Ver. 29. +Let no corrupt communication.+--R.V. "speech." Putrid speech can never come forth from any but a bad person, "for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." +But that which is good to the use of edifying.+--The word in season "fitly spoken" has an æsthetic charm (Prov. xxv. 11), but it was more necessary to teach these loquacious Asiatics the utilitarian end of having a human tongue. "It is the mere talk, whether frivolous or pompous--spoken from the pulpit or the easy-chair--the incontinence of tongue, the flux of senseless, graceless, unprofitable utterance that St. Paul desires to arrest" (_Findlay_). Ver. 30. +Grieve not.+--"Do not make Him sorrow." A strong figure like that which says that God was sorry that He had made man (Gen. vi. 6). +Whereby ye are sealed.+--Cf. ch. i. 13. "In whom ye were sealed" (R.V.) Ver. 31. +Let all bitterness.+--_i.e._ "of speech." "Sarcasm I now see to be, in general, the language of the devil," said one liberally endowed with it. The satirist Hipponax--a native of Ephesus--was called "the bitter." Such a man as "speaks poniards," and whose "every word stabs," may be brilliant and a formidable opponent; he will never be loved. +Wrath and anger.+--The former is the _fuming_ anger, "the intoxication of the soul," as St. Basil calls it; the latter is the state after the paroxysm is over, cherishing hatred and planning revenge. +Clamour and railing.+--"Clamour" is the loud outcry so familiar in an Eastern concourse of excited people (Acts xxiii. 9), like that hubbub in Ephesus when for two hours the populace yelled, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians" (Acts xix. 28). "Railing," blasphemy--speech that is calculated to do injury. +Malice.+--"Badness." "This last term is separated from the others as generic and inclusive" (_Beet_). Ver. 32. +Be ye kind.+--The word is found in Christ's invitation to the weary--"My yoke is easy." It is characteristic of the Father that "He is _kind_ to the unthankful." The man who drinks wine that is new and harsh says, "The old is _good_" (mellow). +Tenderhearted.+--Soon touched by the weakness of others. +Forgiving . . . as God . . . forgave you.+--The motive and measure of our forgiveness of injuries is the Divine forgiveness shown to "all that debt" of our wrong-doing (Matt. xviii. 32). _MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 1-3. _The Dignity of the Christian Life_--