Ephesians 4:31 tells believers to set aside bitterness, anger, harsh outcry, slander, and malice. Paul is not asking for a show of calm on the surface. He is describing the inner habits that poison relationships and the speech that flows from them. The words come from the apostle Paul, writing to the church in Ephesus and to Christians across the region who were learning what their new life in Christ should look like in ordinary days.
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 bitterness, a settled resentment that sours the heart over time. Wrath and anger are the heat that rises when that resentment is stirred, and outcry is the loud, public form that heat can take when voices rise and words get thrown. Slander is speech aimed at harming someone’s reputation, usually by saying what is untrue or twisting what is true. Malice is the underlying ill will that keeps all of these things alive. Paul lists them as a group because they tend to travel together in a single heart.
Notice the verb: these things are to be “put away.” The picture is of taking off a dirty garment and leaving it behind. Paul is writing to people who have been made new in Christ, and he expects them to make real changes in how they treat one another. The verse does not promise that anger will never be felt, since the wider Scriptures recognize that some anger is a natural response to wrong. What it forbids is letting anger harden into bitterness, sharpen into slander, and settle into malice.
The Context of Ephesians 4:31
Ephesians was traditionally attributed to Paul, and it was written to a community of believers who had come out of pagan and Jewish backgrounds and were now being formed into one body. Chapters 4 through 6 turn from the great truths of salvation in the earlier chapters to daily practice. Paul calls his readers to walk worthy of their calling, to live in unity, and to grow up into Christ, and verse 31 sits in the middle of that practical instruction.
The verses before and after show what Paul has in mind. Verse 29 asks that no corrupt talk come from the mouth but only what builds others up, and verse 30 warns against grieving the Holy Spirit. Verse 32 then gives the positive alternative: be kind, tender-hearted, and forgiving, just as God forgave you in Christ. Read in this setting, the verse is not a stand-alone rule about temper. It is one half of a contrast between a life that tears down and a life that builds up, and it shows that the way to live in grace is to drop the old habits and take up the new ones.
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 nearly the same vocabulary here, urging believers to put away anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy talk. Reading the two passages together shows how consistently the early church understood the call to lay aside these habits.
Proverbs 15:1
A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
(WEB)
This proverb describes how a gentle answer turns away wrath while harsh words stir it up. It offers a practical picture of how the call to put away anger works out in an actual conversation.
A Short Prayer From Ephesians 4:31
Lord, you see the bitterness I have been carrying and the words I have been tempted to throw at others. I confess that some of my anger has hardened into resentment, and some of my speech has been sharper than it should be. Help me to set these things down before you. Give me the grace to forgive as you have forgiven me, and let my words be shaped by your kindness rather than by my hurt. Fill my heart with your peace so that what comes out of my mouth builds up those around me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
