11 Sins of the Tongue

The Corrupt tongue: foul speech, cursing, coarse humor, obscene language, derogatory comments, racial comments, belittling, insulting, etc. (Colossians 3:8)

The Flattering Tongue: exaggerating the good qualities of others in order to find favor with them. The “flatterer” appeals to your ego, but their praise is far from sincere. (Psalm 12:3)

The Gossiping Tongue (talebearer): spreading confidential, unnecessary, or hurtful information (whether it’s true or false) about others. (Proverbs 18:8)

The Backbiting Tongue: talking about others behind their backs, injuring their reputations through defamation. (Proverbs 25:23)

The Critical tongue: critical tongues are destructive, mostly focusing on the negative; they build themselves up at the expense of tearing others down. In everything give thanks and focus on the positives. (1 Thessalonians 5:18, Philippians 4:8)

The Proud Tongue: speaking boastfully or in an arrogant way. A proud tongue loves to boast about himself and doesn’t realize he’s doing it. (Proverbs 8:13)

The Tongue that sows discord: or divisive words are seeds that bloom into feuds, quarreling, strife, cliques, contentions, constitute schisms, and confusion.  (Proverbs 6:17-19)

Talking too much: saying too much usually increases the opportunity to sin by the excess of words. (Proverbs 10:19)

Talking too soon: speaking before one should. This tongue makes assumptions without having all of the facts and their words are reckless and careless. (James 1:19)

The argumentative (angry) tongue: speaking in an overly opinionated way, attacking others personally, and/or provoking unnecessary division. This tongue always leads to arguing and displays of temper. (Proverbs 14:17, Proverbs 29:22)

The judgmental tongue: to form an opinion or draw a conclusion about someone based solely on beliefs, appearances, or reputation, i.e., incomplete information. (Matthew 7:1-2)