What does the Bible say about being mean-spirited?

(Vv. 14, 15). In contrast with the wise man, there are those who allow bitter envy and strife in their hearts. The evil, as ever, commences in the heart; and envy in the heart leads to boasting, and boasting to lying against the truth. How often the envious man will seek to hide his jealousy by protesting that he has no rancour in his heart, but is only resisting evil and standing for the truth. If, under the pretence of exposing some evil and telling a brother the plain truth for his good, we deliberately say things that are offensive, we may be perfectly sure that malice in the heart is behind our offensive words. How often have the most malicious words been excused by quoting the scripture, “Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend.” How few would be able to quote the words that immediately precede, and that would warn us that we should not use this scripture lightly, for they ask the question, “Who is able to stand before envy?” (Prov. 27:4-6).

How easy to deceive ourselves in the effort to excuse ourselves. How easy to indulge our malice under the plea that we are acting in faithfulness. Malice is a weed very common in our hearts; yet how rarely will anyone confess to entertaining a malicious feeling in the heart, or uttering a malicious word with the lips.

As brought to God, I have learned what God is as to His ways of grace (verses 31 and 32): "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Did God come and clamour against you in justice? He sent His Son to give Himself for you, and has forgiven you. There is a man that wronged me; I am going to forgive him, as God forgave me, and (if I am near enough to God to do it) to show out what we have been learning is the joy of our souls.

Again, the Apostle James desires that our hearts may be preserved from evil, when he warns us, "If ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth … for where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work" (James 3:14-16). Never has there been a scene of confusion and strife amongst the people of God that has not had its hidden root, of envy and strife, in the heart. We may be sure that the heart that entertains bitterness, envying, and strife, will be no garden for the Lord.

But however great one's knowledge, if there is bitter envying and strife in the heart, this kind of wisdom is not from above. For true. wisdom would lead us to unsparingly judge such motives. Notice too that envy and strife lead to boasting and lying against the truth. For these things stem from one's pride, and the truth speaks decidedly against self-exaltation: therefore if I justify my pride, I lie against the truth.

(V. 16). If envy and strife in the heart lead to boastful and lying words in the endeavour to excuse and cover the envy, the boastful and hypocritical words will produce scenes of disorder and confusion, which open the door to “every evil work”. Here, then, in plain and searching words we have laid bare the root cause of every scene of disorder that occurs amongst the people of God. Bitter envy and strife in the heart, finding expression in boastful and deceitful words, lead to “disorder and every evil thing” (N.Tn.).

Now all this is seen in fuller relief in the Epistle of James 3:13-18. "Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish." This is the wisdom that knows not God and crucified the Lord of glory. " or where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace." Here then we have the answer to the colours of the Rainbow as set forth in the moral realm. As the combination of colours in the Rainbow bespeaks the beauty and adorning of the material creation in the hands of the Holy Spirit, so we have here in detail the varied tints of moral colouring, in the moral realm which, by the operations of that same Spirit, reflect the wisdom of God as revealed in grace, glory and eternal counsel by, or through the Assembly, to the unseen ranges of heavenly intelligences above.

First, our apostle calls on the saints to have put away (if one may so phrase it) "all malice." That the word, though sometimes meaning "wickedness" in general, here refers to that special root of evil is evident from the other forms of iniquity with which it is joined. It appropriately begins the list as the opposite of love, the fervent love, which he had been enjoining on them as became brethren. Every kind of malice is unworthy of those born again, born of God Who is love; for it may hide its spirit of hatred, and assume many a disguise to accomplish its nefarious ends. What a complete contrast with Christ, and how close the resemblance to his enemy the devil, whose occupation is to tempt, and to persecute, as well as to accuse!

This being so, "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking be put away from you with all malice." (Ver. 31.) The very nearness into which the family of God is brought may become a snare unless there be watchfulness and a simple looking to Christ. But the Holy Ghost gives quarter to no evil feeling whatever. These are the breaches of our nearness; in the next chapter (ver. 3 and seq.) we shall find the abuses of it.

If we come to particulars, "all bitterness," I think, denotes every form of the sharp, unsparing mood which repels souls instead of winning them, and makes the most of the real or imagined faults of others. The "wrath and anger," next following, refer to the outburst of passion, and the more settled vindictive resentment, to which the indulgence of acrimony gives rise, a "clamour and evil speaking" are their respective counterparts in words: all flowing from the deep-seated fountain of "all malice," which is finally condemned in our verse. Thus, as we were warned against dishonesty in word and deed, before the allusion to the Holy Spirit's seal, so now, after it, hatred in its various parts and expressions is denounced. It is, alas, natural to the first man Adam — the same corruption and violence which brought the flood on the world of old, but, spite of God's judgment, renewed itself, and will, till Christ deal with man and Satan in person.

Should others offend us by the tongue, through the nasty things they say, we should be ready to forgive them, and not harbour unkind things in our hearts. Should we offend others by our unkind words, we should confess to them the wrong we have done.

"Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if we have bitter envying and strife in our hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth." (James 3:13-14.) Practically righteous we must be, upright, loving, pure, truthful, kind, meek, lowly, gracious, faithful, unselfish, scrupulously honest, and with the fear of God in our hearts, if we are to answer to the description of those whom He has redeemed from all iniquity to purify unto Himself, a peculiar people zealous of good works.