If you’re reading this, then either you or someone in your family is probably on Social Media. Unfortunately, many Christians today seem to view Social Media one of two ways: 

AN INVISIBILITY CLOAK:

Many view social media as an invisibility cloak, allowing them to post, comment, share, and tweet in hurtful, prideful, hateful, sinful ways, all-the-while believing that they are somehow anonymous. 

We approach social media as though there is no accountability for what we communicate. It is a free-for-all battlefield with no rules.  

A TIME-OUT: 

Others view social media as a time-out from their Christian life. They say they want to live and love like Jesus and yet, on social media, they call a time-out from this Christ-like life, they go to the sidelines, and they return to the ways of their old lives.

This view somehow believes that we can “pause” our Christianity in order to post, comment, share, and tweet however we want before resuming our Christian life. 

In order to embrace either of these views, in order to engage social media in a sinful way, there are countless Scriptures one must ignore (disobey). 

Here are 8 Bible Verses Many Christians Ignore while Posting on Social Media: 

(1) “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” (Eph. 4:29).

I have never heard someone say, “Facebook is the best place to find encouragement that builds you up.” 

Even if Christians are the only people who show up in your News Feed, I imagine you would still deny that social media is filled with encouraging words that are building you up daily. There might be the occasional encouraging word, but it seems we have to first sift through pages of corrupting talk to get to the one uplifting post.  

Oh that we would examine what we type and, before posting, ask the question: “Will this build them up or tear them down?” 

(2) “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger” (James 1:19).

The time elapsed between our initial thought and our social media post is far-too-often right around 3 seconds. Most of our social media posts receive little thought if any at all. We are very fast to speak. We simply ignore James 1:19.  

(3) “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person” (Colossians 4:6). 

There might be a response that is needed and you might be the right person to give this response. But to know how to answer someone, we must seek the Lord and allow our response to be sanctified and gracious. We must ask, “Am I responding in the flesh or being led by the Spirit of Christ in my response?” 

(4) “As you wish that others would do to you, do so to them” (Luke 6:31). 

Most people are about 3 years old when they first learn that they are to treat others the way they want to be treated. And yet as we “mature,” we somehow begin to neglect this foundational principle. All we need to do is imagine someone commenting to us the way we’re planning on commenting and then honestly evaluate whether or not we would appreciate that sort of comment. If not, then delete it and do not post.   

(5) “With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so” (James 3:9-10). 

As James talks about the dangers of the tongue, he recognizes the absurdity of using our speech to praise the Lord one minute only to weaponize our speech the next. 

We completely ignore the warning of James 3 when we attack and belittle and gossip and slander and insult and mock and curse. And we forget that the person we’re attacking is someone who is made in the image of God. 

(6) “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Matthew 12:36). 

This verse should pierce our hearts a little bit, for we have all, most likely, fired a careless word across the internet at some point or another. The belief that we will never be held accountable for our careless words or that Jesus ignores our thoughtless speech, is a belief that completely dismisses the words of Christ in Matthew 12.  

(7) “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Eph. 4:31-32). 

Can you imagine a social media that is completely free from all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander? Can you imagine your own posts completely free of all of these? Could the Lord somehow use the church today to overwhelm social media with an online presence that is kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving?  

(8) “I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” (Luke 6:27-28). 

I know many have been on the receiving end of hurtful posts on social media. It is natural, perhaps, to want to retaliate. We want to defend ourselves. We want to strike back. We want to hurt the one who hurt us. 

But Jesus has another way for Christians. 

Christians are to love our Facebook enemies. We are to do good to those who hate us on Twitter. We bless those who curse us and then tag us. And we pray for the ones who verbally abuse us on social media. Any other response ignores Luke 6. 

START WITH THESE 8

I’m sure there are a host of Scriptures that should be guiding our social media engagement (see Phil. 2:4; Matt. 7:1-6; Rom. 12:10; John 15:12; Matt. 5:44; 1 Peter 5:5; Eph. 4:1-3; 1 Tim. 5:1-2; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; Matt. 22:39). 

Let us begin with these 8 verses though, and let us submit our Social Media lives to the authority of God’s Word for the glory of the Lord. 

Social Media is not an Invisibility Cloak that frees us of accountability and responsibility. 

Social Media is not a Time-Out from our Christianity. 

Perhaps, though, Social Media could be a platform that gives us the opportunity to live out the Word of God in such a way that others begin to find their hope in Christ. 

Jonathan Williams, Ph.D. (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the founder of Gospel Family Ministries, the author of Gospel Family: Cultivating Family Discipleship, Family Worship, and Family Missions, and the senior pastor of Wilcrest Baptist Church in Houston, TX. He lives in Houston with his wife and three children.