Instinctively and through general Christian understanding, we know (or at least sense) that swearing is not a good thing to do. Finding substitute words that sound similar just sidesteps the problem. For example, replacing “By God” with “By gosh” or using “darn” in place of “damn” might ease our conscience, but that effort seems a bit legalistic. When quoting people that include swearing in their statements, the media will print the first letter of the word followed by a series of under-dashes equal to the number of remaining letters in the word. Everyone knows the word, but it gives a false sense of maintaining decorum or a “G” rating for the news outlet. Ironically, in so doing, the secular news media have reduced themselves to a very legalist practice when the word itself is so bad it can’t be printed. The alternate symbols (including %#*$!) convey what the word is anyway. This seems rather ridiculous and hypocritical.

Maybe the problem is not so much with the “don’t” but with embracing the “do.”  As with all of the Christian life, focusing on what we should do makes it easier to avoid what we shouldn’t do. Lest anyone thinks what I am about to say borders on legalism, understand that legalism has the idea that if we follow a list of behavioral constraints, God keeps a checklist and rewards us with His blessing. That is not how we came to Christ in salvation, and it is not how we should live our lives as saved individuals. Read what Paul says:

[In Christ] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument … Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. (Col. 2:3-4, 6-7 emphasis added).

Legalism comes into play when we are motivated to somehow merit God’s grace by our good behavior. However, as we just read above, we have already been rooted in Christ, He has given us everything that pertains to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3), and we have been blessed “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). We don’t, and we can’t, gain more of God’s blessing, for we already have been blessed, undeservedly. How can we possibly deserve more of what we already have in its fullness? So we need to continue in our walk of faith, building on the foundation of what Christ has done for us. And we do this in the same way as we came to Christ for forgiveness and salvation: by faith in a gracious God who gives us what we don’t and never could deserve.

Therefore, in dealing with swearing, we are not suggesting a legalistic process of avoiding bad words as a means of spiritual growth. Paul anticipated this problem in his letter to the Colossian believers. He writes that living by decrees such as, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch” may have “the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence” (Col. 2:21-23). It doesn’t take a theologian to see a ready application to the subject of swearing; letting loose with swear words is very much “fleshly indulgence.” Reining it in may look “Christian,” but that won’t help with the underlying problem. (Paul’s letter to the Colossians speaks more on this issue, but we leave that for another time.)

So then, what should we do about the problem of swearing? Who of us hasn’t at times had the words come into our mind when we hit our thumb with a hammer? Rather than wallow in our failure to “live the outwardly Christian life,” we do better at focusing inwardly on what is important to God. The antidote to swearing can be found in the following passage, which applies to many areas of life besides swearing. The answer is this: we should allow God to transform our thinking, to renew our minds (Rom. 12:1) through bringing “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). As we think in our minds, so are we. We need to, therefore, train our minds to think on the things that will help us grow in our faith. What, then, are those things? Paul tells us:

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. (Phil. 4:8–9)

The more time we spend reading God’s Word, hearing it preached, meditating on it, and praying over it, the more our minds will be continuously revolutionized. And we will become more like the things we think about. Read over this list carefully. Our reactions to life and conflict won’t change through external restrictive disciplines but through a spiritual metamorphosis, where we are changed internally. As we grow in our faith through the power of His Word in our lives, we will have less need for the expletives that so easily govern our emotional responses to life situations. A homeowner that wants to keep weeds out of his yard is best served by growing and maintaining a healthy lawn; there will be no room for the weeds to take root and grow. So in the Christian life, the more time we spend cultivating God’s thoughts in our minds, the less room there will be for the weeds of unwholesome language, whatever those words might be. Come to think of it, this truth applies to every area of life and every temptation!