📖 Biblical Definition
Joking, especially the kind that Scripture identifies as improper for saints — coarse, crude, off-color, or making sport of holy things. Ephesians 5:4: Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. The Greek eutrapelia (jesting) names the witty turn that has gone in the wrong direction — speech that gets laughs at the expense of holiness or virtue. Proverbs 26:18-19 captures a related pattern: As a mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, So is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am not I in sport? The cover of jest is often the smuggling of cruelty, of mockery of the holy, or of sexual coarseness past the natural protection of shame. The Christian is not joyless; Proverbs honors a merry heart that doeth good like a medicine (17:22). The line is between godly laughter that brightens and ungodly jesting that corrupts. The first is commanded; the second is forbidden.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Joking, especially improper or coarse joking.
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Words spoken in mirth or play; especially the foolish talking and coarse jesting Paul rules out of place among saints (Eph 5:4) and the dangerous jesting of Proverbs 26 — 'Am I not in sport?' — by which a man hides destruction under a joke.
📖 Key Scripture
Ephesians 5:4 — "Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks."
Proverbs 26:18-19 — "As a mad man who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, So is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am I not in sport?"
Ecclesiastes 7:6 — "For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Defended as harmless fun, missing how Paul lists it among character violations of saintly speech.
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Paul does not condemn humor; he condemns 'jesting' — the coarse, double-meaning, sacred-belittling kind. The man who jests about everything has no holy ground left. Recover the distinction between cheerful holy laughter and the corrosive jest.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Greek eutrapelia — coarse jesting.
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['Greek', 'G2160', 'eutrapelia', 'ribaldry, coarse jesting']
['Hebrew', 'H7832', 'sachaq', 'to laugh, sport']
Usage
"Be cheerful; not coarsely jesting."
"Holy laughter is not corrosive jest."