Drunken Speech

At the age of twenty, I enlisted in the United States Air Force to serve in the Wisconsin National Guard. After basic training, I spent months in a job-specific school in Biloxi. While that season ultimately became defining for the work of God’s grace in my life, it was, at the time, spiritually destructive. For the first time, I was exposed to an atmosphere and set of influences that I’d never encountered and for which I wasn’t prepared.

One of the most dominate activities on the weekends — freed from classwork and strict oversight — was drinking. Not the moderate use of alcohol, for which there is no harm, but uncontrolled debauchery and drunkenness. And while drunkenness is sinful in itself, its wickedness is compounded by the many other sins it produces in those under its influence.

The Bible warns of this plainly: “Wine is a mocker, Strong drink is a brawler, And whoever is led astray by it is not wise” (Prov. 20:1). One of the places this folly is most evident, or rather most audible, is in drunken speech. The tongue is already a “restless evil” (Jas. 3:8), and the intoxicated tongue more so. Drunken speech is usually louder, harsher, and more confident than wise. It curses and is full of bitterness and mockery. It’s aggressive, provocative, and unreasonable. It escalates and is reckless.

This is no small matter. Drunken speech undermines the very purpose for which God has given human communication. It’s contrary to both nature and grace. As the Bible also warns, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Prov. 18:21). Drunken words cannot bring life and healing; they are an open grave, full of poison.

Alcohol, however, didn’t create those kinds of words. It simply removed the restraints. At that becomes part of the Bible’s deeper concern: the absence of restraint. Drunkenness is condemned not simply because it’s overindulgence in a good thing, but because it places a person under a controlling influence that loosens judgment and untethers the tongue from wisdom. In that sense, drunken speech doesn’t need to be confined to those who are intoxicated. This is Paul’s logic, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18). Any communication not governed by the Holy Spirit shares the same moral character with drunken speech, even if the speaker hasn’t had a sip.

Viewed in this light, it becomes clear why so much public discourse — especially on social media — bears the marks of drunken speech. A kind of communication is being promoted, in posts, podcasts, and back-and-forth exchanges, that sounds exactly like drunken speech. Not because the words are slurred, but because there’s no evidence of restraint. Tragically, this is true among some men who claim a measure of influence in conservative Christian and Reformed circles.

Social media is not a restrained place. It rewards immediacy, outrage, and unfiltered reaction. It encourages speech that is loud, over-confident, and provocative rather than careful, patient and wise. Words are offered quickly and publicly, often without regard for their end or effect. Unrestrained, so much of the dialogue on social media is aggressive without courage, arrogant without humility, performative without faithfulness, and reckless without love. The danger isn’t that such speech is unkind or unhelpful, but that it reflects a posture in which the tongue is no longer governed by the Spirit. In this way, the digital sphere has become a place where drunken speech flourishes, and fails to “impart grace to the hearers” (Eph. 4:29).

Scripture forbids this kind of communication and also gives us a better kind of speech — one governed by the Holy Spirit. Again, Paul’s contrast isn’t between silence and speech, but between controlling influences. To be filled with the Spirit is to have our words brought under a wiser ruler than ourselves, shaped not by our own tendencies and sinfulness, but by grace and truth.

Speech governed by the Spirit will be marked by those things the Spirit values and works out, through sanctification, in the lives of the children of God. In contrast to drunken speech, what does Spirit-governed speech sound like?

It’s the kind of speech marked by control and intention. The Psalmist knew how prone he was to recklessness with his words, and so he prayed, “Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips” (Ps. 141:3). Words should be carefully chosen, and helpfully applied to benefit those who hear (see Col. 3:16).

It’s the kind of speech that is faithful and reasonable. Our words must not deceive (1 Pt. 3:10), and they must speak the truth (Eph. 4:15). Yet truth must be spoken with restraint and reasonableness. As Paul exhorts, “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone” (Phil 4:5), correcting others with meekness and humility (2 Tim. 2:25).

It’s the kind of speech that builds up and aims at peace. Solomon observed, “A soft answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger” (Prov. 15:1), and elsewhere, “There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, But the tongue of the wise promotes health” (Prov. 12:18). Yes, sometimes our words will create needed conflict but it’s conflict to the end of making peace.

Spirit-governed speech is the verbal outworking of that wisdom that is from above, which is “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy” (Jas. 3:17). That’s the goal. Not quieter Christians, but wiser ones; not muted tongues, but spiritually mature speech. Such speech is ultimately patterned after Jesus Christ, the obedient Son, whose every word — his firmness with the Pharisees, rebukes of the disciples, and his welcome of infants — was spoken under the authority of the Father and for the life of the world.

Drunken speech is ultimately a matter of governance. It reveals what rules the heart and, in turn, directs the tongue. Where restraint is absent, wisdom gives way to sinful impulses, and words that should bless instead curse others. Speech not influenced by the Spirit cannot bear the fruit of life.

Controlled speech is especially needed in digital spaces, where speech that isn’t honoring to God is often rewarded by men — with clicks, likes, and follows. In such environments, speech easily takes on the marks of intoxication. Spirit-governed words, by contrast, stand out because they are controlled, reasonable, gentle, and peace-making. In a culture that is too used to unrestrained speech, grace-filled communication is a verbal witness to a better influence — to the one with whom we are to be filled: the Spirit of God.