv. vs. 30. 31. 275
redemption. His indwelling certifies that we are the children of God, and secures our final salvation. See 1, 13. To grieve Him, therefore, is to wound him on whom our salvation depends. Though he will not finally withdraw from those in whom he dwells, yet when grieved he withholds the manifestations of his presence. And a disregard for those manifestations is proof that we have not the Spirit of Christ and are none of his. ;
The apostle next exhorts his readers to put away all malicious and revengeful feelings, to be kind and forgiving. This exhortation is enforced by the con- sideration of the mercy of God, and the great love of Christ, vs. 31—ch. V. 2.
V. 31. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you. These are intimately related evils. Bitterness, a word transferred from the sphere of sensations to that of the mind. The adjective w«pos means sharp, as an arrow, then pungent to the taste, disagreeable, and then ven- omous. The poisonous water given to the woman sus- pected of adultery, Numbers 5, 18, is called the “ bitter water.” The word bitterness, therefore, in its figura- tive sense means what is corroding, as grief, or any thing which acts on the mind as poison does on the body, or on the minds of others as venom does on their bodies. The venom of the serpent lies harmless in his fang; but all evil feelings are poison to the subject of them as well as venom to their object. The com- mand, therefore, to lay aside all bitterness, is a com-