You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
29 Let[sapros] no[me][pas] corrupt[sapros] communication[logos]
proceed[ekporeuomai] out of[ek] your[humon] mouth,[stoma] but[alla] that which[ei
tis] is good[agathos]
to[pros] the use[chreia] of edifying,[oikodome]
that[hina] it may minister[didomi] grace[charis] unto the
hearers.[akouo] KJV-Interlinear
29 Let no
unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for
edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to
those who hear. NASB
Humanity is a social creature. We walk, we talk, we interact with others everyday throughout our lives.
We are a mix of personalities and beliefs, and attitudes, and so forth.
More often than not, we clash. And, from a persons younger years and school friend interactions, to our older years and whatever social skills we have learned, or have not learned, we are always going to be faced with differing opinions and behaviors.
Thus the temptation to be defensive or opinionated is always present. And often times that interaction is negative and not productive.
So the old saying, 'If you can't say anything good, then don't say anything,' comes into focus.
Anything that is not productive or helpful, need not be said. It does no good. It only promotes bad feelings or worse.
Therefore, let all that you think and therefore say, be productive, such that it helps others, rather than creating adversarial situations.
This does not mean that all of your conversation should be of an academic nature. Certainly most conversations are simply for social interaction, casual conversation, entertaining, informative, fun and so forth.
No one will want to hear doctrinal lectures 24/7. But everyone wants to hear variety, and positive, and upbeat, and informative, and fun conversation.
Positive reaps positive, so the promotion of the positive is certainly more beneficial than the pursuit of complaints, or gossip, or the sour grapes attitude, or the maligning of others.
Negatives do no good, and only serve to set yourself back, as well as sowing discontent in others. Nobody wins.
Positives on the other hand, serve to edify, 'oikodome,' which stands for the architectural structure of the soul. It means to build, to construct, to confirm as in the verification that something is really there.
So the positives of life, and certainly doctrine, all help in the construction, the completion, the structural integrity of your own soul as well as that of others.
So, you are responsible for your own soul, just as others are responsible for their own soul, but we all have a certain responsibility to others as well.
