In Matthew 12:36, what does Christ mean when he says, “For every idle word … [man] shall give an account”?\u00a0 What is an “idle word”?\u00a0 Does “give an account” mean “suffer punishment” or “be required to explain”?<\/p>\n\t
“Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned<\/em>“(Matthew 12:34-37).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Have you ever heard someone say, “I didn’t really mean that! I wasn’t thinking.” Perhaps you’ve said something similar yourself. An idle word is one that you said without careful consideration. Jesus’ point is that you can tell a lot about a person’s character, not by the major things they say, but by the little things which slip out when they aren’t putting much effort into being careful.<\/p>\n
When we go before God on Judgment Day, God will review everything we have done and said while on earth. It won’t be limited to only the major events of our lives, but He will consider the small things we let slip when we weren’t on guard because those things are more reflective of who we are than anything else. We will have to explain why we said what we said. The phrase “given an account” literally means “give words.”<\/p>\n
While Jesus is warning us that there will be no excuses before God, his point is useful in dealing with people. You can’t read a man’s mind or see into his soul as God can, but you can pay attention to what a person says. The little things which slip out when a person thinks no one is listening, or the things blurted out when a person wasn’t thinking, are more accurate insights into the character of a person than all his considered pleas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: In Matthew 12:36, what does Christ mean when he says, “For every idle word … [man] shall give an account”?\u00a0 What is an “idle word”?\u00a0 Does “give an account” mean “suffer punishment” or “be required to explain”? Answer: “Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[981,76],"class_list":["post-19803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-communication","tag-terminology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32345,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-we-be-judged-by-everything-we-say-here-on-earth\/","url_meta":{"origin":19803,"position":0},"title":"Will we be judged by everything we say here on earth?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What does it mean we will be judged by one day by every word we have spoken here on earth? Does it mean that by just haven spoken something bad that those words will condemn us at judgment then even if we have repented of it? Answer: \"A good\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58185,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/idle-words\/","url_meta":{"origin":19803,"position":1},"title":"Idle Words (Thomas)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Craig Thomas \"Help, LORD, for the godly man ceases to be, for the faithful disappear from among the sons of men. They speak falsehood to one another; with flattering lips and with a double heart they speak. May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that speaks\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38972,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-make-bad-things-happen-by-speaking-about-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":19803,"position":2},"title":"Can you make bad things happen by speaking about them?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can you put bad things and words into the universe by saying them?\u00a0 My husband says in Mathew 12:35-37 it says you can.\u00a0 When I try to tell him his son is going to die if he keeps using drugs, he tells me I am putting that into the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59577,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-sin-of-jesting\/","url_meta":{"origin":19803,"position":3},"title":"The Sin of Jesting","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kent Heaton \"Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children: And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27366,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-we-are-forgiven-of-our-sins-as-christians-what-is-the-judgment-for\/","url_meta":{"origin":19803,"position":4},"title":"If we are forgiven of our sins as Christians, what is the Judgment for?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Romans 14:12 says: \"So then every one of us shall give an account of himself to God\" and Matthew 12:36 says: \"But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.\" Both of these verses state\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87375,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/idle-words-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":19803,"position":5},"title":"Idle Words (Norman)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 31, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Morris Norman via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 17 No. 1, 31 March 1991 \"And I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19803\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}