Ephesians 4:31 tells believers to let go of bitterness, anger, harsh speech, and malice, rather than holding onto them. Paul writes it to the church in Ephesus as part of a longer instruction about how a changed life should look in everyday relationships.
Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander, be put away from you, with all malice.
Ephesians 4:31 (WEB)
What Ephesians 4:31 Means
The verse begins with “all bitterness,” which points to a lingering resentment that settles into the heart and sours how we see people. “Wrath” and “anger” describe the heat of the moment, the sudden flare that can rise in a conversation or a traffic jam. Paul then names “outcry,” the loud, angry shouting that breaks out when feelings boil over, and “slander,” speech that tears someone down behind their back. The verse ends with “malice,” the settled desire to see harm come to another person.
Paul’s language is plain and broad. He lists the whole range, from quiet grudges to open shouting, and asks that all of it be “put away,” a phrase that suggests taking off a dirty garment and setting it aside. The verse does not promise that the feelings will vanish the moment we decide to drop them, and it does not say that anger is never appropriate in every circumstance. It asks for a clear decision to stop nursing these attitudes and to stop letting them shape our words and actions.
The Context of Ephesians 4:31
Ephesians is a letter traditionally attributed to the apostle Paul, written to Christians in and around the city of Ephesus, a major commercial and religious center in the Roman province of Asia. Paul spends the first three chapters explaining what God has done for believers in Christ, and then in chapter four he turns to how that new identity should show up in community life. Verse 31 sits inside a cluster of practical instructions about honesty, work, speech, and forgiveness.
The verses just before it warn against corrupt speech and against grieving the Holy Spirit, and the verse right after it calls believers to kindness, tenderness, and forgiveness, “just as God also in Christ forgave you.” That surrounding material shows that Paul is not describing a private emotional problem alone. He is describing how the words and attitudes of a community either build it up or wear it down. Read this way, the list in verse 31 is a catalogue of what damages relationships, and the call to put it away is tied directly to the forgiveness that the believers have received.
Key Phrases in Ephesians 4:31
Colossians 3:8
But now you also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth.
(WEB)
Paul uses a similar list in his letter to the Colossians, urging believers to put off anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy talk. Reading the two passages together shows that this was a consistent teaching in Paul’s churches about the speech and attitudes that belong to the old life.
Ephesians 4:32
And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.
(WEB)
The verse immediately following calls for kindness and forgiveness in place of the attitudes just named. It shows the positive side of the instruction, since putting away bitterness makes room for the tenderheartedness Paul describes.
A Short Prayer From Ephesians 4:31
Lord, I confess that bitterness and anger find their way into my heart more easily than I would like. Some of the resentments I carry are old, and some of the words I speak in frustration come too quickly. Help me to notice them early, to bring them honestly to you, and to let them go. Guard my mouth from slander and outcry, and give me the grace to speak only what builds others up. Thank you for forgiving me first. Teach me to live in that same forgiveness today. Amen.
