For sure, words are powerful things. God’s words were so powerful that they actually created everything (Genesis 1). But even the words of us humans can do powerful things. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 18:21 that “death and life are in the power of the tongue.” The power of life and death can be seen in jury trials, where witnesses and jury members can speak words that might literally determine whether a defendant lives or dies. Less extreme, but no less real, are the power of encouraging words to give hope and joy and the power of discouraging words to spark dismay and depression.
Jesus said, “I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken” (Matthew 12:36). The KJV translates “every empty word” as “every idle word”; the ESV says, “every careless word.” The Greek phrase is rema argos, meaning “careless or inactive or unprofitable words.” In context, Jesus is contrasting the “good things” within a good person with the “evil things” in the heart of an evil person. We are admonished to make the best use of our words, because words express what is in our hearts: “The mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Matthew 12:34).
In Matthew 12:37, the significance of words is that they will be used to gauge a person’s spiritual condition in the judgment: “For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” Jesus was speaking to a group of Pharisees who had just accused Jesus of being demon-possessed (verse 24). Jesus calls them a “brood of vipers” and asks them, “How can you who are evil say anything good?” (verse 34). Just as vipers have a mouthful of poison, so the Pharisees had evil words concerning the Savior.
