Everyday Blasphemy

Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show every courtesy to everyone. Titus 3:1-2

The instructions that Paul wants Titus to relay to the Christians on Crete include not “to speak evil” of anyone. The Greek word he uses, βλασφημεῖν, (blasphemein) is where we get the English verb “to blaspheme”. I imagine many Christians would consider blasphemy a grave sin, especially because of Jesus’ warning against blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Luke 12:10) and because blasphemy is named as one of the sins committed against Jesus in his Passion (Luke 22:65). Serious indeed! We might think is only related to how we might speak of God, but Paul indicates that it creeps easily into our everyday conversation about others, and perhaps how we speak about others is also how we speak about God too.

If speaking evil of others is blasphemy against them, and is a sin, why do we find many Christians frequently ranting about those they believe are in the wrong? A brief survey of social media finds Christians saying derogatory things about people they do not like, those who live or act differently than their own values, and generally railing against others at apparently the same frequency as those who do not profess an allegiance to Christ. Why do we engage in disparaging, hateful, negative, and evil talk about others if this is the sin of blasphemy?

Some English translations seem to absolve us of sin in this matter by translating “speak evil against” as “slander”, which means saying something false. With this translation, the defense could be “but we aren’t slandering anyone because what we are saying is true.” In essence, one would argue that as long as what we say is true, we may speak all the evil we want about others. But is Paul only forbidding untrue derogatory speech?

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, despicable, hating one another. Titus 3:3

Paul does not appear to be talking about false statements because he continues with this observation that we all have been guilty of the same behavior. It makes no sense to say “do not say false negative things about others” because ”you truly did the same things.” If he were actually talking about slander, then the only way it would make sense is to say “don’t falsely accuse others because you have been falsely accused before.” But he doesn’t say that. These Christians were, in fact, guilty of the same type of behavior.

Paul is saying don’t blaspheme them over behavior which you yourselves have done as well. Nothing here seems to be about slander. For Paul it is the height of hypocrisy to say such things about the sins of others when we ourselves have sinned in similar ways. The context is not about slander, but about maligning others for their sinful behavior. This is not to be done, because, though it may be true, it is still the sin of blasphemy. 

In a world where this everyday blasphemy against others is so sorrowfully common, our own humility and contriteness over our past sins should make us kind, forgiving, and gracious instead. We should not be contributing the amount of blasphemy against one another that happens daily, but always speaking as Paul instructs:

Your speech must always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person. Colossians 4:6