Growing up, we all know how name-calling is bad and how bad it hurts to be at the receiving end. Unfortunately, this hasn’t stopped many of us from committing it especially in social media where it is easiest to do. For us, Christians, we know from the Bible that we should not engage in name-calling (Matt. 5:22) but did you know there are instances where the prophets, apostles, and even Jesus Himself called people names?!

In the Old Testament, Job called his friends (perhaps with great merit) “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2) while the prophets did not mince words when denouncing the sins of their people.

               Hosea 1:4 “adulterers”

               Joel 1:5 “drunkards”

               Amos 4:1 “cows”

               Micah 6:10 “wicked house”

               Nahum 3:1 “city of blood”

               Hab. 2 extortionists, plunderers, murderers

               Zeph. 3:1 oppressors, rebellious and defiled

               Malachi 3:9 robbers

Jesus unleashed a lot on the Pharisees for their fake piety by calling them “hypocrites,” “blind guides,” “blind fools,” “blind men,” “whitewashed tombs,” “snakes,” and “brood of vipers” in Matthew 23 and Luke 11. This prompted one of the experts in the law to say to Him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.” Did that stop Jesus? No, instead, He turned his tirades against them (Luke 11:46-47).

The apostles followed the pattern: James described his fellow believers as “adulterous” (4:4) while Paul called the brethren in Galatia “foolish” (Galatians 3:1).

Does this make the prophets, apostles, and most especially Jesus a hypocrite? No. Scriptures forbids us to call people names because most of the time, when we do this, it is out of anger or malice. We are retaliating because they have hurt us or our loved ones. We also do it out of envy and inferiority complex so we try to pull them down. But Jesus et al did it to expose the true nature of their audience. They knew their heart; they could see through thus they were able to call a spade a spade. The prophets and apostles spoke God’s Word while Jesus was the Word. And that’s the difference. We can’t see people’s hearts, their true nature, and their motives but more importantly, we know our own hearts, our true nature and our motives. We are then not in the position to be judging people when we ourselves are guilty of the very same thing. Instead of pointing fingers at others and casting aspersions with our malicious hearts, let us instead examine ourselves and “(l)et all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from (us), along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave (us).” (Eph. 4:31-32, cf. Col. 3:8).